“FAITH SANCTUARY.”
BY CARRIE F. JUDD
And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an
offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my
offering. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them – Ex. xxv:1,2,8
This name has been given to
the consecrated apartment in which our Thursday evening faith-meetings are
held, and some of our dear readers may be interested to learn something of its history.
Owing to serve and almost
continuous illness in our family, as well as to the fact that our other
apartments afforded ample convenience and comfort, it had remained for several
years an unfurnished unoccupied room, and we little dreamed then that the
Master was reserving it for His own use and to answer a holy and blessed
purpose.
During the weary months and
years of my own illness, when the painful nature of my disease forbade unnecessary
foot-fall within my hearing, this room, from its location directly below me,
shared in the exclusion and silence of the one in which suffering and
helplessness held me a prisoner.
After our miraculous deliverance
from the bondage, which, though […] and severe, had proved a blessed education
for each member of our household, we were enabled by God’s grace, to make a
joyful and free consecration of ourselves and our earthly possessions, and to glorify
God in our spirits and our bodies which are his.
About this time my dear mother’s attention
was called to an article in The Living
Church, in which Rev. Dr. Bolles suggested to fellow-Christians the idea of
setting apart one room in their houses, as especially consecrated to the use of
prayer, whither they could repair in hallowed privacy and pray to their Father
in secret. This suggestion found a ready response in our hearts, and to
this sweet and hallowed use we with one accord, appropriated our unfurnished
parlor, thankful that it was pleasantest apartment in the house which had thus
been “kept for the Master’s use.”
During the summer our little sanctuary was furnished,
not in any style of severe solemnity, but with reference to a home-like beauty
and graceful simplicity, which would make us feel that this hallowed spot was
indeed a part of our home, and that our Lord, in an especial manner, had taken
up His abode within our humble dwelling. A Christian brother once said to me,
as we reverently crossed the threshold of the sweetly quiet place, “I am glad
that you have made this a pleasant
room.”
When all had been made ready, a few dear
Christian friends met with us one quiet summer evening, for a season of prayer
and praise, and our Faith Sanctuary was thus, informally, dedicated to the
Lord. We did not, at first, intend to use the apartment for any general
prayer-meetings, but as requests for special gatherings grew more frequent, we
recognized the need of instituting our weekly faith-meetings, and these have
increased in interest and power, until God’s blessing, their influence is
widely extended.
Marvelous tokens of our Lord’s favor have we received
at His hand, and mighty works have been wrought among us in answer to believing
prayer. Our hearts overflow with thankfulness to Him, that He has, in His
infinite condescension, manifested His presence in our midst, and caused His glorious
Epiphany to shine upon our waiting eyes.
“Now, therefore, our God, we thank Thee and
praise Thy glorious name,… for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have
we given Thee.” – 1 Chron. xxix: 13,14.
