The Domestic Altar by M. Wood

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 21, 1873

The Domestic Altar.

By M. Wood

Do you pray in your family, brother?

No; I have no ability to pray at home, I have no talents or gifts for prayer, and should only expose myself.

Better speak the truth, dear brother or sister, and acknowledge that you have no love for domestic prayer, that the cross is too heavy, that you have not sufficient strength to erect the family altar, and there, through the blood of Jesus, seek a closer walk with God.

A great objection is, the fear of ridicule, or being thought unnecessarily precise and strict. This, though not much brought forward, has frequently great weight with those who neglect this duty. Now, here I say, The irreligion of others is the very reason why you should be faithful to God. Imitate, here, the holy example of Noah, Abraham, Joshua, and all the servants of God. If your religion were genuine, and you stood alone in the world, it might still be said of you, in the striking expressions of Milton,

“—Faithful found Among the faithless, faithful only he; Among innumerable false, unmoved, Unshaken, undeceived, unterrified, His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal; Nor number nor example with him wrought To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind.”

Perhaps in this very thing, God is bringing the touchstone to our character. He here tries us, whether we will indeed confess Christ before men. Remember, then, “If we deny him, he will also deny us;” while on the other hand, if we confess Jesus before men, he will confess us before his Father and the holy angels. Some have regular family worship in general, but when they have some friend or relative in their house, unaccustomed to this service, they are induced by Satan and the fear of man, perhaps under the pretense of not giving offense, to neglect it. This conduct is utterly unworthy of a commandment keeping Christian.

There are some who object to family worship under the plea of not having time. They say, “I am engaged in business from morning till night.” Is this true? Then surely you who have so much to do, above all men, ought especially to seek the favor and help of God. His blessing maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it; but without it, all our endeavors and labors will profit us nothing. They will never make us happy. The want of time proceeds in most cases from indisposition to do duty.

But you say, “I do pray with my family on the Sabbath.” It is doubtless better to collect your family together on the Sabbath than not at all, but our duty does not end with the setting of the sun. We are required to instruct our families, not merely on the seventh day, the Lord’s day, but on every day; when we lie down, and when we rise up. Deut. 6:7. Your limited performance of the duty shows that you do not really love and enjoy seasons of prayer. If you did, you would more frequently engage in them.

Dear reader, do you not generally find it a weariness (Mal. 1:13), after the duties of the Sabbath, to be engaged in a service which daily custom and the benefit derived therefrom have not yet made necessary and delightful?

But again, Is not the real, though not the avowed, objection this: “I am afraid of too great a restraint upon myself, that too much will be expected from me, that I must be more consistent in my character, and more circumspect in my conduct?” Let us look well into our hearts, and see if this is not the real difficulty. And if it is, consider what a sad mark it is of a man’s spiritual condition to be afraid of a restraint on his sins. See Job 21:13-15.

M. Wood.