Practical Directions For Conducting Family Worship (3)

The question has surfaced much whether any forms of prayer should be recommended as a help to family devotion. The spirit of our church institutions, and our perpetual testimony, has been against the imposition of any prescribed form, and in favor of entire liberty in prayer. We are fully persuaded that the best of all prayers in the family, as everywhere else, are those which proceed, without book, from hearts which “God hath touched.” And our unhesitating counsel to every one who essays this duty is that he cast himself upon the help of the Spirit without any written form. Nevertheless, we are so earnestly desirous to remove every hinderance out of the way, even of halting believers, that we would infinitely rather they should pray with a form than that they should not pray at all. There are also persons of such diffidence, especially of the female sex or in so peculiar a condition of society, that they feel themselves utterly unable to proceed without such assistance. Let such go forward, in the name of the Lord.1 Let them provide themselves with some suitable volume of family prayers. Such have been furnished by Jenks, Thornton, Hardman, and others. The work of Mr. Jenks is by far superior to any thing known to us of this sort, being warm, orthodox, and scriptural, and imbued from beginning to end with evangelical sentiments.2 But in use of this or any other form, the greatest caution is necessary in order to guard against that ritual coldness and emptiness which come from the abuse of the best devotional compositions.

If we had not known cases where such a counsel was needful, we should scarcely add that the true posture for family prayer is that of kneeling.

It only remains to be observed that, if the father of the family would make this service one of the greatest advantage, he must deem it worthy of being in his thoughts at moments when he is not actually engaged in it. He will seek to keep his mind in such a frame as not to unfit him for leading his children to God. He will look to his steps, lest his example should be in disas-

We would infinitely rather they should pray with a form than that they should not pray at all.

trous contrast with his devotional acts. And he will not consider it unimportant to seek from God special direction and strength for the discharge of a duty so nearly connected with the everlasting interests of his house.

Where any one feels himself called of God to establish daily worship in his house, he should act with solemn decision. In this, as in a thousand other affairs of life, the shortest method is the best. Instead of parleying with objections, waiting for some happy conjuncture, seeking to prepare the way by gradual approaches, or timorously sounding the opinions of those whose place it is to submit, let him, in reliance on God, without other preliminary and without allowing another sun to set, call his family together, state his purpose in the very fewest terms, and carry it into immediate accomplishment. The burden of months or years will have rolled away! That day will be remembered as one of the brightest in his calendar and will probably open a new era of domestic profit and joy.

If this article should fall into the hands of young persons and others who live in families where God is daily worshipped, let them be affectionately exhorted to yield all possible encouragement to the service by punctual attendance, by the most reverent attention and devout silence, and above all by heartily joining in the devotions, so that the words spoken or sung may convey the sentiments of their own hearts. This is especially to be urged on the children of the church who ought to remember that in this service, their honored parents are endeavoring, often with a deep sense of unworthiness, to discharge a part of the obligations which were recognized at the baptism of their children. Many, however, are the instances in which a father, advanced in years, needing repose, and trembling in voice and every limb, is left to wait till a late hour of the night, for froward and profane sons, who, if the truth were known, would gladly come in at midnight rather than be constrained to join in prayer. Let it be added, in conclusion, that filial affection will certainly lead the ingenuous son or daughter to repress every feeling of weariness or dissatisfaction in regard to the manner in which a parent conducts the worship of the house.

1”The Book of Common Order,” often called “ John Knox’s Liturgy,” contains a “Form of Prayers, to be used in private houses every morning and evening.”

2”Prayers and Offices of Devotion for Families, and for particular persons, upon most occasions. By Benjamin Jenks, late rector of Harley, &c. Altered and improved by the Rev. Charles Simeon, late Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge.” About forty editions of this work have been published.

Dr. lames W. Alexander (1804–1859), eldest son of the renowned Archibald Alexander, wrote many volumes on practical Christian themes, including Plain Words to a Young Communicant (1854) and Thoughts on Preaching (1864). This article is drawn from his Thoughts on Family Worship (1847).

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