The master of the house, in Family-Worship, appears as the intercessor for his household. The great Intercessor is indeed above, but “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks(1 Tim. 1:10)” are to be made below; and by whom, if not by the father, for his family? The thought of this must bring solemn reflections. The parent who, with any sincerity, comes daily to implore blessings on his wife, children, and domestics, will bethink himself as to what they need. Here will be an urgent motive to inquire into their wants, temptations, weaknesses, errors, and transgressions. The eye of a genuine father will be quick, his heart will be sensitive on these points: and the hour of devotion will gather these solicitudes together.
From such a motive, as we have already seen, holy Job, after the festivities of his children, “sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings, according to the number of them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.(Job1:5)” Whatever may have been the effect on the sons, the effect on Job himself was, no doubt, an awakening of mind as to his parental responsibility; and such is the effect of Family-Worship on the head of a household.
The father of a family is under a wholesome influence, when he is brought every day to take a post of observation, and say to his own heart, “By this single means, in addition to all others, I am exerting some definite influence, good or bad, upon all who surround me. I cannot omit this service, needlessly; perhaps I cannot omit it at all, without detriment to my house. I cannot read the word, I cannot sing, I cannot pray, without leaving some trace on the tender mind. How solemnly, how affectionately, how believingly, should I then approach this ordinance! With how much godly fear and preparation! My conduct in this worship may save or may kill. Here is my great channel for reaching the case of those who are submitted to my charge.” These are wholesome thoughts, naturally engendered by a daily ordinance which too many regard as little better than a form.
The Christian husband needs to be reminded of his obligations; he cannot be reminded of them too often. The respect, the forbearance, the love, which the Scriptures enjoin towards the feebler and more dependent party in the conjugal alliance, and which are the crown and glory of Christian wedlock, are never more brought into action, than when they who have plighted their faith to one another, years ago, are brought day by day to the place of prayer, and lift up a united heart at the feet of infinite mercy. As the head of every man is Christ, so the head of the woman is the man. (1 Cor. 11:3) His post is responsible, and that in spirituals. He can seldom feel it more sensibly than when he falls down with the partner of his burdens at the throne of grace.
The father sees his children before him. The word which he reads to them, contains his duties to them. Whatsoever there may be of paternal affection within him, must break forth at such a moment; and the frequent repetition of such sentiments must educate the heart.
The master—if I may employ a term which is in a fair way to be obsolete, in our day of license and leveling—calls together his servants, and all under his control, for the worship of God. If forgetful of it at other times, he must now acknowledge and feel, at least on some occasions, that the salvation of his dependants is, to a certain extent, consigned to his care. If he can do no more, he can read God’s word to them; he can pray for them. It is not, however, the effect on the servant or child, but the effect on the master and father, that we are now considering. Let any reflective mind contemplate the subject, and he will be persuaded that there must be a marked and increasing difference between the parental feelings and principles of one who habitually worships God in his family, and one who worships him not. It is no trifle to have religion perpetually brought to bear upon the parental relation. In the shop, the market, the field, the highway, the office, the exchange, and even in the pulpit, the father may forget that he is a father: he cannot forget it when the curtain has dropped, when the circle draws more closely around the hearth, when the wife of his youth welcomes him to prayer, and when the eyes of his little ones are fixed on him as the minister of God to their souls. I no longer marvel that Christianity becomes a dying, empty, thing, in the houses of those professors (alas, that there should be such!) where there is no joint worship of God.
In the rage for amassing wealth, which threatens the church among us, and especially in our great commercial cities, there is an estranging ‘process going on, which we fear is too little observed. Such is the insane precipitation with which the man of business rushes to his morning’s task, and such the length of his absence from home, often extending till the hours of darkness, that he gradually loses some of that parental tenderness which Providence keeps alive by the presence of those whom we love. The long continuance of such habits cannot fail to affect the character. Of all persons in the world, he should be most willing to take time for family-devotion, who is by his very employment shut out from his home most of every day. The paternal heart demands this hour of culture. A deliberate service, in which the voices of infancy and age unite in praising God, amidst the flow of mutual affection, is a blessed means of countervailing the hard and selfish world which surrounds him. But above all does the Christian parent need something to keep him constantly in remembrance that his children have souls; that they look to him for more than their earthly support, and that there are means whereby, under God, he may be the instrument of their salvation. If, amidst the avocations of this life, he seldom finds time to deal- faithfully with their souls; if he rarely conveys to them any sign of fear for their safety; if he is dumb in respect to Christ and eternity; here is a daily service, of which the direct tendency will be to arouse him to these duties. Can it be possible for a man to pray earnestly for the salvation of his children, in their hearing, representing them to God in earnest supplication, as dead in trespasses and sins, while at the same time, he leaves them to wonder why no syllable ever falls from his lips, on those momentous subjects ? The praying parent has a daily remembrancer of these and the like obligations; and while he asks heavenly good for his household, he will sometimes cry to God for grace to fulfill them. The answer of such prayers will not be withheld. The prayer-hearing God will render him a better parent, will endow him with those peculiar gifts, for which, alas! professing parents are so slow to seek; and will cause him to discharge the obligations of this fearful station, in a better manner, to say the least than those who hasten through life without any token of family-religion.
Prayerless parents have cause to tremble. God’s anger may light upon them in their parental relation, as Eli’s neglect was visited. (1 Sam. 3:13) They have no right to expect parental happiness. They place themselves and their household in the defenseless condition of the heathen. “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. (Jer. 10:25)” Family-prayer invites and bespeaks the blessing of God on all concerned, but chiefly on him who leads in it. Better a roofless than a prayerless house: better beg one’s bread, with prayer, than deny God by a neglect of this chief means of domestic prosperity. One who has any genuine religious faith, and any trust in God’s promises, must be assured, that in the rearing of his household, in providing for their support and education, in governing and restraining them, and in laboring for their souls, no good can ensue, but by the blessing of God: and this blessing, in the way of direction and grace, the Christian parent should join with his family in asking, every day So doing he will be not only a better man, but a better father. He will love his children more, and more wisely. He will be doubly a parent to them, by the power and affection of a holy example. He will be better able to bear those reverses and bereavements which may befall him. “But how shocking is the prospect, if you are determined to resist conviction, and live in the willful neglect of this duty! Your families are like to be nurseries for hell; or if there should be an Abijah in them, ‘one in whom some good thing is found toward the Lord God of Israel,(1 Kings 14:13)’ no thanks to you for it; you must be punished for your neglect of him, as though he had perished by your iniquity.”(President Davies)
By James W. Alexander, “THOUGHTS ON FAMILY WORSHIP”