St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-01-30
The Philosophy of Prayer.

was last week calling upon an aged
man in what seems to be his last sick
ness. His wife, Christian lady, was
by his bedside, and proposed to read
from the Bible and pray with him. To
this he replied, "YOu may, if you wish.
suppose it will do you some good, but
| don't believe that anything we can
say can change the will of the AL
mighty"
1t was not the place to argue the
matter with him, even if his weakness
had not forbidden it, so | cOntented
myself with accepting his permission
and commencing him to the mercy of
God.
But what mistaken view Does
any one really suppose that Gods Will
must be changed in order that he may
answer prayer ? Have we not heard
from Christ, who bids us "always to
pray and not to faint that the law of
his kingdom is, "Ask, and We shall re-
ceive; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you 7" Even in the Psalms it is a
law, stated as Gods express intention,
in these words: "He shall call upon me
and / will answer him." And therefore
also does St. James administer the re-
proof, "Ye have not, because we ask
not"
From all this we learn that it is the
purpose of God to give us blessings
,uhen we ask tor them. They are ready,
waiting just for that, and will come at
our call, not in opposition to Gods will,
but because it is his will to give them
in answer to our prayers.
But again: when, us is so often the
case, we ask in prayer for those things
which it is not best for us to receive,
do we suppose that God will give them
merely because we have asked for
them On the contrary, the true spirit
of prayer brings us freely to say, "Thy
will, not ours, be DONE" Asking, with
out this spirit, is not praying. "My
will be DONE" is not prayer; it is pre-
sumption. And God has not promised
any answer to that.
Yet if in our weakness we ask for
that which seems to us necessary, and
are urgent in pleading for it, we are
not to think that we receive no answer
because we do not obtain the very thing
we wish. How was it with st. Paul
Thrice he besought the Lord fOr the re-
mOval of his thorn. Did he receive no
answer because it was not removed
On the contrary, he received that prom
Use, that assurance, which has been the
support of thousands of afflicted souls
in every age since: "My grace is suffi-
cient for thee" So Moses, pleading for
the remission of his punishment, receiv
ed the reproof, "Speak no more unto
me of this matter" coupled with the
consolation that he should see all the
good land before he died. And in his
own experience the Christian learns that
when God denies his immediate request
1t is because it is not good for him that
he should have it, and he is daily the
more Ieconciled unto his will.
All the philosophy of prayer is found
in these two simple truths, too true to
admit of dispute, too simple to be mis-
understood, too easy of trial to admit
of cavil. The Christian has the ear of
God at all times, and his cry reaches
his heart "And this is the confidence
that we have in him, that if we ask
anything according to his will, he
heareth u.s." Blessed confidence-never
broken! Blessed power of prayer-all
too little used Correspondent Am.
Messenger.