od should be always
before the children of God, in what they desire at His hands; and their
own spiritual profit, being so intimately connected with the honour of
God, should never be lost sight of, in their petitions. But now, suppose
we are believers in the Lord Jesus, and make our requests unto God,
depending alone on the Lord Jesus as the ground of having them granted;
suppose, also, that, so far as we are able honestly and uprightly to
judge, the obtaining of our requests would be for our real spiritual
good and for the honour of God; we yet need, lastly, to _continue_ in
prayer, until the blessing is granted unto us. It is not enough to begin
to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue _for a time_
to pray; but we must patiently, believingly continue in prayer, until we
obtain an answer; and further, we have not only to _continue_ in prayer
unto the end, but we have also _to believe_ that God does hear us, and
will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in
prayer until the blessing is obtained and _in not expecting_ the
blessing.

FAITH, PRAYER, AND THE WORD OF GOD.

_Prayer and faith, the universal remedies against every want and every
difficulty;_ and the nourishment of prayer and faith, God's holy word,
helped me over all the difficulties.--I never remember, in all my
Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and
four months, that I ever SINCERELY and PATIENTLY sought to know the will
of God by _the teaching of the Holy Ghost,_ through the instrumentality
of the _word of God,_ but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if
_honesty of heart_ and _uprightness before God_ were lacking, or if I
did not _patiently_ wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred
_the counsel of my fellow men_ to the declarations of _the word of the
living God,_ I made great mistakes.

SECRET PRAYER.

Let none expect to have the mastery over his inward corruption in any
degree, without going in his weakness again and again to the Lord for
strength. Nor will prayer with others, or conversing with the brethren,
make up for secret prayer.

SNARES OF SATAN AS TO PRAYER.

It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the
Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to
read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were of no
use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer; whilst the truth is, in
order to enjoy