The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1899-09-22

to have a close communion with the
things of God. / think got new con-
ception, the other day, of what prayer
does for as, how necess ary it is that we
'pray without ceasipg." We could not
live without rAyer, even though PRAYER
meant no mor3 to us than an expression
of our need. Suppose | should tell you
that for the next 20 years you would be
continually prosperous, that nothing
would come into your life to make you
feel the sense of need, that you would
find in yourself what would satisfy all
your longipgs. What would be the re-
suit? Why, long before the 20 years
were GENE to an end, you would almost
have forgotten that there was q God.
God would mean little else to you than
a name. You would have felt no need Of
God, and therefore would not have been
drawn to Him in prayer. Prayer does
not make man slave by making him
criDRe before God, as beRgar would
crinRe before q wealth Y man /; prayer lifts
man out of the slavor7 of his self de-
sires and makes him feel his kinship wit
the skies. l tell you, though, what does
make a man slave. 1t is to find his all
mall in himself. Such slavery takes the
pith out of all manhood.
bread which does not get stale. 1t is al
ways sweet and good. 1t is just as de
licious to-day as it was when Christ spske
these words in the synagogue at Caper-
naum. The children in the primary de-
partment of our Sunday-schOOls sing:
81 think when 1 read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How He took little children as lambs to His
told,
should like to have been with Him then"
We think it would have been a great
privilege to have seen Jesus face, to
have heard Him talk, to have caught the
words fresh as they fell from His lips.
This is our privilege to-day. His words
are living words, the bread which He
gives for the life of the world 10 living
bread. 1t has not lost its power to feed
soul-hunger. II Christ does not feed you
to-day, the fault ia not with the bread !;
the trouble is with your appetite.
There is such thing as an appetite for
here to-day? 1t ought to be because you
delight in religious thir &c, because you
expect to find here q spiritual feast, be.
cause it Ia sweet to you TO draw nigh to
God with the fullest assurance that He
will draw nigh to you. Can you recall
times in your life when you had delight
In the services Of Gods house that YOU
painfully realize you do not now eri1y,
when the place where the two or three
agreed in prayer as touching some thing
which they desired of God was "a place
than all besides me re sweet" when you
had glowing desire to give your life
IN DEEDS OF LOVING SERVICE TO JESUS
such as now has cooled down, when you
| could heartily sing, finding yourself sit
tirov Er1ifh GnISa ahilAFnn in tho holta SF
Zion:
"My willing soul would stay
1t such frame as this,
And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss"
The surest proof of backsliding IL q
| loss of appetite for the things of Gods
house. If you do not, when for the
while deprived of them, get bomesick
/ and beartsick for the assembly of the
saints, be sure that you neea good
tonic for your spiritual life. In the early
Christian Church they l lved the compa-
! ny Of those who loved Ghe Lord Jesus so
, well that they the ught it worth while to
forego the pleasure Of owning their own
property, and they placed the proceeds
| fr ON the sale OF 1t In common stock
that their enjoyment Of spiritual things
might be undivided The two apos 3s,
L
ssbeiDg let go, went to Their own com.
pany." It makes great difference what
ones town company" is. Is it those
who love the Lord and love His day and
love His work, or those who, with Gallo,
care for none OF those things? What,
then, IL q pastor to think when mere
handful attend the mid week service of
prayer, when fiimsy excuse detains
some FROM the Sunday services, when
receipts certainly show that his people
| are giving In anything but the way that
the Lord has prospered them? Is he to
infer that bis people 'sdelighs to do Thy
will, 0 my Godn?
Christ IL the Living Bread. That is
the best OF 1t, it is living. It is bread
that is always good, good 60 feed upon
in youth, In middle age and even in life's
/ twilight glow. YOu do not feed upon Ii
now, and then wonder whether it will
taste as good when you come to the end
OF the Journey and need q satisfying por-
tion mcfs THAN you do to-day. 1t 10 not
like the manna that came TO the children
of Israel in the wilderness. That had 20
! be gathered quickly for fear is would
spoil; 1t was not always fresh. That
had to be gathered on one day, double
supply, or the folio wing day would and
the people lacking food; ii was not al
ways at hand. Your fathers did eat
mama in the wilderness and arc dead. y
That mamma was not given for the life OF
the world.
Ii you are feeding on this living bread,
you should show it IN your life. The
c0untenances Of Dauifl and his compare.
ions were more raddy than those who
fed upon the kings dainty fare. When
our soldiers In Cuba ate diseased meat
during the late war, 1t told upon them In
the hollow lines In their faces and their