Classic Christian Authors # 1

Classic Christian Authors # 1

He prayed earnestly!

(Frederick Marsh)

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly . . . " James 5:17

The thing which made Elijah pray as he did, was the man that he was. When our Great High Priest comes with the lighted torch of His grace, and ignites the wood of our being into a holy flame--then the sweet-smelling fragrance of our requests ascend acceptably to God, and bring down the benediction of His love. 

The art of prayer, is a sense of desperate need! There must be a sense of need, and an earnest desire to have that need met. 
"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
 Uttered or unexpressed, 
 The motion of a hidden fire,
 That trembles in the breast."

Prayer is a sin-killer. No one can sin and pray; for prayer will either make us cease from sin--or sin will make us cease from prayer. 

Prayer is a power-bringer. It is the hand which touches the hem of the garment of Divine grace, and causes the life which is in the Divine One to flow into us. 

Prayer is a victory-giver. Bunyan's Christian found that the weapon of "all-prayer" was sufficient to wound and defeat the adversary who would stop him in his progress as a pilgrim.

Prayer is a holiness-promoter. It is like the gentle dew which falls upon the thirsty plants and causes them to be refreshed and to fructify. 

Prayer is a dispute-adjuster. Let any two brethren who are at loggerheads get on their knees, and ask the Lord about any disputed matter--and they will find the Lord saying to their troubled spirits, "Peace, be still." 

Prayer is an obstacle-remover, as Peter found when an angel came in answer to the prayers of the saints, and delivered him from the prison of Herod's hate.

Prayer is a Christ-revealer, for it clarifies our vision, and enables us to see unseen spiritual realities.

Prayer is the secret of a holy life! We cannot do without prayer. The spiritual life is born in prayer--and it flourishes, and is strong, as it lives in that same atmosphere!

It is not the arithmetic of our prayers--how many they are; 
 nor the rhetoric of our prayers--how eloquent they are; 
 nor the geometry of our prayers--how long they are; 
 nor the music of our prayers--how sweet our voice may be; 
 nor the logic of our prayers--how proper they may be; 
 nor the method of our prayers--how orderly they may be; 
 nor even the theology of our prayers--how good the doctrine may be, 
which God cares for. It is only fervency in prayer, which will make a man prevalent with God. Fervent prayer hits the mark, and pierces the walls of Heaven! "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much!" James 5:16
__________________________________


Break the chains of this ensnaring habit! 

(Hetty Bowman, "Life--its Duties and Discipline")

"The time is short!" 1 Corinthians 7:29

"Redeeming the time!" Ephesians 5:16

We believe that, to go back to the good old custom of calling things by their right names--the charge of idleness might very truthfully be brought against many professors. I mean the habitual wasting of the fragments of time, "Those parings of precious time--those leavings of days and remnants of hours, which so many sweep out into the waste of existence!"

We feel constrained, in all Christian faithfulness, to lift up our voice against this great evil. It is more than an evil--it is a sin most displeasing in the sight of God! It mars the usefulness, and leaves an unsightly blemish on the character of many an otherwise lovely Christian. It will demand a solemn reckoning in the great day of account. You have no more right, reader, to the time which you thus foolishly and sinfully squander--than you have to your neighbor's goods. Time is not your own, nor was it given you to be employed as you yourself think proper. It is a trust committed to you by God! Oh, see that you do not abuse it! You are wasting what millions, now in the regions of eternal despair, would give worlds to buy back again--what you yourself will regret with tears of bitter repentance, when, on a deathbed, you look back upon a life in which so little has been done. 

Be warned! Break the chains of this ensnaring habit before they are wound so closely about you that you cannot get free from them! Remember that every day these chains of indolence are riveted more firmly. They are light and easy now--but before long, they will grow into iron fetters! Your only hope of safety is in casting them from you at once, with the determination of a renewed will, and the heaven-imparted strength given to all who truly seek it.

Remembering that you were not "redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ"--you should pass the time of your sojourning here as strangers and pilgrims, looking for a better  country--a heavenly one!

A Christian's fingers need never be unoccupied. He may always have on hand some profitable reading--to fill up the little moments that might otherwise run to waste. Idleness is, more than anything else (considered in connection with the consequences to which it often leads) disgraceful to a Christian!

"Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief,
 And sin is here.
 Our age is but the falling of a leaf,
 A dropping tear.
 We have no time to sport away the hours,
 All must be earnest in a world like ours.

"Not many lives, but only one, have we,
 One, only one!
 How sacred should that one life ever be,
 That narrow span!
 Day after day filled up with blessed toil,
 Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil."
       Horatius Bonar

"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom!" Psalm 90:12 
___________________________________

How has the fine gold become dim!

(Hetty Bowman, "Separation From the World")

If some of the holy men of a former generation could once more return to the scene of their labors and sorrows--what would they find among those who profess to follow in their steps? Would they witness . . .
  the same decision,
  the same faithfulness,
  the same unyielding adherence to principles which involve contempt and scorn,
  the same resolute separation from everything that is even questionable in its tendency
--which characterized their own walk in the world?

Would they not rather be grieved by the levity, the trifling, the inconsistency which are too often displayed--even by those whose names are enrolled in the list of professing Christians?

Would they not be amazed at the slender barrier which divides those who are in the world--from those who say that they haverenounced it?

Would they not be bewildered by the strange mixture of good and evil which is presented by many who bear the name of Christ; one day to be found in the committee-room of some religious society--and the next day at a dance; one day at a prayer-meeting--and the next day at a concert?

Deeply would their hearts be saddened by these things, and mournfully would they exclaim, "How has the fine gold become dim!"

It is to be feared that the religion of the day is, in many respects, of too easy a nature. We know . . .
  little of sacrifice,
  little of deliberate counting the cost,
  little of forsaking all for Christ's sake!

Truly the Church of God in these latter days, has need to watch that she be not found lingering in the plains of Sodom--instead of pressing forward, with girded loins and hastening step, to the Zoar which she has set out to seek.

Let her take heed, lest He who "walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," visits her suddenly with the rod of His wrath--and lest her slumber be broken by the unlooked-for coming of the Bridegroom!

Believer! Seek to know your place in your Father's heart of love--and then no earthly thing will tempt you thence. Oh, leave the broken cisterns of this poor world, which can never quench your spirit's fevered thirst. Cast yourself upon the fullness of God's grace and mercy, and pray that His own hand may satisfy you with the riches that are treasured up in Christ!