“The head of the family,” Hodge stated, “should be able to read the Scriptures as well as to lead in the prayer. . . . All persons subject to the watch or care of the Church should be required to maintain in their households this stated worship of God. . . . 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.” Hodge also recognized the singular importance of the family in the broader scope of God’s redemptive work: “The character of the Church and of the state depends on the character of
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