"If ye abide in me."

Prayer for Wisdom.

sities demand. He asks, but does not receive, because he is unmindful of the condition, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." He does not abide in Christ, and therefore has no right to expect the answer on these premises. He "asks and receives not, because he asks amiss, that he may consume it upon his lusts."

A sincerely disposed disciple of the Lord Jesus, feeling his need of divine guidance, asks wisdom; he then proceeds to the prosecution of the matter in hand, with much the same fearfulness and uncertainty that would have marked his course had he not asked divine direction. Though he asked in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father, yet his mind was not settled in the persuasion that wisdom from above would be given, to guide the affair to a heaven-directed conclusion. He may, perhaps, indulge a faint hope that all may be divinely ordered; but is the condition, implied in the tender of divine direction, met? He has not asked "in faith, nothing wavering." "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed; let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."

Another asks, and receives not, because he asks for that which it is not needful he should have. Perhaps he asks for knowledge of things of which God hath said, "It is not for you to know."

Secret Things.

Children prayed for and indulged.

"Secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children." Notwithstanding these dissuasives, he continues to ask. He may believe that he receives; but does this belief make it so? You have heard of those of late who have acted on this assumption, and the disastrous result seems to intimate that Satan answered the petition.

Another says: "I have prayed long and earnestly, that my children may be induced to choose the path to eternal life. Negligence, in training them up in the way they should go, may have marked the course of the parent. At the very time the petition is offered, those children may be indulging in practices of wordly conformity, from which the parent well knows they will have to depart, in order to get into the way to heaven. The reason why such cannot believe they receive when they pray, is but too evident.

But I might enlarge quite beyond the bounds of another sheet. The subject is prolific; beyond my power to present in detail. Suffice it to say, that the reason why very many petitioners ask, and receive not, may be inferred from 1 Tim. ii, 8: they do not "lift up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." In the eye of Omniscience, purity of motive is wanting; such ask, and may not believe that they receive what things soever they desire when they pray.

If opportunity should offer, it will give me pleasure to pursue this subject by way of telling you of some answers to prayer, received on precisely the principle laid down in the text, relative you have asked my

to which

views.

Yours, in love.

NO. XXXII.-TO THE MEMBERS OF THE

CHURCH.

The church is a family-Intercessions-Revival prevented-The sin of one man-A reproach to Christ-Social gatherings versus class meetings-A wonderful deception-The convicted-Cruel friends-"Who ruined that soul?"-God's decree nullified-A revival in God's order-Death busy and the church idle-" Curse ye Meroz."

DEARLY BELOVED,-I have no explanation to offer for my solicitude on your behalf, other than that I believe God has himself given me a care for you. "We have one Father, even God." Children of one household are one in interest. That interest is the honor of the parent, and the good of the united family.

In view of your low state for some time past, my heart has been moved to cry earnestly to the Lord for a revival of his work among you. In my importunate supplications I have consciously realized the help of the Spirit, and have felt a firm conviction that what I desired was in verity according

Mischievous Agencies.

Zion's defeats dishonor her Captain.

to the will of God. Indeed, I could not be more abundantly assured of a readiness on the part of God to work. But on becoming better acquainted with your state, by my recent visit, I am constrained to say, in faithfulness to you, and to the promise-keeping Lord whom I serve, that my prayers in your behalf have been hindered. I am convinced that God will not work in power among you, unless conditions are met on your part. I see agencies at work among you calculated to make your faith powerless, and to neutralize your prayers for a revival.

I well know that what I would say may not be applicable to all. When Israel was driven before his enemies, it was by the sin of one man, yet was not the great body implicated in the eye of God? The Lord of hosts had promised to go out with their armies, and to subdue their enemies before them, and now his promise had seemingly failed, for Israel had been smitten. O how greatly was his holy name dishonored among his enemies by this discomfiture! If you, beloved brethren and sisters, are not empowered to proclaim victory on the Lord's side, do you not see how the name of the Captain of your salvation may be reproached? He hath said, "How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up;" and if this promise is not fulfilled, do you

Satan busy.

The Seed and the Harvest.

not see how your inactivity may be the cause of triumph on the part of Satan?

While many among you are so absorbingly interested in a diversity of ways, as to prevent a regular attendance on your class and prayer meetings, and other stated means of grace, Satan is most busy. If you deem secular business, or meetings involving mainly secular interests, or the congratulations of friends, of more importance than an engagement to meet God at his house, can we wonder that he withholds the manifestations of his favor from you? Brethren, there is no neutral ground. It looks to me as if in every church seed were being sown, which will produce a harvest. Either the high and holy One, or the enemy of God and man, will quickly put in the sickle and reap.

By some it seems to be regarded as a matter of course, that the church should have its seasons of comparative inactivity. That this deception of Satan should have obtained to the extent it has, is wonderful. As before intimated, Satan in these times of declension is most busily engaged. Now he sows his seed plentifully, and may we not conclude, that on some of these occasions when the church has been aroused to put forth its most gigantic efforts, she has scarcely more than undone the wrong perpetrated during her previous inacti