But what is family prayer?  It is not simply individual prayer, not the altar of the closet; but the home-altar, around which all the members gather morning and evening, as a family-unit, with one heart, one faith and one hope, to commune with God and supplicate his mercy.  “In the devotion of this little assembly,” says Dr. Dwight, “parents pray for their children, and children for their parents; the husband for the wife, and the wife for the husband; while brothers and sisters send up their requests to the throne of Infinite Mercy, to call down blessings on each other.  Who that wears the name of a man can be indifferent here?  Must not the venerable character of the parent, the peculiar tenderness of the conjugal union, the affectionate intimacy of the filial and fraternal relations; must not the nearest of relations long existing, the interchange of kindness long continued, and the oneness of interests long cemented,—­all warm the heart, heighten the importance of every petition, and increase the fervor of every devotional effort?”

What scene can be more lovely on earth, more like the heavenly home, and more pleasing to God, than that of a pious family kneeling with one accord around the home-altar, and uniting their supplications to their Father in heaven!  How sublime the act of those parents who thus pray for the blessing of God upon their household!  How lovely the scene of a pious mother gathering her little ones around her at the bedside, and teaching them the privilege of prayer!  And what a safeguard is this home-devotion, against all the machinations of Satan!

          “Our hearths are altars all;
  The prayers of hungry souls and poor,
  Like armed angels at the door,
          Our unseen foes appal!”

It is this which makes home a type of heaven, the dwelling place of God.  The family altar is heaven’s threshold.  And happy are those children who at that altar, have been consecrated by a father’s blessing, baptized by a mother’s tears, and borne up to heaven upon their joint petitions, as a voluntary thank-offering to God.  The home that has honored God with an altar of devotion may well be called blessed.

  “Child, amidst the flowers at play,
  While the red light fades away;
  Mother, with thine earnest eye
  Ever following silently;
  Father, by the breeze of eve
  Called thy warmest work to leave;
  Pray!—­ere yet the dark hours be,
  Lift the heart and bend the knee.”

The duty thus to establish family prayer is imperative.  It is a duty because God commands it, and the mission of home cannot be fulfilled without it.  It is a duty because a privilege and a blessing, and the condition of parental efficiency in all other duties;—­because the moral and spiritual growth of the child depends upon it.  It is one of the most effectual means of grace.  All the instructions, all the discipline and example, of the parent will be in vain without