with His
artificers. It is as we serve our King, that we can reckon absolutely
on His answer to our prayers.

THREE CONCLUDING THOUGHTS REMAIN.

_First_. It is clear that our prayers depend very largely on our inner
life. Where that is vigorous and healthy, they will be the same. But
let deterioration and failure set in there, and the effect will be
instantly apparent in our prayers. They act and react. Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; and when the mouth is opened
in prayer and supplication, the heart speaks.

_Second_. Bespeak the Spirit's indwelling. He is the bond of
communion and fellowship between the Father and the Son, and will lift
us into the holy circle of that eternal life, so that the current may
pass through us with uninterrupted velocity and force. He makes inward
intercession for the saints according to the will and mind of God.

_Third_. Expect that prayer will become ever more engrossing, as the
Divine impulse is yielded to; so that what now occupies but a
comparatively small portion of time and energy will become with us, as
with the great Apostle, an exercise which we prosecute with unceasing
ardor, an ever-delightful method of promoting the Redeemer's Kingdom.

XVII

The hatred of the World

"They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these
things they will do unto you, because they have not known the Father,
nor Me."--JOHN xvi. 2, 3.

How near love and hate dwell in these words of Jesus! He had been
urging His disciples to cultivate perfect love, the love of God; He now
turns to describe the inevitable hatred with which they would be
assailed in the world that knew neither the Father nor Himself. And if
an additional motive were needed to induce that love, it would surely
be given by the consideration of that hate.

This is no unimportant theme. It touches, very nearly, the lives of
thousands of believers amongst us. Though they have not to face the
thumbscrew and the stake, they discover painfully enough that the
offence of the Cross has not ceased. There are amongst us many who
daily quiver under the venomous gibe of neighbor and fellow-workman,
and find that their acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master
has suddenly changed their family and working-life from a garden of
roses into a bed of thorns. Many a young man in the city
counting-house,