PRESENT-DAY PRAYER- £TING HELPS NORMAN E.RICHARDSON Book rH S Copightl^? , COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS FOR LAYMEN AND MINISTER By Alumni of Boston University School of Theology Edited by Norman E. Richardson NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & GRAHAM Copyright, 1910, by EATON & MAINS (0)CIA268470 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction— A Word About the Prayer Service 7 Francis J. McConnell. 1. The Supreme Confidence 9 Edwin H. Hughes. 2. The Greatest Law in the World 12 James W. Bashford. 3. The Mission of the Winds 15 Luther Ellsworth Lovejoy. 4. The Life and the Task 17 Lauress J. Birney. 5. IndividuaHty in Religion. 20 L. H. Dorchester. 6. Giving What One Has 22 Luther Freeman. 7. Careful Culture Brings Sure Growth 25 Christian F. Reisner. 8. "Ye Have Need of Patience" , 27 John A. Story. 9. In Remembrance 30 Henry N. Cameron. 10. The Church in the Home — Family Religion 32 C. R. Havighurst. 11. The Waters of Marah and Elim 34 Samuel Plantz. 12. The Strange Experience of a Christian 37 Francis L. Strickland. 13. The Forgiving Spirit 39 Edward Laird Mills. 3 CONTENTS PAGE 14. Prayer and Fruit-Bearing 41 John R. Van Pelt, 15. How to Bring the Hidden Life to Light 44 Arthur D. Batchelor. 16. Obeying the Vision 46 C. R. Havighurst* 17. The Deeper Blessing 49 Edwin H. Hughes. 18. Life's Broken Ships 52 Louis A. Banks. 19. On Doubt $4 William W. Guth. 20. Hedged In 56 L. O. Hartman. 21. The Cure of Worry 59 William S. Mitchell. 22. The Greatest Prayer in the World 61 James W. Bashford. 23. Christ's Comfort 64 Samuel L. Beiler. 24. Jesus the Door 66 Hasse O. Enwall. 25. The World the Field. 69 Henry N. Cameron. 26. In the Cool of the Day. 71 Francis J. McConnell. 27. Consecration 72 Samuel Plantz. 28. The Burning Heart and the Open Book 75 R. H. Schuett. 29. The Ideal Life 77 John C. WilUts. 30. Fellowship with God 80 Luther Freeman. 4 CONTENTS PASS 31. How David Escaped Fretfulness 82 Samuel L. Beiler. 32. Peter's Call and Commission 84 Eugene M. Antrim. 33. Self-Judgment under Gospel Grace 87 John R. Van Pelt. 34. Our Citizenship 89 John C. WilHts. 35. People that Cannot be Spared 92 Christian F. Reisner. 36. Paul's Letter to Philemon 94 John A. Story. 37. Grace According to Capacity 97 R. H. Schuett. 38. Does God Speak to Men To-day as He Did to the Men of Long Ago? 99 Francis L. Strickland. 39. The Leaven in the Meal 101 Francis J. McConnell. 40. God's Help in Temporal Anxieties 102 William S. Mitchell. 41. The Message of a First-Century Preacher 104 Edward Laird Mills. 42. The Pattern on the Mount 107 Samuel Plantz. 43. The Giants and the Grapes 109 L. H. Dorchester. 44. The Soul's Inventory Ill R. D. HoUington. 45. On Discouragement 114 Wilham W. Guth. 46. The Practical Holy Ghost 117 L. O. Hartman. 47. Where Divine Footsteps Lead 120 Luther Ellsworth Lovejoy. 5 CONTENTS PAGE 48. The Narrowness of Religion 122 Lauress J. Birney. 49. The Law of the Gospel of Christ. 124 Arthur D. Batchelor. 50. God Did the Pumping 127 Charles ^ronson Allen. 51. The Woman at the Well, 129 Charles R. Brown. 52. "I Wm Set in the Desert the Fir Tree" 131 Hasse O. Enwall. 53. Jesus Leads in Prayer 134 Charles Bronson Allen. 54. The Church of Sardis at Her Best 136 Eugene M. Antrim. INTRODUCTION. A WORD ABOUT THE PRAYER SERVICE So far as I can see, the midweek service cannot to-day count on being supported by the ^^testimo- nies" of those who come. There was a time when the layman used the midweek service for the pur- pose of "testifying" to the world that he was upon the Lord's side. Such a time has passed by, for two reasons. First, we do not longer lay stress upon the spoken word as the chief form of testi- mony, strictly speaking. The life is the testimony. Second, the temper of the time has somewhat changed, so that men, and good men too, are averse to speaking in public of inner personal experiences. The old appeals to men to take part so that they may put themselves again on record have lost their force. Even the statement that this may be the last chance one shall ever have to speak for religion does not call forth large re- sponse. There is, however, a place, and a great place, for participation by the people in the midweek serv- ice. They will not respond as they once did to urgent appeals to take part, but they can be led to take part if a theme presented to them is in itself suggestive — if it lies so close to their daily ex- perience that they really have something to say about it, or if some phrase of the leader is pro- vocative of thought by its suggestiveness. I learned a lesson along this line once by at- tending a meeting of a sect with which I had no 7 INTRODUCTION great sympathy, but which was remarkable for the extent to which the laymen would take part whenever opportunity was given them. The meet- ing on this particular day was going in rather a dull and slow manner. The theme was "The En- trance to the Kingdom through Self-Sacrifice." Suddenly a man arose and said, "The theme means just this: we have to die to self to get into the kingdom. We come in 'by the death-route/^ The expression "death-route'' was rather jarring to me, but evidently not so to the people. It seemed to be suggestive to the great number, and a great number took part, each giving a twist to the sug- gestive word which had spoken the service into new life. In one way I did not enjoy the service. As I have said, the worshipers belonged to a very narrow sect with a very crude theology; and much that was said in this service was crude; but the lesson was valuable. That lesson was this : there are some puttings of themes that seem to start talk by themselves; and these are preeminently fitted for the prayer service as that service is now observed. The layman needs the midweek service. He needs the development which comes with the ut- terance of thought. And the church needs the con- tribution which the layman's putting of the truth makes. Often the profoundest insight for the preacher and the worshipers comes from the fresh putting of a truth by a layman whose daily ex- perience perhaps helps him to coin a term or phrase, or to give a new push of emphasis to a word — utterances which are like the opening of a window toward the east 9 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 1. THE SUPREME CONFIDENCE Scripture : Rom. 8. 28. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God/' These words are usually taken as an uncon- ditioned promise. There is no "if" in the verse. It is so easy to read the words as if they con- tained nothing tentative, as if they expressed a supreme confidence unaffected by any supreme conditions. One needs only to lay stress upon the "know'' and the "all things" and the "work" and the "good," and so to make the first part of the verse hide the second part ; and the impression is at once given that the words tell of what God does without reference to what man does. But if we search the words we shall discover some deep con- ditions tucked away in this sweeping assurance. Every assuring word in this oft-quoted promise is accompanied by some spiritual modification. "We know." Who are the "we"? Evidently those who have gotten the standpoint and assur- ance of faith! The returns of life are not all in yet; it may be that hundreds of years will pass ere the great effects can be truly registered. The knowledge, then, is the knowledge of faith. The 9 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS man who does not have faith will laugh at the promise as being wild and fanatical. But "we'' know. "We'' have already had enough experience to give us confidence. Seeing things from the spiritual angle, "we" review past things and find a hopeful verdict about them. A while ago a magazine writer gave us the following bit of wis- dom, tested by such a review of life : "If aU the losses of the years. The things which you have missed so long. And mourned with unavailing tears. Came trooping back with dance and song. And stood expectant at your door. Say, would you take them back once more?" Try Christian people, thorough-going Christian people, with this test. See how many of them will be quick to say that the spiritual interpretation of life's experiences brings an ever-clearer knowledge that these experiences have been working for good. Indeed, many of our losses have insisted on cross- ing the ledger and claiming a place among the credits of life. The man of faith sees thus with growing plainness. Yet it is only the "we" who really "know." The confidence is that "all things work together for good." Judged in their separateness they are not good. Fragmentary experiences puzzle us greatly. The cog seems a dead weight, and even worse than a dead weight, until you discover how it fits into the whole machinery. Or, to change the figure, the building materials are unseemly and in the way until they find their place in the whole structure. The sand obstructs the road, the lime smarts the eyes, the stones and bricks lie in untidy 10 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS heaps, the boards and beams are cluttering piles, until all the materials are ^Vorked together.'^ Separately each part is a nuisance; cooperatively each part is a benefit. Fragmentarily they work damage ; together they work good. What kind of "good"? The Christian who is affected with materialism, and who is still under the limited view of the Old Testament's idea of the relation of goodness to material prosperity, wants to construe the word as meaning bodily good. But the man who wrote the words knew something about a thorn in the flesh which wrought no bodily good and which, for all that, wrought real good. Many of God's children are sick ; many are poor; and many have failed of most of the ap- parent goods of life. The Best Person that ever lived said, "The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'' He died on a cross at an early age. Estimated by the usual standards of "good," he failed terribly. This text and context do not deny Christ. They speak of spiritual good. Their claim is that all things, coming into the rightly conditioned life, carry that life on to inner pros- perity. And what is the right condition? It is stated definitely: "All things work together for good to them that love God." This is a reversal of the usual thought. We would say that things were apt to work together for good to them that the king or the president loved! But here we find the condition located squarely in men's hearts! Only those who love God truly and deeply have any right to claim this promise. The words leave 11 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS the idea that the conditions on God's side are all met; it asserts that the only remaining condition must be met in the very heart of our lives. Do we fulfill this condition? Do we love God? Do we love to love God ? Is our spiritual state such that when the ^^all things'' reach us they must work together in an atmosphere of love? After all, the condition is the most serious that could be fixed. The murmuring man does not see that his very murmuring breaks the express condition. The man who loves God is kept from sin. Therefore, the "all things" that reach him do not come from his own wrong volition. Consequently, they are either of God's appointing or permitting. They are the agents of the loving God sent to do service for the loving man. Blessed is he who has this assurance and who has joined those who can say, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." 2. THE GREATEST LAW IN THE WORLD Scripture : Matt. 22. 34-40 ; John 13. 34. The supreme command of Christ is the law of love. He is the author of nature. All things were made through him. Hence we ought to find some hints of the law of love in nature. 1. The vegetable kingdom obeys the law of self- regard; but self-regard in itself is a preparation for the law of love. Jesus implies self-regard in the second command; and utters that half com- mand, half promise, "Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Hence, self 12 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS preservation and self-perfection are parts of the divine order. But self-preservation is not the deepest law in the vegetable kingdom. That law is the law of seed and fruit-bearing found in the first chapter of Genesis: "Herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof.'' This is the fundamental law of the vege- table kingdom, the law by which the species is preserved and extended. Sometimes the tree bears so much fruit and seeds for others that it has not sap enough left to carry it through the winter, and it is winter-killed. What is this but a hint of Cal- vary in the vegetable kingdom? 2. The deepest law of the animal kingdom — the law by which alone each species is preserved and protected — is not the law of savagery, but the law of motherhood; the law by which the mother brings forth young with pain to herself, nourishes them with her own substance, and protects them at cost of her life. Here in the animal kingdom also are the finger-marks of Him through whom all things were made. 3. The evolutionary struggle is more largely be- tween species than between individuals of the same species. Pasteur recognizes this law, and our latest method of combating disease rests upon destruction of disease germs by germs of a stronger but harmless species. But in all this struggle between species from germ to man, that species or race triumphs in exact proportion to the willingness of individuals to sacrifice them- selves for the good of the species. This principle finds ample illustration in Kropotkin's "Mutual 13 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Aid a Factor in Evolution/' in Drummond's ^^As- cent of Man/' in Kidd's ^^Social Evolution"; and Kidd's authority is vouched for by his selection to succeed Huxley on the Britannica* So important is this law of love that God has ordained the family by which he calls us out of in- dividualism into the larger service of the house- hold. Above the family altar is the national altar, and the nation is the divine organism by which God calls us out of the narrower love of the clan into the larger service of the state. Above the family altar and the national altar is the altar of the church, on which God calls us to offer our lives for the salvation of the race. Missions rise above the local church interests because they sum- mon us to the highest and broadest service. Surely in nature and in human institutions are the finger- prints of Him ^^through whom all things were made.'' Love is wisdom. The martyr is the philosopher. Only as we forego all personal and temporal aims do we rise into the region of the universal and the eternal. Light, the most beautiful of all gifts, never shows itself, but only the object it falls upon. Love is the greatest law in the universe. Sidney Lanier, with rare insight into the heart of nature and the heart of Christ, thus sings : **Into the woods my Master went, Clean forspent, forspent; Into the woods my Master came. Forspent with love and shame. But the olives they were not blind to him. The little gray leaves were kind to him. The thorn-tree had a mind to him. When into the woods he came. 14 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS **Out of the woods my Master went. And he was well content; Out of the woods my Master came. Content with death and shame. When death and shame would woo him last. From under the trees they drew him last, 'Twas on a tree they slew him last, When out of the woods he came." 3. THE MISSION OF THE WINDS Scripture: Heb. 12; Song of Sol. 4. 16. "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden. And eat his precious fruits." This verse tells the story of the Shulammite maiden's passionate call to the winds so to sweep over her garden as to stimulate its full fragrance, fruitfulness, and bloom that her lover may be pleased. It suggests more — a yearning that heaven may so beautify her person and character that she may be fully worthy of his love. In the Christian heart it awakens something deeper still — a holy aspiration that God's grace may so en- rich and glorify the life that it may be suitable for the divine fellowship, the soul's garden becoming his delighted abode. This impassioned prayer holds an intimation of the blessedness of all God's providences. "North wind,'^ "south wind," summer sun, winter's cold, sorrow, rejoicing, all are powerful to fructify our lives. How wondrously has God employed adver- sity! The blast of December sets more firm the 15 ?RESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS taproot of the oak. Kentucky backwoods poverty invigorated Lincoln for a nation's crisis. The anguish of a trampled love brought tenderness un- measured to the voice of Jenny Lind. The fra- grance of the crushed health of Bella Cook flowed out for years to bless a whole metropolis. More than once has the calloused heart of man been turned by disaster from the world to God. ^^Awake, O north wind.'' But God employs prosperity. The oak needs the blast, yet more the blazing sun. Surroundings of culture, learning, wealth impart to a life a rich- ness not otherwise attainable. Family and for- tune have as truly equipped a Roosevelt as poverty a Lincoln. Phillips Brooks is inconceivable with- out the blood of two great families, the culture of Boston, and the religious admixture of Puritan, Churchman, Evangelical, and Liberal. But for riches and refinement we had not known Helen Gould. Paul absorbs from Gamaliel, Peter from Gennesaret, God planned Wesley as truly as As- bury. "Come, thou south wind." Good and evil come to every life. The essential question is, How shall we receive? We may re- ceive insensibly, not realizing our opportunity — like the poor man who stupidly endures poverty, senseless to its stimulus, or many rich, who merely gorge, luxuriate, and die; or, perversely, the un- fortunate to curse and murmur, the fortunate to grow proud, voluptuous, brutal. We may receive resignedly, saying, "This pov- erty is crushing, but I may not murmur ; this pain is terrible, but I must endure; may the end soon come!" or, divinely, like Jesus welcoming the 16 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS croKSS, cooperating with. God, rushing to meet his providence; or, like the Wright Brothers, exulting in the rebelliousness of the winds, in the stubborn- ness of material, eagerly making all a stimulus to the triumph of flying. So may we clutch at dis- ease, poverty, health, success, that thus we may cooperate with God in the perfecting of our char- acter. The result of such discipline — a fragrant and fruitful life. Strong, fibrous character comes from the chill of the north wind and the genial comfort of the south. How the life of purity sweetens all its region! "As ointment poured forth." Like "spices" of the lily, rose, honey- suckle, "flowing out." How character enriches society, increasing the sum total of the world^s wealth, a priceless asset of the kingdom in an age of sin, materialism, apostasy ! "Let my beloved come into his garden." The great end of the gardened life is to gladden the heart of the souFs Bridegroom. Is such reason insufficient? Why Westminster Abbey, the Pitti Palace, "The Angelus," "II Trovatore," the birds, sky, sea? To gladden human hearts. But the heart of the Infinite is gladdened by perfected souls. 4. THE LIFE AND THE TASK Scripture : Rom. 12. 11 ; 12. 6-8 ; 12. 1, 2. When one begins to emerge from the lovely but limited valley of childhood there are two moun- tain peaks that appear against the sky, if the heart is pure and the vision clear. To scale those sum- 17 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS mits becomes the passion of life. One is the Task — the^fachievement of brain or hand of which youth dreams ; the work to be done. It is a sacred mo- ment when that summit is first seen in the dis- tance and the soul girds itself to climb. The other is the Life — the achievement of the heart; the snow-white summit of character; what one is to be. Vital as the Task may be, this is the summit supreme. If one's footsteps are never found in its crystal snows, then life is a failure no matter what other summits are scaled. Our study is the relation of each of these to the other, in the well-balanced life. At first they seem quite distinct, unrelated, sep- arate ; possible to bend all energies to one, achieve high success in it, ignoring the other. One can be a success in business regardless of his life, or one can live a great life regardless of his task. Busi- ness has little business with character, and char- acter has no business with business. The two lie in different worlds. And this has been thought, consciously or unconsciously, by many who had no intention of sacrificing character to task. It is in its origin simply an immature, childish, super- ficial thought of life. But it is the open way to the destruction of all that is worth while in life. It is the origin of the specious motto, "Business is business.'^ It is vastly more than business. It made it possible for a Chicago politician to say recently to his pastor, who was toiling for reform, "I will see that the church needs no money, if you will preach only the gospel." It led an architect to plan great buildings that will stand for genera- tions, while his own life was rotting down into 18 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS nameless corruption. It helped Burns to sing like a seraph and live like a pagan. A deeper thought shows both summits to be one at their base. One's work is ever exerting an in- fluence upon one's character. One's character is always fixing the quality of one's work. God's greatest school for educating life is the world's work. Each belongs to the other. But still nearer approach reveals the final truth that one is but a foothill of the other. The task exists for the life, never the life for the task. The work of life is a means; there is but one end — life. No achievement of any life, howsoever conspicuous and perfect, means anything when it stands alone. Its value and vindication are found only in its contribution to life. Works vanish. Workers are eternal. Not a living, but a life, is the end of creation. Not an income, but an outcome, is the purpose of all toil. He who sees the final relation of his life and his work is made free indeed. 1. Drudgery is no longer possible. He can go back to his task no matter what it is, take it up with love and honor for it in his heart. It is helping him in the supreme task, the making of character. 2. It sets him free from the odiousi distinction of humble and noble tasks. No task is ignoble that makes a noble life. No task is exalted that creates a mean spirit. A hod-carrier can do his work in a way that will make a finer life than a statesman who works with lower motive. 3. It makes him independent of his task. If business demands ever conflict with the demands 19 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS of life, business must surrender and not life, and in that surrender there is no remorse. 4. It delivers him from the bondage of the world's definition of failure and success. There is no real failure and there is no success except of the life. 5. INDIVIDUALITY IN RELIGION Scripture: 1 Cor. 12. It is a trite saying that there are no two per- sons just alike. Individuality of temperament, endowment, and education makes the individu- ality in religion natural and even necessary. We show individuality in sin; making uniformity in conversion and in other religious experiences is absolutely impossible. The Christian cause has sometimes suffered from expecting, if not insisting upon, certain uniformities. To some the Master said, "Follow me." Others followed him because they were drawn toward him. Zacchaeus had to be called down from a tree and make amends for business extortion. Nicodemus was told he "must be born again" to enter the kingdom. But what did the Saviour of sinners say to Nathanael? "Be- hold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" All these persons needed to follow the Saviour, and all received incalculable benefits, but the Master dealt with each of them as individuals. In writing to the Corinthian Christians Paul de- scribed some as apostles, some as teachers, some evangelists, gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. He expressly said that all were not alike, and hence were not to do the same 20 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS work, though all were to obey the same Spirit, all to be Christian lights, all to be living epistles, and all to forward the same good cause. Christianity does not destroy individuality, but develops and uses it. There is no more sameness in grace than in sin, in services than in endowments. God's many messages to man have been sent through different individuals, with varying styles and capacities. Truths that now sway the world were first proclaimed by individual lips. Vast re- forms originated in individual souls. Look at some examples. Paul was an instructive and missionary letter. James was a practical letter. John was a love letter. Peter was a preaching and exhorting letter. I^uther was an arousing and reforming letter. John Wesley was a revival letter. Moody was an evangelistic letter. Clara Barton was a Good Samaritan letter. Others are Dorcas letters, deaconess letters, settlement let- ters, Sunday school letters, Y. M. C. A. letters, charity letters, and mission letters. If a Whittier were forced to be a Wesley, or a Dwight L. Moody forced to be an Edward Everett Hale, or a Lyman Abbott to be a General Booth, our total consciousness of the divine and the total work of Christ would suffer. It is well said, *'The Divine can mean no single quality; it must mean a group of qualities, by being champions of which in alternation different men may all find worthy missions." We are to be tolerant of one another when as Christians we work differently, provided we really work for Christ. We ask no tolerance for laziness, mulishness, stinginess, perpetual excuse-making 21 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS and fault-finding; but we do plead for sanctified individuality. Each soul is intended to be a letter of some special import for Christ; all are called to be living epistles of something for Him who has redeemed us. Christ's kingdom needs all varieties of Christian character and service. In recognizing individual temperaments we put no premium on mere oddity and one-sidedness in religion, on playing the crank, or attending to cer- tain agreeable kinds of Christian work and excus- ing one's self from all other kinds. A true soul will be ambitious to become a well-balanced, full- orbed Christian, emulating Christ, our living head in all things. But, above all else, every man and woman should realize that religion is an individual matter, the life of God in one's own soul. Each person should feel, ^^I must be right with God. I must be saved from my sins. I need the Saviour. I must follow Christ. I have a place to fill and a work to do. No one is like me, and nobody can do my work." 6. GIVING WHAT ONE HAS Scripture: Acts 3. 1-6. Peter and John stir our sympathy almost as much as does the cripple. It is distressing to see genuine need when one is powerless to help. Be- cause they were poor they must see the suffering and give no relief. Increased sympathy means increased pain when deprived of an opportunity to serve. Suddenly Peter remembers experiences with the 22 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Master. His heart leaps with hope. "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." From the ordinary human standpoint they seemed to be without resources. But they were disciples of Jesus. The secrets of his service they knew. I. What men ask for is not always what they most need. Men cry for money, ease, shorter hours of labor, pleasure, long life, etc. Any of these may be a blessing, but they are not neces- sary. Any one of them may be harmful. Seeing the man's deepest need, Peter responds. Instead of a shilling the man gets power to stand. Instead of poor men he finds the Christ of God. In his misery the beggar thought he needed money more than anything else. He had given up the hope of ever having the power to be a producer. He was no longer aware of his greatest need. II. "Such as I have" is what men really need most. We can give men — 1. Wisdom. It is better to teach a man to earn for himself than to feed him in helplessness. Rather reveal a principle to guide one for all time than to offer a transitory suggestion. The gospel is wisdom. 2. A worthy purpose in life. An ideal big enough for an immortal man. 3. Sympathy. Men are dying for this, on every hand. It is easy to see how others can help, with money, genius, learning, eloquence, science, and think — ^^If I only had that power !" All the time it is "such as I have" that the world starves for. You will do much more by honestly using what you have than by dreaming of what you would do if you had something else. How glad I am that 23 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Peter had no money ! If he could have given the poor fellow a coin the man would have been a de- pendent, hopeless, joyless beggar to the end of his days. III. We are not to wait for men to ask for the best things before giving. By kindly compulsion the ignorant must be educated, the vicious re- formed, the indifferent awakened, the reckless controlled. Our understanding of men's need, rather than asking, must determine our giving. IV. No gift is our best unless it includes self. ^^The gift without the giver is bare.'' The richest gifts that have ever come to us have been the contributions of some noble personalities. Who has enriched us most? Some one who has given us money, or, parents, teachers, friends, who have given themselves? He who does not give what he has would not give anything else even if he had it. V. Giving what one has ! How wonderfully has this principle become the secret of true greatness ! Moses gave leadership without eloquence ; Frances Willard, a fresh young heart; Jacob Sleeper, his money ; William Butler, his genius for organizing ; William Taylor, his power as an evangelist; the Gary sisters, their power in song; Francis Mur- phy, his experience as an inebriate; Milton, his power to write, and Grant, his power to fight ; the widow, her handful of meal and cruse of oil; Esther, her beauty and persuasive powers; the lad, his loaves and fishes. Each gave generously what he had. Each one of these might have excused himself by complaining that he did not possess some par- ticular power. Each made himself conspicuously 24 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS serviceable to the world by saying, "Such, as I have I give.'^ Suggestion: Have some one give an outline of Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal." 7. CAREFUL CULTURE BRINGS SURE GROWTH Scripture : Psa. 1. Keep tlie Weed Seed Out. All grades of sin- ners are about us. They infect us if allowed too near. My father once tried to buy a farm because it was so full of cockleburs that he could not keep his own clean. The "ungodly," or carelessly neglectful, come to us first. They are willing to walk our way, but fail not to bring in discourage- ments, chill our ardor, and sow doubt. If success- ful, they will turn us over to the "sinners," those who are actively in the business. They will get us to stand near a saloon and argue about the fanati- cism of total abstinence. We must move back into our own territory. If we follow them to see how harmless sin is, we will soon be turned over to the last crowd, "the scornful." The brainy infidel, the astute juggler of truth, will speak to the "as- sembly" ("seat") of scorners, while we sit and wonder if religion is not poorly founded and Christian ethics but a foolish hindrance to pleas- ure. Nurture the Soil. People cannot endure re- ligion. They must find "delight" to continue honest and steadfast. The "law" is God's rules, 25 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS which, if followed, promise to so direct one that size and success will come. Go to the Book as the health lover does to reliable physical instructions. ^^Meditate'' — say the words over to yourself, as a student does something he wants to fully fathom. ^^Day and night," any time you need, or have leisure to ponder, bring them up freshly. Make the Bible news from God, and the heart will be mellowed by interest and delight. Growth Assured. The thriving tree spoke of water and food. Every root found moisture. There was plenty for ail trees. The surroundings are also delightful. The green grass was there. The leaf does not wither. We are to worship in the beauty of holiness. The ^^fruif' comes forth ^4n his season," *Vhen food is needed" (Briggs) either for self or for others. Ritual or testimony may express, but does not create, goodness. All his (the believer's) doings feed growth — "whatso- ever he doeth shall prosper." Night brings the dew, and clouds furnish the rainfall, making it possible for the sun to add its color to the fruit. Sorrow and joy are twin servants to the disciple. Worthless Products. The chafif is only good for fuel. God wastes nothing valuable. All the grain will be garnered. If there is good fruit on some heathen tree it will not be burned. Useless things are hindrances. The non-employer of the talent was cast out with the wicked. The "ungodly" cannot stand the examination (the judgment) , the test, whether at death or later, and so there is no place in God's new Eden, "the congregation of the righteous," for them. Temptation carries them away as wind does chaflf. This process is regular, 26 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS too. Men, by thought and practice, make them- selves worthless. Satisfying Returns. The word translated ^^Blessed" in verse 1, says Dr. Briggs, is never put in God's mouth. It is man's word. It is the spontaneous expression of the onlooker. Every honest observer will promptly declare that the earnest Christian is in the happiest state. Even the infidel insists that if he could believe as we do he would be ^^the happiest man alive." We realize this happiness now. Nothing can check or harm us. God is over all as the sun is over the field at full daylight. 8. ''YB HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE'^ Scripture: James 5. 7-11; Luke 21. 19; Rom. 5. 3, 4 ; Heb, 12. 3, 4 ; 2 Tim. 2. 24. No growth of good fortune puts us beyond the need of patience. A very successful pastor once said, '^In order to get along at all, I find that I have need of patience, patience, patience, and then more patience.'^ One New Testament word for patience tells of the temper by which we will not be moved when opposed or threatened ; another tells of the temper which will not strike back when we are struck, nor hate when we are hated. We are tried by circumstances and tried by people ; which kind of patience is the hardest to get and keep? Whatever the occasion which tests us, we com- monly think of patience as something passive, a meek, apologizing state of mind, which cannot be a power in the world ; on the contrary, patience is 27 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS something positive; it is self-mastery, it is reserve power which keeps on the throne in spite of op- position from things or persons. Who is the mighty ruler? (See Prov. 16. 32.) How calmly Jesus kept on at his work while little fussy kings and priests stormed at him with their charges of sedition and blasphemy! Every true believer desires to teach unbelievers the true faith. In home or heathen lands patience is a prime qualification for teaching (2 Tim, 2. 24). Teachers who have little patience cannot help us much. (Think of some of the most suc- cessful teachers you have known.) The little school which followed Jesus for three years had some slow pupils in it. We can specify items of spiritual education which we have been very slow to learn, but Jesus has been patient with us. Edu- cators seek to plan for bright and dull pupils; Jesus and Paul prescribe a heart full of love as the best preparation for making our knowledge eflfec- tive. We need patience that we may not undo the good work that we have done. We may think that *^the past at least is secure/' but it is not secure unless we continue patiently in welldoing (James 5. 7). The seed in the ground cannot spring forth into ripe fruit at the "touch of a button." Nor can ripe character come in that way. We all know that the "time element'' is a large factor in every great work of worth, and it must be in the build- ing of character. If the fifty-eight pieces of the violin need a century to get acquainted with each other so that they can sing in harmony, surely the many and fine powers of the soul need time to 28 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS knit together and grow into working order. We may turn to God in a moment, but our full stature in Christ can come only after many a test of pa- tience (James 1. 3, 4). Christian patience is not one of a list of virtues to be stuck on just anywhere; it has a working place among the other Christian graces. It is a link in a chain ; if defective it endangers all other good qualities, if strong it makes all others effec- tive. It extracts blessings out of tribulations, and begets a home-feeling with God out of which springs buoyant hope (Rom. 5. 3). Patience mul- tiplies the power of every natural talent; it is divine self-possession which makes us equal to all that the days bring to us. Jesus helped the dis- ciples to face the woes about to come upon them by saying to them, *^In your patience ye shall win your souls." In reality, if we look at Christ's vic- tories we will see that patience is not merely a condition of success, patience is success. By stead- fastness and long suffering the great life of the soul is won which is fitness for fellowship with God. ^^Consider him that hath endured'' (Heb. 12. 3). ^^When he was reviled, reviled not again" (1 Pet. 2. 23). As spiritual athletes we should endure all things, seeing that the trial is success and life. When we share Christ's sufferings in his spirit we are building the life which will share his glory. The experiences of inventors, discoverers, skilled workmen in any line who have fought their way through opposition are but hints of our spiritual victories through patience. It is one of God's laws of the soul. 29 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 9. IN REMEMBRANCE (a prayer service preceding communion) Scripture: Luke 22. 7-20. The desire to be remembered is practically uni- versal. How expressive of this desire are chiseled marble, builded column, and sculptured monu- ment! Egypt's gigantic pyramids proclaim, ^'To the Pharos^ — In memoriam!" Rome's triumphal arches tell that Titus and Constantine were anx- ious to live in memory. The obelisk is but the husky voice of centuries declaring that the Pharaohs dreaded oblivion. The mysterious mounds of the Ohio Valley speak in sepulchral tones and in strange speech, but we can clearly distinguish one word, "Remember." All through the ages this is the message of cairn and column, of pyramid and pillar, of mausoleum and mound. This too is the message, more beautifully ex- pressed, of many a modern pile. Far nobler are memorial homes, memorial hospitals, memorial schools and churches than towering monuments and costly tombs. But whatever the form of its expression the desire is always the same — to be remembered. We need not be surprised, then, that Jesus wanted to be remembered. True, he reared no lofty columns, no imposing pyramids, no stately arches, but he established a memorial which shall outlast those of marble and bronze when he said, "This do in remembrance of me.'' Truly a unique memorial. The sacrament we call "The Lord's Supper." How simple, how beau- tiful, how widely different from the means ordi- 30 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS narily adopted to perpetuate memory, and yet how effective ! Where lies the explanation of the effectiveness of this memorial ? Is it not suggestive that doing is involved in the observance of the sacrament? 'This do in remembrance of me.'' The very depths of the soul are stirred. The souFs activities are enlisted in its celebration. Suggestive too is it that these activities are not aimless. "This do in remembrance of me." The symbols of the broken body and the shed blood — symbols most significant to the Christian heart — are to be partaken of. Most suggestive, however, as to the effectiveness of this memorial is the personality behind it. ^This do in remembrance of mej^ Except from an historical interest Egyptian pyramids, Roman arches, and Alexandrian obe- lisks do not specially appeal to us. They point simply to misty personages of shadowy centuries. How mute are they as compared with that little remembrancer, the tiny shoe, the little dress, the trinket which recalls the little one whose merry prattle once made the home ring with gladness ! After all, it is the personality back of any me- morial that gives it meaning. Eugene Field knew this well when he sang : "The little toy dog is covered with dust, But sturdy and stanch he stands; The little toy soldier is red with rust. And his musket molds in his hands. Time was when the little toy dog was new. And the soldier was passing fair, And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue Kissed them and put them there. 31 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELP^ ** 'Now don't you go till I come/ he said, 'And don't you make any noise/ So toddling off to his trundle bed He dreamt of his pretty toys. And as he was dreaming, an angel song Awakened our Little Boy Blue. O, the years are many, the years are long. But the little toy friends are true." The memorial of Christ is precious to the be- liever because back of the beautiful sacrament there is the matchless personality of Him who "While yet his anguished soul surveyed Those pangs he would not flee, What love his latest words displayed — *Meet and remember me!* " As again we meet ^^in remembrance of him" ap- propriate the purposeful prayer: •*Remember thee! thy death, thy shame Our sinful hearts to share! O memory, leave no other name But his recorded there! ** 10. THE CHURCH IN THE HOME— FAMILY RELIGION Scripture: Deut. 11. 18-21; Eph. 6. 4; Philem. 2. The family is the fundamental unit of all social organization. The status of the family determines the status of the whole social system. Hence the problem of the family is the most important of all problems, the one supreme strategic point in civilization and religion. One of the most perilous tendencies of modern civilization is the neglect of the home. In many 32 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS places it seems but little more than a ^^compound contrivance of dormitory and eating-house/' ^'a convenient halfway house where one comes to rest a little between two prolonged absences." Chris- tian men and women, ought we not to awake to live again the home life, to cultivate anew the home feeling, to resuscitate the home joys, which have been almost smothered to death by the com- plexity of modern civilization and the insanity of a false pleasure? There ought to be a church in every house. Every home should be a sanctuary of the Most High, a shrine of worship and altar of prayer. Every parent should be a prophet teaching the children the truth of God; a priest interceding with God in their behalf; a king ruling them, in God's stead, with divine authority. The alarming symptom of our religious life is that many of our homes are anything but sanctu- aries of worship. They are boarding-houses, schoolrooms, pleasure halls, gaming-rooms — any- thing but churches ! But when we remember what a true home ought to be — the divine affections that ought to reign there, the sturdy virtues that ought to grow there, the noble aspirations that ought to be kindled there, the holy resolves that ought to be breathed there ; when we remember that in its holy courts we see the first rosy smile that blos- soms upon the lips of infancy and hear the last sad sigh that lingers upon the face of our dead — surely the home ought to be the sanctuary of the Infinite God! But what hindrances there to the establishment of this sacred shrine ! — the rush of business, the 33 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS pressure of work, the intricacies of our social life. The father is off to business in the morning before the children are up. The children are to bed in the evening before the father or mother returns. But I insist that where there is a will there is a way. Once a day at least in every Christian house- hold there ought to be the gathering of the family for united prayer. The child brought up in a true Christian home has an inheritance far more to be desired than the mere trophies of commercial supremacy. There is the sanctified mother's love, pure and fadeless as the unfading stars. There is the example of a faithful father, the child's first sign and symbol of God. Principles of sturdy honesty, reverence, virtue, and piety, like bands of pure gold, bind children and parents together. Then too there is that indefinable something that is woven into the very warp and woof of the child life. And not the least of this rich inheritance is the memory of the hour of prayer, when father took the Bible — old, dear, timeworn book — read from its sacred pages, and then, while all heads were bowed, this priest of the family, would commend his loved ones to the blessing of Almighty God. What a priceless legacy is this ! 11. THE WATERS OF MARAH AND ELIM Scripture: Exod. 15. 20-27. Recall the incident of which the passage read is a part. In the midst of a fertile plain, rich in flowers, high-stemmed and wide-reaching palms, and above all delicious springs, the children of 34 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Israel have struck their camp. The miraculous escape which they have just experienced has made all hearts well-nigh delirious with joy. Their feelings can find adequate and fitting expression only in song and public rejoicing. The people drew together, and as they danced Moses sang that noble triumphal ode which reappears again and again in psalm and prophecy, and is transferred in the Apocalypse to those who stand singing on the sea of glass mingled with fire. Then Miriam, noblest of the daughters of the people, struck her harp and celebrated the sinking of Pharaoh's host like lead in the midst of the mighty waters. De- livered from bondage, the children of Israel ex- pected nothing thereafter but perpetual prosperity and happiness. Sadness and hardship were in the past, joy and success were in the future. As they break camp and resume their journey these bright anticipations make music in every mind. But, alas! the first three days of their journey are through a desert wherein there is no water. Thirst overtakes them. They do not find the crystal streams they expected. Finally, however, as they are almost in despair they see palm trees. A shout of joy rings through the multitude at this sign of water. Eagerly they rush forward and, finding twelve wells, dip their cups and raise them to their lips; but, alas! the waters are bitter. Then they murmur and complain against Moses. Disappoinment is incident to life. Many start on their journeys expecting sweet water and plenty of it, but find thirst and water too bitter to drink. Our anticipations often come short of realization, our well-matured plans miscarry, and 35 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS the unexpected is ever happening. Pew travel far in life without finding wells which look sweet but on being tasted prove to be bitter. Disappointments often destroy the balance of men's minds, put murmurs and complaints upon their lips, and lead them to denounce their great- est helpers and truest friends. *'And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?'' When disappointments come they should lead us to seek help in prayer. Moses knew where to go when the clouds hung dark and heavy — "and he cried unto the Lord." God can overrule disappointments and make the bitter waters sweet. "And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet." God has reasons for the discipline of disappointment which when realized will be to our unrest what the tree was to the waters of Marah. Among these reasons are the following: (1) Disappointments often stimulate to efifort. (2) They often result in soul- culture and promote the growth of the kingdom of God in our hearts. (3) We have the promise of God that he will help us in our disappointments. Disappointment is an incident or episode in the journey of life, but not the essence of life itself. After the Israelites passed Marah in about two hours they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm trees. Sun- shine is normal, not shadow. If we follow the cloud and pillar of God's leadings, our bitter ex- periences and sad disappointments will be fol- lowed by tokens of God's mercy and goodness. 36 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Our thirst will be satisfied by sweet water, and our weary souls will flud rest under the shade of the seventy palm trees. Suggestion: Spend a few minutes, before the presentation of the theme, in having those present repeat favorite passages of Scripture, with oc- casional sentence comments by the leader. 12. THE STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF A CHRISTIAN Scripture : Acts 28. 1-6. It looks as if Paul's helpful spirit were the occasion of his being bitten by the viper. He might have sat by while others did the work. Many, no doubt, did that. He might have felt perfectly Justified in sitting by, saying to him- self, ^^Making this fire is not my affair. I am not in charge here. Let the seamen do the work, now we are all ashore. It is their business.'^ But Paul had stepped in and proved himself a master of the situation on the ship, and now ashore he seems the foremost to turn to and help. But if he had not tried to be so helpful he would not have been bitten. Have you ever heard of people being bitten when they tried to be helpful — by the adder of sharp criticism, for instance? Paul did not ask whose business it was to make fires, he started in to help. The situation needed it. If you and I are to help we shall sometimes have to start right in irrespective of the regular or 37 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS official procedure. Official and regularly author- ized assistance is often pretty slow. The neigh- borly spirit will demand that emergencies be met quickly. Something has to be done besides filling out a blank and waiting. But we shall be bitten for our pains, perhaps. Not improbable. There are vipers along the pathway of service, as Paul found, and many after him. Many a business man has followed the impulses of his kind heart — wishing to help a friend or neighbor who was down — given credit, indorsed paper, and was severely bitten. After the bystanders saw what had happened they said Paul was doubtless a murderer, and this a judgment. Have you ever heard of people who were called hard names because they did some- thing to help but it was not appreciated or under- stood? Have you ever been misunderstood when you were really trying to be neighborly and acted or advised the best you knew? There are bound to be some situations where if you and I do noth- ing we shall be thought indifferent, and if we act on our warmest impulses some one will deal out sharp criticisms. One cannot always avoid the adder. But notice that the apostle received no perma- nent harm — only the temporary pain of the sting. He shook off the viper easily. He felt certain that his Divine Master who had protected him from dangers so often would protect him still. He knew he was in God's care, firmly trusted, as he had been assured, that he should see Rome, and there- fore he felt no fear. And what might have been a fatal catastrophe became a passing incident. 38 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS And what shall protect us when perchance we have been bitten by the adder of somebody's un- scrupulousness or harsh criticisms? The con- sciousness of the sincerity of our hearts, the purity and unselfishness of our motives — that we were trying to follow our Master in the path of helpful- ness and service. That will prove antidote enough. We shall feel the temporary sting of pain, but no virus will remain to poison the life. My friends, the longer I live the more firmly I am convinced that so long as we serve Christ with a true heart no one can injure us permanently but ourselves. 13. THE FORGIVING SPIRIT Scripture: Matt. 18. 21-35. The phrase in the communion invitation, ^^Ye that . . . are in love and charity with your neigh- bors," naturally leads up to the thought of for- giveness. One of the ways in which to make the sacrament of the Lord's Supper of largest spir- itual benefit is to notice the emphasis Jesus placed upon this beautiful Christian grace. This idea of forgiveness is fundamental in the Master's teaching. In the Sermon on the Mount he insisted that reconciliation must come before worship (Matt. 5. 23, 24). In the parable of the unjust steward, he was trying to show how im- possible it is to get right with God without getting right with men. The petition in the Lord's Prayer, ^^Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," shows that for- giveness is administered on a sliding scale. The 39 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS unforgiving man practically prays that he may remain unforgiven. The picture of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son reveals a man spiritually mean, who lacks the grace of for- giveness, and serves to show the injurious, if not fatal, effects of such lack. In practical, modern life, forgiveness is the pre- requisite of pardon. The willingness to push one's own personal considerations aside makes it easier for another to overlook an injury or slight against him, and the disposition to insist upon the pay- ment of the last farthing of debt inspires an ex- acting spirit in others. So long as we fail to for- give others, others will find it dijBficult to forgive us, and our prayer to God will be a useless ex- penditure of breath. The willingness to forgive is the price of power in the individual life. The presence of narrow- ness, meanness, and vindictiveness in any life robs it of its charm and inspiration. It is the warm sunshine that calls forth leaves and flowers. Frost makes such development impossible. The unfor- giving spirit not only means spiritual poverty in one's own life, but also closes channels of social usefulness. Moral supremacy is incompatible with that selfishness and inclemency which takes no ac- count of human frailty. Some of the greatest ethical achievements are passive. To conquer the disposition to insist upon petty exactions is as great a victory as to conquer a city. Forgiveness is the sine qua non of progress in the local church. Both pastors and district super- intendents can testify from observation that there can be no prosperity for a local church where the 40 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS unforgiving spirit is dominant, and where squab- bling factions advertise the fact to the community at large. The practice in some churches in the matter of forgiveness comes far short of the New Testament standard, and this discrepancy is al- most fatal to growth. The non-churchgoing com- munity is quick to detect among the professed followers of Christ that which is unworthy. The public service which the church attempts to render leaves it open to the public view. The church is like a city set on a hill — whether or not it is domi- nated by the spirit of the Master. Much of its in- fluence is due to the character of the lives of the individual members. The spirit of unforgiveness not only destroys the unity without which there is little strength or courage, but especially makes more difficult its victory over evil forces. The frequent observance of Holy Communion is an oft-repeated call to treat others, who perhaps have been guilty of willful injury, as if no offense had been committed. It is a call to sympathy and patience — to act as though unconscious of injury or neglect. The forgiving church is the Christlike church. Suggestions: Use the Methodist Hymnal. Let the minister and members of the Official Board personally invite people to attend this meeting. 14, PRAYER AND FRUIT-BEARING Scripture: John 15. 1-16. Christ, the vine; we believers, the branches. Christ, the life; apart from him, only death. The 41 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Life is in the world that there may be fruit. The power to bear fruit is only in the vine, not in the branches; and yet the vine bears the fruit only through the branches. Not that the fruitfulness of the Christ-life in the world depends upon you and me as individuals. That is not the teaching of Christ. '^If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." The branch that abides not in the vine perishes ; but the vine itself neither ceases to live nor to bear fruit abun- dantly through the branches that abide. In Christ is inextinguishable, inexhaustible, abounding life; and the life is never fruitless. To bear fruit is that which above all else glori- fies the Father; for herein is expressed, in deed and in truth, his loving purpose toward men. And it was solely the glory of the Father that Jesus sought. The disciples of the Master, who sought only the Father's glory, are his disciples indeed, if they learn this supreme lesson. To abide in Christ means to live a life of prayer. In nature the branch, though wondrously drawing its life from the vine, abides therein without thought or will. But in the sphere of personal life it is not so. Not by a law of natural neces- sity do men abide in Christ. The life which his Spirit has begotten in us through the Word is also fed by the Word according as we seek to know and do the will of God. God's love, indeed, comes to men unsought, and it comes with its own won- drous conquering power; and yet it is only willing hearts that believe and live in it. It is not ours, 42 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS but Christ's, to give and to sustain the inner life ; but it is ours, by his grace, to hunger and thirst after righteousness ; ours to ask, to seek, to knock. To abide in Christ means that there is estab- lished a vital relation with the Source of infinite grace. Believing prayer is — for God has willed it so — the channel for that grace. And nothing is impossible with God. So also nothing is im- possible to him that prays aright. True prayer seeks the Father's will, and the child of God can know the Father's will. To know how to pray one must abide in Christ and Christ's words must abide in him. The prayer that is really offered up through Christ — not in form only, but in spirit — meets the unmeasured and unfailing promise of God. But there is absolutely no promise for the "prayer" that seeks of God that which God never designed to give. "Prayer is appointed to convey the blessings God designs to give." What true child of God desires other "blessings"? And would they be blessings? But let us not forget that it is God's way to give his richer blessings only as we ask in faith. They are prepared for us long ago, but they are not forced upon us. Now, the one constant, deepest prayer of a true disciple of Christ must be, "Father, glorify thy name.^' And his name shall be glorified in so far as we bear fruit — fruit in our own lives, fruit in the spread of his kingdom. If this is our master passion — if with this desire we hang upon God by every fiber of our being — can we doubt that He who sent his Son into the world that the world might be saved will give us the desire of our hearts? Not all at once, not as by magic, but in 43 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS God's own time and way^ Christ's perfect kingdom shall have come. And it is our unspeakable privi- lege to share in the work. 15. HOW TO BRING THE HIDDEN LIFE TO LIGHT Scripture : Col. 4. 2-17. The phrase ^^hidden life'' is the key of this epistle. It is found in the frequently repeated word ^^mystery," which has reference to the Eleusinian mysteries, into which Greeks were in- itiated under an awful oath of secrecy. It may also have reference to the esoteric or hidden teach- ing of the philosophies of Paul's day. The ^^hidden life" is again suggested by such sentences as "in whom are hid the treasures of wisdom," and "your life is hid with Christ in God." "God would make known . . . this mystery." It is surprising how well a popular exegetical treatment of the entire epistle will work out with this key. First of all, Paul tells us that the hidden life is brought to light through prayer for an open door-— "praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word." Paul was in prison, and no. doubt chafed because of his inability to spread the gospel more rapidly. Singularly enough, he thinks not of himself, but of the re- straints which his chains may impose upon the gospel. We may well believe that this was his prayer even before his imprisonment. Because he ever prayed for an open door he found it, and entered into wider service through it. Should not 44 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS this be the ambition of Christians everywhere? If we have no desire for an open door, for a wider service in the world, it is to our everlasting dis- credit. The discovery of the absence of such cath- olic spirit in us should drive us at once to our knees until it shall become a fact in our lives. But suppose we should pray for an open door and it should be given to us? Would it be creditable to us if we did not measure up to the opportunities which it gave? The church is actually embar- rassed with open doors at home and abroad. It owns the wealth which can buy up the opportuni- ties these bring. They are not, however, bought up as rapidly as they could be. The church also has the personal power to buy them up but does not do it because of too great indisposition of many to assume a responsibility in personal evangeliza- tion. Surely we need also to pray that we may enter the door which is already open to us. To know Christ is a trust as well as a treasure. Prayer is not enough. We may help to open doors. Do we wish a way opened to the hearts of men? Then, says Paul, ^^walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how we ought to answer each one." Will anything open a door to the hearts of men sooner than consistent daily living? They who are ^^without" observe more keenly than we seem to imagine. Can we hope to win them to Christ if we are not living epistles? This is one way to bring them to Christ, and another way is to speak personally with them. A silent influence is worth much, but a speech which is gracious, ac- 45 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ceptable, is also effective. Lightfoot suggests that our words are acceptable not only when they are "opportune as regards the time, but also appro- priate as regards the person." Truly it is so, "he that is wise winneth souls." Through these won by a consistent life and a discreet speech the hid- den life is brought to light in the world. We may also bring the hidden life to light by a cooperation in Christian labors. In the next paragraph Paul mentions the men who cooperated with him in buying up the opportunities of the open door. They are Tychicus, Onesimus, Aris- tarchus, Mark, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, and Archippus. Would Christianity ever have come to light if there had been no united action ? If we shall give every righteous cause our moral support, as Tychicus and Justus stood with Paul ; if like Epaphras we shall strive together in prayer as one who contendeth in the arena; and if like Archippus we shall give heed to our ministry through energetic Christian labors, the hidden life will surely come to light in the world through multitudes of redeemed souls. 16. OBEYING THE VISION Scripture: Acts 9. 1-6; 26. 19. It is wonderful what may come to a man in a single hour of his life. Witness Moses at the bush, Isaiah in the temple, Saul on the Damascus road. So we, too, may have visions of God, real and potent in giving direction to life. God is always in sight if we only know where to look. 46 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Having had the vision, it must he oleyed. It is a great experience to have some hour of divine rap- ture when a burning ideal bursts suddenly upon the soul ; but it is not less great, after the rapture has died away, to make that ideal real in conduct and life by a process of gradual unfolding. Life's task is to realize its ideal. Two great laws characterize human life — the law of instantaneity and the law of gradualism. A young man in some great hour of his life has a vision of scholarship and future brilliant achieve- ment, setting his whole nature aglow; and in im- agination he sees himself advancing from conquest to conquest, coming into realization of the am- bitious dreams of his youth. But between the ideal and the reri lie years of patient endeavor and unremitting toil. Just so when face to face with God in holy rapture there may come to us suddenly that which may take years to transmute into reality. That was a wonderful experience Paul had that day; but in that epochal hour he saw that which took a lifetime to fullill, years of toil and struggle and sacrifice and magnificent courage and divine heroism. Does not this explain the failure of many a Christian life? We stop too often with the vision, we neglect to transmute these rapturous feelings and impulses into conduct and character. A soul is bowing penitently before God. God hears its cry and whispers, ^^Thy sins are all forgiven thee" ; and there comes bounding into it a new joy, and there comes bursting from it a new song, even praises unto our God. But when one looks a few 47 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS months later, too often the song has become mute and the vision has died away. How often you and I, under some searching, spiritual sermon, have been stirred to our very depths, and our hearts were set leaping with new divine aspirations and resolutions. But, alas! alas ! the mood soon passed away, and we con- tinued to be just what we had been before. That is the tragedy of Christian life. Our lives bud and blossom all over with im- pulses, but so few of them ripen into deed. We aim so high and we live so low. Strength of char- acter must always be measured by the power to crystallize aspiration into deed, to convert convic- tion into character. Obey the heavenly vision! Make it permanent and real in conduct and life! Paul began imme- diately to obey, crying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" And day after day, through all the long years of his life, he never ceased asking, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Obey the vision instantly; pursue it continuously, persist- ently; incarnate it into life! Have we ever had the vision — the vision of his grace, the vision of his glory, the vision of duty? If not let us press our way into his presence this very hour, and face to face with the Infinite obe- diently cry, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Suggestions : Let the minister be in the spirit of prayer before attending this meeting. Let the meeting be spontaneous and informal. Sing no weak and sentimental songs. Emphasize fellow- ship. Try to sense the presence of God. 48 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 17. THE DEEPER BLESSING Scripture: Matt. 16. 17. ^^Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not re- vealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.'^ This is what we might call a surprising bless- ing. There are four questions that we may well ask about it all: What called forth the blessing? What was the special peculiarity of the blessing? What was the inner reason for the blessing? And, finally, is the blessing a present one? In answer- ing these questions we shall get the lessons of the Saviour's words. We note, first, that this blessing was pro- nounced because of a confession of faith in Christ. The way along which Peter came to the confession was long. Christ was hungry for trust. He longed for men to believe in him. He was always saddened by signs of disbelief. He would even go so far as to seek to win a confession of faith in himself. In this instance he directly questioned his disciples: "Who do men say that I the Son of man am T^ You remember the reply : Some said that he was Elias ; some, Jeremias ; others, one of the prophets. Then came the question direct: "Who say ye that I am?" In response Peter gave the first full confession of Christ: "We believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Immediately Jesus pronounced the word of blessing. How did Peter get his confession ? Why did his confession diflfer from that of others whose views had been reported? He had lived with Christ. 49 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS In truth, our creeds can never go deeper than our experiences. An opinion may precede experi- ence; a creed comes after experience. Men who had seen Christ weep said, ^^He is Jeremias.'' Those who had seen the Lord in his sterner mo- ments said, ^^He is Elias.'' So the creed was as deep as the experience. Peter had a deeper experience; therefore he had a deeper creed. He had lived with Christ. Out of the life came the faith. The lesson for us is that our faith is not likely to be deeper than the life we live. The man who lives distant from Christ is sure to get a creed distant from the truth. What was the special peculiarity of this bless- ing? In a general way, it had the peculiarity that always marked the blessings of Christ. He is represented as pronouncing blessings upon men twenty-six different times — this in the Gospels. The Acts, also, name one other blessing, unre- corded in the four Gospels. Jesus never pro- nounced a blessing on those whom we would ex- pect him to call blessed — ^never on the rich, or the wise, or the wealthy, as such. His blessings were always pronounced on some spiritual quality. Read the Beatitudes, and see how plain this is. Then read elsewhere: "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me"; "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" ; these and others give the lesson. The blessing was pro- nounced on Peter because of something that had taken place in the inner life of the disciple. Jesus said that he was blessed because he had reached real faith in himself. Why should that faith be a reason for a bless- 50 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ing? Think of what that faith really means and you will quickly see. Here is a man wholly with- out that faith. Let it come to him that Christ is the Son of God; that he came to save us from sin, to eternal character and eternal hap- piness; that Christ himself is with those who so believe to aid, advise, comfort; and that it is possible for one to live constantly in the power and peace of that faith ! Is there greater cause for blessing than just that? So it was that already Peter had his blessing within himself. Christ did not say to him, ^^I will bless you." The blessing had already been given, according to the spiritual law of cause and effect. ^^Blessed art thou !" The blessing did not come because Christ spoke; rather, Christ spoke because the blesoing had al- ready come. The lesson is that faith in Christ is the blessing itself. This virtually answers our fourth question : Is the blessing a present one? May we have this blessing? Jesus said to Peter, ^^Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee." That word must have been spoken for our comfort. We all at times repeat the longing of the child : "I would like to have been with him then." We may even go so far astray as to think that Peter was blessed because he got his revelation from flesh and blood. Jesus said that he was blessed because the revelation came otherwise. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, pushed his claims clear back into the same spiritual region. When his fellow disciples questioned his apostleship he answered them in the first chapter of Galatians. 51 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS In all the account there is no word about the dra- matic experience on the Damascus roadway, assur- ing as that was. It all came to this one thing: ^^It pleased God to reveal his Son in me." This is the way in which now God reveals his Son. The revelation is inner, and the blessing inner. Be- cause all this is so, the blessing which Jesus pro- nounced on Peter is for us. We can secure it even here in this service. Therefore, open your hearts. 18. LIFE'S BROKEN SHIPS Scripture: 1 Kings 9. 26; 22. 48. There is a suggestive little story in the First Book of Kings. It tells how King Jehoshaphat had made up his mind that he would send his ships from the naval station at Ezion-geber to the land of Ophir after gold, but the ships never sailed. Something broke them. Whether they sailed out of the harbor and were broken at the mouth of the sea by some terrific storm, or whether some inland storm cut down across the harbor and broke them to pieces as they rode at anchor, the condensed record does not inform us. In any event, the ships did not sail and the king did not get his gold. There are a great many of life's ships that are broken in that way — broken to pieces in the harbor ere they sail. Life is full of disappointments. A man fits himself for business and his health breaks down just as his great financial opportunities open. A young woman fits herself for useful serv- ice by college training only to come home and die. A good woman, who was to entertain me in an 52 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Eastern city, took me upstairs and pointed through the glass in the bookcase to a college diploma with its delicate ribbons about it, and said : ^This room has not been used since the day my daughter came home from college and threw her diploma in there just as you see it, and said, *I have that anyhow.' She went to bed and never got up alive." What a broken ship was that for that mother! All of us have known our broken ships that were made ready at great cost, about which there were many fond ambitions, but the storm came and they were broken down ere they sailed, or if they sailed it was only to disaster. These broken ships do not by any means indi- cate the anger or displeasure of God with us. Perhaps it was the best thing that ever happened to King Jehoshaphat that these ships went to pieces. Solomon had good luck with these ships from that very port. Again and again they made successful voyages to Ophir and brought back not only gold and silver, but ivory, monkeys, and pea- cocks, and it had a great deal to do with working Solomon's ruin. If you will read this story you will notice that though these ships were broken up and failed in their venture Jehoshaphat re- mained a good king to the end of his life and died in honor. Perhaps the broken ships had some- thing to do with it. One thing is sure, that no matter how many disappointments we have, nor how many of our ships go to pieces in the storm, the passenger is worth more than the ships, and we may have the favor of God though all our ships were broken. Jehoshaphat lived and died with God's approval, 53 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS though he did not get the gold from Ophir. Paul saw his ship beaten to pieces in the storm, but in the darkness of the night God's angel stood by him and told him to be of good cheer, and prom- ised him to save the life of every man on the ship with him. The broken ship gave Paul great op- portunities to be of help and blessing to many people on the island where they were cast. Often our sorrows and disappointments and failures bring us into more helpful fellowship with others than our successes. Prosperity often separates us from our fellow men. Adversity often brings us closer to them. Let us not worry too much over the broken ships; the important thing is to keep unbroken our fellowship with Christ. 19. ON DOUBT Scripture: Luke 7. 19-23. The question of John^ "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?" is the problem of final authority with which man is always en- grossed. The question was born of doubt. This is characteristic of the problem it suggests. Man is unreasonable when he asks for finality. He over- looks the plain indicia concerning finality and worries over problems no man can solve. In realms other than that which pertains to the soul life, the eternal, man does not seek finality. The masters of art in the Renaissance have never been sur- passed or even equaled. Yet no one stands before a Raphael or a Michael Angelo and asks, "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another ?'' 54 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS However low the artist's ideal may descend or bungling his technique become, no one knows what masters the future may not hold in waiting. And no one ever closes the door on the future. So of music, of literature, of philosophy. The same is true of religion, or rather of the religions — con- sidered in their tribal or ethnic relationships. The world at large is not asking of Buddha or Mo- hammed, "Art thou he that should come?'' Yet John's question was a natural one. He had proclaimed the Messiah. He had risked his life for him. He was suffering imprisonment for him. A dingy and damp cell was the reward of his en- thusiasm for Jesus. Into that cell came not the bright rays presaging the victory of the Coming One ; rather was the air heavy and the room dark because of the reports of JTesus's failure. Was Jesus the final one, or was he, John, perhaps mis- taken ? So we ask in our gloom and doubt : What is final? Where is finality? Jesus knew^ how to handle John. He might have talked at some length to John's disciples, explain- ing the purpose and success of his mission and showing clearly that he was, in fact, the Coming One. But the disciples would have gone off wag- ging their heads; they too were tinctured with doubt, and Jesus's words would have availed little. An ocular demonstration was necessary. He an- swers not a word. He acts. When he is through he says: "Now go tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind are seeing again, the lame are walking about, the lepers are being cured, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised up, the poor are having the good news told to them ; 55 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS blessed is he whosoever shall not be oflfended in me.'^ So Jesus answers the doubts of men. Are they about God? He does not speak as the philosopher of the school. There is no discussion whatsoever. ^^Our Father" is the answer. *'He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." So simple that the child understands at once ; so comprehensive that the learned man never ceases to contemplate it. Is the question about immortality ? Again no dis- cussion: ^^I am come that they might have life." ^^I am the resurrection, and the life." ^^I go to prepare a place for you." ^^And as many as re- ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Was the problem one of right con- duct? Jesus received by giving, became strong by being weak, controlling by being gentle, lived be- cause he died. And the world understands him and knows what is right conduct. These are the final answers man receives; but only in the presence of the Master. Doubt is born in the prison cell far from the sunshine of Jesus. Then we haggle over the nonessentials which are many and complex and see not the essential which is one and simple. Had John been in the presence of the Master he would never have asked this question. 20. HEDGED IN Scripture: Job 3. The book of Job might well be called the Book of Great Questions, for nearly all the hard prob- 56 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS lems of human life are touched upon in the rounds of debate between Job and his friends. There is the question of the immortality of the soul : ^^If a man die, shall he live again?" There is the mys- tery of the success of the sinful: ^^Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?" Again, Job deals with the nature of God and the problem of prayer in these two questions : "What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?" and, ^What profit should we have, if we pray unto him?" But one of the most searching questions touches the world-old problem of human limitation and suffering in these trenchant words : ^^Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in ?" Every thinking man and woman must face this question and frame some kind of an answer. Job has correctly defined our human life as "hedged in." We live but a day at a time, and no man can tell what the future has in store. There are physical limitations. Some are born cripples, others live lives of invalidism under the slow proc- esses of disease. Mental limitations abound, and ignorance is often found in the place of authority. Spiritual limitations affecting not only the sinful man himself, but many of his fellow beings, are common. Circumstances often hedge us in on every side, and circumstances too that are not of our own making. Thus, to say nothing of the threatenings and destructions of nature, or of the ever-present shadow of death, it is plain that our human life is one of limitation and pain. Where is the way out? How shall we answer Job's ques- tion? How shall we keep our faith in God? 57 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS The answer to Job's question is to be found only in life. He himself answered it thus uncon- sciously, and thereby proved that life is greater than any theory of it. Job lived through his suf- ferings, and thereby revealed his deep practical optimism. What do we actually see in human life? Do we not see upon the whole that this world, imperfect as it is, is really a perfect world for the work intended? It appears to draw out and develop our powers of head and heart. Strug- gle and suffering make men and women of us. Limitation too is necessary. Ruling out of this consideration humanity's self-imposed limitations, of which there are many, we are hedged in by Wisdom and Love that we may grow from char- acter to character. The main thing in life is not passive enjoyment, for which the criticisers of this imperfect world clamor, but active development, which reflection shows us is going on in our midst. For this latter task the world, as it is, is a perfect instrument. Thus we judge this so-called evil world by the work actually accomplished. Civili- zation is progressing. Ethical ideals grow more and more compelling. Mutual helpfulness is be- coming in a vital way the order of the day. Life vindicates God's method. And God himself has supreme faith in this method. What but this does the life and death of his Son Jesus Christ prove? God recognizes the apparent imperfection of this earthly order, but so sure is he of its value for the work in hand that in the person of the Christ he endures the limitations and woes of human life. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how 58 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" The life and death of Christ, on the one hand, is a pledge, and the actual fruit in life, on the other, is the proof, that this imperfect world is a perfect world in the light of God's pur- pose for us. Suggestion: Let the "shut-ins'' send written testimonies as to God's wisdom and goodness. Hymns 128, 472. 21. THE CURE OF WORRY Scripture : Luke 10. 38-42. The Transient Character of Worry. Worries are not abiding things in our lives. They are transient as morning's chill and noon's heat. They are not central in our living, but external; the little, fretting cares of the day which never really touch the deep places in our lives. Yet they harass and trouble us and destroy our peace until they seem the all-absorbing problem of our living. The l^eed for Perspective. Worry is life out of perspective. It is to-morrow and next week and next year crowded into to-day, so that all we can see is just the crowded present, so busy and so worrisome as to seem utterly beyond our wisdom and strength. The trouble is that our living has no perspective. It is like our being stationed at inch distance from our painted life canvas. The worries and cares we ought never to be thinking about until to-morrow or next week are here elbowing those of to-day. As the great and dis- tant mountains, ever waiting, never intruding, 59 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-^MEETING HELPS give perspective to all the lesser, little things that lie between us, so Jesus and love unfailing and God our Father give us the perspective of life. They lift themselves like great mountains across our horizon to remind us that, after all, the little passing troubles and worries are not the lasting things in this world. Whenever you can see Jesus beyond your worries you may be sure that your life has found its perspective. Martha lost Jesus in table duties and household cares. Mary had found the mountains. The Fear of Oiiteomes. Most of our worries are due to our fears concerning the outcomes of the things we have undertaken ; doubts of ourselves, of our plans, of our future, our success, our ability. These are the worries that steal our peace. Are we trying to do in our human strength, fearfully and doubtfully, that which God himself wishes to do for us? We may trust outcomes to him. To fear the outcome is to distrust God. A Friend's Counsel. Many cares are real, how- ever, and not fancied. They are real problems and bring us real pain. There are problems of tempta- tion and of sin and of responsibility which we must meet. These are not settled at a breath. But have we forgotten that we have a Friend? What a comfort it is to bring our perplexities to a true friend ! He does not feel the nervous pres- sure of the problem nor our own tense anxiety. Calmly and carefully he studies it, and his de- cision clears away all its diflSculty. Do we forget that better part which makes our Friend the con- stant presence to the exclusion of our cares, the ready help on every problem? 60 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Our Spirit in Our Cares. Cares are as the physician's vials, nothing in themselves. It is what we put into them that counts. What spirit are you putting into these common trials and worries of the everyday? Anger and fretfulness, or sweet patience and love and unfaltering faith? It is not guest-care our Lord desires of us, anxiety about meat and drink. These will only last for to-day. It is the supremacy over these things by the spirit in which we meet them. The Rightful Attitude toward Care. There is a way in which we may govern our attitude toward our cares. Jesus taught Martha what it was to make God the first and the supreme interest in our living. Just a moment for God's better part will put a new spirit into the day. To feel its worry and care with the presence of God is to rise above them. Suggestion : Have special committees appointed — each committee being responsible for the success of one meeting. 22. THE GREATEST PRAYER IN THE WORLD Scripture: Eph. 3. 14-21. The Lord's Prayer and this prayer came equally from Christ: transmission through Matthew, in- spiration through Paul. The Lord's Prayer, given specifically for the disciples, and, so far as we know, never used personally by Christ, is the more generic and better adapted to humanity as a whole. The later prayer is for advanced Chris- 61 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS tians. The two may be called: The Disciples' Prayer; the Prayer for the Saints. "I bow my knees." Spiritual attitude in prayer, that of humility and supplication. ^^From whom every family (or fatherhood) in heaven and on earth is named/' Sweep of the prayer — ^no petty sect or nation, nor even that section of the race now knowing Christ or now accepting him, but ^^from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named" ; all are God's children, by creation, redemption, and visitation of the Spirit. This constitutes the infinite tragedy of the prodigal's rejection of the Father. ^^That he would grant you." The prayer's sweep matched by its particularity, you. The blessing not according to our merits, but ^^according to the riches of his glory." The best gift which even the riches of his glory can bring us is strength with power through his Spirit in the inward man. The nineteenth cen- tury discovered physical powers latent in the uni- verse and transformed material civilization. We may discover spiritual powers latent in the God of the universe — power of prayer, Pentecosts, promise in Matt. 28. 20, divine providence, etc. — and so may transform the church in the twentieth century and bring in the New Humanity in Christ. ^^That Christ may dwell in your hearts" — dwell- ing, not simply visiting us. "Through faith." The means through which we receive Christ — faith as faithfulness (Matt. 25. 21, 31-46), faith as vision (Heb. 11. 1, 23-27), faith as trust, by which we cease to be self-centered and become Christ-centered (Gal. 2. 20). 62 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS "To the end" — even indwelling of Christ not an end in itself; we must use him if we would have him abide. ^'Rooted and grounded in love" — love the law of the universe, the fundamental human manifesta- tion of salvation, as faith is its fundamental hu- man means. ^^May be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ [for us] which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God." This is the purpose of Christ's indwelling, the result of faith, the in- evitable consummation of obedience to the law of love. "Filled unto all the fullness of God." I no more know how my poor, petty, sinful soul is to be filled unto all the fullness of God than how the Atlantic Ocean is to be crowded into a pint cup. The prayer is literally infinite in its reach — the loftiest prayer in the world. "Now unto him." The Infinite God and Father is to fulfill these promises. "Able to do for us." The Spirit brings us back from this infinite sw^eep to personal expectation. Our asking almost in- finitely beyond our power of achievement; our thinking beyond our asking, but he "is able to do exceeding — abundantly — above — all — that we ask — or think." "According to the power that worketh in us." Power coming from the union of God and man will be the discovery of the twentieth century. "Unto all the generations of the age of the ages." Read again the whole prayer coming from 63 PREBENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Christ through Paul, and surely you will call it the greatest prayer in the world. 23. CHRISrS COMFORT Scripture: John 14. 1-27. This selection of Scripture leads us into one of the holy places of our Lord's life, and into the ^^holy of holies" in every disciple's life. The "upper chamber" in Jerusalem leads to the inner chamber of the soul. These were intense days. It was the passion week. Jesus "was troubled." Judas was exposed. Peter was humbled. All hearts were anxious. A great storm, full of rumbling thunders and threat- ening lightnings, was about to break upon them. In the midst of this tension Jesus said, "I am going away." "Whither I go, ye cannot come." The hearts of the disciples were filled with dismay. A sorrow took possession of them. But sorrow is often heaven's door. To what riches this door opens in this chapter ! A glimpse into heaven is here : "Father's house," "many man- sions," "a place prepared for you," "where I am" ; and also an opening vista toward Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and their blessed, eternal fellowships. Even here and now there is a door from the world, where there is tribulation, into Christ, where there is peace; from the realm of human association and disappointments, to the inner abiding place of the Holy Spirit; from the sorrow of separation to the comforts of belief and knowledge. Belief and knowledge are the two sources of 64 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS comfort. The Master began with belief — what the disciples did believe, and what they must be- lieve. ^^Ye believe in God." Of this there could be no doubt. It was an instinct of their hearts, a dic- tate of their reason, an unquestioned conviction of their souls. Jesus added, ^^believe also in me," though you do not understand me — even though you do not see me. Trust me; ^^I will come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." How hope and comfort must have come to their hearts as they listened and began to believe! So it is with us: "Faith lends its realizing light; The clouds disperse, the shadows fly; The Invisible appears in sight. And God is seen by mortal eye." "Then sorrow, touched by Christ, grows bright With more than rapture's ray; As darkness shows us worlds of light We never saw by day." So far it was belief, but Jesus led the disciples a step further : ^^If ye love me, keep my command- ments" — obey me by faith a little while — "and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." ^^Ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." This experience of the presence of the Comforter, this divine epiphany in the soul, changes belief into knowledge, not by external ascertainment, but by an internal consciousness of the Most High. Hear the Master again : "If a man love me, he will keep my word," "and I will love him," "and 65 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.'^ Then ^^your sorrow shall be turned into joy/' ^^I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you.'' "Our hearts, if God we seek to know, Shall know him and rejoice; His coming like the morn shall be. Like morning songs his voice. "So shall his presence bless our souls, And shed a joyful light; That hallowed morn shall chase away The sorrows of the night." 24. JESUS THE DOOR Scripture : John 10. 1-10. Jesus said, ^^I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Jesus is the door to the Scriptures. He was a Hebrew. At the age of twelve he astonished the doctors with his understanding. Of all the Jews, he most sensitively felt the meaning of the words of those seers and solitary thinkers who had com- muned with the Spirit of the Eternal. He began his public ministry with a quotation from the prophets. He fulfilled, in himself, the mission of the priests. The devotional spirit of the psalmist was a prophecy of his oneness with the Father. The Mosaic Law remained incomplete until he gave forth the two great commandments. The full spiritual meaning of the Old Testament cannot be understood apart from Jesus. 66 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS The New Testament is the authentic biography of Jesus, with notes ard comments. In the Gos- pels we read the story of his life on earth. In the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles we feel the power of his glorified presence. In the picture language of John's visions we find him still brood- ing over the seven churches of Asia. Jesus is the door to God. It is true that God has never left himself without a witness, and that holy men in every age before Jesus were able to see some gleam of light through the crevice of his habitation, but the real nature of God in all its matchless splendor and beauty of ethical perfec- tion can be seen only in the face of Jesus, ^^who is the brightness of his glory, and the express im- age of his person.'' If we are to know the heart of God we must know Jesus ; we must be admitted by him into the holy place, the habitation of the Most High. We must be admitted not only to the God of power who rules with faultless precision the vast ongo- ings of the universe; not only to the God who is infinite in knowledge and penetrates into the deep- est recesses of the human and seeth our motives afar off; not onlv to the God that is immanent in the world and upholdeth all things by the word of his power; but to God, our Father, our Friend, who created us for himself and who so loved us that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but inherit life eternal. Jesus is the door to moral security. ^'By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." The enemies of our characters are stronger and more subtle 67 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS than we. We are not safe without a shepherd. To try to meet temptation in our own strength is folly. Overconfidence in ourselves will prove fatal. In the matter of salvation, we show our wisdom by distrusting our own powers. It is belief in Jesus that removes the sense of guilt. We should take him at his word. He is the Saviour of all who come unto him in faith. Through him we escape the evil consequences of selfishness, false humility, insincerity, and religious laziness. Through him we enter into sonship with the Father and brother- hood with mankind. Jesus is the door for everyone. ^^I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." In making this world- wide condition our Lord goes down to the very roots of the moral personality, to the will and the affection. It means this : Unless you live my life; unless you, too, are an incarnation of the truth; unless you, too, are living the life of vicarious sacrifice; unless you, too, learn that the road to Gethsemane and Calvary is God's highway to sainthood and Godlikeness, you have no life in you, and you can never see the Father. No philosopher, no scientist will ever give the world that which will set aside his truth and way. Pa- gan philosophy and heathen ethics — ^no matter how modern — lead to confusion and away from God. Jesus is the door. Suggestion : If there are tw^o doors to the prayer- meeting room, on this night lock the one which the people generally use so that they will have to enter ^^some other way." 68 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 25. THE WORLD THE FIELD (a missionary prayer service)] Scripture: Acts 16. 6-15; Rev. 7. 9-17. A little parable: A raindrop fell one day upon one of the topmost peaks of the great Rocky Mountain Range and found a lodgment upon a pebble. For one brief moment it clung to its resting place, then gradually began to fall down the mountain side, where, joined by others, it found itself, now a part of a dashing mountain stream, now a part of the rumbling Oregon, and now a part of the boundless Pacific. How happened it that the raindrop came not to be a part of the muddy Missouri, the wide-sweep- ing Mississippi, and eventually of the great Southern Gulf? Away up yonder, upon the in- significant pebble where first the raindrop fell, there lay a tiny grain of sand which, small as it was, had been suflSciently large to disturb the equilibrium of the raindrop, and thus had sent it to waters of the Northern Pacific rather than to the sunnier wave of the Gulf. What a parallel may we find here as touching human life! Often that which appears to be an insignificant action, a trivial event, an incon- siderable decision, may in reality be life's Great Divide ! Unquestionably that was one of Paul's supreme moments when on the Damascus road he saw the light and heard the voice. That was another when in Mysia he wanted to go into Bithynia but in' obedience to the Spirit came instead to Troas. Prosaic the words, and yet they record a de- 69 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS cision vital to the whole history of missions — ^vital to the welfare of the world. God has ever been intolerant of the provincial spirit. Abram, the cosmopolite, hears and obeys the words, "Get thee out of thy country, ... and in thee shall all fami- lies of the earth be blessed.'' By symbol, by direct teaching, by historic move- ments, God declares he is no mere tribal Deity — that redemption is for all the earth. But men forget. The Hebrew nation forgot and became steeped in provincialism. Then to that provincial of provincials, Saul of Tarsus, came the Damascus road vision, the Troas vision, and the significant word, "To the Gentiles !" Saul, citizen of Tarsus, becomes Paul, citizen of a land without frontiers. The vision of the largeness of God's plan was his ! But what of to-day ? Is the note of universality dominant? What of the many who repeat with wearying monotony, "Work enough at home with- out going abroad"? The fall of Jerusalem was to Jeremiah and his contemporaries just a horrible and a bloody catas- trophe, but within it was contained the movement which led up to the revelation of God as hence- forth not simply the God of Judah but the one God and Saviour of all nations. Is there less significance in that modern catas- trophe by which the Maine was made a useless tangle of wreckage? That exploding mine did something more than break a ship in pieces ; some- thing more than awaken patriotic fervor through- out our land; something more than "shift the political gravity of the whole world." It voiced again God's protest against provincialism. It was 70 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS another reannouncement^ "Get thee out of thy country!'' God evidently means to make this big world first a neighborhood and then a brother- hood. Already the world-wide neighborhood has been created. In thirty years the world has shrunk one third. Two cents carries a letter to Berlin ; three cents more, to Tokio. The cable brings In- dia almost within speaking distance. To travel around the world requires but a month. Just as a tiny grain of sand could cause the raindrop to become a part of the Mexican Gulf instead of the Pacific, so the slight shifting of interest on the part of the church can send the story of Christ's saving love to China or to Africa. America, the gospel watershed of the world! Suggestions: If possible have a returned mis- sionary address the meeting. Read letters from missionaries now on the field. Have reports made by members of the Mission Study Class. Have two or three thoughtful readers of history pre- pared to answer the question, What would have been the result to the Western world had Paul not gone to Troas and entered the "great door and effectual" there opened? 26. IN THE COOL OF THE DAY Scripture: Gen. 3. 8. The story of the first transgression which is given us in Genesis tells us that Adam heard the voice of the Lord in the cool of the day and hid 71 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS himself. The picture is of an Oriental scene. The heat of the day has passed, and with the lengthen- ing of the shadows a breeze springs up and the day gets cool. Adam had sinned in the heat of the day. The juice of the apple had very pleas- antly slaked his thirst. But now that the cool of the day has come he looks back on the sin with misgiving and hides himself. The story repeats itself in human life. It is an old, old problem, this of reconciling the deed done in the heat of the day with the reflection which comes in the cool of the day. The heat of the day and the cool of the day ought not to be in con- tradiction. To be sure, the heat of the day has its temptations, but these are not to be so yielded to as to bring remorse in the cool of the day. For God comes in the cool of the day — in those quiet moments of reflection when the deed done in the heat of the day is reviewed. Yet God can be present too in the heat of the day, arming the soul with strength for all the conquests of the mid-day. If he has been with us in the heat there is, of course, no reason why we should dread to see him in the cool of the day. 27. CONSECRATION Scripture: Eom. 12. As a red thread runs through the ropes of the British navy, so the thought of consecration to God runs through the Bible. The right hand, right eye, right foot of the Levites were touched with the blood of the sacrificed animal to signify 72 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS the devotement of every power and faculty to the service of God. The entire people of Israel were consecrated to him through the consecration of their representatives, the firstborn of the nation. When Christ came his command was, "Leave all, and follow me." In short, the Bible idea of man- hood is that of a being whose life law is obedience, who has subordinated his will to the divine will, who has brought the currents of his nature where is flows parallel with his Lord's desires. Is this thought of the Bible the thought of the average Christian life? Is the church filled with consecrated men and women? What sacrifices are most of us making? What privations are we enduring? What is our faith costing us? In what sense can we say with Peter, "Lo, we have left all, and followed thee?" This world manifests plenty of sacrifice to vanity. Men will surrender every comfort to attain the ends of personal am- bition. They will labor until far in the night to accumulate wealth. The lover of drink will sacri- fice money, health, family to satisfy his appetite. This is what is taking place about us; and we Christians, what are we doing for truth, for holi- ness, for souls in darkness, for the extension of the kingdom ? Consider some of the motives which should lead us to a full surrender to God's sovereign will. Full consecration brings with it a larger knowl- edge of divine things. The act of submission pre- pares for the reception of light. Jesus said those who do the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine. We should consecrate ourselves to God, because 73 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS we thus find our largest liberty and truest life. He that loseth his life shall find it. We renounce our old selves^ our old habits, our old nature, that we may enter into the richer experiences and deeper joys of the life hid in God. Thus also we gain our truest freedom. Even Plato said, "The more conformed the soul is to the divine will, so much more perfect and free it is." Epictetus, in like manner, showed that '^submitting the mind to the mind that governs all things, as good citi- zens to the law, is perfect liberty.'^ Mercury, which is nearest the sun, moves round its orbit in a flood of light. We should consecrate ourselves to God, for we exist for him. Luthardt says: "Man and God cannot remain apart, but tend toward each other by an irresistible necessity ; for God would be the God of man and man must be the man of God. We may restrain the tendency of things but we can- not abolish the law of attraction.'^ Our inner in- stincts and longings are thus a testimony to the necessity of consecration. Consecration is the short cut to spiritual growth. It shuts out the enemies that prey upon the soul. The heart being fixed on God, the source of all goodness, it necessarily becomes good. You cannot bring a light into a room without its being illumined. If we consecrate ourselves to God we shall have greater power in Christian work and be of much greater service in the kingdom of God. John Wesley said, "If I had a hundred Christians who knew nothing but God and feared nothing but sin I could shake the world.'^ 74 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Finally, we should consecrate ourselves to God because of his boundless and great mercies. They are fresh every morning and renewed every night. All the bounties of life come from his gracious hand. We are always sitting down at his ban- quets. Because of the freedom with which he gives to us, we should lovingly and fully give him our hearts. 28. THE BUKNING HEART AND THE OPEN BOOK Scripture: Luke 24. 13-36. Follow the disciples as they leave Jerusalem. The city that had always been a joy to them has become the source of their sorrow. The old prophecies, that they had hoped were about to be fulfilled, now left them in despair. With a heavy heart they are turning their backs upon the scenes of these late sorrows. Then the mysterious stranger draws near, and warms their hearts till all aglow they see a new book, and the lost cause becomes the fulfilling of the Scriptures. It was the burning heart that enabled them to read the open book. To many the Bible is a sealed book. We give it an honored place in the house, we advocate its teaching in the Sunday school and have a pro- found respect for it, but it is a closed book. We have heard of its wonderful power over the lives of men, its balm for life's ills, that it is a trustworthy chart on life's sea, and yet we go on poor in spirit, sick with disappointment, groping our way in darkness. 76 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS The Bible is a sealed book because it is neg- lected. We are so newspaper-ridden that we look for news and neglect the truth. If we read it, it is at a most inopportune time. We try to know what it says, but do not stop to ask what it means. We are so absorbed with rules to read it through that we have forgotten that what we need is a new spirit ; rules are never motives. Again, we approach it with mistaken concep- tions. We look for it to give what it was never intended to give. We forget the fact that it is history, prophecy, poetry, and parable. It is not as much the object of our faith as an aid to faith. The Jews were so absorbed with its traditions that they had relatively little time to think of God. The Bible was born in life. It is a record of what God did in the lives of men. It deals mostly with deeds instead of words. ^^Let there be light, and there was light.'^ What God intended to teach he showed in living history. His revelation is not in the writing as much as in the events it records. The word of the Lord was a living communication to men : not the Gos- pels alone, but the Christ of the Gospels. It is he in the Book who gives value to it. If God is to reveal himself to human character he must do so by means of character, hence Jesus came and lived among us. Hence this book was born in human life. These men spoke and wrote because they had the burning heart. Out of all that chaos yonder came this living, breathing thing, the child of life and cradled by experience. Ours is not the re- ligion of a book only, it is the result of life. It can be interpreted only by life and experience. 76 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Monks and nuns do not read the Bible ; it is not intended for them, but belongs to men who move out in the world's strong currents. No theorist has ever been able to understand it, because it is not the product of mere theory; as the theories of the college boy become of value only as tested in life, so this book becomes a new book when tested in daily living. A guidebook is of value in the city which it describes. Truth is mine only when I have lived it ; every great reality must have its sunrise in my own soul. Give me a Bible, and I may commit to memory the passages pertaining to salvation, but I haven't salvation. You must read Whittier with your hearts. When you read the Scriptures you find it sweeping the keyboard of your whole being, and with Coleridge you cry out, ^^It finds me." It furnishes a beatitude for every condition. I note as life advances in years, ex- pands, grows deeper and richer this old book un- folds itself more to me and becomes the open book. The more you know of Jesus and the closer you live to him, the better you understand the book ; thus they go hand in hand, they supplement each other. 29. THE IDEAL LIFE Scripture: Matt. 5. 3848. Perfection is the ideal of life. It would be a dreary world without it as an incentive. Every- body needs it as an inspiration. The mechanic strives for perfection. He knows that if he may but master his trade his success is assured. I met a horticulturist recently and he said to 77 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS me, ^^I have a liobbj^; it is the chrysanthemum/' I listened to him and soon found that his hobby was to grow a perfect plant. He showed me hun- dreds of plants, telling with minuteness of the virtues of scores of them. His great ambition was perfection. And the object was worthy his noble undertaking. People who are lovers of this truly remarkable flower praise him for the sacrifice that he is making to this end. We commend the ideas and efforts of such men. But does it not seem exceedingly strange that when we apply the thought of perfection to char- acter so many hesitate? Men say, ^^You can have a perfect machine,'' and they are dissatisfied with less. They demand a perfect flower and admit it is a wonderful creation. But talk of perfect man- hood and perfect womanhood and the cry is raised, ^'It is impossible." Conceding to the work of man what we deny to the power of the Almighty ! But is it impossible? Has it been demonstrated that God cannot make perfect character? When? By whom? Indeed, have we really tried to see what God could do with humanity by withdrawing our opposition and letting him have his way with us ? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus raises no question. He goes straight to the mark and says, "Ye shall be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'' Dr. Dods says Jesus "would awaken in his disciples an ambition to excel. He does not wish his disciples to be moral mediocri- ties, men of average morality, but to be morally superior, uncommon." His followers are not to re- main in the valley, but to dwell on the mountain top. They are not to live in the shadow, but in 78 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS the sunshine. With him perfection is not a ques- tion of can or cannot; of will or will not. He puts it squarely before men in the form of a life — in deeds, not words ; in character, not profession : and when these things are met he says, ^'Ye shall be perfect.'^ He does not ask men to consider the liow or the when or the where of this thing. But to the believer he simply holds up the possibility and then commands that men go forward. Read carefully verses 38-42. What impression would such a man make upon the world ? Would he not appear as a perfect man? Would he not bear in a marked degree the marks of the Lord Jesus? And is not this the type of manhood that the w^orld has long been searching after? I know nothing is said as to his profession, nothing at all, and I am glad of it. For some men are poor talk- ers, but all men can do. And it is doing that makes perfection in the divine mind. Know that. When you have turned the ^^right cheek" to the man who would smite you, or given the second coat to the man who demanded one, and given to the needy, you have done Christ's service. Again, read verses 43-47. What words! Love substituted for hatred! Blessings for cursings! Good for evil! How Godlike that is! What a world to live in when that is done universally! It would be much like heaven, I fancy. How good it must sound in the ears of this world of sin! This is the heritage of the faithful, the opportuni- ties that come to those who love Jesus Christ and follow in his steps. And what is the result? What is the estimation in the sight of God? Simply this: ^^Ye shall be 79 PRESENT-DAY PRAYEH-MEETING HELPS X)erfect.'^ And this is the ideal life^ after all. I can but bid you to seek after it and strive for it. 30. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD Scripture: Exod. 33. 14-17; Isa. 57. 15; John 14.23; IJohn 1. 1-7. When John wrote the words, ^^Our fellowship is with the Father/' he was thinking of his own ex- I>erience and not an abstract theological principle. He uses the word that denotes the closest relation- ship we can predict of man with man. What does he imply by writing that man has fellowship with God? The first implication is that God and man are fundamentally alike in nature. Man is related to God not merely as created thing to creator. They hold things in common. God's sphere of interest not only borders upon that of man, it coincides with it. One is not simply passive and the other active. Each, out of his own being, contributes to the life of the other. Only beings of like nature can "fellowship" with one another. A dog may be loved and trusted, but a father can fellowship with his child. A tree may stand, admired by passing generations ; the mem- bers of a family weep and laugh together. The reason is apparent: that boy has his father's na- ture; those children resemble each other in dis- position as well as in outward appearance. If we can fellowship with God it is because we are par- takers of the divine nature. It follows that the one way to approach God is 80 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS by seeking to develop our latent likeness to him. The builders of the tower of Babel were mistaken. Heaven is not found by climbing up somewhere. Heaven is Godlikeness; hell is estrangement from God. Geography is not our chief concern, it is moral latitude and longitude. The approach for fellowship is from God's side, mark that. He comes to us. Otherwise we could never know him. But we must not think of the incarnation of Jesus as God's only coming. Ever since the first going away of the first transgressor God has been trying to find man. Isaiah suggests a reason why "the One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy/' seeks to dwell "with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.'^ Fellowship gives us the "vision of God" — that is, the power to see things as God sees them. Think what this means. We partake of the quality of his mind. As we have fellowship with God we shall see as he sees — humanity; the social prob- lems that confront us; our work; its success or failure; wealth; poverty; the griefs that stagger us. "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" — rest from the evil results of see- ing things with a merely human and limited vision. When we get his view we shall change our emphasis. Do we really want to see from God's viewpoint? Are we willing to pay the price of giving up our old ideas? Why are there so many partnerships in the business world? What strength is suggested when the young traveling salesman quotes "the firm" ! Social isolation endangers intellectual growth. Spiritual isolation is moral suicide. Communion 81 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS with God gives not only the vision of God, but ethical motives as well. To see what to do is one thing; to try to do it is also essential. By fellowship we become Godlike. This truth should thrill every soul. Nothing else is so im- portant. Godliness is inalienable wealth. Char- acter is indestructible. In the universe in which we live its worth will eventually be recognized. The reward of godliness is more intimate fellow- ship with God. Higher attainment means greater joy. No joy excels that which is founded upon the sense of becoming more like our King. This is life's supreme quest. Obedience to his word has this great reward: *^We will come unto him and make our abode with him.'^ 31. HOW DAVID ESCAPED FRETFULNESS Scripture : Psa. 37. 1-7. It is probable that this psalm was written in the latter part of David's life. Israel was in- creasing in prosperity. Some people were becom- ing wealthy. Many others were remaining in com- parative poverty. These latter were looking with jealous eyes at those who were more prosperous — and especially when the prosperous people were '^evildoers," "workers of iniquity." It is not easy for a good man to keep his eyes constantly on his more prosperous neighbors who are unrighteous, and to think constantly on his own lack of prosperity while he is trying to be good, without cultivating something of restless- ness that eventuates in worry and fretting. This S2 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS aspect of life is growing in America. To such fretters David sang this psalm. It may be called God's recipe for the cure of worry and fretting. The word ^'fret" is connected, in root, with the fretting leprosy that permeates the blood and arouses in the body ^^a burning ill humor and con- suming fretfulness.'' This, in the body, is terrible, but when the fretting leprosy is a burning ill humor and consuming fretfulness in the mind, heart, and soul, what rest, what peace, what pleas- ure can there be? Matthew Henry says that ^^fretfulness and worry are sins that are their own punishment. They are the uneasiness of the spirit and the rottenness of the bones." Fretting is often caused by comparing our cir- cumstances with those of others. It is forgotten that ''a man's life does not consist in the abun- dance of the things he possesses." While posses- sions may not be harmful in themselves, they are not the real food that feeds men's souls. Nor are they the things that bring abiding comfort. So the psalmist would turn the eyes of all who fret and worry about worldly prosperity to the things that make for present and eternal peace. First of all he would turn their vision to Je- hovah. ^Trust in Jehovah." Is it not more than the things of earth, or the men who are but for a day? Hath he not the wealth of the world in his hands? Luther when dying said to his children, ^^Riches I do not leave you, but I leave you a rich God." And still, this is not to be a careless, inactive trust. "Trust in Jehovah" is followed by an ex- 83 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS hortation : ^^Dwell in the land'' — be satisfied where you are and make the best of your conditions — ^^and feed thyself on faithfulness." '^Delight thyself also in Jehovah/' A character may safely be judged by the nature of its delights. Some Christians seek their delights, their happy hours, in worldly things, and give to Jehovah a grudging duty. ^^Commit thy way unto Jehovah/' let him direct thy paths, and thy righteousness which is now in the darkness of night shall go up as the sun in its rising, and thy night shall shine as the noonday. ^^Rest in Jehovah," or, '^Be still in Jehovah." Enter into that perfect calm of resignation that leaves itself absolutely in the hands of God. ^'To be still before the Lord is the true test." But there is another ingredient in this divine cure for fretting. We must "do good." If we trust in Jehovah we must enter into the life of Jehovah, and Jehovah's life is a life of ministry. He is the eternal minister. We see Jehovah's life in Jesus, who "went about doing good." The full- ness of joy which he found in "doing good" will banish the last remains of worry and fretting. "Trust in Jehovah, and do good." So shall the devil of worry leave thy heart, and the "burning ill humor" of fretfulness be driven out of thy life. 32. PETER'S CALL AND COMMISSION Scripture: Matt. 4. 17-20. The Man. Peter's humanness makes him a very helpful character to study. If he could become a 84 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS good Christian anyone can. Naturally impulsive (John 18, 10, 11), often weak (Matt. 26. 57-75), quick to make promises of loyalty which were soon forgotten, overconfident (Luke 22. 3f.), con- fessedly sinful (Luke 5. 8), unlearned, not alto- gether perfect even after Pentecost (Gal. 2. 11-21), he was a composite of frail and blundering human nature such as we know it to be. But remember "the fighting chance.'' Read Foss's "Keep a Tryin'.'' It is really true that "If only we strive to be pure and true, To each of us there wiH come an hour When the tree of life shall burst into flower. And rain at our feet a glorious dower Of something grander than ever we knew." The trying must be commensurate with the weak- ness. To begin at the bottom of the ladder may be no disgrace, but to remain there, even though there is a high climb ahead of us, is inexcusable. Chrisfs Call. He sees not as man seeth. He beholds, beyond the frailties of human nature, the qualities and possibilities of a man, through divine grace. "All I could never be. All men ignored in me. This I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped." He saw Peter's good-heartedness, sincerity, aggres- siveness. He knew he would make a great preacher, a leader of men, a winner of souls. The Gospel of Mark is really the transcription of Peter's gospel, swift as an arrow, rugged as a Galilean hill. He was the first to declare Christ's divinity. 85 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Note Peter's instantaneous consecration to Jesus's call. "Follow me" is the secret of his greatness. But in that remarkable incident there is a factor not to be overlooked. It was Andrew who brought about an acquaintance of his brother Peter with the Messiah (John 1. 35-42) . The glory of personal work and its importance never had a finer illustration than this. Most men are won, one by one. It was a Kimball who brought a Moody to Christ. "Follow me'' is the supreme ideal of living and achievement. "Come and suffer for the ideal" has a majestic appeal for men, the Epicurean to the contrary, notwithstanding. The Commission. There is no loftier calling than winning men. This summons comes equally to minister and layman, though in slightly differ- ent ways. "Each in his own sphere," "with only the Master to praise us, and only the Master to blame." The methods, "luck," and sacrifices of fisher- men all illustrate the experiences of personal workers. The bait must be suited to the fish. "Herring nets will not catch smelts." The catfish will bite at a worm ; the bass, a shrimp ; the cod, a clam; but the speckled trout takes a cast of the fly and a skillful play of the line. Fishers of men must have resourcefulness, tact, persistence, clean hands, pure hearts, and love — enduring love for men. After a man has been won he must be welcomed by the church or he is sure to die, spiritually. "A man converted and entering a cold church is like a baby thrown into a snowdrift/' 86 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Suggestion: Use the above theme as one of a short series under the title, "Pages from Peter's Passion/' Advertise such topics as these: "His Call and Commission/' "His Great Confession'^ (Matt. 16. 13-20), "The Denial" (Matt. 26. 69-75), "The Master's Questions" (John 21. 15-19), "His Sermon at Pentecost" (Acts 2), "His Vision "(Acts 10). To increase the attendance, announce a given number — fifty, one hundred, or one hundred and fifty — as a goal and ask all to help attain it. Take one great hymn each week. Ask all to com- mit it to memory. Ask for volunteers to repeat the hymn of the evening ; then sing it. 33. SELP-JUDGMENT UNDER GOSPEL GRACE Scripture: 2 Cor. 13. 5; 1 Cor. 11. 31; 4. 3, 4. The child's place in the Father's family rests solely on the Father's love. It is only because he first loved us. Therefore our relation to him should be one of glad trust, noti of fear or anxious care. The Father's perfect love would cast out our fear. He calls us his children. This most blessed station is ours not because we are good, but because God is good. Stronger than sin and death is the love of God. We have only to accept it freely and keep ourselves in it. The gift of God's Son is the pledge of God's purpose to make us like his Son. And since like- ness to Christ is our goal, it is necessary that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour (2 Pet. 3. 18). But Christ has taught us 87 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS that growth is not the result of anxious thought ; it comes of life. No man by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature, either physically or spiritually. Moreover, it is not only useless, it is even fatal, to be too much watching our symptoms or feeling our pulse. Such conduct is born of dis- trust of the Father's goodness. All this anxious thought is a contradiction of the gospel principle of quiet assurance. On the other hand, it is possible to receive God's grace in vain. While no thought or will of ours can create life or cause growth, yet it is for us to use the grace that brings salvation. There is no spiritual growth without a thoughtful attention to that which God would teach us. While we should be as free from anxious care as the lilies of the field, yet we are under an infinitely higher law of life than they. We live by the word of God; and our having that word in our hearts de- pends not only upon its having come to our ears, but also upon our having opened our hearts to re- ceive it. Rightly to use the grace of God — this is the art of living. To be ever measuring our growth is a sad distrust of his free grace. Longing, expectant, and adoring faith refuses to admire self or to rest in past attainments. The Bride will not gaze on her own fair garments, but on the dear Bridegroom's face. In his light we see light. Knowing him, and hearing the call to fol- low him and be like him, we must also in his light seek to know ourselves. And when we come to examine ourselves in the light of his countenance, there shall, by his grace, be no thought of excusing or of commending our- 88 I PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS selves, but only the desire and the prayer that the Searcher of hearts shall show us what we are in order that we may become what we ought to be — like Christ. Only in the light of his countenance can there be any fruitful self-examination. For Christ's revelation of our sin is never without the revelation of his abundant grace. Pitiable is the man who justifies himself. Happy the man who, knowing and confessing his sin, flies for help to God. Hungering and thirst- ing after God's righteousness, the pardoned and now trusting child is ^^careful without care," and, rejoicing in a sure hope, he ^^purifieth himself even as he is pure." Some one has well remarked : ^'I scarcely know a more comforting word in the Scripture than this of Saint Paul's : ^If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged.' " For the Christian's self-judgment is really not his own, but God's. In the deeper, larger sense the Lord only is our Judge. Let us pray that his word, like a refiner's fire, may purge away our dross. Hapx)y are we if we so judge ourselves that we be not condemned. "My needs and thy desires Are all in thee complete; Thou hast the justice truth requires. And I thy mercy sweet.'* 34. OUR CITIZENSHIP Scripture : Eph. 2. 11-22. Everybody appreciates citizenship. Hardly can a man be found (outside of Edward Everett Hale's 89 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS "The Man Without a Country'') who does not ap- preciate his country and that for which his coun- try stands. Patriotism is a noble impulse and to be admired in men wherever found. We somehow feel that a man w^ith the real spirit of patriotism burning within his breast is a safe man. I heard a man who has served many terms upon the bench in the central West say recently that in all of his years upon the bench he had never been compelled to sentence an old soldier to the penitentiary or the workhouse. It impressed me as being rather remarkable. The man who loves his country is a safe man. Saint Paul made good use of the fact of his citizenship at the time of his arrest in Jerusalem at the close of his third missionary journey. It saved him from a severe flogging and gave to him rights and privileges that nothing else could have done. The wonder is that he did not use the same means at Lystra and Philippi and in many other places. To a missionary in a very hostile land, it seemed, at times, as though destruction were inevitable. His work was interfered with. His property was threatened. Finally he resorted to the "flag.'' He would draw from his pocket the Stars and Stripes, and then he felt that he had security and defense and protection. In his letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul makes much use of the fact of citizenship. Bead the nineteenth verse of the second chapter, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.'' What citizenship ! We ought 90 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS to make much more of it than we do. It is our defense and security. The psalmist said, ^^He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'^ How secure is that ^^abiding'^! The fact that we are no longer ^^strangers and foreigners" helps us in this world. It defends us against many temptations. It shields us in hours of trial. It defends us from evil. Two ministers were crossing the continent. One decided that he would not allow his profession to become known, while the other made his calling known among the travelers. To the man hiding his profession came repeated solicitations to play cards, drink wine, and many other worldly follies. The other was shielded from all of this. His pro- fession was his defense and security. A deaconess once said to me, ^^Sometimes I get so tried of wearing this little bonnet and these white strings, but it is my only defense in my work." And it was true. She could go with that emblem of service anywhere and be safe, and with- out it she would have been exposed to the most shameful insults. Make much of your citizenship, friends; it is your defense and security. Many have failed because they did not allow it to be known that they were ^^fellow citizens with the saints." That fact would have protected them against temptations that were greater than their strength. Sometimes people carry church letters and do not allow their relations to Christ to be- come known, and often lose their influence because they have not made much of their citizenship. 91 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Citizenship is deliverance. The psalmist said, ^^I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and deliv- ered me from all my fears." What a deliverer we have! ^^He took me out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock." There is our strength. The strongest of us is not very strong at times. We need a deliverer, else the Father would not have sent Jesus into the world. We are of his household. 35. PEOPLE THAT CANNOT BE SPARED Scripture : Matt. 5. 13 ; Luke 14. 34. Salt Suggests a Standard. Many ancient peo- ples used it as money. A Thibetan tribe still press it into cubes and stamp it for common circulation as currency. ^^Salary'' comes from the old custom of giving a salariiim, or ^^salt money,'' to a vic- torious general. It was once among Orientals the standard of value, as gold is with us. We ought to clearly define goodness. It is our place to put into flesh the language of Christ's kingdom. We are to illustrate and stand for ultimate righteous- ness. Honesty will be unalloyed. Sincerity will be above suspicion. The heart and hands will be white. Industry will be regular. The world ex- pects the ^^church member" to live the highest. All deeds grade down from him. Salt Must Have Contact, It is not used for isolated exhibition. We must bring our goodness into touch with brothers. When an Arab eats salt with one it is pledge of protection and service even unto giving his life. John MacGregor fooled a 92 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS murderous Arab chief by offering him a white powder looking like sugar. It wa^ salt, and the chief had to send a safe-conduct guard. When we stand before the world as a Christian we proclaim ourselves as every man's friend. We must then live it. Loyalty is vital. Revengefulness is de- tested. Bitterness is impossible. Deceit and Judasishness are foreign to it. We become true- hearted brothers. Our profession pledges us to be Jesus-like in that respect. We must be patient, gentle, and helpful, a worthy and dependable friend. Salt Preserves. Meat is kept from spoiling with a brine. A wound calls all the salt from the excretions to save putrefaction. It is claimed that Asiatic cholera occurs because natives have too little salt in their blood. We must warn against sin. Picture its hellish purpose. Shame the sin- ner by letting him see his soiled life by contrast with our white one. We must keep recalling truths so that the sinner cannot ignore them. Salt Revives. Drowned flies covered with salt will recover. One experimenter claims thus to have restored cats and dogs. Saline solutions are now indispensable in hospitals. The Salvation Army is saving suicides. Drunkards are driven to desperation by their helplessness. We must carry cheering hope with a sympathetic hand. We must pour out Christ's love through our own until real life returns. We must both arouse and soothe. Salt Feeds. It is absolutely indispensable. A pigeon lives but three months, and a dog six, with- out it. It sets free elements needed by the soil. 93 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS No righteousness is possible without Christ's gos- pel. How shall they hear without a preacher? We are his ambassadors. Our personality must make people hungry. We must know the Master so that our fingers get manna direct. Salt Ohtainahle. Saltiness is within reach. Luke declares savor comes from self-sacrifice. Matthew implies the same. If we lose ourselves in serving with the Servant of Nazareth we will be sweet and strong. Where two are gathered in his name he is in the midst. Let us count as the ^^salt of the earth." I 36. PAUL'S LETTER TO PHILEMON Scripture: Philemon. This letter was not intended by the writer for the instruction of the churches, and may be marked ^^personal"; but believers have claimed it as a priceless bit of literature revealing the heart of the gospel and laden with lessons for all — another illustration of the importance of the incidental. A runaway slave had hunted up the guest of his former master and by him was led to Christ. Paul wrote from his prison in Rome to tell the master that his slave had been found, and to beg him to take him back as a brother. He be- gins his letter with greetings to the household of Philemon and to the church meeting there. The "sister Apphia" was probably the wife of Philemon, and Archippus the minister of the church in the house. Paul recalls the joys of former hospitality shown, commends the good deeds of his host, and 94 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS assures him that he prays for him every day. Paul's great heart and good sense helped him to commend and encourage without falling into flat- tery. Paul tactfully pleads for the returned slave; says he could have kept him as a helper with great advantage, but would not do so without the master's consent. He knew that the greatest power is not shown by people who demand all their rights. Paul appeals to economic motives: Onesimus was worth more than he used to be. A converted and honest slave is worth more than an uncon- verted and dishonest slave. What is the gospel worth to the world in dollars? How does the gospel multiply values? How does the gospel prevent waste of resources — ^vital, commercial, national ? Can we secure the highest work of so- cial service through legislation? Can true civic righteousness come through unregenerate human nature? How can we secure the right motive in our legislative and executive officers? The gospel begets the true sense of brotherhood in man and obligates him to study the best methods of help- ing his brother. What do we owe to helpers in the home, the office, or the factory? What help is there in the gospel for employers who are Chris- tians but lack in judgment, tact, and knowledge of the right in the matter? Surely no employer can be blind to the duty of acting always as a Christian gentleman. Onesi- mus seems to have found grace to overcome his natural class prejudice. How much of the social discontent of to-day can be traced to the envy of the more prosperous by the less prosperous? One- 95 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS simus was a child of the King as truly as Phile- mon. Grace alone can give a true sense of supe- riority to the difference in dollars between man and man. We cannot give specific rules for each case, but grace in the heart will create the sense of obliga- tion to seek the right and fair division of privi- leges and property. If two thousand workmen in a factory are genuinely changed in heart they will as Christians continue to seek to secure laws which will give equal opportunity to all, but in the meantime they will deal fairly, work faith- fully, develop every talent, shun violence, and treat all men as brothers. Onesimus had a new sense of his own worth after he found how much Paul loved him and how Christ loved him. God uses human love to assure of divine love. Such words as "my very heart,'' and '^receive him as myself," came out of a genuine affection in Paul which the poor runaway slave and thief could feel. Our best help to the man who is down is to love him into self-respect. We must see his worth as Jesus saw it if we would love him and help him. Zacchaeus, the grafter, got a new view of himself when Jesus dined with him and talked the matter over. He became a genuine and generous convert, and to this day he witnesses for the power of Christ to inspire true manhood. Imagine the thoughts of Onesimus when he heard his name read out in church as the bearer with Tychicus of the letter to Colossse — "Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you'' (Col. 4. 7-9). He was a coworker with the great apostle in Rome. 96 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Suggestion : One week in advance give out ques- tions dealing with the social, economic, and re- ligious aspects of this incident. 37. GRACE ACCORDING TO CAPACITY Scripture: 2 Kings 4. 1-7. Here is a magnificent account of the goodness of God. A man may have no capacity for music or art, and still be normal, but God created every man with a capacity for himself. We are told that he is far more anxious to give to us than we are to receive. That our capacity to receive has much to do with our receiving can be seen in the beatitude: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled"; not fed, but filled — are to receive all they can contain. In the parable of the talents there was given to each man "according to his ca- pacity." Now, there is no use asking for a thing for which there is no capacity. We often ask for God's presence. I long since have quit that; I now ask for the open eye to see and a larger heart to receive. God is looking for men who have room in their lives for him. Years ago Henry Varley said to D. L. Moody, "Moody, God is waiting for a man that will give himself up entirely to show this old world what he can do with him." Mr. Moody replied, "Then I am his man." Moody made room, and God filled it. The prophet particularly instructed the widow, "Borrow not a few." If God doesn't use men it is because they make no 97 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER^MEETING HELPS room for him. He made them for himself. To see depends upon the will as well as upon the eyes. God is prodigal in nature; flowers bloom where eyes never see them, gold and diamonds lie where they have never been discovered, but he gives grace only as we have capacity for it. Some people have been praying for power, but have never used what they now have, and God does not waste his gifts. Some people ask for dying grace long be- fore they need it, and then wonder why God does not bless them. It does not matter how much steam you have in your boiler, you can heat a room only according to the radiation. Our helpfulness depends on our capacity to re- ceive. How can we give what we have not re- ceived? We can't describe what we have not seen. The reason Phillips Brooks was such a benedic- tion is because he was such a reservoir of the grace of God. Men and women are attracted to the fullness of God. Put a John the Baptist in the wilderness and the city will go to him. This prin- ciple is true of churches as well as of individuals, because individuals make the church. Many churches have very little room for God. They are too much absorbed with their own dignity, eccle- siastical polity, machinery, or glory. Gordon's dream, ^^When Christ Came to Church," is true of many of our churches. The greatest reputation that a church can have is to be known as a place where men can find God always. When Jesus went out to select men to do his work he didn't go to the schools at Jerusalem for men with large capacities for learning, but rather to the lakeside to find men with large capacities 98 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETIKG HELPS for God. '^Do you love me?'' is what he asked Peter. These disciples, with their one, all-absorb- ing story, attracted the attention of the learned as well as of their fellow fishermen. The world listens attentively to a whole-hearted message. The one who has received grace according to ca- pacity feels that the sacred communication is not of him but through him. He is in the hands of God. The grace of the Almighty finds no obstruc- tions within the range of the disciple's personality. 38. DOES GOD SPEAK TO MEN TO-DAY AS HE DID TO THE MEN OF LONG AGO? Scripture : Acts 18. 9 ; Num. 6. 1 ; 1 Kings 5. 5. The statement that God spake to Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and many others occurs quite frequently in the Bible. And what does ^'spake" mean? If you had been near would you have heard it ? Did God need to make the vocal sounds which with us stand for ideas? What is the es- sential matter when we speak to each other ; is it not the conveying of the thought, the ideas? Words are necessary for us. They are a vehicle or medium more or less imperfect, as our frequent misunderstandings show. The essential matter when God ^^spake" was this, that he conveyed his thought, feelings, and will to the minds of those to whom he spake. Did you ever ask why God spake to only a few, or even one man in each age — to a chosen few only? Certainly not because he had favorites. There can be but one reason — these lived nearer 99 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS to him. And by "nearer/' of course, we mean in closer personal relation of the spirit. They were spiritually nearer to God, through their love and obedience. This gave them a spiritual sensitive- ness far beyond their fellows. Does God speak to men to-day? Of course we answer yes ; he speaks many things in nature. But does he speak in the inward personal life of the individual? My fellow disciples, there are many reasons to believe that he does. And if you and I cannot speak out of the richness of our spiritual experience to confirm this, surely we ought not to speak out of the poverty of our spiritual ex- perience to deny it. And yet we are so schooled to-day in the scientific spirit, even in regard to the Christian life, that no merely emotional or mystical experience will pass unchallenged. When we say we know we shall be asked to show how. We cannot avoid the moral test for all spiritual experiences. "By their fruits,'' said the Master. There are many men and women to-day whose lives are so devoted and whose hearts so pure that they know God at first hand as Christ said they should. It is a matter of love, loyalty, and obe- dience to God and the superior spiritual sensitive- ness resulting from these. Here are two sets of wireless apparatus, one sensitive to waves within a radius of fifty miles, the other much more finely constructed and deli- cately adjusted and sensitive within a circle of three thousand miles. Imagine these personal, and do you not see that the second will catch many messages which are impossible to the first ? Yes, it is a matter of our soul-sensitiveness to- 100 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ward God. Our Divine SouPs Spirit was perfectly sensitive. His loyalty to his Father was absolute. And how very near he found God, always! He calls us to follow him. 39. THE LEAVEN IN THE MEAL Scripture: Matt. 13. 33. Our Master tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in the meal until the whole was leavened. This word ^^leaven" is the only word which I know of the Master's using which suggests our modern thought of the enormous power and vitality of the microbe. We do no great violence to Christ's thought when we say that the kingdom of heaven is like those minute forms of life which, awakened at the start, multiply with inconceivable rapidity until the mass of society is transformed. Christ claims the hidden force of the leaven as a beneficial force. When we think of the microscopic forms of life round us we experience something of dread. There is an element of the appalling in the pres- ence of an unsuspected agent, which we cannot see, but which multiplies a millionfold overnight. Christ, however, claimed this agent as a symbol of the vitality of the kingdom. Let the good thought but drop into life and it has the power to multiply its strength a millionfold overnight. The power of increase is not merely on the side of evil any more than all the germs are of diphtheria and tuberculosis. The power is that of the leaven which lifts the dough into bread. The unnoticed 101 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS thoughts and half thoughts come into our life through the blessed Spirit ; they multiply them- selves again and again till they emerge as definite aspirations and resolutions, taking the heavy and inert massiveness of the life and lifting it into wholesomeness and palatableness. 40. GOD'S HELP IN TEMPORAL ANXIETIES Scripture: Luke 12. 22-31. The Christian in a World of Care. Few prob- lems are more familiar in our homes than those which have to do with temporal anxieties. These are a part of the divine discipline of character. We live in a world of care. Whoever we may be or whatever our beliefs, there are three necessities no one of us may ignore: the need for food, for clothing, for shelter. Lift these burdens and thousands of hearts would be lightened. Multi- tudes live but a day from need. Sudden misfor- tune would threaten most of us. Care is the lurk- ing shadow in the morrow's thought. We forget that this world is our Father's world and that we are in a Father's care. The Cause of Care. Care is essentially distrust of God, and therefore a spiritual problem. It arises from the division of our allegiance between God and Mammon, or from the mistaken view of life which counts its value by the things possessed. It cannot be cured by the removal of the material need. That may relieve the care but cannot cure its cause. Religion's problem is the cure of anxiety. 102 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Tlie Doctrine of Providence. The doctrine of Providence underlies all of Jesus's teaching. He opposed care with trust in a heavenly Father. He everywhere recognized the reality of need. The body must be fed and clothed and cared for, but outside the circle of need there is another circle, that of providing love — ^^your Father knoweth ye have need of these things.'^ Nature's Lesson of Trust. Drummond once said that man's dullness to the truth in his own life led Jesus to point out the secret of true living by means of the companion phenomena of the birds and of the flowers. God's care for the flowers is a rebuke to his children's feverish anxieties con- cerning their own wants. The Providence of the field is the all-wise, loving Father of human life. Life's seasons are of his planning. Complementary Providences. Faith does not promise food and raiment without forethought. Man's providence must supplement that of God. A world in which there was no sense of necessity or of impending future could not be a moral world. We are disciplined by our necessities, but we are exalted by our dependence upon God. The great- est material successes attend those who most nearly approach God's relation to man. He who seeks first the kingdom of God cannot be unmind- ful of man's cares and needs. He will do what he can to supply the demand for food, shelter, and clothing. The world rewards any real service. Man's great problem is to be of as great service as possible to the world — to supply real needs. God does that in the spirit of righteousness. He who, in this spirit, seeks to supply mankind with cloth- 103 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ing will himself be well clothed. Food, raiment, shelter, all these things will be added unto him who seeks, like God, to serve man. The Higher Purpose. Jesus' solution for the problem of care is the removal of its anxiety, but not of the necessity of foresight and provision. These fall in the field of human providence. But this providence is more than the mere provision for earthly wants. It is the providence of re- ligious faith and should be directed toward higher than earthly blessings. Life purposes something higher than the mere care of a body. To spend a lifetime in such cares alone is to miss our reason for being, God's purpose in putting us here. God will care for these lesser needs. They are a part of his program, but the supreme quest of life is the satisfaction of those needs of the soul which only our trust and abiding in his friendship can give. 41. THE MESSAGE OF A FIRST-CENTURY PREACHER Scripture: Titus 2. 11-14. 1. The Universality of Salvation. No one is too low or too far removed to be included in the sav- ing purpose of God. "Enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore," is the slogan of Christianity. It is important that the increasing emphasis upon childhood salvation should not be- come a temptation to spiritual laziness, prompt- ing us to follow the line of least resistance, and to do the easy thing to the exclusion of tackling the "hardt cases." Recent magazine articles on the 104 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS spiritual unrest show that the outside observer is still mightily impressed by adult conversions. It is not finite prudence, but infinite wisdom, that has planned the salvation of the race. The ele- ment of chance and possible failure is not found in the divine purpose. The grace of God, not the shrewdness of man, has appeared bringing salva- tion to all. 2. The Purpose of Salvation. This is nothing more nor less than righteousness, and this right- eousness is a very deep and thoroughgoing sort of thing. It has to do not only with the deeds, but also with the desires, of men. It is worth while to note here the apostolic emphasis upon sins of the spirit. The man who is guiltless of impurity, gambling, drunkenness, and profanity may still be a long ways ofif from God. Avarice, envy, jeal- ousy, ambition, and vindictiveness are just as bad in the eyes of God as are the sins of the flesh. Righteousness is more than respectability. The fear of being found out does not determine its boundaries. The joy and spontaneity of absolute sincerity is its glory. 3. The Affinity for the Eternal. Hutton says of Goethe, ^The earth was eloquent to him, but the skies were silent.'' A great French skeptic died with the words upon his lips, ^^I am going to meet the Great Perhaps.'' That is one attitude to take. The other is indicated by Paul's word to the Philippians: ^^Our citizenship is in heaven." Abraham went forth ^^looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The early Hebrews, in general, showed by their actions ^^that they were strangers and pil- PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS grims on the earth/' and were ^^seeking after a country of their own.'' But while the Christian is to regard Jesus Christ as inextricably inter- twined with his daily life and to look for his coming in power, it should be noticed that this is not his chief or only occupation. Men are not to disesteem this present goodly world, nor are they to forego working for the sake of waiting. They are simply to act on earth in the spirit of heaven — to do on earth the will of Him whose word, obeyed, is the foundation of the celestial society. 4. The Completeness of Salvation. The end of all seems to be a society of pure people whose works speak for them. The value of such a so- ciety in the eyes of God is indicated by the meas- ures he took to secure it. People are to be saved from all iniquity. Why not? The patient in the hospital after an operation who is not saved from all blood-poisoning is in a bad way. When a pris- oner is acquitted by a jury he does not inquire into the extent of the acquittance. Jesus came to the world to tell men in a hundred ways that sin was not necessary. We should all be better off if we had less discussion of the theory of sancti- flcation and more illustration of the thing itself. Sanctification is simply separation, and that sep- aration does not lie in dress, manners, language, or any external thing, but is expressed in the spirit, purpose, attitude, and will of the individual himself. He needs the world as the sphere where- in to cultivate this spirit. A peculiar zealousness of good works gives wholesomeness to God's com- pleted work of individual salvation. 106 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 42. THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT Scripture: Heb. 8. There is a lesson of importance in these words, for we all have tasks similar to that given Moses. We too are called to build temples to Jehovah, holy shrines in which his presence may fitly dwell. Moses needed a model after which to build the tabernacle ; we also need a pattern after w^hich to build our lives. Every great work begins in a vision. Men without illuminating hours, moun- tain-top experiences, have had no message for their age. Plan precedes performance. We might build a sty or a shed without an architect, but if we are to erect a castle we want blueprints and specifications. So he who would build a great character must first have it pictured on the walls of the soul. As God had a model for the tabernacle, so he has a pattern for every life. Ideals are but tran- scripts of the divine mind. Visions are only illu- mined moments w^hen for a time we catch the divine thought. God does not forget the needs and welfare of individual men but plans the detail of every life. ^^He calleth his sheep by name, and leadeth them out." Indeed, if God is omniscient he cannot create a soul without a vision of the end at the beginning. God must think of each soul and the work it is to do when he plans for the education and perfection of humanity. The pattern of God for our lives can be known. It is in part revealed in the physical and moral laws under which he has constituted us. God's laws are simply expressions of his will, or his 107 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS plans being put into execution. They are as much his voice as the words spoken to Moses on the mountj telling him how to build. To break a physical or moral law is to ride full tilt against the plans and will of God. Our constitutional aptitudes are also disclosures of God's pur- poses. Gifts are indicative of duties. Men's endowments in a measure determine their work and place. But there are also moments of in- spiration when, instead of looking at the matter- of-fact detail of life, men have direct and imme- diate vision of the heaven-made blueprints. Min- isters do not have a monopoly upon clear calls to life-long service. Moments of revelation are not confined to apostles and martyrs of old. Then, too, a general pattern has been set concretely before us by historical revelation. Jesus is the manifestation of what life should be and character should become. He who gazes on him beholds the ideal. ^^Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus," and ^^if a man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." The pattern of God for our lives should be realized. Visions should become tasks. What we see on the mountain tops we should make actual in the valleys. Dreams are impotent unless they issue in deeds. Contemplation should blaze the way for action. Moses was to go down from the summit of Sinai and build. Some one has said, ^^The history of great men is the history of their ideal hours realized in conduct and character." He who does not translate his luminous moments into terms of life misses the call to duty. The only safety is in following ^^the gleam." We must 108 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS build our prayer-meeting visions into to-morrow's character and to-morrow's service. If the inspira- tions which come to us in such services as these, if the glimpses of duty we get here, if the deep longings for a better life which are developed in our prayers, if the illuminations of our best mo- ments are made the purposes and efforts of our lives, then we shall build worthily, and life, even in the valley, will reflect God's thought. 43. THE GIANTS AND THE GRAPES Scripture : Num. 13 and 14 ; Josh. 14. 6-14. Giants vs. GrassJioppers, Caleb saw that the giants were big, but he had a faith in God which made him feel bigger. So he and Joshua made a strong report in favor of immediate occupation of the land. But they were in the minority. The people were panic-stricken when they heard of ^'the giants in the land," and clamored for a re- treat to Egypt. But Caleb made a ringing speech for the advance, and he did it in the face of cowards who threatened to batter him to the ground with stones. The secret of Caleb's fidelity in the face of such odds was that ^^he had another spirit within him" from that of the people. How true is the saying, ^^At the price at which you rate yourself the world will usually take you, or a little under that price." In fact, the world always expects a little off. A Model. Caleb is the man for us: a man of quality, which is of more importance than quan- tity; a man of the minority; but one with God 109 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS always makes a decisive majority. This is the model : a full following of Jesus Christ, with the whole heart, and for the whole life campaign ; not bustle, but patience, prayer, and persevering work. Thoroughgoing obedience is the Christian requi- site. ^^There is prodigious power,'' says Dr. Cuyler, '^in the singleness of love for Christ; in doing just one thing, and that one thing a press- ing toward the goal of likeness to Jesus. A man of very moderate talents and education becomes a strong, influential man as soon as the Master gets complete control of him. . . . The choice Christians never commute with the Master for half-fare, or demand a cushioned seat in the par- lor car. They never send their regrets, when they are summoned to duty; they never interpret Christ's commandments in a lax way. If there is any doubt on any questions of ethics they never give self or the world the casting vote; and if the pinch comes they relish even the severities." Choosing the Mountain, When past eighty years old Caleb had his choice of land in Canaan, and the old man did not say, ^^Let me retire into a sheltered spot in some rich valley, for I have earned a release from strenuous service"; but he said, ^'Give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced : if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said." That is just what we would expect of Caleb. He had gotten the habit of tack- ling hard jobs, and wanted to keep it up. As he grew older his faith grew more confident and 110 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS heroic. Physical powers weaken, but faith grows stronger. Unless we exercise our faith by follow- ing the Lord fully our fears will multiply with the years, making us more timid and pessimistic. But the growing Christian with the years will get better acquainted with God, able to see deeper into his grace, and become more courageous to undertake great things for him. Those Grapes. When Caleb returned with the spies from Canaan he not only talked optimisti- cally of the country and going over to possess it, but he brought back a big bunch of luscious grapes from Eshcol. If the giants were great, so ware the grapes. Sometimes we say, the larger the rose the larger the thorn; but the Christian says, the larger the thorn the larger the rose; the greater the giants the greater the grapes. God's verdict on Caleb's heroism and optimism was, ^^My servant Caleb will I bring into the land, who hath followed me faithfully." Well, God was true to his promise. Caleb was finally brought into the goodly land ; and — have you realized it? — while the cowards of the camp perished in the desert, courageous old Caleb lived to settle down in Hebron, which was located in full view of the vale of Eshcol, where he plucked the large cluster of grapes so many years before. 44. THE SOUL'S INVENTORY Scripture: Psa. 26. 2. 1. A Fall Inventory. A raindrop becomes easily soiled. It picks up dust and dirt. The 111 ]PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS yellow, muddy ditches and creeks are the dirty raindrops hurrying back to the sea. On the way, old Mother Nature has provided, on the edges of the rivers, little pools for purifying the raindrops ; little quiet eddies outside the main current, where the water stands still and the sediment settles and the raindrops scintillate with the blending sea-blue and sky-blue that color the great sea. Our souls become so easily soiled. Agitation, ferment, tumult, raging, the soul becomes turbid, contaminated, impure, unclean. All the way back to the infinite sea the Father has prepared tran- quil hours, shadowed, serene retreats for medita- tion. The currents of emotion and passion may run strong outside, but here, this morning, sub- siding, purifying, clarifying, we are to catch again the colors of God's heaven. ^^Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my heart." ^^To make an inventory,'' many settle down with a degree of satisfaction. We have been taking trial balances during the summer, and we know about what to expect. Harvests are good, busi- ness has been good, we have made a living, paid our life insurance, and put a little away. A pro- found respect is due the man with frugality, hon- esty, and industry sufficient to balance his books in this way. Yet we have a profound conviction that a man who makes such an inventory and calls it his life is pitifully deceived. The classic Shylock prays, ^^My ducats, my ducats, you do take my life when you take my ducats," Quietly and honestly and fearlessly, as in the sight of God, ask about Item 1 — ^^My prop^ perty," am I possessor, or am I possessed? 112 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Paul was not sure about his own title : he says, '^When I would do good, evil is present with me/' How about j^our title? Is it in the name of Mr. Good or Mr. Evil, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The holding of the title decides whether we are to be a demigod or a demidevil. 2. A Spiritual Inventory. Spiritual possessions — and let us pray again the text, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my heart." The receiver of the wretched Chicago bank pried open the strong box of President Stensland and found it filled with dummy deeds used in his fraudulent transactions. Most of us have such a spiritual strong box — promissory notes to God on which we have never paid the interest, much less the prin- cipal ; professions, resolutions, dummy deeds made in church, on the sickbed, at the deathbed of a friend, on which we have never delivered the goods. A friend carried his manufacturing plant on his books at its full original value; a crash came and he had nothing left but a heap of worth- less, wornout iron. We are balancing our books by carrying the old experience at the value it had for us ten or fifteen years ago. A business man marks off ten per cent each year for renewing machinery and repairs. Your religion is worth exactly what it meant to you when you got up this morning. Its value was inspiring you to say, "Thank you, God, for another day of opportu- nity"; "My Father, help me to remember that I am doing thy work." Its value when you hadi that business proposition to meet, and had only time to say, "Steady me, steady me, my Father!" Its value at night, when your prayer has a grim 113 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS smile as you confess, ^^Father, I missed it pretty badly to-day, I ^m almost ashamed to pray; but, Father, to-morrow we will do better.'^ We need, a spiritual bank examiner, authorized by the gov- ernment of God to impress upon us that our re- ligion is worth only what it amounts to in every- day stress of life. An inventory stands in dollars and cents. The dollar sign is the standard of value. Be sure that the standards of spiritual value are determined by the eternal measurements. The Master gives us sound estimate of value when to the fool that would shut his soul in his barns he says, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee" ; and also, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his soul?" "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my heart." How do the books balance? — this way, "The harvest is ended, the summer is passed, and I am not saved"? or, this way, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ"? 45. ON DISCOURAGEMENT Scripture: Luke 24. 13-35. The two walking to Emmaus are so engrossed with their sorrow that they look in and down rather than up and out. They were passing Miz- peh, where, under the guidance of Samuel, Israel overwhelmed the Philistines, and where Samuel, therefore, placed the stone of Eben-ezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped." Jesus comes 114 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS and talks with them and they do not recognize him. Their hearts burn within them as he talks, but they are so self-centered in their own sorrow they do not even look up to see who it really is who is talking to them. When we allow ourselves to become over- whelmed by outward circumstances we forget Mizpeh and the Eben-ezer, and, of course, the fact that hitherto the Lord hath helped us. Even when the Christ comes and walks at our side we do not see him. His words, ^^Wist ye not that these things should be?" — for we too must have our Calvary — ^never break upon us. We make our sad and weary journey to Emmaus, we jog along over the hard roads, bruising our feet, we reason with ourselves concerning our fate. Without hope or faith, because so thoroughly self-centered, we cry out, ''We trusted in what we have lost. Now all is gone. Our hopes were placed in this friend, in that business venture, in the health and strength we needed to carry out our projects. Now our friend is gone or has deceived us, the investment has proved a failure, health and strength have failed us.'^ We try to understand our difficulty with the mind, and the only conclusion the mind reaches is inconclusion so far as any understand- able reason for our trouble is concerned. The heart, crushed and bleeding though it may be, could help us if we would only let it, for it would cry out, ''My faith looks to Thee"; it would say, "Reason fails me, I cannot understand ; O let me believe, let me trust Thee!'^ When we thus come to understanding, then the light shines. We see through the darkness and gloom of sorrow the 115 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS dawning day^ with its new tasks^ its new duties, its new adjustments to our changed conditions which we thought meant hopeless despair, death to all our cherished desires and ambitions. Then, like the two disciples when their eyes were opened and they knew Him, we will rush back to Jeru- salem to tell of the great discovery we have made. No long or weary road will be before us. We shall speed on the wings of hope and trust. The towers and battlements of the city will rise heavenward before us ; the temple of God will be there, and we shall find entrance, like the priests of old, into the very Holy of Holies. Discouragement is not a part of active, healthy life. It is rather the consequence of weakness, whether mental or physical. It is the result of too much introspection or too close considera- tion of immediate circumstances. Hence there results a magnifying of present conditions and a minimizing of future prospects. It is like looking into the large end of a telescope and seeing all things small rather than looking into the small end and seeing all things large — for we use the telescope to get better and clearer, not a worse and more indistinct, view. Discouragement keeps us from seeing the help that has been (Eben-ezer), and also the help that now is (Christ) . It spreads like the plague; the easily discouraged carry in- fection like a withering disease. Incapacitated themselves, they incapacitate others. But when they look up from the path immediately before them and away from themselves they see the path others must tread and also their trials. Mizpeh, then, becomes their own battleground of victory, 116 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS and Calvary the place to which they must carry their own cross. Discouragement flees with their new understanding; they forget themselves in their eagerness to get back to Jerusalem to tell, and hence to help, others. 46. THE PRACTICAL HOLY GHOST Scripture: John 20. 19-23. This was a private meeting between Jesus and his disciples at the very close of his earthly min- istry. Its importance becomes clearly manifest when we note that the events of this evening meet- ing lead directly up to the Master's word, ^^Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The gift of the Holy Ghost as equipment for his disciples is the paramount issue of this farewell. In just a word, the prac- tical Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God at work in our everyday life and has reference to the setting up of God's kingdom here on earth. It is perfectly natural, then, that God should give us the practical Holy Ghost. The analogy from nature suggests this. His presence in us is as mysterious as the divine forces in nature. Wordsworth finds God very near in sky and stream. Shall he not come even nearer in the spirit of man created in his own image? Our re- ceiving this gift of God in the fullest sense is dependent upon two things: first, a thorough loyalty to do the will of God, and, second, the best possible development of our faculties. Without the first there is no harmony between our spirit and God's Spirit. Without the second, the 117 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Father's best efforts in our behalf may prove well- nigh fruitless. We are in greatest danger at this point, for there is frequently a certain proneness to overlook the second consideration in favor of the first. Both are necessary to the gift of the practical Holy Ghost. And the distinguishing feature of this gift is that it is always ethical in its working. Too fre- quently the program of ecstasies, raptures, voices, privileged immoralities, has summed up our thought in the matter. But the gift of the Holy Spirit demands a spirit of righteousness in us. The fruit of its working is also ethical. There was Barnabas, of whom it was said, "He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost." Every- thing else said of this man in the New Testament is of a practical and ethical character. We find in him, therefore, a good biblical definition of what it is to be "full of the Holy Ghost.'' A modern case is to be found in the life of the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury. The Duke of Argyle said of this Christian : "All the great reforms of the past fifty years have been brought about, not by the Liberal Party, nor by the Tory Party, but by the labors of one man — the Earl of Shaftes- bury.'' His life, by Jennie M. Bingham, will repay a thorough reading. What can withstand the power of this Holy Ghost? The answer is, "Nothing," for it is the might of right. A man blessed with the practical Holy Ghost is in league with God and the laws of the universe. We stand amazed at the way man in our day is subduing the earth. The prog- ress of scientific knowledge in modern discovery 118 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS and invention is a prophecy of the coming mastery of world forces by man. There is another, unseen world to be subdued; and it too has a .system of law. Here God works and we too are expected to toil. And power has the same price in this unseen world. It comes in response to obedience to God and his will — to his spiritual laws. As we live out our lives in daily toil and service here upon earth in the spirit of loyal obedience, the power, not to work strange wonder^ that men may stand amazed at our magic, but the power of godliness in service, becomes our precious possession. There is, moreover, a blessed privilege in con- nection with the practical Holy Ghost. The word "gift'^ in this connection is unfortunate, for too often it has conveyed the class notion. Certain ones have thought themselves picked out by God for the passive enjoyment of the "blessing." Such a thought is most unworthy. And yet the ele- ments of joy and peace go with the program of daily life and service. But we must keep the balance and seek "iQrst the kingdom of God and his righteousness." **We fight, but 'tis He who nerves our arm; He turns the arrows that else might harm. And out of the storm he brings a calm. And the work that we count so hard to do. He makes it easy, for he works, too: And the days that seem long to live are his — A bit of his bright eternities — And close to our need his helping is." Suggestions : By special effort secure the attend- ance of men. Use a committee of men for this purpose. If possible, secure a male quartet. 119 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS 47. WHERE DIVINE FOOTSTEPS LEAD Scripture: Mark 1. 16-20; Luke 5. 27, 28; Phil. 2. 5-11; 1 Pet 2. 23. ^^Follow me/' said the Master, as he summoned from their boats the men who were to become his apostles. Later he imparted to these words a figurative meaning — ^^Take up the cross and follow me.'' This call at length became an invitation to walk in the holy life. To this day we invite our neighbor, saying, ^^Follow Jesus." How shall we follow Jesus? We are not as he was, his mission is not ours. Deeds which most drew disciples after him — mighty miracles, mar- velous messages — are beyond our possibility. Is not this the answer, ^^Have this mind in you which was in Christ"? But if I follow Jesus, whither will he lead me? To True Manliness. That is encouraging. Noth- ing attracts like manliness. This has inspired the hero-worship of the ages. Cromwell, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, draw men because they are men. We crudely thought that to follow Jesus meant surrender of the robust and heroic. Not so. Behold the miracles he wrought on character — Simon the weakling becomes Peter the Rock; Saul the bigot, Paul the catholic. Jesus makes men. And womanly women! In pagan hovel, city slum, lordly palace, the hand of Jesus touch- ing womanhood has ever made it sweeter, whiter, loftier. To Transparent Character. The spirit of our age tends to keenness and diplomacy. Fortunes are built on shrewdness. The world's slogan is, 120 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ^^Success/' Jesus's way was simple honesty. "No guile." What security for society, what peace for human hearts, were all lives open to the gaze of God as mountain air to sun! To a Rational Humility. We are not attracted to humbleness. We do not understand it. It scents of hypocrisy or atrophy. Jesus's humility is brave, manly — a sober estimate of one's own powers, a correct self -classification : not thinking more highly, nor yet more lowly, than one ought to think; not the churchman who covets chief places, nor he who belittles his powers, but one who reverently says, "If my talents will serve, I will try." To True Usefulness. Life's test, in nature, in- dustry, religion, is service. "What canst thou do?" The Mayflower brought fighters, farmers, builders. God is pioneering in his world. He marches forth to build an empire. Strong men he needs, who can achieve. To Peace. I speak to men of toil and struggle. Could I promise better than "peace which passeth understanding"? Jesus gives it. Not lifeless peace, the peace of assurance. One day, down the street of the city where I lived, came with clatter- ing hoofs the fire horses with their load of bronzed heroes. Up shot the tall ladder to the cornice of the loftiest building, while gathering crowds peered and wondered. A little dove, with foot caught in the tangled thread of her nest, was struggling for liberty, and these stern men had come to rescue her. If men like these can halt a city's trafiSc for a dove, trust Him who says, "Ye are of more value than many sparrows." 121 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS To God. Does that seem small? 'Have we known God too long? But lands and hearts there are to whom the hope of God would be tid- ings of great joy. Of a lowly toiler in India, who in spite of poverty seemed well content, Bishop Oldham asked, "If I could oflfer you anything you might desire, what would you have?" The man paused thoughtfully, then with hungry eyes ex- claimed, "O sir, that my soul might find her path to the gods !'' This is the cry of the human soul— for God. And Jesus will lead you to God. 48. THE NARROWNESS OF RELIGION Scripture: Matt. 7. 13, 14. The impression that the truly religious life is narrower and less free than the life of the inde- pendent self-will is well-nigh universal — in the minds of those who are not truly religious. This impression is not always the result of a hard heart. It may be due to a dull brain. Many nominally religious folks think it, though they may hesitate to confess it. Most memories that are honest con- tain reminiscences of such a view of religion. The most diflScult lie to control is the one that has some truth in it. This false conception of religion has much apparent support in fact. Even Jesus seemed to give it his unqualified sanction. Narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Facts seem to support it. Countless opportunities and privileges are open to the man who is not troubled with religious con- viction that are denied the man who purposes to 122 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS do the will of God. The whole world of pleasure, the entire range of principles and methods, good and bad, are the possession of the irreligious. But one set of principles, one kind of method, are per- missible to the sincerely religious man, and he must needs select his enjoyments with care. Re- striction, limitation, denial, seem the inevitable lot of the honest disciple. Countless souls are seeking to be free. Genuine religion does not seem to them to point toward freedom. Let us see. The wonderful thing that calls the autumn shoppers to pause at the florist's window is called a chrysanthemum. It was once a little scrubby flower unnoticed by the wayside. There is just one kind of soil, one exact combination of chemical elements, one precise degree of moisture, one particular temperature, and a certain method of cultivation, that is exactly right for that spe- cific flower. The conditions of its perfect life are exceedingly limited and narrow. The best thought of patient and intelligent men has been given to discover that narrow way. There are a million ways that are not right. No care or thought is necessary to find one of them. That way is very broad. Just one that is exactly right. But that one way leads to a wonderful flower. Your child. There is just one exceedingly nar- row set of conditions and methods for that par- ticular child that will lead to his completest and fullest life. Certain kinds of food, in certain quantity ; a certain amount and kind of exercise ; a certain kind of discipline, training, incentive; a certain kind of influence, study, teaching. Just one way that is exactly right for any given child 123 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS at any given time. But the wrong ways are in- finite in number. No care or thought to find them. Countless feet walk in them. But it is the one narrow, limited way that leads to the broad, rich, developed life. It is the law of the soul. Just one certain at- titude toward God; one kind of motive, purpose, desire; one kind of action and service, that are the normal and perfect conditions for the soul. Countless other possibilities lie in every direction. The wrong ways are unlimited. The one right way for the soul is exceedingly limited. But it is only the one narrow way that leads the soul into the broadest, richest, freest unfoldment of its pos- sibilities. Any other way leads to the limited and narrow life. The choice lies between a limited way with an ever-broadening life and a broad way with life ever narrowing. The narrow way to the broad life? Implicit obedience to the will of God. 49. THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL OP CHRIST Scripture: Gal. 5. 13-25; 6. 1-10. The message of Paul to the Galatians was the gospel versus the law. The epistle may be divided into two parts, theological and ethical. After telling us how the gospel came to him by divine revelation, and after describing the character and purpose of the law, and how the covenant with Abraham is included in the gospel, he puns the word ^^law," and outlines for us some ethical and social aspects of the spiritual law of the gospel, 124 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS First, he mentions the law of liberty. They were to regulate conduct no longer by legalism, but by a life in the Spirit : not by commandments, but by conscience. It was a liberty not only from legal servitude, but for spiritual service. It was to be used in the interests of others, and not to be abused through selfish motives. '^Use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.'' They abused their freedom by returning to legal observances through the false teaching of certain Judaizers, and through an unrestrained rudeness to one an- other. True liberty, then, consists not in freedom from restraints, but in acknowledging the binding force of restraints. That man is freest who so well obeys the principles of righteousness that he feels no restraint in doing so. He lives above the law because it is in his heart to keep the law. He lives by inward motive, not by outward mandate; by conscience, not by compulsion. The abuse of liberty may be characterized by license in religion, lewdness in society, civic lawlessness in the na- tion. The free man must be a servant in religion, a saver in society, a statesman in the nation. The second law is the law of love. '^The whole law is fulfilled in one word. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." In their new liberty some of them thought they could do as they pleased. Hence they did ^^bite and devour one another.'' It is a bold figure which Paul uses in comparing their action to the conduct of wild beasts. But is it not true that the less love prevails in us the more animalized do we become? Love is the master, and liberty is to me only in its care. 125 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Third, he mentions the law of the flesh and the law of the Spirit. The flesh is not sinful. Sin works through the flesh according to a law of habit, which becomes more and more established and dethrones the rule of love. On the other hand, the working of the Spirit follows a law as truly as the law of generation and growth in nature. The fruit generated by this spiritual law of life is love, joy, peace, etc. Against these, he tells us, there is no law, because they are above all law, having their sources in the liberty of the Spirit. The fourth law mentioned is the law of charity, or the law of Christ. ^^Bear ye one another's bur- dens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.'' With what tenderness does the apostle speak of the weakness of others and how gently we should deal with their shortcomings ! And how guilty he makes us feel for our scorn and reserve toward certain forms of sin in others, when he reminds us that we too have our own weaknesses and our own burdens of guilt to carry ! Last of all, he mentions the law of the spiritual harvest. This scripture is usually given an in- dividual interpretation. In the light of the pre- ceding discussion we see that the application in- tended is social. Verses 6, 9, and 10 are proof of this: "Let him that is taught in the word com- municate"; "Let us not be weary in welldoing: for in due season we shall reap"; "As we have opportunity, let us work that which is good to- ward all men." "God," then, "is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This law is a summary application of the misuse of the laws already stated. The law of love, the 126 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS law of the Spirit, the law of Christ, are to help us to *Vork that which is good toward all men." 50. GOD DID THE PUMPING Scripture: John 4. 5-15. When a small boy it was our vacation task through the warm summer to keep the cattle sup- plied with water. The well was deep and the pump was poor and often needed priming, until the patient cattle would look disgusted at the fitful stream, which they could drink as fast as it ran out. It often seemed a temptation to them to drink more than they needed, and they seldom if ever seemed satisfied. Those hot-day experiences made a great impression on my mind as to the desirability of water in great abundance and the insufficiency of a pine pump which dried up and became leaky. To add to my dissatisfaction with wells and pumps and hot days for thirsty herds, was the contrast as we looked across the fields to Farmer Carpenter's flowing well where God did the pump- ing and the supply of water was immeasurable. So much energy back of that everflowing stream that even the cattle took no thought for water and did not bother to try to drink it up, for it was im- possible. Such a stream flowing right up from the hills of God backed by his ceaseless energy^ needing no drawing devices and flowing out sum- mer and winter, seemed so desirable. That single spring changed the whole landscape and made the picture of life altogether different. On one land- 127 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS scape there was thirst and drought and anxiety and weariness^ and on the other there was no thirstj nor anxiety, but always living streams of water. Who ever could be satisfied with anything less than a flowing well and living streams? Our lives are like one of these pictures. If we have Jesus within we have the living water and there is no thirst. Anything less than this living water is thirst and dissatisfaction. Religion without the personal indwelling of Jesus and life energized by him is like the old pump and tub dried up and leaky in the sun. What a picture of thirst comes to us when we think of living without the springs from the eternal Christ ! Dissatisfaction and un- rest and disappointment are all about such a life. When we see such a life we can only think, ^^If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.'' Think of the divine energy back of all our tastes and joys, and all the ways of our lives watered by his living streams. Bodily exercise in religious experience profiteth perhaps a little, as gesture and voice are well in their place and logic and reasoning are excellent qualities; but what are these as substitutes for the living energy of God in us that moves upon us day by day, so taking in Jesus and his life that we can sit still and feel God thrilling our whole being? Such an experience is like the well of water ever flowing. Peter before Pentecost in his life was like the first landscape with the thirst and the intermittent supply of living and energiz- 128 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS ing power. But on the day of Pentecost his well broke through into the immense resrvoirs of God and such streams rushed forth. He was the same Peter, formerly unstable and untrustworthy, but now rocklike and powerful. He preached the same formal words as before, but the effect on the multitude was entirely different. Peter had been preaching before Pentecost, but afterward God seemed to be preaching through Peter. Living streams of energy flowed forth from him. 51. THE WOMAN AT THE WELL Scripture: John 4. 1-42. Notice John's habit of showing pictures of "Christ and the individual" — Jesus and his mother at the wedding; Jesus and Nicodemus; Jesus and the lame man at Bethesda; Jesus and the man born blind; Jesus and the woman taken in adultery; Jesus and the woman at the well. The historic situation — "Jacob's well was there," linking the past with the present; Ebal and Gerizim suggesting the entrance of Israel into Canaan, with the antiphonal service of praise — Jews and Samaritans, now separated by prejudice, had a common inheritance of rich tra- dition. Notice especially the readiness of Jesus to util- ize opportunities apparently accidental to be about his Father's business. He was a man, she was a woman ; he was a Jew, she was a Samari- tan ; he was sinless, she was openly immoral, but they were both thirsty. He begins on that one 129 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS common ground by saying, "Give me a drink," and presently he is speaking of the ^^living water/' The power of Jesus to restrain thoughtless banter such as she displayed at first, and to set aside narrow bigotry such as she brought into the field in suggesting the time-worn argument about Jerusalem and Gerizim, is seen by his ask- ing the woman to "call her husband" ; thus bring- ing to her mind and conscience the whole immoral past and the present irregular relation in her life, Jesus was ever ready to use the great truths for common situations. Not to a mighty congrega- tion, but to one ignorant, prejudiced, immoral woman, he says, "God is a Spirit. Men must worship him in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such." His profound respect for the spir- itual capacity of every soul was such that no splendid truth was too fine for everyday use. To those of less spiritual insight the woman at the well would not have presented a promising op- portunity for declaring the gospel truth. To the disciples Jesus seemed prodigal in his distribution of his message. Jesus's conversation with the woman reveals the effectiveness of making spiritual instruction crisp, fresh, real. If the Master had spoken as the scribes, this light-hearted, joking woman would never have forgotten her waterpot and have gone away to call people to come and see the man, be- cause of her intense interest in the truth he offered. See also the absorbing nature of genuinely spir- itual effort. The woman forgot her thirst and the Master forgot his hunger, saying to his surprised 130 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS disciples when they prayed him to eat, ^^I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Interests of less importance sink back into their relatively in- ferior places when the heart has a passion for spiritual conquest. There is an inevitableness of some valid result when such work is done in the spirit of trust. Sow a bushel of good seed in good soil or even in vary- ing soil ; not every grain will grow, but some of it must and will find lodgment and bring results. When the truth of God is used aright it cannot re- turn entirely void, Jesus in his own matchless way used the truth to make a spiritual impression on the heart of this ignorant, immoral woman, and wonderful results flowed from the brief conversa- tion. He lifted up his eyes and saw a whole com- pany of Samaritans being conducted to him by this newly awakened soul, and he said to his dis- ciples, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.'^ 52. "I WILL SET IN THE DESERT THE FIR TREE'' A CHRISTMAS PRAYER MEETING Scripture: Luke 2. 1-20; Isa. 41. 19. Of the many symbols by the use of which we indicate the sacredness and joy of Christmas, per- haps none is richer in suggestiveness than is the Christmas tree. "This shall henceforth be your sacred tree, not a symbol of bloody rite and heathen despair, but the symbol of the love of 131 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS God, of a new life in Christ, of redemption, of life that shall be for evermore; see how it points to the sky! Let us call it the tree of the Christ-child." Thus spoke Boniface to our Teutonic ancestors. His suggestion has become a world-wide and blessed custom. Into our homes come the Christ- mas trees with their messages. What lessons should these fir trees bring? First of all, a message of the love of God. Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors believed in God, in Odin whom they called the All-Father, The belief in God is almost universal; it is a spontaneous afiSrmation of the human mind, and not a studied deduction, but the difference in beliefs appears when we endeavor to understand the conceptions that are behind the word God. The name is one, but the conceptions are many and radically dif- ferent, largely illustrative of the different stages of human development. It is one thing to believe in a God of force, before the manifestation of whose material power you fear and tremble, a God who exacts with remorseless severity the last farthing of compounded debt, who is pleased with useless pain and sacrifice, and propitiated by Im- moral rites; this is one thing. To believe in a God of holy love is quite another, and this is the message of the Christmas tree, with its evergreen branches. In the second place, the Christmas tree signifies a new religious life. Those savage Teutons changed their lives after the preaching of Saint Boniface. They were baptized into Christ, and somehow their heathen hearts, who put their trust ^4n valiant strength and iron shard," began to put 132 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS their trust in gentleness, in the gentleness of Jesus. They became transformed from character to character by the Spirit of the Son of God, and they became the progenitors of those loyal hearts who gave Protestantism to the world. There are reasons why the Anglo-Saxons rule the world, and the reason is not the '^reeking tube and the iron shard,'^ nor the wealth they control — these are the incidents of a greater force, the new life, the spiritual power of the Son of God. It is his gen- tleness that has made us great and has given us the inheritance of the earth, because it has given time and opportunity for the achievements of the Spirit. As you go to your homes, to the joyous gatherings of the gifts and the Christmas tree, ask yourselves the question, "Am I living this new life? What are the things in which I trust? What are the deepest things in my life?" And if, after such a soliloquy, you find yourself trusting in your strength, your achievements, your intel- lectual powers, let the Christmas tree be to you a messenger of God to remind you that blessed are they who, with Jesus, put their trust in him. And, finally, the Christmas tree suggests the religion of the home. Not mystic rites in the arched forest where the white-robed priests mutter the incantations of ignorance, and where the main feeling is one of solemn dread or silent self- hypnosis, but, rather, a religion so pure, so sim- ple, so sacred, that its first altar must forever be the altar of a mother's knee, the first sacrifice the unselfish sharing of the childhood toys, the first sacrament the family table. Saint Boniface said, "Let us carry this tree to our chieftain's PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS hall and gather for worship, not in the dark groves of the forest, but in the home of our loved ones, in memory of Him who sanctified the home by choosing to come as a little babe born helpless, dependent, destitute, in the cave at Bethlehem." Suggestion : Have a small Christmas tree in the prayer-meeting room. Let some one tell the story of the origin of the use of the Christmas tree. 53. JESUS LEADS IN PRAYER Scripture : Luke 9. 28-36. It was a small prayer meeting. No synagogue was open to them and no prayer room existed as yet for retreat and prayer. So Jesus taketh them to the brow of Hermon and they pray together in the heights. Jesus leads in prayer. Occasionally in some little prayer circle where the rich and the great seldom care to attend a truly great person comes for worship. O, to have been present when Spurgeon led in prayer, or to have joined with Wesley as he said, ^^Let us pray"! A few of us in a quiet little town were kneeling in the prayer circle when all unnoticed and unknown the saintly Bishop Ninde had entered and began to pray. We shall never forget the voice, the face, nor the glory of that hour. Peter remembered to his dying day the glory of the hour when Jesus led in prayer. We do not wonder that the door of heaven seemed to open and ancient worthies to stand about and eternal words to be spoken. It was a never-to-be-forgotten 134 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEEtlNG HELPS hour. Long years after he referred to it in the first chapter of his second epistle in the most tender words. Said he, ^^We did not follow cun- ningly devised fables, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. There came a voice to him from the excellent glory, ^This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'; and this voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.'' In fact, was it not the mem- ory of that prayer meeting on Mount Hermon with Jesus and his glory of which he was an eye- witness that made Peter over from unstable water to a rocklike man ? To the end of his life uo mat- ter what challenge his faith should have as being a cunning fable his answer was to his own mind always suflScient: ^^We were eyewitnesses, we heard the voice.'' We make no mistake when we gather together during the week all the spiritually minded people who can see the invisible and hear the super- natural. There is no partiality in taking the few who have a lively sense of the presence of God and leaving out the multitude. The multitude would not come, and if they did their small talk and lack of vision would be harmful to the oc- casion. Our prayer meetings may continue small, but if they have present the folks that can see and appreciate the hour of transfiguration let us make no apology. With the few spiritual people let us rather spend an hour in the heights with the eter- nal voices sounding in our ears and with the heavenly vision appearing before our eyes. How lovingly Peter referred to this experience when years and years after he was beset by the 135 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS seductive temptations of that age. What will stand us more in hand in this materialistic age with all its temptations than some hour of prayer when earth recedes and heaven's door opens and we appear to dwell among the inhabitants of the eternal world ? Through the eye of faith we may also be at times eyewitnesses of his majesty. This hour of vision will hold us fast. Who of us can say, ''1 have been with Jesus"? Who of us know of such an hour in our lives when we seem to have heard the unearthly voice and were able to see the invisible glory of the Lord? These experiences we may not relate before the curious and the by- standers, but in the select number of God's chil- dren they are an inspiration. 54. THE CHURCH OF SARDIS AT HER BEST Scripture : Rev. 3. 1-6. This was rather plain talk about a church that was more nearly dead than alive. John was a Boanerges as well as a Doctor Seraphicus. He felt that he was viewing this church from the standpoint of God. He uses the tone of absolute authority — ^^These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God." In giving us this picture of a decadent church John is really describing merely nominal Christianity. Showy worship, love of pleasure, outward forms had taken the place of true piety, inner godliness, and genuine worth. . The church at its best is suggested in the char- acterization of the remnant who have not defiled 136 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS their garments. The description is like a '^eut diamond, flashing fire/' They are worthy to walk clad in white as did the Roman citizens on the day of the triumphal return of an emperor. They were unspotted from the world. They were vic- tors over ^^the world, the flesh, and the devil.'^ Nothing is more elemental in the Christian life than the persistency of the spiritual conflict. A church at its best will be marked by harmony and the spirit of cooperation, by evangelistic zeal, missionary interest, love of God's Word, educa- tional earnestness, advocacy of social reform and civic righteousness. It will have that "social im- agination" which makes possible the putting of oneself in another's place. Its members will be filled with the Spirit. Its pulpit will exalt the cross. King Croesus, whose home was in Sardis, was once warned by Solon, the Greek lawgiver, "to beware of self-satisfaction and to regard no man as really happy until the end of life had set him free from the danger of sudden reverse.'' Sardis was known as "the city of memorable reverses," not the least of which was that which came to the once prosperous church whose works had become imperfect before God. If we had had the opportunity of visiting the church of Sardis at her best we would have dis- covered there such members as Mr. True-man, frank of face, having a pure heart, the ideal of the young men of the church. Mr. Open-minded Loy- alist is also there, broad-minded, candid, conse- crated. He had had his doubts but had come forth strong in the faith. Mr. and Mrs. Spiritually- 137 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS minded were also members. They were well poised and cheerful, not lost in the sordid spirit of ma- terialism. Mrs. Mighty-in-the-Faith was a mem- ber of this illustrious company. She was a widow, poor, but highly esteemed. Then, too, there was a band of young people known as ^^Soul-winners.'' By their pure lives and devotion to the cause of Christ they had made a profound impression upon the social life of the city. They had been unwilling to enjoy selfishly their faith, and so had added to the roll of active members many young people whose homes were heathen. And so this famous church had seen the time when John's severe warnings had not been needed. Gradually they had discovered how easy it is to keep up appearances without being watchful against the secret sins. Finally the only restraint which they felt was the fear of being found out. The shame of de- tection by other and faithful churches had led them to cover up their hypocrisy, and now there was danger that their names might be blotted out of the Book of Life. There was but one thing to do — strengthen whatever sincerity remained. But this could be done in only one way — "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard" the gospel. Hold fast to it. Repent and turn away from devo- tion to the world. Overcome the temptation to sin. Listen to the message of the Spirit unto the churches. What kind of a church would our church be if every member were just like me? 138 PRESENT-DAY PRAYER-MEETING HELPS Suggestions: Request all ofltieials of the church to be present this night. Make the spirit of the meeting electric, vital, strong. Messrs. Drone and Longwind should not be tolerated. Don't let any- one scold or show discouragement at the condition of the prayer meeting. If any have burdens, cast them off. God is the great burden and sorrow- bearer. Be sure you speak to any strangers who may be present. 129 iUL 23 1910 1 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: August 2005 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 2^r One copy del. to Cat. Div. JUL 23 ftw LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 629 498 4 ■