some
spiritually-minded person who possesses experience in the matter. Not,
on the one hand, the man who will tell you that it is the greatest curse
the Church has ever known; nor, on the other, the one who would have it
practised by everybody.
Surely for us sober Church folk there must be a loyal middle course,
which leaves absolute freedom, so long as the individual "follows and
keeps the rule of charity, and is satisfied with his own conscience."
Last, but most important of all, in the discipline of the spirit comes
the Holy Communion, about which we shall speak next week.
As our closing thought, let us go back to what we said just now. The
object of religion is God's glory, not man's enjoyment. See how this
puts feelings down into their right, and subordinate, place. They are
sometimes very delightful, sometimes very depressing, but always liable
to be misleading. A great saint of old used to say:--"If God never gave
me another moment of sensible devotion in prayer, I would go on praying,
because His glory demands it."
Religion has to do with facts: the facts of what God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost have done, and are doing, for us; the facts
of what we have to do, to make the finished work of Christ our own.
Here, as always, our Lord Himself gives us the highest illustration.
Neither as God, nor yet as perfect Man, was there an actual need for Him
to pray; yet His whole life was punctuated with prayer: first because
the glory of the Father required it, and next because His chosen
Apostles must be taught by example as well as precept.
Let the same mind dwell in us. It is for the glory of God that I should
have salvation; therefore by the help of God I will discipline my
spirit.
_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._
V
=Discipline through Obedience=
FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT
St. Luke xxii. 19
"This do in remembrance of Me."
Our subject of to-day flows quite naturally out of what we said last
week. Religion rests on facts, and its object is God's glory, not merely
our profit. Our duty, therefore, is an absolute submission to those
facts--in other words, implicit obedience.
This is being illustrated on all sides in regard to the War.
The facts are indisputable. Lord Selborne put the matter in a nutshell
when he said: "The task in front of us is colossal. We are fighting for
nothing less than our lives, in circumstances which make it the duty
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