FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41  
42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   >>  
ant habit of revering the gods, and would be represented by the word devotion--an aspect most important to bear in mind. The other derivation, and the more usual, derives religion from the idea of binding together, and tells of communion between man and God. For us Christians this thought finds its highest ideal and fulfilment in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great characteristic action of religion is prayer; varying in its methods and degrees from merely mechanical performances, like the praying wheels of the Chinese up to the heart devotion of the Christian, poured out when commemorating, in the Holy Communion, the death and resurrection of His Lord. The first essential of any prayer which is to be of value in the discipline of the spirit is regularity. No words can exaggerate the importance of morning prayer. Yet, alas! tens of thousands of professing Christians are content with evening prayer alone. The one who goes forth in the morning prayerless is just as ill-equipped to do his duty, and meet his temptations, as the foodless man is to perform physical work. The whole story of the saintly life, alike in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Church, is that of diligence in prayer. It was to promote that spirit that the Church of Christ, following on the lines of the Jewish Church, from very early days adopted special hours for stated devotions, with the daily offering of the Holy Eucharist linking the whole system together. The lowest standard to aim at is private prayer morning and evening, midday too if possible, and regular attendances at God's House on Sundays and Feast Days. The guiding principle, to be kept ever in mind, is not what my own inclinations suggest, but what the glory of God demands. Were this always the case, what magnificent congregations there would be. Prayer represents a real business of the spirit into which we put the whole endowment of our being, intellect, memory, emotion, will. Oh! those wandering thoughts, how they do distress us; and just in proportion as we wish to pray and are learning to pray, so we feel our deficiencies the more keenly. A few moments before we commence our prayers spent in saying very quietly, "Thou God seest me," or "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," coupled with a simple yet earnest act of the realisation of God's presence, will be of infinite use. The railway train coming into a station d
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41  
42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   >>  



Top keywords:

prayer

 

Church

 

spirit

 

morning

 

devotion

 
Christ
 

evening

 

religion

 

Testament

 
Christians

suggest

 
demands
 

standard

 

Eucharist

 

magnificent

 

devotions

 

stated

 

congregations

 

private

 

inclinations


offering

 

midday

 

lowest

 

guiding

 

principle

 

regular

 

Sundays

 

system

 

attendances

 

linking


Father

 
prayers
 

quietly

 

coupled

 

simple

 
railway
 

coming

 

station

 

infinite

 

earnest


realisation

 

presence

 

commence

 

emotion

 

memory

 

wandering

 
intellect
 

represents

 

business

 

endowment