The first thing we are commanded to do, as we enter the lone and dreary world, being respectively Adam and Eve, is to build and Altar and offer prayers unto God. The authority seems to have been given in the Form of a commandment to all.

” How is it in families? How many men are there that can take their families, and gather round the family altar. And all of them bow before the Lord without a jar of feeling, with one perfect unity, everyone willing to submit with the most perfect submission to the will of the Lord, as clay in the hands of the potter? How many families, I say, are there in Israel where this union exists in this style, in all it’s purity and power? How many men would be permitted to rear a family altar of this kind even in his own house?” – GA Smith, JD 2:366-

“Let the principles of union and faith be observed at your homes; and if you are men having families, let there be a daily incense arise from your family altar.” -John Taylor- JD 9:13

“Let there be an altar in every house, and let the sacred fire burn on that altar. Seek to implant in the heart of your youth principles that will be calculated to make them honorable, highminded, intelligent, virtuous modest, pure men and women, full of integrity and truth, who will represent you correctly, and if not, that will represent, at any rate, the principles pf truth which you profess to believe in, that they with you may have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, and inherit the earth for Jesus says it is the meek that will inherit the earth.” -John Taylor. JD 15:275

“…have been full of hope, expectation and desire, and their constant prayer has been, before the family altar and in the public congregations, that the redemption of Zion might be brought about soon.” -Orson Pratt. JD 17:292.

“It is a duty, it is the word of the Lord to the Saints, that they should meet with their families morning and evening, and call upon God in His name. This principle is part of the Gospel, it was taught by the Savior on the eastern, and also on the western continent: and, simple as it may appear, it is absolutely necessary that the Latter-day Saints should come together in the family capacity, and kneeling around the family altar, call upon God for his blessings morning and evening. And they need not confine themselves to morning and evening prayer, for it is their privilege to enter into their closets and call upon Him in secret, that He might reward them openly.” -Joseph F. Smith. JD 22:47

“Now, I am sanguine that there are many who call themselves Latter-day Saints, who have neglected their duty in this respect, and many a son is permitted to grow to manhood, whose father has never asked him to bow with them at the family altar. This is a serious neglect upon the part of those who have named the name of Jesus, who have come up to these mountains to taught in the ways of the Lord. It is a sad neglect, and those who have done it in the past should guard against it in the future. ” John Henry Smith (apostle) JD 22:273

“God will not hold us faultless if we do. He requires us as Elders, as Apostles, and Presidents, as Bishops, as Seventies, as parents, to teach (wherever it is our prerogative and duty,) correct principles, and observe them ourselves and seek to enforce them upon others. And it is not alone the duty of High Councils and Presidents of Stakes, and of bishops and their Counselors to labor to correct the errors of the people, but it is the duty of every Elder, High Priest and Seventy- and especially the Priests, Teachers and Deacons that are appointed and called to be standing ministers in the Church, to visit the house of each member and become familiar with every family, and every individual member of the family, and their daily walk and life and conversation; and ascertain whether they are living as Saints should live; whether the heads of families preside in righteousness in their houses; whether their houses are set in order; whether they have an altar erected whereon are offered up their daily, morning and evening devotions; whether every member is taught to reverence and respect that altar; whether each individual prays in secret as well as responds to the calls made upon him to pray in the family circle and in public; whether…” Erastus Snow (apostle) JD 24:72

“We want to put ourselves and our families in order, And then let us learn to acknowledge the hand of God in all things and obey His law and keep His commandments in everything; not in one thing only, but in everything, that the Spirit and blessing of God and the power of God may be with us, that we may be the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; that we may be full of joy, peace and thanksgiving to God our Heavenly Father that we may be true to our devotions at the family altar, and every morning and every evening bow before the Lord with our family and all that pertains to us.” -John Taylor JD 23:326

” I would like our children when they go from the family altar to go into a school where they would hear the same God addressed, the same blessings sought, the hand of the Eternal acknowledged in their education, as well as to ask that His blessing might be upon them when they surround the family altar…And when your husbands are away gather them around your family altar.” George Teasdale (apostle) JD 24:326

By way of commandment, we are told to build one, gather around at least twice daily, and bow to the Lord.

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