which Hezekiah used when Sennacherib's threatening letter arrived. And prayer is the receipt which the Son of God Himself was not ashamed to use in the days of His flesh. In the hour of His mysterious agony He " prayed."
Let us take care that we use our Master's remedy, if we want comfort m affliction. Whatever other means of relief we use, let us pray. The first Friend we should turn to ought to be God. The first message we should send ought to be to the throne of grace. No depression of spirits must prevent us. No crushing weight of sorrow must make us dumb. It is a prime device of Satan, to supply the afflicted man with false reasons for keeping silence before God. Let us beware of the temptation to brood sullenly over our wounds. If we can say nothing else, we can say, " I am oppressed : undertake for me.'' (Isai. xxxviii. 14.)
We see, secondly, in these verses, what kind of prayers a believer ought to make to God in time of trouble. Once more the Lord Jesus Himself affords a model to His ])eople. We are told that He said, " Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me : nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." He who spake these words, we must remember, had two distinct natures in one Person. He had a human will as well as a divine. When He said, " Not my will be done," He meant that will which He had as man, with a body, flesh and blood, like our own.
The language used by our blessed Master in this place shows exactly what should be the spirit of a believer's prayer in his distress. Like Jesus, he should tell hi^