present. But make them co-existing- an impossibility-yet true, and therefore a paradox. I am not speaking of being "bound," in any sense of bondage, to our old master; Satan, or sin, or self, or any lord beside which may "have had dominion over us," but only in the sense of being bound to God. And I think I have said before this, that our bondage or bond-service to the Lord rests not only on His act of Redemption, though it does rest there, but also on that of His Emancipation of slaves. I mean, when He bought us out from under our old tyrantmaster, He set us free; He did not buy us out to enslave us, but to make us a people of perfect freedom; yet at the same time, He bought us out at a cost to Himself so tremendous of blood and treasure, that it is enough-were our hearts but sensible-to draw with "bands of love" every soul of man so redeemed into His service, and keep it there for ever. The Lord Jesus Christ will only have willing service, and therefore will only possess free-slaves, slaves by their own choice; The Year of Liberty comes first that we may be able to say, "I love my Master... I will not go out free." He set us free that we might choose to be bound. Free, and therefore bound, if we will let it be so; bound, and therefore free, for it is bound to the will of Him, who wills our fullest liberty, and the more completely bound, the more utterly free.

The instances in the Divine records of binding for are but pictures of this binding to. Bound, it may be, for the cause of God, is as a type of the binding to the will of God. Joseph's bonds led to his greater freedom. Again, it is illustrated for us in the story of the Children in Babylon-" three men bound," yet "loose" in the midst of the fire. The Psalmist says: "I am Thy bond-slave," yet in the same breath he adds, "Thou hast loosed my bonds." Surely it is a deep, on the confines of which we are but entering; but the Spirit, "who searcheth all things, even the deep things of God," will reveal | even this unto us, that we may "know the things which are freely given us of God."

God is the Lord which hath showed us light. "Bind the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the altar." And every ray of light which reveals to us more of the Father's will may be a fresh cord to bind us more closely.

"Bind the sacrifice." Bound to the will of God means sacrifice, yet not sacrifice in the sense many people think. If we once yield to being bound and

laid helpless upon the altar, we shall never have our own way any more at all; and how could we bear it?-never anything that we like again. God never said so; it is the enemy's lie to keep us out of the fullest blessing. The Father never planned thus to crush the heart of His yielding child,—never— though he who is a liar from the beginning may have told you so. But He does demand this, the sacrifice of our will to His. He pleads that we will trust His love enough to let Him will for us. We may give up all else, but while we withhold this, the citadel of our being, we have not the liberty of slaves to the will of Jehovah. He does ask this-and surely He has a right to ask it--that we would have confidence enough in Him to risk our happiness in His Hands pierced for us. It is not a question of losing this, or gaining the other, but of giving up our will about the things; then, dear Christian, when the citadel is surrendered, it is as if the King could afford to give us back everything worth the giving, as if our submission had set Him free to bestow riches, honour, and glory; and from His royal Hand the yielded things return unto us, blessed as they never were before. They come as gifts straight from the Giver, and there are no " searchings of heart" to mar their joy. It is true we get most of our own way when that way is given up to God. And we receive most of our own will when it is a sacrifice bound to the will and blended into the mighty purposes of the Lord. But how often our eyes are closed to this, and we do not "see" what we are losing by this want of confidence in our Father's heart! He would have us trust Him enough to risk all-and then we find nothing has been risked at all. When the "bound" Isaac is laid upon the altar, and the knife raised,—an angel voice intercepts the stroke: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, . . . for now I know——.” He will prove our faith to the end, but none "that trust in Him shall be desolate," the desire of none that "account Him able" shall perish. We are not straitened in Him, but we are straitened in our own selves.

We read the other day: "True, full, and implicit confidence in the goodness and perfection of God's will, in its desirable and acceptable character, at once checks your imaginations, dreams, plans, and wishes. Shrinking farther on from forming any desire about the course that your daily life and service should take, you just stand before God to hear

Him speak, and to hear His decisions. You are anxious not to interfere in any detail, conscious and sure that only His will brings life and happiness. In that way, far from being a machine, you become the freest leing in the Universe, living, growing up, in the free, open air of Heaven."

In such a life there is no thought as to how, no desire as to when, no place as to where, beyond the will of the Lord. No chain of your own will upon you, you are free as air to do His; to be at His call, and under His command for evermore. His will is your will, and "as He always has His way, you always have your way too, and reign with Him in a perpetual kingdom." In the glory of such freedom He means us to live, to serve, to rejoice. "The Word of God is not bound," and the Word is just the expressed Will of God. I remember getting just a glimpse of it long ago: of the perfect peace it might be if our will were one with His will; but that such a dream were possible never entered my thoughts. Yet such, and such only, is the life, which the Lord hath purposed for His own. Perhaps it dawns upon us more and more, I think it does. Even after our will is surrendered, our wishes for one thing or another, are still uncontrolled, there is no question any longer about our taking what we wish, we are submissive in the matter, but if we had a choice, we would like this or that; and I used to think, we should lose our identity, were our wishes bound. Yet far off came a kind of glimmer, of a deeper blessing to be had in union, even of so small a thing as a wish, with the Master. The wishes were not "kept," and I could not keep them. There was unrest there, and yet a far off sense of the rest it would be, if they were kept. But I did not see how, till one day, someone said this, or to this effect, "Sometimes there are three stages of surrender, first the will, then the wishes, and lastly the thoughts; and of each, there was to be a definite giving over to the Lord." I got my answer, just the old, old story, definitely to give up to Him, and then stand still, and let Him do what one had been helplessly not doing oneself, and, of course, He did it. I do not think it loses us our identity. Just as before one would not will, so now one would not wish without Him. It has brought us a little closer, that's all, and in Him we find our true selves again. In proportion as we lose our life, in anything we find it. How often when a window or anything

jars, we say it does not fit close enough! It is also true in our spiritual life, when our will is bound to the will of God, there is no longer any jar. I am only on the edge of this yet, and "thoughts" are still to come.

Bound to the will of Another. Docs it not also give freedom in a very practical way? I mean as to doing things, or leaving them undone. In the matter of accepting invitations, or in the hundred and one doubtful things about which, the question is continually raised, "Is it any harm?" How it would settle everything, were we to have the faith and courage to take our true place, and boldly say, I belong to Another, I serve the Lord Christ, and He does not allow it. From how many difficulties and entanglements we should escape, were we to let ourselves be bound to the will of our Lord. We should be free to serve, yet to be glad, with a joyousness of freedom of which we know nothing while we are enchained in any sense by fear, or self, or the world, or the devil. And to Christian workers, these blessed "bonds" would bring a liberty of service, not otherwise to be attained in this age of rush and hurry. When the press is great, and we would not dare say, "I cannot come," yet we can pass on the Master's message, if it has reached to us, "I have not sent thee there." He will see to it that there is no loss, either in the harvest field, or among the labourers, through obedience to Him; and there will be less fruitless service, for He will never send His servants where they have nothing to do, though the seed sown may only be reaped "after many days." And, it may be, less often would He have to lay His most faithful ones aside, were they bound to His will now, as of yore, calling them sometimes, apart" to rest awhile," and take counsel in communing with Himself.

66

St. Paul says, "I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die. . . for the name of the Lord Jesus," and we know he was put to the test a few days after, when they "went about to kill him." Have we got as far as even to be ready to be bound? If we are we may be sure we shall be bound in very literal ways, and in the binding we shall find freedom. But are we ready? Let us take heed not to do it lightly. For, if a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth" "When thou

.

vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it. Better that thou shouldest not vow, than vow and not pay." In this sense also it may be, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," and we may not say, "It is nothing."

And let us never be "ashamed" of this chain enlinking every moment of our life with the life of the Eternal, binding our will with the will of God,

for in the end it shall be manifest that He is not ashamed to own our souls as "bound in the bundle of life" with Himself. Let our "bonds" to the Lord be seen in all the region where we are; and "in all other places," as were Paul's, "for Christ; that now, as then, the brethren," waxing confident" thereby, may be "much more bold to speak the word without fear." It is worth while, for the life of liberty that now is, and the life of glory which is

to come.

As an outcome of this binding to the will of Jehovah, we hear of one being "bound in the Spirit." We know little the full signification of the words,-So constrained by the mighty power, or pressure, of God, he was "pressed," we read in another place,—that other than His will becomes an impossibility. If this be their import, it is a goal still before us, yet to be attained.

Also there is a binding to praise, "bound to thank God," which is another outcome, seen among all those who have yielded themselves to this blessed yoke of the Master; and every day it waxes greater, and more and more, as they are drawn closer to Him they serve.

The

If, as this new year dawns, we are beholding glimpses of what this life of bond-service of freedom is, let us go away to live, what we see. The paradox is understood as the Life is lived. less we are, the more space we have, in a given space; when a Giant-self intrudes into the heart-Habitation of God there is little room for liberty, or movement of thought or action; but when self becomes dwarfed,—nothing, then there is room to be at large; the less our will occupies the place of the will of God, the more perfect is the liberty wherewith He can make us free. Though it is a narrow way, yet somehow all who have entered it, and who walk therein, are constrained to say, "He hath brought me forth into a large place!" And when thus,

"... the soul by grace subdued
Sobs its prayer of gratitude.
Then there is joy in Heaven."

B. G. L. H.

THE CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING
PRAYER.

indwelling of the Holy Ghost. In the old times POWER in prayer is one of the results of the there were men, "subject to like passions as we are," who had power with God, to move His will, to stay His hand, to recall the words that had gone without natural weaknesses of character, he was by forth from His throne. Abraham was a man not no means perfect; yet the time came when, being full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, the privilege was his to stand between the Most High and his fellow-men, to hold back the hand of judgment, and to plead with God to such an extent that had there been ten righteous within the Cities of the Plain, vengeance would not have overtaken them. Moses was a man compassed about with infirmity like unto his brethren, but there was a crisis in his life when he became filled with the Spirit of God. After that, Moses might ask what he pleased, even ask for the suspension of Nature's laws, that and it was granted; as the servant of God he might judgment might be poured out upon the heathen. The LORD dared to trust this man, because He knew that he would ask for those things only that were in accordance with His own will. Moses was trustworthy, because he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Elijah was another such trustworthy man. prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months; and he prayed again, and the fruit." Now contrast such men with a man like heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her Jonah. This prophet was no doubt inspired by the Spirit of God to make known His will; but he was not "filled with the Spirit." As a machine, God might use him; as a mere bond-servant, the Lord might send him on His errands, but trust him he could not. Filled with self, a slave to self-will, he was utterly untrustworthy; his whole life was a constant grieving of the Spirit of the Lord, how was it possible that he could have any power either with God or with man!

"He

I have named some remarkable cases of men whose prayers prevailed with the Most High, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that power in prayer in the days of old was confined to such notable servants of the Lord. In Israel's best and purest times, in the reign of David, if we may take the Psalms as any indication of the spiritual life of the people, there must have been many of the saints of that old dispensation who were endued with this power. And even in Israel's darkest days there were ever a few trustworthy men in whom the Spirit of God was dwelling, who knew how to plead with Him-men of the Daniel stamp, men, like Ezekiel, who mourned deeply over the sin of the people, and who gave God no rest as they cried, "Return, we beseech Thee, O God of Hosts: look down from

66

But, without doubt, the gift of the Holy Ghost in Gospel days was intended to be far more widespread than in the days of the former dispensation. The promise is unto you and your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call ;" and to-day it is the fact that in every nation there are men and women and children who have received the Spirit of God. By that Spirit they have been quickened from death unto life, and more or less they are living in the Spirit, and the Spirit is dwelling in them. I say more or less, because it is to be feared that in the case of many it is less rather than more; that the Spirit of God is limited in His grace, and hindered in His mighty working. Take this test of power in prayer. Now, as of old, power in prayer depends on the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost-an indwelling so complete that the Spirit of the Lord has full control over the heart, and all its emotions, over the life, and all its plans, and all its issues.

The question is often asked, and with good reason, How is it that there are so few answers to prayer? If I were an infidel, instead of ridiculing the theory of prayer, and proclaiming the absurdity of supposing that God, the Eternal God, can be influenced by the prayers and entreaties of ignorant and short-sighted mortals, I would challenge the Christian Church to prove the reality of this theory, and to bring forth the evidence of the efficacy of her prayers. I would point to the millions of prayers that go up, or that are supposed to go up to Heaven, day by day; I would point to the promises to His praying people which God is said to have made in the Bible; and I would ask for the answers. My argument, if I were an infidel, would be this: You Christians declare that God is the hearer of prayer, that He is no respecter of persons, and that whosoever in sincerity and in truth shall call upon Him shall be heard. Your Great Teacher left it on record, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name that will I do." "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it." Very well; now there is not a single moment in the twenty-four hours but thousands of prayers wing their flight to Heaven. On Sundays you meet in your assemblies; you make your common supplications unto God; you ask for all kinds of things, temporal and spiritual; you pray for the salvation of sinners, and for the conversion of the world; you plead that God will put down war, and intemperance, and idolatry, and vice; your prayers include sometimes the recovery of the sick, and the restoration of the dying. All this kind of thing has been going on for the last eighteen hundred years, and with what result? Where are the answers to these countless prayers? Idolatry, intemperance, vice, still hold the world in bondage. War still desolates the nations. The world is as far from what you call conversion as

the ground I should take. To such damaging statements there is an answer; but it is one which covers us- -the people of the Lord with shame. God is the hearer of prayer; His ear is not deaf that He cannot hear. Jesus, who promised that whatsoever we ask in His name should be granted, is the Intercessor at the right hand of God. It is true that millions of prayers are day by day ascend ing to Heaven; but-and here is the reason of much of the failure-the conditions on which alone prayer can prevail, have not, in the great majority of cases, been fulfilled. What are these conditions?

I. Abiding union with Jesus. "If ye abide in ME, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John xv. 7). II. Habitual and unhesitating obedience to the commands of His Word and to the promptings of His Spirit. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John iii. 21, 22).

These are the two most important conditions of prevailing prayer. They apply, of course, to the child of God, not to the unconverted sinner. All that is required of the penitent is sincerity. The Great Physician stands not on ceremony. It is enough that a poor, helpless, dying soul, is lying at His door. A cry, a sigh, a tear, will bring the infinite Lover of souls to his aid. But it is altogether different when the children of God draw nigh, asking not for pardon, but praying for blessings on themselves, and interceding on behalf of others. In them the conditions of prevailing prayer must be fulfilled.

There must be, first, the abiding in Christ. Apart from his Lord the believer has no standing whatsoever. At our conversion, we were "accepted in the Beloved." It was because we were one with His beloved Son that the Father received and adopted us. All the promises of God are ours in Him, and not apart from Him. Just as many an earthly father, in making his will, leaves certain legacies to be paid to his children on condition that they remain true and faithful to their mother so long as she lives, so the promises of God to us depend for their fulfilment upon our faithful abiding in Christ. Now, is not one reason why so large a number of prayers seem to be unanswered thisthat those who offer them have lost their first love, and are no longer abiding in their Lord? They are not altogether backsliders, but their life is not a life in Christ; much of it, at any rate, is lived out of fellowship with Him, and independently of His will. Their plans are made, their business is carried on, their pleasures are enjoyed, their friendships are formed, and the daily duties of life are undertaken, apart from any counsel with their Lord. Jesus, so far from being " All in All," "Alpha and Omega,'

ye

Re

is often nowhere. Such lives are not, perhaps, positively sinful, but they are negatively so. moved to a distance from the living Christ, dwelling outside the circle in which His Spirit moves-the circle of holy communion-the heart of such a disciple is incapacitated for prayer. What he calls prayer is a far-off cry; it is not, it cannot be, the close communion of one who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High. Such cries are not, indeed, entirely unheard, but they have no prevailing power. A partial answer, an occasional answer there may be, but no fulfilment of the promise, 66 Whatsoever shall ask the Father in my name, I will do it." Far too untrustworthy are such disciples to be trusted with that "whatsoever," for they are not filled with the Holy Ghost; their prayers are their own, not His; the cries of their own heart, not the inward intercession of His voice. The second condition of prevailing prayer is, habitual and unhesitating obedience to the will of God, however that will may be made known to us -by the direct command of the Word, or by the promptings of the Spirit. Long ago, King David said: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." How is it possible that the child of God can with confidence appeal to His Father when he is living in the daily practice, or permission in his heart or life, of that which his own conscience condemns?

1. TEXT: "Jesus!" (Matthew i. 21). First word for the New Year: first Name on our lips: first theme of our thoughts: first joy in our hearts-JESUS! Our Saviour, our Friend, our Guide, our Counsellor, our Sympathiser, our Companion, our Deliverer, our Protector, our Advocate, our Pattern, our Teacher, our Prince, our Priest, our King: God's own Incarnate Son, our All in all!

"Jesus!" Oh! how the very mention of this sweet Name thrills us, as we hear it spoken, or breathe it ourselves! It awakens our sympathies; it goes straight to our hearts; it heaven; and yet makes us intensely glad. It comes to us as the music of "No music like that sacred Name,

Nor half so sweet can be."

God can pray aright, he must be right with his Father. Faith without obedience is dead; it has no power to take hold of God. Sin, however secret, however small and unobservable, paralyses its hand, even as there are poisons, one drop of which is sufficient to paralyse the nerves of the body. So long as we consent to any known unrighteousness, condemned by our own hearts, we can have no confidence towards God, and God can show no favour to us. It may be some sin of the heart, unknown to our nearest friend, or the besetting weakness of our nature, that is allowed again and again to betray us; some little bit of dishonesty, or untruthfulness, or worldliness; some ill-will, or self-will; some duty to man neglected, some service to God refused-it matters not what, the merest trifle; for, as a speck of dust will blind the eye, so will a speck of sin render the soul incapable of seeing God.

These, I apprehend, are at least some of the reasons why so many of the Lord's people are devoid of power in prayer, and are incapable of pleading with Him so as to prevail. Importunity, earnestness, frequency, constancy, go for nothing if these conditions of acceptable prayer are wanting. For these are the result of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and it is the "praying in the Holy Ghost" that alone can prevail with God.ROBERT DAWSON,

London City Mission.

may say,

Alleluia!

'... nightly pitch my moving tent

A day's march nearer home.' "JESUS!-Saviour from wrath, condemnation, fears of the future, and all other consequences of personal sin-I adore Thee, O Thou Son of God-my precious, gracious, all-glorious Thee! I am at Thy feet! I magnify Thy Name! I praise Redeemer !"

"He shall save His people from their sins !" This is a further feature of the great deliverance. Their "sins"; the term tendency-mental, spiritual, bodily sins-sins of all descripis universal-it includes all-sins of habit, infirmity, individual tions. This is grand! God's children may sometimes, perhaps, imagine they are under a necessity of sinning-that they must sin so long as they are in the body; the old Adam, not being utterly and actually dead, impels, yea compels them in all the word of God, can a shadow of foundation be seen to sin, at all events occasionally. Is it not dreadful? Where, for these sad, Christ-dishonouring theories? Surely there is not any! On the other hand, God gave this sweet Name to His beloved Son, because He intended and purposed that He should " save His people from their sins," -save "to the word! Does this require great boldness and courage? Then uttermost." Let us accept His will and take Him at His may He enable us to be bold and courageous, and to desire, ask for, and expect that the "uttermost" be fulfilled to us. Is it not false humility to seek a less full blessing? Why not rise to the level of His own most grand and glorious word, and believe Him to be willing and ready to honour it fully?

"JESUS!" What temptation can prevail when instantly met with this great Name-the heart confidently resting on Him for immediate deliverance? Surely "all the fiery darts of the wicked" may thus be "quenched." And so, "sin shall not have dominion," no not to any extent at all. The onward course shall be uniformly victorious, the triumph