''made as though he would have gone further." He desired to see if they were wearj of His conversation. But it was not so. ''They oonslrained Him, sajring, abide with us: for it is toward evening, and ike day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them."
Gases like this are not uncommon in Scripture. Our Lord sees it good for us to prove our love, by withholding mercies till we ask for them. He does not always force His gifts upon us, unsought and unsolicited. He loves to draw out our desires, and to compel us to exercise our spiritual afiPections, by waiting for our prayers. He dealt so with Jacob at Peniel. " Let me go," He said, " for the day breaketh." And then came the noble declaration from Jacob's lips, " I will not let thee go except thou bless me." (Gen. xxxii. 26.) The story of the Canaanitish mother, the story of the healing of two blind men at Jericho, the story of the nobleman at Capernaum, the parables of the unjust judge and Mend at midnight, are all meant to teach the same lesson. AU show that our Lord loves to be entreated, and likes importunity.
Let us act on this principle in all our prayers, if we know anything of praying. Let us ask much, and ask often, and lose nothing for want of asking. Let us not be like the Jewish King who smote three times on the ground, and then stayed his hand. (2 Kings xiii. 18.) Let us rather remember the words of David's Psalm, " Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." (PsaL Ixxxi. 10.) It is the man who puts a holy constraint on Christ in prayer, who enjoys much of Christ's manifested pre- sence.