Organ of f he Norf h Carolina Conference.
SIXTY-FOURTH YEAR.
RALEIGH, N. C, JUNE 27, 1918
Build Again the Fallen Altar.
t
It is high time that Methodism was building again the
family altar. The time was when the family altar was a
mark of family religion. Xot to have the family altar dis
credited the religious profession of the members of that
family. It is different now.
But, in all good conscience ought it to be different ? Have
we discovered anything that can really take its place? Can
we have a religious Church with an irreligious membership?
Js it not a fact that many pastors, true shepherds of the
Hock, are broken-hearted because their people have no
family altars at all? The stones are fallen. The fires
are gone out. Only ashes remain, and they are scattered
abroad, leaving only the blackened stones of spiritual
death.
Keally would not the family altar solve many of the per
plexing (juestions that are before pastors and people today;
the amusement question for example' How many parents
grieve to see their children losing interest in the Church,
quitting its services, being lost to religion, when those
parents ought to stop and reflect on the momentous fact
that the children have never heard them pray. The Church
steeple, the Sunday service, would mean more to the young
folks and children in Methodist homes, if those children and
young folks had been wont to hear the Bible read, and the
voice of father and mother heard around the mercy seat
of the family altar. The family altar is what holds; it is
the cable and anchorage. It is the efficient means that
' holds families to the Christian life, and to the services and
life of the Church that in turn builds the Christian life
up in character and beauty.
We have let that altar fall down at the peril of all the
household, yet, at the peril of the eternal welfare of each
member of the household. Shall not the family altar be re
built? Central Christian Advocate.