The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1906-10-10

the mercy of the waves with no anchor for
my soul. shut the door, ''and shake your
soul clear of the dominion Of sin through
the help of Almighty God 1t Is task of
infinite delicacy, requiring divine power
and wisdom and one which, If accomplish
ed, ends in glories as eternal as the throne
of God. Thank God that If we get the
victory the victory is one that shall become
greater and greater, certain and more GER
tain In the midst of all the conflict we wage
In this world with the enemy of our soul.
''Shut the door," "Shut the door" How
we like TO leave the door Just little way
open so we can peep out and see what our
neighbors are thinking and doing, which
way the crowd is moving, how our interests
are progressing; and we sincerely believe
there is nothing wrong about IL. All, let
us hear the voice of Jesus coming quietly
from the field of Gallee into your heart and
mine, urging us not only tina: we should
pray, but pray alone. "Shut the door"
Brethren, 1t is no easy thing to Go; it can
not be accomplished with one hand AL
ready you realize that II Is hard to "shut
the door, and leave all your interests out.
side, financial interests. You say, surely
can shut the door with one hand while
grasp my wealth with the other hand. All,
you will have TO leave your wealth outside.
tuu uusb Ob WIN hOu, YOU uuhl
realize your persona, relation with God, the
Father; you must realize that the soul is
immortal. All, Brethren, must "shut
the door" and realize that If tn ere were on
ly one being in the universe, and were
that being, still there must be n Christ,
still a cross with power TO save, still
Gethsemane, still the morning of the as.
cension, still the open sepulcher "Shut
the door" My friend are you trying TO
shut the door as J esus told you TO do? No
herculean strength will do 1t, no scientific
investigation, no intellectual refinement. il
takes more intellect TO shut the door"
than to write Hamlet, or Macbeth, or Julius
Caesar; not even the skill that ma rshalls an
army and leads II TO victory, will do it.
Jesus will do It. 81 am the door," There
have been moments in my life when there
was nothing great enough, nothing re-
sponsive enough TO shut everything else
out and to shut the soul in but Jesus, and
Jesus only. After all tho hardest thing we
have to do is to "shut the door" against
our loved ones. This separation must be
made; there must be some grand way of
making IL; there in. There Is warm, ten
der, loving way, just because Jesus is our
door. Inside of that door will never lose
my love, or the power of friendship.
When the prayer is over and the door is
opened, l come forth with renewed friend.
ship. a friendship that is almost divine; and
come back to my loved ones and my
friends with friendship and love that is
real And my friend knows that have
been inside where the door is shut. "Shut
the door" But the hardest problem with
which man has TO deal is the problem of
his past, How about your past Does 1t
shrivel, and narrow and paralize your life?
l. rl..s -. 10.
head and call attention." know YOU; /
know your sins rising likean alpine summit;
your heart is hard, your sins are great, your
crimes are black. Sometimes you thought
you had the door shut; you resolved, you
reformed; but the door was not accurately
fitting; the past came up again, it seemed
giant, fully armed, and when you tried to
shut the door and do what Jesus said, that
past would hiss and sting. Friends, you
must have complete door TO shut out
past like that. Here is the authority of
Jesus: 81 am the door" Jesus can
come between man and his past. This
great, sweet being who is saying: "Shut
the door," can cleanse away the stain of
sin, set new pulse beating in a mans
soul, endue him with moral strength,
and make him, so far as his thoughts and
feelings and aims and aspirations go, a
new creature. At last the soul forsakes
all and follows Jesus. Shut the door. o
do what Jesus says: Just shut the door
and pray to the Father which is in secret
Just tell Hin how sinful and cold and
dark all is; it is the Fathers loving heart
that will give warmth and light to you.
To the man who will withdraw himself
from all that is of the world and man and
prepares to wait upon God alone, the |
Father will reveal Himself. AS he for
sakes aud gives up and shuts out the |
world and the life of the world and sur
renders himself to he led of the Spirit |
into the secret of Gods presence, the |
light of the Fathers presence will rise |
upon him. Do not be thinking of how
little you have to bring God, but of how
much he wants to bring you. "As
father pitieth his children, so the Lord |
pitieth you" Shut the door and Just |
place yourself before God and look up |
into His face. Think of His love, His |
wonderful, tender, plying love. But, |
oh, shut the door. Child of God, listen |
in the inner chamber with the door shut |
shut in from men, shut up with God. |
1t is there the Father waits for you; it is |
there Jesus will teach you. Lord teach |
us to pray" Shut the door, be alone in |
secret with the Father; this be your
highest 10y. This be your strength day |
by day. Is it not wonderful? To be able |
to go alone with God, the infinite God, |
and then to look up and say, "My Father"
There are no mathematics for comput-
ing the influence and the result of the |
shut door. John Welch, son-in-law of |
John Knox, the great retormer, is said to |
have given one-thrd of his time to secret |
prayer, and from The beginning of his
to his death he reckoned the day |
ill spent if he stayed not seven or eight |
hours in prayer, and the testimony of one
who rememb bered him was that "He was
a type of Christ" Paul was doubtless a
great preacher and worker, but he never
felt that he could get along without the |
prayers of Gods people, and to every |
church to which he wrote, save one, the |
church of Galatia, he asked |
them to pray for him. Shut the door.
Prayer will bring blessing into the |
1t will settle church quarrels,
allay misunderstanding and root out |
heresy. In all true, deep and lasting |
spiritual awakenings prayer has played
more important part than anything else.
There have been great revivals without
much preaching and without almost no
There has hever been a
great and true revival without prayer.
"Shut the door, shut the door,"
Prayer can transform poor preacher
into good one. Shut the doer. If you
are not satisfied with your present minis
ter you can get a better one by praying
for him. Shut the doorf And if you
think your present minister is pretty
good one you can make him far better by
more prayer. Shut the door. If your
sermons are too long for you
it is all because your prayers are too
short for him. Shut the door, shut the
door. In the beginning of my ministry,
to the people Of my first charge, | said:
u How much would give to know that
few members of this church stayed up