rayer. It must be
asked and received direct from God Himself. Those who know anything of
the history of revivals will remember how often this has been
proved--both larger and more local revivals have been distinctly traced
to special prayer. In our own day there are numbers of congregations and
missions where special or permanent revivals are--all glory be to
God--connected with systematic, believing prayer. The coming revival
will be no exception. An extraordinary spirit of prayer, urging
believers to much secret and united prayer, pressing them to "labour
fervently" in their supplications, will be one of the surest signs of
approaching showers and floods of blessing.

Let all who are burdened with the lack of spirituality, with the low
state of the life of God in believers, listen to the call that comes to
all. If there is to be revival,--a mighty, Divine revival,--it will
need, on our part, corresponding whole-heartedness in prayer and faith.
Let not one believer think himself too weak to help, or imagine that he
will not be missed. If he first begin, the gift that is in him may be so
stirred that, for his circle or neighbourhood, he shall be God's chosen
intercessor. Let us think of the need of souls, of all the sins and
failings among God's people, of the little power there is in so much of
the preaching, and begin to cry every day, "Wilt Thou not revive us
again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" And let us have the truth
graven deep in our hearts: every revival comes, as Pentecost came, as
the fruit of united, continued prayer. The coming revival must begin
with a great prayer revival. It is in the closet, with the door shut,
that the sound of abundance of rain will be first heard. An increase of
secret prayer with ministers and members, will be the sure harbinger of
blessing.

3. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--A third lesson our texts teach is that
it is to the humble and contrite that the revival is promised. We want
the revival to come upon the proud and the self-satisfied, to break them
down and save them. God will give this, but only on the condition that
those who see and feel the sin of others take their burden of confession
and bear it, and that all who pray for and claim in faith God's reviving
power for His Church, shall humble themselves with the confession of its
sins. The need of revival always points to previous decline; and decline
was always caused by sin. Humiliation and contrition have ever