The commendation bestowed by Paul upon Timothy, was that "from a child" he
enjoyed the "unfeigned faith" of his mother Eunice and his grandmother
Lois. Paul exhorts Christians thus: "Rule well your own houses; speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." The same family
religion was a prominent feature of the homes of the primitive Christians.
With them, every house was a sanctuary, and every parent a minister in holy
things to its members. The bible was not only a parlor ornament, but a lamp
to their feet and a guide to their path, used, meditated upon, prayed over.
Says Turtullian of its members, "They are united in spirit and in flesh;
they kneel down together; they pray and fast together; they teach, exhort
and support each other with gentleness."

How, alas! have Christian homes degenerated since then in family piety!
They received a reviving impulse in the Reformation; yet even this was
meteor-like, and seemed but the transient glow of some mere natural
emotion. The fire which then flashed so brilliantly upon the altar of home,
has now become taper-like and sepulchral; and the altar of family religion,
like the altar of Jehovah upon Mt. Carmel, has been demolished, and
forsaken. Only here and there do we find a Christian home erect and
surround a Christian altar. Parents seem now ashamed to serve the Lord at
home. They have neither time nor inclination. Upon the subject of religion
they maintain a bashful, sullen, wonderful silence before their families.
They seem to be impressed with the strange idea that their wives and
children put no confidence in their piety, (and may they not have reason
for it?) and that it would, therefore, be vain for them to pray, or exhort
their households. "Many walk thus," says Paul, "of whom I have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the
cross of Christ!" Upon them shall be answered the prayer of Jeremiah, "Oh
Lord, pour out thy fury upon the families that call not upon thy name!"