C H Spurgeon on the 'Family'

My wife drew my attention to these words about the Family [I am presently preaching a series on the Family in Newtownabbey FPC] which she read in a sermon preached by C. H. Spurgeon, entitled: 'Comfort from the Future'.

The words come from No. 2676 in Volume 46 of his sermons. It was preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Lord's day evening 30th January 1881, upon the text in Job 11:16: Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.

I know some men, who will never get peace of conscience, and rest of heart, while they let their wives live as they do live, and while they allow their children to live as they do live. Some of you will not find mercy for yourselves while you neglect your children’s highest welfare as you do. I know some men, — I hope they are good men, but certainly they are not good fathers. They are so peaceful, and gentle, that they never like to utter a word of reproof; their boys and girls may go where they like, — I might almost say that they may go to the devil if they like, — yet their father has not a word to say to them; do you call that proper conduct for a professedly Christian man? 

There are some parents, who allow their children to do such things that God is grieved with them for their children’s sakes; and they will never get peace of mind till they set their house in order. What! is God coming to live where there is no family prayer, where there is no care for his name or his day, where there is no rebuke of open sin? It has filled me with unspeakable sorrow when I have heard of Christian parents whose boys swear, and whose girls are allowed to go where, if they are not ruined, body and soul, it is little short of a miracle. 

Oh, do see that you let not wickedness dwell in your tabernacles, you who are the people of God, and you who wish to be his, if you would have Zophar’s words to Job fulfilled in your experience, “Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.”

The whole sermon can be read here