the power of prayer no bonds can be set. The influence which it puts in motion can never die. It is a living force which enters into the life of the world, uniting the past and the present, linking us on to those we never knew, and perpetuating our influence after we have gone. By it we can bequeath a heritage of blessing to those who come after us, and by it we can receive a heritage of of blessing from the successive generations of praying souls who have passed on before us.

O, what volumes of prayer seem to remain unanswered! But not one of them is ever really lost. The prayer of the sainted father or mother still lives, and works on in behalf of the children for whom it was offered up. When we come to stand before the Lord, and the seals of the mysterious Book of Life are opened, it will be seen that not one prayer fell to the ground, but that every true prayer became an integral part of the divine moral order.

5. The Final Prayer of the New Testament. "Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22. 20).

As this book closes, the risen, living Lord exclaims, "Yea; I come quickly," and the seer of Patmos sends the answer back, "Amen: come, Lord Jesus." This prayer for the coming of the Lord expresses the desire and hope of the early church in view of the desolating judgments which had already broken out, and which were to "shake terribly the earth." The furnace of persecution was being heated sevenfold, and no one could feel sure of

escaping its devouring flames. So severe was the sifting process that Jesus asks, "When the Son of man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?" What the final issue of the struggle would be no one could forecast. In their distress they called upon their absent Lord. They believed that he still lived and loved, and that he would speedily come for their deliverance. Upon his personal and speedy return all their hopes were centered. The prayer for his coming was constantly upon their lips.

The church, as the bride, is still to maintain this waiting, expectant attitude. She is to keep looking for great things from her Lord. She is to pray for his coming, not in outward, spectacular ways, but in the manifestation of his kingly power and glory. To him she is eternally united, and out of every struggle he will bring her triumphant. And so, whatever the specialized form of her prayer for his coming may be, the essence of it, the heart of it, will be a prayer for his coming in the glory of his power, and in the fullness of his kingdom.

And just as the Revelator turned the promise of the Lord into a prayer, so we are warranted in turning our prayer into a promise; so that when out of the depths we cry, "Come, Lord Jesus," we may hear the hope-inspiring reply, "Yea, I come quickly.”

PART FIFTH

THE PLACE OF PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

CHAPTER I

PERSONAL PRAYER

O, where are kings and empires now,
Of old that went and came?

But Lord, thy church is praying yet,
A thousand years the same.

THE Church of Christ has always been a praying body. Sometimes the rains that fill the springs have for a season ceased to fall, and the river of her prayer-life has run low; but when things have come to the worst the spirit of prayer has again been poured out, and a revival of religion has followed.

Knowing the worth of prayer, the church has always sought to promote its practice among her members. She has inculcated the duty and magnified the privilege of prayer; she has depended upon it as a vital factor in her life. Some of her best efforts have been put forth in its cultivation. In her teaching and preaching, in her literature and art, in her music and hymnology, she has striven to uplift the hearts of men heavenward, and to connect them with the source of their life in prayer. There is no phase of the prayer-life to which she has been indifferent, and there is no aid to devotion which she has not endeavored to employ. A consideration of her efforts in this direction will bring before us a review of the various forms in which the