The Christian education of children: according to the maxims of the Sacred Scripture, and the instructions of the fathers of the church / written and several times printed in French, and now translated into English.

CHAP. I. Of the Excellency of Christian Marriage.

ONe of the principal reasons which induced the Saviour of the world to place so great a dignity upon the humane alliance of Marriage, was the will he had to sanctify by this means the generation of Children, and to give to married persons the necessary graces to apply themselves holily to their Education. For, as St. Augustin observes, * 1.1 The will of faithful people not de∣terminating it self in Marriage only to put Children into the world to dye; but to the end that they being born again in Christ Jesus, may receive eternal life: how could they have acquitted them∣selves of this Duty with greater ease, than in receiving (when they contract this holy alliance) the particular grace which our Lord hath annexed to it, and which he hath merited for them

by his Passion? 'Tis by this grace that Marriage hath been re-established in its first dignity, from which it was fallen after sin, in the law of Na∣ture, and in the law of Moses: And as the holy Council of Trent says; 'Tis by it, that the natural love, (which married persons bear to one another,) hath been perfected, that the iudissoluble uni∣on of their hearts hath been strengthned, and that all their actions have been sanctified.

The 2d. Motive which induced Christ Jesus to raise the Marriage of Christians to the dignity of a Sacra∣ment, was, that he might give us an exteriour and sensible signe of the in∣finite love he bears us, and of the strict Union he hath contracted with the Church which is his Spouse: so that the principal glory of them whom he unites by this sacred knot, is the honour they have to represent per∣fectly unto us this Divine alliance. This is that which St. Paul admirably expresses in his Epistle to the Ephesiaus in such terms as I could wish could

be engraven in the bottom of your heart, and which I conjure you to keep continually in your Memory.

Let the Wives, (says this Apostle) be submitted to their Husbands as they are to God: for the Husband is the Head of the Wife, as Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church which is his Body, and where∣of he is the Saviour. Wherefore as the Church is submitted to Christ Jesus, so Women ought to be submitted in every thing to their Husbands: And you Hus∣bands, love your Wives as Christ Je∣sus hath loved his Church, and hath de∣livered himself to death for her, to the end he might sanctify her after he had purified her by the Word in the Water of Baptism, and that she might appear before him full of Glory, having neither blemish, nor wrinkle, nor any such like thing, but being holy and irreprehensible. Thus Husbands ought to love their Wives as their own Bodies. He who loves his Wife loves himself; for no one hates his own Flesh, but nourishes it, and enter∣tains it as Christ Jesus doth his Church,

because we are the Members of his Body, making a part of his Flesh, and of his Bones. And 'tis for this that it is sayd in the Scripture, that a man shall aban∣don his Father and his Mother to live with his Wife, and that of two which they were, they should become one selfsame Flesh.—Thus let every one of you love his Wife as himself, and let the Wife respect and honour her Husband, Eph. 5.22. &c.

You see by this, my Sister, that St. Paul, makes a continual Parallel of Jesus Christ and of his Church with the Christian Bridegroom and his Spouse; that he concludes the Duties of the Wife towards her Hus∣band, and the Duties of the Husband towards his Wife, of the Submission which the Church hath for Christ Jesus, and of the Grace which Christ Jesus communicates to his Church; and that he gives no o∣ther Idea or Form of the mutual Love or Fidelity which they owe to one another, and of the indissoluble

Union which ought to be between them, than the Love which Christ Je∣sus hath for his Spouse, than the Fidelity which this holy Spouse hath for Christ Jesus, and than the Union which he would have with the Church by rendring her his Body.

Must we not then aver after this great Apostle, Ephes. 3.32. That surely Marriage is a holy Institution in Christ Jesus and in his Church: and that it is honourable in all, Heb. 1.4. that is to say, as the holy Fathers ex∣plicate it, in all its parts.

Yes, my Sister, you ought to have a high esteem of the state to which God hath called you, because in like man∣ner as it was he who having drawn Eve from the side of Adam our first Father, gave her to him for his Spouse; 'tis also he who by his invi∣sible hand hath tyed the knot of the sa∣cred cord of your Marriage, and who gave you to your Husband.

You ought to do it, because God in∣tending to multiply Souls which may

bless and praise him to all Eternity, hath done you the favour to make choice of you to cooperate by the production of your Children and by their Education to so great a work.

You ought to do it, because Christ Jesus by his presence at the Marriage of Cana in Galilee, has sanctified all them which are to be celebrated among Christians.

You ought finally to do it, not only because there are so many holy persons in the Old and New Testament who have lived most faintlike in Marriage, but also because the Mother of Christ Jesus the most pure and most innocent of all creatures was engaged in the bonds of that indissoluble alliance which you have contracted, In such sort that if by the Vow of Virginity which she made before the Angeli∣cal Salutation, she was (as S. Augu∣stine relates) the model of all the Virgins who were to come after her; * 1.2 she was no less (in the opinion of the same holy Father)

the example of Married persons, by espousing St. Joseph, and by powerful∣ly insinuating unto them by her pru∣dent conduct, that Marriage ceases not truly to subsist, although by mutual consent they should propose to them∣selves to live in a holy Continence.

But above all, my Sisters, you ought to esteem your self happy, in that your Marriage is the Sacrament and the image of that of Christ Jesus with his Church; in that he hath permitted you, and even ordained you to consider your Husband as the Church doth Christ Jesus, to have for him all the tenderness and all the Submission you are capable of, as the Church hath for Christ Je∣sus; to leave your self to be conducted by his Spirit, as the Church leaves her self to be conducted by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, to enter into all his affe∣ctions & into all his sentiments, to par∣take with him of all his pains & all his afflictions, as the Church doth them of Christ Jesus; and not to wear out∣ward Ornaments, nor make use of

affected dresses but as far forth as he permits you, as the Church hath no more splendour and glory than what Christ Jesus communicates unto her.

Now if the Patriarks and the Isra∣elites esteemed themselves very much honoured in having Children, because the people of God were thereby much augmented; that they hoped the Mes∣sias might be born of their blood; and that they might perhaps have the ad∣vantage of affording him a Father or a Mother: what Glory may not you ex∣pect by furnishing to Jesus Christ sub∣jects of his Mercies, and by putting into the World Children who may be∣come the Members and the Brothers of the Son of God? However you will merit this Glory, my Sister, and at the same time will acquit your self of the principal Duties of the state wherein you are ingaged, if you ap∣ply your self seriously to give your Children a truly Christian and Holy Education, having first laid aside the false Lights and pernicious Errours,

which are the cause why the major part of Fathers and Mothers neglect the Education of their Children, and that they have no other Idea's than such as are altogether Carnal, and as remote from the excellency of the estate to which they are called, as Heaven is from Earth.

Notes

• * 1.1

  August. l. 1. de Nupt. c. 8.
• * 1.2

  S. August. lib de Virgi∣nitate. c 4. Lib. 5. contra Julianum. c. 22.