will abate no jot of heart and hope, but will turn to life's tasks, calmly waiting the working out of God's answer to their prayers. Christians pray for a revival of religion, and for a time nothing follows; but if they pray on, continuing to believe in God's love and power, at length the heavens will be opened and showers of blessing will descend upon the parched land.

When faith ceases prayer ceases. Without faith a man may continue to say his prayers, but he has ceased to pray. The only prayer that is real, and hence the only prayer that prevails, is the prayer that takes hold and keeps hold of God. "Prayer is heard in heaven," says Spurgeon, "in proportion to our faith. Little faith will get great mercies, but great faith still greater." The prayer that unceasingly repeats itself, and unceasingly prevails, is the prayer of unceasing faith.

14. Prayer as a Habit.

"I desire therefore that men pray in every place" (1 Tim. 2. 8). This being merely a variation of the foregoing thought, need not here be enlarged upon. It brings to view another form of continuous prayer. Prayer has not only all times and seasons for its own; it has all places for its own. world is a temple, any spot thereon an altar. To every place heaven is equally near; and the flow of divine communion which a bustling world so often interrupts is liable to break out at any place where the need of God is felt. Dr. Horace Bushnell

The

testifies that he "fell into the habit of talking with God on every occasion. I talk myself asleep at night," said he, "and open the morning talking with him." This habit of connecting every part of the day with prayer ought to be sedulously cultivated. Yet the spontaneous upgoing of the soul to God must not be allowed to take the place of set times of prayer; for, as Juan de Avila wisely remarks, "No man will be able to pray with profit in any place unless first he have heart to pray in a particular place, and to employ some space of time therein."

15. Looking for the Answer.

"Praying. ... and watching thereunto" (Eph. 6. 18). When prayer has been offered we are to look for the answer, as the archer looks to see if his arrow has hit the mark; or as the person who knocks at the door looks for it to be opened.

The expression "watching thereunto" might be more strictly rendered "being sleepless thereunto." An alert, sleepless outlook is to be maintained until the answer comes. Too many go away from the throne of grace forgetting what they have come for; they have no real expectation of seeing anything happen as the result of their prayers; or, if for a time they look for an answer, by and by their interest slackens, their vigilance relaxes, or the distractions of life call off their thoughts from what they were seeking, and they cease to have expectation of anything definite coming to them.

To let go the expectant attitude is to suffer great loss. It is to empty life of one of the chief elements of its interest; it is virtually to say that there has come an end of God. To the praying man God himself is the real object of hope. The song of his life has for its refrain, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him." If God be the Infinite Good, there is every reason why he should expect great things from him; and if he has promised certain special and abundant blessings in answer to prayer, he has every reason to expect that they will be given. Hence it behooves him to keep looking for their coming.

It is hard to keep a steady watch, hard to curb our impatience when the things we were looking for seem to be delayed. Waiting tests our faith. Fain would we control God, instead of waiting patiently upon him to see what he is going to do. But we have to wait. When the tide is out there is nothing to do but to tarry for its return; when the night is dark there is nothing to do but to watch for the morning; when the powers of evil prevail there is nothing to do but to look for the glory of the coming of the Lord. "For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie; though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not delay" (Hab. 2. 3).

In watching for the answer we must look all around, for while we are looking for it in one direction it may be coming in another, and we may miss it. Standing upon our watchtower scanning the

horizon, we are to look in every direction, watching for the reenforcements which are on the way. God is faithful and will not leave a beleaguered soul unrelieved. Praying and watching will bring their reward. "Begin praying, continue watching, and you will end in praising.”

CHAPTER II

THE PLACE OF PRAYER IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

THE unknown writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews approaches the subject of prayer from the standpoint of its relation to Christianity as the final religion. He sees in Judaism the bud of which Christianity is the full-blown flower. With him "Christianity is represented as sublimated, completed, idealized Judaism" (Farrer). Continuity and development mark the entire process of revelation. The Jewish ritualistic system was merely “a shadow of things to come." It contained "weak and beggarly elements" which passed away when that which is perfect arrived. Religion, stripped of its ceremonial character, became the free and spontaneous worship of God in the spirit. Prayer, like every other part of the religious life, came to its full stage of development. To every believer was accorded the privilege of access into the holy place and of immediate fellowship with God.

Writing to Jewish Christians, our author naturally employs thought-forms borrowed from Jewish sources. His imagery is Jewish, his thought is Christian.

1. The Throne of Grace.

"Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto