Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-10-04

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, "I can get back to that place.
Are you quite sure that you cano
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 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. '3Shur the door, why.
surely you say, '.that is something
I can do with one hand, while I
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 shut the door
against, there are So many things
with which I must keep in touch?"
don't know; He says, "Shut the
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?" / must be alone with God; I
must feel again my personal rela-
| tionship to my Father; 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 Christ, still :. Gethsemane. still
| the morning of the ascension, still
| the open sepulcher. The only way to
be rid of our enemies is to "shut the
door," The real truth is that, xhen
the real crises of life come, my only
enemy is myself. This is the one I
/ need to conquer. Here are passions,
| prejudices, hates, lusts. oh, my
| frieEd, whatever your gain or loss,
| realize this, that never until you shut
| the door will you go into the presence
J of God: never until in secret prayer
you are a1one with your enemies.
What can any man do to harm me,
| unless I harm myself? If ever you
are tossed about upon seas 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. !
know Of no other right, gentle and
loving way but the way of prayer,
and as I shut the door. Inside OF
that door I will never lose my power
of friendship, my sou1's friendship is
real. lighting her altar fires for her
friend, and when the prayer is over
and the door open my friendship viii
be tenderer and deeper and I shall
say, my own, dear friend, come
back to you with friendship that is
all divine. Thou art my friend.
have been inside where the door was
shut
l. I wonder where this door is to be
found. / wonder, sometimes. when
| try to have secret moment in my
own life, If there might not have
been a second meaning in the word
when He said:- Il am the door," Fol-
surely there is nothing in this uni
verse responsive enough, great
c. ough to shut everything else out
and to shut the soul in-great enough
in tenderness-so that the slightes
touch of an infant soul will "shut the
door," Here is the authority of Jesu.
Christ. No one knew the world out
side as He knew it; no one know,
. the world inside as He knows it; NJ
lone else will take my thoughts, m!
: feelings, my soul; no one else cal
r lshut the world ont and the soul in
| Here Is a man who has been trying tt
) tpray and shut the door as Jesus toll
! him to do. It takes more intellec
! to shut that door than to write Hin
: dustanee or Shakespeare; more char
, acter than to marshall an army an,
+ lead 1t to battle. No muscular powe
; will do it; no Intellectual reinemen
$ lpr process of philosophical investiga
: tioRa no wealth. All, you will have t.
ile4ye 7our wealth outside. ''Shu
n the door," It is only the man in tn
:. grandeur Of his solitude, in the pref