Christian classics
A Family Well-Ordered
The duties of parents and children toward one another
Cotton Mather addresses two connected questions: how parents should nurture the faith of their children, and how children should honor their parents.
Complete 1699 work · 2 original parts
Book contents ↓
About the author
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (1663–1728) was a Puritan minister in Boston and a prolific writer on Christian life, history, and education. His concern for religious instruction in the household appears throughout this book.
Published in 1699, A Family Well-Ordered treats family life as a matter of mutual responsibility. Its first part addresses parents; its second speaks directly to children. Readers should understand its language about authority and correction in its seventeenth-century setting.
Book contents
About this edition
Both original parts are presented in order. The English reading text follows a readable transcription of the 1699 edition, with later bracketed glossary explanations removed. Its original wording, examples, and severe warnings are retained. The Chinese translation keeps Mather’s argument visible as a historical work; identifiable direct Scripture quotations follow the Chinese Union Version (God edition). https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_a-family-well-ordered-or_mather-cotton_1699