honour end the applause of men, to hold comfort end ease very cheap, and to make nothing of money end possessions; it is power to pnt ourselves at the disposal of a good oause, end to be of service to those who need our sorvice.-D. Ver, 22.-lgnorane prayws. "Ye know not what ye ask." If some one were to say to us, as we rose from our knees or after public worship," What is it that you now expect to receive? Of ell the blessings men have been known to receive at the hand of God, which have you been asking for?" should we not frequently be forced to own, "I know not what I asked"? We seem to expect little more than that somehow our tone may be elevated end the temper of our spirits improved by our worship. But communion with God can never supersede simple prayer; so long as we are encom- passed with infirmities we must ask God's help, and when we do so we should know whet it is we ask. There are four ways in which the text pointedly rebukes us. l, WHEN WE UT'l'Ell THE LANGUAGE OF PRAYER WITHOUT ATTACHING ANY MEANING TO IT. We do not dream of waiting for an answer, because we have no desire to receive one. A.im at such definiteness that if, when you say," Forgive me my sins," God were to say," What sin?" you would be able without hesitation to name those transgressions that are written on your conscience. Be as sure what you have to complain of as when you go to consult your physician. lI. WHEN WE PRAY FOB fJOME DEFINITE BLESSING WBICB WE DESIRE, NOT BO HUCH FBOH A PERSONAL APPBECI.A.TION OF ITS WOBTB, AB FROM THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IT IB ONE OF THE TfilNGS G® IS MOST BEADY TO GIVE. These sons of Zebedee named the precise boon on which their hearts were set, and yet what could they have told you of the real purport of their request--of the requirements of the position they aspired to? No one who prays can acquit himself of this very charge. Take so common a request as that for the Holy Spirit: have you thought that you were inviting a Person, and that Person absolutely holy and almighty, to dwell within you? We are to covet earnestly God's best gifts, but we are to limit ourselves by his promises, and to learn the meaning of these promises as far as we can. By asking such things as we know our need of, even though they be less valuable than some other gifts, we may be led on to richer blessings than we looked for. ill, WHEN WE PRAY FOB WHAT IS IN rrBELF GOOD, BUT TO US WOULD BE BV1L. If God, who sees the effect these things would have upon you, were to translate your prayer, it might be, "I beseech thee grant me complete delight in this world, and forgetfulness of thee; I prey thee humble me no more, but grant me of thy mercy vanity and pride of life; I pray thee increll88 to me the cares of this life, so that I may not be disposed to worship thee nor to remember my own need of thee. Send me no more chastening end discipline, remove from me ell restraints and crosses, and gra- ciously suffer me so to fall away from thee, that I may be in danger of everlasting woe." Yet this is not a reason for restraining prayer, but for laying each of our petitions before God with an accompanying resignation of our will to his. IV, WHEN WE PRAY FOB SOME GOOD THING WITHOUT TAKING ACCOUNT OF WHAT WE MUST DO AND BUFFER IN OBDEB TO OBTAIN rr. Many of the gifts we ask at God'11 hand are such qualities of soul as can only be produced by long and painful processes. You ask for humility: do you know that herein you ask for failure, dis- appointed hopes, mortified vanity, the reproach of men, and the feeling that you are worthy of deeper accusations then any they can bring against you? You ask to be like Christ: but can you drink of his cup, and be baptized with his baptism? These words of your Lord ere not spoken to dishoorten you, to discourage you from high aims; but he would have you prey with deliberation, with a mind made up, with & devoted end solemn epprehen~ion of the diffic11lties before you. Two remedies may be suggested for thiu evil of vagueness end ignorance in prayer, the first connected with the form, the second with the matter, of prayer. 1. It seems to have been the practice of the devout in ell ages to use the voice in their private devotions, Where it is possible, speech is a great help to an orderly method of think- ing. Besides, so long as we merely think, we fell into the idea that it is only a frame of our own spirits we have to do with; end speech, the ordinary mode of realizing another's presence, enables_ us et one? to realize th~ presei:i,ce .of God. 2. The gre_et remedy against ignorance 1n prayer IS to be found 1n meditation. Ano. no man will 302 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [OB. xx. 1--84.
ever rniike much of m<"dit~tion who doos not make much of the Word of God. Reali11e tha~ tbi~ is not j~st a book to _read,_but a voice speaking to you, that it has a Person behmd 1t. ad?ressmg you. ThJS, without any mystic influence, but on the most natural principles, works a change in our devotions. This gives ns a real communion with God.-D.