Building a Godly Home (3 vols.)

by William Gouge

Publisher:

Reformation Heritage

, 2013–2014

Overview

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 retitled it Building a Godly Home. Gouge show us that when the Word is the rule of our duty, duty becomes delight, so that we can truly enjoy family life in the fear of God.

Key Features

• Updates William Gouge’s classic Puritan work, Domestical Duties
• Provides a Reformed theology for marriage and family
• Applies Scripture passages on marriage and family

Praise for the Print Edition

Few issues spell countercultural Christianity as does a biblical view of the home and its various relationships and responsibilities. Those like the seventeenth-century Presbyterian William Gouge, who provided a lengthy exposition of domestic life as outlined in Scripture, got themselves into trouble with those who viewed biblical teaching burdensome (Gouge was vilified by wealthy city women, for example). But domestic reform is essential if we are to reflect godliness in the home, and Gouge’s once enormously popular Of Domestical Duties is without equal in describing what it looks like. A masterful guide, Gouge is pastoral, clear-headed, thoughtful, and eminently Bible-focused as he writes about the tasks, ideals, and problems of Christian family life. Once as popular as Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Gouge’s Of Domestical Duties deserves a central place in the modern Christian home.

—Derek W.H. Thomas, senior minister, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina

Product Details

• Title: Building a Godly Home
• Author: William Gouge
• Editors: Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke
• Series: Building a Godly Home
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage
• Publication Date: 2013
• Volumes: 2
• Pages: 488
• Christian Group: Reformed
• Resource Type: Topical
• Topic: Practical Life; Theology

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

• Author: William Gouge
• Editors: Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke
• Series: Building a Godly Home
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 200

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In the first volume of, 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. Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke make Gouge’s gentle and wise voice accessible for today’s families.

Building a Godly Home, vol. 2: A Holy Vision for a Happy Marriage

• Author: William Gouge
• Editors: Scott Brown and Joel R. Beeke
• Series: Building a Godly Home
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 288

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In the second volume, A Holy Vision for a Happy Marriage, we find detailed counsel about the most important relationship in the family: husband and wife. Gouge carefully addresses what a fit marriage is and the proper way to enter into one. He then discusses the mutual duties married couples share in order for marriage to survive and thrive, as well as the duties specific to men and women respectively. Not only does he give detailed treatment of how these responsibilities are best expressed and too often hindered, but he also provides ample biblical motivation to set us on the right course. Christian husbands and wives will find much encouragement in this book.

About William Gouge

William Gouge (1575–1653) was a Puritan minster who served for 45 years at St. Ann Blackfriars in London and was a member of the Westminster Assembly. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had thirteen children.

About the Editors

Scott Brown is the director of the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches and an elder at Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He earned his MDiv from Talbot School of Theology.

Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, and editor of the Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth. He has written, coauthored, or edited 70 books.