To be near unto God - pagina 410
that first period of grace. There is considerable increase in knowledge, as well as in spiritual experience and in spiritual wisdom, but there is no acquisition of higher strength. Sometimes even there is a relapse, which is not survived except with much difficulty. And so there is considerable s ...
To be near unto God - pagina 411
purity of heart is the means of seeing God. For the others it is rather the way by which not to And these two can fail of high moral character. not be mentioned in the same breath. "Blessed are the pure in heart" is a word of Jesus, which was purposely spoken to the children of God, as Matt. 5 :8 ...
To be near unto God - pagina 414
the soul becomes in the discovery of sin, and for this reason the more we shake ourselves free from sin, the sense of guilt does not diminish, but rather increases. The world does not understand this, when it hears an angel of love and mercy touchingly plead for forgiveness of guilt. But by itsel ...
To be near unto God - pagina 413
tainlythesegrosssinsshouldfirstofallbeBut he who is free from these extherefore, by no means yet pure in heart.abandoned. cessesis,Purity of heart embraces the entire life of the Pride, arrogance, dishonest practi ...
To be near unto God - pagina 415
In the heart self the point. in battle array against the impiu*ities that proceed from the heart. the distinction is ignored between the self that believes, and the inequalities that prevail in the heart, youThis aloneismust stand pureWhenFor then you identify y ...
To be near unto God - pagina 416
one who prays seeks strength in retirement. This expressed in what Jesus told his disciples: ''But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and shut the door behind thee"(Matth. 6:6). And he set us the example, as often as he withdrew himisprayer into the solitude of the wilderness, ...
To be near unto God - pagina 417
hand was stretched out in the night to my Thou, Lord, held mine eyes watchIn the night I communed with mine own ing. heart; and my spirit made diligent search.""My Godin prayer.When we close our eyes for sleep, or for prayer, we go out from light, by excluding the same, into ...
To be near unto God - pagina 419
holds back the passionately longed-for sleep from our eyes. Sleeplessness is a part of human misery, which is foreign to younger years, but which in later years few escape. As in good prayer the mind excludes itself from the world, but is the more clearly awake to the higher world of thought, so ...
To be near unto God - pagina 420
ferent from what it is, but purifying our imagination and cleansing our thoughts will in time transport our dreams into sinless domains. Our responsibility for what our mind does in sleepless hours of night is of necessity far greater. For in the darkness of night our spirit can invite the world, ...
To be near unto God - pagina 418
and the dotage moreover everyof old age. night. SleepThe same happensthe passing of the our consciousness into the twilight of slumber, and finally into deep, sound sleep. At night the light of day without, and the light of self-consciousness within, set in darkness and uncon ...