Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-01-18


prayer.
Pau1's Advice.
Paul said to young Timothy, Preach
the wordr' l say to you, STUDY the
word" Study it in the church and in
the home. Study it on your knees and
at your desk and in your bed. Study
it as absorbingly and as intensely as
John Locke studied it, who gave up his
last fourteen years to an earnest search
after divine truth as revealed in the
Scriptures. Study Gods word as ear
nestly and as faithfully as Samuel
Johnson commended his young friend
to study it when upon his deathbed he
turned and said: Young man, attend
to the voice of one who has possessed
a certain degree of fame in the world
and who is about to appear before his
Maker: Read the Bible every day of
your life" Yes, new convert, read the
Bible and continue to read it, because
God commands you to read it. Read it,
because your deeper spiritual life de-
ponds upon your reading it or in hav-
ing it read to you. Study it, and con-
tinue to study it, because when you
read the Bible God is talking to you,
as when you pray you are talking to
God
But there is still another way for the
Christian to Quench the spiritual flame
which is now burning within him.
That way is to neglect the family al
tar, which should be raised in every
home. That way is for the husband
and father to hurriedly arise in the
morning and quickly dress, and then off
to business without gathering his chill
dren about him for family worship and
without having any blessing asked at
the breakfast table. That way is for
every father to think that all that he
has to do is to say his own prayers and
do his own Christian work, and then
his children will say their own prayers
and fulfill their own Christian tasks.
The Fireside Standard.
Every mans home to a certain extent
is his own castle. He can lift what
standards he pleases over his own fire
| side He can emphatically say, as did
Gods servant of old, Let others do as
i they will, but as for me and my house
we shall serve the Lord" Or he can
open his own home to shelter and en-
terrain evil temptations of all sorts.
| But let no man think if he surrenders
his house to evil practices and yields
himself and his home to the seductions
| of the world that he can at the same
! time live a spiritual life, nor can he
expect that those around him, who are
bound to him by ties of blood and love,
will lead spiritual lives. He must if
he would live right, not only conse
crate his own life every morning to
God, but in the presence of his chill
/ dren he must offer a petition to God
for them to consecrate their lives to
Christ also.
So completely do l believe the true
spiritual life to be dependent in many
ways upon the family altar that L
would have the fathers and mothers,
as soon as possible, teach their little
children to publicly pray at family
worship and to publicly ask the bless
ing at the daily meals. l remember,
many years ago when travelling in
Scotland, noticing how general was the
custom for the youngest child of the
household who could utter the words
being called upon to ask the blessing
at the family meal. 1 thought then, as
I think now, that it was an excellent
practice, tending to accustom the child
from its earliest years to acknowledge
the goodness Of God and to address
him in prayer AS soon as my chill
dren were born I made up my mind ]
would teach them when very young to
ask the blessing in public and to pub
licly pray ct the family altar. l would
teach them when very young, so that
they should never be ashamed to lift
their voices in petition to God, no mat
ter where they might be. And in
their young lips praying at family
worship 1 have found my own spir-
itual life as a river widening and deep
ening in strength every year.
In Touch With Christ.
Thus, no matter which way we may
look at the Pauline word "quench," the
whole trend of the matter is this: AS
Christians we cannot live a true spirit
ual life unless every moment of every
day we are in touch with Christ. We
cannot preach to others unless by
searching Gods word we hear Christ
preaching to US. We cannot pray for
others in public review unless we have
had much knee drill in secret prayer.
We cannot give ourselves wholly to
Gods service unless at the same time
at the family altar we give our loved
ones also I'd him. Are we ready to
come into touch with all these spiritual
sources of power? By coming in touch
with Christ's life shall we have the
Spirits fame leap and glow and re-
sistlessly move on and scatter and con-
sumo our sins and our brothers sins,
even as the prairie fire makes serpent,
buffalo and deer fee for their lives.
In welcoming the church members
to Christ's altar | have but one more