PRAYER. Let us pray! Father, we are glad this morning to be back in this old familiar place once more. Not that Thou art here any more than Thou art anywhere else; for, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to feel Thy presence, Thou art with us everywhere. Though we should climb into the heavens, we should find Thee; though we should descend into the deeps, Thou wouldst be there. Though we fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, we do not escape Thee, the Spirit, the Life of all, the Infinite, the Universal Presence. And there have been times this summer when Thou hast been very near to us. We have heard Thy whisper on the seashore and in the sough of the pine-trees over our heads. We have seen Thy wonders in the bright blue sky and in the clouds. We have noted Thy wisdom and thine infinite life in the humble grasses beneath our feet and in the wild-flowers by the roadsides. And yet Thou art here to us who have made this our home for so many years in some special, some peculiar, some precious sense. So many times have we been inspired, touched, uplifted here. We have sat here with those that were dear to us. This has been the place where loved ones have been wedded, the place from which the forms of those we loved have been carried out with heart-break and with tears. This is the place where we have consecrated ourselves to Thee in earnest worship, the place where we have tried to study Thy truth and find Thy way, the place where we have tried to realize better the relation in which we stand to our fellows, tried to understand better our duty, and tried to gain some new impulse or motive for the doing of it. And so it is a holy place to us, and we are glad to return to it. And may it not be, Father, with any sense of content with the past, any thought simply of resting and finding peace, though may we learn to find rest and peace in the midst of the noble activities of our lives, where alone we can find them. But may we here this morning appreciate something of the higher calls of duty, some of the new work to be done, something of the new truth to be proclaimed, something of the inspiration to be brought to bear upon our fellow-men, to help them to realize this new truth and live it out in their daily lives. And so, Father, may we re-consecrate ourselves and begin anew that grand task, which Thou dost permit us, of sharing with Thee in the building of the kingdom of God on the earth. Thou knowest the hearts of all who are here, how lonely some of them are, how burdened, how they miss that which has passed out of their lives, a faded ideal, or a lost companion or friend. O Father, comfort and help, and let this place become dearer still as the spot where new views and new hopes and higher inspirations shall come to us. Let it be to us the gateway of immortality, the house of God, and the very door of heaven. Father, some of those that we have known and loved for many years, some of those who have been accustomed to sit with us here in worship, some that were always here, some here only now and then as health or strength might permit,- some will be here no more. We shall indeed, when we close our eyes or muse, seem to see their faces and their forms; but their seats are empty, and our hearts feel a little poorer because these friendships and companionships are taken away. O God, let the trust come to us that those we sometimes call the lost are not really lost, but that they are close about us, seeing us, understanding us; that they are a part of God's great household still, though passed into another room, only behind a curtain, perhaps, that to most eyes makes them invisible. Let us trust that all the good and the true still live and are still with us and doing the same work, only in another part of God's great field. So may we not lose courage or strength, but, taking hold of hands, those of us that are seen and those that are unseen, may we go forth, one brotherhood and sisterhood of right, of truth, of duty, accomplishing what we may in building up our own characters, in helping each other, in spreading the life and the truth of our God over all the earth. And we will give Thee thanks this morning and always. Amen. Bluffton: A Story of To-day. 12m0 $1.00 .50 1.00 1.50 1.25 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.50 .75 The Minister's Hand-book. For Christenings, Weddings, Sacred Songs for Public Worship. A Hymn and Tune Leather 1.00 1.50 Mr. Savage's weekly sermons are regularly printed in pamphlet form in "Unity Pulpit." Subscription price, for the season, $1.50; single copies, 5 cents. GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher, 141 Franklin St., Boston, Mass. |