The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-09-27
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Sunday Sermon
A Scholarly Discourse BY
DR.. F. w. Gunsaulus.


Church of St. Nicholas. and Sunday
morning, to a very large congrega-
ton. he preached on THE Shut
Door His text was Matthew vi:4 a.,
Shut the Door" Dr. Gunsaulus
said
] wish | could by some contrast
Impossible for me and possible only
ia the experience of your own hearts
emphasize the difference between this
command, as it comes to us loaded
y III infinite love, and the commands
that come out of recollections OF out
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 infirite ranges
o. Gods life, into which we are i'm.
vited day by day. Shut the Door. q"
think the instant demand. espe.
cially upon American life, with its
swollen veins and arteries, its various
confusions and starry look and STUN.
hing feet. is to get out OF the whirI
and hear voice speaking with deep,
fiue authority saying to us as we &c
through life, with its cares, duties
amusements and contradictions
shut the door" This is the voice
OK Jesus. He is telling us the secret
ct prayer, in the closet-secrst pray.
ec in which the human soul comes
alone into the presence of God; pray.
&C in which man finds his true alti-
tude and attitude, prayer In which
alone a man is able to look into mo.
tiyes, perceiving the values of life. in
which he gains his spiritual heredity
aud in which he assumes his sonship
unto God through Gods grace.
The one thing that Jesus seems
most intent about, that you and
should enjoy the privilege Of prayer
and receive its benefits. is all ex-
Piained and emphasized in these
words, Shut the door" We are liy.
lag at a time when prayer is a fact
aud force. The world of the mate.
Tialist has passed the world of the
idealist is here. The scientists of to.
day are telling us, Let MS pray" It
Is not strange that we should begin
to realize the unifying and exalted
iatluence of prayer uIon mans men.
tai life. What, after all, is there to-
day in life, when life's issues are 50
pcotound and even tragic. that will
unifJ- all ones powers--the powers
al the mind and of the affections--as
Will pra ,er? When I pray in secret
| am unified as a man. II man Is to
De re-made, II he is to be made whole
so that his various parts shall be no
longer fragments, each afar from the
ether, he must be diYinely unified.
But, my brother, IL that is to be youI
experience. Let us pray Here Is
tae Master coming quietly from the
hslds OF Galilee into your heart and
mine, urging upon us, as the old.
dsep harmonies of the religions of
aii ages sweep into His soul, urging
As, 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
Sehlnd, and going alone to pray. !
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
dnconsciously by the one who said
Behold, he prayeth. What an en-
tire transformation, What pro.
phecy of his futurei
DO you think that Christ is calling
sou to an easy task when He saws.
Shut the door?" Do you even know
the pathway back 10 the old closet Of
early days? The road Is now all
oVergrown. But since that day there
have grown up brambles over the
pathway. First of all, we must find
Shis 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, n while ago, whln we We're I'm
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
we're looking back at the ihings from
which we were trying 10 escape. You
say, 81 can get back TO that place.
Are you quite sure that you can
II so, shut the door. How we like
10 peek out AID see what the majority
are thinking - how our neighbors
feel about things. How we want the
door Just 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 MS take the words of
Jesus into our hearts to-day as sim
ply as We can and sincerely accent
them. Shut the doo"." why
surely you say, that Is something
J can do with one hand while /
grasp other things with the other
hand No. both hands must be IN.
side. There must be no effort 10
grasp things without We'll" you
say what shall | shut the door
against there are so many things
with which | must keep in touch?
l don't know; He says shut the
door" But you reply, there ig
my church, my family, my relatives
my dear friends. O, poo. SOUL Il
seems such ordinary talk, does Il not.
III the presence OF the great. sweet
Being, VINO is saying. Shut the
dOorN' ] must be alone with God
must feel again my personal rela
tiOnship to my Father. must realize
again that il there We're only one
being IN the world, and ! were thai
being, while the moral universe sub.
sisted, still there must be cruss
still Christ, still . Gethsemane, still
the morning of the ascension, still
the open sepu.cher The only way 60
be rid OF our enemies is TO shut the
door" The real truth is that. then
the real crises OF life come, ray only
enemy is myself This Is the one
need TO conquer. Here are passions
prejudiees, hates, lusts. Oh, my
friend, whatever your gain or loss,
! realize this, that never until you shut
the door will you go into the presence