Secret Devotions by JOS. CLARKE.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 23, 1867

Secret Devotions.

By JOS. CLARKE.

How often our attention is called to this subject in the word of God, and in the written and unwritten experience of God's people. How often are we warned not to neglect the closet, by those who are living near to God? And the lost apostate dates his first step in apostasy to the neglect of secret prayer.

In a commercial country, if the imports exceed the exports, bankruptcy is sure to follow. So with the Christian. In the closet, he imports from Heaven, grace for the day; and until night, in his intercourse with his associates, there is a constant call for the exercise of the Christian graces; and if he has failed to obtain in the closet a sufficiency, his profession is dishonored. If the demand is greater than the supply, spiritual bankruptcy is sure to follow, though he may be blinded to the fact, until his name is struck from the books of Heaven.

The farmer, especially, is called at early morn to the active duties of this life; and how often does he attend faithfully to these, and put off those relating the highest life until a late hour, or forget them altogether, until pressing cares and company, chill his best and noblest thoughts.

Brother farmer, let us every morning present our petitions to that bank which never fails to pay; and let us spend the dewy hour of morn in meditation, prayer, and reading God's word, that the day may be spent with God.

JOS. CLARKE.