Influence of Family Worship In Affliction (3)

There are houses in our world of suffering where the wonderful dealing of providence presses with long-continued chastisement; sorrows which abide for years, and from which nothing promises an outlet but death — which brings with it the cure of all evils to the righteous, and the answer of all prayers. There are thorns in the flesh which God does not see good to extract; domestic crosses, constitutional infirmities, vexations which left, like the Canaanites in the land, incurable pains and diseases. In these it is a blessed thing to pray and to pray in fellowship. To these the daily worship is a morning and an evening balm, indispensable as the “necessary food.” Remove this agency, and you strike out the light of the dwelling. Aged and solitary persons, and victims of mental depression, crave the social flow of affection, which is afforded by family worship. Having ceased to look for the pity of the world, they need the more those communications which are made in the hour of prayer, and here they sometimes learn to “glory in tribulation also.” Forlorn, indeed, are such sufferers in prayerless households. It is no common trial for a solitary believer to spend a lifetime in a family where there is no other voice to cry to God. And blessed is that institution, handed down to us from our forefathers, by means of which a refreshing stream is daily conducted through the habitation.

A single mourner is, perhaps, found in a household: a “stricken deer” that left the herd “long since, with many an arrow deep infixed.” Common sympathy does not reach such a case, but it is reached by devotion. Secret balsams of Christian love often distil on the wounded heart, in the season of domestic worship, though not a syllable be uttered, which, by rude allusion, could shock the sensitive mind. Prayers offered in the presence of such a one take a form which soothes, instructs, and elevates. There is society in worship, even for the most secluded mourner. The daily sanctuary of the household would be worth all it can ever cost, if it did no more than minister to this “mind diseased.” In a long night of pilgrimage, without the lights of earthly hope, prayer opens views of the better country, for we are never nearer to heaven than when we are upon our knees.

But, reverting to those afflictions which are felt by a whole family, we may observe that they offer remarkable occasions for experiencing the benefits of household devotion. The soul is mollified by grief; every word spoken at such times sinks deeply. Supposing the head of the family to be suitably exercised, his experience will diffuse itself to the members. The youngest and the most worldly will be called to join in lively expressions, which may awaken them to reflection, and lead them to turn the dispensations of providence to spiritual account. The profound humiliation of a heart-stricken father, his penitent confessions of sin, his unreserved submission to the stroke of God’s hand, his moving entreaties for deliverance, comfort, and grace, and his irrepressible intercessions with God for his unconverted children — these are appeals more likely to go to the heart of the impenitent, in a time of sorrow, than all the amplifications of eloquence. And as afflictions are sure to be remembered, this means will cause them to be remembered as associated with the most affecting truths of religion.

Let us not forget, that God doth not always chide, neither doth He keep His anger for ever. Though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. Prayers are answered. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. Then comes the time for thanksgiving; to praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. A whole family engaged in rendering thanks is a delightful spectacle. The place to behold it is the chamber of family prayer. The psalms and praises of such a service are better than mountains of sacrifice. The house from which they ascend is a Bethel. Where God’s worship has been maintained for years, one may look back upon the successive seasons of deliverance and gratitude, and see each one marked with its separate Ebenezer. Can religious professors willingly spend their lives in the reception of divine benefits, and yet withhold from themselves and their children the appropriate solemnity for such tribute of thanksgiving? Shame on the degeneracy of our day, which has made household irreligion a common thing, even within the pale of the visible church!

We have enlarged upon the topic of affliction, as connected with family worship, because afflictions are the common lot of all and because they remarkably show the value of this institution. We know no sight more touching than that of a Christian family, under some humbling, piercing dispensation, all gathered in the accustomed place of prayer, like fearful birds overtaken by a storm, seeking the Lord God of Israel under whose wings they have come to trust (Ruth 2:12). Rising from prayer, and separating for the night, they find their agitations calmed by the presence of the Comforter, and can say with hope: “Oh Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble” (Isa. 32:2).

The ungodly are not so. These softening and consoling influences are unknown to them. Their griefs are sullen. No fellowship in waiting upon God lifts them above the cold, barren prospect of earthly consolations. Their dwellings are dark and wintry, in respect to any stated service of God. And, alas, they are imitated by many in the church who endure the strokes of chastisement again and again, and even sustain the arrows of death, without having ever known what it was to come together as a family, for prayer. Would it be credited by a Jew, a Mohammedan, or a heathen, that men who profess the religion of Jesus and sit down at His table, die and are carried out to burial from houses in which their voices have never been heard in prayer?

Dr. James W. Alexander (1804–1859) was the eldest son of the renowned Archibald Alexander.

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