The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-05-14

moral dynamite in your nature. Be
careful where you go and what you
do. Oh. man! with an appetite for
liquor, stay away from saloons. Don't
90 near them. Avoid those places
where the fuse may BIZ ignlted. Keep
the fire from the dynamite in you.
Watch. that you enter not into temp
tation.
The Savior in His.commission to Us
also commands US to pray.
Listen to a message from the Prince
CT sermonizers :"Prayer is a prepare.
ton for danger, it is the armor for
battle. Go not. my Christian broth
er. into the dangerous world without
it. You kneel down at night to pray.
and drowsiness weighs down your eye
lids. A hard days work is a kind of
excuse, and you shorten your prayer
and resign yourself softly to repose.
sThe morning breaks. and i; may
be you rise late, and SO your early
devotions are not done, or done with
irregular haste. No watching unto
a wakefulness once more omit
ted. And now we ask. is that repair
able? Brethren, we solemnly believe
not.
"There has been that done which
cannot be undone. You have given
10 your prayer. and you will suffer
for it. Temptation is before you,
and you are not fit TO meet it. There
is a guilty feeling on your soul. and
you linger at a distance from Christ.
It is no marvel it that day, in which
you suffer drowsiness to interfere
with prayer, be a day in which you
betray Him by c%owardice and soft
shrinking from duty. Let it be a
principle through life, moments of
prayer lntruded upon by sloth can
never be made up"
Let us go to the Master for our ex-
ample of prayer. He prayed early
in the morning. beginning the day
with prayer. Mark tells us:"And In
the morning, rising up a great while
before day. lie went out into a soil
tary place, and there prayed" He
prayed before He performed a mira
Gle. John tells us that He went out
to the grave of Lazarus. and 1t was
''after He had prayed" that He said
with resurrectional resonance, "Laza-
rus. come forth !" And He prayed
after a miracle as we'll as before. Mat.
thew tells us: CATER He fed the null
titudes He went up into a mountain
apart to pray" We need to pray
sometimes after a great blessing as
we'll as before we received it. And
when He was wearied with toll He
went apart to pray. Luke tells us
that He "went up into a mountain to
pray. And as He prayed. the fashion
of His c~ountenance was altered. -
Pray, my brethren. until the grace of
God shows itself in the very look and
bearing, and then the power of temp
tation is gone.
"Then come temptations, evil, sin,
All harmless fail with Christ with
in"
In the play OF "Faust." modernly
staged, there ie an Easter morning
scene. Marguerite. with head bent
low. face down-cast. feeling the bur-
den of sin. goes to the church to con
TESS her sins, and to seek the Heaven
ly Fathers forgiveness. The I'eviI
comes up behind Marguerite as she
walks toward the church. He whls-
pers to her. He plies all his arts of
temptation seeking to draw her from
her lofty and holy purpose. But Mar
passes on. She % to the church /;
the Devil still tempting her. But
she passes into the holy place: the
Devil waits at the door for her to
come out. He doesn't 20 inside. He
stays outside. And outside is the
place for the Devil to be-. There
OVSut w O0 SuCu d pOW0I VI Uu0 pro-
sence of God in every church so that
the Devil couldn't 60 inside. There
ought to be SO much of the spirit Of
Heaven in every church so that if the
Devil did go inside he would instant
ly be Enthusiastically asphyx-
lated. There ought to be so much of
the air of the upper spheres in every
church SO that the Devil could mt
breathe-couId'nt live five minutes
within the sacred Enclosure. Woe
tetide the church into which Christ
has been trying to get for years but
has never been able to effect an n
trance!
Well when Marguerite went inside
Satan stayed outside. Marguerite is
In the church confessing her sins, and
seeking Gods forgiving grace and
the ~indwelling of the Master Spir-
it. AT last the bells begin to ring,
the devotions r over, and Marguer-
ite comes out. She is Lo longer