The Penn's Grove record., 1913-07-11
MUST ALWAYSP PRAY
Wisdom of the Master Evinced
in His Words "Ask, and
Ie Shall Receive"

was In man, and needed not
that any should tell him. He knew
what help was in the unseen world
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
was so manifest that on one occasion,
when he had ceased his devotions,
his disciples came to him, saying.
Lord. teach US to pray"
1t is sufficient that the One whom
he 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.
The man who offers to God a sin
cere and thoughtful prayer brings the
best that is In him to it's 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 falls in a
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 h~elpfulness
upon that ~beseeching life. You may
hold a magnifying glass in your hand
and concentrate the rays of the sun
upon your coat sleeve until you have
burned a hole in it. The sun shines
steadily with that same power, no
matter how your glass may be held.
But it 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 prays squarely and
fairly before Gods moral interest. By
that very fact the rays Of divine af-
lection are concentrated and focused
upon the objects of our ~prayerful in
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, it
tends to settle to the floor by the pow
er of gravitation Yet a single
breath, soft, unseen, but real, will
carry it to the ceiling. There is no
violation of natural law here, but the
introduced of a higher force which
alters the situation.
TASK, and Ye Shall Receive"
We have not reduced the POSSIBLE
tiles 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 a mothers love upon
her children, nor the subtle effect Of
a mans good name upon his prospects
for success in the world, nor the re
suits upon the physical process of di-
eestion of a cheerful habit of mind.
But the fact that all these benef1cent
forces shade off into mystery does not
incline US to refuse the help of the
mothers love or the good name or
the cheerful habit of mind, simply be-
| cause we cannot measure their re
suits with a foot rule or lay them out
by metes and bounds,
II sufices the farmer to know that
II he sows he will reap. The harvests
in prospect are sufficiently sure to
make his hope Of a return an encour-
agement to effort. True Christians,
assured by the promises of the Master
and by an overwhelming volume of
religious experience, continue to
ask" knowing that they will re
ceive." They seek" knowing that
they will find" They perseveringly
knock" knowing that the doors will
open into the treasury house of the
Unseen.
It was said of One, LAS he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was
altered" His face changed under the
power of his devotion. The look of
sympathy and of spiritual interest in
the face of any man is sketched in
finer lines when he becomes a man of
prayer. And there is a cogency and
a persuasive note in the very voice
of a man who prays; it carries in it's
very tones the subtle and command
ing accent of spiritual veracity. The
soul of the ~prayerful man moves upon
its royal way with the strength of ten
because 1t has been empowered from
on high with the enduement received
in prayer.-Rev. Charles R. Brown,
m