Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/39

 the man in converse with God receives from his Father in the heavens the very desires of his heart. It is then that the prayerful Christian feels the benefit and use of prayer. The benefit being the enjoyment of that state in which heavenly conscolations are felt, and the use that sphere of tranquillity and peace which is diffused to all around. Prayer ought to be viewed as a privilege rather than a duty arising out of a command; for it is a state when the faculties are open to receive celestial treasures; and as the mind should always be kept open to receive the blessings of God, so prayer in Scripture is enjoined upon us at all times, and in all places. "Men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke xviii. 1); and the apostle enjoins us to "pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting." (1 Tim. ii. 8.) O God! keep my mind open to receive thy constant mercies; so shall I pray without ceasing: "O Lord! open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." (Psalm li. 15.)

N Matt. xviii. 21, 22, we read that Peter came to Jesus and said—"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times; but until seventy times seven." Our gracious Lord and Saviour inculcates in these words the godlike principle of universal love, and the free exercise