001. Introduction.

Introduction.

“YEA, very vain The greatest speed of all the souls of men Unless they travel upward to thy throne;

There sittest Thou, the satisfying One, With help for sins.” The hand of the Almighty had forever closed the gates of Eden and left there the flaming sword of the cherubim to prevent the return of our guilty first parents. The alluring voice of the tempter had led their souls into sin, and as they wandered forth to inherit the earth, cursed for their sakes, they were troubled in the presence of the God whom they had offended, trembling because conscious guilt stood before the perfection of the Almighty. But there was a ray of hope for their despairing hearts. Satan had not, as he fancied, achieved a permanent triumph over them, or separated them from God forever, for while the wrath of an offended Deity hung over the soul, and justice cursed it, love and. mercy lifted it where it might breathe the still air of heaven—no chains were to bind the spirit of ruined man in everlasting darkness, for this exiled world and its inmates were objects of God’s infinite love, man’s restoration had been a thought hidden in the eternal mind before the world was, and it was breathed into the human soul in that glorious promise which should bruise the head of the serpent, and open a way where man might seek and find the lost favor of his God. In that early history of the human race sacrifices were instituted, and on the sacred page we have the accepted and the rejected offering; through the long ages that have rolled away since then, man has held communion with his Maker, “there has been no such curse in the calendar of time as a day without prayer”—

“Earth and heaven hold commune day and night;

There’s not a wind but bears upon its wing The messages of God.”

“There is a link of communication between the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity, and the heart of the contrite in which he delighteth to dwell.” Between our present earthly and, we trust, our future heavenly home, God has established a telegraph, free to us all; it bears not to the soul of man sad messages of sorrow to clothe him in sackcloth and bathe him in tears; no, its tidings are from a better land where sin has no entrance and sorrow is unknown; they are answers of a kind father to his children’s call for help and strength in their life journey.

God has seen fit to preserve in his holy word the prayers of many of his children; the patriarchs and prophets spake as they were moved by God, but they like us were mortal, sent forward on a long and tedious pilgrimage, called to battle with the same inborn corruptions and outward temptations with which we are called to struggle; they filled their inch of time, and passed as we are passing, onward to meet our God and Judge. We have carefully gathered from the Bible the “recorded prayers” and their answers; we would show you where lay the creature’s strength—would remind you by them, that the same mercy-seat is now open before you, at which those holy men were so often found. You will learn a lesson here that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands. He whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain is calling each one to his mercy-seat; it is found equally in that house of prayer where with one heart and voice our cloud of incense is wafted upward, and in the cottage of the poor man, where no eye but God’s is watching, and no ear but his hears.

It is then the duty of all to avail themselves of the high and holy privilege of prayer, for we have the promise of the immutable Jehovah, that not in vain shall we enter his council-chamber. We would draw the attention of all to the recorded prayers of the Bible—to their simplicity and earnestness—and would point out to the believer what God called true devotion; would lead you to see, by His help, that the poor sacrifice so many of you are now making statedly at his altar, must not be dignified by the name of prayer; that you may no longer call yourselves in his presence “miserable, blind, and naked,” when there is no tear of sorrow, and no sigh over the conceit of your hearts. In the prayers of Abram and Isaac, and all those men who walked with God, you will learn the Almighty accepts no such empty sacrifice as yours.

“He requires fruits of more pleasing savor, From his seed sown with contrition in the heart.” The spirit in which most of these prayers are breathed is child-like; they are uttered thoughts to Him who is not only able but willing to satisfy; they are the opening of the heart to God with its simplest as well as largest desire, uttered with directness and earnestness.

Oh, learn from these prayers to walk with God as they walked who have fallen asleep; learn to live on earth and breathe in heaven. Oh, make the way to his mercy-seat a worn and beaten track, talk daily and hourly with God; then all your desires, your hopes, your affections, shall be centered in Him, and as we have sought to purify them by prayer, so shall He who regardeth the faintest whisper in his ear, take us when the scenes of earth have faded, where we shall be satisfied—where all the eager, anxious questions of our thinking minds shall be answered, our desires all gratified, and every care lost in the bosom of God.