Page 22 - word to PDF
P. 22

Why is there so little anxiety to get time to pray? Why is there so little forethought in the
               laying out of time and employments  so as to secure  a large  portion  of each day for prayer?
               Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro,
               yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many
               meetings with our fellow men, yet so few meetings with God? Why so little being alone, so
               little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His
               child hold fellowship  together as if they could never part? It is the want of these solitary
               hours that not only injures our own growth in grace but makes us such unprofitable  members
               of the church of Christ , and that renders our lives useless. In order to grow in grace, we must
               be much alone.  It is not  in society—even  Christian  society—that  the soul  grows most
               rapidly  and vigorously.  In one single quiet  hour  of prayer  it will often make more progress
               than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is
               purest. So with the soul. It is when none but God is nigh; when His presence alone, like the
               desert air in which there is mingled no noxious breath of man, surrounds and pervades the
               soul; it is then that the eye gets the clearest, simplest view of eternal certainties; it is then that
               the soul gathers in wondrous refreshment and power and energy. And so it is also in this way
               that we become truly useful to others. It is when coming out fresh from communion with God
               that we go forth to do His work successfully. It is in the closet that we get our vessels so
               filled with blessing, that, when we come forth, we can not contain it to ourselves but must, as
               by a blessed necessity, pour it out whithersoever we go. "We have not stood continually upon
               our watchtower in the daytime, nor have we been set in our ward whole nights." Our life has
               not been a lying-in-wait for the voice

               of God. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth," has not been the attitude of  our  souls,  the
               guiding   principle   of  our  lives.  Nearness   to  God, fellowship  with God, waiting  upon
               God, resting  in God, have been too little  the  characteristic  either  of  our  private  or  our
               ministerial  walk. Hence our example  has been so powerless,  our labors so unsuccessful, our
               sermons so meager, our whole ministry so fruitless and feeble.



               13. We have not honored the Spirit of God. It may be that in words we have recognized His
               agency, but we have not kept this continually before our eyes, and the eyes of the people. We
               have not given Him the glory that is due unto His name. We have not sought His teaching,
               "His anointing"—the   "unction   from  the  Holy  One,  whereby   ye  know  all things."
               Neither in the study of the Word nor the preaching of it to others have we duly acknowledged
               His office as the Enlightener of the understanding,  the Revealer  of the truth,  the Testifier
               and  Glorifier  of Christ. We have grieved Him by the dishonor done to His person as the
               third  person  of the  glorious  Trinity;  and  we  have  grieved  Him  by the slight put upon
               His office as the teacher, the convincer, the comforter, the sanctifier. Hence He has almost
               departed from us, and left us to reap the fruit of our own perversity and unbelief. Besides, we
               have grieved Him by our inconsistent  walk,  by our want  of circumspection,  by our
               worldly- mindedness, by our unholiness, by our prayerlessness, by our unfaithfulness,  by our
               want of solemnity,  by a life and conversation  so little in conformity with the character of a
               disciple or the office of ambassador.
   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27