The Reformed Family
By Jake Gardner
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Preface
The necessity of reformation lieth upon all who, in their day, would seek to resurrect the old standard of truth, which they behold with tear-stained face fallen upon the mountain. The mandate of the prophet Isaiah is to all such: “They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa. 58:12). By “reformation”, I mean a thorough renewing of practice, and not a return to what is commonly known as “reformation” theology. I mean the word in the purest sense, apart from all of its modern connotations.
Ours is the day of books, the day of increased knowledge, though not, sadly, the knowledge of God. We have, more than ever before, an abundance of literature, seminars, conferences, and sermons preached on the matter of family. Is it possible to have a famine of bread in a bakery? We all know that one can die of thirst while drowning in an ocean. In our day our want is not for quantity, but quality. O! that God would send forth but one arrow of deliverance that would smite our foes and save our souls. We feel that we cannot go after the most conservatively acclaimed of our day such as Gothard, Kenaston, Michael Pearl or Doug Phillips, “for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions” (Son. 1:7)? Why would we have the muddied waters, and suffer those that would take up our rearguard to drink of the same, when the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls calls to us from his blessed fountain of living waters? God forbid we should suffer the faults, failures and heresies of these men upon them, or upon others by our joining to them in promoting their doctrines. We would to God these men would yet be recovered from the various snares they have fallen into, and we find it a hindrance to this end to sinfully allow their teachings, wherein their sins, like leaven, permeate the whole. And so we find it only right in true charity which “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (I Cor. 13:6), to warn our brethren, and all those who would hear, to beware of poison, and not only so, but to provide also ourselves a suitable meal for them, able to nourish them up “in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (I Tim. 4:6). For these primary (and other secondary) reasons have we been led to take upon ourselves this venture of declaiming the errors of our day and proclaiming those true, honest, right and good things which our Lord has whispered in the quiet of our hearts in this most important vocation of life: the family. God’s eyes are in every home, and he sees the good and the bad, and the desire of every true heart should be only to please him in all of their ways. Truly, the cry of David should be the milk and honey continually under the tongue of every proper Christian: “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart” (Psa. 101:2). So, with this cry in your Spirit-softened heart, come gather your family by the fire of Zion and be warmed and be filled, and by God’s good grace you shall not go away empty. May the Lord bless every word in the following articles to the welfare, both physically, but especially spiritually, to every man who may read. This is the writer’s earnest prayer, Amen. - Jake Gardner |
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