tom of President Hayes, during his presidential term of
office, to convene his family for daily worship. The prayer consisted of
only the Lord's Prayer. But it was enough. The minds of the household
were directed toward spiritual things. The help of God was sought, to
bear whatever burdens the day might bring.

However great the embarrassment in the face of this great duty, let it
not prevent the brief domestic worship. Begin--begin immediately. A
short Scripture reading, followed by prayer, even only the Lord's
Prayer, will be sufficient. There are good forms of prayer, some of
which I have used to advantage. Fletcher's _Family Devotion_; Sturm's
_Family Devotions_; Morison's _Family Prayers_; Cumming's _Daily Family
Devotion_; _Family Worship_, by one hundred and eighty clergymen of the
Church of Scotland; Cassell's _Family Devotion_; Dale's _Domestic
Liturgy_; Thornton's _Family Prayers_; Thompson and Spurgeon's _Home
Worship and the Use of the Bible in the Home_; and Jay's _Morning and
Evening Exercises_, are good books for this purpose. The works of
Fletcher, Thornton, and the _Home Worship_ of Thompson and Spurgeon are
worthy of special commendation. Even when one is accustomed to
extemporaneous prayer, the use of one of the above books will,
nevertheless, be of great service in preventing stereotyped phrases and
trains of thought. I have often found that my own needs, and I believe
those of my family, have been better and more exactly described by
others than by myself. It is best, however, to get into no fixed form.
Let the extemporaneous prayer, or the printed form of prayer, be used
judiciously, as circumstances require.

Care should be taken that the home worship may not be made tedious, and
thus become a burden. I have always found it best to use the Bible for
the Scripture selection rather than the selections made in the books
containing forms of prayer. It is well to read the Bible in course, and
to have _the same copy of the Bible_ from which to read brief
selections, without being governed by the divisions in chapters. Your
one and the same Bible, being used every day in family worship, becomes
very precious with the growing years. It will be associated with all the
tenderest memories of the home life. I have occasionally used a
different copy of the Bible in my own home for family worship, but none
is half so dear as the plain, old, and well-worn copy with which I
began, when I established my own home