CHAPTER VIII. THE FAMILY ALTAB. "Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of Mercy; Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence." TUPPER. "Then kneeling down to heaven's eternal King, Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, And thus they all shall meet in future days." BURNS. We have estimated the value of the SABBATH and the BIBLE to the family. The ALTAR OF PRAYER is the last, though not the least, in this trinity of household blessings. They have separately a positive and hallowing influence, but in union they have the power of a mighty "unity of three." As "the stem, the leaf, and the flower" produce the thriving plant; as "substance, coherence, and weight" give figure to the countless objects of carth; as "the beginning, middle, and end," fashion the immortal epic; as "the will, the doing, and deed combine to frame a fact;" so the Sabbath, the Bible, and the Altar are the three appointed unities, which can fashion a model family only in their co-influence as "three in once." As the leaf and the flower are not the plant, without the stem; as coherence and weight are not the fabric, without substance; as the doing and the deed are not the fact, without the will; so the Sabbath and the Bible are not the blessing which God designed to the family, without the Altar of Prayer. The duty of family prayer is not derived from direct Divine commandment. The Scriptures teach it rather inferentially. Reason enforces it. Conscience smiles approval. And, es pecially, the example of the faithful, in all ages since the advent of Christ, commends it to our regard. Far back in "the track of time" to the period when God's people were in" perils oft" for " the faith once delivered to the saints," we learn that the ALTAR was erected in the household. Morning and evening the dependant and grateful members. gathered around it in acts of pure devotion. It was their "refuge in time of trouble "their" fortress" and "strength," "the horn of their salvation," and their "high tower." The blessings, too, that have crowned the efforts of parents, who have faithfully observed this rite in the family, amounts to an affirmation that God regards it with delight. As it is the duty of the heads of households to avail themselves of all the possible agencies of moral power in moulding human characters, so it becomes their duty to rear an altar to the Lord," if its influence is as sanctifying, through Divine grace, as facts and the nature of the rite clearly evince. 66 There is secu- There is power in prayer. The Duke of Bedford was wont to say, "I consider the prayers of God's ministers and people as the best walls around my house." rity in prayer, for it has power with God. "wall of fire" and the "pillar of a cloud" for defence. It pioneers in the moral conquest of the world, and multiplics Pentecosts. On the first Monday of January 1833, an extraordinary religious interest was manifest at the missionary stations in different parts of the world. Hundreds resorted to the Missionaries to inquire, what they must do to be saved. It was the beginning of a great religious awakening. On that day the churches of Christendom were assembled to pray for the nations that sit in darkness. The meetings for prayer were reported to be unusually solemn and interesting. Saints called upon God with unwonted fervor and faith. Some were said to "wrestle" with Him. Is not here a connection between prayer and the religious awakening in heathea Lands? May we not properly regard it, cause and effect? There is power, then, in prayer-power with God, and through Him, power with man. “Prayer is a creature's strength, his very breath and being;" It may possess the same power in the FAMILY as in the church or closet. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righte ous man availeth much," be he praying as a father or an elder, at home, or in the vestry. It will bless the suppliant parent as really as the suppliant church-member. It can bless the children as casily as sinners in the street. There is abundant reason, then, to decide with Joshua," as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." The first effect of family prayer is, IT WINS THE CONFIDENCE OF MEN. The openly wicked, who sncer at the humble followers of Christ, may make themselves merry over this family rite, yet, after all, they have peculiar confidence in the man who sincerely assembles his family, morning and evening, for devotion. The godless wayfarer, tarrying for the night with a stranger in some dreary wild, thinks well of him if he bows with his household at the altar of prayer, before retiring for the night. His confidence may be misplaced, since hypocrisy assumes various disguises. But the ceremony is effectual to cause him to feel that he is enjoying the hospitalities of a worthy family. The briefest visit to a family usually leaves some definite impression upon the mind. General appearances cause us to infer that one family is distinguished for this, another for that good or evil quality. As we meet the individual, a stranger, his countenance, demeanor, speech, one or all, force the mind upon a train of inferences. We have our opinions concerning him without trial or jury. Right or wrong, the mind will infer. So it is with the family. And, * Tupper. doubtless, every ninety-nine persons in a hundred, tarrying for a night with a stranger-household, will be very favor ably impressed by the morning and evening devotions. They will set a higher price upon the moral reputation of the household. More is generally expected of a family in which an altar of prayer is reared. Men wait to behold the influence of the sacred exercise upon parents and children. If the samo godlessness and profanation of holy things is witnessed in the sons, as mar the moral beauty of other domestic circles, they are almost forced to doubt the sincerity of the suppli cating father. This is no other than a tribute paid to the power of family prayer. It is virtually saying, "The Altar ought to clevate the moral character of every member of the household. It ought to multiply whatever is "lovely and of good report." It has power to mould a household into a model-family. It can restrain base and violent propensities, and guide the wayward footsteps of youth into the paths of peace." Thus, by the inklings of even wicked men great impor tance is attached to family prayer, as a moral improvement, and an expression of moral worth. These intimations of mankind proceed from the honest convictions of the heart, so that we feel safe in stating the proposition, that prayer in the family, properly conducted, wins the confidence of men. The exercise of prayer will unite the members of a family by stronger tics of affection. Prayer, in general, with almost magical influence, eradicates moroseness and enmity from the human heart. Two enemics will speedily become friends when praying for each other. Alienations are burned up upon the altar of devotion. No man will become our foc so long as he sincerely remembers us at the throne of grace. We are confident of sharing his warm attachment so long as we have a place in his prayers. Hostility to us cannot abide in his heart if he is a sincere suppliant in our b half. Nor, on the other hand, can we long indul e en mity to another if we make him the subject of carnest prayer. However much he may have wronged us, our hearts embrace him in the exercise of forgiveness and love, so long as the true spirit of prayer leads us to supplicate God's blessing upon him. Thus prayer eradicates sourness, jealousy, envy, bitterness and enmity, from the soul of the contrite suppliant, and fosters love, with its long train of celestial graces. Prayer has this effect upon the worshiping family. We mean not that such enmity as described above arrays the members of households against each other. But there is a vast difference in the strength of the bonds of affection which unite different households. Says Dr. Alexander, "there are striking differences among families in regard to the simple quality of cohesion. While some are a bare collection of so many particles, without mutual attraction, others are consolidated into a unity of love. Many scattering influences are at work. Some of these may be referred to want of system and regularity; some to late hours; some to peculiarities of business; some to fashion; and some to the dissipation of vice." Family prayer tends to unite these varying elements- to increase the attractive force of affection to consolidate these repellant parts into a beautiful oneness. The child can nowhere be so favorably im pressed with the strength of a parent's lovea grace which children seldom appreciate as at the family altar. For there it gushes out from the soul in unfeigned and unstudied expressions of tenderness, as the group of children are made the subjects of special prayer, and God is implored to care for their eternal interests. Family prayer makes ineffaccable impressions upon childhood. Mind is well-nigh chameleon-like, taking the hue of whatsoever thing it touches. A word, a look, a deed is enough to inscribe an imperishable record upon its impressible ma |