THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.

BY REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER.


It is a very general remark, at the present time, throughout our
country, and the complaint comes back, especially from the great West,
through those who are familiarly acquainted with society there, that
there is a growing spirit of insubordination in the family, and, of
course, in the State; and it is ascribed to laxity and neglect in the
_Mothers_ as much as in the Fathers. Its existence is even made the
matter of public comment on such occasions as the celebration of the
landing of our Pilgrim Fathers, those bright exemplars of family
religion. And grave divines and theological professors, in their
addresses to the people, deprecate it as a growing evil of the times.

Now, without entering into other specifications here, may it not be that
a chief reason for the _increase_ of family insubordination is to be
found in the DECREASE OF FAMILY RELIGION? By this we mean
Religion in the household; in other words, the inculcation and
observance of the duties of religion in American families, in their
organized capacity as separate religious communities. Family religion,
in this sense, implies the acknowledgment of God in the family circle,
by the assembling of all its members around the domestic altar, morning
and evening, and by united prayer and praise to the God of the families
of all flesh; by the invocation of God's blessing and the giving of
thanks at every social repast; by the strict observance of the Sabbath;
and by the religious instruction and training of children and servants,
and the constant recognition of God's providence and care. This
constitutes, and these are the duties of family religion--duties which