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

by William Gouge

206 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 2026

About the author

William Gouge (1575-1653) was born in Stratford-Bow Middlesex County, England. Educated in Paul's School, London, Felstad in Essex, and at Eton School. He graduated from King's College, Cambridge, followed by a brilliant teaching career there. Following his ordination at 32 years of age, he ministered at Blackfriars Church, London for 45 years. In addition to his great success as a pastor, his mid-week expository lectures at Blackfriars drew increasingly larger crowds. Spirituality and scholarship made his career at Cambridge, his pastoral work and his writings unique. He was renowned as "the father of the London Divines and the oracle of his time." In 1643 he was made a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines by vote of Parliament. His primary works include his Commentary on Hebrews, The Whole Armour of God, and Of Domestical Duties.

Reviews

[Adelina DiGiacomo]

Great. The volume is an exposition of Ephesians 5:21-6:4, but where I expect that passage to be treated as a launch pad to talk about the dynamics of marriage and family, it really read more like a book about Christ and the Church and went into some depth on aspects of the text which i don’t really expect to be brought up when talking about this passage. i thought this approach was great and in some sense more nourishing than heading straight for the pragmatics of how to navigate family relationships. very minor things i disagreed with here and there.