Say Your Prayers In Fair Weather.
A SHIP was overtaken by a storm. The tumult of the wind and the waves was rendered more fearful by the flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder. One of the sailors, overcome with terror, fell down upon his knees upon the deck, and prayed for mercy and deliverance. At that moment the captain shouted an order for which all hands were wanted. Seeing the man on his knees, he ran at him and shook him by the collar crying: "Say your prayers in fair weather!" The captain was, in one sense, right, and his words carry a useful lesson for all times and places. There is never a time when true prayer—the lifting up of the heart to God—is not seasonable. But there are times when prayer must not interfere with the work of hands and limbs. The duty of this sailor was instant obedience to the captain's order, and he deserved the rope's end with which he was threatened, for being on his knees on deck instead of up the rigging along with his comrades. Two Scottish ministers were once crossing a loch in the Highlands. It was a ferry, and the boat was full of passengers. A sudden storm arose, as often happens in these mountain waters. It seemed a time of peril. One of the passengers exclaimed, "Let the ministers pray, or we'll a' be drowned." "Na, na," said the head boatman; "the little ane may pray, but the big ane maun tak' an oar and pull while he prays." The boatsman's advice was sensible like that of the captain who told the sailor to say his prayers in fair weather. It was wise advice also, in recognizing the fact that prayer—the praying of the heart, which alone God regards—is possible when the hands are engaged in work and duty. Abraham's pious servant prayed while he was waiting with the camels at the well near the city of Nahor. Nehemiah "prayed to the God of Heaven," while he was standing in the presence of Artaxerxes, before he answered the king's question. "Men ought always to pray." Every work and every occupation of daily life is to be sanctified by the word of God and by prayer. On the other hand it is quite true that times of trouble and trial are especially times for prayer. It was out of the depths, and, as it were, out of the belly of hell, that Jonah cried for salvation: "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayers came in unto thee into thy holy temple." It was in the anguish of his troubled spirit that the publican smote upon his breast and prayed, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." It was when sinking in the waves that Peter cried, "Lord, save, or I perish!" Whether literally or figuratively, a storm is the time for setting men to cry on the Lord for deliverance. "He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them to the desired haven. Oh! that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" It is never too late to pray. While there is life there is hope. It was in his old age, after a long life of wickedness, and of making others to sin, that Manasseh prayed and was pardoned. It was on the cross that the penitent thief sought and found mercy. And Jesus is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him. Still the lesson is good, "Say your prayers in fair weather." It is a desperate venture to delay till a death-bed the cry for mercy. Some cases of salvation at the eleventh hour are on record, to save men from despair; but they are few, not to encourage men to presumption. It is rare that men who have not sought God in life find him at death. Sickness is seldom a time for attending to matters of importance; and no matter is to be compared in importance with the safety of the soul. The senses may be dulled and the brain oppressed; and if the mind be clear, there is rarely time for all the thoughts that press into the short interval of remaining life. Besides, the Spirit of God does not always strive with men. Very solemn are these words of warning: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me." They that know God in prosperity have not to seek him in adversity. He is near to them that call on him. The best preparation for trial is habitual prayer. The forlorn and too often hopeless cry for mercy in the stormy time of peril does not come from those who have been accustomed to "say their prayers in fair weather."—The Word, The Work, and The World.