Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1916 — SOUGHT GOD'S HEIP [ARTICLE]

SOUGHT GOD'S HEIP

Lesson for Mankind in the Savior’s Communing With the Father in Solitude. What ‘ special circumstances were they which made our Lord seek the ministry of solitude? If I can only find out when the master sought the restoring influence of solitude, it may indicate to me the times when I should find the strengthening and the calm, ing Influence of solitude in my own life. > ‘ Jesus of Nazareth was always hear, ing bad news. The story of the world’s sin and woe was forever being poured into his sympathetic ears. But 1 think that if I wished to point out one day darker than another, I should select that day when the disciples of John, stunned, bewildered, broken-bearted, came and told the Christ that they had just been burying their murdered and headless leader. Jesus of Nazareth loved John the Baptist. He loved him for his fldeL ity, for his humility, for his magnificent subordination of himself to the purpose of his mission. And now this faithfuT friend has been foully butchered! And the story of the great tragedy is told so simply. “And John’s disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Je. sue.” How will he receive the terrible news? I am reverently curious to know how this Jesus will encounter sad news in the shape of a great affliction. "When Jesus heard of it „ . . he departed thence into a desert place apart." The first thing he did was to seek to be alone. When this cold burden of sorrow touched his heart, immediately he sought to be alone with God. Always “Thy Will Be Done.” We have not been told anything of those lonely communions which our Savior had with the Father; but I think we may infer the character of them from what we learn elsewhere. Our Savior was more than once overheard in prayer, and snatches of his r-nmmunion have been preserved forus. And this was the burden of them all, "Thy -will be done!” When the cross of life was very heavy, he went apart, communed with the father, saw the sure foundations, gained assurance himself, resigned himself anew, and came forth again clothed with superlative radiance and power. I would ask you, then —you upon whom trouble may fall tomorrow —to remember the example of your master, who encountered a great sorrow by first of all going into a place apart, that there he might be assured of his Father’s presence and sovereignty, and by the assurance resign himself to the Father’s will. Let us now take another occasion in his life when our Savior sought the ministry of solitude. "And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." And why? "And when it was day he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve.” Here is the connection —a whole night spent in mountain solitude, alone with the Father, before making a great choice in the selection of twelve men. Jesus of Nazareth went into solitude before making great decisions. God Will Point the Way. Now, you and I are often under the necessity of making great decisions, of choosing one road from many roads. We have often to take momentous steps in the way of life. We are often led up to crises where we know that decision is pregnant with tremendous issues. How do we approach such decisions? i Now, God has promised to give what he calls "the spirit of "wisdom" to all who seek it And you remember those words of the apostle James: “If any man lack wisdom” —not merely bread or shelter—"if any man lack wisdom” —ideas, judgment, direction, Insight—"let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally.” Wisdom is the gift of God, as well as dally bread. He giveth “the spirit of wisdom” to man. You are face to face with an emergency which calls for practical judgment You get alone, and seek the presence of the Eternal. He promises to bestow upon you the spirit of wisdom; that is to say, as you commune with him the whole tone of your spirit will be raised and purified, and your capacity of moral discernment and judgment will be quickened and enlarged.—Rev. J. H» Jowett, D. D.

“Out of the Mouths of Babes.”' The Bible presents us with a view of a God vast enough to fill the infinite spaces, and tender and loving enough to fit down by his grace into the niches and grooves of our innermost experience. A freethinker met a plain countryman going to church. He asked him where he was going. "To church, sir!” “What to do there?*' "To worship Gpd! r * "Pray, tell me whether your God is a great God or a little God?” "He is both, sir.” “How can he be both?” “He is so great, sir, that the heavena eannot contain him. and so little that he can dwell in my heart.” The freethinker declared that this simple answer from the plain peasant had more effect upon his mind than all the volumes which learned doctors had written against him. The simple are often wise, and there is no telling when the Holy Spirit may taka even the utterance of a child to convince an astute thinker of sin, right* eousness and judgment to come.—■» Zion’s Herald. ' • ‘ r '