THE KING’S BUSINESS
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wont to utter this simple prayer in the early morning, before they begin their arduous and perilous labors : “Keep me, O my G od ! My boat is so small and Thine ocean is so great.” Melancthon said, “Trouble and perplex ity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.” Phillips Brooks said, “ Prayer is not con quering God’s reluctance, but taking hold o f God’s willingness.” Prevailing Prayer .—“ Prayer is the first breath o f divine life; it is the pulse o f the believing soul: By prayer, we draw water with joy from the wells, o f salvation; by prayer faith puts forth its energy, in appre hending the promised blessing, and receiv ing from the Redeemer’s fulness, in lean ing on His mighty arm, and making His name our strong tower and in overcoming the world, ,the flesh and the devil.”—T. Scott. Importunate P ra y er.S ‘Watch in prayer to see what cometh. Foolish boys that knock at a door in wantonness, will not stay till somebody cometh to open to them; but a man that hath business will knock, and knock again, till he gets> his answer. T o pray and not to look for an answer, argues either a mere formality in prayer, and that makes the prayer to be dead; or else unbelief as to the truth o f God, and that makes prayer to be corrupt. He who presents a check at the bank looks to have money for it.” “A good dog hunts by sight as long as he can see his game;: but when'that is loSt he hunts by scent. So in prayer, we are to pursue the blessing while we are encouraged to seek it, but we are not to cease when the liklihood o f success is gone. W e1’must hunt by a spiritual scent when t sight ■quite fails us” ( Spurgeon). A minister observing a man in the road breaking stones, and kneeling to get at his work better, remarked, “Ah, John, I wish I could break stony hearts as easy as you are breaking these stones.” “ Perhaps mas ter, you do not work.on your knees,” was the reply.
“ Farewell, farewell ! but this I tell T o thee, thou Wedding-guest! He prayeth well,, who loyeth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things, both great anji small, For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.” C. H. Spurgeon, the great English preacher, said, “ Sometimes a fog will set tle over a vessel’s deck and yet leave the topmast clear; then a sailor goes up aloft and gets a lookout which the helmsman on deck cannot get. -So prayer sends the soul a lo ft; lifts it above the clouds in which our selfishness and egotism befog us, and gives us a chance to see which way to steer.” Habit o f Prayer .—Stonewall Jackson said, “ I have so fixed the habit in my own lifte, that I never raise a glass o f water to my lips without a moment’s asking o f God’s blessing. I never seal a letter without put ting a word o f prayer under the seal. I never take a letter from the post without a brief sending o f my thoughts heaven ward. I never change my classes, in the section-room without a minute’s petition on the cadets who go out and those who come in.” ‘‘And don’t you sometimes forget this?” “ I think I can say that I, scarcely ever do. The habit has beeome almost as fixed as my breathing.” Definite Prayer .—The story is told o f a Scotch woman who asked the pastor to pray for her dying child. True to his old instincts, the good man knelt down and went on in (the well-worn track as he was wont to do in the Kirk prayer-meeting. At last he repeated a quotation, “Lord, remember Thine ancient people,” etc. The mother’s heart could hold in no longer, “Eh, mon,” the woman broke forth impetuously, “you are drawn out. for the Jews, but it’s our bairn that’s a deein’.” Then, clasping her hands, ,she cried, “ Oh, help us Lord, and give our darling back to us, if it 1 be Thy will.” It is said the fishermen o f Brittany are
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