PRAYER IS POWER WITH GOD.
Is man helped by prayer, solely by the effect of it as an exercise of his thought and feeling?—The Bible does not read so—nor the best experience teach so—nor a judicious philosophy intimate so. Nay, prayer loses its power as an intellectual and moral exercise, if pursued merely as such, and the devotees of a cold rationalism soon weary of the spiritual gymnastics that aim only to stir their own faculties. The Gospel teaches the pow190er of prayer to win good from God, and the experience of all ages and lives illustrates the truth of the doctrine. But look to the very nature of things—the nature of the soul and the attributes of God. Are not all the best gifts of Heaven contingent upon some act of man? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; but must not man sow, and reap, and garner, in order to enjoy the harvest? Nay, the simplest and most essential gifts, light, water, air, man truly enjoys when he truly uses. Shall any earth born philosopher presume to say, in the face of revelation and experience, that in the mysterious region in which God moves, this law of conditionality so entirely ceases that no thought nor effort of the soul can win any peculiar blessing from the Father of our spirits? Absurd idea! Far better the philosophy of the Bible, which says, "Draw nigh unto God, and God will draw nigh unto you."—Osgood's 'Mile stones.'