The Penn's Grove record., 1906-09-28
THE PULPIT.
. SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
The REV. DR.. F. W. GUNSAULUS.
Subject: The Shut Door.

MdcKay s pulpit in the COLLEGIATE
Church of st. Nicholas, and Sunday
morning, TO a very large congrega-
ton, he preached on 'The Shut
Door" His text was Matthew via,
Shut the Door" Dr.. GunsauIus
said:
l wish l could by some contrast
impossible for me and possible only
IN the experience of your own hearts
emphasize the difference between this
command, as it comes to US loaded
with Infinite love, and the commands
thai come out of recollections of our
childhood, that might give us some
idea of the different texture of life,
the life from which the heart is al
ways moving into the infinite ranges
OF Gods life, into which we are in
glted day by day. Shut the Door"
think the instant demand, espe-
clally upon American life, with it's
swollen veins and arteries, it's various
Commissions and starry look and STUN
ping feet, is to get out of the whirl
and hear a voice speaking with deep,
hne authority, saying to us as we go
through life, with it's cares, duties,
amusements and contradictions,
Shut the door," This is the voice
of Jesus. He is telling us the secret
of prayer, in the closet-secret pray
er in which the human soul comes
alone into the presence of God; prav-
er in which nan finds his true alti-
tude and attitude; prayer in which
alone a man is able to look into mo-
lives, perceiving the values of life, in
which he gains his spiritual heredity
and in which h. -,,-, L. -.
unto God through Gods grace.
The n thing that Jesus seems
most intent about, that you and l
should enjoy the privilege of prayer
and receive it's benefits, is all ex-
planned and emphasized in these
words, Shut the door" We are liv-
ing at a time when prayer is a fact
and a force. The world of the mate
rialist has passed: the world of the
idealist is here. The scientists of to-
day are telling us, Let us pray" 1t
is not strange that we should begin
to realize the unifying and exalted
influence of prayer upon mans men
tai life. What, after all, is there to-
day in life, when life's issues are so
profound and even tragic, that will
unity all ones powers-the powers
of the mind and of the affections-as
will prayer? When I pray in secret
l am unified as a man. If mar is to
be re-made, if he is to be made whole
SO that his various parts shall be no
longer fragments, each afar from the
other, he must be divinely unified.
But, my brother, if that is to be your
experience, Let us pray" Here is
the Master coming quietly from the
helds OF Galilee into your heart and
nine, urging upon US, as the old,
deep harmonies of the religions of
all ages sweep into His soul, urging
US; not only that we should pray, but
pray alone. We see Him at Gethse-
name, at the very crisis of His life,
leaving Peter and James and John
behind, and going alone to pray. l
think the most significant announce
ment with regard to Saul, who was
to become Paul, and his experience
on the road to Damascus was made
unconsciously by the n who said:
Behold, he prayeth." What an en-
tire transformation! What a pro-
phecy of his future!
Do you think that Christ is calling
you to an easy task when He says:
Shut the door," Do you even know
the pathway back to the old closet of
early days? The road is now all
Oyergrown. But since that day there
have grown up brambles over the
pathway. First of all, we must find
this path, if we are to find our man
hood and womanhood. Is it not an
astounding fact how little secret
prayer there has been in our lives?
How this passion for publicity has
linked itself to our willingness to re-
main away from the secret place.
True, a while ago, when we were in
trouble, we found our way back.
How sweet it was! But that was not
secret prayer, for we did not shut
the door" 1t was prayer with the
door wide open, through which we
were looking back at the things from
which we were trying to escape. You
say, 81 can get back to that place"
Are you quite sure that you can?
If so, shut the door" How we like
to peek out and see what the majority
are thinking - how our neighbors
feel about things. How we want the
door just a little way open in order
that we may hear the sounds of the
claims of good causes, in which We
are interested! Surely, there is moth
ing wrong about that. Shut the
door" Let us take the words of
Jesus into our hearts to-day as sim
ply as we can and sincerely accept
them. shut the door," why,
surely" you say, that is something
/ can do with one hand, while l
grasp other things with the other
hand" No, both hands must be in
side. There must be no effort to
grasp things without. WELL" you
say, what shall l shut the door
against, there are SO many things
with which 1 must keep in touch?"
door" But" you reply, there is
my church, my family, my relatives,
my dear friends" o, poor SOUL it
seems such ordinary talk, does it not,
in the presence of the great, sweet
Being, Who is saying, Shut the
door," l must be alone with God; l
must feel again my personal rela-
tionship to my Father; l must realize
again that if there were only one
being in the world, and I were that
being, while the moral universe sub
sisted, still there must be a cross
still a Christ, still Gethsemane, still
the morning OF the ascension, still
the open sepulcber. The only way to
be rid of u enemies is to shut the
door," The real truth is that, .Then
the real crises of life come, my only
enemy IS myself. This is the one l
need to conquer. Here are passions,
p~rejudices, hates, lusts. oh, my
friend, whatever YOUR gain Oh loss,
realize this, that never until you shut
the door will you go into the presence
of God; never until in secret prayer
you are alone with your enemies.
What can any man do TO harm me,
unless | harm myself? If ever you
are tossed about upon sea of dark
ness, it will be because you neglected
to put the anchor on board and your
ship is at the mercy of the waves.
Shut the door"
After all the limitations of life that
are serious are the limitations that
come to Us through loved ones II
there is one thing that a man needs,
it is in some holy and grand way to
be separated from these friends. /