Delaware City press. (Delaware City, Del.) 1913-19??, 1913-07-11
MUSTALWAYS PRAY
Wisdom Of the Master Evinced
in His Words "Ask, and
Ye Shall Receive"
MM EN- ought always to pray. The
IW Master said so. He knew what

WnhL Heip was III tue unseen WOflu
available through prayer, for he had
tested it to the full.
He prayed himself. He had more
to say about prayer than any other
speaker whose words stand recorded
In the Bible. He would go apart In
the mountains and pray all night. His
efficiency in this spiritual exercise
when he had ceased his devotions,
his disciples came to him, saying,
Lord, teach us to pray"
1t is sufficient that the One whom
the most enlightened and progressive
portions of the world have with one
accord selected as the Ideal Man, was
thus conspicuously a man of prayer.
Human life in highest reaches of
moral achievement prays. If Jesus
had not prayed, he would not stand
today even In the eyes of those whose
habits of prayer are fitful and feeble,
as the Perfect Man.
The man who offers to God a sim
cere and thoughtful prayer brings the
best that Is in him to its best. While
he prays, he breathes the air which
is native to the noblest type OF char
acter The noxious gases in the mine
settle to the ground because they are
heavier than pure air. The dog fol-
lowing at the heels of his master
will inhale them until he fails In
stupor. The tall man, standing high
er, breathing an upper and a purer
air, passes on unframed. The attitude
Of prayer is the act of a man rising
to what higher level of thought and
feeling where that quality of life
which most clearly differentiates him
from the brutes finds Its native air.
Sets in Motion a New Force.
The man who prays enables God to
more fully bestow his helpfulness
upon that beseeching life. You may
hold magnifying glass in your hand
and concentrate the rays Of the sun
upon your coat sleeve until you have
burned hole in ii. The sun shines
steadily with that same power, no
matter how your glass may be held.
But II makes a profound difference in
utilizing the rays of the sun whether
the glass be held squarely toward the
sun and the rays focused upon the
object to be ignited, whether the glass
be clean or half covered with mud
The act of prayer cleanses the life.
1t also brings the moral aspiration,
the human affection, the kindly inter-
est of the man who prsys squarely and
fairly before Gods moral interest. BY
that very fact the rays Of divine at
lection are concentrated and focused
Z upon the objects Of our prayerful iii-
terest until they become effective.
The man who Prays introduces a
new force into a given situation.
which enters decisively into the de-
termination of the issue. When the
child's balloon is growing stale, 1t
tends to settle 70 the floor by the pow
er of gravitation Yet single
breath. soft, unseen, but real. will
carry II to the ceiling, There is no
violation of natural law here, but the
introduced of higher force which
alters the situation
ASK, and We Shall Receive"
We have not reduced the POSSIBLE.
titles of this prayer-force acting with
in the large uniformities of God to
anything like an exact science. We
have not reduced to an exact science
the influence of mothers love upon
her children, nor the subtle effect oil
mans good name upon his prospects
for success in the world, nor the re
suits upon the physical process of Ill
gestion of cheerful habit of mind
But the fact that all these beneflcent
forces shade off into mystery does no
incline us to refuse the help of th'
mothers love or the good name o.
the cheerful habit OF mind, simply be
cause we cannot measure their re
suits with foot rule or lay them GU
, by metes and bounds,
: 1t suffices the farmer to know tina
, If he sows he will reap. The harvest
in prospect are sufficiently sure l.
make his hope of return an encoui
= agement to effort. True Christians
assured by the promises of the Maste
and by an overwhelming volume G
= religious experience, continue t
: TASK" knowing that they will "rt
ceive," They seek" knowing tina
they will find" They perseveringl
t KNOCK" knowing that the doors wi
open into the treasury house of tn
Unseen
1t was said of One, "As he prayed
the fashion of his countenance wa
+ altered" His face changed under tn
v power of his devotion The look {
N sympathy and of spiritual interest |
I'd the face Of any man is sketched /
r. finer lines when he becomes a man
is prayer And there is cogency an
Or persuasive note In the very voic
II of man who prays: IL carries in II
y very tones the subtle and comman
It. ing accent of spiritual veracity Til
rn soul Of the prayerful man moves upo
d. It's royal way with the strength of te
to because it has been empowered fro
on high with the enduement receive
1t in prayer.-Rey. Charles R. Brow
nd DID.