It is barely possible that because of conditions family prayers may not
be conducted to-day as in other days, but there is at least time for a
verse of scripture and a prayer out of a full heart, and the influence
of even so brief a service will keep the members of the household from
many a failure.

Church attendance is not what it once was. The old-fashioned family pew
is a thing of the past in too many cases. In other days the father, the
mother, and the children attended divine worship in the house of God.
They sang the hymns of the church together; they worshipped God with
the same spirit of devotion; they listened to the minister's preaching
and they came forth from such a service clothed with a power that made
them able to stand against the mightiest influences for evil. Because
the family pew is out of date many boys are wandering, and many girls
have gone astray.

With the beginning of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah there is a change
in the story as told by the Prophet. There is a ring of triumph when he
announces: "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together
unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work," Nehemiah
iv. 6. And the completeness of his work is described when he says: "Now
it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors,
and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed ..."
Nehemiah vii. 1. I am sure it is quite true that out from all the
despair which sometimes appals us, we shall come into the same complete
victory. But if we are to win others to Christ and if our work is to be
a work of prevention, so that our children shall not go astray and our
friends may not wander, then it will be essential that we should, like
Nehemiah of old, begin to build everyone over against his own house. It
is a sad thing to find so many people in the world who are a public