The Penn's Grove record., 1915-02-12
CONTACT WITH GOD
Peace and Joy in the Conscious
ness That He Abides
With Us.

And they constrained him, saying
Abide with us."-Luke 24:29. The two
disciples on the way to Emmaus were
full of confusion, disappointment and
despair. The stranger who joined
them and taught them the meaning of
the Scriptures, brought a sense of or
der into their chaotic minds and a
feeling of mingled peace and hope into
their sorrowing hearts. AS they
reached the door of their home they
felt that they could not allow the
-companionship to terminate abruptly.
II he had told them so much he might
tell them more; if he had brought
comfort he might bring them joy. So
they babe him enter and abide, in
order that they might carry the
chance companionship into an inti-
mate friendship. They had seen but
a glimpse and felt but a touch of his
extraordinary personality and they
wanted more. Under the constraint
he entered and revealed himself with
out reserve-their Savior.
Is it not true that our lives are in
coherent and futile and disappoint-
Ing?
Is it not also true that there have
been times when our hearts have
burned as we have come in contact
with sacred things? We have known
a little of God, and a little of Jesus
Christ; perhaps if we could establish
a more permanent relationship, If we
could have a consciousness that God
really abides with us, all the unsatis-
~factoriness and all the Illustration
might pass away and we should have
peace and joy.
Lies Vicissitudes.
Every life is marked by great I'M
evenness- We have wonderful ele-
vations and deep depressions, mo-
ments of splendor and hours of sor-
did commonplaceness, dashes of di-
vinity and periods of brutishness. Oc-
casionally we are breathed upon by
the spirit of inspiration, when we see
clearly and resolve nobly, but only
to pass again into the twilight and to
be torn once nor by irresolution.
When We rise to our best we concede
it to be religion, the influence of God
upon our hearts and minds; If only it
were constant we might be saints and
heroes.
How can these exceptional expert
ences be made normal? BY a more
sustained intimacy with Jesus Christ.
Our contact with him has been too
casual and accidental. We have not
invited him to abide with us, but have
been content with the passing glimpse.
If the fugitive episode can be changed
into a permanent relationship, IL we
can come more completely under the
spell Of his controlling and compelling
personality, we can always be at our
best, and life will be satisfactory.
Many have had but a glimpse of
Christ's character. We have seen IL
loom up out of the mists of history,
easily distinguishable from every
other human object. but we have
never given ourselves up to a care.
full and thoughtful study of the kind
of being he must have been. What
we have seen has interested us, but
1t has not influenced us to any great
degree. Many have had only a glimpse
of his teaching. ALI of us know a few
of the wonderful words that fell from
his lips, because they have become
proverbs of common speech; but few
OF US have studied his axioms and par
ables and conversations as an ade-
quate revelation of God for human
need; fewer still have deliberately
tried to apply the principles that he
uttered to every phase of living, pri-
vate, domestic, social, commercial and
political.
Men and women will find If they
wish to find that the irregularities and
disappointments and discrepancies of
their lives are the result of an incom-
plete, indeed, a very partial knowl.
edge of God. We have some truth, we
have come under his dominion occa-
sionally, he has lifted us now and
then, here and there, to great heights,
but he has not held us there. In or
der to carry our lives to a consistently
high elevation, to establish our hopes
as convictions and our ideals as ac-
co~mplishments we need to pray the
prayer of the two disciples: Lord,
abide with U.S."
Spirit of Christianity.
MI 1900 -