Section 8

SECT. VIII.

But this is not all that we have to do. We have houses too that we ought to be concerned for. Therefore,

The second exhortation, is

Let us also study to engage our houses in the service of God.

It is the property of every good man to desire company in the service of the Lord. O that we might have the company of all that belong to our houses in it! But

What shall we do?

In short, would we truly say with Joshua, My House shall serve the Lord? We must then do like Jesus. Jesus the blessed name-sake, and antitype of Joshua, has a three-fold office; that of a Priest, a Prophet, and a King. In His lesser family of disciples once, in His greater family of believers always, we find Him so. Every householder should be all of this in his own family. Each man pretends to be a king in his own house; he should there be a priest, and a prophet too. There are three great cares lying upon us in our families; there is family-prayer, and family-instruction, and family-government. It is by the discharge of these three things, that we engage our houses to serve the Lord.