Character of the family

From the Desert Rat of Morgan

 I was challenged by this today.

"As the family is the most intimate bond of fellowship among men, it is of the utmost importance that it should be hallowed by religion. All the relations of parents [and] children...are purified and strengthened when the whole household is statedly assembled, morning and evening, for worship of God. There is no substitute for this divinely appointed means of promoting family religion...the head of the family should be able to read the Scriptures as well as lead in prayer...all persons subject to the watch or care of the Church should be required to maintain in their household this stated worship of God. The character of the Church and of the state depends on the character of the family. If religion dies out in the family, it cannot elsewhere be maintained. A man's responsibility to his children, as well as to God, binds him to make his house a Bethel; if not a Bethel, it will be a dwelling place of evil spirits."
- Charles Hodge (1797-1878), Systematic Theology, vol. 3, pg. 706