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8 THE PRESBYTERI
i Z 1
Devotional and Selections
'WHEN DAY IS DONE.
By James M. Simmons.
Wearied are we and harvest is not ended,
Our weapons fail us and our sands are run;
Toil on who may, for us the night's descended?
Our day is done.
Farewell to failure on the field?forever
Farewell; few are the sheaves we bring, or none;
Yet will the Master's welcome wait endeavor,
Now day is done.
Farewell. O Earth, thv hlpak cmv uUioc nf om-i-nuri
For once the homestead of our faith is won;
Thy cloud shall cast no shadow o'er to-morrow? *
. Thy day is done.
Fast fades the light; and lo, In gloom before us
That voiceless valley which no foot may shun!
Courage, m? soul. One Star is brightening o'er us
Since day is done.
Our day is done, Do thou, O God, ingather
Safe to thy harvest-home each wandering one?
Leave not one outcast to the tempest, Father,
When day is done.
?British Weekly.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
God is never far from each one. There is no
greater requirement than a realizing sense of the presence
of God with the children of men continually; a
sense of His presence not in a general way, but with
each individual person. But it seems to us a real
living faith in the continual presence of the Lord
God is very much lacking not only in the 'irreligious
and godless, but also in professing Christians. They
do indeed accept the sentiment of the motto, "Thou
God, seest me," but they regard God as seated upon
His throne somewhere far away in the heavens and
looking down upon all His creatures in the most
distant parts of the universe. They accept the proposition
that all men live and move and have their
being in God; nevertheless it is to their minds and
hearts a distant God in whom their lives are involved.
They believe that God is above all, through all and
in all, but they conceive of this fact only in a general
and vague manner.
What we need to do is to endeavor to realize that
God is never far away from each one of us; that He
is present with us whether we realize and believe it
or not. The psalmist, with less light and knowledge,
but more personal religion than most of us
possess, had a clear conception of the divine presence
. with him when he wrote: "Whither shall I go from
Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up to heaven, Thou art there; if
I make my bed in sheol, Thou art there; if I take
: j j?11 1
n...gij \ji me luiuiiiiiK iiiiu uwcu in ine uttermost
parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead
me and Thy right hand shall hold me."
Jesus said: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." The Lord is present when we
eat and drink, when we lie down and rise up, whether
at home or abroad, in labor and rest, in business
nd pleasure. And His presence with us does not
AN OF THE SOUTH. September 29, 1909.
depend upon our faith, conviction or opinion. But
it is our privilege and duty to live as in His presence:
to practice His presence. And nothing will
exert a greater influence upon our lives and actions
for good than an abiding consciousness of the fact that
we are living and acting in the immediate presence of
the Lord our God.
]n order that the Christian may arrive at a realizing
sense of the divine presence with him, he must devote
some time to meditation- He must go within himself
and think of himself; reflect on the condition and
requirement of his soul, and of his relation to Ck>d
and eternity. Such serious meditations and reflections
will quicken and develop within him a sense
of the nearness of the Lord, his God.
We think and study and plan with reference to
>ur Dusiness, our work, our comfort and our pleasHire.
Day by day. from morning till night, year in
md year out, we have these things in our minds and
hearts and wills. And this is right, for there can he
10 success without it. But our religion demands
the same amount of thought and consideration. The
health and welfare of our souls call for reflection, for
earnest thought, for serious meditation before God.
To live and act in all things in a consciousness of
the divine presence with ns is an essential requirement,
a foremost duty, a blessed privilege; for the
glorious results of such a course in time and eternity
will surpass all comprehension.?The Reformed
Church Messenger.
INDIAN SUMMER.
A Reverie.
The golden mist of Indian summer hangs over the
face of nature like a delicate, fairy-spun veil; the for
est leaves are crimson and yellow and brown ; the
Southwai d-flying birds sail through the crystal air
above,and their wing-spread shadows swim in the crystal
waters below ; on the brow of yonder hill flames a
burning bush, and I fancy that Moses is standing there
with uncovered feet and luminous eyes.
Over my soul of souls of today there hangs the golden
mist of dreams?heart strings arc vibrant withTraumerei;
the leaves, the countless leaves, of the book of
memory are crimson and yellow and brown?passion
colored, desire tinted, tear stained: swift birds of
thought fly Southward and Northward. Rastward mid
Westward; and lo! and lo! from the midst of the burning
bush of love that grows in my heart of hearts I
hear the still small voice that Moses heard on the
mountain-side; and though the whole world may doubt,
I know, I am sure, that God is here.
The golden mist of Indian summer hangs over the
face of nature like a delicate, fairy-spun veil, and over
my soul of souls there hangs the golden mist of dreams.
"I believe few of us are aware how much consciousness
of wrong, and even conviction of sinfulness, is
latent in the hearts of cowards who worship in our
churches; and when they see their experience mir
rored, not in the unhealthy pages of a sensational
novel, but in the wholesome utterance of the truth,
the conviction often becomes irresistible.?Vincent W.
Ryan.