SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9271, 5 August 1893, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

A LI IT'I OK FAITH. [BY Jill. I'ROST, OK TORONTO.] My desire, in the portion of time that shall be given mc, is to speak to you in reference to prayer, as especially relating to those cases of appealing to the Holy Spirit, and as illustrated ijy some of the precious experiences which we ourselves have had in our own country in connection with the work of the China Inland Mission WHAT IS I'KAYKK? I once hear:l a definition given to it. which I thought very beautiful and very helpful. Flayer, it was said, was " the attitude of the needy, helpless soul, whose only refuge was in God.'' 1 like the idea of the " attitude of the soul." Oil, how blessed it is to know that we have not to be in any particular posture ! We maybe bended upon our knees, having glorious fellowship with the Lord in prayer. We may be also in the street walking, and having the same blessed fellowship. It is the turning of the soul to God—the needy and the helpless soul. If there is no consciousness of the need, no consciousness of the helplessness, there will be no turning to the loving God. Hut perhaps we can give a somewhat more spiritual definition of prayer than that. That covets only part of the ground. Flayer, I would say, if I understand the term on reading God's Word, is a petition addressed to God the Father, in the name of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. I would not, dear fiiends, have you understand by that, that wo are never to pray to the Lord -Jesus Christ. You remember in the passage ot Isaiah that the Prince of Peace is also

Tin; KVt;it)>ASTINO K.vrnKit; and when you and 1 address our prayers to the great Redeemer of souls on high, you and 1 will not be very far apart from God the Father. At the same time, 1 think that the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us the larger measure of truth itself, which is that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth t-o reveal the Father, and perhaps nowhere more fully and more blessedly than in this matter of prayer. 1 do not know how it is with your own experience, dear friends, but to me that has been a very,

VI.HV J'KKt'lors RKVKI.ATION. There was a time in my life when I knew nothing at all, if I may so speak, about the wonderful heritage which the Lord Jesus Christ had given me in giving the Father in heaven ; and one of the sweetest things in my life that has conic to me is just t his—that Christ is teaching me more and more what it is for a Father to have such a Son, and to have such a Father over such a Souship. I remember once in my life when 1 realised that truth as never before. In Toronto, in connection with the mission there, we had come very low down in our funds. The money, which had been before sufficient, was going very rapidly; and when we looked at the bank account, and the large family in the missionary home, and calculated how long the funds would last, ami how the days were passing—there were no free-will oilerings then—a very heavy burden settled on my own shoulders. lam not very well fitted for burden-bearing, either physically or mentally, and 1 thought that a hard time. One day, on going up the long llight of stairs, 1 was thinking how long the money would last; and when I opened the oliice door, I took up a little scriptural calendar in order to come to the text, of the day. 1 came across the words, " Your Father knowetii," and they seemed to stand out in letters of love, and they really did ; for the Holy Spirit made known to me in that way what it w as to have a Father in heaven.

Willi UK WAS Til K I'.U KDKN THKN"? It was not on my shoulders, dear friends. In a moment of time those pierced hands which had been lifted up into the skies laid the burden upon the strong shoulders which bear the kingdom. Well, what about the missionary family? That was a number of years ago, and some of them are in China, and one is heie. and we are all prospering very well indeed, under the loving ire of the loving Father.

I remember another experience in my life somewhat similar to this. 1 speak once more of my physical need, and may it only testify that lie who is so willing to supply the physical needs, the lesser gift, is more willing to supply our spiritual needs, the greater and the better gilt. We had not only come to the place where we could see the end of our money, but we had come to the place where we could see 110 money at all, and the missionary work was quite as large as when we possessed a banking account. It is a very blessed state, just living from hand to mouth, with His hand supplying your mouth. It is blessed sometimes to come down to the rocky bottom, and have

NOTMI N(i HKTWKKN VHP AND THE HOCK, and just stand there upon that rock of Jesus. We had not only come to the end of our funds, we had almost come to the end of our food. It was Chinese food—rice and tea — which we did not mind, being engaged in Chinese work. Having little food, there was only one thing to do. The breakfast passed, but the dinner-time had come, and the good wife was thinking how she could make a little satisfy the many, but the Lord had His own way. There was a ring at the door, and when the Swedish yirl went to the door, a gentleman, who had been out hunting, and who knew nothing of our condition, handed to the servant some partridges which he had secured, and said : " Please give these to Mistress Frost, and tell her to use them soon, tor they will not keep." Dear friends, you may depend upon it; they never spoilt. We had them that day for dinner— in time.

Then in the next place we are not only to become conscious that this Father-will hear and answer prayer, but also

TO COMIC IN TUB NAM 10 OK JESUS CHRIST, and come in that Name conscious that the Father who is the Son's Father will hear and will answer. In the 11th chapter of the (iospel of John and the 1-Kh verse it is said : "If ye shall ask anything in My Name, 1 will do it."

Most of lis have a habit of closing our prayers with the words, " for the sake of.'' It may be well to understand something of the difference that there is between saying for "the sake of" and "in the Name of" Christ. Suppose, for instance, you have a debt; I trust you have not and never will. But suppose you had a debt, and suppose a good friend, who was not only kind but wealthy, were to say to you, " Dear friend, if you cannot pay that debt yourself, I will stand by youand supposing at last you count upon that friendship, and, knowing where that friend has his banking account, go right straight to the bank and stand before the cashier and say you want £50. The clerk looks at you from head to foot. Perhaps he does not answer you immediately, and, thinking perhaps you are not altogether right, he says, " Who are you?" You say, " 1 am nobody ; 1 am asking lor this money on account of Mr. So and-So," and you tell the clerk you reckoned upon £50. The clerk shakes his head again ami says, " I am sorry I cannot give it to you," and you go out of the bank sadly. You relied upon the friendship, but find it was no good. But you meet your friend in the street and tell him you nave been to the bank, and they would not give you the money. Your friend says if they had he would have changed his banking account very soon, but that he will make it all right. He goes to his house and writes upon a piece of paper, signing his name in the lower corner. 'J hen you go to the same man and present it at the counter of the bank. The clerk never looks at you then. His eye is upon the cheque and upon the name at the bottom, and very rapidly he pays out the £50.

WHAT HAS MADE THIS DIFFERENCE? In the first instance, you were asking " for the sake of," and in the second place you were asking " in the name of" the man who had the money deposited there.

I I remember the first time the Lord be-an .to teach me the meaning of this. Mr. Taylor , had been in the country. God had taken away all my private means, and made mc to realise the wonderful blessing in having, as I said before, a bather in heaven, and in giving metal) to go away and begin this work. You can easily understaudthat, having planted a mission home and invited lifteeen candidates, that .t.>o .lid not lust, very Ion". No. body seemed to think that the people had to live, as well as the missionaries in China One was forced to remind the Father that the children of J oronto wanted bread as well as the people in China, and I remember going on my knees, and asking for some funds. i had been praying with Mr. Taylor and I saw- how God answered ids prayers.' 1 wished .Mr. layhir was there, .so that he could ask, and we should he supplied. But he was far away on the Pacific, going as fast as he could towards China. J was reminded that when Mr. Taylor ended his prayer lie asked in the name of .Jesus Christ, and the Lord suddenly gave me to see that 'that w.r, the reason why Mr. Taylor was so often heard at the throne of grace.

1 began to mention "the Name of Christ," also, and as I began to pray with great faithfulness for the little mission, I began to have rest, and heart. A few days passed, and 1 received a letter from a friend 100 mi!"* awaya short letter enclosing a chcijno for over £100, and in it he said, " You can use it, for anything you choose." Hut now, dear friends, such was my faithlessness that. I wrote hick and asked him if he meant what, he really said. I was so surprised when 1 saw my prayer answered that i asked that, question, and the reply came back— Yes, I meant what 1 said." And why had that money come in ?

OH, IT WAS I'Olt .) KNI'S CHRIST, and bceaiise His Name was mentioned

May 1 give ou another storv which illustrates the same truth? We had come to the end of the month, and the preceding month would bring about, the rent, which was to lie paid mion the first day of the following month. We had .'..me to Saturday, and tin rent was to be paid on Monday. We had in hand just twenty dollars, and the rent was thirty-five, so tint we wanted fifteen dollars. I*lie Lord has been teaching me one lesson at least" — not to ask tor mote than you need. I think if it had been a year he. fore I would have asked for a hundred dollars, so as to be sure of getting the fifteen dollars. Hut we had only need or tin: fifteen dollars. I here was food enough in the house, so we were just asking Cod for fifteen dollars. Saturday passed, without, any money coming in, and as we did not. expect to receive any money on Sunday, we just received what we expected—nothing. Monday came. I'lie Lord awoke me very early, 1 remember J was up early, asking the Lord for the fifteen dollars, and oh what a time of conflict it was. Sarin .seemed to draw near, and to cast his sable shroud over m, , just to envelop me in darkness, and to whisper something like this; " Are v.mi not tired of this experience ? Are you going on in such a life ? Is this the way you air !e-t..,| and threatened? Had you not better into the old business life?" Satan he-,in la whisper something like this: " You cannot go on til us. The money may come next \w.-k or next month, but you can hardly expect fifteen dollars will just come on the very dav you need it.'' Hut, dear friends, where Satai: is, in flu; life of God's dear children.

CHRIST IS KVKR IN Til MIIM' OK I'll '.T

DARKNESS. Light had dawned, ami why not': Our consciousness was that the tittcum dollars would come. If, was Lest to leave it in tin hand of one's Master. At breakfast time wo were asking for the fifteen dollars in the Name of Christ. Suddenly the Lord, in inn midst of the asking, by His Spirit seemed to give me such an assurance of the answer that J could ask 110 longer. A little Inter, the maid in the house handed me a letter which had come. On my way to the ofii' e J opened it, and saw at once there was a cheijue inside. Reading the letter, ] saw it was for our general fund, The friend hid not known our need, and immediately th". thought was in my mind— the cheque is sufficient our debt is paid. I looked -it, th» cheque, and there—oil, thanks lie to God : • was the I of tile l"i dollars --right in front oi it the 0 of the 1.1 —only, (iod had just added "(I ' to it and made it I'd) dollars instead ■.f ]."> dollars. Jt seemed to me the Lord showed He could not only supply our need accord ing to His knowledge of it, hut that win it He opened His hand He opened it fully, and satisfied tile desire of every living tiling. When I got to the olliee 1 received a double answer to the prayer. J received only one letter. It was dropped l>y the hand o; i stranger, as the address was incorrect. Going upstairs, I opened the door. There was 110 letter inside, hut a white piece of paper without writing, and inside the paper three five-dollar bills—our fifteen dollars over again; ami it seemed to me that second answer was given only for this—that we might understand that God cannot only fully supply above all our asking and thinking, but. that He knew our need to the very fraction of a penny, and could supply accordingly. Lastly, in the power of the Holy Spirit, let us just refer to the passage Romans viii. •JO : —Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what wi should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself inaketh intercession for us with groan ings which cannot be uttered." 'JTtli verse " And He that searcheth the hearts knowetl' what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makclh intercession for the saints according to the. will of God. And so, filled with that Holy Spirit, taught by that Holy Spirit, having fellowship with Christ with tint Holy Spirit, and with fellowship getting to know more anil more what Christ does not like on the one hand, and what He likes on the other, in the power of the Spirit we are brought more and more to ask. Jll reference to the filling of the Holy Spirit, is there any gift that lie longs to give with greater longing than this '! Surely.no! for it is His own gift, and the best of gifts. So, let us ask the Father, in the Name of Christ—for it is the Christian glory that we should reflect the power of the Spirit—that we may be tilled to overflowing ; ami you will see if the prayer is not answered. The Lord teach us to pray for His Name's sake.

NEVER SORRY. Wo shall never lie sorry for love ! for the words that ire patient anil sweet; For til" words repressed, For the anger utiguessetl, (•'or the grace thai is swift to entreat. We shall never he sorry for hope That, heartened the weak and the tried, That made them the bolder to cope Willi the evil one close to their side ; For the pity we've show 11 To the souls that alone Were stemming some tierce, rushing tide. We shall never he sorry for care To the old or the little ones given, Nor ever regret the swift prayer That went to our Father in Heaven, For meekness and cheer When the outlook was drear, For faith when our courage was riven. In the time of our fulness and thrift, lire the time of our ilole and our loss, Let '.he angels w ho guard us uplift. A voice against cleaving to dross. J.et us hear it ami heed it, lest all unaware We waken some day to the gloom of despair. MAKI>AIIET K. NA.M,MLI>