Leaves for Quiet Hours

At the request of the Editor of “The Christian World” I have embraced in a volume some of the short devotional pieces which from time to time I have been contributing to that paper. I have been induced to do so by the fact that so many have found them helpful and have made me aware of the benefit they have received. A few minutes will suffice to read any one of these. Each consists of two parts. The first is the suggestion of a thought; the second is the expression of a feeling — either in the form of a vi Preface.

prayer or of an invocation. But I hope that these two parts will never be divided in holy wedlock — that every fresh thought will be tinged with the heart’s emotion, and that every emotion of the heart will be winged by the inspiration of a thought. A devotional book is believed to be a very simple thing. It ought to be the most difficult composition in the world, for it should aim at the marriage of qualities which are commonly supposed to be antagonistic — the insight of the thinker and the fervour of the worshipper. My own conviction has increasingly been that the hours of our deepest devotion are precisely in those moments when we catch fresh glimpses of hidden things.

G. M.

Edinburgh, 1904.

What a strange conclusion to so martial a war-cry! The soldier is generally told to put on his armour for the sake of the battle; here it is for the sake of the camp. To the common view the arduous thing in a Christian’s life is the hour of conflict; to Paul it is the hour after conflict. If you or I had written this verse we should have put it thus: “Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand awaiting the foe, and finally to withstand when the foe has come.” But Paul reverses the process. To him the withstanding is the less diflicult of the two.

The greatest danger he sees for the Christian soldier is just at the point where he has “done all.” And is not Paul right in his perception! Is not the arduous bit of a Christian’s life rather the camp than the field! When a man feels he is surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, it is comparatively easy to lay aside every weight. But when there is no outward battle, no visible foe, no possible wreath for the victor, when the field is his own heart and the enemy his own wish and the spectator his own conscience, when there is no human voice to cry “Well done!” and no public opinion to say “He has fought a good fight!” — that is the time when he needs the Christian armour.

Lord, arm me for the silence! Often in my hour of trial I am brave when duty has to be done and weak when it is over. In the first fire of my bereavement I have to rise up from before my dead. There are letters to be written; there are sad offices to be performed; there are friends to be bidden to the funeral. And I go through them calmly; I feel as if something supported me; men say, “How bravely he bears it!” But when the letters are finished, and the funeral over, and the friends gone, then comes the misery, the despair. Save me, O Lord! save me from my own companionship! Protect me from the solitude of my heart; arm me against myself! I have been strong in the hour of outward battle because I heard the voices of human sympathy; let me hear the voice of a greater sympathy for the watch of night! I was able to withstand in the day because there was work to be done; help me in the shadows when no man can work! Teach me that the heart has a duty greater than the hand! Teach me that I am not a perfect soldier when I can only fight! Teach me that the courage which can endure is nobler than the courage which can strike! Teach me the heroism of Gethsemane, where Thou hadst finished the work that was given Thee to do and hadst only the weight that was given Thee to bear! Thou hast girded me with the sword for the tumult; clothe me with the breastplate for the silence! My armour shall only be complete when I have done all and still shall stand.

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