cations with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things offend daily ?
What shall we say to those who never pray at all, in the face of such a passage as this ? There are many such, it may be feared, in the list of baptized people — many who rise up in the morning without prayer, and without prayer lie down at night — many who never speak one word to God. Are they Christians ? It is impossible to say so. A praying Master, like Jesus, can have no prayer- less servants. The Spirit of adoption will always make a man call upon God. To be prayerless is to be Christ- less, Godless, and in the high road to destruction.
What shall we say to those who pray, yet give but little time to their prayers ? We are obliged to say that they show at present very little of the mind of Christ. Asking little, they must expect to have little. Seeking little, they cannot be surprised if they possess little. It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.0
We shall do well to watch our habits of prayer with a holy watchfulness. Here is the pulse of our Christianity. Here is the true test of our state before God. Here true religion begins in the soul, when it does begin. Here it
* " Ministers must pray much, if they would be successful. The apostles spent then' time this way (Acts vi. 3). Yea, our Lord Jesus preached all day, and continued all night alone in prayer to G-od. Min- isters should be much in prayer. They use to reckon how many hours they spend in reading and study. It were far better both for ourselves and the Church of God, if more time was spent in prayer. Luther's spending three hours daily in secret prayer, and Bradford's studying on his knees, and other instances of men in our time, are talked of rather than imitated." — Traill. 1696.
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decays and goes backward, when a man backslides from God. Let us walk in the steps of our blessed Master in this respect as well as in every other. Like Him, let us be diligent in our private devotion. Let us know what it is to " depart into solitary places and pray."
We see, for another thing, in this passage, a remark- able saying of our Lord as to the purpose for which He came into the world. We find Him saying, " let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also : for there- fore came I forth."
The meaning of these words is plain and unmistakeable. Our Lord declares that He came on earth to be a preacher and a teacher. He came to fulfil the prophetical office, to be the " prophet greater than Moses," who had been so long foretold. (Deut. xviii. 15.) He left the glory which He had from all eternity with the Father, to do the work of an evangelist. He came down to earth to show to man the way of peace, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. One principal part of His work on earth, was to go up and down and publish glad tidings, to offer healing to the broken-hearted, light to them that sat in darkness, and pardon to the chief of sinners. " Therefore," He says, " came I forth."
We ought to observe here, what infinite honor the Lord Jesus puts on the office of the preacher. It is an ollice which the eternal Son of G-od Himself undertook. He might have spent his earthly ministry in instituting and keeping up ceremonies, like Aaron. He might have ruled and reigned as a king, like David. But He chose a different calling. Until the time when He died as a sacrifice for our sins, His daily, and almost hourly work was to preach. " Therefore," He says, "came I forth."