A Thing Quite Indispensable.
Nothing is more essential to the building up of a well-rounded Christian character than the formation of right habits of Christian life; and chief among those habits must be placed the daily reading of the Scriptures and secret prayer. Whatever methods of spiritual culture the Christian may adopt, he must not neglect these. The public preaching of the gospel and the social prayer-meeting are justly esteemed as a means of Christian edification—which means, by the way, not gratification, or pleasing, as it is sometimes taken to mean, but the building up of character. But these cannot take the place of private devotions. As well might one expect to build up a strong and symmetrical body without proper food and pure air, as to build up a Christian character and neglect to feed on the word of God, or forget prayer, the very breath of one's spiritual being. We do not say that a man cannot possibly be a Christian and neglect this duty—the grace of God may keep a spark of the divine fire alive in him in spite of his neglect. But he will be a starved, stunted, dwarfed Christian all his days. We know what the excuse is for neglect—"no time." That is always the excuse given by people for not doing what they really do not wish to do. Whenever a man comes to the conclusion that a thing must be done, he always finds time for the doing of it. A multitude of minutes go to waste in the lives of even the busiest of men; things are done that after all do not need to be done; attention is wasted on trivial details, with the idea that to be continually busy is a virtue in itself, independently of what is accomplished. Any man by a little more method in his affairs, or a little curtailing of things that are not strictly necessary, can make room for what is necessary. Nevertheless, we are willing to admit that in this restless, rushing age, and particularly in a bustling city, there is some difficulty in gaining time for private meditation over the word of God, and for secret prayer. A business man in New York cannot well spend hours in his closet, but that is no reason why he should spend no time there. It is not so necessary that a definite amount of Scripture should be read every day, and a prayer of just a certain length be offered, as that the heart should once at least, and twice if possible, each day be brought into closest communion with God. There is an inspiration to faithful performance of daily duty in such devotions that once felt will be recognized as the chief source of developing Christian character, not to speak of the power they give one against hourly temptation. But the spiritual blessings of this life, like the temporal, are given only to those who are willing to make some effort for their attainment. Men can make a fetich of anything, and we have often thought that many good Christian people make something very like a fetich of the idea of "reading a chapter in the Bible." If the chapter begins in the middle of a paragraph and ends in the middle of a sentence, they will insist on reading just the chapter and no more. If it contains four verses or forty, it is all the same. Much the same idea is entertained of family prayer, and for aught we know, of secret prayer. It is too much viewed as a certain round of duties, to be gone through with machine-like precision. But such devotions, public or private, rob the heart of the sweetest and most blessed experiences that flow from communion with God. The better rule is to follow one's spiritual impulses for the time, taking care that they are healthy, rather than be bound by any rigid limits. Many Christian people pressed for time have found great help and comfort in reading a few verses in the morning until some truth was reached that made a special impression on the mind; and then carrying that truth about with them during the day, from time to time meditating on it as their duties permitted them. Is it Tennyson who speaks of "short swallow-flights of song"? Short swallow-flights of prayer, offered at intervals in business, have been a great means of grace to men so pressed by affairs as to find it very difficult to get time for private devotion. In short, it will be found in this, as in all other matters, that where there is a will there is a way. The soul that thirsts after communion with God will put, if need be, everything else aside until that thirst is satisfied.—Examiner.