Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 17, 1860
SECRET PRAYER SUCCESSFULLY MANAGED.
(Continued.)
6. SUBMISSION to the all-wise and holy will of God. This is the great benefit of a saint's communion with the Spirit, that he maketh intercession for them according to the will of God. When we pray for holiness there is a concurrence with the divine will, for "this is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. iv, 3. When we pray that our bodies may be presented a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, we then prove "what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God." Rom. xii, 1, 2. In the covenant of grace, God does his part and ours too. As when God commands us to pray in one place, he promises in another place "to pour out upon us a spirit of grace and supplication." Zech. xii, 10. God commands us to repent and turn to him. Eze. xiv, 6. In another place, Jer. xxxi, 18, "Turn thou me and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God." And again, "turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned." Lament. v, 21. And again, "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." Eze. xxxvi, 26, 27. And Paul says, "For this cause I cease not to pray for you, that he would work in you that which is well pleasing in his sight." Col. i, 9, 10; Heb. xiii, 21. "Work out your own salva-
tion, for it is God that worketh in you, to will, and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. ii, 12, 13. Precepts, promises and prayer are connected like so many golden links to excite, encourage and assist the soul in spiritual duties. But in other cases, as to temporal and temporary mercies, let all thy desires in prayer be formed with submission, guided by his counsel and prostrate at his feet, and acted by a faith suited to the promises of outward blessings, and then it shall be unto thee even as thou wilt. Gerson said well: "Let all thy desires as to temporals turn upon the hinges of the divine good pleasure." That man shall have his own will that resolves to make God's will his. God will certainly bestow that which is for the good of his people.
One great point of our mortification lies in this: to have our wills melted into God's; and it is a great token of spiritual growth, when we are not only content, but joyful to see our wills crossed that his may be done. When our wills are sacrifices of holy prayer, we many times receive choicer things than we ask expressly. It was a good saying, "God many times grants not what we would in our present prayers, that he may bestow what we would rather have when we have the prayer more graciously answered than we petitioned." We know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit helps us out with groans that secretly hint a correction of our wills and spirits in prayer. In great anxieties and pinching troubles, nature dictates strong groans for relief, but sustaining grace and participation of divine holiness, mortification from earthly comforts, excitation of the soul to long for heaven, being gradually weaned from the wormwood breasts of their sublunary, transient and unsatisfying pleasures, and the timing of our hearts for the seasons wherein God will time his deliverances, are sweeter mercies than the immediate return of a prayer for an outward good. What truly holy person would lose that light of God's countenance which he enjoyed by glimpses in a cloudy day for a little corn and wine? Nay, in many cases open denials of prayer prove the most excellent answers, and God's not hearing us in the most signal audience. Therefore at the foot of every prayer subscribe "Thy will be done," and thou shalt enjoy preventing mercies that thou never soughtest, and converting mercies to change all for the best, resting confident in this, that having asked according to his will he heareth thee.
7, and lastly. Present all into the hands of Christ. This was signified of old by praying toward the temple, because the golden mercy seat typifying Christ was there. 1 Kings viii, 33. Heb. viii, 3. He is ordained of God to offer gifts and sacrifices, and therefore it is of necessity that he should have something from us to offer, being the High Priest over the house of God. Heb. x, 21. What does Christ on our behalf at the throne of grace? Put some petition into the hands of Christ; he waits for our offerings at the door of the oracle; leave the sighs and groans of thy heart with this compassionate intercessor, who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, who sympathizes with our weaknesses. He that lies in the Father's bosom, and hath ex-66
love and bowels of a heavenly Father. Such a Father, the Father of fathers, and the Father of mercies. How sweetly does the apostle join it! God is our Father because the Father of our Lord; and because his Father, so our Father, therefore the Father of mercies. 2 Cor. i, 2, 3. O what generations of mercies flow from his paternity! But we must plead to this access to the Father through Christ by the Spirit. Eph. ii, 18. We must be gradually acquainted with all three; first with the Spirit, then with Christ, and last with the Father. First God sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, and then through the Son we cry Abba Father. Gal. iv, 6; Eph. i, 4. The bowels of mercy first wrought in the Father to us, he chose us in Christ and then sends his Spirit to draw us to Christ and by Christ to himself. Have you this access to God by the Spirit? Bosom communion flows from bosom affections. If your souls are truly in love with God, he will graciously say to your petitions, be it unto you according to your love.
2. The times of finding God. A godly man prays in finding seasons. When God's heart and ear are inclined to audience then God is said to bow down his ear. There are special seasons of drawing nigh to him when he draws nigh to us; times when he may be found. When thy "beloved looks forth at the window and shows himself through the lattice." Psa. xxxi, 2; Isa. lv, 6; Psa. xxxii, 6; Cant. ii, 9. That is a time of grace when God knocks at the door of thy heart by his Spirit. Motions upon the heart are like the doves of the East sent with letters about their necks. It is said of Bernard, he knew when the Holy Spirit was present with him by the motions of his heart. When God reveals himself to the heart he opens the ears of his servants for some gracious message. When God bids us seek his face, then the soul must answer "One thing have I desired, that will I seek after." Holy desires warm the heart and set the soul on seeking; they are like messengers sent from heaven to bring us into God's presence. Take heed then of quenching the Spirit of God. He that is born of the Spirit knows the voice of the Spirit. John iii, 8. When the soul is melted by the word, or softened by affliction, or feels some holy groans and sighs excited by the Spirit, that is a warm time for prayer. Then we enjoy intimations of the presence of God. Rom. viii, 27. Or when prophecies are near to expire, then there are great workings and searchings of heart in Daniel, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna; or when some promise comes with applying power, "therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee, for thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant." 2 Sam. vii, 27, 28. When we find promises dropped into the soul like wine, it causes the lips of them that are asleep to speak. Cant. vii, 9.
3. Keep conscience clear and clean from secret sins. With what face can we go to a friend to whom we have given any secret affront? And will ye be so bold as to come before the God of heaven when he knows ye maintain some secret sin in your hearts? Darest thou to bring a Delilah with thee into this sacred closet? True is that remark of Tertullian: "He that turns his ear from God's precepts must stop his mouth in the dust, if God turn his holy ears from their cry." When our secret sins are in the light of his countenance we may rather expect to be consumed by his anger and terrified by his wrath. Psa. xc, 7, 8.
But it is perhaps objected—Then who may presume and venture into secret communion? True; if God should strictly mark what we do amiss who can stand? David was sensible of this objection, but he answers it humbly: "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." Psa. cxxx, 4. If we come with holy purposes, God hath promised to pardon abundantly. Isa. lv, 7. His thoughts and ways are not as our ways; guilt makes us fly from his presence; but proclamation of pardoning grace to a wounded soul that comes for strength from heaven to subdue its iniquities, sweetly draws the soul to lie at his feet for mercy. Though we cannot say yet be so free as formerly, while under the wounding sense of guilt, yet when he "restores to us the joy of his salvation he will again uphold us with his free Spirit." Psa. li, 12. Yet take heed of scars upon the soul. God knows our foolishness, and our guiltinesses are not hid from him; yet we come for purging and cleansing mercy. A godly man may be under the sense of the divine displeasure for some iniquity that himself knoweth as the Lord spake of Eli; yet the way to be cured is not to run from God, but like the distressed woman come fearing and trembling, and fall at his feet and tell him all the truth. But if prayer has cured thee, sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee. Matt. v, 33. For if we "regard iniquity in our heart the Lord will not hear us," but the guilt may stare conscience in the face with great amazement. Ps. lxvi, 18. It is storied of one who secretly had stolen a sheep, that it ran before his eyes in prayer, that he could have no rest. How strangely will memory ring the bell in the ears of Conscience, if we have any secret sin, if we look out aside with desires and secret thoughts (after our peace-offering) to meet our beloved lusts again. This is dangerous. God may justly give up such to cast off that which is good, to cleave to their idols, and let them alone. But if the face of the heart be not knowingly and willingly spotted with any sin and lust (hating infirmities which he mourns under), then thy countenance through Christ will be comely in the eye of God, and thy voice sweet in his ears, and as he said, "he who prays well lives well," so a holy life will be a walking continual prayer; his very life is a constant petition before God.
4. Own thy personal interest with God and plead it humbly. Consider whom thou goest to in secret; "pray to thy father who seeth in secret." Canst thou prove thyself to be in covenant? What thou canst prove thou mayst plead, and have it successfully issued. In prayer we take God's covenant into our mouths, but without a real interest; the Lord expostulates with such; what have they to do with it? Psa. l, 15, 16. God never graciously hears, but it is upon interest. This argument Solomon presses in prayer: "For they be thy people and thine inheritance." 1 Kings viii, 51. Thus David pleads: "Thou art my God; hear the voice of my supplication." Psa. cxl, 6. "I am thine, save me." Psa. cxix, 94. "Truly I am thy servant." Psa. cxvi, 16. Asa turns the contest heavenwards: "O Lord, thou art our God, let not mortal man prevail against thee; thou takest me for the sheep of thy fold and the servant of thy household, therefore seek me." 2 Chron. xiv, 11. When Israel shall be refined as silver and tried as gold, "they shall call on his name and he will hear them. I will say it is my people, my tried, refined, golden people, and they shall say, the Lord is my God." Psa. cxix, 176, and Zech. xiii, 9. When thou canst discern the print of the broad seal of the covenant upon thy heart, and the privy seal of the Spirit upon thy prayers, and canst look upon the Son of God in a sacerdotal relation to thee, thou mayest come boldly to "the throne of grace in time of need." Heb. iv, 6.
5. Be very particular in secret prayer, both as to sins, wants and mercies. Hide none of thy transgressions if thou expect a pardon. Be not ashamed to open all thy necessities. David argues because he is poor and needy. Psa. xl, 17; lxxxvi, 1; cix, 22. Four several times he presses his wants and exigences before God, like an earnest, but holy beggar, and shows before him his trouble, presents his ragged condition and secret wounds, as Job said he would "order his cause before him." Job xxiii, 4. There we may speak out our minds fully, and name the persons that afflict, affront, and trouble us; and wo to them that a child of God, upon a mature judgment, names in prayer. I do not find that such a prayer in Scripture returned empty. Jacob in a great strait, "Deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau." Gen. xxxii, 11. David in the ascent of mount Olives: "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahitophel into foolishness." 2 Sam. xv, 31. Prayer twisted the rope for him at Giloh. Thus Jehoshaphat in his prayer names Ammon, Moab and Edom, conspiring against him. 2 Chron. xx, 10. Thus Hezekiah spreads the railing letter before the Lord. Isa. xxxvii, 14. And the Psalmist takes them all into a round catalogue that counselled against Israel. Psa. lxxxiii, 6, &c. Thus the church in her prayer names Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate, whereof the first was sent into perpetual banishment, and the latter slew himself. Josephus. L. 18, c. 9; Euseb. Chron. L. 2, p. 159. It is of great use in prayer to attend to some special case or single request, with arguments and affections suitable. "For this cause," says Paul, "I bow the knee." Eph. iii, 14. Suppose a grace deficient in its strength: "Lord increase our faith." Luke xvii, 5. Or a temptation urgent; "For this I prayed to the Lord thrice." 2 Cor. xii, 8. A great reason why we reap so little benefit by prayer, is because we rest too much in generals; and if we have success, it is but dark, so that often we cannot tell what to make of the issues of prayer. Besides, to be particular in our petitions would keep the spirit much from wandering, when we are intent upon a mighty case, and the progress of the soul in grace would manifest its gradual success in prayer.
6. Holy and humble appeals before the Lord in secret, when the soul can submissively and thankfully expose itself to divine searching. The soul cannot dwell in the presence of God under the flashing of defilement, neither will the Holy Spirit own a defiled soul. But when a person can humbly, modestly and reverently say, "Search me and try my veins, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," [Psa. cxxxix, 23], it will be the means of the ebullitions and boilings up of joyful affections and meek confidence at the footstool of grace, especially in pleas of deliverance from wicked and proud enemies. When David can plead in the case stated between his enemies and himself, "for I am holy" [Psa. lxxxvi, 2, 14, 17], it shows him a token for good; or when we plead against the assaults of Satan, can we be conscious that we have watched and prayed against entering into temptation? When in the main we can wash our hands in innocency, we may then comfortably compass God's altar about. In case of opposition or injustice: "He rewarded me (says David in the point of Saul) according to my righteousness and the cleanness of my hands before him." Psa. xviii, 20. Or about the truth of the love that is in the heart to God: "Thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee." John xxi, 17. As to zeal for the worship and ordinances of God, so did Nehemiah. Neh. xiii, 14, 22. As to the integrity of a well-spent life, so did Hezekiah. Isa. xxxviii, 3. Or if we cannot rise so high, yet as the church did: "The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee." Isa. xxvi, 8. Or lastly, when we can unfeignedly plead the usefulness of a mercy entreated in order to the divine glory; as when a minister, or the church of Christ for him, prays for such gifts and graces—such knowledge and utterance—that he may win souls to Christ, and can appeal that it is his principle aim, this is glorious! Eph. vi, 19; Col. iv, 3.67
7. Pray for the Spirit, that ye may pray in and by the Spirit. "Awaken the north wind and the south to blow upon thy garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth." Cant. iv, 16. Then thou mayest invite Christ: "Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit," that the soul may enjoy him and hold sweet communion with him. All successful prayer is from the breathing of the Spirit of God when he inspires and indites, when he directs the heart as to matter and governs the tongue as to utterance. God graciously hears the sighs of his own Spirit formed in us. He sends forth his Spirit, and "the waters flow." Ps. cxlvii, 18. The waters of contrition flow upon the breathing of the Spirit and the soul is as it were all afloat before the throne of grace, when these living waters issue from under the threshold of the sanctuary. Eze. xlvii, 1. Devout tears drop down from the Spirit's influences. Melting supplications follow the infusions of grace by the Spirit. "Then they shall mourn for piercing of Christ," says the prophet, "and be in bitterness as for a first born," like the mourning at the town of Hadadrimmon, where Josiah was slain. Zech. xii, 10. Then, in that day [Zech. xiii, 1, 2, 4, and xiv, 8], what inundations of mercy shall refresh the church, when the Lord will extend her peace like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream! great things to the church and gracious things to the soul. Holy sighs in prayer give intelligence of great mercies to follow. To withstand powerfully all the wiles of Satan, one means is to consecrate every part of the spiritual armor by prayer in the Spirit. Eph. vi, 18.
Apply special promises to special cases in prayer. For God hath and will magnify his word of promise above all his name; when we are under the word of command for a duty, we must seek for a word of promise, and unite them in prayer. John xii, 28. When a promise of aid suits the precept it renders prayer victorious, and obedience pleasant: when we come with God's own words into his presence, when we take his words with us that he would "take away all iniquity," he will "receive us graciously." Hosea xiv, 2. Jacob urges that God had bid him return from his country and kindred. Gen. xxxii, 9. Solomon urges the word of promise to David. 1 Kings viii, 24. Jehoshaphat urges the word of promise to Solomon. 2 Chron. xx, 8, 9. Daniel fills his mouth with the promise given to Jeremiah; he reads and then applies it in prayer. Dan. ix, 2, 3. First search the Bible and look for a promise, and when found, open it before the Lord. Paul teaches us to take the promise given to Joshua, and then to say boldly the Lord is our helper. Heb. xiii, 5, 6. The special ground of the answer of prayer lies in the performance of a promise. Psa. l, 15, and lxv, 24. Simeon lived upon a promise and expired sweetly in the arms of a promise, in the breathings of a prayer. Luke ii, 29. Sometimes the soul depends for an answer by virtue of the covenant in general; as of that "I will be thy God." Gen. xvii, 7. Sometimes by the great Remembrancer it draws water out of some well of salvation. John xiv, 26. But in both, God's faithfulness is the soul's surety. Hence it is that David in prayer does so often argue upon the veracity and truth of God; and the church in Mica is so confident that the mercy promised to Abraham and confirmed in truth to Jacob, should be plentifully performed to his people Israel. Mica. vii, 20.
9. Sober and serious resolutions before God in prayer. The exixth Psalm is full of these: "I will keep thy statutes. I will run the way of thy testimonies. I will speak of thy testimonies before kings. I have sworn and will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments." And elsewhere; "quicken us and we will call upon thy name." Ps. lxxx, 19. "O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." Ps. ci, 2. Thus the soul makes holy stipulations and compacts of obedience to God. Thus Jacob, "if God will be with me, then shall the Lord be my God," and resolves upon a house for God, and reserving a tenth of all his estate to his service and worship. Gen. xxviii, 22. And this conjunction "if" is not to be taken for a single condition, as if God did not bestow what he asked, God should not be his God; that were a great wickedness; but it is a rational setting forth of order and time. Because, or since, God is graciously pleased to promise, I will acknowledge him to be the God whom I adore, by erecting a temple and paying tithes to maintain his worship. But whatever it is that the soul in distress does offer to God in promise, be not slack to perform, for many times answers of prayer may delay till we have performed our promises. Ps. xcvi, 13, 19. David confesses to pay what his lips had uttered in trouble, for God had heard him. If we break our words to God, no wonder we feel what the Lord threatened to Israel, that they should know his breach of promise. Num. xiv, 34.
10. A waiting frame of spirit in prayer. "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry." Ps. xl, 1. The Hebrew word signifies, "I expected with expectation."—He walked up and down in the gallery of prayer. This is set forth by hope till God hear: "In thee, O Lord, do I hope; thou wilt hear, O Lord, my God." Ps. xxxviii, 15. Say with Micah: "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation." Micah vii, 7. Hoping, expecting, trusting, living upon the promise and looking for an answer of peace, as when an archer shoots an arrow he looks after it with his glass to see how it hits the mark; so says the soul, I will attend and watch how my prayer flies toward the bosom of God, and what messages return from heaven. As the seaman when he has set sail goes to the helm and compass, and stands and observes the sun, or the pole star, and how the ship works, and how the land marks form themselves aright according to his chart; so do you, when you have been at prayer, mark your ship, how it makes the port, and what rich goods are laden back again from heaven. Most men lose their prayers in the mists and fogs of non-observation or forgetfulness. [Lee.
(To be Continued.)
I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS.
By Nevin
Always with me! always with me!
Words of cheer and words of love;
Thus the risen Saviour whispers
From his dwelling-place above.
With me, when with sin I struggle,
Giving strength and courage too;
Bidding me to falter never,
But to him be ever true.
With me, in the hour of sorrow,
When my heart is pressed with grief,
Pointing to a brighter morrow,
And imparting sweet relief.
With me, when the storm is sweeping
O'er my pathway, dark and drear;
Waking hope within my bosom,
Stilling every anxious fear.
With me, when I toil in sadness,
Sowing much and reaping none;
Telling me that in the future
Golden harvests shall be won.
With me, in the lonely valley,
When I cross the chilling stream;
Lighting up the steps to glory,
Like the ancient prophet's dream.
Always with me! always with me!
Pilot on the surging main;
Guiding to the distant haven,
Where I shall be home again.—Nevin.
CHRIST WAS THE SON OF GOD.
HERE then is the issue which the wavering disciple is bound seriously to consider. Taking into account the various questions, whose answers, on the one side or the other, form the sum total of evidences for or against the claims of Christian faith; the genuineness and authenticity of the documents; the judgment and good faith of the writers; the testimony to the actual occurrence of prophecies and miracles, and their relation to the religious teaching with which they are connected; the character of the teacher himself, that one portrait, which, in its perfect purity and holiness and beauty, stands alone and unapproached in human history or human fiction; those rights and ceremonies of the elder law, so significant as typical of Christ, so strange and meaningless without him; these predictions of the promised Messiah, whose obvious meaning is rendered still more manifest by the futile ingenuity which strives to pervert them; the history of the rise and progress of Christianity, and its comparison with that of other religions; the ability or inability of human means to bring about the results which it actually accomplished; its antagonism to current ideas of the age and country of its origin; its effects as a system on the moral and social condition of subsequent generations of mankind; its fitness to satisfy the wants and console the sufferings of human nature; the character of those by whom it was first promulgated and received; the sufferings which attested the sincerity of their convictions; the comparative trustworthiness of ancient testimony and modern conjecture; the mutual contradictions of conflicting theories of unbelief, and the inadequacy of all of them to explain the facts for which they are bound to account;—taking all these and similar questions into full consideration, are you prepared to affirm as the result of the whole inquiry, that Jesus of Nazareth was an imposter, or an enthusiast, or a mythical figment; and his disciples crafty and designing, or well meaning, but deluded men? For be assured that nothing short of this is the conclusion which you must maintain, if you reject one jot or tittle of the whole doctrine of Christ. Either he was what he proclaimed himself to be,—the incarnate Son of God, the divine Saviour of a fallen world—and if so, we may not divide God’s Revelation and dare to put asunder what he has joined together,—or the civilized world for eighteen centuries has been deluded by a cunningly devised fable; and he from whom that fable came has turned that world from darkness to light, from Satan to God, with a lie in his right hand.
“TAKING THOUGHT.”
Notwithstanding the Great Teacher has so beautifully and impressively shown us the folly of giving ourselves up to anxiety, with reference to the wants of to-morrow, how apt we are to do so. We do not really mean to be distrustful toward the over-ruling Providence, yet we often hang our heads in doubt, and pour our lamentations from our hearts, as if we had never been told of God’s faithfulness to his offspring, or that, even he “opens his hands to satisfy the wants of every living thing.” We should make up our minds to walk through all the changes of our earthly life in trust. If we would be and seem like men of “cheerful yesterdays, and confident to-morrows,” we must consider to what improving tasks the trials of this world introduce us, and also reverently keep in mind the verity, that God’s vision is boundless and impartial, while our own is small and dim, and opens and dilates but to see the things which come nearest to ourselves, and which, often, are only baubles or toys.—Banner.
HUMILITY
An exchange says—"It is worthy of remark that soon after Paul was converted he declared himself 'unworthy to be called an Apostle.' As time rolled on and he grew in grace, he cried out, 'I am less than the least of all saints.' And just before his martyrdom, when he had reached the stature of a perfect man in Christ, his exclamation was, 'I am the chief of sinners.'"
The Parting Hour
By Editor
The hour is coming—and it is a fearful and solemn hour, even to the wisest and best—the hour is coming when we must bid adieu to the scenes which please us, to the families we love, to the friends we esteem. Whether we think, or whether we think not, that body which is now warm and active with life, shall be cold and motionless with death. The countenance must be pale, the eyes must be closed, the voice must be silenced, the senses must be destroyed, the whole appearance must be changed by the remorseless hand of our last enemy. We may banish the remembrance of the weakness of our human nature; but our reluctance to reflect upon it, and our attempts to drive it from our recollection are in vain. We know that we are sentenced to die; and though we sometimes succeed in casting off for a season the conviction of this unwelcome truth, we can never entirely remove it. The reflection haunts us still; down with us at night, it awakens with us in the morning. The irrevocable doom has passed upon us, and too well do we know it—“Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.”—Townsend.
The above is indeed an unpleasant picture, and the “hour of parting,” an unwelcome anticipation; and this has been the unavoidable prospect before all the generations that have preceded us. Think what this must have been; and then think how glorious is the hope we cherish which relieves us from it. The separation of the grave we may have to experience, to be sure; but the blessed hope bids us look for the soon appearing of our coming King, through whose advent we shall be translated to heaven without seeing death, and enter upon the realities of eternal life without the pang of separation from the friends we love.—Ed.
DOMESTIC BEARS.
Once upon a time, there lived a couple known far and wide for their interminable squabbles. Suddenly they changed their mode of life, and were as complete patterns of conjugal felicity as they had formerly been of discord. A neighbor, anxious to know the cause of such conversion, asked the gudewife to explain it. She replied, “I and the old man have got on well enough ever since we kept two bears in the house.”
“Two bears!” was the perplexed reply.
“Yes sure,” said the lady, “bear and forbear.”
DEVOTION.
By J. Clarke
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.