The Humble Prayer-Meeting.
By M. E. Piper
BLESSED retreat! How our soul loves the spot where prayer is wont to be made. It is not the gay, the proud, the pleasure-seeker, the scoffer, that loves to resort there; the multitude do not usually flock to the place. It is not where folly, and vanity, and covetousness, and worldly-mindedness, find a fit place to gather. To such, this place has no attractions; and yet we will not pass them by, we will try to win and woo them to the feet of Jesus. He is our precious Saviour. His tender, pitying eye sees our distress on their account. He treasures the tears that are shed for sinners. He will meet us in the prayer circle, and bless us in measure as we have labored for him. Oh! praise the Lord, that we ever learned to love the prayer-meeting. No sermons or exhortations, however good, can supply its place, or make it of no importance to be sustained. Secret prayer is necessary to the growth of the soul, and no public duties can be well performed without it. But blessed are they that gather together in the name of the Lord, for there will he be in the midst of them. M. E. PIPER.