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CONVERSATIONS 
 
 "Y ^ APR 8 1911 ■! 
 
 P E A Y E ^ . 
 
 BV 212 .C65 1838 
 Conversations on prayer 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, AND 
 REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OP PUBLICATION. 
 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
 
 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
Entered according lo Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by 
 Paul Beck, Jr., Treasurer, in trust for the American Sunday- 
 pchonl Union, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tiiM 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Prayer commanded and encouraged • 6 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 We may ask amiss 17 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 We must pray in the name of Christ, for things 
 agreeable to the will of God 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 We must pray in faith 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 We must pray with right feelings 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 We must forgive others when we pray ; and we 
 must forsake sin and obey God, if we would 
 
 have him answer our prayers , 70 
 
 3 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 GHAPTER VII. 
 
 We must pray with watchfulness and perseverance, 
 earnestness and importunity 81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 When, where, for whom, and how we must pray. 105 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PEATER COMMANDED AND ENCOtJltAGED. 
 
 " WHAT a beautiful evening this 
 is, mother," said little Susan, as she 
 looked out of the window. The moon 
 ■was shining bright and clear, glisten- 
 ing upon the snow and frost, and the 
 stars twinkled in the clear blue sky. 
 She turned around upon the blazing 
 wood-fire, that made her mother's 
 room so pleasant and comfortable. 
 
 " Yes, my dear Susan," said her 
 mother, *' it is a pleasant evening, and 
 well calculated to turn our thoughts 
 towards that great and good Being, 
 who made the world, and the sun, 
 moon, and stars ; and who gives us 
 all the comforts and blessings we en- 
 joy. O, how delightful it is to look 
 up in a clear moonlight evening, and 
 see the sky set so thick w^ith stars. 
 David was filled with wonder at the 
 
 1^ 5 
 
6 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 sight, because he saw in them the 
 glory of his heavenly Father. ' The 
 heavens declare the glory of God, and 
 the firmament showeth his handv- 
 work.'" 
 
 " How great God must be, mother, 
 to make all these things ! And will 
 he listen to such a little girl as I am, 
 if I pray to him ? David says, ' When 
 I consider thy heavens, the w^ork of 
 thy fingers ; the moon and the stars, 
 which thou hast ordained ; what is 
 man, that thou art mindful of him? 
 and the son of man, that thou visitest 
 him?' But 1 am only a little girl. 
 Will he care for me?" 
 
 " But, in the same psalm, my dear, 
 David says, 'Out of the mouth of 
 babes and sucklings hast thou ordain- 
 ed strength.' And Jesus says that 
 God takes care of the little birds : 'Are 
 not two sparrows sold for a farthing? 
 and one of them shall not fall on the 
 ground without your Father.' If the 
 Lord takes care of the little birds, 
 
ON PRAYER. 7 
 
 will he think you too small for him 
 to notice ? No; Jesus says, ' the very 
 hairs of your head are all numbered.' 
 If he counts the hairs of your head, 
 surely he will not refuse to listen 
 when you pray to him. But our 
 heavenly Father has not left us to 
 suppose that we may go to him. He 
 has kindly told us to come and ask 
 for what we want; and graciously 
 promised to hear and answer our 
 prayers." 
 
 " O, mother, I cannot think he 
 would like to be troubled with my 
 little wants." 
 
 " My dear, it is one of the most 
 glorious things in the character of 
 God, that he is as careful of the least 
 as of the greatest of his works. Have 
 you never seen a little spider on the 
 wall or fence?" 
 
 '' Yes, mother, and it is a very little 
 thing, indeed, so that I could but just 
 see it." 
 
 *' Yet^ my dear, the same God that 
 
CONVERSATIONS 
 
 made the sun, moon, and stars, made 
 this little spider ; and you see how 
 much pains he has taken to provide 
 it food. See the little web on which 
 it is running-. God has given the 
 spider the wonderful power and skill 
 of weaving this web from its own 
 body, and hanging it up for a net, to 
 catch the little flies, which it kills 
 and eats. Do you think he would 
 care more for the little spider, that 
 has no soul, than for you ?" 
 
 " But the little spider does not pray 
 to him, mother. I am afraid to speak 
 to the great God. I am afraid he 
 will not be willing to hear such a 
 little child.'^ 
 
ON PRAYER. 9 
 
 " My dear, if I tell you to ask me 
 for any thing you want, will you be 
 afraid to come to me for it?" 
 
 " O, no, mother, I should not ; be- 
 cause I know that you love to give 
 me good things, and make me happy. 
 And I always know that I shall get 
 what I ask, if it is best that I should 
 have it." 
 
 " Well, my dear, you may be more 
 certain that God will give you what 
 you ask for, if it is best you should 
 have it. Hear 'what Jesus says about 
 it. ' Ask, and it shall be given you ; 
 seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
 it shall be opened unto you. For 
 every one that asketh receiveth ; and 
 he that seeketh findeth ; and to him 
 that knocketh it shall be opened." 
 
 " O, that is for me ; for it says every 
 one ; and if every one may ask, then 
 a little child may ask. But how cayi 
 God be willing to give us what we 
 ask for?" 
 
 " He is our heavenly Father. We 
 
10 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 are his children, if we love him. You 
 knpw how willing 3^our father and 
 mother are to give you good things. 
 But God is more rvilling. Hear what 
 Jesus says again : ' If a son shall ask 
 bread of any of you that is a father, 
 will he give him a stone ? or if he ask 
 a fish, will he give him a serpe7it ? 
 Or, if he ask an egg, w411 he offer 
 him a scorpion?' " 
 
 " No, mother, I know father would 
 not serve me so. He always loves 
 to please me ; and it grieves him 
 when I am a bad girl, so that he can- 
 not do for me as he would. When 
 he comes home at night, he always 
 smiles so, I know he loves to give me 
 good things." 
 
 " Well, your father and mother are 
 not as good as God. We are sinners, 
 and often do wrong : and Jesus says, 
 ' If ye then, being evil, know how to 
 give good gifts unto your children, 
 HOW MUCH MORE shall your heavenly 
 
ON PRAYER. 11 
 
 Father give his Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him !'" 
 
 " How wonderful that is, mother ! 
 Is the great God more willing to give 
 me his Holy Spirit, than my dear 
 parents are to give me good things?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, it is true ; and he 
 has given us a great many other pro- 
 mises, to show that he is willing to 
 hear our prayers. He has even com- 
 manded us to pray to him, because 
 he knew it would be for our good." 
 
 " O, I should not think anybody 
 would need to be commanded to pray 
 to God. It is such a privilege for us 
 to be allowed to speak to our heavenly 
 Father, and ask him for the things 
 we want, I should think everybody 
 would be glad to do it." 
 
 " We should think so, my dear ; 
 but people are not always willing to 
 do what is for their own good. Some- 
 times children must be made to study 
 their books, when they do not like to 
 do it, although it is for their good. 
 
12 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Parents do this from love to their 
 children, and not because it is of any 
 benefit to themselves. So, it is of no 
 benefit to God for us to pray to him ; 
 but he commands us to pray, because 
 he loves us, and knows it is for our 
 good." 
 
 " Do, mother, tell me some more 
 of God's promises about prayer, and 
 his commands, too." 
 
 *' Yes, my dear ; I will first read 
 some of the passages of Scripture by 
 which it is made our duty to pray." 
 
 (Susan's mother reads from the 
 Bible.) " Seek ye the Lord while he 
 may be found, call ye upon him while 
 he is near." "In every thing, by 
 prayer and supplication, with thanks- 
 giving, let your requests be made 
 known unto God." "I will, that 
 men pray everywhere." " Watch 
 and pray." 
 
 " And now will you read some 
 more of the promises, mother ?" 
 
 ''Yes, I will read a few of them ; 
 
ON PRAYER. 13 
 
 but there are so many that I can 
 hardly tell which to choose. ' The 
 Lord is nigh unto all them that call 
 upon him, to all that call upon him 
 in truth. He will fulfil the desire of 
 them that fear him : he also will hear 
 their cry, and will save them.' " 
 
 " And will the Lord be nigh to me, 
 if I pray to him ? And will he give 
 me what I desire?" 
 
 *' Yes, if you ' call upon him in 
 truth,'' he wdll be near to you." 
 
 '' What does that mean, mother?" 
 
 " To call upon God in truth, is to 
 be sincere in your prayers : to feel in 
 your heart just what you say. It is 
 not prayer to say over some w^ords 
 that you have learned, without un- 
 derstanding what they mean, and 
 really wishing for the things for which 
 you ask. It is lying to God. If you 
 mock him in that w^ay, he wnll not 
 answer your prayer. But here are 
 some more promises : ' If any of you 
 lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
 
14 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 who giveth to all men liberal 1)^ and 
 npbraideth not ; and it shall be given 
 him.' ' The effectual fervent prayer 
 of a righteous man availeth much.' 
 But now, my dear Susan, it is grow- 
 ing late. We will sing a little hymn, 
 and pray to God ; and then we will 
 lie down and sleep." 
 
 " But tell me first, my dear mother, 
 what I should ask God to give me 
 his Holy Spirit for." 
 
 " You have a wicked heart. You 
 love to do wrong, and hate to do right. 
 This is the disposition of every one 
 that has not been born again." 
 
 " I do not know what that means, 
 mother." 
 
 "To be born again is to have your 
 heart so changed, that you will love 
 to do right, and hate to do wrong. 
 You want God's Holy Spirit to make 
 you willing to obey and love him ; 
 because you are, by nature, so wick- 
 ed that you will not obey and love 
 God, till he has changed your heart." 
 
ON PRAYER. 15 
 
 '' What is my heart, mother ?" 
 
 ^' It is that part of you that chooses, 
 and loves, and hates. Now, you 
 sometimes choose and love what is 
 wrong, and refuse and hate what is 
 right. But if God's Holy Spirit 
 changes your heart, then you will 
 choose and love what is right, and 
 refuse and hate what is wrong." 
 
 " And then shall I want the Holy 
 Spirit, after my heart is changed ?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; every right feel- 
 ing that we have, and every good 
 thing in us, comes from God's Holy 
 Spirit. And, after your heart is 
 changed, you will need the Spirit 
 of God to keep you in the right way, 
 to help you to overcome the bad dis- 
 positions of your heart, and to make 
 you know more and more of God, 
 and be more and more like Christ." 
 
 " Then, mother, am I to blame for 
 not obeying God, before he gives me 
 his Holy Spirit?" 
 
 "Yes; you ought to obey God 
 
16 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 now, and you are to blame for not 
 obeying him. You ought to love 
 Jesus, and trust in him, and give him 
 your heart now. And the reason 
 why you need God's Holy Spirit is, 
 that your heart is so bad you will not 
 obey him." 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 It is my father's chief delight. 
 
 My mother's greatest joy, 
 To have me do the thing that's right, 
 
 Nor once their peace destroy. 
 
 Then they deUght good things to give, 
 
 That I may happy be ; 
 And always will, while so I live, 
 
 Be kind and good to me. 
 
 But more, my heavenly Father, God, 
 
 Is pleased when I obey ; 
 Nor loves to use his dreadful rod, 
 
 To keep me in his way. 
 
 And yet more willing still is he, 
 
 If I but ask, to give 
 His Holy Spirit, full and free, 
 
 Within my heart to live. 
 
 Then I will early learn to pray, 
 
 And ever love to ask. 
 And alwa.vs mean the things I say, 
 
 Nor think my prayers a task. 
 
ON PRAYER. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WE MAT ASK AMISS. 
 
 '' Mother, if God is so willing to 
 give us good things, when we ask for 
 them, what is the reason that people 
 do not always get what they pray for ? 
 I have heard a great many prayers 
 that I think have never been an- 
 swered ; and I have prayed a great 
 many times for things that I have 
 never received." 
 
 " My dear, it is not because God 
 does not mind his promises. It is 
 because people do not always ask 
 aright. The apostle James says : 
 " Ye ask, and receive not, because ye 
 ask amiss, that ye may consume it 
 upon your lusts." 
 
 " I do not know what lusts means, 
 mother." 
 
 " The word lust, my dear, may be 
 
18 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 •understood differently, according to 
 the connexion in which it is used. 
 Here, I suppose it means selfish de- 
 sires. You may desire good things 
 for no other reason than to gratify 
 yourself, without any regard to the 
 glory of God, the good of others, or 
 even your own eternal good. You 
 may ask for the Holy Spirit, for the 
 sake of the comfort which you think 
 He will give you ; you may ask God 
 to forgive your sins, because you are 
 afraid he will punish you, and not 
 because you hate sin, or desire His 
 favour and love ; or you-may pray for 
 the Holy Spirit, because you wish to 
 have the name of being very reli- 
 gious. All this would be asking 
 amiss, to consume it upon your lusts. 
 But that you may understand my 
 meaning, I will suppose a few cases. 
 Suppose you come to me, and say, 
 " Mother, I want something." — 
 *' What do you want, my dear ?" " I 
 do not know, mother. You told me 
 
ox PRAYEE. 19 
 
 to ask you, when I wanted any tiling. 
 I want something now." Do you 
 think I should give you any thing?" 
 
 " No, mother; you would think I 
 was trifling with you ; and you would 
 be displeased, and send me away." 
 
 *' But people often pray just in that 
 way. The time has come for them 
 to pray ; and they think they must say 
 something ; and so they go and pray 
 to God, without feeling sensible of 
 their wants. In fact, they do not 
 really desire any thing in particular. 
 Such prayers are trifling with God, 
 and he will not answer them." 
 
 " But, mother, should we let the 
 time go by, without praying, when 
 we do not feel sensible of our wants?" 
 
 " No my dear ; we ought to have a 
 deep sense of our wants, all the time, 
 and to maintain a spirit of prayer, so 
 that we shall be prepared at any time 
 to pray aright. But, if our stated 
 time for prayer comes, and finds our 
 hearts cold, so that we cannot tell 
 
20 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 what to pray for, we should think 
 over our wants, and read God's word ; 
 and think how willing he is to give 
 us what we need, till our hearts are 
 warmed with holy desires, and we 
 are prepared to ask God in earnest 
 for things that we sincerely desire. 
 But, suppose you come and ask me 
 for some cakes, when I know you are 
 not hungry, but only want them to 
 please your taste, and gratify your 
 appetite, do you think I would give 
 them to you?" 
 
 *'I think you ought not to give 
 them to me mother; for they w^ould 
 only hurt me." 
 
 " Well, if you ask me for a new 
 dress, wdien I know you want it only 
 for the sake of gratifying your vanity, 
 by appearing in fine clothes, ought I 
 to give it to you?" 
 
 "No, mother; it would do me 
 more hurt than good." 
 
 "Well, God sees your heart, all 
 the time ; and he knows how you feel 
 
ON PRAYER. 21 
 
 about every thing you ask. And if 
 you ask for his blessing to gratify 
 your selfish feelings, or your vanity, 
 he will not give you the things you 
 pray for. He abhors such prayers. 
 'Lying lips,' says Solomon, ' are an 
 abomination to the Lord.' But, if I 
 should promise to give you every 
 thing you ask for, you would not 
 think, I meant to say that I w^ould 
 give them to you, if you ask for them 
 in any of these ways that><I have 
 mentioned." 
 
 '' No, mother; and if I should ask 
 so, and you should not give me what 
 I ask for, you would not break your 
 promise." 
 
 " Neither does the Lord break his 
 promise, when he refuses to give peo- 
 ple what they ask, when they do not 
 ask aright." 
 
 "Well, mother, do teach me how 
 t^ pray aright, so that God will give 
 me wdiat I ask for." 
 
 ** I will try to do so, my dear ; but 
 
22 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 we have talked long enough this 
 time." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WE MUST PRAT IX THE XAME OF CHRIST, FOR THIS:GS 
 AGREEABLE TO THE -WILL OF GOD. 
 
 ''My dear mother, I want to hear 
 more about prayer. You told me 
 you would teach me how to ask 
 aright, for what I want." 
 
 '' Well, my dear, the first thing I 
 have to tell you, is, that you must 
 pray in the name of Christ; for there 
 is no other way that you can come 
 to God. Just before Jesus left his 
 disciples, he said to them, " Whatso- 
 ever ye shall ask in my name, that 
 will I do. If ye shall ask any thing 
 in my name, I will do it. Whatso- 
 ever ye shall ask the Father in my 
 name, he will give it you." And the 
 apostle Paul says: "Giving thanks 
 
ON PRAYER. 23 
 
 always for all things unto God and 
 the Father, in the name of our Lm^d 
 Jesus Christ.'' 
 
 "But I do not understand that, 
 mother. What does it mean, to ask 
 in the name of Jesus ?" 
 
 " My dear, if you wanted to ask a 
 favour of some great man, perhaps you 
 would not like to go to him yourself, 
 but would get some kind friend, that 
 w^as acquainted with him, to go and 
 ask him for you. Judge Thomas is 
 a great man, always full of business ; 
 and if I sent you to borrow a book of 
 him, you might get his little Emily, 
 whom he loves so well, that he never 
 would deny her any thing, to go and 
 ask her father to give you the book. 
 You remember, you told me that 
 little Jane Miller tore her Sunday- 
 school book, and lost her right to take 
 books from the library ; so that she 
 got Emily Thomas to get one for her, 
 on her own account. 
 
 '*Well, now^ this may give you 
 
24 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 some idea of what it is to ask in tlie 
 name of Clirist. We have all dis- 
 obeyed God. We are all sinners. 
 We have lost our right to the favour 
 of God ; so that we cannot ^o to him 
 and ask him to give us the things we 
 need, 07i our own account. But Jesus 
 has taken our nature upon him, 
 obeyed God for us, suffered for our 
 sins, and gone up to heaven to pray 
 for us. God is well pleased with 
 him, and will alw^ays give him what 
 he asks. And He will not let us 
 come to Him, to ask any thing of 
 Him, or to praise Him, or to w^orship 
 Him in any way', except in the name 
 of Jesus. And He will not give us 
 any thing, except on the account of 
 Jesus. And, my dear, w^e must not 
 only pray in the name of Christ, but 
 we must ask for things agreeable to 
 the will of God. The Bible says, 
 that if we ask any thing accorcli7ig to 
 his will he heareth us.'' 
 
ON PRAYER. 25 
 
 '' I do not know what according to 
 his will means, mother." 
 
 *' When we speak of asking for 
 things according to the will of God, 
 we mean things that he is willing to 
 give us." 
 
 "But how shall I know what he 
 is willing to give me ?" 
 
 " There are some things, my dear, 
 which God has told us in the Bible 
 that he is willing to give us. Christ 
 says to his disciples, ' If ye then, 
 being evil, know how to give good 
 gifts unto your children, how much 
 more shall your heavenly Father give 
 his Holy Spirit to them that ask him.' 
 And Paul says to the Thessalonians, 
 * This is the will of God, even your 
 sanctification.' So, if w^e pray for 
 God's Holy Spirit to renew our hearts, 
 to take away our sins, and to keep us 
 from sinning, we ask for what we 
 know God is willing to give us. And 
 this includes all spiritual blessings 
 that we need. And, if we have the 
 3 
 
26 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Spirit of God in our hearts, he will 
 teach us what things to pray for. 
 The apostle Paul says, ' The Spirit 
 also helpeth our infirmities : for we 
 know not what we shoul^i pray for 
 as we ought : but the Spirit itself 
 maketh intercession for us, with 
 groanings w^hich cannot be uttered. 
 And he that searcheth the hearts 
 knoweth wdrat is the mind of the 
 Spirit, because he maketh interces- 
 sion for the saints, according to the 
 will of God.' As every right feeling 
 of our hearts comes from the Spirit 
 of God, so every holy desire for spi- 
 ritual blessings is formed in us by 
 the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all real 
 and acceptable prayer must be the 
 fruit of God's Spirit. God has also 
 informed us that he is willing to give 
 us food and clothing, and other com- 
 forts, day by day, as we need them. 
 * Trust in the Lord, and do good : so 
 shalt thou dwell in the land, and ve- 
 rily thou shalt be fed.' Christ says, 
 
ON PRAYER. 27 
 
 ' Take no thought, saying, what shall 
 we eat ? or what shall we drink ? or 
 wherewithal shall we be clothed'^ 
 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
 and his righteousness, and all these 
 things shall be added un to you . ' And 
 he teaches us to pray, ' Give us this; 
 day our daily bread.' So, you see, 
 God has taught you, in the Bible, 
 what kind of blessings you may ask 
 for, hiowing them to be agreeable to 
 his will. But you may sometimes 
 desire particular things, which the 
 Lord may see it would be neither for 
 your good nor for his glory to give 
 you, just in the way and at the time 
 you desire them. If you pray aright 
 for the influences of his Holy Spirit, 
 he will certainly give them to you, 
 though it may not be just at the time 
 and in the way that you think best. 
 And if you pray for food and clothing, 
 he will give it to you; though he 
 may see that it would not be good for 
 you to have just as much, or just the 
 
^8 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 kind that you desire. My dear, if 
 your father should send you away to 
 school, and, on parting with yon, 
 should say, ' Now, Susan, if 3^ou want 
 any thing, just write and let me know, 
 and I will send it to you ;' how would 
 you understand him? Would you 
 think he meant to give you liberty 
 to ask for any thing your fancy might 
 put into your head, Avith the certainty 
 of receiving it ? If 3^ou should write 
 home as soon as you arrived at the 
 school, saying, ' My dear father, please 
 to send me a gold watch, and some 
 jewels for my ears, and some rings 
 for my fingers,' would you expect to 
 get them?" 
 
 "No, mother, I should not, be- 
 cause I know that he does not think 
 it best for me to wear such things." 
 
 " No ; and just so, when God 
 promises to give us what we ask for, 
 he does not mean that he will give 
 us any thing that he has forbidden 
 us to have. But, would you think 
 
ox PRAYER. 29 
 
 it certain, from your father's promise, 
 that you would get every thing you 
 should ask for, even though it should 
 be something which he had not for- 
 bidden you to have V 
 
 "" No, mother ; if it w^as any thing 
 that he had told me he wished me to 
 have, I should feel certain of getting 
 it. But, if it was something that I 
 thought I needed, but did not know 
 his mind about it, I should say, "Fa- 
 ther, I w^ant this very much ; but I 
 do not know^ w^hether you will think 
 it best for me to have it ; and you 
 know better than I do;" a.nd I should 
 keep asking him, till he gave me an 
 answer. But, if he said, " No, Su- 
 san; this is not best for you;" I 
 should be satisfied, and should not 
 think he had broken his promise." 
 
 "Well, my dear, just so you are to 
 understand the promises of God; 
 and just so you must ask him for 
 w^hat you want. If it is any thing 
 which he has told you in the Bible 
 
 3* 
 
30 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 that he wished you to have, you mar 
 be sure of receiving it, if ijou ask 
 aright; and if you do not receive it, 
 you may conclude that you have 
 asked amiss. But, if it is any thing 
 that you are not certain it is best for 
 you to have, or any thing that God 
 has not told you he is willing to give, 
 you must ask with the same spirit of 
 submission, that you v/ould ask your 
 father, in the case I just supposed. 
 You may keep asking, and you may 
 ask very earnestly, till you see cause 
 to believe that it is not the will of 
 God that you should have what you 
 desire; but then you must submit, 
 and be satisfied that the will of God 
 should be done." 
 
 "Mother, can you tell me about 
 any good people mentioned in the 
 Bible, who asked for things that they 
 did not receive ?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, I can tell you of 
 several. Moses was one of the best 
 men that ever lived; and a great 
 
ON PRAYER. 31 
 
 many times, the Lord heard his 
 prayers, in a most wonderful man- 
 ner. But, after the children of Is- 
 rael got within sight of the promised 
 land, Moses prayed and said : ' O 
 Lord God, thou hast began to show 
 thy servant thy greatness, and thy 
 mighty hand : for what God is there 
 in Heaven or in earth that can do 
 according to thy works, and accord- 
 ing to thy might ? I pray thee let 
 me go over and see the good land 
 that is beyond Jordan, that goodly 
 mountain, and Lebanon.' But the 
 Lord had told him before, that he 
 should not go into the land of Ca- 
 naan, because, at one time, w^hen the 
 children of Israel murmured against 
 God, he had shown a bad spirit. 
 And now, He w^ould not do as Moses 
 desired. But He told Moses that he 
 might go up into a high mountain 
 and see the land." 
 
 "And was Moses satisfied wdth 
 that?" 
 
22 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 ''Yes, he submitted, and said no 
 more about it, after lie knew the 
 Lord's will. And there was good 
 King David, too, who was a prophet, 
 and who wrote most of the Psalms. 
 His little child was taken very sick, 
 and was likely to die ; and he prayed 
 that God would save the child's life. 
 He fasted too, and went and lay all 
 night upon the ground. And his 
 friends went to him and tried to per- 
 suade him to get up ; but he wonld 
 not ; and they could not get him to 
 eat any thing. And this he did from 
 day to day." 
 
 " And did the child die, mother ?" 
 *' On the seventh day, the child 
 died ; and his people were afraid to 
 tell him of it ; for they said, ' Behold, 
 while the child was yet alive, we 
 spake unto him, and he would not 
 hearken unto our voice; how will 
 he then vex himself if we tell him 
 the child is dead V But w^hen David 
 saw them whispering to one another, 
 
ox PRAYER. 33 
 
 he asked them if the child was dead. 
 And when they told him that it w^as 
 dead, he rose up and w^ashed himself, 
 and changed his clothes, and w^ent 
 into the house of the Lord, and wor- 
 shipped. Then he went to his own 
 house, and called for something to 
 eat.'^ 
 
 " Why, I should think he would 
 have been still more sorry, when he 
 knew the child was dead." 
 
 " So his people thought; and they 
 said to him, ' What is this that thou 
 hast done ? thou didst fast and w^eep 
 for the child, while it was alive ; but 
 when the child was dead, thou didst 
 rise and eat bread.' But he answer- 
 ed and said, ' While the child was 
 yet alive, I fasted and w^ept : for I 
 said, who can tell whether God will 
 be gracious to me, that the child may 
 live ? But now he is dead, where- 
 fore should I fast ? Can I bring him 
 back again ? I shall go to him, but 
 he shall not return to me.' Here is 
 
34 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 a most excellent example of prayer, 
 in cases where we do not know what 
 the will of the Lord is. So long as 
 there was any hope that the Lord 
 would hear him, he fasted and wept 
 and prayed, and refused to be com- 
 forted. But as soon as the Lord had 
 decided the matter, and taken away 
 the child, he submitted, with sweet 
 resignation to the Divine will." 
 
 "But, mother, it seems to me that 
 he did not show a right spirit before 
 the child died." 
 
 "I think he did, my dear; he did 
 not know certainly but the Lord 
 might be entreated for the child ; and 
 until the will of the Lord was made 
 known, he w^as not required to sub- 
 mit to it. But as soon as the Lord 
 made known his will, so that there 
 was no doubt about it, he was satis- 
 fied, and rose up and worshipped the 
 Lord, who had afflicted him. And 
 we should do the same. While there 
 is any reason to hope that the Lord 
 
ON PRAYER. 35 
 
 will give us what we desire, we 
 ought to pray as David' did. But, 
 when the Lord makes known his de- 
 termination not to give us. what we 
 ask, then w^e should be satisfied, and 
 worship Him with humble submis- 
 sion. The Apostle Paul, also once 
 prayed, without receiving what he 
 asked for. He says, after he had 
 seen a wonderful vision of the glory 
 of God, there was given to him a 
 thorn in the flesh, to keep him hum- 
 ble." 
 
 " What was that, mother?" 
 '* I cannot tell you, my dear. It 
 was something that was a trial to him, 
 but he does not tell us Avhat it was. 
 He says he prayed to the Lord three 
 times, to take it away from him ; but 
 the Lord refused to take it away, but 
 told him he would give him grace to 
 bear it. This was a case where the 
 will of God was not made known ; 
 and Paul did right to pray ; but you 
 see that the general promises of God, 
 
36 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 that he will answer the prayers of 
 his people, did not apply to this case. 
 He saw that it was not for the good 
 of the apostle's own soul to give him 
 what he asked ; and so he did not 
 do it. But the best example, to show 
 how we should feel when we pray, 
 is that of the Lord Jesus, in the gar- 
 den of Gethsemane. It w^as on that 
 dreadful night when he was betrayed. 
 ' And he prayed, saying, my Fa- 
 ther, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
 from me ! nevertheless, not as I will, 
 but as thou wilt' He submitted his 
 will entirely to the will of his Father ; 
 yet he was ' in an agony, and prayed 
 more earnestly,' ' with strong crying 
 and tears.' " 
 
 ''And did not God hear his prayers, 
 mother?" 
 
 " I suppose he did ; for when Jesus 
 raised up Lazarus from the dead, he 
 said to the Father, *I knew that thou 
 hearest me always.' And St. Paul 
 says, ' he was heard in that he feared:' 
 
ON PRAYER. ■ 37 
 
 and St. Luke says, an angel came 
 and strengthened him. But now, 
 my dear, we have talked a long while. 
 You may repeat your verse, and we 
 will kneel down and pray, commit- 
 ting ourselves to the care of our kind 
 heavenly Father, and then we will 
 go to rest." 
 
 '' Well, mother, I remember a verse 
 that just suits what we have been 
 talking about. 
 
 " Lord, thy Holy Spirit give, 
 
 To teach me how to pray aright ; 
 Whate'er amiss I ask, forgive, 
 
 And grant me favour in thy sight." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "WE MUST PRAY IX FAITH. 
 
 " Mother, I want to hear more 
 about prayer. Is there any thing 
 more necessary, besides what you 
 have told me, in order to pray aright?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, many more things 
 4 
 
38 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 are necessary ; but 1 will tell you but 
 one of them now. We must pray 
 IN FAITH. St. James says, ' If any 
 of you lack wisdom, let him ask of 
 God, that giveth to all men liberally, 
 and upbraideth not ; and it shall be 
 given him. But let him ask in faith, 
 nothing wavering. For he that wa- 
 vereth is like a wave of the sea, driven 
 with the wind and tossed. For let 
 not that man think that he shall re- 
 ceive any thing of the Lord.' " 
 
 " What is it to ask in faith, mo- 
 ther ? I do not understand it." 
 
 *' My dear, I suppose you will 
 never fully understand it, till you 
 have experienced it yourself. The 
 faith which is necessary, in order to 
 have our prayers answered, is confi- 
 dence in the promises of God : firmly 
 believing that he will do just as he 
 says. How do you feel, my dear, 
 when I promise you any thing?" 
 
 ** I feel certain that I shall have it; 
 
ON PRAYER. 39 
 
 for I know that you always do as you 
 say." 
 
 " Well, how much more certain, 
 then, should you be, that God will 
 do as he says ; for he is a God of 
 truth ; he cannot lie. And I have 
 already told you how many times he 
 has promised to hear and answer the 
 prayers of his children. I will now 
 mention another promise, in which 
 faith is made the condition upon 
 which Jesus promises that the prayers 
 of his disciples shall be answered. 
 ' And all things whatsoever ye shall 
 ask in prayer, believing, ye shall re- 
 ceive.' And this is a very reasonable 
 condition. Suppose I should promise 
 to give you some particular things, 
 whenever you ask me for them ; and 
 should hear you saying to your sister, 
 ' I do not believe mother will give 
 me the things she promised;' and 
 then you come to me, and in a cold 
 and heartless way, ask me for them, 
 as though you had no confidence in 
 
40 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 my promises, and did not expect what 
 you were asking for : do you think 
 this would be treating me well?" 
 
 " No, mother ; it would be show- 
 ing that I did not believe w^hat you 
 said. It would be treating you very 
 ill ; and it would not be right for you 
 to give me what I asked for. I should 
 think your promises would not bind 
 you to give them, for such asking." 
 
 '' Well, you sec that God has made 
 confidence in his word the condition 
 upon which he promises to answer 
 our prayers. He sees into our hearts 
 all the time ; and if we do not believe 
 his word, or if we doubt whether he 
 will do as he says, he knows it. He 
 is very jealous of his honour, and it 
 would not be consistent for him to 
 give any thing to a person who has 
 not confidence enough in him to be- 
 lieve that he will do as he says he 
 will. I suppose there is no sin more 
 odious in the sight of God than nn- 
 belief, or want of confidence in Him. 
 
ON PRAYER. 41 
 
 It is very displeasing to us, when any 
 person will not believe what we say." 
 
 ''O yes, mother; little Ann Thomp- 
 son would not believe what I said, 
 and I felt very much grieved. She 
 could not have offended me more." 
 
 " Well, if you cannot bear to have 
 your word doubted, think how offen- 
 sive it must be to the great God of 
 truth, to have the truth of his promi- 
 ses doubted." 
 
 " Mother, can you tell me about 
 any persons mentioned in the Bible, 
 who prayed in faith?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; I have a great 
 many things of this kind to tell you. 
 All the stories that I am going to tell 
 you, will be examples of the praijer 
 of faith. But, as I want to use most 
 of them for explaining other points, 
 which I mean to talk about, I will 
 now only tell you two or three of 
 them. The apostle James, speaking 
 of the prayer of faith, says, ' Elias 
 
 was a man subject to like passions as 
 
 4* 
 
42 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 we are, and he prayed earnestly that it 
 might not rain ; and it rained not ou 
 the earth, by the space of three years 
 and six months. And he prayed 
 again, and the heavens gave rain, and 
 the earth brought forth her fruit.' " 
 
 " What did he pray that it might 
 not rain for, mother V 
 
 " Ahab, the King of Israel, was a 
 very wicked man. He established 
 the worship of the idol called Baal, 
 and persecuted and killed the pro- 
 phets of the Lord. And Elijah went 
 to him, and told him in the name of 
 the Lord, that, on account of his 
 great wickedness, there should be no 
 dew nor rain, except as he prayed for 
 it. And Elijah prayed to the Lord not 
 to send any rain upon the earth ; 
 and there was none for three years 
 and six months. You see what 
 strong faith he had ; for, if he had 
 not believed that the Lord would cer- 
 tainly have heard his prayer, he 
 would not have ventured to tell Ahab 
 that there would not be rain." 
 
' ON PRAYER.^ 43 
 
 " Well, mother, please to tell me 
 about his praying for rain, after- 
 wards." 
 
 " There is something very striking 
 about that, my dear, which I. want to 
 tell you when we come to talk about 
 persevering in prayer ; and so I will 
 not speak of it now. There is a 
 beautiful example of the prayer of 
 faith, related in the fourteenth chap- 
 ter of the second book of Chronicles. 
 Asa, King of Judah, was a pious 
 man, who feared the Lord. And 
 Zerah, the Ethiopian, a wicked 
 heathen, came to fight against Asa, 
 with an army of a million of men, 
 and three hundred chariots. Asa 
 had but little more than half that 
 number of men, in his arm.y. But, 
 he trusted in the Lord. And before 
 he went to the battle, he prayed to 
 the Lord, and said, ' Lord, it is 
 nothing with thee to help, whether 
 with many, or with them that have 
 no power : help us, Lord, our God; 
 
44 CONVEKSATIONS 
 
 for we rest on thee, and in thy name 
 we go against this multitude. O 
 Lord, thou art our God; let not man 
 prevail against thee.' " 
 
 " O that was a beautiful prayer, 
 mother." 
 
 "Yes, my dear; and you see that 
 the most striking thing about it is, 
 strong confidence in God. He did 
 not trust in the strength of his ar- 
 mies, nor in any preparations which 
 he had made to defend himself and 
 his coimtry, against the great army 
 that was coming to fight against him. 
 He knew that the Lord directs all 
 things, and that he was able, by the 
 feeblest means, to overthrow this 
 great multitude ; and he rested with 
 cheerful confidence upon his God : 
 ' It is nothing for thee to help, whe- 
 ther with many, or with them that 
 have no power.' This is an excel- 
 lent pattern of Christian feeling. We 
 are apt to be discouraged, and think 
 it is of no use to pray, because the 
 
ON PRAYER. 45 
 
 blessing we need is a great one, or 
 because there are difficulties in the 
 way. But such faith as Asa had, 
 would remove all our discourage- 
 ments. It is just as easy for God to 
 give a great blessing as a small one ; 
 and whatever may be the difficulties 
 in the way, he is able to remove them, 
 if we will only believe. This is the 
 way Christians should feel, when 
 they are praying for a revival of reli- 
 gion. They often get discouraged, 
 because there are so few Christians 
 awake and lively in religion, and be- 
 cause the people are so careless and 
 wicked. But, if they had Asa's faith, 
 it would overcome all their fears. 
 
 " The Lord can clear the darkest skies, 
 Can give us day for night." 
 
 " And did the Lord answer the 
 prayer of Asa, mother." 
 
 "Yes, my dear; audit is in the 
 Bible, for our encouragement. The 
 Lord helped the children of Israel, 
 and they beat this great army, and 
 
46 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 overthrew them. There is another 
 example, something like this, in the 
 twentieth chapter of the same book. 
 The Moabites and Ammonites came 
 with a great army to fight against 
 Jehoshaphat, another good king of 
 Judah. And when Jehoshaphat 
 heard that they were coming, he was 
 afraid, and set himself to seek the 
 Lord, and proclaimed a fast, through- 
 out all Judah. And the people came 
 together to ask help of the Lord.'' 
 
 "And should not we do like them, 
 mother, when we are in difficulty?" 
 
 ''Yes, my dear, if people would 
 always ask help of the Lord, they 
 M^ould get along much better than 
 they do. When the people had 
 come together, Jehoshaphat stood and 
 prayed, saying: 'O Lord God of 
 our fathers, art not thou God in hea- 
 ven ? and rulest not thou over all the 
 kingdoms of the heathen? and in 
 thine hand is there not power and 
 might, so that none is able to with- 
 
ON PRAYER. 47 
 
 stand thee ? Art not thou our God, 
 who didst drive out the inhabitants 
 of this land before thy people Israel, 
 and gavest to the seed of Abraham, 
 thy friend, forever ! And they dwelt 
 therein, and have built thee a sanc- 
 tuary therein for thy name, saying. 
 If, v^hen evil cometh upon us, as the 
 sword, judgment, or pestilence, or 
 famine, we stand before this house, 
 and in thy presence, (for thy name 
 is in this house,) and cry unto thee 
 in our affliction, then thou wilt hear 
 and help. And now, behold, the 
 children of Ammon and Moab and 
 mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not 
 let Israel invade, when they came 
 out of the land of Egypt, but they 
 turned from them, and destroyed 
 them not: Behold, I say, ho7V they 
 reward us, to come to cast us out of 
 thy possession, w^hichthou hast given 
 us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou 
 not judge them? for we have no might 
 against this great company that com- 
 
48 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 eth against iis ; neither know we what 
 to do : but our eyes are upon thee.' 
 This is an excellent pattern for the 
 prayer of a Christian, pleading for the 
 blessing of God upon himself and 
 others. He first pleads the promises 
 of God, and then describes his critical 
 circumstances, and tells his wants. 
 Then, in conclusion, he confesses his 
 own helplessness, and turns, with 
 strong confidence to God, as his only 
 helper : ' We have no might against 
 this great company that cometh 
 against us ; neither know we what to 
 do : hut our eyes are upon thee' Here 
 was faith, which has power with 
 God.'' 
 
 ''And did the Lord answer his 
 prayer too, mother ?" 
 
 " Yes ; the spirit of the Lord came 
 upon the prophet Jahaziel, and he 
 said to Jehoshaphat and the people, in 
 the name of the Lord, ' Be not afraid 
 nor dismayed, by reason of this great 
 multitude, for the battle is not youfs, 
 
ON PRAYER. 49 
 
 hat God's.'' This is what Christians 
 are so apt to forget. They become 
 discouraged, because they have no 
 strength in themselves; and forget 
 that their strength is in God. O, if 
 they would always remember this, 
 how mightily would the work of the 
 Lord go on ! But, the Lord showed 
 the people that their strength was 
 not in their numbers, nor in their 
 armies ; but in having the Lord on 
 their side. They went out the next 
 day to fight against their enemies. 
 And as they w^ent along, Jehoshaphat 
 said to the people, ' Hear me, O 
 Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem : believe in the Lord your God, 
 so shall ye be established; believe 
 his prophets, so shall ye prosper.' 
 Then 'he appointed singers to the 
 Lord, that should praise the beauty 
 of His holiness, as they went out be- 
 fore the army, and should say, Praise 
 the Lord; for his mercy endureth 
 forever.' And when they began to 
 5 
 
50 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 sin^, the Lord sent confusion among 
 their enemies, so that the Ammonites 
 turned against the Moabites, till they 
 had killed them ; and then they 
 turned to killing one another ; so that 
 when Jehoshaphat's army came in 
 sight, the great multitude of their 
 enemies were all dead bodies, lying 
 on the ground." 
 
 *'0 how wonderful, mother!" 
 
 '' Yes ; but it was all in answer to 
 the prayer of faith." 
 
 '' Can you tell me any story about 
 the prayer of faith, from the New 
 Testament, mother?" 
 
 " Yes ; in the fourth chapter of 
 Acts, it is related that the rulers of 
 the Jews, put Peter and John in pri- 
 son ; and the next day, they brought 
 them out, and threatened them, and 
 commanded them not to preach, or to 
 teach any more in the name of Jesus. 
 And they went to their own company, 
 and told all that the rulers had said 
 to them. And when they heard it, 
 
ON PRAYER. 51 
 
 they prayed and said, ' Lord, thou 
 art God, which hast made Heaven, 
 and Earth, and the Sea, and all that 
 in them is. Who by the mouth of thy 
 servant David hast said, Why did the 
 heathen rage, and the people imagine 
 vain things ? The kings of the earth 
 stood up, and the rulers were gather- 
 ed together against the Lord, and 
 against his Christ. For of a truth 
 against thy holy child Jesus, whom 
 thou hast anointed, both Herod, and 
 Pontius Pilate, with the. Gentiles, 
 and the people of Israel, were gather- 
 ed together, for to do whatsoever thy 
 hand and thy counsel determined 
 before to be done. And now. Lord, 
 behold their threatenings : and grant 
 unto thy servants, that with all bold- 
 ness they may speak thy word, by 
 stretching forth thine hand to heal ; 
 and that signs and wonders may be 
 done by the name of thy holy child 
 Jesus.' The apostles had strong 
 confidence in God; and he heard 
 
52 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 them ; and the place where Ihey were 
 was shaken ; and they w^ere all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WE MUST PRAT WITH RIGHT FEELINGS. 
 
 " Coi\iE, m)^ dear mother, I want to 
 hear more about prayer." 
 
 "Well, my dear;- this time, we 
 will talk about the feelings we ought 
 to have towards God, wdien we pray. 
 The prophet Isaiah says, ' Thus 
 saith the high and lofty One, that 
 inhabiteth eternity, whose name is 
 Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy 
 place, with him also that is of a con- 
 trite and humble spirit, tb revive the 
 spirit of the humble, and to revive the 
 heart of the contrite ones.' " 
 
 "I do not know what contrite 
 means mother." 
 
 "To have a contrite spirit, my dear, 
 
ON PRAYER. 53 
 
 is to feel sorry, and to be deeply 
 humbled, on account of having sinned 
 against God ; and to feel broken- 
 hearted, and submissive to God, will- 
 ing to be pardoned in any way that 
 pleases Him. Hard-hearted and im- 
 penitent sinners feel angry with God, 
 because he has threatened to punish 
 them in hell, if they do not repent, 
 and believe in Jesus; and they are 
 too proud to accept of pardon on ac- 
 count of what Christ has done. They 
 want to do something to deserve sal- 
 vation, so that they can have the 
 praise themselves. But, a contrite 
 person, feels sensible that he deserves 
 to be punished in hell forever ; and 
 he humbles himself in the dust in 
 the presence of God. And he is 
 willing and glad to be forgiven on ac- 
 count of the merits of Christ. A 
 most beautiful example of this feel- 
 ing is contained in the tifty-lirst 
 Psalm. This is David's prayer, 
 when his heart was subdued and 
 
54 CONVERSlTlOxNS 
 
 broken, under a deep sense of his 
 sins. You may read it, my dear." 
 
 " Have mercy upon mc, O God ! 
 According to thy loving-kindness : 
 According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies 
 Elot out my transgressions. 
 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, 
 And cleanse me from my sin. 
 
 For I acknowledge my transgressions : 
 And my sin is ever before me. 
 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 
 And done this evil in thy sight : 
 That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, 
 And be clear when thou judgest. 
 Behold ! I was shapen in iniquity ; 
 And in sin did ni)'^ mother conceive me. 
 
 Behold ! thou desirest truth in the inward parts : 
 And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know 
 
 wisdom. 
 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : 
 Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
 Make mc to hear joy and gladness ; 
 That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 
 Hide thy face from my sins, 
 And blot out all mme iniquities. 
 Create in me a clean heart, O God ; 
 And renew a right spirit within me. 
 Cast me not away from thy presence ; 
 
ON PRAYER. 55 
 
 And take not thy Holy Spirit from me. 
 Restore unto mc the joy of thy salvation ; 
 And uphold me with thy free Spirit. 
 
 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; 
 And sinners shall he converted unto thee. 
 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, 
 O God, thou God of my salvation ! 
 And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 
 O Lord ! open thou my lips ; 
 And ray mouth shall show forth thy praise. 
 For thou desirest not sacrifice ; — else would I give it : 
 Thou delightest not in burnt offering. 
 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : 
 A broken and a contrite heart, O God ! thou wilt not 
 despise. 
 
 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : 
 Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 
 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of right- 
 eousness, 
 With burnt offering and whole burnt offering : 
 Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar." 
 
 " You observe that David begins 
 this prayer, by crying out for mercy, 
 and beseeching God to cleanse him 
 from his sins. He then goes on to 
 confess his sins, with the deepest hu- 
 miliation. And here is one thing 
 
56 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 that I wish you to notice particularly. 
 You will recollect that the particular 
 sin which broue^ht this distress upon 
 him, was committed against another 
 man ; yet he had such a sense of the 
 exceeding sinfulness of sin, as com- 
 mitted against God, that he cries out 
 in the bitterness of his soul, ' Against 
 thcc, thee only, have I sinned, and 
 done this evil in thy sight.' Then 
 he bewails his sinfulness, confesses 
 that, as God looks at the heart, no 
 outw^ard reformation will answer, and 
 beseeches God, not only to forgive 
 his sin, but to create in him a clean 
 heart, and renew a right spirit within 
 him. He entreats the Lord to re- 
 store him to his favour, and promises 
 then to labour for the conversion of 
 sinners ; and concludes with praying 
 for the prosperity of the church. If 
 you feel as David did, when he offer 
 ed up this prayer, the Lord will not 
 fail to answer you." 
 
ON PRAYER. 57 
 
 " Must I confess my sins, when I 
 pray, mother?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; Solomon says, 
 He that covereth his sins, shall not 
 prosper; but whoso confesseth and 
 forsaketh them shall find mercy. 
 You should not only confess your 
 sins in a general way, but you should 
 think over your actions, and confess 
 before God, every particular thing 
 that you can remember, that 3^ou 
 have done wrong, and ask Him to 
 forgive you, for Christ's sake. You 
 must not only confess them in words ; 
 but you must feel heart-broken on 
 account of them. So vou see David 
 felt." 
 
 " Can you tell me about any other 
 persons, mentioned in the Bible, that 
 prayed in this Vv'ay?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, turn to the ninth 
 chapter of Daniel, and you will find 
 another prayer, made with the same 
 contrite spirit, and very much like 
 David's, except that Daniel is con- 
 
58' CONVERSATIONS 
 
 fessing the sins of the church, as well 
 as his own. You may read it. 
 
 " O Lord, the great and dreadful 
 God, keeping the covenant and mercy 
 to them that love him, and to them 
 that keep his commandments; We 
 have sinned, and have committed 
 iniquity, and have done wickedly, 
 and have rebelled, even by departing 
 from thy precepts and from thy judg- 
 naents: Neither have we hearkened 
 unto thy servants the prophets, which 
 spake in thy name to our kings, our 
 princes, and our fathers, and to all the 
 people of the land. O Lord, right- 
 eousness helongeth unto thee, but un- 
 to us confusion of faces, as at this day ; 
 to the men of Judah, and to the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem, and unto all 
 Israel, that are near, and that ore far 
 off, through all the countries whither 
 thou hast driven them, because of 
 their trespass that they have tres- 
 passed against thee. O Lord, to us 
 lelongeth confusion of face, to our 
 
ON PRAYER. 59 
 
 kings, to our princes, and to our fa- 
 thers, because we have sinned against 
 thee. To the Lord our God helong 
 mercies and forgivenesses, though we 
 have rebelled against him ; Neither 
 have we obeyed the voice of the 
 Lord our God, to w^alk in his laws, 
 which he set before us by his servants 
 the prophets. Yea, all Israel have 
 transgressed thy law, even by depart- 
 ing, that they might not obey thy 
 voice ; therefore the curse is poured 
 upon us, and the oath that is written 
 in the law of Moses the servant of 
 God, because we have sinned against 
 him. And he hath confirmed his 
 words, which he spake against us, 
 and against our judges that judged 
 us, by bringing upon us a great evil : 
 for under the whole heaven hath not 
 been done as hath been done upon 
 Jerusalem. As it is written in the 
 law of Moses, all this evil is come 
 upon us : yet made we not our prayer 
 before the Lord our God, that w^e 
 
60 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 might turn from our iniquities, and 
 •understand thy truth. Therefore 
 hath the Lord watched upon the 
 evil, and brought it upon us : for the 
 Lord our God is righteous in ail his 
 works which he doeth : for we obey- 
 ed not his voice. And now, O Lord 
 our God, that hast brought thy peo- 
 ple forth out of the land of Egypt 
 with a mighty hand, and hast gotten 
 thee renow^n, as at this day ; w^e have 
 sinned, we have done wickedly. O 
 Lord, according to all thy righteous- 
 ness, I beseech thee, let thine anger 
 and thy fury be turned away from 
 thy city Jerusalem, thy holy moun- 
 tain : because for our sins, and for 
 the iniquities of our fathers, Jeru- 
 salem and thy people ai'e become a re- 
 proach to all that ore about us. Now 
 therefore, O our God, hear the pray- 
 er of thy servant, and his supplica- 
 tions, and cause thy face to shine 
 upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, 
 for the Lord's sake. my God, in- 
 
ON PRAYER. 61 
 
 cline thine ear, and hear ; open thine 
 eyes, and behold our desolations, and 
 the city which is called by thy name : 
 for we do not present our supplica- 
 tions before thee for our righteous- 
 nesses, but for thy great mercies. O 
 Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; O Lord, 
 hearken and do; defer not, for thine 
 own sake, my God : for thy city 
 and thy people are called by thy 
 name." 
 
 " There is another prayer, in the 
 ninth chapter of Ezra, very much 
 like this ; w^hich is also an excellent 
 pattern for Christians, when praying 
 for a revival of religion, Ezra was 
 deeply grieved and humbled, because 
 of the sins of God's people, so that 
 he rent his clothes, and plucked off 
 the hair of his head, and sat dowai 
 astonished. And after mourning in 
 that w^ay all day, he rose up and fell 
 on his knees, and said, ' my God! 
 I am ashamed and blush to lift up 
 my face to thee, my God ! for our 
 6 
 
62 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 iniquities are increased over our head, 
 and our trespass is grown up unto 
 the heavens.' Then he goes on to 
 confess the particular sins of the peo- 
 ple ; to call to mind the judgments 
 w^hich had come upon them; and 
 yet to acknowledge that the Lord 
 had punished them less than thev 
 deserved. It is only when Christians 
 come to this state of humiliation ; 
 this deep sense of their sins, and 
 their unworthiness, that they can ex- 
 pect the Lord to pour out his spirit, 
 and revive his work." 
 
 " Well, mother, can you give me 
 some more examples of persons pray- 
 ing for tlmnselveSy in this way?" 
 
 *' Yes ; there was Manasseh, King 
 of Judah. He was a very wicked 
 man. He set up idols in the house 
 of God, and worshipped them; and 
 he ' shed innocent blood, very much, 
 till he had filled Jerusalem with sor- 
 row from one end to the other.' And 
 the Lord sent the King of Babylon 
 
ON PRAYER. 63 
 
 against him ; and he took him and 
 bound him with chains, and carried 
 him to Babylon. Then Manasseh 
 thought of his sins, and was very 
 sorry, and humbled himself greatly 
 before God, and prayed to him. And 
 the Lord heard his prayer, and 
 brought him again to Jerusalem, and 
 made him King again. '^ 
 
 '' mother ! how wonderful that 
 is, that the Lord would forgive such 
 a wicked man !" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; it shows the won- 
 derful goodness of God towards sin- 
 ners, and his willingness to forgive 
 those that repent. The apostle John 
 says, ' If we confess our sins, he is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
 righteousness.' No one need think 
 he is too great a sinner to be forgiven. 
 The merits of Christ are sufficient 
 for the worst of sinners; and God 
 will pardon all who truly repent and 
 come to him in the name of Christ 
 
64 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 But, I have one story more to tell you, 
 which shows what kind of feeling 
 you must have when you pray, and 
 what spirit God will not bless. It is 
 a parable that Jesus told to some peo- 
 ple that thought they were very good, 
 and despised others.' You know a 
 parable is a story, either real or sup- 
 posed, told in order to explain the 
 truth. In this parable, Jesus said, 
 a Pharisee and a publican went up 
 into the temple to pray, both at the 
 sametime. The Pharisee said, 'God, 
 I thank thee that I am not as other 
 men are, extortioners, unjust, adul- 
 terers, or even as this publican : I 
 fast twice in the week, I give tithes of 
 all that I possess.' " 
 
 "I am sure he was not humble, 
 mother ; for he was praising himself 
 ail the time.'" 
 
 '' The Pharisee, my dear, showed 
 such a spirit as God will never bless. 
 He thought he was good enough. He 
 had no sense of his sins, nor of his 
 
ON PRAYER. 65 
 
 wants. He had only to thank God, 
 for what he was, in such a way as to 
 take all the praise to himself. Now, 
 if you think in your heart, ' how 
 much better I am than the wicked 
 children in the streets. I go to Sab- 
 bath-school, and to church; I read 
 my Bible and pray to God; and I 
 think God will hear my prayers :' you 
 may be sure he will not hear them. 
 The Lord Jesus sharply reproves the 
 church at Laodicea, because they 
 had a good opinion of themselves, and 
 did not feel their wants . ' Thou say- 
 est, I am rich, and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing ; and 
 knowest not that thou art wretched, 
 and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
 and naked.'" 
 
 " But how did the publican pray, 
 mother?" 
 
 '' He w^as borne down with a sense 
 of his sins; and he stood afar-off, 
 and would not lift up so much as his 
 eyes to heaven, but smote upon his 
 
66 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 breast, saying, ' God be merciful to 
 ME A sinner.' AdcI Clirist says, ' I 
 tell yon, this man went down to his 
 house justified, rather than the other : 
 for every one that exalte th himself 
 shall be abased ; and he that hum- 
 bleth himself shall be exalted.' But, 
 besides being humble, we should pray 
 with. Jilial feeling, or such a feeling as 
 a little child has towards a kind and 
 tender parent. Do you not remem- 
 ber, my love, how you felt towards 
 your father, after he had corrected 
 you for being naughty, and you sub- 
 mitted to him, and begged his par- 
 don ; and he forgave you, and receiv- 
 ed you into his favour again ?" 
 
 " O yes, mother, I shall never for- 
 get how I felt then. I felt very sorry 
 that I had grieved such a kind father ; 
 and my heart almost broke, when he 
 forgave me. I loved him better than 
 ever ; and felt as if I wanted to call 
 him ' my father."' 
 
 " Well, that is the way you should 
 
ON PRAYER. 67 
 
 feel towards your heavenly Father. 
 The apostle John says, ' Behold, 
 what manner of love the Father hath 
 bestowed upon us, that we should be 
 called the sons of God !' and the apos- 
 tle Paul says, ' Ye have not received 
 the spirit of bondage, again to fear, 
 but ye have received the spirit of 
 adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father.' And, in another place, 
 * Because ye are sons, God hath sent 
 forth the spirit of his son into your 
 hearts, crying Abba, Father.' You 
 will find examples of this filial feel- 
 ing, in the prayer of David, after 
 the Lord had promised to establish 
 his kingdom, in the seventh chapter 
 of the second book of Samuel ; in 
 the prayer of Solomon, at the dedi- 
 cation of the temple, in the eighth 
 chapter of the first book of Kings; 
 in the prayers of Jesus, at the 
 resurrection of Lazarus, and for his 
 disciples, before his crucifixion ; and 
 also, in the prayer of the disciples, 
 
68 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 when threatened by the rulers, al- 
 ready mentioned. But, there is an- 
 other feeUng we must have. We must 
 be THANKFUL. ' In every thing, by 
 prayer and supplication, with thanks- 
 giving, let your request be made 
 known unto God.' 'Continue in 
 prayer, and watch in the same, with 
 thanksgiving.^ So says the apostle 
 Paul ; and Daniel was in the habit 
 of giving thanks, when he prayed. 
 And, most of the prayers mentioned 
 in the Bible are full of thanksgivings. 
 How would you feel, my dear, if you 
 should be very kind to some poor lit- 
 tle girl, and give her a great many 
 good things that she needed, and she 
 should never once thank you ; but 
 should keep begging for more, as if 
 she thought she had a right to every 
 thing you had to give ?" 
 
 " I should not like it at all, mo- 
 ther. I should think she did not de- 
 serve to have any thing." 
 
 " Well, just think what God has 
 
ON PRAYER. 69 
 
 done for you. He made you, with a 
 body and mind capable of being 
 happy. He gave you kind parents 
 to take care of )^ou, when you were 
 a little baby ; and to teach you about 
 God and Jesus. He has kept you 
 alive, and given you food and cloth- 
 mg, and a great many good things, 
 while you have been all the time 
 sinning against him, and never 
 thanking him in your heart. I sup- 
 pose you would not give any thing 
 more to the little girl, after you found 
 how unthankful she was. But God 
 is good to the unthankful, and to. the 
 evil. O think how thankful you 
 ought to be to Him, for the gift of his 
 dear Son. ' God commendeth his 
 love to us, in that, while we were yet 
 sinners, Christ died for us.' There 
 is perhaps no sin, my dear, more hate- 
 ful, both in the sight of God and man, 
 than the sin of ingratitude. And we 
 cannot expect God will give us the 
 things we pray for, when we are uiv- 
 
70 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 thankful for what he has already 
 given us." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ■WE MUST FORGIVE OTHERS, WHEX WE PRAT ; Alf D 
 WE MUST FORSAKE SIX AND OBEX GOD, IF WE 
 WOULD HAVE HIM ANSWER OUR PRATERS. 
 
 " Mother, you told me how I 
 must feel towards God, when I pray. 
 Will you tell me how I must feel 
 towards other people, too?" 
 
 " You must feel a spirit of kind- 
 ness and good will to all mankind. 
 That is the spirit of the gospel. 
 When the angel came down to bring 
 the news of the birth of Jesus, they 
 sung ' peace on earth, good will to 
 men ;' and the same feeling must be 
 formed in every Christian's heart." 
 
 ''But, mother, cousin Mary has 
 treated me very ill, and I do not feel 
 
ON PRAYER. 71 
 
 as if I could speak to her. Will not 
 God hear my prayers, till I feel kind 
 to her?" 
 
 " If she has injured you, my dear, 
 you ought to forgive her ; but it is 
 very likely, that, if you examine your 
 conduct towards her, you will find that 
 you are to be blamed yourself But, 
 even if it is not so; if the blame is 
 all on her side, you must forgive her. 
 If you have any 'hard feeling' against 
 her, or any other person, God will not 
 hear your prayers. When you go to 
 pray, your heart will be hard, and 
 you will feel no sense of the presence 
 of God. Jesus says, we must love 
 our enemies, do good to them that 
 hate us, and pray for them that treat 
 us ill. And, in another place, he 
 says, ' When ye stand praying, for- 
 give, if ye have aught against any ; 
 that your father also, which is in 
 heaven, may forgive you your tres- 
 passes. But, if ye do not forgive, 
 neither will your Father who is in 
 
72 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Heaven, forgive your trespasses.' 
 This is very plain. If you do not 
 forgive others, the Lord has declared 
 that he will not forgive your sins. 
 So you see it is in vain for you to go 
 to God, in prayer, while yoii feel a 
 single unkind feeling towards any 
 person in the world." 
 
 " O mother ; then I am afraid I 
 have never prayed in my life!" 
 
 *'Well; Jesus told a parable, to 
 show how unreasonable it is for us 
 to expect to have our own sins for- 
 given, if we will not forgive others. 
 In those days, kings often had abso- 
 lute power over their people, so that 
 they could take their lives, or sell 
 them into slavery whenever they 
 pleased. And, Jesus said, there was 
 a certain king, who called for a set- 
 tlement with his people ; and he 
 found one man who owed him a great 
 sum of money ; more than fifteen 
 millions of dollars. ' ' ' 
 
 " Thajt was a great sum, mother ; 
 
ON PRAYER. 73 
 
 more than I ever counted in my life. 
 How could the man pay it?'' 
 
 "He was not able to pay it; and 
 the king commanded that he and his 
 wife and children should be sold to 
 pay the debt." 
 
 " But the man came and fell down 
 before him, and besought him to 
 have patience with him, and he would 
 pay him all. And the king had 
 compassion on him, and forgave him 
 the debt.'' 
 
 " O how thankful the poor man 
 must have been, mother, when the 
 king gave him so m,uch money !" 
 
 " We should suppose he would 
 have been very thankful, my dear ; 
 but his actions did not show it. For 
 he went and found a poor man that 
 owed him a very small sum: about 
 fourteen dollars, and he caught him 
 by the throat, and told him to pay 
 him what he owed. But the poor 
 man had nothing to pay, and fell 
 down before him, and begged him to 
 7 
 
74 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 have patience with him, and he would 
 pay him all." 
 
 " Then, mother, I am sure he 
 would remember the kind example 
 of his king, and forgive the poor man 
 the little debt, after the king had for- 
 given him so much." 
 
 '' No, my dear ; he had not the 
 least regard for the golden rule ; and 
 he forgot how he felt, when he and 
 his family were about to be sold into 
 slavery, to pay his great debt. He 
 would not hearken to the poor man's 
 entreaties; but w^ent and cast him 
 into prison, till he should pay the 
 debt." 
 
 "O what a cruel, ungrateful man, 
 mother ! I am sure everybody 
 would hate such a man." 
 
 ''Yet, my dear, that was not so 
 bad, in the sight of God, as it is for 
 us to refuse to forgive those that in- 
 jure us. We owe a debt to God, far 
 greater than this man owed to his 
 king. We have disobeyed him, while 
 
ON PRAYER. 75 
 
 he was doing us good. We have 
 sinned against him all our lives. 
 Think how many years old you are ; 
 and then reckon up the days, and the 
 hours, and the minutes, and the 
 seconds ; and then rememher, that 
 all this time you have been guilty of 
 sinning against God. You will find 
 that your debt, instead of being a 
 million^ is more than you can calcu- 
 late. It is like the sand upon the sea- 
 shore, or the stars in the sky, which 
 cannot be counted. Yet, all this, 
 God is willing to forgive you, for the 
 sake of his dear Son. Think, then, 
 how mean, and vile, and odious you 
 will appear in his sight, if you will 
 not forgive the little injury you may 
 have received from one of your fel- 
 low-creatures.'^ 
 
 '' What did the king do, mother, 
 when he heard what the man had 
 done." 
 
 " He called the man to him, and said 
 to him, ''0 thou wicked servant, I for- 
 
76 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 gave thee all that debt, because thou 
 desired st me : Shouldest not thou also 
 have had compassion on thy fellow- 
 servant, even as I had pity on thee V 
 And the king was very angry, and 
 commanded that the man should be 
 punished till he should pay the debt." 
 
 '' Well, mother, I think that was 
 right ; for it was only treating him 
 as he had treated the other.'' 
 
 " Very true, my dear ; and 'so' says, 
 Jesus, ' shall my heavenly Father do 
 also unto )^ou, if ye from your hearts 
 forgive not every one his brother 
 their trespasses.' It is very clear, 
 then, that if you pray to God, w^hile 
 harbouring an unforgiving temper 
 towards others, he will not. answer 
 your prayers. Indeed, he has only 
 taught us to pray for the forgiveness 
 of our sins, just ' as 7ve for give others.'' " 
 
 " But this is not all, my dear; wo 
 must forsake sin, and obey God, if 
 we would have him hear our pray- 
 ers. David says, * If I regard ini- 
 
ox PRAYER. 77 
 
 quity in my heart, the Lord will not 
 hear rne." 
 
 " What does he mean by that, 
 mother?" 
 
 '' He means that, if you do not 
 heartily forsake sin ; but secretly love 
 and cherish it in your heart, God will 
 not hear your prayers. Suppose you 
 were to think to yourself, ' I love 
 mother, and I want her to love me. 
 I will mind her in every thing but 
 this one : I am so fond of the sweet- 
 meats, which she has forbidden me 
 to touch, that I cannot give up eating 
 them, whenever I can do it without 
 her knowledge,' could you come to 
 me, with any conhdence, to ask for 
 any thing you want? " 
 
 "No, mother; I should feel so 
 ashamed that I could not ask you for 
 any thing." 
 
 '' But God knows your heart ; and 
 if there is any sin that you secretly 
 love and cherish, an.d are unwilling 
 to give up for the sake of Christ, he 
 
78 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 will see your hypocrisy, and refuse 
 to hear your prayers. And Solomon 
 says, ' He that turneth away his ear 
 from hearing the law, even his prayer 
 shall be ahominatmn.^ ^' 
 
 '' What does he mean by turning 
 away his ear from hearing the laWj 
 mother." 
 
 " I suppose it means slighting God's 
 law, and disobeying it, as all impeni- 
 tent sinners do." 
 
 ''Then, mother, according to that, 
 the prayers of all, whose hearts have 
 not been changed, are abomination 
 to the Lord. Is it so?" 
 
 ''Yes, my dear; the Bible says it 
 is ; and if you think a moment, you 
 will see that it could not be other- 
 wise. All impenitent sinners, or 
 persons who have not become truly 
 pious, are God^s enemies. They are 
 opposing his government, and fight- 
 ing against him. Suppose your lit- 
 tle brother had done some naughty 
 thing, for which I had threatened to 
 
ox PRAYER. 79 
 
 punish him ; and he should come to 
 me, with a great stick in his hand, 
 swinging it at me, as if to say, ' touch 
 me if you dare,* and at the same time 
 beg me to forgive him. How should 
 I naturally feel, in regard to his 
 prayer ?" 
 
 " It would make him appear a 
 great deal worse: I am sure it would 
 be abomination to you." 
 
 '* Well, that would be just like the 
 prayers of impenitent sinners. They 
 want God to forgive their sins, w^hile 
 they are lighting against him. Yet, 
 a great many people think they merit 
 God's favour, by such prayers." 
 
 " Then, mother, must I wait till 
 my heart is changed, before I try to 
 pray?" 
 
 *' No, my dear ; if you do, I am 
 afraid you will never pray. It is 
 your duty to pray now, rvitli a peni- 
 tent^ believing heart ; and you ought 
 at once to go to God, and gifve him 
 your heart, and then your prayers 
 
80- CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Will be acceptable to him. But, un- 
 til you do this, every thing you do is 
 sin, because you are living in oppo- 
 sition to God. The prophet Isaiah 
 says, ' your iniquities have separated 
 between you and your God, and your 
 sins have hid his face from you, that 
 he will not hear.' And the Lord 
 Jesus says to his disciples, ' If ye 
 abide in me, and my words abide in 
 you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it 
 shall be done unto you.' " 
 
 '' I do not know what it is to abide 
 in Christ, mother." 
 
 *' To be in Christ, is to take him 
 as our Saviour ; and in order to do 
 this, we must repent and forsake 
 our sins. To abide in Christ, is to 
 continue in a penitent, obedient, and 
 loving frame of mind, to have a sense 
 of his presence with us, and to enjoy 
 constant communion with hirn. And 
 this is necessary, in order to give us 
 a right to this promise. And the 
 same thing is declared by the apostle 
 
 \ 
 
ON PRAYER. 81 
 
 John, in his first epistle. ^And 
 whatsoever we ask, we receive of 
 him, because we keep his command- 
 ments, and do those things that are 
 pleasing in his sight.' " 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WE MUST PRAT WITH WATCHFULNESS AND PERSE- 
 VEIIA>'CE, EAHXE3TXESS, ASD IMPORTUNITY. 
 
 ** Mother, is there any thing ne- 
 cessary in prayer, besides what you 
 have told me?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear; I have several 
 things more to. tell you, which you 
 must observe, if you would ask aright. 
 And the first is, that you must 
 
 WATCH. 
 
 " What is it, to watch, mother?" 
 " Do )^ou remember, my dear, 
 when we were at Mr. Smith's, in the 
 country, what the little boys were 
 doing?" 
 
82 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 '' Yes, mother; Mr. Smith was ga 
 thering his wheat into the ham ; and 
 the httle boys were set at the gate, to 
 keep the cattle out of the field." 
 
 " Well, they were watching. The 
 cattle wanted to get into the field, 
 and eat up the wheat ; and the boys 
 had to 7vatcli to keep them out. So 
 Satan wants to come into your heart, 
 and rule there, by putting evil 
 thoughts into your mind, and per- 
 suading you to embrace principles 
 contrary to God's word. But, you 
 must 7vatch against him. Keep such 
 a look-out, that, whenever any evil 
 thought or bad feehng comes into 
 your heart, you will be ready to put 
 it away in an instant. You will 
 need to watch continually against 
 bad feelings and thoughts ; and also, 
 lest you should lose the spirit of pray- 
 er, which you ought always to carry 
 with you. When Jesus was in the gar- 
 den, with his disciples, on the night 
 in which he was betrayed, he said to 
 
ON PRAYER. 83 
 
 his disciples ' ovatcli and pray, that 
 ye enter not into temptation.' And, 
 in another place, he says, ' What I 
 say unto yon, I say nnto all, watch.'' 
 The apostle Panl says, ' continue in 
 prayer, and watch in the same, with 
 thanksgiving.' " 
 
 " How can we watch in prayer, 
 mother? Can we watch at the same 
 time that we are praying?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear; we must watch 
 against wandering thoughts. If we 
 do not, before we think of it, we shall 
 find our thoughts running upon other 
 things ; and you must know it is very 
 displeasing to God, for us to pretend 
 to be praying to him, while we are 
 thinking about something else. But 
 the apostle Peter says, we must 
 ' watch unto prayer.' We must watch 
 before we pray, that all wandering 
 thoughts may be shut out of our hearts 
 so that we may go before God, in a 
 right frame of mind ; we must watch 
 in prayer, to keep our hearts from 
 
84- COXVERSATIOXS 
 
 wandering; and we must watch a/^cr 
 prayer, and all the time, to keep our 
 hearts in a praying frame. And this 
 leads me to mention another thing 
 that is necessary to 'prevailing 'prayer. 
 The apostle Paul says, we must 
 *pray without ceasing f 'continue 
 instant in prayer ;' and ' pray always, 
 with all prayer and supplication in 
 the spirit, watching thereunto with 
 all perse verence.' " 
 
 "But how can an^^body pray all 
 the time, mother'^ We must do 
 something else besides praying." 
 
 " The apostle does not mean that 
 we must be all the time in our clo- 
 sets; but that we must keep our 
 minds in a praying frame. We must 
 always maintain a spirit of prayer, 
 so that we could break off from our 
 employments at any time, and pray 
 with proper feeling. The things 
 that we desire, must lie upon our 
 hearts, so that we shall think of them, 
 while about our work. And, we 
 
ON PRAYER. 85 
 
 must often send up short prayers to 
 God in our hearts, while we are busy 
 about other things. This is called 
 ejaculatory prayer. You will find a 
 beautiful example of this kind of 
 prayer in the second chapter of Ne- 
 hemiah. This good man was the 
 cup-bearer to the king of Persia." 
 
 " I do not know what a cup-bearer 
 is, mother." 
 
 " It was the custom among the 
 kings; in that country, to have ser- 
 vants to wait on them ; and it was 
 esteemed a great honour to be ap- 
 pointed to such an office. The cup- 
 bearer was the person that gave the 
 king his drink. Nehemiah was a 
 Jew ; and he heard that the people 
 that were left in the land of Judea, 
 were in great affliction ; and that the 
 wall of Jerusalem was broken down, 
 and the gates burned with fire. This 
 made him feel very bad ; and he sat 
 down and wept and mourned, a long 
 time, and fasted and prayed. But, 
 
 8 
 
66 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Nehemiah was soon called to give 
 the king his drink. Before this, he 
 had always appeared cheerful in the 
 presence of the king ; but now he 
 was sad ; and the king said to him, 
 ' Why is thy countenance sad, see- 
 ing thou art not sick? This is 
 nothing else but sorrow^ of heart.' 
 Then Nehemiah was afraid, and 
 said to the king, 'why should not 
 my countenance be sad, when the 
 city, the place of my fathers' sepul- 
 chres, lieth waste, and the gates 
 thereof are consumed with fire?' 
 Then the king asked him what he 
 desired. ' So,' says Nehemiah, ' I 
 prayed to the God of heaven.' It 
 w^ould not have been possible for him 
 to have gone away by himself to 
 pray ; yet he felt that he needed the 
 help of God just at that moment. 
 So he offered up his desires to God, 
 ill his own heart, without speaking 
 the words ; and the Lord heard his 
 prayer, and inclined the heart of the 
 
ON PRAYER. 87 
 
 king to give him what he asked. 
 And so you will find a great many- 
 cases, every day, in which yon will 
 need the help of God, when you can- 
 not go away by yourself to pray. 
 You will find evil thoughts coming 
 into your mind, when you will want 
 the help of God's Spirit to keep 
 them out ; you will find your heart 
 inclined to do wrong, when you will 
 want the Spirit of God to help 
 you resist the temptation ; and in a 
 great many ways you will need 
 the help of God's grace continual- 
 ly. And, if you keep your heart 
 right, and maintain a spirit of prayer 
 all the time, you can lift up your 
 heart to God for help, at any time 
 and in any place, even in the midst 
 of company, and he will hear 
 you." 
 
 '' But there are two things more 
 my dear, that are necessary to pre- 
 vailing prayer : We must be earnest 
 and importunate y * 
 
88 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 *' I do not know what wiportunate 
 means." 
 
 " If yon come and ask me to give 
 you a piece of bread, and I do not 
 hear you the first time, and you keep 
 on asking till you get it, you will be 
 importunate. But, the examples 
 which I am going to relate, will show 
 what it means." 
 
 " Mother, do tell me first about 
 being earnest in prayer." 
 
 '' Well, if you will turn to the first 
 chapter of the first book of Samuel, 
 you will find a very interesting story 
 about Hannah, the mother of Samuel. 
 She had no child ; and she longed 
 for one very much. And, when she 
 went up to the house of the Lord, she 
 wept, and would not eat. And she 
 w^as in bitterness of soul, and prayed 
 imto the Lord and wept sore. And 
 she vowed a vow, and said, ' Lord 
 of Hosts, if thou wilt indeed, look on 
 the affliction of thine handmaid, and 
 remember me, and not forget thine 
 
ON PRAYER. 89 
 
 handmaid, but wilt give unto thine 
 handmaid a man-child, then I will 
 give him unto the Lord all the days 
 of his life.' She was very earnest, 
 in this prayer. Her whole heart w^as 
 in it. And God heard her prayer, 
 and gave her a son ; and she gave 
 him to the Lord, as she had promis- 
 ed, and he Was a pious boy, and be- 
 came a great man, a judge, and a 
 prophet. And this shows the truth 
 of the promise made to Jeremiah : 
 ' And ye shall seek me, and find me, 
 w^hen ye shall search for me with all 
 YOUR HEART.' But there is another 
 case, very much like this. Hezekiah, 
 the good, pious king of Judah, was 
 sick. And the prophet Isaiah came 
 to him, and told him to set his 
 house in order, for the time had 
 come that he must die." 
 
 '' O mother, did he not feel very 
 unhappy when he heard that ?" 
 
 '' Yes, my dear; and he turned his 
 face to the wall, and prayed to the 
 
90 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 Lord, and said, ' I beseech thee, O 
 Lord, remember now how I have 
 walked before thee, in truth and with 
 a perfect heart, and have done that 
 which is good in thy sight.' And he 
 wept very hard." 
 
 ''And did God hear his prayer, 
 mother?'' 
 
 " Yes; and before the prophet had 
 gone from the porch of the house, the 
 Lord sent him back to tell Hezekiah, 
 ' Thus saith the Lord, the God of 
 David thy father, I have heard thy 
 prayer, I have seen thy tears : behold 
 I will heal thee ; on the third day 
 thou shalt go up unto the house of 
 the Lord. And I will add unto thy 
 days fifteen years. So the king got 
 well; and his life was lengthened 
 fifteen years." 
 
 " Yes, mother, I see what kind of 
 prayer the Lord will answer. I re- 
 member reading about little Phebe 
 Bartlett, when the Lord gave her a 
 new heart. She prayed with great 
 
ON PRAYER. 91 
 
 earnestness, and cried very hard, and 
 said, ' I pray, beg, O Lord, give me 
 salvation.' " 
 
 Yes ; and this vt^as the way that 
 Jesus prayed. When he was in the 
 garden of Gethsemane, he was in an 
 agony, and prayed more earnestly : 
 and his sweat was as it were great 
 drops of blood falling down to the 
 ground." 
 
 " What does agony me^n, mother?" 
 *' It is a word generally used when 
 we are describing the severest pain. 
 When a person is dying, he is said 
 to be in the agonies of death. But 
 here it is applied to the sufferings of 
 the soul. I suppose no language 
 could express deeper feeling, or more 
 painful exercises of the mind. The 
 apostle Paul describes this feeling, 
 in the eighth chapter of Romans . 
 * Likewise the Spirit also helpeth 
 our infirmities : for we know not 
 what we should pray for as we ought : 
 but the Spirit itself maketh interces- 
 6* 
 
92 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 sion for us, with groanings which 
 
 CANNOT BE UTTERED.' " 
 
 " Well, mother, now tell me about 
 praying with importunittj.'' 
 
 " There is a very interesting story 
 about Jacob's wrestling with the 
 angel. I do not know that we can 
 with strict propriety apply it to what 
 we are talking about; but it is an 
 excellent illustration of importunate 
 prayer. Esau, Jacob's brother, was 
 angry with him, and threatened to 
 kill him. So Jacob went away to 
 his uncle Laban's, and stayed a great 
 while, till he had a family of children 
 growm up. Then he came back to 
 the place where his father I^ac and 
 his brother Esau lived. But, before 
 he arrived, he heard that his brother 
 was coming to meet him, with four 
 hundred men. And he was afraid, 
 and much distressed ; for he thought 
 his brother w^as coming to kill him. 
 And he prayed to God, and said, ' O 
 God of my father Abraham, and God 
 
ON PRAYER. 93 
 
 of my father Isaac, the Lord who 
 saidst unto me, Return unto thy 
 country, and to thy kindred, and I 
 will deal well with thee : I am not 
 worthy of the least of all thy mercies, 
 and of all the truth which thou hast 
 showed unto thy servant : for with 
 my staff I passed over this Jordan ; 
 and now I am become two bands. 
 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the 
 hand of my brother, from the hand 
 of Esau ; for I fear him, lest he will 
 come and smite me, and the mother 
 with the children. And thou saidst, 
 I will surely do thee good, and make 
 thy seed as the sand of the sea, which 
 cannot be numbered for multitude.' 
 And, in the night, Jacob was alone ; 
 and an angel came and wrestled with 
 him all night ; and when he saw that 
 he prevailed not against Jacob, he 
 touched his thigh, and put it out of 
 joint. And, at break of day, the 
 angel said, ' Let me go, for the day 
 breaketh.' ' But Jacob said, * / will 
 
94 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 not let thee go, except thou bless me.'' 
 So the angel blessed him, and changed 
 his name to Israel, which means * a 
 -prince of God;' ' for,' said he, ' as a 
 prince hast thou power with God and 
 with men, and hast prevailed.' Now, 
 this is the way we must pray, if we 
 would have our prayers answered. 
 Although the angel had put Jacob's 
 thigh out of joint, he would not let 
 him go till he had secured the bless- 
 ing. So, when we desire any thing 
 of God, if he does not give it to us at 
 first, we should keep on asking, and 
 not be discouraged, wdiatever difficul- 
 ties seem to be in the way ; but hold 
 on to his promises, and continue in 
 prayer, till we obtain the blessing we 
 desire, or till God shows us that it is 
 not his will that we should have it." 
 
 *' Mother, you said you would tell 
 me about Elijah's praying for rain." 
 
 " Yes, my dear, I will. After three 
 years and a half, when the earth was 
 parched and dried up, so that nothing 
 
ON PRAYER. 95 
 
 would grow, Ahab and one of his men 
 went out through all the land, about 
 the brooks and rivers, to search for 
 grass, to save their horses and mules 
 from starving to death. But, while 
 they were on their way, Elijah met 
 them." 
 
 " Was he not afraid the king would 
 kill him, mother ?" 
 
 " No, my dear ; he trusted in the 
 Lord; and the Bible says, 'the right- 
 eous are as bold as a lion.' " 
 
 " Well, what did the king say, 
 when he saw Elijah?" 
 
 " He said, ' Art thou he that trou- 
 bleth Israel V But Elijah answered 
 and said, 'I have not troubled Israel; 
 but thou and thy father's house, in 
 that ye have forsaken the command- 
 ments of the Lord.' And the prophet 
 told him to go and gather all the peo- 
 ple together, with the false prophets 
 and priests of the idols : the prophets 
 of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and 
 the prophets of the grove, four hun- 
 
96 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 dred. . So Ahab gathered together 
 all the children of Israel, and all the 
 prophets, to Mount Carmel. And 
 Elijah came to the people, and said, 
 ' How long halt ye between two opi- 
 nions? if the Lord be God, follow 
 him ; but if Baal, then follow^ him.' 
 To halt is to stop. If you were going 
 anywhere, and should come to two 
 roads, and, not knowing which to 
 take, should stop between them, or 
 at the place where they separate, you 
 would be halting between two opi- 
 nions; whether to take one or the 
 other of the roads. This was the 
 case with the children of Israel. 
 They were at a loss to decide, whe- 
 ther they would worship God, or the 
 idol called Baal. Therefore the pro- 
 phet inquired, 'How long halt ye 
 between two opinions?' and exhorted 
 them to make an immediate decision. 
 A great many people live all their 
 lives without coming to a decision, 
 as to whom they will serve. They 
 
ON PRAYER. 97 
 
 have no idea of dying in their sins, 
 and going to hell ; but they will not 
 make up their minds to serve God 
 now. They go on halting between 
 two opinions; and death generally 
 overtakes them before they decide. 
 O that we could see the children in 
 our Sabbath-schools, one and all, 
 making up their minds to take the 
 Lord for their God now !" 
 
 '' What did the people say to Eli- 
 jah, mother?" 
 
 '' They did not answer him a word. 
 But Elijah said, * I, even I only, re- 
 main a prophet of the Lord ; but 
 Baal's prophets are four hundred and 
 fifty men.' And he told them to let 
 the prophets of Baal bring two young 
 bullocks, and choose one for them- 
 selves, and cut it in pieces and lay 
 it on wood, but put no fire under ; 
 and he would do the same with the 
 other : ' And,' said he, ' call ye on the 
 name of your gods, and I will call on 
 the name of the Lord , and the God 
 9 
 
98 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 that answereth by fire, let him be 
 God.' And all the people agreed to 
 it. So the prophets of Baal chose 
 their bullock, and dressed it, and 
 called on the name of Baal from 
 morning till noon, saying, O Baal, 
 hear us ! But their god did not hear 
 them. And they leaped upon the 
 altar. And at noon, Elijah mocked 
 them, and said, ' Cry aloud, for he is 
 a god ; either he is talking, or he is 
 pursuing, or he is on a journey, or he 
 sleepeth, and must be awaked.' And 
 they cried aloud, and cut themselves 
 vrith knives, till the blood gushed 
 out upon them. And in the evening, 
 Elijah called the people to him. And 
 he took twelve stones, according to 
 the number of the tribes of Israel, 
 and built an altar to the Lord. And 
 he dug a great ditch around the altar, 
 and put the wood on the altar, and 
 cut the bullock in pieces, and laid 
 him on the wood. Then he told them 
 to fill four barrels with water, and 
 
ON PRAYER. 99 
 
 pour it on the altar; and they did so. 
 And he said, Do it the second time ; 
 and they did it the second time. 
 And he said, Do it the third time ; 
 and they did it the third time. And 
 the water ran all over the meat, and 
 the wood, and the altar, and filled 
 the ditch with water." 
 
 " What did he do that for, mother?" 
 *' I suppose it was to show the peo- 
 ple that he had not put any fire under 
 the sacrifice, and that there was no 
 deception in what he was going to do. 
 Then the prophet came near the 
 altar, and prayed, and said, 'Lord 
 God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, 
 let it be known this day that thou 
 art God in Israel, and that I am thy 
 servant, and that I have done all these 
 things at thy word. Hear me, O 
 Lord, hear me ; that this people may 
 know that thou art the Lord God, 
 and that thou hast turned their heart 
 back again.' Then the fire of the 
 Lord came down, and burnt up the 
 
100 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 meat, and the wood, and the stones, 
 and the dust, and the water that was 
 in the ditch." 
 
 '' O, how wonderful, mother! what 
 did the people say to that?" 
 
 '' They fell on their faces, and said, 
 ' The Lord, he is the God ; the Lord, 
 he is the God.' Then Elijah told 
 them to take the prophets of Baal, 
 and not let one of them escape. And 
 they were all taken and put to death." 
 
 ''I think that was very cruel, 
 mother." 
 
 " No, my dear ; under the law of 
 Moses, idolatry was punished with 
 death. These men were Israelites ; 
 and they were not only guilty of ido- 
 latry themselves, but of teaching 
 others to worship idols." 
 
 '' But I should not think the wick- 
 ed king would have let him do this." 
 
 " You see, by this, what power a 
 man has, who lives near to God. 
 Both the king and the people seem 
 to have been overpowered with a 
 
ON PRAYER. 101 
 
 sense of the presence of God. After 
 the prophets of Baal were killed, 
 Elijah told Ahab to go up to his 
 house, and eat and drmk, for there 
 was the sound of plenty of rain. But 
 the prophet went up to the top of 
 Mount Carmel, and threw himself 
 down upon the ground, and put his 
 face between his knees, and prayed 
 for rain. Then he sent his servant 
 to look toward the sea ; and he went, 
 and returned and told the prophet 
 that he saw nothing. But Elijah 
 was not discouraged. He kept on 
 praying ; and told his servant to go 
 again. But he saw nothing. And 
 he sent him again ; and kept praying, 
 till his servant had gone and looked 
 seven times. And the seventh time, 
 he saw a little cloud, the size of a 
 man's hand. And in a little while, 
 the sky was black with clouds, and 
 the wind blew, and there was a great 
 rain." 
 
 " O ! that was wonderful, mother. 
 
 9* 
 
102 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 But Elijah was a prophet. I suppose 
 the Lord would answ^er the prayers 
 of a prophet, when he would not hear 
 a common Christian/' 
 
 '' The apostle James, speaking of 
 this, says, ' Elias (or Elijah ) was a man 
 subject to like passions as we are ;' 
 showing \h.dXspecial ansivers to prayer 
 were not to be confined to the prophets. 
 But you see how importunate Elijah 
 was. He prayed six times before he 
 saw any appearance of an answer. 
 Many people would be discouraged, 
 before they had prayed half so many 
 times as that. But he believed God's 
 promises, and did not stop praying 
 till he had received an answer. And 
 this is the way that Jesus teaches us 
 to pray. He told a parable to his 
 disciples, to show them that men 
 ought alw^ays to pray, and not to faint 
 He said there was a judge, who nei- 
 ther feared God nor man, and cared 
 nothing about doing justice. And a 
 poor widow came to him, and begged 
 
ON PRAYER. 103 
 
 him to punish some one that had in- 
 jured her. And at first, he would 
 not do it; but she kept coming to 
 him till he was tired of it; and, 
 though he cared nothing about doing 
 justice, yet he said to himself that 
 he would give her what she wanted, 
 lest, by her continual coming, she 
 should weary him. Then, the Lord 
 Jesus asks his disciples. If a wicked 
 man will give what a poor w^oman 
 asks, because of her importunity, will 
 not God hear the prayers of his own 
 people, whom he tenderly loves, when 
 they cry day and night unto him? 
 And Jesus has himself given us ex- 
 amples of earnest, persevering, and 
 importunate prayer. At one time, 
 he went up into a mountain, and 
 continued all night in prayer to God, 
 And, at the time of his agony in the 
 garden, he went away three times, 
 and prayed for the same thing. So, 
 when we pray, we must earnestly 
 desire what we pray for, and keep 
 
104 CO^n^ERSATIONS 
 
 asking for it, till the Lord hears our 
 prayers, or shows us thut it is not 
 consistent with his will to give us 
 what we desire. And, when we ask 
 for God's Spirit, or for any thing that 
 he has told us in his word that he is 
 willing to give, we should keep ask- 
 ing, and grow more earnest, and never 
 give it up, till w^e have received the 
 blessing. The Lord sometimes de- 
 lays to answer our prayers, in order 
 to try our faith, and to see whether 
 we will persevere in asking. And 
 sometimes he, no doubt, sees some- 
 thing wrong in our prayers, when 
 we are not sensible of it. We should 
 then examine ourselves, and strive 
 to correct what is wrong, when our 
 prayers are not answered as soon as 
 we have expected. 
 
ON PRAYER. 105 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHEN, WHER£, FOR WHOM, AND HOW WE MUST PRJIT. 
 
 " Mother, there are some other 
 things I would like to know about 
 prayer. Does the Bible say any 
 thing about the time and place of 
 prayer?" 
 
 " The Bible does not tell us how 
 many times in a day we must pray. 
 From what I have already said, you 
 see the necessity of praying often. 
 But it is very important that you 
 should have regular and stated sea- 
 sons for prayer. Daniel was in the 
 habit of praying statedly, three times, 
 a day: and David says, 'Evening, 
 morning, and at noon, will I pray, 
 and cry aloud ; and he shall hear my 
 voice;' and the writer of the il9th 
 Psalm says, * Seven times a day do 
 I praise thee.' You ought to have 
 your times for prayer, and they should 
 
106 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 be fixed and regular ; and never think 
 of neglecting tlienri, any more than 
 you would think of neglecting your 
 meals. And, in regard to our private 
 prayers, our Saviour says they should 
 be in secret. He told his disciples 
 not to seek public places, where they 
 would be seen, when they prayed ; 
 but to go into their closets, and shut 
 the door, so that no eye but God 
 might see them. Any secret jilace 
 for prayer, where none but God can 
 see us, is a closet. Our Lord spent 
 much time in retired places, in prayer 
 to God. We often read of his going 
 Tip into a mountain to pray. And 
 the garden of Gethsemane, where he 
 prayed in such agony, the night in 
 which he was betrayed, was a retired 
 place, on the Mount of Olives, where 
 he often went with his disciples. 
 Your bed-room, or any other place 
 where you can be free from interrup- 
 tion, is a proper place for your devo- 
 tions. There you ought to spend 
 
ON PRAYER. 107 
 
 much time in reading the Bible and 
 prayer, and in thinking about God 
 and serious things. If you do so, 
 you may expect God will meet with 
 you, and bless you." 
 
 "But, mother, did Christ mean 
 that we should never pray anywhere 
 else, but in secret?" 
 
 "When Christ rebuked the Pha- 
 risees and hypocrites for making long 
 prayers in public places, he did not 
 mean to condemn public worship. 
 You will find a great many examples 
 of public prayer in the Bible. He 
 only meant to condemn praying mere- 
 ly to be seen of others. The Jews 
 had certain hours for prayer; and 
 when these hours came, they would 
 stop and pray, wherever they were. 
 And many of them sought public 
 places, where they might be seen, in 
 order to show their great piety. Now, 
 if you pray in any way, in order to 
 make people think you are very pious, 
 
lOS CONVERSATIONS 
 
 you show yourself to be a hypocrite, 
 and come under this reproof." 
 
 "Must I pray for anybody but 
 myself, mother?" 
 
 " Yes ; the apostle Paul says to 
 Timothy, ' I exhort that, first of all, 
 supplications, prayers, intercessions, 
 and giving of thanks, be made for 
 ALL MEN ; for kings, and for all that 
 ARE IN AUTHORITY.' And to the 
 Ephesians he says, ' Praying always, 
 with all prayer and supplication in 
 the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
 with all perseverance for all saints, 
 and for me, that utterance may be 
 given unto me, that I may open my 
 mouth boldly, to make known the 
 mystery of the gospel.' The duty 
 of praying for our rulers is often 
 mentioned by the apostles ; and the 
 duty of praying for ministers of th^ 
 gospel." 
 
 " Mother, can you tell me about 
 any persons mentioned in the Bible, 
 who prayed for others?" 
 
ON PRAYER. 109 
 
 "Yes; Moses seemed almost to 
 stand between God and the children 
 of Israel, while they were in the 
 wilderness. A great many times, 
 the Lord threatened to destroy them 
 for their wickedness ; but then Moses 
 would pray for them, and the Lord 
 would forgive their sin. After the 
 Lord had given them the ten com- 
 mandments, while Moses was up in 
 the mountain with God, the people 
 made a calf of gold, and called it 
 their god, and worshipped it. And 
 the Lord said to Moses, ' I have seen 
 this people, and behold it is a stiff- 
 Qecked people. Now, therefore, let 
 me alone, that my wrath may wax 
 hot against them, and that I may 
 consume them ; and I will make of 
 thee a great nation.' But Moses 
 prayed for them, and said, ' Lord, 
 why doth thy wrath wax hot against 
 thy people, which thou hast brought 
 forth out of the land of Egypt with 
 great power, and with a mighty hand? 
 
 10 
 
^110 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 "VVhereforo should the Egyptians 
 speak and sa}^, For mischief did he 
 bring them out, to slay them in the 
 mountains, and to consume them 
 from the face of the earth? Turn 
 from thy fierce wrath, and repent 
 of this evil against thy people. Re- 
 member Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, 
 thy servants, to whom thou swarest 
 by thine own self, and saidst unto 
 them, I will multiply your seed as 
 the stars of heaven ; and all this land 
 that I have spoken of, will I give 
 unto your seed, and they shall inherit 
 it forever.' " 
 
 "And did the Lord hear his 
 prayer, mother?" 
 
 '' Yes ; he heard his prayer, and 
 did not destroy the people. And 
 many times after this, when the 
 people provoked the Lord, in the 
 wilderness, Moses prayed for them, 
 and they were saved. There is one 
 class of persons, my dear, that the 
 
ON PRAYER. Ill 
 
 Bible says you must pray for, which 
 I have not mentioned." 
 
 " Who are they, mother?" 
 
 ''Your enemies, my dear; those 
 who hate and abuse you." 
 
 "But how can I pray for those 
 who treat me so, mother?" 
 
 " If you feel right, you can do it. 
 Our Saviour says you must ' Love 
 your enemies, bless them that curse 
 you, do good to them that hate you, 
 and pray for them which despitefully 
 use you, and persecute you.' And 
 he has set us the example. He died 
 for those who were his enemies ; and 
 while he hung on the cross, he prayed 
 even for his murderers, ' Father, for- 
 give them, for they know not what 
 they do.' And the first man that 
 was put to death for being a follower 
 of Jesus, imitated his example. Ste- 
 phen prayed for his murderers, ' Lord, 
 lay not this sin to their charge.' " 
 
 " Well, mother, when the disciples 
 asked Jesus to teach them to pray, 
 
112 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 he gave them the Lord's prayer 
 Must I always say the Lord's prayer, 
 and nothing else, when I pray?" 
 
 "Jesus told them to pray 'after 
 this manner.'' But he did not mean 
 that they should always say just the 
 same w^ords. If he had meant this, 
 his disciples would have done so ; 
 but, very soon after he left them, we 
 find them using other words, to ex- 
 press their particular desires. Before 
 choosing a man to fill the place of 
 Judas, as one of the apostles, they 
 prayed, and said, 'Thou, Lord, who 
 knowest the hearts of all men, show 
 whether of these two thou hastchosen, 
 that he may take part of this ministry 
 and apostleship, from which Judas 
 by transgression fell, that he might 
 go to his own place.' And the prayer 
 of the disciples, after Peter and John 
 had been threatened, is in their own 
 words." 
 
 "But what did Christ mean by 
 giving us this form of prayer, if it 
 
ON PRAYER. 113 
 
 was not that we should say the same 
 words?" 
 
 '' I suppose he meant to give it to 
 us as a kind of pattern, to show us 
 how to pray, and what things to pra)^ 
 for ; and if you consider every part 
 of it carefully, you will find it takes 
 in almost every thing." 
 
 " Well, mother, do tell me all about 
 it. What may I learn from the be- 
 ginning of it, ' Our Father, who art 
 in heaven?' " 
 
 " This teaches you to come to God, 
 as a little child comes to its father. 
 How do you go to your father, when 
 you want him to give you anything?" 
 
 " I first think whether he will be 
 willing to give me what I want. 
 Then I am afraid of displeasing him, 
 so I am careful to come in such a 
 way as to show that I reverence him. 
 And I knov/ my father loves me, and 
 that he will always give me what I 
 want, if he thinks it best. So I go 
 to him vnth confidence, and tell him 
 
 10^ 
 
114 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 just what I want. But, if lie says it 
 would not be best for me to have it, 
 then I am satisfied, because I know 
 that he knows best what I should 
 have." 
 
 "Well, that is just the way that 
 we should come to God. This part 
 of the Lord's prayer teaches us to 
 regard him as our Heavenly Father." 
 
 " O what a blessed thing it is, mo- 
 ther, to have God for our Father !'' 
 
 " Yes, it is a blessed thing indeed. 
 But, my dear, when you go to ask 
 )^our father for any thing you want, 
 do you need any one to teach you 
 w^hat to say to him ?" 
 
 " O no mother; I can very easily 
 tell him what I want. I just speak 
 out my heart to him." 
 
 "Well, my dear; that is the w^ay 
 you ought to pray to God. If you 
 have any desires, you can easily tell 
 them to him. And he looks at the 
 heart. If that is right, he will not 
 mind so much about the words. He 
 
ON PRAYER. 115 
 
 wants you to speak your heart right 
 out to him, as you do to your father." 
 
 " Why did Christ tell us to sav, 
 ' Our Father?' Why not, 'My Fa- 
 ther?'" 
 
 "I suppose he meant that we 
 should not confine our prayers to 
 ourselves; but pray with and for 
 others ; and not feel that we have 
 any better right to call God our Fa- 
 ther, than others have." 
 
 " And what does ' Hallowed be thy 
 name' mean, mother?" 
 
 " How would you feel, my dear, 
 if you should hear some boys in the 
 vStreet making sport of your father's 
 name, and calling it out in their plays 
 to insult him?" 
 
 " I should feel very bad, mother. 
 I could not bear it." 
 
 ''Well, those who love God, feel 
 so about His name. They cannot 
 bear to hear it trifled with. They 
 wish to have Him loved and reve- 
 renced by everybody; and this is 
 
116 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 ■what the prayer means; for God's 
 name, is often put for God himself ''(^ 
 
 " And, what do we mean, when 
 we say, ' Thy Mngdom come ? What 
 does thy kingdom mean ? '^ 
 
 " Christ is represented as a kinj^ 
 over his people ; and so the church 
 is called the Kingdom of God. God 
 has revealed to us, in the Bible, that 
 the time will come when all the world 
 shall be converted; and so the king- 
 dom of God will be set up and es- 
 tablished in the world. When we 
 pray, ' thy kingdom come,^ we pray 
 for that glorious day, when ail the 
 people in the world shall know the 
 Lord. And, whenever we pray for 
 the blessing of God upon the preach- 
 ing of the gospel, upon Sabbath- 
 schools, missionaries, or any thing 
 that his people are doing for the con- 
 version of the world, we pray for the 
 coming of his kingdom. And the 
 same thing is repeated, a little more 
 particularly in the next part of the 
 
ON PRAYER. 117 
 
 prayer, ' Thy will he done on earth 
 as it is in heaven.^ What makes 
 heaven such a happy place is, that 
 all the holy beings there delight in 
 doing the will of God ; and if his will 
 were done here just as it is there, we 
 should have a heaven upon earth. 
 And what can any one desire more, 
 than that the holy will of God should 
 be done with cheerfulness and de- 
 light by all the people in the world ?'' 
 
 " The next part of the prayer is, 
 ' Give us this day our daily bread :^ 
 must we not pray for any worldly 
 things but our daily bread ?" 
 
 I suppose this petition is intended 
 to include every thing that we need, 
 for this life. At the same time, it 
 teaches us to feel our dependence 
 upon God, day by day, for all earthly 
 blessings and not to look forward 
 with anxious desire, for the supply 
 of our future wants ; but to be satis- 
 fied with what we need, from day to 
 day. It teaches also the duty of 
 
118 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 praying for such things as we need, 
 to supply our earthly wants. People 
 sometimes pray as if they thought 
 they were not dependent upon God 
 for food and clothing; for they never 
 think of asking for such things." 
 
 " ' Andforgiveus our debts' What 
 does that mean, mother ?" 
 
 '' It means that we should pray to 
 God to forgive us our sins. Sin is 
 sometimes represented as a debt 
 which we owe to God. If we owe a 
 man any thing, if he does not forgive 
 it, or agree to give it up, we must pay 
 it. So, if God does not forgive our 
 sins, and treat us as if we had not 
 sinned, we must be punished. This 
 is a prayer we ought to make every 
 day ; and the other part of the peti- 
 tion, I have already explained to you. 
 Here you see that we are not allow^ed 
 to pray for the forgiveness of our 
 sins, any further than we forgive 
 those that have injured us." 
 
ON PRAYER. 119 
 
 *' What does temptation mean, mo- 
 ther ?" 
 
 " Temptation is an}^ thing that tries 
 or proves ns. If I should tell yon that 
 you must not take any of the sweet- 
 meats that I have put away to keep, 
 and then leave them where you can 
 get them, to see whether you will 
 obey me, that would be trying or 
 provmg you. Sometimes the Lord 
 allow^s Satan to try to persuade us to 
 do wrong. In such cases, we are 
 tempted by the devil to do wrong. 
 Sometimes, the Lord brings trouble 
 upon us, to try or prove our piety. 
 This is sometimes called temptation. 
 Here, I suppose temptation means all 
 the ways in which we may be tried, 
 both by Satan and by afflictions. 
 AVe are directed to pray that God 
 would not suffer ns to be led into 
 temptations or trials of any kind; 
 but that he would deliver us from all 
 evil : both from being led into sin, by 
 Satan and our own wdcked hearts^ 
 
120 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 and from every kind of affliction, 
 trouble, or distress. And all these 
 things we are to ask, not for our own 
 sake chiefly ; but that the power and 
 goodness of God may appear, by his 
 giving them to us. For the prayer 
 concludes with a reason why we ask 
 them : for, or because ' thine is the 
 kingdom, the power y and the glory.' " 
 
 ''What does this mean, mother?" 
 
 " It is as much as to say, ' We ask 
 these things, because thou rulest over 
 all things, and canst so order every 
 thing as to do this for us ; and thou 
 hast all power in thy hands — thou 
 art able to give us what we ask. And 
 we ask these things, not that we may 
 be honoured; but that thy name may 
 be glorified, in showing forth to the 
 world thy power and goodness ; for" 
 all honour and glory belong to thee.' '* 
 
 " And what does ' Amen^ mean, 
 mother ?" 
 
 '' It means * so let it he' It was the 
 way that the people answered to any 
 
ON PRAYER. 121 
 
 thing that was brought before them, 
 to express their consent. And, I sup- 
 pose, in the Jewish worship, the peo- 
 ple showed that they agreed to the 
 prayers that were offered to God, by 
 saying, 'Amen — so let it he' When 
 w^e say amen, at the close of our 
 prayers, we ask God again, to let it 
 be as we have spoken ; and by doing 
 so, we show that we have confidence 
 in him, that he is able and w^illing to 
 give us what we ask for, if it is 
 agreeable to his will." 
 
 " Must I ask for all these things 
 every time I pray, mother ?" 
 
 '' No, my dear ; if you examine all 
 the prayers that are mentioned in the 
 Bible, you will find that God's peo- 
 ple always asked for just what they 
 felt the need of, at the time. This 
 is a general prayer, intended to in- 
 clude every thing that we ever need 
 to ask for. But, the Bible tells us to 
 ask for the particular things that we 
 desire ; and the prayers of good peo- 
 11 
 
1 22 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 pie, which are written in the Bible, 
 are for particular things. They 
 always asked, in plain and simple 
 language, for just what they wanted. 
 And we should do the same. And, 
 when we thank and praise God, for 
 his goodness to us, and to the world, 
 we should mention the particular 
 good things that we have received 
 from him; and when we confess our 
 sins, we should be very particular 
 not to keep any thing back; but 
 mention every thing that we can 
 think of, that we have done wrong. 
 But, there is one thing in this prayer, 
 of which I want you to take particu- 
 lar notice. It is not a selfish prayer. 
 We are told to pray for the glory 
 of God's name, for the coming of his 
 kingdom, and that his will may be* 
 done, before we pray for our daily 
 bread. We ought, then, to desire the 
 glory of God, and the good of the 
 church of Christ more than we desire 
 any thing for ourselves. We ought 
 
ON PRAYER. 123 
 
 to make tliem the great burden of all 
 our prayers ; and to feel as the writer 
 of one of the psalms felt, when he 
 said, "If I forget thee, Jerusalem, 
 let my right hand forget her cun- 
 ning. If I do not remember thee, let 
 my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
 mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem, 
 (meaning the Church of God J 
 
 ABOVE MY CHIEF JOY." 
 
 THE END. 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Li] 
 
 1 1012 01021 5657 
 
 / 
 
 ^■"^ 
 
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