Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/173

Rh unto the Lord," and his prayer was answered (2 Kings vi. 71, 18). Moses and Samuel and Hezekiah and Ezra and Jeremiah and Daniel and all the prophets of old, were men of prayer. So were Peter and Paul and Silas and John. And our Savior himself while in the flesh, often prayed, sometimes "continuing all night in prayer to God" (Luke vi. 12). And He told his disciples that "men ought always to pray " (Luke xviii. 1); and that "whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. xxi. 22). And not only this, but He taught them how to pray, counseling them not to use "vain repetitions, as the heathen do;" nor to be like the hypocrites, who love to pray "standing at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men;" and He gave them a form of prayer which, for simplicity, depth, and comprehensiveness, infinitely surpasses every other prayer that was ever uttered, and will remain as a perfect model for all future ages.

And so all professing Christians agree as to the importance and use of prayer. But what is the use of it, or in what way is the use accomplished? Does it change the disposition or purpose of the all-wise and loving Father, and cause Him to do differently from what He otherwise would have done? So have Christians hitherto believed. But a large and constantly increasing class are coming to reject this theory or philosophy of prayer.