word prayer, that we find them describing the soul's advance by the
character of the prayer which springs from it.

For instance, Madame Guyon, in her precious A B C of the spiritual
life, introduces her book with the title, "A Short and Easy Method of
Prayer"; St. Theresa describes the degrees of the soul's progress as
degrees of prayer, styling them Prayer of Quiet, Prayer of Union, and
so on; St. John of the Cross names his mystical way as the Ascent of
Mount Carmel, the meaning of which is evidently similar to the other.
And so, no doubt one might give other instances, confining ourselves,
of course, to the experimental Christians only, and letting the divines
and theologians alone. May we not say that our dear Lord Himself was
careful enough both in example and teaching to lead His scholars along
this way, making them aware that a great part of the soul's education
was education in prayer? He began by making them feel that they really
didn't know what prayer meant, though they had been taught to say
prayers almost since they could speak. So He brings them to a point
where they say, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his
disciples": encourages them further by admonitions to ask, seek, and
knock; He tells them that if they ask for bread and fish, they won't
get stones and snakes (but doesn't say that if you ask for a snake,
your Father will be so good as to give it to you); leads them on until
they acquire the sense of the need of a larger faith; instructs them
that prayer is the function of an organ of the spiritual life, and must
be as constant and persistent as breathing or other natural functions,
so that men ought always to pray and not to faint, and that they should
keep awake at all times praying, if they are to be found worthy to
stand before the Son of man. Finally, one of His last counsels, just
before the last great objective teaching of His own Life on the
subject, connects the force of their prayer with the state of their
life, saying, "If ye abide in Me, ye shall ask what ye will and it
shall be done unto you."

Now the verse which we quoted at the beginning speaks of certain
prayers as of great force; we infer that there are weak prayers as well
as strong ones--poor little wingless things that cannot rise into the
Celestial Audience-Chamber.

Hermas describes such when he says, "The prayer of a sad man has no
power to climb to the altar of God." And it is of great importance
that we