Page:A Beacon to the Society of Friends.djvu/110

 for their much speaking. Be not ye, therefore, like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him." Matt. vi. 7, 8.

"When ye stand praying forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father—forgive

you your trespasses."—Mark, xi. 25, 26.

"Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. v. 44.

"Pray ye—the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Matt. ix. 38.

"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." Matt. xxvi. 41.

In conclusion, we would advert to the following important passage,—"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what to pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom. viii. 26 and 27.

This passage has been much misunderstood,—it has even been converted into a stumbling block, and kept many from the threshold of the closet,—But how animating is it to the humble believer, who, cast down at times with the feeling that he is destitute of the spirit of prayer,—knowing not what to pray for as he ought, and even without a right sense of his spiritual want, that he is thus encouraged to persevere in presenting himself before God, resting on the assurance that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities.