The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-10-05

To put the anchor on board and youl
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 rs one thing that man needs
it. is In some holy and grand way Ia
be separated from these friends.
know OF no other right, gentle and
loving way but the way Of prayer.
and as | shut the door. Inside OF
that door / will never lose my power
OF friendship. ny souls friendship IS
real. lighting her altar fires for her
friend, and when the prayer is over
and the door open my friendship will
| be tenderer and deeper and | shall
! say, MY own, dear friend, ] come
| back TO you with n friendship that is
all divine. Thou art my friend
have been inside where the door was
shut"
| wonder where this door Is 10 be
found. | wonder, sometimes, when
try to have q secret moment in my
own life. If there might not have
been a second meaning in the word
when He said: II am the door" For
surely there is nothing in this uni
verse responsive enough, great
g. Odgh TO shut everything else out
and to shut the soul in-great enough
i'm tenderness that the slightest
touch OF an infant soul will shut the
door" Here is the authority Of Jesus
Christ No one knew the world out
side as He knew it; no one knows
the world inside as lie knows it; no
one else will take my thoughts, my.
feelings, my soul; no one else can
shut the world out and the soul in.
Here is . man who has been trying to
pray and shut the door as Jesus told
him to do il takes more intellect
10 shut that door tnan to write Him
dustancc or Shakespeare; more char
acter than to marshall an army and
lead it to battle 30 muscular power
will do it; no intellectual refinement
or process of philosophical investiga-
ton, no wealth. An, YOU will have to
leave yOur wealth outside Shut
the door" II is only the man in the
grandeur OF his solitude, in the pres
cnce OF Cod, when he means more TO
God than ever before, 1t is only then
that finally he gets the door shut
lust because Jesus is our entrance.
lie is the door. | realize, day by
day, now finite He is when | touch
Him, how infinite He is when He
touches me.
How about that past? There it IS.
Nothing ranklCs more than mans
past, that VIII !iG. It's head up and
say: "Ah, here am. Look at me-
| know you. | nave heard you pray
before Those hands, | know where
they have been. That heart. ! know
how dark IL IT," Have YOU ever tried
to shut the door against a past liEo
that? Have YOU ever known what It
is TO have the past hiss and stingS
Sometimes YOU think YOU have tho
door shut, but oh, how that past.
that seem" a giant, fully armed, too
big to get into the door, suddenly
transforms, nattcns itself out, licj
like serpent, and by and by YOU
hear il wiEgling at the door, Kissing.
Oh, | must have door accurately
fitting, that whether the past slithCrS
like a serpent or comes like a giant.
can shut that door. Oh, how at last
the soul takes hold Of one thing and
sewers all from the past, and that one
thing is Jesus Christ
am Interested i'm mems problems.
DO YOU know anything that is inter-
CstinG enough in this world TO keen
the past out, except Jesus Christ? IL
there anything that 50 appeals -
your interest that you actually turn
your back upon the past and say: r
have present Thank God. haya
a present. | am looking TO Him who
says, Follow Me He has never
yet told us we have followed Him too
far. Since lie says that. and as long
as my heart pulses and as long aS
my viii keeps in harmony with lIimy
have a future Your past Is ont oG
doors, your present and your future
here, simply because you have shut
the door. | tell YOU, brethren. the
manifest, the grandCst, the greatest
thing You can do this morning is sim
ply 20 accept Jesus Christ rs the door
into the communion The door moves
upon such hinges Of love that you
need but TO say. Il am sinner: T.
want to be alone with God" to starR
it mOving-to get in, with the past
outside. My friends | will look for
them by and by And my enemies? :?
| want to conquer only one of them.
| want to be alone. | will shut the
door" May Gods holy Spirit. who
is here this morning, quicken every
heart. Get back this very day-now,'
and shut the door" You need not,
be afraid that the world will lose
anything. You will be a better mani
when you go out, with a whittier facet
cleaner hands. a more loving and a
braycr cart shut the door"