PRAYER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1900, Page 2

PRAYER.

Preaching- at Mt. Eden Wesleyan Church on the wards, "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," the. Rev. J. G. Chapman said, "In all true prayer there is progressThe exercise of prayer is like a mountaiti*climb fresh and bracing;"

There are three successive heights in prayer. Look at them in order. "Ask." That is pras-er in its simplest form. To ask presupposes need. Prayer is built on need. The strontrest bond that binds man to God is his dependence. In yonr home what is it that prevails most with you? It is not

the boisterous strength of some child that clamours for its own way, but the helplessness of the little cripple that lies in the bed. As the little helpless one looks up to you there is more that touches your heart in its mute appeal of need than in all the strength of the other. Need is prayer's argument.

Weelc ana ye snail n,nu. inui is the next mountain peak. Prayer is not all getting, it is doing as well. We must preserve the balance between words and deeds. Make advances along- the line of answering your own prayers. Never pray for rain with your tub bottom upwards. Expectant prayer makes preparation. To seek is more than to ask, it implies active exertion, God helps those who help themselves. And nothing is more necessary to day in the exercise of prayer than the combination of doing with asking. I have a secret thought that many of our prayers could be better answered by ourselves than by God. A merchant prince, who was a godly man, was praying one morning at family devotions, "Oh God, the heathe- field- is white unto harvest, send more labourers into the held to reap the precious souls." "Father," said his little girl when the devotions were ended, "Father—if I had your bankbook I think I could answer your prayer for you." Who could better answer that'prayer, the man himself or God? Does God drop missionaries out of heaven upon the heathen field? Have done with the hypocrisy of praying, "Thy kingdom come," when jwu never put forth an effort to bring about that consummation. Home of you have nsketl (iod for the salvation of your children. Go a step further and seek their salvation and "you shall find." It's man's peculiar dignity that he can go out in search after divine things. Low life can only receive. It is marked by large capacity for receiving. High life can act. It is marked by large faculty for searching. The Christian is not to take the blessings that come in his way merely, he is to | search for the best God has to bestow. This is God's great plan of education. He gives us a little then draws out our souls in pure desire after more. This : plan runs through all life. We fire: educated by searching. The great things of (iod are hidden, you must i search for them. He buries his dia- ' mentis in the earth, His pearls in the I sea, His secrets are hidden in t.hwinds, and His mysteries in the stars. The searching for these is God's method of education. Keeking is more than asking, because it ensures deiiniteness in prayer. You see we are after a definite thing. If you want \

It's man's peculiar dignity that he can go out in search after divine things. Low life can only receive. It is marked by large capacity for receiving. High life can act. It is marked by large faculty for searching. The Christian is not' to take the blessings that come in his way merely, he is to search for the best God has to bestow. This is God's great plan of education. He gives us a little then draws out our souls in pure desire after more. This plan runs through till life. We are educated by searching. The great things of God are hidden, you must search for them. He buries his diamonds in the earth, His pearls in the sea, His secrets are hidden in tlm winds, and His mysteries in the stars. The searching for these is God's method of education. Keeking is more than asking, because it ensures cleiiniteness in prayer. You see we are after a definite thing. If you want Jiomething irom God, narrow your prayer down to that one object. Some people aim at nothing in their prayers and they always hit it. We wish the Boers were like this in their shooting.

"Knock and it shall be opened." In the progress of prayer this means fulfilment. You have arrived at the door of God's treasury. Knock and it shall be opened. We began with need, we end with satisfaction.

The child of God starts life with a cry—a cry of need, the need is met by God's wise provision. He grows, pitts on strength, develops new faculties with larger aspirations. He seeks their satisfaction till at length bathed in the fulness of divine blessing he stands in all the glory of finished maturity. To pray and to grow must always go together, for prayer is the oxygen of the soul.