Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-20
[Origirlnl.]
PRAYER,

The simple definition OF prayer, IS asking
God for those things which we need. Usu'
ally, it is made to embrace more than this
Confession of sin, and acknowledgement Of
past merces, may, with propriety, be intro.
duced into the exercise which we call prayer
For, although not prayer in the strict sense
Of the word, still from law of our nature, il
is almost impossible for us to pray devoutly
without humbly confessing our sins and sin.
cerely thanking God for the many blessings
we have received from him.
Evidently it is the duty of all men to pray
The Scriptures enjoin this, and it is in perfect
harmony with the dictates of reason. a
large amount of the blessings which are with.
in the reach of men, are suspended upon the
condition of asking God for them. In other
words, God promises, or proposes, to do many
things for US upon the condition that we ask
him to do them. Many individuals who seem
to think that the world is governed by chance,
inconsistenty say that it is useless to pray,
because Gods purposes are fixed and un'
changeable. 1t is true that Gods purposes
are like himself, the same yesterday, to-day,
and forever; but this is the very reason why
all men should pray. 1t is the purpose of
God that there will be summer and winter,
cold and heat, seed time and harvest while
the world lasts. 1t is the purpose of God to
open his hand, and ont of his inexhaustible
stores, supply the wants of everything that
lives. This is the decree that has gone forth
from him, and it will be executed to the very
letter. Still man must labor and toll. He
must prepare and plant, cultivate the grow,
ing crop, gather the harvest and storeit away
in barns. He must do all this, as if the
whole depended upon his individual effort
1t is the purpose of God to feed all his
creatures; but it is also the purpose Of God
that man shall eat his bread in the sweat Of
his face The man who would say that since
it is the purpose of God to feed him, there.
fore he will fold his arms in idleness, would
give infallible signs of insanity. Just so it is
with prayer, it is work upon which is sus'
pended many of the common blessings Of life,
and all the blessings of grace. No man will
ever enter heaven who neglects or refuses to
ask God to save him in heaven through the
crucifed Saviour. "Ask and ye shall re.
ceive," and we may safely conclude that those
who do not ask shall not receive.
Prayer indicates heart right with God
and the neglect of prayer shows that the heart
is cold and indifferent about the present NOR
al condition and the eternal destiny of the
immortal soul. That individual who con.
stantly negects to pray, is in the same condi-
ton, morally, that the man is naturally, who
neglects from day to day to engage in any
kind of labor by which to secure livelihood.
Both are lazy, and court dangers and Difficult
ties. The latter invites poverty and disease
of the body; the latter of the soul. The hand
Of the dilligent maketh rich, and the idler's
poverty will come upon him like an armed
man. Multitudes of the human family are
hungry and ragged because they will not
work, and countless multitudes Of our race
will never enter into the kingdom of heaven
because they will not pray to God to save
them. The laboring man is generally honest,
and the idler is usually dishonest the pray
ing man is generally pious, and the prayerless
man is usually without grace.