. You have allowed the key to rust,
by John Macduff. He continued all night in prayer
to God, Luke 6.12. Jesus was emphatically a man
of prayer. The Spirit was poured upon him
without measure, yet he prayed. He was incarnate wisdom, needing
not that any should teach him. Yet he prayed. He was infinite
in his power, and boundless in his resources. Yet he prayed. How deeply sacred are his prayerful
memories, that hover around the solitudes of Olivet and the shores
of Tiberias! He seemed often to turn night
into day, to redeem moments for prayer, rather than lose the
blessed privilege. All his public acts were consecrated
by prayer. His baptism, his transfiguration,
his miracles, his agony, his death, he breathed away his life
in prayer. His last breath, says Philip
Henry, was praying breath. How sweet to think, in holding
communion with God, that Jesus drank of this very brook He consecrated
the bended knee and the silent chamber. He refreshed His fainting
spirit at the same great fountainhead from which it is life for us
to draw and death to forsake. Rita, do you complain of your
languid spirit, your drooping faith, your fitful affections,
your lukewarm love? May you not trace much of what
you deplore to an unfrequented prayer-chamber? The treasures
are locked up from you, because you have allowed the key to rust. Your hands hang down, because
they have ceased to be uplifted in prayer. Without prayer, this
is the pilgrim without a staff, the seaman without a compass,
the soldier going unarmed to battle. Beware of encouraging
what indisposes to prayer, of going to the audience chamber
of God with soiled garments, the din of the world following
you, its distracting thoughts hovering unforbidden over your
spirit. Can you wonder that the living
water refuses to flow through obstructed channels, or the heavenly
light to pierce murky vapors? Among men, fellowship with lofty
minds imparts a certain nobility to character. Just so, in a far
higher sense, by communion with God, you will be transformed
into His image and get assimilated to His likeness, make every event
in life a reason for fresh going to Him, if difficulties in duty,
Bring them to the test of prayer. If bowed down with anticipated
trial, remember Christ's preparation. Sit here while I go and pray
yonder. Let prayer consecrate everything—your
time, your talents, your pursuits, your engagements, your joys,
your sorrows, your crosses, your losses, By prayer, rough paths
will be made smooth, trials are disarmed of their bitterness,
enjoyments are hallowed and refined, the bread of the world turned
into angels' food. It is in the prayer closet, says
Payson, where the battle is lost or won.