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The Prayerless Home

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 7, 1857

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 10, No. 1.

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The Prayerless Home.

"I HAVE a good offer for my farm," said Mr. Earl to his wife; "I think I shall sell it."
"Why do you wish to sell it?" said Mrs. Earl.
"The land is so stony and partly worn out. I can go into a new country where land is cheap and fertile, and realize a much larger return for the same amount of labor."
"If we go into a new country, there will be no schools for our children."
"Our children are not old enough, it is most likely schools will be established wherever we go."
"We may also be deprived of the privilege of attending the house of God."
"We can take our Bibles with us, and can read them on the Sabbath, if we should happen to settle at a distance from a place of worship."
"It will be far better for us to remain here, where we can educate our children, and bring them up under the sound of the gospel."
"I must do what I think is required by the interests of my family."
"Pray remember that property is not the only thing needed by our children."
A few days after this conversation the bargain was concluded, and the farm became the property of Mr. Hale. Mr. Earl was to put him in possession of it early in the Spring.
Mr. Earl was descended from one of the early Puritan settlers of Massachusetts. His ancestors for many generations had been devout members in the church of Christ. He was the first alien from the commonwealth of Israel. His mother was an amiable, but not a pious woman, and some thought it was owing to her that he had not profited by the instruction of his pious father, and had turned a deaf ear to the gospel which he had heard from his infancy. He loved the world, and in order to secure a large portion of its goods he was willing to leave the home of his childhood, and the graves of his fathers, and to take up his abode on the border of civilization.
His wife was one who preferred Jerusalem as her chief joy. The old time-worn house of God, with its high, square pews, and huge sounding board, were as beautiful to her as the most faultless specimen of architecture to the connoisseur. She desired that her children might grow up under the influence of the truths which were proclaimed in that house. Her chief desire with respect to them was, that they might become rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.
In the Spring she was obliged to bid farewell to her native village. After a wearisome journey she found herself and her family in what was then a wilderness, in the western part of New York. The gospel was not preached in the vicinity, nor was even the log school-house erected. For a time Mr. E. observed the Sabbath, so far as resting from labor was concerned. He even spent some time in reading the Bible, but he did not pray. In consequence, that blessed book was gradually laid aside.
The climate, and perhaps the labors incident to a life in the wilderness, caused Mrs. Earl to fall into a decline. When, after a lingering illness, she bade her husband farewell, she charged him to send her children to her native home, that they might be taught, in the school-house and the church, truths which could make them wise unto salvation. Mr. Earl complied in part with his wife's request. He sent his daughter Julia, who was now nine years of age, and her youngest brother. The oldest one he retained to assist him in his labors.
It was six years before Julia returned to her father. She had spent that time among the pious friends of her departed mother. She found the home of her childhood greatly changed. A neat village surrounded the tasteful dwelling now occupied by her father. The spire of the village church rose aloft, and the school-house was not far distant. She rejoiced to return to her home, though she was to meet its chief charm no more. A check was soon given to her joy. When she sat down to her evening meal, the blessing of God was not invoked. It was with difficulty that she could eat. When the hour for retiring came she was still more unhappy, as the family separated without prayer.
Mr. Earl soon perceived that his daughter did not feel at home in his house. It made him sad at heart, for he had looked forward to her return with the hope that she would restore, in part at least, the loss he had experienced. He said to her one day,
"Julia, you do not seem to feel as much at home as I could wish."
After some hesitation, she replied, "I do not feel safe here."
"Do not feel safe?" said he in astonishment.
"I am afraid to live under a roof where there is no prayer."
The remark went to the father's heart. He thought of all the mercies he had received, the protection he had experienced, unasked. He continued to think of his ways until his soul fainted within him. He looked at his oldest son, a Sabbath-breaker, and ignorant of God, and could not conceal the truth that it was owing to the act of removing him in childhood from the means of grace, and exposing him to influences that, in all probability, would prove his ruin.
In a few days he asked Julia to read the Scriptures and pray in the family. It was with joy that she heard the request, but with great difficulty that she complied with it. It was not till she was reminded of the joy it would give to her mother, could she be a witness of it, that she consented to make the attempt. In a few weeks, on a Sabbath morning, the father himself took the Bible, and having read a portion, knelt down, and with tears besought God to teach his stammering lips how to pray. Light, peace and safety took up their abode in a dwelling now no longer prayerless.—Canada Christian Advocate.