The New York herald., 1872-12-16
CHURCH OF THE PURITANs.

The Efficacy OF Prayer-It IL Not nm Ex.
pertinent, but the Law and Necessity
OF Spiritual Life-SermOn by the Rev.
DE-. Cheever.
The Rev. DR.. Cheever delivered a discourse last
evening in the chapel OF the University, Washing
ton square, on the subject prayer not an experi-
ment, but the law and necessity Of spiritual lfe."
In the opening exercises the reverend gentle
man demonstrated his belief in the efficacy OF
prayer by long and fervent petition, in which the
judgments and mercies OF God as shown toward
this city were eloquently referred to. He took for
his text Luke XII, 1-"And 1t came to pass that
as he was praying in certain place, when he
ceased one OF his disciples said unto him, LORD,
teach us to pray as John also taught his discpes'"
He said John, when he began to teach men to
work out their OWE salvation made 1t popularity
ofhis teaching his disciples to pray. And when this
was observed Of Jesus. his disciples sad "Behold,
he prayeth."
In answering the question OF His followers, Jesus
began with "Our Father" which Is
TIE STARTING POINT OF cHILDLIKE FAITH
holds towards US a parental relation, and is the
starting point OF all prayer and the base OF pure
religion. The first constituent OF prayer is
realization or our dependency on God. The
speaker then proceeded to demonstrate the alb
surdity of pretending to believe in prayer on
praying 1t is as impossible to know God without
throwing our souls upon Him as 1t is for person
10 TEST LIS power 10 SWIM WlCnOuI going lnto tue
water. The soul that desires prayer Is on the
CERTAIN ROAD TO ATHEISM,
disuse OF II parayzes the faith as the limb OF the
HindoO Fakir Is paralyZed by constantly retaining
1t in one position. He then proceeded to analyZe
the answer OF Jesus and showed that by every
petition the suppliant who prayed in faith and
sincerity gained to himself the benefits desired.
In asking forgiveness commensurate with his
own forgiveness OF his enemies, he struggled to-
ward that love for his kind which Is an essen
tial to goodness He was particularly severe toward
the recently proposed experiment to test the EN-
Of old, who demanded q sign God loved to be
tempted by faith, not by unbelief He showed the
benevolent nature of God, and in referring to
THE ADVANCED PHILOSOPHY
so called, concerning which SO much is said and
written at the present day, he charactetzed It as
prayer to that benevolence in the Godnead to
which our appeals are made. He re-
ferred to the argument so often used in
reference to the immutable laws of nature and
to Increase the amount OF rain upon his land of
raise one bushel OF grain more, it certainly made
the man better, higher and holier. He was par
ticularly severe on that philosophy which takes
away, or strives to do so, the idea OF our depen.
dence on God and leaves MS alone the creature of
reference to
ANSWER TO PRAYER.
he said God does this in His own way and
as He thinks for the best. Our souls are all dis
eased and the Great Physician prescrbes His own
remedies and In his own way. But He will answer
prayer as is best for us. He then descanted to
some extent on the proper spirit to be cultivated
In prayer, and urged that all experiments should
be made in the light OF faith and not OF defiance.
Prayer is the confession OF God before men, and
men him viii l confess before My Father which
Is in heaven.n