The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-11-23

We'll as prayer, ana the more d1mcul
} the prayer to make the greater the re
: ward for making it.
Prayer is what some one has called
"the slender nerve that moveth the
muscles of omnipotence." Prayer is the
healthful respiration of the soul. 1t il
the whisper of helplessness into the ear
of help. 1t is laying hold of almighti.
ness, omniscience and omnipresence at
one and the same time. Prayer enlists
all Divine and angelic reinforcement.
Prayer is laying hold of a pulley fas-
tened to the Heavenly throne. Prayer
is the first breath of newborn soul,
and it is heard in the last gasp OF
earthly Christian experiences. Prayer!
In an instant it mounts the highest
heavens. Neither seraph nor arch
angel ever flew swifter or higher than
the infants petition at her mothers
knee. What an opportunity is prayer!
Why not oftener use it praying for
ourselves? What better work would
we do, what better lives would we
live, what better hopes would we en-
terrain, If we multiplied and intensi-
fled our prayers!
Some one asked soldier of Stone
wall Jackson the secret of the great
generals influence over his men. "Does
your general abuse you, swear at you,
to make you march?" "Swear!" re-
piled the soldier. "No!" Ewell does
the swearing. Stonewall does the
praying. When Stonewall wants us
to march, he looks at us soberly, just
as if he were sorry for us, and says:
Men, we have got to make long
march, We always know when there
is going to be long march and right
smart fighting, for Stonewall is pow
erful on prayer just before a big
fight"
In all the tossing of this life lay hold
of the rope of prayer mentioned by
John Newton, who was converted on
shipboard from being blasphemous
sailor to become a great preacher of |
and who said: when I |
first amused myself with going to sea,
when the winds rose and the waves be-
came rough, l tumbled and tossed
about like porpoise in the water. At
last | caught hold of rope that was
floating about, and then l was enabled
to stand upright. So when in prayer
multitude of troublous thoughts in
Vade your peace, or when the winds and
waves of temptation arise, look out
'or the rope and stay yourselves on the
of God keeping His prom
ses."
My hearer, I will tell you the time
when you can afford to cease praying.
t will be when you have no sins to be
'ardoned, no sorrows to be comforted,
10 more friends or foes who need your
Queen Elizabeth said to
Walter Raleigh: Raleigh, when will
'ou stop begging?" Raleigh replied:
When your majesty leaves off giving"
md your time, my hearer, to stop !:
'rayer will be when God has no more
ardon and mercy and strength to be-
tow and the resources of the Infinite
re exhausted. Havelock knew the
alue of prayer when he arose at four
clock in the morning for his devo-
ions. The soldiers of the Fourteenth
massachusetts, regiment showed that
hey knew the joy of worship when
1ey took a delegate of the Christian
ommisison to see what they called
heir praying place."
Now, if God has during these re-
larks shown us the uses, the i'm
ortance, the blessedness of prayer,
oppose We try to do what Job did
hen he prayed for his exasperators.
any of us at the beginning of this
inject felt that, while we could pray
r ourselves and pray for those who
ere kind to us, we never could reach
e high point of religious experience
which We could pray for those who
lnoy and make us feel worse instead I
feeling better. That was Matter
I'm, that was an Alp, to the top of
lich we feared we could never climb, /,
It we thank God that by his omnipo-
Mt grace we have reached that height
last. Let us pray! o Christ, who
DIST pray for thine assassins, we now -.
ay for those who despitefully use us (
d say all manner of evil against us. :
II their eternal salvation we suppli- I
tie. When time is no more, may they 4
ign on thrones and wear coronets
d sway scepters of Heavenly domin- =
4. Meanwhile take the bitterness
I'm their soul and make them soon
ink as well of us as now they think
i. Spare their bodies from pain and
cir households from bereavement.
ter all the Misunderstanding and
ltroversies of this life are over, may