St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-08-15
Mr.. Spurgeon on Prayer.

Mr.. Spurgeon on Prayer.
In anticipation of day of special
prayer for revival of religion, Mr.
SpurgeOn delivered a discourse on the
text, continuing instant in prayer" in
which he said:
''If we know how to get into contact
with the 0mnipOtent and the Eternal
we can do all things. Our prayers
should be full of strength and fOrceful-
ness. Prayer is awrestling. The whole
of the spirit, memory, judgment, atfee-
tions, imaginations, even the whole
soul, should be brought to bear in pray
er-the entire man should pray. We
are to be as importunate as if our God
was unwilling to grant the desired
blessing. God cannot be expected to
give to those who are not fully in earn
est in what they ask. Is it to be eX-
pected that He will accept our sacrifice
if we lay no fire to itP The children of
God must learn how1to cry nightly to
their Father; then will He have regard
unto the voice of their supplication. =
"There must be an instancy and i'm
petuOsity in pr;tyer-if we are to receive
the blessing. We must get to feel what
a precious thing grace is, then we shall
not pray with the lip only but with the
heart. We must try to see our souls
deficiency, and try to realize what
would become of us if God should with
hold His blessing. We must be thirsty
in order to receive the water of life.
We must not play at praying, but pray
out, and let it be the very sweat OF our
soul. If prayer, us Luther says, is the
Christians big gun, with which he doth
lombard heaven, then the promise
must be the shot which is to be sent
against the gates of the celestial city.
We must-have stlOng faith not only
that God is, but that He is the reward
er of all those that diligently seek Him.
We must be brought to feel that there
is commerce between our souls and
God A; and although our prayers may
not alter His DEGREES, yet they are links
in the machinery of His universe. We
must not only be constant, but intense.
Prayer is not to be thing of yesterday,
but a thing for all times, until it chang
es into the praise above, although there
may be prayer in heaven. We see
prayer everywhere. We cannot get i'll
to the Gospel groove without prayer;
it is the very atmosphere which sur
rounds Immanuel's land. We have to
pray our passage to heaven. We must
be constant in our instancy, because we
cannot leave off praying eitherin times
of prosperity or adversely. Men should
pray everywhere, for our bodies are
temples. AS long as Christians live
they should pray, because only as they
pray they live. We must not only
pray when we can pray, but when we
cannot. The best praying in the world
consists in groanings that cannot be ut
tered. 1t is often better for us to mourn
like doves than sing like nightingales.
We must beware of prayers that leap
like grasshoppers, but rather we should
soar on the wings of prayer until we
reach the resting place of God.
"Again, there can be no such thing
as instancy and cOnstancy in prayer I'M
less there he expectancy. The soul of
prayer is gone when we have got no
expectation. We must believe we have
the blessing OF we shall not receive it,
and we must not pray God to do what
we can do ourselves. We pray, THY
kingdom come but we must help to
advance Christ's kingdom. In closing,
Mr.. Sturgeon said he liked the prayer
which the Duchess of Gordon once
heard, and which was found among her
papers, % Lord, give me grace to feel
my need of Thy grace; give me grace
to ask for Thy grace; give me grace to
receive Thy grace; and when in Thy
grace Thou hast given me grace, give
me grace to use Thy grace.'" ..