p. 7 | Eloquent Prayers by C. H. Bliss

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 16, 1873

Eloquent Prayers.

By C. H. Bliss

THIS might be called an age of eloquence. We have eloquent sermons, eloquent orations, and eloquent prayers. How often we hear it said, “Why! he prays like a saint;” and the impression is often left on the mind of the casual observer that a man who can pray so eloquently must be very pious indeed; but to the more careful observer, quite a different impression is often left, he having noticed, perhaps, that the most eloquent in prayer are, quite often, the most deficient in practical godliness. But what kind of a prayer is God well pleased with? Certainly not such a one as we often hear now-a-days from the pulpit. The Saviour here gives us a model. See Matt. 6:9-13; also Luke 18:13, where the poor publican did not so much as look up, but said, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”

There are four things necessary, yea, five, if we would receive answers to our prayers. 1. Confession. 1 John 1:9. 2. Simplicity. Matt. 6:7; 8:1-4. 3. Submission. See our Lord’s prayer in the garden. Matt. 26. “Thy will be done.” 4. Faith—Promise. Mark 2:22-24; Jas. 1:6, 7. 5. Obedience. See Prov. 28:9. C. H. BLISS.