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Prayer delivered by Dr. Len G. Broughton, at Christ Church, Westminster Bridge Road, London, S. E., on Sunday morning, June 21, 1914. Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H. —Copyright Applied for. (EDITOR S NOTE When we lead this piayer sent us by Dr. Broughton’s scretary, which was delayed in coming, and note the date —before war was thought or—and lay its wording over against conditions existing now both in England and those nations which through materialism and false teaching were forgetting to honor, or recognize, God, in reality—we stop in awe and wonder—pondering these things. “Our God is a jealous God.”) GOD, our Father, we continue our worship this morning as we come to Thee again in the attitude of prayer. We realize, as we come into Thy presence for this service to-day that all that we shall say and do and even think will do us no good unless we are guided and empowered, by Thy Spirit. JJ e realize, our Father, that we live to-day in the day of the Spirit, that when Jesus Christ went back home to the Father in glory He O' promised to send to us the Holy Spirit Who should abide with us forever, and here we are to-day assembled as a church bearing Thy Name under w g i Utd^ nCe ’ direcUon and P° wer of Thy Spirit. During all the ages of the Church we realize that He has been at work in the midst of the Church; that He has been guiding her, and directing h?r, and empowering her; that He has been directing the affairs of the world, and all through it He has had in mind the glory of the Name of Jesus. We pray this morning that He will continue at this hour to work with us; that He will take from us everything that would hinder any proper approach to Thee, and that He will take from us all anything that would prevent us from getting a clearer conception of Thee and Ihy will concerning us. We yield ourselves this morning, as best we know how, to His teaching and power, and we pray that all that is done and said may be for the glory of the Name of Christ. We pray Thee, our Father, to take even the smallest part of this service and work it out for the qloru of the Name of Jesus. v j t As we gather, our Father, with this supreme object in our mind, we are conscious of the thousands of people all about us seemingly indifferent to worship, disregarding the claims of the Sabbath day, unconcerned about the matter of assembling themselves together for the worship of God; we pray Thee, our Father, that Thou wilt do something to arrest them. Bring them to Me that the supreme need of their hearts and lives is the proper worship and service of God. And, 0 Lord, we pray for the restoration of the Sabbath day in its observance among the people. We do pray that something may be done, that something may occur that shall arrest the attention of the world and call it t 0 the sacredness of this day. 0 Lord, if Thou canst bring Thy people back without suffering, persecution and trial of heart and life, we pray Thee to bring them back; but if it takes these things to arrest our attention, and make us more serious, worshipful, and concerned about this great duty, we pray Thee let them come to pass. And, 0 Lord, we pray Thee for those parts of the world where even this much is not recognized. Where the Sabbath day is neither known nor regarded, where the worship of the Church and the Name of Christ is not heard and not thought of. We pray that Thou wilt put it in our hearts, those of us who have enjoyed and continue to enjoy this privilege, never to be satisfied until we have carried the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. We pray Thee for all who are sick and infirm and cannot be with Thy people. We pray especially for that company of ours we were privileged to visit yesterday, the dear women of our almshouses, who, if they could, would this morning, every one of them, perhaps, be here with us in this worship., but by reason of age and infirmity they are prevented. Be with them in the place where they spend this day. Make it a day of real Spirit-filling, for Thou canst Thyself minister to them directly without the intervention of any preacher or church. We pray Thee to-day to minister to them. And as we think of them and what they would do, but cannot, help us to think of the time when we ourselves, perhaps, will b\? shut out and unable to enjoy these things. Help us while we can to use our days well, redeeming the time as best we can forth? worship of God with His people, and filling our place in the church. We pray for any strangers among us. Bless their hearts, and if they are in any sense sad we pray Thou wilt comfort them through Thy Spirit, at least give them the consciousness of the presence of Thy Spirit in this church this morning. Help us in preaching, may our own heart be fed, and when we have separated from the worship of the church may wr rejoice that we have been permitted to meet with the people of God and study together His Word. Bless all condition of mankind, all needy ones, and all who feel that they have no special need in this world. Wilt Thou not make us all see that we all need Jesus, and help us to seek Him and serve Him. Bless, ive pray Thee, the world at large in all its administration. The men in charge of the affairs of state here in our own land and in all the lands of the world. Make righteousness rule among the men who are making laws and who are execut ing them, and may the Name of Jesus above every name find its place. We ask it for His Name’s sake. AMEN. Continuation of Last Week’s Sermon. We hear a great deal about “a second blessing;” and people often ask me when I go to Conventions “Have you had it?” By that they mean, “Have you had the second blessing?” And if I shake my head they turn off with a look on their faces of pity. And I always feel like turning to them and asking, “How do you interpret the manifes tation of the second blessing, or any blessing?” For the second blessing must manifest itself as the first. Blessing to a man is only for the purpose of making him a blessing to somebody else. I always think of a story of a dear old friend, now in glory, when I am speakeing of these people. Be fore he was converted he was al most a vagabond. He was a drunk ard ; he owed everybody in his com munity. They would hardly trust him for cash. But one night in a Methodist church a Methodist min ister asked everybody that would ac cept Jesus out-and-out to get up and come to the front and take his hand as a declaration of the fact. He was sitting away back in the congregation. At home were his half-starved children and his. heart broken wife. It was a cold winter night. They had not enough cov ering for their beds, and the little feet of his children had never known what a shoe meant | “The Second Blessing” THE HELPING HAND By REV. LEN G. BROUGHTON, D.D., of Christ Chureii, London. And he went forward and took that man by the hand, and looked him in the eyes straight and said, “Yes, I will, sir.” Everybody there I think, had seen him do that half a dozen times before, and they be gan to say to one another, “He has got religion again.” And as he started back to his seat he saw a man sitting just back of him to whom he owed a great deal of money. He was a member and an official of that church. He saw him sitting there, and he said, “I just looked down on the floor.” I could hardly walk to my seat. I knew he was going to dun me as soon as I sat down, for that is just how hard hearted he always had been . I sat down somehow. I do not know how I got into the seat, and I put my head on the pew rail in front of me, not so much to pray as to get as far as I could from him. But I could not get far enough. He could reach me, and though he thought I was praying, that did not make any difference to him. I was not pray ing. I was thinking how I could face that man, for I meant business with him.” “Then I felt something touch me in the back, and I paid no attention to it because I knew what it was. The same thing had touched me in other places before, and I knew its touch, although it was in a different spot. And it kept on touching, until THE GOLDEN AGE FOR WEEK OF OCTOBER 8, 1914 I could not bear another touch, and I turned arotfnd and said, ‘What do you want?’ And he said, ‘Come round here.’ I had nothing else to do. I did not want to be a target for that crowd any longer, so I got up and went around to him. I no ticed a little woman at the other side of him was praying, and I have always thought since that she was praying that he might be kept in the right spirit. I sat down there, and he put his arm around me, and said, ‘I have always loved you, old fellow, I have always believed that there would come a time when you would turn over a new leaf. It has been a long time coming, but I somehow have a feeling that this time you are going to stick, and whether you are or not, I believe you are. And I want you to come round tomorrow and let me give you a clear receipt for all that you owe me. And let me give winter shoes for your children, and dresses for your wife and your children, and enough groceries to carry you on until you can get on your feet; for I believe God has got something for you to do.’ ” And he said, “What do you think I did?” I said, “I do not know what you did.” He said, “I got right up and went up to that preacher and said, ‘Look here, I have got the sec ond blessing.’” And those who knew him are prepared to believe that he did get it. And, there would be many another struggling under a load who would say the same thing, if we would stop talking about their weakness and begin to express hope. You can burst a bank if you will go on talking about it. And you can make a bank by praising it and encouraging it. Science today is saying some very good things. ,The man who shuts his eyes and closes up his ears and opens his mouth and says, “Science is of the devil,” is a lunatic or an ignor amus. I think one of the greatest things that science has said is this: Listen to it. “All nature throbs with suppressed magnificence.” Have you ever seen a caterpillar? He is just about the ugliest thing I ever saw. But you watch him, keep on watching him, never let him get out of your sight. That ugly thing! You feel a thousand times as if you would like to get him under your foot. But watch until you see his sides begin to throb. Later you see his back open, and there beg-.rz zz craw! out from a thin shell something that crawls up and swings on to some little branch in the And then you see, as it dries itself, and puts forth its wings, a thing of beau ty flying about your garden, an ex quisitely painted butterfly. That is not half so beautiful as the trans formation of a human life. If I had to fix this statement up I would make it read “all nature, however ugly and depraved and bad, throbs with suppressed beauty.” Oh ! it is there. That poor, fallen girl! Why, the thing that made her fall speaks of a characteristic of rare beauty if turned in the right way. (Continued on page 8.) 3