DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 58, 7 February 1925, Page 10

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PRAYER. i In Thy Icving providence we are richly blessed of Thee, O God; with Thy creative beauty Thou lust gladdened usj with Thy mystic combinations of iU chemistry /last Thou renewed our bodily strength. Faith in Thee finds reinforcement in a thousand ways. Develop within us the spirit of appreciation and true worship, O God, for Thy uame's sake. —Amen. READING. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy riches.—The Psalms. ANCIENT WISDOM. "It is not the hunger for bread that deetroys a man nor the thirst for water, but the great hunger of a man when he live 9 without praying to God."—"The Life Of the Archpriest Avvakum." PRAYER AND SUB-CONSCIOUSNESS. There was an oft-told 'story in other days of the old lady who exclaimed: "Descended from monkeys! My dear, I trust that it is not true; but if it is, let us hush it up." No doubt many timid souls feel like teat when they read the new. strange phrases in which religion is demonstrated to be an unhealthy "complex," and that its source is a physical instinct. It is disturbing to learn that the only answer possible to prayer is the uprising of power from the depths of one's own sub-conscious 6elf, and that prayer is heard not above/ but below. But one has only to ask how came the power to bo there in the sub-conscious self, and who correlated it so that prayer can tap it—and you are back just where you wore befer"—back with Abraham on the plain of Manure.—Dr. Norman Maclean in The Scotsman. A THOUGHT. "We grovel amid trifles, and our spirits fret and toss, While above us burns the vision of the Christ upon the Cross: And the blood of God in streaming from His broken hands and side, And the lipa of God are saying l —'Tell my brothers I have died.'" THAT FOOTBALL INCIDENT. (Rev. J. J. North.) We are reminded now and again by earthly incidents of the Day of Judgment. Tho famous "Pigott" trial over Parnellism was as nearly like that which eomo expect the Day to lie as anything could well be. But tho football incident had a publio so large, and was itself so sensational that wo make no apologies for this reference to it. The prowess of the All Blacks was a concern to us all. Football is clean and brave sport, and the authorities exert themselves to the uttermost to keep betting out of tho national game. It i» the national gnme, four times as popular as horse-racing, thanks be. The grand finale of the tour at Twickenham was marred by rough play. The Welsh re f eree thought it necessary tocaution the teams before the gnmo began. Ten minutes had not gone before his whistle sounded shrilly and an All Black wni? seen to be separating himself from the players ad betaking himself to the pavilion. Fie passed slowly on with drooped shoulders under the eye of the Prince, and of the Prime Minister, and of 50,000 spectators. He was out of it. We ore not concerned with the justice of the decision that sent Brownlie behind the lines. Others had "mixed things" with Cst and foot befo.-e the referee saw this man do a foul thing. Brownlie was therefore a victim picked by chance from a guilty bunch. But we are haunted by the sight. Brownlie did not deserve the bad pre-eminence. It was pqually deserved by each law-breaker. Tho referee was necessarily fallible. But there is an infallibility in the Judge of all tho earth. He will do right. To pass beforo the eye of an assembled universe, and before His eyes, who was cruciried for us, condemned by His lips and by our own conscience. Ilia* is the last terror. To have no more part in tho great game of life that is Hell in part. Who would have a name "Peeled for a hissing, and a curse Throughout the Universe?" N.Z. Baptist.

CHRIST, THE MAN OF PRAYER. (Rev. 11. E. Hewitt.) "And in the morning rising up a great while before clay. He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."—Mark 1:35. Here we have a picture of the "Man of Prayer." The scene is deeply impressive, and singularly suggestive. At early dawn, while the city is wrapt in sleep, and tho wheels of commerce are still—as the first streaks of light flash forth, Jesus was up, and went out, unaccompanied even by His more intimate disciples. He goes away from the habitations of men into a desert place. The late Dean Stanley tells us that "a remarkable feature of tho Sea of Galileo was that it was closely surrounded with desert solitudes. These desert places thus close at hand, on the tablelands or in tho ravines of the eastern and western ranges, gavo opportunities of retirement for rest or prayer." Jesus was undoubtedly "the Man of Prayer." Prayer with Him stems to have been a confirmed habit —His native air. His vital breath. We find that He prayed particularly on the eve of every new crisis through which Ho was culled to pass, as for example in Gethsemane, the night beforo His Crucifixion; or on tho evo of some imprtant business, as the election of Ilia Apostolio company. The "eves" of all evenls are solemn calls to prayer. What an impressive lesson for us! How many days would have been saved bitter regrets, if there had been more praying yesterdays. Life is full of "eves." All life is an "eve." Few great events have no "eve." The secret of a happy life —the secret of a blessed eternity—is a well-spent "eve."

Jesus is preparing Himself, by prayer in solitude, for a new mission of teaching and healing. Ho ever placed great emphasis on prayer, and taught by precept and example that men "ought always to pray." Nothing should be attempted without having been made tho subject of earnest prayer. The Heavenly Father should be consulted, and His wi6dom, strength and blessing sought. The necessity for prayer must be apparent to all. If Christ needed to pray, and to pray constantly, how much more needful for us! In a world where there is so much to dissipate and distract the spirit, how needful for us is that communion with God ! In a world whero there is so much to sadden and depress, how blessed that communion with Him in whom is the one source and fountain of gladness and abiding joy ! In a world where so much is ever seeking to unhallow our spirits, to render them common and profane, how high the privilege of consecrating them anew in prayer to holiness and to God.

Prayer is necessary for the highest Culture. We pay much attention to physical and intellectual culture; in fact there is a great danger of placing too much importance on these lower natures, to tho serious neglect of man's highest nature. Of spiritual culture let it bo said, that it is, in the truest and fullest sense, "an enlargement of the capacity for service." What is our personal capacity for service ? Have we an open mind to receive spiritual impressions; tho warm heart affectionately to love God and man; the epirit of passionate earnestness to be manifsteed in the service of Him who justly claims our best and utmost? Do we not have to confess our great need of such enlargement—an enlargement of tbe capacity for service? Our prayer day by cay needs to be : Enlarge, inflame, and Cll my heart With boundless charity divine. It is, a mark of true sainthood—tho wiliingness to improve the soul's "powers and opportunities. It was sue if St. Paul, that incomparable Christian, that zealous missionary of the Apostolic Church- It was true" of many of the devout mystics and saint 3 of the Christian em— Tbcmas a Kempis. who .wrote that classic of the religious life. "On the Imitation of Christ' ; Jeremy Taylor, the author of that famous book, "Holy Living anil Holy Lying"; Richard Baxter, who wrote "'lho Saints Everlasting Rest" and "A Call to Unconverted"; and John T'loteher. the saintly vicar of M-idriey. Thetfa men knew Cod intimately. Fiiyei- with them

was a strong habit, and to it they attrib ited their ..knowledge of God wd the ir burning love for men. Prayer is necessary in tho prcparobi n for service. "Lord, what, wilt Thou ha e mo to do?" should be cur constant or/. Wo need the .vise Mid Jne loving counsel of the Master in all we think a:>d do aid say. Wo cannot prepare ou- .selves bett it thaii by prayer; ft-r from tfat fn.ujco i/e shall derive light, warmth, ond power.