1. The truths that we profess to believe are in their nature such as can only be vividly realised by such an exercise. They are all matters of faith, not of sense. God is a spirit, and is felt near by none but still and waiting spirits. Our religion has to do with the Unseen, the Solemn, the Profound, the Remote. These are not to be fully felt hastily. They are like mountains that grow on us as we gaze, like a fair scene that we must be alone in, rightly to feel. They must be allowed to saturate the soul. The eye must be slowly accustomed to the light.
2. The pressure of the world can only be resisted by such an exercise.
Our business as Christians is to keep ourselves free from it.
3. The tone and balance of our own minds can only be preserved and restored thus. Solitude is the mother-country of the strong. I was left alone, and I saw this great vision.' We get hot and fevered, interested and absorbed, and we need solitude as a counterpoise.
4. What is the connection of this with other kinds of worship and with our life's work?
It has a function of its own.
These cannot be substituted for it--public worship, reading Christian books, bring a different class of feelings altogether into play.
They are not to be excluded by it. They find their true foundation in it. A tree's branches stretch to the same circumference as its roots.
5. What is the special need of this precept for this age?
It is neglected in our modern life. The evils of our modern Christianity, the low tone of religion, the small grasp of Christian truth, the irreligious cast of religious work,
The thought of being alone with God will be a joy--or a terror.
