The New York herald., 1875-09-13
FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.
DISCOURSE ON THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL

PRAYER
The cool weather has not yet brought back all the
summer tourists and DR.. Armitages usually well filled
church had rather scanty attendance yesterday The
reverend divine chose his text from Matthew, vii, Z
and s-"Ask, and it shall be given you," &c He went
on to say that to ask seek and to knock are all
Christian acts, receive, TO find and open all
divine benefactions following those acts but there
implied conditions upon which these benefactons
dispensed. There such things asking and recev-
ing not, because We ask amss. These consd-
erations compel ono to an analysis Of sue
cessfu prayer. Nothing is clearer than that vast
amount of prayer is unanswered and remains forever
unanswered Sometimes God prayers by
refusing them because He knows that granting them
would be a curse, and He won't curse. Sometimes we
offer prayer that has sort Of meaning and nothing
earth would surprise and confound us much to
have them answered Sometimes we are at a loss to
account for the fact that prayer is not answered. and it
is because we have wrong impression of this passage
and other similar This text is of itself an un-
equivoca assertion and many minds have endured sore
trial because it seems to have failed ASK and ye
shall receive" They have asked and have not re-
ceved. Such persons should stop to consider
that the text is not the whole law OF prayer,
that the law of petition must imply moro
than the act of asking, consequently you must
take the whole law o! prayer into account Some Of
the essential elements OF the prayer which asks Alright
and which is answered are, first, must ask intel,
gcnty In the TO the Corinthians, Paul says
sl will pray with the spirlt'-that is righ-"and |
will pray with the understanding also To pray with
understanding is the stoutest safeguard against de-
lusion With the spirit man may be deuded, but
blend understanding and spirit together and you have
successful prayer Can you think of more unscrip-
tural maxim than Ignorance is the mother OF deyo-
ton?i We often lose sight of the fact that the
of prayer is reasonable service. man with
small mind can offer prayer as successfully as man
with large intellect A man must offer prayer with
the highest range of that intellect; without this there
would be great danger of indulgence in latitude oil ex
pressonsometmes an unwarrantable familiarity that
dcarades the himself because in refusing to
acknowledge intellectual God he degradcs himself.
What is the result OF understanding IN prayer First
of all deliberateness there is calling in Of
all the qualities Of mind suitable for reverenta pos
ure before the throne OF God Secondly the of the
understanding in prayer secures comprehenslveness
know of that produces such an effect as
the sense of enlargement which man secures III the
service of prayer True intelligent simplicity will bring
you to the vital question, What do needr
man who prays without understanding will
use language; this Is also true IN the OF dark
mysterious expressions in prayer all such SAVIOR of
praying in unknown tongue, and all who occupy the
position of the unearned cannot say amen" No,
my brethren; intelligent simplicity Is the element
which you need TO pray with understanding it will
prevent all that hurried ndecorous, and help to
ask that you may That Is the first element OF
PRAYER Successful prayer must be presented ferventy
The next is faith. We must ask in faith nothing
doubling Prayer is the arrow and faith is the bow and
YOU might well have arrow in your quiver
as no bow in your hand Sometimes you at
loss to know whether you have active faith in your
prayer Let give you two signs by which you
NAV Judge | think you may know whether you have
prayed with faith by the serene quiet of your spirit
when you have closed man must answer his own
PRAYER by acts of obedience else God will never
swer IT, And, lastly you must ask perseveringly in
order 10 success | think sometimes God does
prayers because he loves to listen TO them Delay
in God and importantly in man are evidently intended
to bring God and man together These are the cle-
ments of successful prayer. Use them my brother,
and succeed.