"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).

Part 1: Teach Children Their Need of a Saviour

Let's spend a short time looking at the institution that was connected with the remembrance of the passover. "It shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover" (Exodus 12:26,27).

Inquiry should be aroused in the minds of our children. Oh, that we could get them to ask questions about the things of God! Some of them inquire very early, others of them seem diseased with much the same indifference as older folks. With both orders of mind we have to deal. It is well for our children to often observe the Lord's Supper, and to explain to them the meaning of this ordinance, for this shows forth the death of Christ in symbol. The Lord's Supper should be placed in view of the rising generation, that they may then ask us, "What mean ye by this?" Now, the Lord's Supper is a perpetual gospel sermon, and it turns mainly upon the sacrifice for sin. You cannot explain that broken bread and that cup filled with the fruit of the vine, without reference to our Lord's atoning death. You cannot explain "the communion of the body of Christ" without bringing in, in some form or other, the death of Jesus in our place and stead. Let your little ones, then, see the Lord's Supper, and let them be told most clearly what it sets forth. Dwell much and often in their presence upon the sufferings and death of our Redeemer. Let them think of Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and Golgotha, and let them learn to sing in plaintive tones of Him who laid down His life for us. Tell them who it was that suffered, and why.

When attention is focused upon the best of themes, let us be ready to explain the great transaction by which God is just, and yet sinners are justified. Children can well understand the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice; it was meant to be a gospel for the youngest. The gospel of substitution is a simplicity, though it is a mystery. We ought not to be content until our little ones know and trust in their finished Sacrifice. This is essential knowledge, and the key to all other spiritual teaching. May our dear children know the cross, and they will have begun well. With all their gettings may they get an understanding of this, and they will have the foundation rightly laid.

This will necessitate your teaching the child his need of a Saviour. You must not hold back from this needful task. Do not flatter the child with delusive rubbish about his nature being good and needing to be developed. Tell him he must be born again. Don't bolster him up with the fancy of his own innocence, but show him his sin. Mention the childish sins to which he is prone, and pray the Holy Spirit to work conviction in his heart and conscience. Deal with the young in much the same way as you would with the old. Be thorough and honest with them. Flimsy religion is neither good for young nor old. These boys and girls need pardon through the precious blood as surely as any of us. Do not hesitate to tell the child his ruin; he will not else desire the remedy. Tell him also of the punishment of sin, and warn him of its terror. Be tender, but be true. Do not hide from the youthful sinner the truth, however terrible it may be. Set before him the coming judgment, and remind him that he will have to give an account of himself to God. Labor to arouse the conscience; and pray God the Holy Spirit to work by you until the heart becomes tender and the mind perceives the need of the great salvation.

Children need to learn the doctrine of the cross that they may find immediate salvation. Believe that God will save your children. Be not content to sow principles in their minds which may possibly develop in later years; but be working for immediate conversion. Expect fruit in your children while they are children. Pray for them that they may not run into the world and fall into the evils of outward sin, and then come back with broken bones to the Good Shepherd; but that they may by God's rich grace be kept from the paths of the destroyer, and grow up in the fold of Christ, first as lambs of His flock and then as sheep of His hand.

One thing I am sure of is that if we teach the children the doctrine of the atonement in the most unmistakable terms, we shall be doing ourselves good. I sometimes hope that God will revive His church and restore her to her ancient faith by a gracious work among children. If He would bring into our churches a large influx of young people, how it would tend to quicken the sluggish blood of the supine and sleepy! Child Christians tend to keep the house alive. Oh, for more of them!

If the Lord will but help us to teach the children we shall be teaching ourselves. There is no way of learning like teaching, and you do not know a thing until you can teach it to another. More so, you do not thoroughly know any truth until you can put it before a child so that he can see it. In trying to make a little child understand the doctrine of the atonement you will get clearer views of it yourself, and therefore I commend the holy exercise to you.

What a mercy it will be if our children are thoroughly grounded in the doctrine of redemption by Christ! If they are warned against the false gospels of this evil age, and if they are taught to rest on the eternal rock of Christ's finished work, we may hope to have a generation following us which will maintain the faith, and will be better than their fathers.

Taken from the sermon "The Blood of Sprinkling and the Children" by C.H. Spurgeon.

Part 2: Children Educated for Christ

A question that needs to be solemnly considered by Christian parents is, "Have we neglected to educate our children for the express purpose of serving Christ in the advancement of His kingdom?" I fear that many of us think that parental duty is limited to labors for the salvation of our children; that we have prayed for them only that they may be saved; instructed them only that they may be saved. Infinitely important, indeed, it is, that they should be saved. But if ardent desires for the glory of our Redeemer and the salvation of souls glowed in our hearts like an inextinguishable flame, our most earnest prayers from their very birth, would be, that they might not only be saved, but live lives faithful and pleasing to the Lord, and thus be instrumental in saving others and serving Him.

Perhaps this is due in part to our own faulty comprehension of the service of Christ. It may well be that we have only concerned ourselves with the matter of salvation, and while maintaining a godly walk, have not yielded our all to the service of Christ. Instead we have just gone along thinking of our own needs as we await the day when we will go and be happy in heaven. Thus "one generation passeth away, and another cometh," to live and die in the same manner while the mass of the world's population still lies in ruin.

There is need, then, of an appeal to CHRISTIAN PARENTS. This "seeking our own, not the things which are Christ's," must cease, if souls are ever to be converted and saints established in the truths of discipleship and worship. We must act, and teach our children to act more faithfully, according to that Scripture, "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15). Why should we not give our children as living treasures to Christ and His service?

Your duty is to do all which is comprehended in the injunction, "bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"; assured that the time will come when it will be said to you by the voice of Providence, respecting each, "the Lord hath need of him"; and he will be led to that station in which the Lord will be pleased to bless him.

What QUALIFICATION will best prepare our children to be efficient servants of Christ?

Above all, piety. They must fervently love Christ and His kingdom; heartily consecrate themselves to His service; and be ready for any self-denial, sacrifice, or work to which He may call. Eminent piety it must be, "counting all things but loss for … Christ." A godliness which thus glows and prays to live, labor, and suffer for Christ, is the grand qualification to be sought in your child.

We come now to speak more particularly of the DUTIES OF PARENTS in training sons and daughters for the service of Christ.

1. Pray much, respecting your great work. "Who is sufficient for these things?" well may you say. But God says, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Keep near the throne of grace, with this great subject weighing upon your spirit. Half your work is to be done in prayer. If that part of the work is neglected, the rest will not get done either. You must have wisdom from above in training servants for the Most High. Commune with God respecting the particular case of each of your children. While you do this you will obtain views of duty which human wisdom never can attain; and feel motives which will be nowhere else rightly appreciated. In the final day, there will, doubtless, be disclosures of transactions of Christian parents with God, respecting their children, which will delightfully explain the secret of their devotedness and usefulness.

2. Cultivate a tender sense of parental accountability. God holds you accountable for the character of your children. You are to "give account thereof in the day of judgment" for what you do, or neglect to do, for the right formation of your children's characters. You may so educate them, that, by the sanctifying grace of God, they will be the instruments of salvation to hundreds, yea, thousands; and through your neglect of them, hundreds, thousands, may be lost, and their blood be required at your hands. You cannot divest yourself of this responsibility. You must act under it, and meet it "in the judgment." Remember this with godly fear, and yet "encourage yourself in the Lord." If faithful in prayer, and in doing what you there acknowledge as your duty, you will find sustaining grace. And the thought will be delightful, as well as solemn, "I am permitted to train these immortals to glorify God in their lives and in blessing to the lives of others."

3. Have a devoted spirit yourself. Your soul must be in health, and prosper; must burn with love to Christ and His kingdom; and all your instructions be enforced by a godly example, if you would lead your children to live devotedly. The father of a large family, most of them saved, was asked, "What means have you employed with your children?" He said, "I have endeavored so to live, as to show them that it was my own grand purpose to go to heaven, and to take them along with me."

4. Give godly instruction EARLY. Watch for opportunities in every stage of childhood. Early impressions will last through life, while later ones fade away. Said a missionary, "I recollect particularly, that once my mother came and stood by me as I sat in the door, and tenderly talked to me of God and my soul's concerns; and her tears dropped upon my head. That made me a missionary."

5. Seek the early conversion of your children. Regard every day of their continuance out of Christ as an increase of their danger and guilt. Pray for this: "Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children" (Lamentations 2:19). Hope for the early bestowment of divine grace from such promises as this: "I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel" (Isaiah 44:3-5). The history of some families is a delightful fulfillment of this promise. Young hearts are the best in which to lay, deep and broad, the foundations of usefulness. There is no hope that your child will do anything for Christ till you can see him at the foot of the cross, repenting, believing, devoting himself.

Desire the early conversion of your children, that they may have the longest possible time in this world to serve Christ. If "the dew of thy youth" be devoted to God, advancing years are sure to be marked with proportionate maturity of Christian character and fitness for more efficient labors for Christ.

6. Maintain familiar Christian intercourse with your children. Converse with them as freely and affectionately on Scriptural subjects as on others. If you are a warmhearted and prosperous Christian, you will do this, naturally and easily. Let godly intimacy be interwoven with your whole family habits.

7. Place and keep before the mind of your child, as the great object for which he should live, the glory of God and the salvation of men. We do much to give direction to the mind, and form the character of the child, by placing an object for life, before him. Men of the world know and act on this principle. So should the Christian. The object above-named is the only one worthy of an immortal and renewed soul, and prepares the way for the noblest elevation of character. It will raise him above living to himself and constrain him to fidelity in his Lord's service, teaching him to lay at the foot of the cross attainments, eminence, influence, honor, wealth—all things, and to live in the desire, "Father, glorify Thy name."

8. Choose instructors for your children with great care. Know to whose influence you commit your son or daughter. You have a great and sacred object to accomplish. The teachers of your children must be such as will aid you in that object. Correct moral character in a teacher is not enough. This is often allied with dangerous religious opinions. Your child should be placed under the care of a self-dedicated teacher, who will feel in relation to his charge, "I am to aid this parent in training a servant for Christ." In your choice of a school, never be governed merely by its reputation as literary, fashionable, or popular. The "best" school may have no vitality from decided Christian influence, and may even be poisoned by erroneous spiritual views in the instructors. Christian parent, your prayers and your best efforts may all be frustrated by the influence of a teacher who has not love for Christ. [Editor's note: The difficulty also arises in regard to instructing our children in the truths of God's Word concerning the assembly. A school may be a so-called Christian school, but it does not teach the important truths of the church of God, with Christ as the Head, and all believers as priests to function in the body of Christ. Instead it indoctrinates its students in the unscriptural ways of man's organized system of religion with the possible sad consequence of leading our beloved children away from the assembly, where His Spirit is free to lead in worship and ministry in the midst of His people gathered to His name alone. Of course, if you have no choice in the matter, you can teach your young children the truths of God at home, as did Moses' parents, and then commit them to God to keep by the Word that has been instilled in them at an early age. Many godly parents over the years have proven the sufficiency and power of His Word to keep their young from the evil of the world and the ways of man's religion.]

9. Be cautious of defeating your own efforts for the spiritual welfare of your children by not keeping them separate from the world. Neglect of some essential duty, though you may perform many others, will do this. Prayer without instruction will not do; nor instruction without a right example; nor prayer in the family without earnest wrestlings in the closet; nor all these together, without watching over them, to keep them out of temptation. Be afraid of indulging them in vain amusements and associations of the world. A mother once went to a meeting of her female friends, and asked their supplications for her daughter, whom she had permitted, at that very time, to attend a dance; and justified herself in the rashness and inconsistency of the permission, by reference to her own early habits of seeking pleasures of the world. If parents will permit their children to run directly into "the snare of the devil," let them, at least, not mock God by entreating Christians to pray that He will take care of them there. If they do, let them not wonder if their children live "the servants of sin," and die the "vessels of wrath." Scripture calls such conduct spiritual adultery, adding that "friendship with the world is enmity with God."

10. Guard yourself against setting them the example of inconsistency in your spiritual life: now, all fervor and bustle; then, languid, having scarce the breath of spiritual life. A son or daughter will say, "My father's religion is one of fits and starts, of times and seasons. It is everything now, but it will soon be nothing, as before." If you would have your children serve Christ faithfully, do so yourself. Be afraid of periodical living for Christ, which all at once breaks out from the midst of worldliness and unfaithfulness, like a mountain torrent, swollen by spring floods, but which, after a few days, comes to nothing; leaving a channel dry, rocky, silent as death. The truest piety is like the deep, full river; noiseless, fed by living springs; always flowing, beautifying. Be of that humble, steadfast, heartfelt, industrious Christian character by which your children shall see that the service of Christ is the great business of life, and thus be constrained to enter into it "with all their hearts."

11. Be cautious of encouraging your children to seek after the manner of this world. Seeking its honors, entering into its ambitious strifes, and pursuing its habits and fashions may seem harmless, but remember the divine instruction: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." A Christian parent has said, "I have observed many instances of parents, exemplary, faithful, and judicious, with their children, till perhaps fifteen years old; and then the desire to have them associate with distinguished people, and the dread of having them without many friends, would cause them to turn right about and allow them to dress and act like worldly people, and even seek out worldly companions for them." And parents have smarted severely under the rod of divine chastisement; been mortified, yea, had their hearts broken for such sins, in the disastrous consequences to the character of their children who have been thus "conformed to this world."

12. Be cautious what views and feelings you foster in your children respecting material things. The love of property, in families called Christian, is one of the greatest hindrances to the spread of the gospel. Parents set their children the example of seeking to be rich and having "much goods" as though this were all for which God made them. Teach your children to remember what God has said: "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine." Remind them that you and they are stewards, going to give up their account. Treat the acquirement of property as of importance only that you may do good, and honor Christ. Let not your children expect you to make them heirs to large possessions. Let them see you regularly giving, "as God has prospered you," to the Lord's work. They will follow your example when you have gone to your reward. To leave your children the inheritance of your own devoted spirit and benevolent habits will be infinitely more desirable than to bequeath to them "thousands of gold and silver" which may be to their spiritual ruin, only serving to lead them away from a walk of faith, obedience, and dependance on God.

As an aid to this, every parent should teach his family biblical financial stewardship, as a matter of Christian principle. Early in their lives form their consciences to the practice of a benevolent, frugal spirit. Teach them that "it is more blessed to give than to receive": to write "holiness to the Lord" upon their pocket money, instead of spending it for useless or hurtful indulgences; to study simplicity and economy in dress, furniture, style of living; and to regard all useless expenditure of money as sin against God.

13. Be cautious of frustrating your efforts for the spiritual good of your children, by wrong habits in your family. Levity in conversation, dull and hasty formality in family worship, worldly conduct on the Lord's day, and critical remarks, keep whole families of children in the neglect of following Christ. Guard also against gloom, sanctimoniousness, and moroseness. Some professing parents seem to have just enough religion to make them unhappy, and all the unloveliness in temperament and habits which naturally comes of having consciences irritated by their unfaithful "manner of life." There is a heavenly cheerfulness and sweetness in some Christians, which declares to their children that Christ is a blessed as well as serious reality; and gives them an influence and a power to win them to the service of Christ inestimable. Cultivate this. Let "the love of God, shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost," continually prove to your children that He is the source of the truest enjoyment, of the richest blessings.

14. If you would have your children obedient servants of Christ, you must govern them well. Subordination is one grand law of His kingdom. Implicit obedience to your authority will well accord with the submission your child must render to Christ.

A well-governed child, when he becomes a Christian, is ready to "serve the Lord Jesus Christ, with all humility of mind" in any work to which he is called, and will work kindly, harmoniously, and efficiently with others. He enters his Lord's field, saying, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O my God." He will have that heavenly spirit, "the meekness and gentleness of Christ," and as he goes forward from duty to duty, will be able to say with David, "my soul is as a weaned child" and "I delight to do Thy will, O my God!" With such a spirit he will find precious satisfaction in a life of successful labor for his Lord on earth, "in hope of the glory of God."

We may learn how to prepare our children for the service of Christ from the manner in which a holy God governs. His is the government of a Father; persuasive without weakness; in love and mercy, and yet in accordance with justice; patient and forbearing, yet strict in the rebuke and punishment of offenses. He loves His children, but chastens them for their profit; employs encouragements to obedience, but in His determination to be obeyed, He is firm as His own everlasting throne. He gives His children every reason to fear offending Him; still He assures that to love and serve Him shall be to them the beginning of heaven on earth.

Christian parents, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with they might." The days of educating our children for Christ are passing away on the swift wings of time. Let our aim be at higher attainments in godliness for all of our children, so that not just a very few among them are "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."

—Author Unknown

Part 3: Moses and Training of Children

"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward" (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Moses is given here as a great example of the truth that faith often begins in the parents. The apostle speaks to Timothy of the unfeigned faith that dwelt in his grandmother first, then in his mother, "and I am persuaded in thee also."

Faith in Moses' parents was shown in the fact that he was hid by them three months, "because they saw he was a proper child ["beautiful" JND]" or "fair unto God" as Stephen says in Acts 7:21 (JND). They believed he would be a fitting instrument for God to use, and so they hid him in spite of the commandment that every male should be cast into the river. And when his mother could no longer hide him, she takes the king literally at his word. She puts the child at the river's brink, but in the ark, typically, in Christ.

So with us now. As we look upon the children God has given us we say, Oh let them be beautiful for God throughout eternity! First, we throw every safeguard about them. We try to hide them from the evil in the world, but as they grow up, we can no longer keep them under our eye constantly, and we eventually have to launch them out in this evil world—sent off to school or some employment. How faith, by God's grace, does as Moses' parents! They put the child of their care in the ark as it were, and say, "If he must be launched out upon the river, we put him in this ark, and we will count upon God for him." So godly parents commit their dear ones to Christ as they send them off—counting upon that precious Saviour who has saved us to keep our dear ones and to bring them unspotted out of all that into which they will be thrown.

Let us not be afraid to have faith for our children, to lay hold upon God for them before they are able to lay hold upon Him for themselves. People say, a child must believe for himself. You cannot believe for him. Yes, you can in a very real way, as Moses' parents believed for him. Suppose they had not believed for him. Suppose they had said, If he were older, he might trust in God; but we must cast him into the river. That would have been the end of Moses as far as human power was concerned. But what a place they put him in! You know how he was taken from the river's brink by Pharaoh's daughter, adopted by her, and then put back under his mother's care until he was of sufficient age to go permanently back to the king's court.

Every advantage was given to him, but God's tender care had given him also all the benefit of a mother's love and training in the fear of God and His ways. How diligently that dear mother must have made use of her time! How she must have instilled into his mind the promises of the God of their fathers! How she must have taught that young child that he was identified with those bondsmen who yet were the people of God! How she must have told him of the promises of God—that He would visit them and bring them up out of that land, and give them an inheritance! No doubt she made faithful and diligent use of her opportunities; and, as Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give thee thy wages." What wages has a faithful mother, if she has spent time and strength and prayers in bringing up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!

—Samuel Ridout

Part 4: Family Worship

There are some very important outward ordinances and means of grace which are plainly implied in the Word of God, but for the exercise of which we have few, if any, plain and positive precept. Rather we are left to gather them from the example of holy men and from various incidental circumstances. An important end is answered by this arrangement: trial is thereby made of the state of our hearts. It serves to make evident whether, because an expressed command cannot be brought requiring its performance, professing Christians will neglect a duty plainly implied. Thus, more of the real state of our minds is discovered, and it is made manifest whether we have or have not an ardent love for God and His service. This holds good both of public and family worship. Nevertheless, it is not at all difficult to prove the obligation of domestic piety.

Consider first the example of Abraham, the father of the faithful and the friend of God. It was for his domestic piety that he received blessing from Jehovah Himself, "For I know him, that he will command his children and household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment" (Genesis 18:19). The patriarch is here commended for instructing his children and servants in the most important of all duties, "the way of the Lord"—the truth about His glorious person, His high claims upon us, and His requirements from us. Note well the words "he will command" them, that is, he would use the authority God had given him as a father and head of his house, to enforce the duties of family godliness. Abraham also prayed with as well as instructed his family: wherever he pitched his tent, there he "built an altar to the Lord" (Genesis 12:7; 13:4). Now my readers, we may well ask ourselves, Are we "Abraham's seed" (Galatians 3:29) if we "do not the works of Abraham" (John 8:39) and neglect the weighty duty of family worship?

The examples of other holy men are similar to that of Abraham's. Consider the pious determination of Joshua who declared to Israel, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). Neither the exalted station which he held, nor the pressing public duties which developed upon him, were allowed to crowd out his attention to the spiritual well-being of his family. Again, when David brought back the ark of God to Jerusalem with joy and thanksgiving, after discharging his public duties, he "returned to bless his household" (2 Samuel 6:20). In addition to these eminent examples we may cite the cases of Job (Job 1:5) and Daniel (Daniel 6:10). Limiting ourselves to only one in the New Testament, we think of the history of Timothy, who was reared in a godly home. Paul called to remembrance the "unfeigned faith" which was in him, and added, "which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice." Is there any wonder then that the apostle could say "from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures" (2 Timothy 3:15)?

On the other hand, we may observe what fearful threatenings are pronounced against those who disregard this duty. We wonder how many of our readers have seriously pondered these awe-inspiring words "Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name" (Jeremiah 10:25). How unspeakably solemn to find that prayerless families are here coupled with the heathen that know not the Lord. Yet need that surprise us? There are many heathen families who unite together in worshiping their false gods. And do not they put many professing Christians to shame? Observe too that this verse recorded a fearful curse upon both classes alike: "Pour out Thy fury upon …" How loudly should these words speak to us.

It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our closets; we are required to honor God in our families as well. Each day the whole household should be gathered together to bow before the Lord—parents and children—to confess their sins, to give thanks for God's mercies, to seek His help and blessing. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this duty: all other domestic arrangements are to bend to it. The head of the house is the one to lead the devotions, but if he be absent, or seriously ill, or an unbeliever, then the wife should take his place. Under no circumstances should family worship be omitted. If we would enjoy the blessing of God upon our family, then let its members gather together daily for praise and prayer. "Them that honor Me I will honor" is His promise.

An old writer well said, "A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all the storms of heaven." All our domestic comforts and temporal mercies issue from the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the best we can do in return is to gratefully acknowledge, together, His goodness to us as a family. Excuses against the discharge of this sacred duty are idle and worthless. Of what avail will it be when we render an account to God for the stewardship of our families to say that we had not time available, working hard from morning until evening? The more pressing be our temporal duties, the greater our need of seeking spiritual succor. Nor may any Christian plead that he is not qualified for such a work.

Family worship should be conducted reverently, earnestly, and simply. It is then that the little ones will receive their first impressions and form their initial conceptions of the Lord God. Great care needs to be taken lest a false idea be given them of the divine character. For this, the balance must be preserved between dwelling upon His transcendency and immanency, His holiness and His mercy, His might and His tenderness, His justice and His grace. Worship should begin with a few words of prayer invoking God's presence and blessing. A short passage from His Word should follow, with brief comments thereon. Two or three verses of a hymn may be sung. Close with a prayer of committal into the hands of God. Though we may not be able to pray eloquently, we should pray earnestly. Prevailing prayers are usually brief ones. Beware of wearying the young ones.

The advantages and blessings of family worship are incalculable. First, family worship will prevent much sin. It awes the soul, conveys a sense of God's majesty and authority, sets solemn truths before the mind, brings down benefits from God on the home. Personal piety in the home is a most influential means, under God, of conveying piety on the little ones. Children are largely creatures of imitation, loving to copy what they see in others. "He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments" (Psalm 78:5-7). How much of the dreadful moral and spiritual conditions of the masses today may be traced back to the neglect of their fathers in this duty? How can those who neglect the worship of God in their families look for peace and comfort therein? Daily prayer in the home is a blessed means of grace for allaying those unhappy passions to which our common nature is subject. Finally, family prayer gains for us the presence and blessing of the Lord. Many have found in family worship that help and communion with God which they sought for with less effect in private prayer.

—A.W. Pink