The Influence of Family Worship on Posterity (1)

He was a churl who said, “Why should I care for posterity? What has posterity done for me?” Only a mean and selfish mind can be indifferent as to what is coming on the earth. If any such meaning was involved in the obscure words of King Hezekiah, he was certainly not generous in his thoughts, when, on hearing the sentence of God, he exclaimed, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?” (2 Kings 20:19). We take pleasure in receiving the words in a nobler sense.

There are men, however, whose maxim is, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). They close their eyes to everything which may happen after they are gone, content to live in self-indulgence, and to let their children take their chance. The religion of the Bible sets itself in stern opposition to such a temper. It constantly directs our view to children, and children’s children; teaching us that all the good which we have is to be transmitted. The church, the Bible, and the sacraments, are made a part of this chain. Our children are brought to baptism, as the sons of ancient believers were brought to circumcision, that they may be introduced into this series, and the blessings of the church are a sacred trust for remote ages.

While it is true that all religious institutions affect posterity, it is more eminently true that those institutions have this tendency, which bear primarily and directly on the family connection. If the piety of any man is likely to carry its impulse into coming years, more signally will that piety do so, which, through sovereign grace, flows from the father to the child, and above all in those particular acts which concern the education of the child. We never aim so immediately at the next generation, as when we govern the parental influence; it is directing and purifying the spring, before it widens into the stream. The geometri-cal ratio of human increase adds force to this consideration, and shows that in the economy of means we work at a great advantage, when we secure any good to the prolific source of multitudes of men. It is, therefore, far more hopeful to pour truth and holiness on a single household, now, than to found a system which shall address its influence to hundreds half a century hence. Family religion gathers fresh importance when we extend our views a little into the future.

It has pleased God to have special regard to the transmission of religion by domestic means. His covenant is from father to son. He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Circumcision was the “token of the covenant,” between Jehovah and His people (Gen. 17:11). The passover was a family rite. It had regard to posterity. “Ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever” (Ex. 12:24). It was part of the annual family worship of Israel. It was a means of instruction for the perpetuation of the truth. “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, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses” (Exodus 12:26,27). Infant baptism, which has come in the place of the ancient initiation, under the enlarged privileges of the Christian church, has not abandoned the principle, but involves the obligation of parents to pray with and for their children, and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The gracious promises of God to his church, while they do not necessarily transmit salvation in the line of natural descent, perpetually recognize the relation of parent and child. God determines that His great favors shall descend from age to age. The promise is to you and to your children. From the beginning of the world, He has dealt with mankind on the family principle. Every covenant has comprised succeeding generations. The federal and representative element, variously modified, is in every system, from Eden to Pentecost. It is breathed in the first promise—it beams in the bow of Ararat—it fills the starry page of Abraham (Gen. 15:5) — it is uttered through the fires of Sinai —it is inscribed on the bloody lintel of Egypt—it flows in the household-baptism of the New Testament. God, in His sovereign pleasure, makes the parental and filial relation the means of great blessing in natural things; He is further pleased to sanctify it, and use it as a vehicle for heavenly things. He might have saved us singly, in insulation, plucking one and another from the corrupt, perishing mass. It would have been infinite grace! But, blessed be His Name, He has decreed otherwise. The “word of this life” is not a cistern, but a fountain; and it flows from father to child. Not that by natural descent, or inheritance, we can convey this deposit. Not that the succession is always unbroken. Even here Jehovah reserves a place for the display of His sovereignty, and a motive for the diligence of the parent. Ah! we cannot forget the names of Hoph-ni and Phinehas, of Amnon and Absalom. Yet the principle abides. Branches may die, but the tree still flourishes. Families may die out, but the race is not extinct. Nay, more, it is remarkable how generally and how widely religion descends in the line of father and son. There is every thing to encourage prayer and faithful training, and living hope, even while we are not allowed to look for the salvation of our children as a matter of course.

Here is our chief hope for posterity. This kindles an altar of perpetual fire in the house. This lightens our faces when we hold our little ones for the affusion of baptism. This revives our souls when we fold their hands in ours, as they kneel beside us. This consecrates the delightful moment, when their lisping words first echo to us the name of Jesus. This spreads a canopy of promise over the morning and the evening group in the tabernacle of prayer. And this lifts us above ourselves when we catch a Sabbath glimpse of the towers of the sanctuary, and lead our chief treasures along the way; when the little hand throbs in ours, and we say, “Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord.”

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 (1864) and Thoughts on Preaching (1864). This article is drawn from his Thoughts on Family Worship (1847).

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