Faith and Duty: Sermons on Free Texts, with Reference to the Church-YearBuchheimer, L. B. (Louis Balthaser)
Religion
Faith and Duty: Sermons on Free Texts, with Reference to the Church-Year
Buchheimer, L. B. (Louis Balthaser)
Church year sermons; Lutheran Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American
And then again at night-time, when we have given all our strength
to the work of our calling, tired and exhausted from the toil of
the day, and our couches invite us to repose, who can look back
on the blessings of the day without being moved to gratitude to
Him who kept us safely through it? There was this and that of the
day's transaction that deserves a calm retrospect in the sight of
the Lord, confession of one's discrepancy and wrong-doing. And who
can resign himself to sleep, the emblem of death, and to his bed,
the type of his grave, without saying a few words of Christian
committal? And who, during the day, cannot find a few moments to
lift up his thoughts on high? Nor, beloved fellow-Christians and
church-members, neglect to speak grace at your table; there are
blessings, direct and indirect, which connect with that pious
and time-honored custom which no household can afford to forego.
Frequently the only time when the family meets during the day, it
forms a link of spirituality between its members. It is no little
means of keeping the devil out and bringing the dove of peace back.
Permit not this grand old and well-tried custom to lapse into
disuse; hold fast to it as a sacred heirloom transmitted from your
godly parents. Thus have your fixed, established season of prayer.
And it is good not only to have stated times, but also stated places
for prayers. This is our second consideration: Where? You can pray
anywhere. You can hold audience with God at your own option. The
place is not essential to prayer. Peter prayed on the housetop,
Paul in prison, Daniel in the lions' den, Jonah in the fish's
belly. The Lord is everywhere, and His ears are always open to the
cries of His people. But the law of association is the friend of
religion. As you speed to your labors in the morning, as you sit
for recuperation in the shade of one of our beautiful parks, as you
are busy with your duties in kitchen and workshop, your heart can
go out to God in devotion. And so it is well to have a little nook
somewhere, a spot especially suggestive to us of prayer. There
is help in this. Daniel had his spot, where, when he came in from
the excitement of the court, he could kneel down and pray to his
God. His window opened towards Jerusalem, not accidentally, but by
special arrangement, and his eyes swept over the western hills until
vision was lost in the distance; his imagination swept onward till
he stood in the courts of the Lord's house on Zion's hill, heard
its holy songs, and inhaled the incense that arose from its sacred
altars. There is something dear to us in such a spot. Our Lord,
in His direction on prayer, enjoins: "Enter into thy closet and
pray." It was the custom of the Jews to have certain private rooms
on the flat top of their homes which they especially reserved for
devotional purposes. One such place you certainly ought to have.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account