DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 June 1936, Page 6

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

PRAYER, Our Father, wc tlunik Thee that Thou hast so freely and lovingly kept the way open to Thyself for the return of those who have offended Thee, and who are restored to Thee hy thy free grace. Indeed, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, 0 most High,” as the i’salmist has declared in his lifting up of praise to Thee. Thou dost provide a fresh start for so many of us that have wandered away from Thee. As thou didst provide for the return of a remnant of thy people, who wore ready to leave the land of their captivity, so Thou dost most mercifully receive into the circumstances of Thy forgiving care those who willingly respond to Thy loving call. Thou dost even use means, as Thou didst use King Cyrus, to work out Thy will in ways that come often with a deep surprise to those who are thus benefited. Help us to be more trustful and to expect great things of Thee. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus. —Amen. SHUT OUT. And ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door. A minister told how one Sunday night when he was quarantined in his home because his child had diphtheria, he watched his church next door; his church that he could not now enter. He saw the lights shining through the windows. He watched the people going in. Then the service started, and he listened to the music. At last lie couldn’t stand it any longer. He silently, like a thief, stole out at his back door, and crept up close to a window and listened. Within all was bright; outside he stood in the chill darkness. “I realised for the first time in my life,” he said, “what it meant to be shut out, what a terrible thing it meant to lie shut out, and some day I should stand at the gate of Heaven. What a terrible thing if that door should be shut against me!” God does not want that! Nor do you! —Anon.

A WATERED GARDEN. (Isaiah 58:11). A watered garden, oh, how fair, With never failing spring supply. Its lovely fragrance fills the air; Its beauty dicers the passer-by. ’Tis thus my life is meant to be, A resting place along life’s way, With streams of blessing flowing free To thirsting souls from day to day. ’Tis thus my life is meant to show ! Its radiant beauty everywhere, With love and kindness all aglow, Refreshing hearts bowed down with care. Master Gardener, by Thy grace, Enable me to clear away The things that hide Thy lovely face, J And let Thy Spirit have His way. Then shall the streams of blessing flow, The beauty of the Lord appear, And hearts that life’s great sorrows know Find peace and stmigth and comfort here. —Elsie Chapin Vroman. DELIVERANCE. “An Israelite was not saved by unleavened bread but by the blood; and yet leaven would have cut him off from communion. And as to the Christian, he is not saved by his practical holiness, but by the Blood, but if he indulges in evil, in thought, word or deed, he will have no true enjoyment of salvation, and no true communion with the Person of the Lamb . . . Those who belong to God’s assembly must be holy. They have not only been delivered from the guilt and consequences of sin, but also from the practice of it, the power of it, and the love of it. The very fact of being delivered by the blood of the paschal lamb rendered Israel responsible to put away leaven from all their quarters. They could not say in the frightful language of the Antinonian, ‘Now that we are delivered we may conduct ourselves as we please.’ By no means. If they were saved by grace, they were saved to holiness. The soul that can take occasion, from the freedom of Divine grace, and the completeness of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, to ‘continue in sin,’ proves very distinctly that he understands neither the one nor the other.” —C. H. Mackintosh, “The Witness,” London. QUALIFICATION FOR SERVICE. “The Lord looketh on the heart.” — 1 Sam. 16.7. “The supremo qualification for the service of God is character. A good minister must first of all bo a good man ... In seeking for those to whom He can commit the interests if His Kingdom, God has special regard to the secret springs of men’s lives.”— Stuart Holden.