The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. How the Church of Christ, and the spiritual life of thousands of its members, suffers from the root disease; the neglect of secret intercourse with God. It is the lack of secret prayer, the neglect of the maintenance of that hidden life rooted in Christ, rooted and grounded in love, that explains the feebleness of the Christian life to resist the world, and its failure to bring forth fruit abundantly. Nothing can change this but the restoration, in the life of the believer, of the inner chamber to the place which Christ meant it to have. As Christians learn, instead of trusting their own efforts, what it is daily to strike their roots deeper into Christ, and to make the secret personal fellowship with God their chief care, true godliness will flourish. If the root be holy, so are the branches. If the morning hour be holy to the Lord, the day with its duties will be so too. If the root be healthy, so are the branches.

How the Church of Christ, and the spiritual life of thousands of its members, suffers from the root disease; the neglect of secret intercourse with God. It is the lack of secret prayer, the neglect of the maintenance of that hidden life rooted in Christ, rooted and grounded in love, that explains the feebleness of the Christian life to resist the world, and its failure to bring forth fruit abundantly. Nothing can change this but the restoration, in the life of the believer, of the inner chamber to the place which Christ meant it to have. As Christians learn, instead of trusting their own efforts, what it is daily to strike their roots deeper into Christ, and to make the secret personal fellowship with God their chief care, true godliness will flourish. If the root be holy, so are the branches. If the morning hour be holy to the Lord, the day with its duties will be so too. If the root be healthy, so are the branches.