Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-08-08
The Shut Door.

The symbol of strong life is the shut
door. When thou hast shut Thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret" says the
Master. There are good many things
which that closed door ought to shut Out.
There are some things it ought to shut in.
That closed door ought to shut out the out
ward. We are each of us single souls NOV
ing on toward God. The life we live in
God is a separate, personal life. 1t must
grow from its own root and not another's.
We must have our daily soul-work between
our own souls and God. We must read our
own Bibles. We must do our own praying.
We must enter into our own believing. We
must grow ourselves, each one of us, singly,
into the grace and knowledge of God. Each
separate Christian life must strike its root
back into separate and singular commun-
ion with God BY the closed closet door
shut out then for little time the outward
The outward of daily toll You have no
right TO be so busy that you cannot pray
The outward of even Christian work. You
may not let what you do for Christ take the
place of secret and innermost communion
with him. The outward of public worship.
You may not quiet your conscience about
your neglect of secret prayer by multitu-
dinous running to public prayer. The out
ward of family worship. There are some
who make the reading chapter and gen
eral prayer with the family foil by which
they ward off from themselves the duty of
intimate and self-scrutnizing intercourse
with God Robert Cecil used to say, :"
feel that all know and all teach will do
nothing for my soul, if spend my time as
some people do, IN business or company.
My soul starves to death in the best com
pany; and God is often lost in prayers and
ordinances. Enter into thy closet, said Christ,
and shut thy door. Shut thy door means
much. IL means shut out not only nonsense
but business ; not only the company abroad
but the company at home. 1t means let thy
poor soul have little rest and refreshment,
and God have opportunity to speak to thee
in still small voice-or he will speak to
thee in thunder" Shut out the outward.
BE alone with God. That closed door is to
shut out conscious shining. What is real
prayer 1t is the deliberate choice OF God
and of the things of God But now if a
man come into Gods presence cherishing
known sin, holding to it, refusing to yield
it, he chooses sin instead of God. His prayer
then is invalidated. lie may have used the
form of prayer, but he has not prayed His
heart prefers other than that the lips de-
care If he would really pray, he must
shut conscious, wilful SHINING outside the
closet door. A Spanish artist was engaged
to paint the Last Supper 1t was his aim
to throw all the sublimity of his art into the
figure and face of Christ. But he painted,
on the table, Just in the foreground, some
silver cups exquisitely chased. When his
friends came to see the picture in the easel,
every one said, "What beautiful cups" But
it was Christ the artist chiefly meant to
paint, not silver cups. lie seized lis brush
and dashed them from the canvass. Would
you know what sin you must leave outside
your shut closet door Anything, every
thing, however beautiful, however pleasur
able, which comes between your soul and
Christ everything which clouds the vision
of that face Whatever separates between
your soul and Christ is sin, at least, to YOU
The door OF the closet must be shut on 1t.
That closed door ought to shut out Incidence.
" Believe me-" said Samuel Taylor Cole
ridge, to pray with all your heart and
strength with the reason aud the will ; to
believe vividly that God will listen to your
voice through Christ, aud verify do the thing
he passeth thereupon-that is the last, the
greatest achievement OF the Christian war
fare on earth" Aud Coleridge agrees with
Scripture. What we read OF as the - effec-
the energetic, working prayer. We must pray
as though prayer were real; only thus can
it be real. That closed door ought to shut
out hurry 1t is the patient, silent quiet
of the closet that we need. | think of these
words of James Martineau--" There it is
in such patient silence-that we accumu-
late the inward power which we distribute
and spend in action that the soul acquires
a greater and more vigorous being, and
gathers up its collective sources TO bear down
upon the piece-meal difficulties of life and
scatter them to dust; there alone can we
enter into that spirit OF sef-abandonment, by
which we take up the cross of duty; how
ever heavy, with feet however worn aud
bleeding" To such high aud invigorating
silence hurry is quick death. Often we must
leave hurry outside that closed closet door.
But what is that closed closet door to shut
in? God-God and our own souls. Robert
Burns lamented that he could not "pour out
his nmost soul, without reserve, TO any hui
man being, without danger OF one day re-
penting his confidence" But there is Sc
cret oracle where the soul may utterly tell
forth itself. " Shut thy door on yourself
and God. Tell him OF your besettng sins
and temptations, troubles, inlelicities, per
plexities, the greatest the least let him
speak TO you, breathe upon you, quiet you,
strengthen you. And though none but God
and your own soul shall know what goes oil
inside that shut door, all shall know that
something mighty and benefcent has gone on
inside OF it you shall come forth SO calm,
so shining, and so strong. The symbol of a
strong life is the shut dooT.-MethOdiSi.