shall not iind." But what is the good of knowing it, if we do not use it ? Knowledge, not miproved and well employed, Avill only increase our condemnation at the last day.
Do we know anything of this asking, seeking, and knocking ? Why should we not ? There is nothing so simple and plain as praying, if a man really has a will to pray. There is nothing, unhappily, which men are so slow to do. They will use many of the forms of religion, attend many ordinances, do many things that are right, before they will do this. And yet without this no soul can he saved. *
Do we ever really pray ? If not, we shall at last he without excuse before God, except we repent. We shall not be condemned for not doing what we could not have done, or not knowing what we could not have known. But we shall find that one main reason why we are lost is this, that we never asked that we might be saved.
Do we indeed pray ? Then let us pray on, and not faint. It is not lost labor. It is not useless. It will bear fruit after many days. That word never yet failed, " Eveiy one that asketh receiveth."