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

tlat IL Is SAFER W0en IN HdTDOT 10 tie /
my ship up to a wharf than to anchor |
Ii out in midstream, to be floated |
around in the tides. By bitter expert |
ence | have also found out that no |
young Christian is safe unless he is !
bound up in Christian fellowship with
and in the week night prayer meet
ings." The old sea captains expert
ence has been mine. l never saw in
my life church member 90 astray I'M
less you could first trace his spiritual
degeneracy in growing absence from
the prayer meeting and Sunday serv~
ices
How Say the new convert in another
way smother the divine flames burning
within him? By throwing away the
golden key which unlocks the closet
door of secret prayer? By neglecting
to have a trysting place, where, as a
lover, he can meet with God and talk
over his plans and hopes? By thinking
that there is any wakeful hour, day or
night, when he can afford not to feel
that
Prayer is the Christians vital breath,
The Christians native airj
His watchword at the gate Of death,
He enters heaven with prayer?
Fatal Maneuyer.
William T. Sherman in his famous
journey from Atlanta to the sea broke
loose from his military base Of sup
plies and fed his army on the surround
ing country through which he marched.
But a course that may be safe for a
military strategist is certainly and in
evitably disastrous for soldier Of Je-
sus Christ. A Christian convert should
never get out of prayer touch with the
heavenly city. 1t is a fatal maneuver.
1t will ultimately mean the Christian
falling victim to spiritual ambuscade,
entrapment and overthrow. You have
no more reason to expect the flames OF
candle to burn in a chemical retort
emptied of all oxygen than you have
a right to expect your spiritual fires to
burn in your bedroom which is not
charged and surcharged with the holy
atmosphere of secret prayer.
1t is necessary for true spiritual life
to pray in public. oh, yes! But it is
just as necessary to pray in private.
1.-The Lord thy God is jealous God"
That means in one sense that there are
times when God wants us to be alone
with him, alone as Christ was alone
with the Heavenly Father when Jesus
again and again went off alone to pray.
10 T1fc 70 a q with
holy fellowship, as some of us have
often been alone with our mothers.
Blessed and tender were those hours
of sweet communion with our mothers,
who have now gone beyond. After the
rest of the family were all in bed we
used to sit up toward midnight, telling
her what we wanted to do and asking
her if she thought it was best for US
to do it. So God, the Heavenly Father,
wants us at times to come to him
when we are alone. He wants us to
tell him all our plans. George White
field would never accept any invitation
to do anything of any import unless he
had first talked it over with his 'best
friend" In the darkness of the bed
the streets and in the quiet of the office
or in the kitchen, God wants US to
| frankly and freely and lovingly talk
with him.
Benefits of Prayer.
Christian convert, never feel that the
hours are wasted which you spend on
| your knees talking with Christ in Sc
| cret prayer You cannot find one man
| on earth who has ever attained to
! life of eminent Christian usefulness
unless he climbed there by grasping
| firmly and gladly, rung by rung, the
| golden ladder of secret prayer What
said Charles II. Sturgeon in reference
to the power of secret prayer? When
some one asked him the cause of his
marvellous usefulness for Christ, Spur
geOn pointed to the floor of his taber-
nacle, saying: I'm the room beneath
you will find 800 praying Christians.
Every time l preach here they gather
together and uphold my hands by con-
tinuous prayer and supplication. There
you will find the secret of all the bless
ings." As Charles II. Surgeons
"Gideon's band by secret prayer swept
their pastor on TO spiritual victories
so by the power of secret prayer we
can lift ourselves up toward God and
Christian usefulness. As Philip bod
bridge, of blessed memory, once said,
THE better pray the better l study"
l say, The better you pray the better
you will work" The better you pray
the better as mother you can look
after your children. The better you
pray the better you will live and the
better you will preach and the wider
will be your influence for Christ.
Prayer in public necessary for spir-
itual development? Oh, yes, Prayer
behind the locked door, prayer in Sc
cret, prayer where only Gods ear can
hear and Gods eye can see, just as i'm
portant for the spiritual life and hope.
During the Revolutionary war a high
land soldier was caught creeping into
camp during the darkness of the night.
He was charged with being spy and