It Is only a Prayer-meeting.
VERY true. There will be no sermon from a favorite minister; no instrumental music. The house will not be crowded, and the few that will be there will not be dressed in their best attire. The prayers that will be offered are not likely to be clothed in accurate and eloquent language, and it is quite probable that many of the hymns sung will be pitched a note too high or too low. It is only a prayer-meeting, a meeting like those held in the days of Malachi, whose proceedings were noted down by the Lord in the book of remembrance kept before him; like that one held by the disciples in the upper room which preceded the great pentecostal revival; like those noticed in the book of the Acts, when the assembled disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, and prison doors were opened and captives released in answer to their prayers. It is only a prayer-meeting—only an appointment which the risen and exalted Saviour has made with his disciples; only a time when God “hearkens,” listens attentively, that he may hear the holy converse of his people, and when the baptism of the Holy Ghost descends upon waiting souls. It is only a prayer-meeting—only a place where the sorrowing find comfort, and the troubled obtain peace; where the weak are strengthened, and the weary rested; where Christian sympathy is kept alive, and Christian work receives a fresh impulse. It is only the place where the church is put in communication with the throne of grace, and draws down spiritual life for itself, and revival blessings for the region around. It is only the nurse, the manifestation and the measure of a church's life, the mightiest agency for good that God has intrusted to his people. It is only a prayer-meeting. My brother, do n't say that again.—Sel.