To My Younger Brethren | Page 7

and
thankfully added to the treasures of memory. It puts in the simplest
form possible, while in a form most beautiful, the vital truth that
"intercourse with God is the power for holy service." Happy the young
Clergyman whose secret daily life, from its beginning in the "Morning
Watch," on through the intercourse and energies of the day, up to the
evening hour of weariness and repose, is a translation into experience
of that blessed hymn.
[1] By G.M. TAYLOR: Hymns of Consecration and Faith (Second
Edition), No. 349.
"TELL HIM ALL."
"When thou wakest in the morning, Ere thou tread the untried way Of
the lot that lies before thee Through the coming busy day; Whether
sunbeams promise brightness, Whether dim forebodings fall, Be thy
dawning glad or gloomy, Go to Jesus--tell Him all!
"In the calm of sweet communion Let thy daily work be done; In the
peace of soul out-pouring Care be banish'd, patience won And if earth
with its enchantments Seek thy spirit to enthral, Ere thou listen, ere
thou answer-- Turn to Jesus--tell Him all!
"Then, as hour by hour glides by thee, Thou wilt blessed guidance
know; Thine own burthens being lighten'd, Thou canst bear another's
woe; Thou canst help the weak ones onward; Thou canst raise up those
that fall; But, remember, while thou servest, Still tell Jesus--tell Him
all!
"And if weariness creep o'er thee As the day wears to its close, Or if
sudden fierce temptation Bring thee face to face with foes-- In thy
weakness, in thy peril, Raise to heaven a truthful call; STRENGTH
AND CALM FOR EVERY CRISIS COME--IN TELLING JESUS
ALL."

CHAPTER II.
THE SECRET WALK WITH GOD (ii).
He that would to others give Let him take from Jesus still; They who
deepest in Him live Flow furthest at His will.
I resume the rich subject of Secret Devotion, Secret Communion with
God. Not that I wish to enter in detail on either the theory or the
practice of prayer in secret; as I have attempted to do already in a little
book which I may venture here to mention, Secret Prayer. My aim at
present, as I talk to my younger Brethren in the Ministry, is far rather to
lay all possible stress on the vital importance of the habit, however it
may prove best in individual experience to order it in practice. "As a
man thinketh in his heart, so is he" [Prov. xxiii. 7.]; and as a life
worketh in its heart, so is it. And the heart of a Christian Minister's life
is the man's Secret Communion with God.
Let us Clergymen take as one of our mottoes that deeply suggestive
word of the Lord by Malachi, where the ideal Levi is depicted: "He
walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from
iniquity." [Mal. ii. 6.]
THE LORD'S EXAMPLE.
Remember with what a heavenly brightness that principle was glorified
in the recorded life on earth of "the great Shepherd of the sheep," [SN:
Heb. xiii. 20.] who in this also "left us an example, that we should
follow His steps." [1 Pet. ii. 22.] Never did man walk more genuinely
with men than the Son of Man, whether it was among the needy and
wistful crowds in streets or on hill-sides, or at the dinner-table of the
Pharisee, or in the homes of Nazareth, Cana, and Bethany. No Christian
was ever so "practical" as Jesus Christ. No disciple ever so directly and
sympathetically "served his own generation by the will of God" [Acts
xiii. 36.] as did the blessed Master. But all the while "His soul dwelt
apart" in the Father's presence, and there continually rested and was
refreshed, [John iv. 32, 34.] and there found the "meat" in the strength
of which He travelled that great pilgrimage by way of the Cross to the

Throne. Jesus Christ, our Exemplar as well as our Life, did indeed live
behind His work, behind His ministry, behind His ministerial character,
in the region of a Filial Communion in which His Father was His all in
all for peace and joy, His law of action and His eternal secret of life.
And observe, this habitual communion in the midst of active service
did not at all supersede in His blessed experience the stated and definite
work of worship and petition before and after the busy hours of service.
"He was alone, praying" [John vi. 57.]; "He continued all night in
prayer to God"; and at last, "He was withdrawn from them about a
stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed." [Luke ix. 18; vi. 12; xxii.
41.]
All this is not only matter for wondering notice, as we read our New
Testament. It is example, it is model. The Head is thus