ning, instead o f reading, he used to catechize his children and servants upon the Assembly’s Cate chism; or else they read and he examined them in the Word o f God. On Saturday evening they gave him an account of what they could remember of the chapters they had read through during the week, each a portion in order. Philip Henry advised his children that they should take a verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate upon, and so go over the Psalm twice in a year. “And that,” said he, “will bring you to be in love with all the rest of Scripture.” Besides this he also had days o f humiliation with his family. The consequence was that, in addi tion to the blessings resulting to his own children, many who came to live with them dated their first impressions from these services and gave thanks that they ever came under his roof. No one has written with more conviction re garding the need o f Christian nurture and home training in the knowledge o f God than has J. Edgar Hoover. “More and more children are being led toward crime as parents throw away responsibil ity. Selfishness is often the keynote of the day, and materialism the inspiration for living. God, in many instances, is not accepted in the home, and concepts of morality have been relegated to the junk heap. “ Can a nation exist void of all religious thought and action? Can we have internal peace without morality ? Can we build homes without God, or have worthy parents who do not know and practice His teachings ? “ The key to these problems — to life itself — is God. He is man’s first need, his final goal. “ Our nation is sadly in need o f a rebirth o f the simple life—a return to the days when God was part of each household, when families arose in the morning with a prayer on their lips, and ended the day by gathering together to place themselves in His care. “ If there is hope for the future o f America; if there is to be peace and happiness in our homes, then we as a nation must return to God and to the practice o f daily family prayer. “ Our generation, it seems, has allowed old, faithful religious practices to slip into oblivion. As a result, family life has been weakened. The nation has suffered, and many of its children have become like the man whose house is built upon sand; it is an inviting ground for moral decay and crime. “My hope for the future o f this nation is predi cated upon the faith in God which is nurtured in the family. No outside influence o f a constructive nature can overcome the lack o f a guiding light in the home, and the spark of this light must be the knowledge of God; the fuel must be the strength o f prayer. “ The greatest thing we as individuals can do 22
for ourselves and for our country will be to keep our families together in peace and happiness. There is no better way o f doing our part for home- life in America than by establishing the daily prac tice o f family prayer in our homes; because fami lies that pray together stay together.” The power o f the daily family altar to tie a family together in love and holiness is well illus trated by a testimony recently read. “ I was a guest in the house of comparative strangers, and as we came out to the dining room I noticed there was some confusion and slight em barrassment; but I was asked to return thanks and the breakfast went on. “ The next morning the father said, ‘We have made you one of the family now, and before we sit down I am going to tell you just how things are. You see, we do not have much time for our family worship, but it is a rule that there must be an un broken circle at the breakfast table. Before we sit down, each one o f the family, commencing with four-year-old Jimmy, repeats a verse of Scripture, after which we join hands around the table and re peat the Lord’s Prayer; then I say a few words of prayer.’ “After this explanation Jimmy started off with, ‘Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom o f heaven.’ “ I learned later that the four-year-old was allowed to say the same verse for a month; that the ones under eight (Oh, yes, they had them all ages, as there were ten) must have a new verse every week; over twelve there must be a new verse every morning and it must not be repeated within thirty days. “ A few months after that I was in a university town, and there I met the oldest son o f the family. I said to him, ‘A fine family you have back in the old town.’ “ ‘Yes, sir,’ and his eyes lighted with pleasure. ‘After talking with him a few minutes I said, ‘Would you mind telling me what you miss most now that you are away from home?’ “ The boy hesitated a moment. It is not easy for a boy o f that age to unveil the deepest feelings of his heart. Then, though a deep flush showed be neath his tan and freckles, he looked straight into my eyes, and replied, ‘It is the handclasp at the breakfast table. If I could feel my father’s warm clasp, and repeat with them the Lord’s Prayer, it would start the day off right, and nothing would matter then!’ “ Again he hesitated but finished manfully, with a trace of huskiness in his voice, ‘The memory of those mornings at home stand between me and many a temptation; it keeps me going straight.’ ” Used by permission, Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. A chapter from THE CHRIS TIAN HOME by Norman V. Williams. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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