Abraham in Canaan
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them. A reformation in this respect is needed—a reformation which
shall be deep and broad. Parents need to reform; ministers need
to reform; they need God in their households. If they would see a
different state of things, they must bring His word into their families
and must make it their counselor. They must teach their children that it
is the voice of God addressed to them, and is to be implicitly obeyed.
They should patiently instruct their children, kindly and untiringly
teach them how to live in order to please God. The children of such a
household are prepared to meet the sophistries of infidelity. They have
accepted the Bible as the basis of their faith, and they have a foundation
that cannot be swept away by the incoming tide of skepticism.
In too many households prayer is neglected. Parents feel that they
have no time for morning and evening worship. They cannot spare
a few moments to be spent in thanksgiving to God for His abundant
mercies—for the blessed sunshine and the showers of rain, which
cause vegetation to flourish, and for the guardianship of holy angels.
They have no time to offer prayer for divine help and guidance and
for the abiding presence of Jesus in the household. They go forth
to labor as the ox or the horse goes, without one thought of God or
heaven. They have souls so precious that rather than permit them to
be hopelessly lost, the Son of God gave His life to ransom them; but
they have little more appreciation of His great goodness than have the
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beasts that perish.
Like the patriarchs of old, those who profess to love God should
erect an altar to the Lord wherever they pitch their tent. If ever there
was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now.
Fathers and mothers should often lift up their hearts to God in humble
supplication for themselves and their children. Let the father, as priest
of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening
sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In
such a household Jesus will love to tarry.
From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love
should be revealed in action. It should flow out in all home intercourse,
showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy.
There are homes where this principle is carried out—homes where
God is worshiped and truest love reigns. From these homes morning
and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies
and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew.