Building a Godly Home, Volume 1: A Holy Vision for Family Life

For years, William Gouge’s Domestical Duties has stood as the foremost Puritan treatment of Christian family life. Yet due to its size and antiquated expression, it has become almost unknown among current generations of believers. To help revive the usefulness of this classic book, Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke divided Gouge’s work into three manageable volumes, updated the language to modern standards, and have given it the title Building a Godly Home.

In the first volume, A Holy Vision for Family Life, we hear the voice of a wise and loving mentor, calling us to the old paths laid out for the family in the Bible. Here is Gouge’s helpful exposition of Ephesians 5:21–6:4, where he lays out the wife’s voluntary submission to her husband, the husband’s sacrificial love for his wife, the child’s obedient honoring of parents, and the parents’ nurturing leadership of their children. Reading it is like sitting down to coffee with a gentle grandfather and wise pastor. Come and allow your family to benefit from such wise counsel.

Contents

1. Serving Each Other in the Fear of the Lord
2. Particular Callings and the Wife’s Submission
3. Headship in Marriage and the Church
4. Husbands and the Love of Christ
5. Love That Purifies the Unclean
6. Redeemed for Glory
7. Marital Love and Self-Love
8. Christ’s Union with His Beloved
9. The Ancient Law and Unique Bond of Marriage
10. The Mystery and Practice of Marriage
11. The Child’s Duties to His Parents
12. The Parents’ Duty towards Their Children

William Gouge (1575 1653) was a Puritan minster who served for forty-five years at St. Ann Blackfriars in London and was a member of the Westminster Assembly. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had thirteen children.