DEVOTION to any cause is necessary to insure success. The Moslem is devoted to the religion of the Koran, and the devotee of heathen rites is often ready to lay down his life to attest his sincerity; and the worshiper of mammon shames the worshiper of the true God in his consistent and ardent service of self and his efforts for the requisition of gold.
All have some object of worship, or some object to which they cling with supreme devotion. With many this object is changed at different periods of life, or69as fortune changes and places new prizes in view; and this is the great object of the enemy to lure with anything which may please, if the true object of devotion may but be passed by.
Devotion is necessary in the formation of the Christian character, and is the breath and the life of theory; and while we do not undervalue the theory of the truth, we assert that the theory of the truth, however, correct and beautiful, cannot alone regenerate and purify the soul. Theory cannot lift the soul to God until assisted by devotion.
Genuine devotion has its rise in a deep sense of dependence on God alone, with self-loathing on account of sin, and a longing for holiness, and a just appreciation of the saint's reward, causing vehement desires, winged with faith, assured by the promise and strengthened by an enlightened view of the truths of revelation.
Devotion is strengthened by use and a well ordered life and conversation, and when free from clogs may remain upon the wing without fatigue or exhaustion.
Devotion should, like the atmosphere which circulates everywhere, and permeates almost everything, be all-pervading. It is not like the garment, assumed for the time, but like the air we breathe inhaled at every breath, vivifying and purifying all with which it comes in contact.
The man who considers himself a Christian without devotion, who supposes to theorize himself into a holy life, is only building a castle in the air to be dispelled on waking to reflection. He who is in the constant exercise of faith, in devoted constant service of God is always in a frame for prayer and, at intervals of leisure can send up his desires to Jesus wherever his business may call him, and in any company with which duty calls him to associate; at all hours his silent or vocal aspirations ascend as truthful and constant as the magnet to the pole, or as the flame ascends to the skies.
But, says one, "How can I when thronged with business and burdened with anxiety, stop to pray?"
Brother, imagine yourself in the great western wilderness somewhere, without food or water, hundreds of miles from any human dwelling, and with no food but such as might happen to be in your path as you journey. How would you long as you traveled your wearisome journey, hungry and thirsty, for the end of your toil, when you would arrive at the place where plenty reigned, and where you might satiate your longing appetite. Could you not pray at every breath and every step of that dreadful journey? Would not your breath be a prayer, and would not your step be quickened by desire? Would this desire hinder your progress? Would it not stimulate and quicken your steps?
So with the devoted soul. You may immerse it in care, and steep it in anxiety and trouble, and the more its care, the more it cries for strength; the fiercer its trials, the more it sighs after God; the more constant its labors, the more diligent in seeking opportunities of devotion. In fact, such a soul mixes faith with all its labors, and makes them all only so many helpers to devotion, so many stepping-stones to lift the soul out of this low groveling sphere.
The devoted Christian hungers and thirsts after righteousness. This desire impels him onward and forbids him to forget his daily food. So often has he feasted on this manna that he pines if it is denied him, and as soon would the hungry man forget his food, or the thirsty man forget the sparkling spring as the devoted Christian forget his only hope and consolation. No! he who deems it a difficult and hard matter to maintain a devotional frame of mind, has either lost or has never had the flame lighted in his soul; he has not yet tasted of the sweets of communion with God, or he is yet in the very infancy of the Christian life.
What are a few faint or sudden flights of joy, or a few hours or days of peace? What must be the danger of that soul which is tossed about between doubt and certainty, as those are whose calmness is interrupted by sorrows, prayerless thoughtlessness, or by times of bustle and business, when God is not thought of? And when reflection comes to foot up the account it finds him sadly in arrears.
Does he hunger and thirst after righteousness? Does that man hunger who does not desire food? But says he, "I do desire eternal life;" but I respond,
How much do you desire it? Does this desire recur to your mind in intervals of business throughout the day? or does business drive out the desire for the time, so that it is forgotten? and does sleep often suspend your powers at night without a single fervent aspiration, either in the silence of the soul, or in the secret place of prayer, or in the family? Or perhaps when jaded out with toil a sleepy petition is indicted, hollow, forced and unheeded by him who never accepts the lame and the refuse for a sacrifice.
Not so with the devoted soul. God and Christ are the first in his thoughts as he wakes; and the good Spirit is invited to preside over his thoughts for the day; in everything by prayer and supplication his wants are made known unto God, his temporal cares are committed to God; his burdens are cast upon the Lord, and his steps are ordered of the Lord, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps his heart and mind through Jesus Christ, a holy serenity keeps his mind in peace during the day; and as business presses upon him this peace is diffused through all the avenues of thought, a heavenly joy continually resting like an angel's hand upon his bosom insuring quietness and assurance.
This is no hindrance to business. On the contrary it assists and expedites business, or strengthens the frame for heavy labor. It clears the brain, gives energy and activity to all the powers, and fits a person to do well the greatest amount of labor in a given time possible under the circumstances.
Night finds such a Christian in the full exercise of the Christian graces; and he does not defer prayer till the last thing before sleep, but when slumber does come to his relief, he has angelic guards who watch his repose and defend him from vile spirits, who would fain disturb his slumbers, or pollute his imagination; and he wakes somewhat as those do who are purified from earth, his heart aglow with heavenly fire, and engrossed with sacred meditation.
Such a man is better and better fitted for business or labor as he approximates to his pattern in holiness, as he advances in the path of the just, and his path shines more and more, and will to the perfect day.
Noah who had the care of the ark in its building and fitting up, at the same time was a preacher of righteousness. He was such a man.
Abraham whose possessions were so great that his servants made an army, was such a man.
Moses with the care of a nation of three millions resting upon him, David fleeing before an envious rival, with the care of an army, in caves and deserts, and secret places; and when advanced to the throne, where multiplied responsibilities rested upon him; and Paul with the care of all the churches and his own support, persecuted and oppressed—these were all such men. Devotion fits the mind for action.