And the inference to be drawn, the lesson to be learnt from it, is, I
think, sufficiently obvious.

This secret separate devotional exercise of the soul was His habitual
spiritual food.

It was thus that He recruited His moral and spiritual forces, those
forces of the spiritual life which constitute at once the beauty, the
attraction, the power of His character, and His divine and awe-inspiring
separateness.

And as we read and consider, the thought must surely be pressed upon us
that if He needed these exercises, these secret and silent hours, what
shall we say of our own lives?

And what do we expect to make of our moral and spiritual character unless
we too are careful to cherish under all circumstances some such recurring
moments in our round of life and occupation, at which we retire into the
sanctuary of separate communion with God the Father?

You may take it as a moral certainty, proved by all experience, that
unless you hold to a fixed habit of thus bringing your life into the
secret and separate presence of God, in private prayer and thought, you
incur the risk of sinking to any levels that happen to be the ordinary
levels, and of drifting with any currents that happen to prevail.

If we turn now from this to the other text--that which refers to His
customary attendance on public prayer and at the common meeting--"He
went, as His custom was, into the synagogue"--the questions suggested are
very pertinent and practical.