, and reality, in our holy faith. If you never
yet have known this, then come and taste for yourself. I beseech you
affectionately to meditate and pray over the following verses: John iii.
16; Rom. x. 9, 10; Acts x. 43; 1 John v. 1.

CONDITIONS OF PRAYER.

Go for yourself, with all your temporal and spiritual wants, to the
Lord. Bring also the necessities of your friends and relatives to the
Lord. Only make the trial, and you will perceive how able and willing He
is to help you. Should you, however, not at once obtain answers to your
prayers, be not discouraged; but continue patiently, believingly,
perseveringly to wait upon God: and as assuredly as that which you ask
would be for your real good, and therefore for the honour of the Lord;
and as assuredly as you ask it solely on the ground of the worthiness of
our Lord Jesus, so assuredly you will at last obtain the blessing. I
myself have had to wait upon God concerning certain matters for years,
before I obtained answers to my prayers; but at last they came. At this
very time, I have still to renew my requests daily before God,
respecting a certain blessing for which I have besought Him for eleven
years and a half, and which I have as yet obtained only in part, but
concerning which I have no doubt that the full blessing will be granted
in the end.... The great point is that we ask only for that which it
would be for the glory of God to give to us; for that, and that alone,
can be for our real good. But it is not enough that the thing for which
we ask God be for His honour and glory, but we must secondly ask it in
the name of the Lord Jesus, viz., expect it only on the ground of His
merits and worthiness. Thirdly, we should believe that God is able and
willing to give us what we ask Him for. Fourthly, we should continue in
prayer till the blessing is granted; without fixing to God a time when,
or the circumstances under which, He should give the answer. Patience
should be in exercise, in connection with our prayer. Fifthly, we
should, at the same time, look out for and expect an answer till it
comes. If we pray in this way, we shall not only have answers, thousands
of answers to our prayers; but our own souls will be greatly refreshed
and invigorated in connection with these answers.

If the obtaining of your requests were not for your real good, or were
not tending to the honour of God, you might pray for a long time,
without obtaining what you desire. The glory of G