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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
v. 1. Always pray. When a pump is frequently used, the w ater pours out at th e first stroke because it is high, but if th e pump has not been used, for a long time, th e w ater COMMENTS PROM gets low and when MANY SOURCES you want it you K eith Ii. Brooks must pump and p r i m e a long while. Thus it is w ith prayer.—Neil. Not fain t. Some cease to ask and call it submission to the will of God when really it is sp iritu al laziness.—-Torrey. Why m ust God’s elect so often in the m idst of suffering and conflict cry day and night? The child so often wants to pick th e h alf ripe fruit. The husband man knows to w ait un til th e proper time. I t is the F ather, in whose hands are the times and seasons, who alone knows th e moment when th e soul is rip ened to th a t fullness of faith in which it can really take and keep th e blessing. —Murray. ' v. 2. Judg e which feared n o t God. Even an u n ju st and abandoned judge g ran ts a ju st petition a t last, out of base motives, to a defenseless person for whom he' cares nothing. How much more shall a ju st and merciful God hear th e cry and avenge the cause of those whom He loves.— F arra r. v. 3. Avenge me of m ine adversary. This wonderfully expresses the relation in which we stand to the evil of which we are conscious as m ightily working w ithin us— th a t it is an alien power th a t keeps us in bondage. This is the same petition we make daily when we say, “Deliver us from the evil one.”— Butler Bible Work. V. 4. Would n o t fo r awhile. P a rt of th e teaching here is th a t God often seems to man to be acting as this un ju st judge, to be tu rn ing a deaf ear to the prayer of His people. Even th e elect are im patient under suffering and afflic tion. The parable is intended to meet th is very difficulty and temptation. If a bad man will yield to the mere force of im portunity which he hates, how much more certainly will a righteous God be prevailed on by the faithful prayer which He loves!— Trench. v. 5. I will avenge h er. P rayer to God does not change Him but fits us to receive ,the things prayed for.— Stilling- fleet. P rayer is not (as in the illu stra tion) conquering God’s reluctance but tak ing hold upon God’s w illingness__ Phillips Brooks. Thè teaching is th a t ard en t prayer opens heaven.—Young.
P ersisten t prayer moves the hand th a t moves the world.—Wallace. vs. 7-8. W ill avenge th em speedily. He may be slack in avenging His people, “as men count slackness,” as compared w ith th e ir impatience, bu t He will avenge them speedily, not leaving them a moment longer in the fire of affliction th an is needful.^—Trench. v. 10. Two men w ent to pray. Or rath e r, one went to brag, the other to pray.— Crayshaw. v. 11. Pharisee prayed th u s w ith him self. It seems to imply th a t he stood by himself to avoid the contam inating contact of th e people of the earth .— Camb. Bible. The prayer was less ad dressed to God th an to himself. It was more soliloquy in his own praise, and it was, in equal parts, adulation of him self and slander of others.— Maclaren. I th a n k thee. His prayer is not prayer a t all, not even a thanksgiving, only a boast.— Sel. I am n o t as o thers. The only tim e th a t we may th a n k God for not being as others is when we a ttrib u te the contrast to His grace (1 Tim. 1:12- 14). Let it never be forgotten th a t those who will be justified and stand accepted before God are they who are nothing in th e ir own estimate.—Meyer. There was no confession of sin any where in the prayer. There was no real thanksgiving. His pretended th an k s giving was really laudation of self.— Torrey. ' This publican. He was peek ing around for a d ark background to set off his own shining virtues.—-McNeill. v. 12. I fast. I give. Such a self- satisfied gentlem an had no need to ask for anything. He offered no petitions. —Maclaren. The fact th a t he does not say a word about his sins shows how low was his standard. He was clothed w ith phylacteries and fringes bu t not hum ility.— Camb. Bible. Some make prayer a pretext to parade th e ir own v irtu e sS -S e l. v. 13. P ublican standing a fa r off. As unworthy to draw near, bu t th a t is the tru e way to g et near (Ps. 34:18; Isa. 5 7 :15 ).— J., F. & B. Smote upon h is b reast. He sm ites upon his breast as conscious of th e pollutions which lodged th ere; alleges nothing in his own be h alf; feels no refuge and seeks no com fo rt except in th e mercy of a forgiving God. He casts himself entirely on this saving, th is only supporting attrib u te.— Stanhope. God be merciful, “ Be pro pitiated ,” a very unusual word in such a sense, only once else used in th e New Testament in the sense of making recon-
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