The Penn's Grove record., 1907-04-12

| Toe RULDif
A SERMON AEG&
~ TIE REV. Ag
lMWHENDERS0NV
-
Subject: Contemplation

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme, Contemplation" the
Rev. Ira Wemmell Henderson, pastor,
took as his text Ps. 46:10, "De Still"
He said:
This is a call to quietude. 1t is an
invitation to meditation in the midst
of a busy world. 1t is a m to
contemplation. It is an appeal to
men to seek satisfaction and ~restful-
ness not in commotion but in thought
fulness, in mental, physical, spiritual
tranquility before God. And it is
needed.
Noise abounds. Cacophany is con-
temporaneous. Racket Is as notice
able as anything in the order of the
days. Hubbub, confusion, clamor,
these are the concomitants of our
modern, especially of our modern ur-
ban, life. 1t would almost seem as
though din were demanded. City life
is characterized by its diversity of
sounds, by its confusion. And that
which is a feature of city life is, sad
ly, altogether too increasingly becom-
ing the rule in suburban life. The
countryside is receiving the evil in1u-
ence of the commotion of the city.
The noises of the city seem to pene-
trate with too much frequency and
insistency into the solitudes of ma
ture. And we cannot easily escape.
Our life is strife. Mans career is
one of turmoil to a great extent. We
must in some measure live in the
midst of the hustle, the hurry, the
rush. The fncessant roar is of neces-
sity, in some measure, an attendant
circumstance of our manner of liv-
ing. 1t is largely inevitable.
But noise is not all that is needed.
Neither is it always a sign of eff
cheney. A certain amount of din may
be inexpugnable. But it is no guar
antee of effectiveness. In fact the OPP
posite of this is the truth. Noiseless-
ness is both desirable and indicative.
The stars rush through the heavens
in their age long courses silently, ma
iestically, tremendously. Their speed
is appalling, their energy is beyond
human comprehension. And withal
the movement of the spheres is as
noiseless as silence itself.
That which is characteristic of the
motion of the celestial globes is the
aim of the e~ndeavors of the mechan-
icians. The desire mechanically is to
attain noiselessness. Wehave learned
that noise is largely lost motion. And
so the energy of the mechanical en-
gineer is to reduce friction, to abolish
noise, to secure quietness in the work
ing of machinery.
What is true of the world of me-
chanics is true of the crowd. The
people who make the most noise are
not the ones who do the most work
generally. The man who fuses is
not the nan who is accomplishing the
most. Disturbance, disorder, excite
ment are not indications of effectual-
ness. The man who is busiest is not
the man always who gives the casual
observer the impression that he is
expending energy. The man who
shouts the most is moi always the
man who makes the most telling ar
gument. The advocate who rants
and tears a passion to tatters and
brings CONSERVATION to the witness is
not the lawyer who wins the case
always. The noisy mob is never the
most dangerous. All this noise is sc
much lost motion. 1t is waste. Sc
as in the realm of mechanics the eff
fort is in the life of man to secure
quiet. That is if the man be wise.
We cannot escape labor. In the
wisdom and the providence of the AL
mighty we must work. But noise i.
only an incident of labor. 1t is never
the thing itself. And while we recog
nize that God summons US to a por
ton of labor, let US also not fail tt
realize that He calls US into the stiuy
places, that He invites us to commun
ion with Himself, that He invokes u!
to contemplation.
There is a good deal of this com
motion in the intellectual and in the
spiritual life. Men are striving to Sc
cure a knowledge of the things of tht
intellectual life and of the religion!
life by the exercise of excessive en-
ergy. They are trying to force theil
way to the truth by sheer intellectual
and spiritual brute force-if I ma!
be permitted such an inexact expires
sion. Many men seem to desire t
blast their way into the depths of di
vine wisdom, with much tumult anc
agitation to the mind and soul. w
do too much of our thinking with on.
mouths and not enough with on
heads. We endeavor too much t.
learn of the spiritual truths of tn,
kingdom of God by discussing a
great length, and with more or les
book knowledge, upon the might,
speculative matters of the theological
disciplines, seemingly forgetful of tn,
fact that an understanding OF tn
eternal principles and truths of tn,
kingdom of God is not to be gaines
BY theoretical disputation, but rattle
: by communion with the living God.
The most profit and the creates
rrooraCe aou hn fnIInh both infnllnpt
ually and spiritually in quiet. TIL
soul that waits in silence and expect
5 ancy, with an open mind and an opel
| heart, while the Father reveals Him
self is the soul that will indeed knoV
that He is God. BE STILL" for thi
is the way to intellectual and spirit
i, ual wisdom.
|, The great facts of human life ar
most surely made known to us whe,
!, we simply let God speak to US. w
may force some knowledge. We ma
enter into a measure of information
of the facts that inhere in the multi
tudinous life round about US by tn
!, exercise of sheer energy, but tn
: finest, the deepest, the most abund
ant truths of the kingdom of God, in
tellectual and spiritual, are those tina
are mediated by the divinely appoint
: ed process of contemplation, of int
1ectual and spiritual susceptibility
| The man who, in the midst of til
crowd, out in the silent Businesses c
nature, in the quietude of prayer, wi
be still before Jehovah is the man t
whose soul the most enriching bless
ings come. whose intellectual apprt
citation OF spiritual truths is mos
surely certified, who enters into tn
broadest and profoundest under
standing of the wisdom of God.
However valuable quietude may b
to contemplation it is not necessar
that we shall be, numerically, alon
in order to be alone with God. In til
centre of the jostling crowd, in tn
midst of the rush and the roar an
the excitement of the street life {
the great metropolis, in the midst {
the worries, the discomforts, tn
trials of business life a mar may b
Just as truly alone with God a