The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-24
The Lost Closet.

In the days gone by there was place
and time very full of blcssedness. You
can remember the little room whose door
you locked while you gathered its still
ness and calm around you. You remem-
ber the chair before which you knelt.
What scene. of glory and of blessedness
in your souls life were witnessed therel
You remember that first time when in
the depth of your despair you sank
down and sobbed out your confession
of sinfulness and helplessness, and when,
you hardly knew how, you looked to
Jesus as your Savior. Then there came
to you, like the blush of morning, the
dawning of hope in your heart, the bur-
den uplifting itself, and o strange joy
coming in that you never knew before.
Your praycr was turned to thanks and
praises. The room became from that
hour very attractive. From gay companies
where smiles and laughter were about
you ard You were glad for the pleas
ant fellowship, you sought it and found
it good to draw near to God. It was a
sanctuary, very calm and peaceful.
You remember that day when great
joy came to you, a.d you lnelt there and
took the joy to God while you praised
him for it. You remember that day
when your first real grief swept over you
and in your tears and through your sobs
you said, ''Thou knowest all, help me-"
The great shadow was over you, and the
night and storm were around you, but
there in that room you seemed to hear a
voice which you cognized, saying, '1t
is l." 1t grew into habit with you to
60 thither, and the hour that you had
selected seemed to have low call that
you gladly answered, and you went in
it was to meet Some One there. If at
any time you missed the visit to the
place of prayer, there was something
wanting all day.
All this was long ago. Oflate it has
not been so with you. You do not much
miss the closet now. You can 60 through
all the duy and feel no special vacancy
in your heart, except at times when
there comes sudden and sharp pang
that makes you almost cry out for what
is lost. But that is only for moment,
the rush and the hurrying thoughts bear
you on and away. You say your
prayers night and morning, you say
them hurriedly, but there is no hour and
NO place that now grows sweet and
solemn in its sweetness because you find
it good to draw near to God. The
closed door and the silence do not now
bring hallowcd thoughts. The closet
has gone. Perhaps the room is there, but
the prayers are away. The joys, tho
gentle comfort of those earlier days, tho
radiant openings of the Bible, the
vistas sometimes narrowing in the dis
tance toward the heavenly city where
the homo eternal is, the hopes, the undc-
fined yet pervading satisfaction and quiet
rest you can only say of them:
Blossoms Of peace once In my pathway
springing,
Where is your beauty and your fragrance
gomez"
Perhaps you can remember-you can
if you try-whcn the closet began to
lose all that made it your meeting place
with God. You recall the growing re-
luctance to lnger there, the effort which
seemed necessary in making the moments
60 by, the more hurried prayers. Per-
haps, were you willing to think of them,
you could recall the reasons for all this
and the causes; the subtle influences
which came in and made this pervading
change in place which once was so
radiant and 30 dear.-Dr. Aikman in
O6se7 GER.