82. Prayer
Prayer
PUMP CONDITIONS.—When a pump is frequently used, the water pours out at the first stroke, because it is high; but, if the pump has not been used for a long time, the water gets low, and when you want it you must pump a long while; and the water comes only after great efforts. It is so with prayer. If we are instant in prayer, every little circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desire and words are always ready; but, if we neglect prayer, it is difficult for us to pray; for the water in the well gets low.
MUST WIND UP.—As those who keep clocks wind them up daily, lest the weights should run down, and the clock stop; so we must set apart some portion of every day for meditation and prayer, lest our hearts should so far descend, through the weight of the cares of this world, that our course in goodliness should be stopped.
EGYPTIAN BREVITY.—The ancient Christians of Egypt were in the custom of using very short and frequent prayers, fearing that in using longer the fervor of their affection might suffer. AT MASTHEAD.—”Where do you find a place to pray in?” was asked of a pious sailor on board a whaling ship. “Oh!” he said, “I can always find a quiet spot at the masthead.” “Sam, do you find a spot for secret prayer?” asked a minister of a stable-boy. “Oh, yes, sir! that old coach is my closet.”
PRAYED UP AND OPEN.—Standing by his grave, one said of him (Gossner), “He prayed up the walls of an hospital, and the hearts of the nurses; he prayed mission-stations into being, and missionaries into faith; he prayed open the hearts of the rich.”
CUNARD LINE.—People ascribe the success of the Cunard line of steamers to business skill, and know not the fact that when that line of steamers first started, Mrs. Cunard, the wife of the proprietor, passed the whole of each day when a steamer sailed, in prayer to God for its safety and the success of the line.
OFFERED TO MAN.—A heavy sentence of condemnation was passed upon a minister when it was flatteringly said that his prayer was the most eloquent ever offered to a Boston congregation. As parents take more pleasure in their children’s stammering than in the eloquence of others, even so the Lord takes more pleasure in the weak and broken prayers of His children than in the finely worded prayers of mere eloquence. NOT WHAT I WANT.—When Archbishop Seeker was laid on his dying bed, his friend Mr. Talbot came to see him. He felt it was their last meeting together; so he said, “You will pray with me, Talbot, before you go away?” Mr. Talbot rose, and went to look for a prayer-book. “That is not what I want now,” said the dying prelate; “kneel down by me, and pray for me in the way I know you are used to doing.”
SOME WITNESSES.—Luther, when most pressed with his gigantic toils, said, “I have so much to do, that I cannot get on without three hours a day of praying.” Gen. Havelock rose at four, if the hour for marching was six, rather than lose the precious privilege of communion with God before setting out. Sir Matthew Hale says, “If I omit praying, and reading of God’s Word, in the morning, nothing goes well all day.” Fénélon used to say, “I spend much time in my closet in order to be prepared for the pulpit.”