asked to speak to a poor wreck of a man who had been a gambler. He
looked at her suspiciously as he asked, "Do you play cards, or dance, or
go to the theater?" "No, not now," she replied. "Well, then you may talk
to me; but I won't listen to one word from you fine folks who are doing
on a small scale the very things that brought us poor wretches to where
we are." And the young lady afterwards said she had found more real joy
in leading that lost soul to Christ than she had ever found in the
pleasures of the world.

_Lay aside every weight; lay aside every weight, just now._

STUDY XII.

PRAYER.

Memory Verse: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much."--(James v, 16.)

Scripture for Meditation: Gen. xxxii, 24-30; Luke xi, 1-13.

Nothing is more essential to the soul-winner than prayer. Prayer will
generate a spiritual atmosphere in the individual life. The prayers of
many will generate a spiritual atmosphere in a community. In answer to
prayer, the Holy Spirit will do his office, and produce such pungent
conviction of sin that men will carry out, as on the day of Pentecost,
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

In the Life of Mr. Finney it is related that, during a revival at Rome,
New York, the air seemed surcharged with Divine power. A sheriff, who
had laughed about the meetings, came over from Utica. He felt this
strange influence when he crossed the old canal, a mile west of town.
When he sat in the hotel dining-room, he had to get up and go to the
window two or three times to divert his attention and keep from weeping.
After dinner he hurried away, but was afterwards converted.

See what spiritual triumphs and great revivals the early Church
witnessed; but the secret of it all was that "they continued steadfastly
in prayers." Why is it that to-day many have so little courage and so
little power to win others to Christ? They neglect prayer. "They that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and
not faint." How little time we spend daily in prayer! Study the life of
Paul, and Savonarola, and Catherine of Siena, and Martin Luther, and
John Knox, and see how they all gave themselves continually to prayer,
and so prevailed. All they who have become illustrious as great
soul-winners have been, without exception, men and women mighty in
prayer. They came to understand that God's st