praying servants have ever put forth in their supplications. Jacob became a prince in prayer only after wrestling. Seven times the servant of Elijah went to the summit of Carmel to watch for the cloudy answer to prayer, while his master remained with his face between his knees. These were not

prayers which cost nothing.

But it may seem strange that there should be so much difficulty; and it may be well to consider the source of it. It does not arise from God Himself; for all His words are full of assurances that He hears prayer, that His ear is not dull, as though it needed much effort to reach Him, or gain His attention. Nor is the cause to be sought in any difficulty in the thing itself; for nothing can be more clear than this, that prayer is but the speaking to God. The promise is simple: "Ask, and ye shall have," (Matt. vii. 7); and the reproach of His love is equally simple (James iv. 2): "Ye have not, because ye ask not."

The cause, then, why prayer is hard work to man must be sought in ourselves, in whom certain conditions must be fulfilled not before God will hear, but simply before it is possible for us really to pray. We can understand how it is that there should be some conditions of prayer. In physical things there are conditions which must be satisfied before an experiment, suppose, can be successfully made. The difficulty does not lie in the mere doing; but in securing the proper conditions in which the doing is possible. difficulty of Archimedes was not in moving the world; but in securing that which was necessary before he could do it, viz., the place on which to stand.

The

The difficulty of prayer, then, does not lie in the thing itself; but in our failure to fulfil the conditions in which prayer is possible. We are not left ignorant of these. The Bible tells us of four :

(1.) Faith. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” But

often and often the state in which our hearts are when we pray is not that of living true faith, but rather of a languid acquiescence in the petitions we are presenting.

(2.) In the name of Christ.

"Whatsoever

ye shall ask in My name," says our Lord. And this condition is not fulfilled by simply appending, as a rhetorical or theological ornament to our prayers, the oft-repeated phrase, "through Jesus Christ our Lord;" but rather in the realization for ourselves of all that that expression means, in the deep conviction of Jesus Christ Himself as the power of that prayer,-in the experience that the prayer takes its complexion from the very consciousness of His presence with us, and at His Father's right hand.

(3.) With the spirit and with the understanding (1 Cor. xiv. 15). Prayer must not consist of vague platitudes or cold petitions. The utterance of a few accustomed phrases is far different from the definite sense of need, and the strong desire for help, which is to be

found in real prayer. A clear head and a warm heart are much needed in life, and not the less in prayer. For though there may be, and doubtless are, times when our sense of need is experienced in a confused feeling of weariness and desolation, yet it is ever well that we should strive clearly to realize what are the wants which bring us to our knees; for warmth of desire is often lacking because we scarcely know our needs.

But neither must we suppose that this knowlege of our wants is identical with the power of clearly expressing them. The need, and the thoughts of the heart, often lie too deep for words. "Light cares speak," said Seneca; "great ones are dumb!" And they are not unreal, but most real prayers which come as one great sob of mute appeal to the God who can help. Better this silent earnestness than the familiar garrulousness of shallow fools. "When thou prayest," said Bunyan, "rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without heart."

Should these unspoken prayers be a trial to us, let us remember the Spirit helpeth, and maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. viii. 26).

(4.) According to His will. Prayer is not for the gratification of our own wishes, but for the benefit of our spirits; and can only then be true prayer when it is animated by a spirit of submission to His will, whom we believe to be unerringly wise and unfailingly loving. Want of resignation is want of faith. The impatient eagerness of some prayers is ill-concealed pride. True faith is humble, because trustful, and can endure to see her wishes crossed, for she knows that all things work together for good.

These are four conditions of prayer; and we propose to draw from them the idea of true prayer.

A common notion makes prayer little more than an endeavour to get God to take our view of some matter,—that we ask for this or for that, without regulating our