The Christian Home / As it is in the Sphere of Nature and the Church; Showing the Mission, Duties, Influences, Habits, and Responsibilities of Home, its Education, Government, and Discipline; with Hints on "Match Making," and the Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children; together with a consideration of the Tests in the Selection of a Companion, Etc.

by Samuel Philips

The prayers of hungry souls and poor,

Like armed angels at the door,

Our unseen foes appal!"

It is this which makes home a type of heaven, the dwelling place of God. The family altar is heaven’s threshold. And happy are those children who at that altar, have been consecrated by a father’s blessing, baptized by a mother’s tears, and borne up to heaven upon their joint petitions, as a voluntary thank-offering to God. The home that has honored God with an altar of devotion may well be called blessed.

"Child, amidst the flowers at play,

While the red light fades away;

Mother, with thine earnest eye

Ever following silently;

Father, by the breeze of eve

Called thy warmest work to leave;