Newspapers / The Central Messenger (Wake … / Oct. 1, 1911, edition 1 / Page 1
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Speaking Truth in Love.’ ‘.’At it, all at it, always at it.” The Central Messenger. TRUTH AND SERVICE. Vol. 1. Wake Forest, 1ST. C., October, 1911. No. 10. WHO HELPED THE MEETING? A did it—Added fiis presence. B did it—Brought some one else. C did it—Came regularly. D did it—Did all he could, E did it—Eager to help. F did it—Faithful and steady. G did it—Gave attention. H did it—Had something to say. I did it—Invited others. - J did it—Joined in the spirit. K did it—Kept up his interest. L did it—Left nothing undone. M did it—Made preparation. N did it—Never gave up. O did it—Offered his service. P did it—Prayed for it. Q did it—Quenched not the Spirit. R did it—Received a blessing. S did it—Sang heartily. T did it—Told others about it. U did it—Upheld the weak ones. V did it—Vanquished obstacles. W did it—Welcomed strangers. X did it—’Xerted himself earnestly. Y did it—Yielded not to discourage ment. Z did it—Zealous always. How many of these things will you do? THE CUSTOMS OF JESUS. Thre times in the course of his gos pel Luke alludes to the place of cus toms in the religious life of Jesus. I. ’ ToTegin with, Jesus'was born into a family of definitely religious habits. His parents went every year to Jeru salem at the feast of the passover. And when He was twelve years old, they (accompanied by Him) went up, after the custom of the feast. Every head of a household in the provinces, who was strictly pious, made a con science of attending yearly at least one of the great festivals in Jerusa lem, and, although the obligation was not binding upon women, Mary seems to have obeyed the recommendation of some rabbis and accompanied her husband. Year after year their an nual absence from home marked the routine of the carpenter’s household in Nazareth. The children knew why their parents went aw'ay for these weeks. When Jesus reached the age of twelve. He became a son of the Law, and for the first time took part in the annual custom of the pilgrim age. It was in the soil of such devout family religion as we know existed among the Jews of that age, that the piety of our Lord struck root. And this is the beginning of all religious education. “However we may work at our religious faith later in life, criticise it, remodel it”—and Jesus did both—“we must first receive it. That we have a religious life today is not due to our philosophers and men of science, many oi whom had no relig ion. It is due to the fact that we learned to believe as children. We do not believe at first because it seems to us good to believe or reasonable to believe, but because we are taught to believe. ’ Such teaching ultimately depends upon the early impressions of faith and reverence made by the devout order and regularity with which the practices of the Christian life and worship are observed within the home. The child’s religion needs to be nourished by the sensre that faith is as stable and natural and con stant as any function of the house hold. When this impression is made, during the years in which the instinct of imitation is strongest, religious hab its are readily and unconsciously formed; they are made for us by our seniors, and they acquire a sanction and binding power just because we can never recollect a time when they were not acting upon our lives. Na ture itself, says Pascal, may be only a first custom, as custom is a second nature. And because our first cus toms are formed early, they are often one of the last things from which we part. ri. But, while religion is transmitted to us along the channels of custom and tradition^ it cannot remain a mere inheritance which is taken over auto matically from the earlier generation. Often our early habits have to be mod ified or changed, in order to suit the larger needs of life, and even when we continue to adtj*e to the letter and detail of the o® habits, we re quire to put into them the consent and purpose of our own characters. These inherited beliefs and practices —or such of them as we can retain— must be made our own, in the period of individual responsibility. Luke is careful to note this advance in the religious life of Jesus. Twice he im- pii'^ir. that our Lord not only' received customs from His parents, but made customs for Himself. The first of these was connected with public worship. He came to Naz areth, where He had been brought up; and, as His custom was. He went into the synagbgue on the Sabbath day. The changes which had taken place in His residence and responsibil- ties had evidently not interfered with His religious habits. As a boy He had been trained from the age of four to attend the local synagogue with His parents, and now, as a man. He continued the custom wherever He went, not from use or wont, in any mechanical fashion^ but as a method of His own religious life. Though He had come back in the power of the Spirit, fully endowed and inspired for a unique work of God, He continued to frequent the place of common wor ship. He saw infinitely more in the word and revelation of God than His fellow-worshippers. Nevertheless, He made it His custom still to join in the old habits and to keep up the prac tices of public service. This is more significant than we sometimes realize. It is a reminder of the truth which, in our fancied spirituality, we are apt to forget—that the holiest personal life can scarcely afford to dispense with stated forms of devotion, and that the regular public worship of the church, for all its local imperfections and dullness, is a divine provision for sustaining the individual soul. We cannot affect to be wiser than our Lord in this matter. If anyone could have pled that His spiritual expe rience was so lofty that it did not re quire public worship, if anyone might have felt that the consecration and communion of His personal life exempted Hiin from what ordinary mortals needed, it was Jesus. But He made no such plea. Sabbath after Sabbath even He was found in the mtmmmmim place of worship, side by side with God’s people, not for the mere sake of setting a good example, but for deeper reasons. Is it reasonable, then, that any of us should think we can safely afford to dispense with the pious custom of regular participation in the common worship of our lo cality? III. Luke mentions yet another custom, which flowed side by side with this through the religious life of Jesus. When He left the upper-room, on the last night of His life. He went, as His custom was, to the Mount of Olives. Why? Not simply to be quiet, away from the close atmosphere and din of the city. He doubtless welcomed the hush and coolness of Nature, but He also drew strength from the associa tions of personal devotion with which He had already hallowed the garden. It had evidently been His custom, re cently, to retire thither for medita tion and communion with the Father. The spot was therefore consecrated for Him by His experiences. We ought to practice the same habit in our Christian life; in addition to the custom of public worship, we shall do well to endeavour to connect our private devotion with definite places, either inside a room of the house or outside with Nature, like Jonathan Ed wards on the banks of the Hudson and Leighton beside the Allan Water. ..'■.inian nature has a strange faculty for spoiling or for hallowing its sur roundings. We know how the associa tions of a place may become, through death or change, or even through per sonal wrong-doing^ so unbearable to us that we almost shrink from revisit ing the former scenes. They may be come invested with too painful mem ories and associations. But this tie of place and heart affect us for better as well as for worse. A place is very much to us what we choose to make it, and we may stamp the outward sur roundings of life with a special virtue and grace, which acts like a spell upon the mind whenever we go to them. They may speak to us of strength and peace and reverence, just on account of their associations with a secret ex perience which is between us and God. Doutless, prayer and fellowship are not tied to any locality. Jesus was as near to the Father in Jerusalem as anywhere, but it is significant that even He turned in the hour of His spiritual conflict to the place at which for some time He had been accustom ed to be specially conscious of God’s presence. And so, wherever our lot chances to be cast, even for a short cime, in town or country, it is wise for us to consecrate some spot, in doors or out of doors, where we can feel specially alone with our God. If we do so, its very associations will soothe and lift us. We may be inclin ed to regard this as fanciful or senti mental, but once more we cannot af ford to dispense with a habit which Jesus plainly found essential to His religious life. The tie of place and heart enters into our most spiritual phases of devotion, and as we employ it we shall probably discover that our life gathers -round it in such places an atmosphere which is charged with singularly deep and solemn influ ences influences that help to draw us readily and almost insensibly into the sense of our Father’s peace and pres ence.—The British Weekly. CLEAR THE WAY. Men of thought! be up and stirring. Night and day. Sow the seed—withdraw the curtain— Clear the -way! Men of action, aid and cheer them, As ye may! There’s a fount about to stream. There’s a light about to beam. There’s a warmth about to glow^ There’s a flower about to blow; There’s a midnight blackness changing into gray. Men of thought and men of action; Clear the way! Once the welcome light has broken, Who shall say What the unimaglned glories Of the day? What the evils that shall perish In its ray? Aid the drawing, tongue and pen; Aid it, hopes of honest men; Aid it, paper—aid it, type—■ Aid it, for the hour is ripe. And our earnest must not slacken Into play. Men of thought and men of action. Clear the way! Lo! a cloud’s about to vanish From the day; And the brazen wrong to crumble Into clay. Lo! the night’s about to conquer. Clear the way! With the Right shall many more Enter smiling at the door; With the giant wrong shall fall Many others, great and small, That for ages long have held us For their prey. Men of thought and men of action. Clear the way! —Charles Mackay. Dr. Jeff D. Ray names the following seven marks of a loyal church mem ber: “(1) Regular attendance upon all the meetings of the church. (2) Ear nest, kindly, definite, persistent effort to get others to go to church. (3) En gaging heartily, cordially, and cheer fully in the activities of the church. (4) Not only a willingness, but a real desire to bear a proportionate share of the financial burden of the church. (5) A private, domestic, social and business life such as not to bring re proach upon the earth. (6) A clear understanding of the doctrines of the church and a readiness, in the spirit of Christ to explain, defend and prop agate them. (7) Frequent and ear nest prayer for the prosperity of the church.” AN UNFORTUNATE VACANCY. Elizabeth, just six, had been going to kindergarten and enjoyed very much the little motion songs taught there. She was very enthusiastic at learning all the words, but one day she realized that try as she might, she could not make her voice harmon ize with those of the other children. Thoroughly disheartened, she ran home to her mother and with a sigh, said: “Oh, mamma, I don’t know what 1 shall do. I’m so full of words, but so empty of tune.”
The Central Messenger (Wake Forest, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 1911, edition 1
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