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The Disciple in Sorrow

15 Monday Sep 2014

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The previous post in this series may be found here

Morgan next explains how discipleship must include a new understanding of sorrow.

First, the disciple must come to understand the nature and source of sin:

“And when, following that desire, instead of returning then and there to allegiance man passed through the door, seeking liberty, he found himself in a great darkling void, without God, and yet possessed of a nature making demands perpetually that neither he himself nor any other could satisfy.

Sorrow, then, is the result of sin, but it is the benevolent, tender, purposeful messenger of the Eternal Love, who cannot see His offspring lose all, without causing within them this sense of loss, and so ever by that means attracting them homeward. Carry out that view of sorrow, and see how wondrously the person and work of Jesus agree thereto”

The disciple must learn that in Christ’s Cross, sorrow has been transformed:

“Surely a stillness in heaven, on earth, in hell,—and then “it is finished ” from His lips, and He, the conqueror, died by “laying down” His life. Sin is put away, and sorrow is recalled. Righteousness commences her new reign and joy follows in her wake, the glorious possibilities of humanity are opened up, for Christ has lived and died, and lives forever now, and is a priest “after the power of an endless life” (Heb. vii. 16).”

Morgan then gives five particulars of understanding sorrow rightly. First, the disciple must learn that much sorrow is self-centered:

“To the disciple the realm of sorrow has become circumscribed, and that in a large measure. The great sorrows of humanity are personal and self-centred. Some loss experienced, some injury inflicted, some disappointment realized, these are the common causes of sorrow.”

The solution to this is to ground one’s hope in Christ alone:

“Very slow we may be, even in the school of Jesus, but this is the growing experience of those who are learning of Him and are submissive to His teaching; and witnesses, to the fact that God fills all the gaps, and brings the heart into perfect rest, are not wanting, neither are they few.”

Second, the man of sorrows draws the disciple near to God:

“From this is seen the Mission of Sorrow. It is ever a disciplinary force, drawing the heart more and more toward God, as it creates a sense of the hollowness and uncertainty of all that has been held most dear.”

Third, sorrow brings us to the “companionship of Jesus.”

Fourth, Jesus transforms our sorrows to joy:

“Looking back over our sorrows since we entered the school of Jesus, there is yet another truth to be recognized, and that is the fact of their transmutation. When the Master was about to leave His earliest disciples, He said to them of the keenest pain of the time —the thought of His departure—”Your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John xvi. 20). And was it not so? They learned in the coming of the Paraclete how expedient it was for them that He should go away, and so His going their greatest grief—became to them, in His ascension, and the consequent coming of Himself, into nearer, dearer relation by the indwelling Spirit, their greatest joy. In that promise was there not a statement of the whole philosophy of pain to a believing, trusting heart? How perpetually sorrow is turned into joy. Mark—not the sorrow removed, and so joy coming, but the sorrow itself becoming the joy. Have we not all had such experiences?”

Fifth, we leave our own sorrows and become fellows of the suffering of Christ:

“. The disciple enters a new realm of sorrow. Union with Christ means a measure of “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. iii. 10). “A heart at leisure from itself” is a heart to “soothe and sympathize.” Free from the blight of sorrow, seeing my sorrows as His choicest gifts and leaving them ever with Him, I come to understand the awful needs of humanity, and I go to His cross to be in some measure a sharer of His suffering for others”

Death is but a pause. Discipleship and friendship.

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in Discipleship, Fellowship, G. Campbell Morgan

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The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/the-disciple-at-play/

Of all the words in our language which have been undergoing change of meaning, perhaps none have been more abused than this word ” friend.” Having as its root idea the thought of love —for it is really the present participle of the old Anglo-Saxon verb “freon,” to love—it marked in old time the close union of two persons—other than relatives—in the bonds of sincere love for each other, love that made each, care for, and desire to serve, the other better than himself. It is now used too often in a loose way. A man is my friend to-day if he be but a passing acquaintance, or if we are on speaking terms.

George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.”

Morgan then goes on to develop the matter of friendship and discipleship at some length. First, he notes that due to the overwhelming consecration to Christ, mutual devotion to Christ is means of permitting the deepest friendship — even though it at the same moment limits the depth of friendship with others (for where there is a conflict on a matter of one’s greatest concern, there must also be a limitation on the extent of the friendship).

Discipleship actually creates a basis for the most profound friendship on multiple grounds. First, Christian discipleship has a ground in self-denial. Both God and others must come before the self. Christian discipleship creates a common bond of concern and consecration to the things of Christ. Each will seek the transformative work of the Spirit in the other.

Perhaps most importantly, each will live with the bond of love, which seeks the best for the other:

Love is never blind, and we shall know each other more deeply and truly in that life of mutual love, than it is possible for man to know man by careful calculation or closest critical observation. It has been said that “Love will stand at the door and knock long after self-conscious dignity has fallen asleep ” which is only another way of expressing Paul’s great word “Love suffereth long and is kind,” and because this is true the clear vision of friendship ever makes demands on eager, consecrated service. The good recognized will be developed by fellowship, and where that good is costing my friend much sacrifice and suffering, by encouragement and fidelity. The shortcoming will be matter concerning which the friend will mourn and pray in secret, and of which he will speak in such tones of tender love, that his brother will be won to the higher surrender which ever means victory and advancement. So together, and by the reciprocity of this holy comradeship, there will be a building of each other up, and a several growth in grace.

Finally, in a way made possible by Christ, for the mutual disciples of Christ, death does not end friendship. Rather, as Campbell puts it, “Death is but a pause”. And thus discipleship makes friendship more profound than it could be otherwise.

The most applauded position

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Christology, G. Campbell Morgan, John Milton, Matthew, Self-Denial, Submission

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And yet consider still more closely. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.“‘Weak from the hunger following upon forty days of fasting, the devil suggested that He should strengthen Himself with bread. His reply, “It is written,” is a revelation of the true sources of strength. The strength of manhood does not lie in the assertion of rights, but in submission to the will of God. Mark well how that answer of the perfect One drags into light the false philosophy of evil, which the fallen race has universally accepted. The most applauded position that man takes is that in which he declares, I drove my manhood by the assertion of my rights; but this perfect Man declares that the strength of manhood lies in the absolute abandonment of His will to the will of God, that being the only right He possesses.

In the last analysis the argument of the devil had been a presupposition that all man needed for his sustenance was food for his physical life. That unwarrantable assumption Christ answered by declaring that no man’s whole life can be fed by bread that perishes. He needs more, that his spirit shall be fed, and its strength sustained by feeding upon the word proceeding from the mouth of God, and its safety ensured by abiding within the will of God.

G. Campbell Morgan, The Crises of Christ (170-171).  The applauded philosophy was set forth well by Milton in Satan’s speech found in Book I of Paradise Lost:

Here at least
We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: [ 260 ]
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.

 

The Disciple at Play

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by in Deuteronomy, Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan

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The previous post in this series may be found here:https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/discipleship-includes-work/

Discipleship aims at conforming the human being to the image of Christ (Colossians 3:10).

It must, however, be remembered that, while in Christ I gain more blessings than my fathers lost, the very first business of the great scheme of redemption and instruction is the restoration of man to the Divine ideal of human life here. The man who most truly manifests the beauties of human life in all its bearings, most truly proves his progress toward and preparation for the glory that has not yet been revealed.

George Campbell Morgan. Discipleship. This conformity must extend to all areas of life. It cannot be denied that a human being needs both rest and work, labor and recreation:

It is equally true of a man who cannot play because his power to do so has become deadened by ceaseless toil. The power to laugh, to cease work, and frolic in forgetfulness of all the conflict, to make merry, is a Divine bestowment upon man, and its absence in any case is as sure a mark of the blighting effects of sin, as is the frothy life of the devotee of miscalled pleasure who never contributes anything to the work of his generation. This power is based upon the wisdom of God, and His knowledge of the needs of the creatures of His hand.

The wisdom of work and rest lies in the Fourth Commandment:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11.

God holds the blessing rest as a hope for this life. And thus the Mosaic command of rest pointed forward to the rest which is to come.

Now one may object, the command states that one must merely rest and to enjoy any festitivities. But such a cramped reading would exceed the Bible’s own teaching. Festivities were commanded under the Mosaic law; not merely in the ritual feasts but even in the tithe:

You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire-oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. Deuteronomy 14:22-27

The Lord himself attended wedding feasts and made wine (John 2:1-11). He was condemned for eating with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10-13). The great hope of the Christian is to attend a wedding reception–indeed, the Lord’s Supper points forward to this meal (Mark 14:25). There is no prohibition against joy, friendship, physical activity.

Therefore, the scope of discipleship must extend to this area of life. Morgan notes only the limitation that such recreation must not be destructive, debasing sinful with respect to myself or to others. However, Morgan does not lay out any particular regime for such recreation:

I have purposely avoided naming any forms of play save those that would be looked upon as legitimate in proper time and place by almost every Christian. This avoidance has been due to the fact that I very strongly desire in this, as in every detail of life, to throw the disciple upon the Master for direct guidance, and this because I am persuaded there is no other safe course, because there is no other unfailing and infallible authority. Jesus makes a specialty of every individuality, and He alone can do this. That which may be perfectly lawful and right for me may be a sin to my brother, and that which I dare not do at the risk of losing my spiritual force, he may find conducive to his highest advancement. Let each one seek the Lord’s direct pleasure, and be true to that, and there can be no mistake; but by following human examples, or making others the standard of what one may or may not do, one will be constantly liable to get into places of positive danger.

  • Discipleship Includes Work

    21 Saturday Sep 2013

    Posted by in Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, Worship

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    G. Campbell Morgan rightly noted that all human effort, common civil work is for the common good, the flourishing of humanity — and thus worthy of commendation. (https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/thank-god-for-the-garbage-man/) A great many Christians may be willing to admit that all proper human work is a good — and that no one task is “better” than another.

    Yet when it comes to the matter of discipleship, we something think that discipleship extends only to “spiritual” events. Without godliness, holiness must be present and developed in every Christian, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). However, we somehow fail to realize that if all of our life is under the lordship of Christ and all work has value, then discipleship must encompass our normal work.

    Thus, Morgan explains that a first step in discipleship must entail, What can I/should I do? Having undertaken an appropriate task (perhaps suggested by one who knows you well), the work was be learned and performed:

    “The disciple of Jesus, recognizing his calling in life as of God, cannot possibly treat it carelessly or with any measure of indifference. Every power of the will must be brought to bear on the application of the mind to the mastery of the subject in hand. A Christian carpenter will master the use of every tool, and lay himself out to embody in his work the very spirit of the Christ. A Christian doctor will leave no department of the great science neglected, or will devote himself with perfect consecration to that department for which God has given him the gift of a specialist. The great advantage of discipleship is to be found in the fact that if I recognize my calling as a Divine one, then I am sure that he who bestowed the gift understands it, and all my personal application to its mastery will be in the spirit of dependent prayer. Christian mechanics, tradesmen, professional men, should be the finest in the world, and would be, if they lived in the power of their relationship to Christ.”

    George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.” This is just as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

    Work thus becomes a great good and a matter of great spiritual and eternal importance. All one’s life becomes deliberately subsumed under the rubric of worship:

    “I do it, not as a means of livelihood first, but as part of God’s work, and so I become, down to the smallest detail of everyday life, “a worker together with Him.” Hold but that view of life’s work, and there can be no more “scamping” of work—no, not even to be in time for a prayer meeting.” This will then affect even how I understand my money.

    “No disciple of Jesus can amass a fortune simply for the sake of possession. He may be prosperous in his undertakings, but his prosperity must ever mean increased opportunity for Divine service. No disciple can oppress the hireling in his wages. That wage should be, not merely the measure of keeping his servant’s body and soul together, it should include provision for the culture of all that his being demands. A “living wage ” in the common acceptation of that term, is not the measure for a Christian paymaster.”

    In making these observations, Morgan rightly explains that discipleship must extend the conscious lordship of Jesus Christ over all one’s life. An all too common understanding of discipleship which extends only to “spiritual” matters fails to recognize the extent of worship, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the value of work and much if not most of the waking hours of a man or worman. Christ promised, in the Great Commission (which sets out the task of discipleship) to be with use always — even at work.

    The Realization of the Impossible

    10 Saturday Aug 2013

    Posted by in Discipleship, Faith, G. Campbell Morgan

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    “These are said to be impossible ideals for business life to-day. We reply that the very essence and genius of discipleship is the realization of the impossible. It is just because the Church of Jesus Christ has stood in the presence of His teaching and said “Impossible” that She has become so weak and forceless in all the affairs of this busy age. Let us have a few men and women again who, like the early disciples in Pentecostal days, believe in Jesus and in the eternal wisdom of all His teaching, and who are prepared to suffer the loss of all things rather than disobey, and the potency and possibility of His ideals will begin to dawn on the world again as it did in those days, breaking up dynasties, revolutionizing empires, and turning the world upside down.

    Nowhere is such work more needed than in the realm of commerce, and nowhere can we make better investment for the Master’s Kingdom to-day than by purifying rigidly that corner of the great realm which we touch.”

    George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.”

    Thank God for the Garbage Man

    30 Sunday Jun 2013

    Posted by in G. Campbell Morgan, Thankfulness

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    When we look at the work of others — whatever the work (as long as it something which can do others good) — we are looking upon a gift of God. The people at the store, those who tend to the electrical wires, those who sew clothes, make medicine, play instruments, tell stories, grow corn, fly planes, and so on — all of this great busy industry is itself a blessing from God:

    Recognizing the great truth of the solidarity of humanity, that each person is part of the whole, that the whole is incomplete in the incompleteness of any, it is evident that all the great and increasing needs of humanity for this life are provided for by God in the gifts He has bestowed, to every man severally as He will, His will ever being the well-being and happiness of the creature. Every ability to do something which will be for the support of the worker, and at the same time contribute to the legitimate needs of others, is a Divine gift, a Divine calling.

    Capacity for brain work, dexterity of fingers, are each and in every variety of application, Divinely bestowed. To dig—whether with spade, or plough, or shaft and machinery for metals—is a calling of God. To construct with wood, or stone, or iron, for permanence or locomotion, is a Divine gift. To see a vision and paint it, to hear music and translate it, to catch glimpses of truth and embody them in form poetic, these and all the thousands of various gifts bestowed upon men are from God.

    On every individual some gift is bestowed, save perchance upon those who, in these days of humanity’s sin and sorrow, are from their birth limited in their powers. Not only the preacher, but every man, has a calling of God, and the duty of each man to God, to the community, to himself, is to find that calling, and therein to abide.

    George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.” Now certainly there are those who use this great wonder of work for evil ends. But the misuse of the good does not deny the good exists. Imagine all the people without farmers and shoe makers and engineers. Look at a place where society and work has broken down — like a refugee camp. What a misery!

    And so I can say without any irony, Thank God for the garbage man!

    Discipleship in the Home (G. Campbell Morgan)

    27 Thursday Jun 2013

    Posted by in Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, Obedience

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    A disciple of Jesus must conform the entire life to the manner of Jesus. The Lordship of Christ dictates that his lordship extend to all areas of life:

    The New Authority stands in the forefront. The Teacher has claimed an absolute and unvarying supremacy over the life. That initial condition of discipleship now enters into every question, and from it there can be no deviation—no, not for a single moment. This authority is one that will set up the ideals of life, and declare the standard of action in all the larger and more important matters of the days, and in the most simple and trifling details of the passing moments.

    George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.”

    The failure to understand the life of the home as under the Lordship of Christ frustrates many Christians in their homes. When they look to commands for husbands and wives, parents and children, they see something to chafe and frustrate. It is easy to look to one’s own circumstance and think, “My wife/my husband — my child/my parent” — or even one’s work: “my boss/my employee” — does not deserve such courtesy, love, respect.

    Such sentiments are often true. Which husband or wife, parent or child, employee or employer deserves the respect and care the Lord commands. Such a concern misses the point of the command. The submission is owed to Christ; he is Lord and the obedience is due him. To look at the relationship and think, “X does not deserve such care” obscures the point.

    Indeed, to think of the relationship without reference to discipleship to Christ is to make the command a matter of the flesh and not the Spirit. Our goal in obedience is conformity to Christ.

    Transformation in Discipleship (G.Campbell Morgan, Discipleship)

    17 Monday Jun 2013

    Posted by in Biblical Counseling, G. Campbell Morgan, Hebrews, Obedience

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    Christ’s commissions the church to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that [Christ has] taught”. The discipleship process does not terminate in information but in observation:

     

    As we insisted at the outset, discipleship is not a condition for amassing information. Every doctrine has its issue in some clearly defined duty, every theory taught reveals a practical application and responsibility.

     

    G. Campbell Morgan, Discipleship.[1]

     

              While Christ uses the instrumentality of the church to teach (Ephesians 4:11-12), Christ also superintends the entire process.  He conveys information through those in the church and at the same time he controls the circumstances in which disciple learns and then takes knowledge to obedience,

     

    All the circumstances and surroundings of the disciples are in the hands of the SupremeLord who teaches, and these He manipulates and arranges for the purpose of the advancement and development of His own.

     

              This is a great comfort to us, for we know that all circumstances lie in Christ’s hands.  First, we know that we will not be overwhelmed in the midst of testing:

     

    No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

     

              Second, we know that the testing will work to our good, in that all circumstances must work to make us conformed to Christ — which is the end of all discipleship:

     

    28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

    29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:28-29.

     

    And so our entire life, from the remarkable to the mundane, becomes a school where the teaching of Christ meets experience and thus aims to conform us to Christ. Moreover, each circumstance comes as a gift specially presented for our discipleship.

     

              Third, we cannot even rightly know Jesus’ teaching without obedience:

    “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching” (John vii. 17).

    D.A. Carson explains:

     

    If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out.… The point is not that a seeker must attain a certain God-approved level of ethical achievement before venturing an assessment as to whether or not Jesus’ teaching comes from God, but that a seeker must be fundamentally committed to doing God’s will. This is a faith commitment.

     

    D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 312.

     

              Fourth, the instruction is progressive:

     

    This is so, because the teaching of Jesus is cumulative and progressive. To attempt to learn the lessons of to-morrow without knowledge of to-day’s would be the utmost folly. Just as no boy can intelligently do a problem in Euclid until he knows the definitions and accepts reasonably the axioms, and takes each successive step to the one in hand, so surely no disciple can possibly make progress in the truth of God, save as the first steps are taken. You cannot leave first principles and go on.

     

    At this point, Morgan does not provide Scriptural support (beyond the citation to John 7:17).  We do have the examples of Joseph, Moses, David where God takes consider years of experience before he brings them into service. Judges presents a cumulative example of the people of Israel not learning the lesson and thus regressing and become Canaanites themselves. Proverbs gives the example of insistent and continual instruction – however, it does not seem that a single lesson is presented to the exclusion of all else. The training is both comprehensive and repetitive.

     

              Morgan is certainly right that any training – due to the nature of being a human being – will entail a cumulative aspect.  I think it beyond dispute that God will not allow a lesson to pass without being learned. Moreover, the learning of Christ is both moral and intellectual – it requires an entire conformity of life. However, I do not know that can there cannot be growth in one place and not another.  Moreover, there is always some fitfulness in our learning. 

     

              Perhaps the strongest argument for Morgan’s position comes from Hebrews 5:14:

     

    14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:14 (ESV)

     

     

    [1]Thomas Watson makes this point in A Godly Man’s Picture, Section I:

    5. It is a TRANSFORMING knowledge

    “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18). As a painter looking at a face draws a face like it in the picture; so looking at Christ in the mirror of the gospel, we are changed into his likeness. We may look at other objects that are beautiful—yet not be made beautiful by them. A deformed face may look at beauty, and yet not be made beautiful. A wounded man may look at a surgeon, and yet not be healed. But this is the excellence of divine knowledge, that it gives us such a sight of Christ as makes us partake of his nature! Like Moses when he had seen God’s back parts, his face shone; some of the rays and beams of God’s glory fell on him.

    Personal Relationship Cannot be Maintained in Crowds

    27 Monday May 2013

    Posted by in Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan

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    Morgan makes a point which we too easily miss when we think through the true nature of discipleship. A disciple is one who has an intimate, personal relationship with a teacher. The Christian is called upon to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Thus all one’s efforts must be bent to fostering the disciples relationship with Christ. Moreover, the disciple (all of us) must possess and care for that relationship.

    Here is the rub: We too easily abstract the relationship with Jesus, reducing it to a matter of words — a bare abstraction. We can treat discipleship as one’s interaction with gravity — as if Jesus were a force and not a man. Or, we can easily act as if having once established the relationship, it cannot be moved. We would never think that a marriage can survive a spouse who never comes home after the marriage — and yet we may think that a relationship with Jesus will flourish with no attention:

    “Right Relationships With The Teacher Must Be Maintained. Failure to understand this is perhaps one of the subtlest dangers to which the disciple is exposed. The idea is common that at some set time, through some special season of blessing, one enters into right relationships with Him, and that therefore, through all the coming days, these relationships abide. It is absolutely false. There is nothing in all the realms of life more delicate, more easy to interfere with than these relationships. As the most tremendous forces of which man knows anything are set in operation by simplest methods, and may be hindered by means equally simple, so in relation to this greatest of all forces—the cleansing and illuminating force of contact with Jesus. By the simple method of cessation of activity I come into living contact with it, and by a moment’s self-assertion, I may hinder its working. Hence the need for living daily and hourly and every moment at the very place of beginnings, ever as a child depending upon Him, and ever as one of the weakest of those who love Him, abiding in Him.”

    George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.” The experience of any Christian proves this true: we know that our life will waver with the intimacy and attention of our relationship. We must “come to him” (1 Peter 2:4) if we will be transformed.

    Morgan explains that such a personal relationship must entail actual time with the Lord:

    “It is a glorious thing to know that my cleansing and illumination depend upon Him, and that the whole of my responsibility in this matter is marked by my maintaining personal relationship with Him. This, however, is inexorable. Daily personal personal communion there must be, and the means of such, study of His word, waiting upon Him in prayer, the cultivation of close fellowship, by telling Him everything—joys as well as sorrows—and the periods of silence in which the soul simply waits and listens in the stillness for His voice, these cannot be neglected without a film, a veil, a cloud, a darkness coming between the soul and Himself, and so hindering the possibility of advancement.”

    Morgan finishes the thought with the observation — which comes from The Lord himself –that such communion must entail a profound personal dimension (this a matter of much discussion throughout the history of the church; as for example Thomas Brooks’ work “The Privy Key of Heaven” concerning private prayer https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/?s=the+privy+key+of+heaven):

    All this specially needs emphasizing in an age, characterized by its rush and unrest, its loss of the old spirit of meditation and quiet, a characterization that applies to Christendom to-day as evidenced by over-organization, never ceasing rounds of societies, meetings, doings, and the lessening of the seasons of retirement and true worship. Personal relationship cannot be maintained in crowds. The Master and I alone, must be a perpetual need, and for its realization opportunity must be made. .