The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-10-04
IN SECLUSION AND PRAYER
THEIR YALUE AS TAUGHT BY TIRE
 LIFE OF CHRIST.

Mungor-The Temptation and Trans
 fguration and Their Object-Prayer is
 Communion With God and by it Comes
 Revelation.
 At United church yesterday morning
 Rev. Dr. Munger preached practical
 and helpful sermon on the value of
 quiet seclusion and prayer, passing his
 words on several instances in the life of Christ where He went apart by Himself for reflection and prayer. The references to these instances are Mat thew, iv, 1; Mark, vii 46; Luke, vi, 12 and ix 2s, 29, and Matthew xvi, 36
 He spoke from these passages in part
 as follows:
 These passages indicate habit of of Christ, or at least two of them do,
 of from time to time separating Him. self from the world where He could pray to God.
 There has been so much of mon- 3 asticism in the formal separation from
 
 such a separation is enough to con demn it. Still this separation stands TOT # something. It has always existed and always will as long as there is any real ity in religion and mankind is what
 it is.
 Its perversion by formallsm put
 marks it's importance Its chlef value lies in the freedom and spontaniety with X which it is done, and it loses it's value when made into rule.
 Christ retired along py Himself in order that He might settle the great question of life with God He had two objects to secure to settle the question and to establish Himself ln them. The first question he had to settle was of His sonship with God. Where other { great teachers had taught He began. He must live as the Son of God. This is the question He went into the desert to settle
 Consider the magnitude of the ques- < tion which confronted Him. On one side were all the lonors riches and pleasures which life affords; on the z other side complete subjection to the z will of God. Every person must settle # this question in one way or another. N Christ settled it in way commensur- 7 ate with His nature. Day after day # the conflict went on in the arena of sol # itude. One by one the great tempta- < tions were met and overcome. It was 4 an empty arena, but of the two great actors. Here he saw the fitness of things and the great principles under lying life.
 al in, fa O nd of haf < end comes the transhguration in the & mountain unlike the temptation. At E this time He sees that He must die, but that His kingdom will live. The < time has come when He can share His thoughts with His disciples and that they should see how completely His
 Kingdom had come.
 Like the account of Ihe temptation F the story of transfiguration is told in chromatic manner. It is not necessa- ry to trouble ourselves with the details of the story, of it's naturalness or super naturalness. We cannot get behind the
 scenes of the great story, but we can
 know that His disciples were overcome
 with the magnitude of His work which was there revealed to them.
 '"A little later came that final retire.
 ment at Gethsemane. The question of
 the temptation had come back. The bitterness of the cup overwhelmed him. \ He had no regrets or objection to 1t, s but He desired to get near the Father VI to take away the bitterness. He can i die, but He cannot die alone. He can have the sympathy of God upon His H suffering. The other retirements of \ Christ are simple instances of His go- 2 ing into the mountain to pray. They stand for an everyday need which some of us feel.
 Prayer is not always an asking and receiving. It is for communion and one A effect of communion is revelation. In il this manner came the revelation to
 Himself and to the world of the inner meaning of things. I hope some of us H know of such revelations. There are
 times in our lives when we lose sight o! principles and our ideals amid the cares
 and doubts which surround us. We < lose sight of ourselves and of that other
 great reality-God. What we need then < is d revelation and to be shown the
 ideals and hope of life
 Some need these experiences more
 than others, and especially Is this true
 of fine natures. Take, for example, Mir. Seth Low, a man we'll grounded ] in high ideals of character I do not know what he will do in the next few II days. Seldom has 8 man been sub- < jected to a more severe temptation to swerve little from his ideal course. x At such times of trials to fine natures
 the course to pursue is not to hand oneself over to another set of friends
 for advice, but to get alone with him.
 self and God and feel anew rhe ideals
 and the principles with which he be- a gan.
 # We all know what We ought to do, N feel, act and think. It IS motive we A need, and this we can obtain by com < ,nunion with a nature higher than our X selves. All progress and efficiency are
 gained through the verdict of some s higher tribunal higher than ourselves. x It is the secret of all the world. It is < almost the secret of prayer that it M brings us nearer to God. Questions of A great moment need a higher tribunal than that of men. One must go to Him
 who can approve or condemn because
 He is infinite Another thing that drew ~ Christ into solitude was an instructive
 movement in search of peace.
 z .aThe peace of God is the uniform q control of all our powers, so that they
 ,,orl, to one end It is a mind Subdued