wonderful? to be able to go alone with God, the infinite God. And
then to look up and say: My Father!

'_And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee._'
Here Jesus assures us that secret prayer cannot be fruitless: its
blessing will show itself in our life. We have but in secret,
alone with God, to entrust our life before men to Him; He will
reward us openly; He will see to it that the answer to prayer be
made manifest in His blessing upon us. Our Lord would thus teach
us that as infinite Fatherliness and Faithfulness is that with
which God meets us in secret, so on our part there should be the
childlike simplicity of faith, the confidence that our prayer
does bring down a blessing. 'He that cometh to God must believe
that _He is a rewarder_ of them that seek Him.' Not on the strong
or the fervent feeling with which I pray does the blessing of the
closet depend, but upon the love and the power of the Father to
whom I there entrust my needs. And therefore the Master has but
one desire: Remember your Father is, and sees and hears in
secret; go there and stay there, and go again from there in the
confidence: He will recompense. Trust Him for it; depend upon
Him: prayer to the Father cannot be vain; He will reward you
openly.

Still further to confirm this faith in the Father-love of God,
Christ speaks a third word: '_Your Father knoweth what things ye
have need of before ye ask Him._' At first sight it might appear
as if this thought made prayer less needful: God knows far better
than we what we need. But as we get a deeper insight into what
prayer really is, this truth will help much to strengthen our
faith. It will teach us that we do not need, as the heathen, with
the multitude and urgency of our words, to compel an unwilling
God to listen to us. It will lead to a holy thoughtfulness and
silence in prayer as it suggests the question: Does my Father
really know that I need this? It will, when once we have been led
by the Spirit to the certainty that our request is indeed
something that, according to the Word, we do need for God's
glory, give us wonderful confidence to say, My Father knows I
need it and must have it. And if there be any delay in the
answer, it will teach us in quiet perseverance to hold on:
FATHER! THOU KNOWEST I need it. O the blessed liberty and
simplicity of a child that Christ our Teacher would fain
cultivate in us, as we draw near to God: let us look up to the
Father until His Spi