The Influence of Family Worship in Perpetuating Sound Doctrine (1)

Those for whom these pages are chiefly intended are in nothing more fully agreed than in this: That every portion of divine truth is precious and that every deviation, however small, from the faith once delivered to the saints, is most earnestly to be deprecated. Hence, unusual care was taken by our pious forefathers in so framing compendious forms of doctrine, and so inculcating them upon the infant mind, and so exacting adherence to them from church-officers, as might best preclude departures from the original, covenanted testimony. This has not been unobserved by our adversaries, and we are familiar, as a church, with the charge of being stiff, opposed to innovations, and tenacious of the traditions of the elders.

Though no human guards can maintain sound doctrine, we must, nevertheless, avail ourselves of every lawful means. There is a constant tendency to deflect from the line of true direction. It arises from our depraved nature, and has manifested itself in every successive age, from that of the apostles downwards. Hence the necessity for God’s frequent and gracious interposition in the way of Reformation and revival. Thus the great work which was wrought by the instrumentality of Luther, was a clearing away of wood, hay, and stubble, errors, and abuses which had been built on the primitive foundation. The early Lutheran Church was comparatively pure. But even before the death of that mighty man of God, tares began to be visible among the wheat, and those who succeeded him allowed serious errors to creep in, especially in regard to the decrees of God.

The piety of ancestors conveys no hereditary blessing to their children. Nor do we believe it to be the purpose of God to connect perpetuity of faith with any form of external service, however excellent. Yet we are deeply persuaded that among the means which He is pleased to use for this end, one of the most prominent is family worship. If any thing has been attained by our investigations thus far, it has been shown that family worship is promotive of piety. It is in this very way that it is promotive of soundness in the faith. Truth and holiness act and react on one another. The first instrumentality is doubtless that of the truth, by which, in the hand of the Spirit, the work of sanctification is effected. But not less undeniable is the further influence, by which the graces of the soul foster the doctrines of the Word. All defection from the faith begins in decay of piety. Sound doctrine is a plant that will not flourish in a soil which has lost the warmth of gracious affection.

All defection from the faith begins in decay of piety.

Family worship is one of those observances which it is difficult to maintain for any length of time without at least some sentiment of reverence for evangelical truth. More public and ceremonious ordinances may continue to be rendered necessary and decorous by the customs of society; but the prayer of the household is apt to fall into disuse when the spirit in which it originated has altogether fled.

It is worthy of observation that there is something in the very temper engendered by family worship which favors persistency in the faith. It is a temper of mingled love and veneration. We entertain no respect for that youthful independence which exhibits itself in the division of Christian households, and in the going off of sons and daughters to this or that religious community. Our estimate of a young man does not rise when he takes a pride in showing that he does not care what may have been the opinion of his father. Such is not the disposition which is nurtured by the daily worship of a godly house. The body of associations, which is formed by repeatedly engaging, for long years, in acts of common devotion with honored parents, is very strong and lasting, and manifestly leads — unless there are powerful and conscientious reasons on the other part — to the maintenance of the tenets which those parents loved. The recollection of a departed father or mother, as employed in the patriarchal conduct of domestic worship, has often, we doubt not, been an operative bond to restrain the wayward youth from false teachings. And though some may be disposed, without ceremony, to tear asunder and cast away such cords as hostile to independence of thought, we have always observed them to be strongest in the most ingenuous and noble natures. Family religion is therefore eminently conservative, and stands among the barriers on which we most rely against an inundation of errors.

But there is something more than an appeal to blind affection, in the power of domestic piety to perpetuate sound doctrine. Family worship, from its very nature, keeps the mind attentive to truth, and familiar with its smallest ramifications. The way in which great truths fall into discredit, be it observed, is not by being refuted, but by being kept out of view. Who can fail to perceive the advantage of a daily exercise which holds before the minds of youth, in a natural and unobtrusive, yet satisfactory manner, the leading doctrines of religion?

Where the Scriptures are fully and statedly read in a household day by day, there is the greatest possible safeguard against error. We desire no other orthodoxy than that which is contained in this Rule of Faith. Our venerated formulas of faith were drawn up by men who, though for the most part educated under other influences, derived their tenets from the naked Word. By this we are ready to abide; and we maintain with earnestness, that the best of all methods for preventing latitudinarian declension, is a perpetual inculcation of the Scriptures, such as is continually taking place in family worship.

Dr. James 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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