Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-08-19
SECRET SPRINGS OF POWER.
Tcrse Comments Upon the Christian
Endeavor Topic for August 22, 1.-TWO
Prayer Lessons" Matt. g.: 8, 6;
is: te, 20,

Endeavor Topic for August 20, 1.-TWO
Prayer Lessons" Matt. 6: 8, 6;
10: 10. 20.
BY WILLIAM r. ELLIS.
Life consists in Its relationships.
Apart from these, what we call life
would be mere existence. BY the num-
Der of other lives, and other interests
than self, to which q spirit is related
do we measure its worth. He who is
symathetieally related to the great.
living or dead we consider great But
modest OF ell is the spirit that is at
tuned to the Infinite. The life best
worth living Is the, life that Is in
closest relationship with God. Such
one shares the very interflow of the
divine nature. Close to God, one can
not be far from all that is most de-
sirable in two worlds.
Mans importantly gives God an OPP
portunity.
Nobody's real life is lived in pub
lie. There Is no more stupid fallacy
than the one which assumes that the
career which is ever in the popular
eye is the best one. All the springs
of happiness and power flow from
secret places. 1t is In the shelter of
the home, in the private intercourse
of friend with friend, in the tln-noted
communion with the great spirits who
speak through the printed page. that
men and women truly live. And ones
religion Is not measured by public &C
tivities, but by the hidden nurture Of
the soul In the closet Of meditation
and prayer.
The magma eharta Of the united
prayer is this uttered by Jesus: again
/ say unto you, that If two of you
shall agree on earth as touching any
thing that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father, who Is in
heaven. For where two or three are
gathered together in my name,' there
am in the midst of them
Prayers directed toward mans ears
never rise higher. He who makes a
good prayer" to be heard of man, has
his reward in mems praise: but God
never heeds that Kind Of prayer.
s} 49, - a.
Religion is not an ornament to be
worn for mems beholding, but treas
ure to be hidden in the heart for Gods
eye.
John Woolman's Journal" desig-
mated as one of the few books essential
to culture, has set men to wondering
who John Woolman was. Wherein is
his greatness? Simply In his contract
with God John Woolman was
Quaker tailor who lived his life with
respect to the eternal verities. His
sense Of God was so real and vital that
he may be said to have lived ever in
an attitude Of prayer. Because he sat
always at the feet Of God, the men OF
this. hurried age are now called to sit
at his feet.
Everybody prays in extremity. But
not everybody has the courage to
make public acknowledgment of his
deliveratice afterward. The young
British explorer, Lieutenant Shackle-
ton; whose recent dash for the South
Pole brought him nearer to that goal
than man had ever gone before, has
publicly declared his gratitude for de-
liveranee from many perils by the
interpretation of a special Providence.
He writes: 1T was during those
periods that some Power beyond our
own guided our footsteps. If we
acknowledged this, as we did, down
among the ice floes, it is only fitting
that we should remember it now when
the same Power has brought us safe
home through all these troubles and
perils."
The first lesson of prayer is ability
to say, "Our Father and the last les
son of prayer is ability to say "Thy
will be done.'
We are learning more than little
nowadays about the pseudo-philoso.
phicaI theory of prayer which eXtols
certain psychological principles and
INDUCES in many big words as "telep-
athy' and "subconscieus ego" Strip
ped Of its veriage, this notion is that
God does not answer prayer, but that
you answer your own prayers by start
ing certain mysterious Throughout
rents which react Upon your own per-
sonality. This is to say, you really
pray to yourself, and then answer
your own prayers. Why moi kneel
down before a mirror and make your
prayers, without ell this esoteric paiav-
er? If men want to worship themselves
--a.ii some people come dangerously
near to that--Wty not do 50 boldly and