moniac maliciousness. No sooner does Love show its shining countenance than hatred belches forth its lurid flames. Without this fearful outbreak of unholiness, holiness can not exist in this sinful world.

This brings us back to the Holy Spirit. The character and power of any form of love are determined by the holy or unholy nature of the spirit which dwells in it. Of course, earthly love can not realize its highest power unless the Holy Spirit dwell in it and kindle its holy spark in the human heart. And since He animates all created life, He animates also the life of love; and then it begins to live, receives a soul, is truly animated, and the promise of the Father is fulfilled in the Church and in our hearts, and love is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost.

So the full and penetrating operation of love came only on Pentecost. Then the walls that separated Israel were broken down, and the river of its life disclosed its bed broad and deep for every people and nation. There were tongues as of fire, and there was a speaking with the tongues of all nations. They had all things in common. They were embraced in the union of one purpose. melody of the psalm of praise pervaded every circle which called upon the name of the Lord.

The

But, alas! with the light of love came also the fearful shadow of hatred, which works obstinacy, ends in hardening, and adds unto itself the death by the sin against the Holy Ghost.

And this is a fearful thing. Yet if you could prevail upon the Father of Lights to quench the pure light of love, would you say: "Lord, quench it"? Would you dare pray that the shedding abroad of that love should cease from the earth?

And thus, amid the differences, wranglings, and discords, amid the tumult of hatred and the din of profanity and blasphemy, the work of redemption goes on, and the operation of the Holy Spirit continues to fulfil the counsel of God. Thus the King reigns royally; souls are converted; the rebellious are comforted; acts of self-denial and noble consecration are multiplied; pity shines and mercy scintillates; and, hid from the eyes of men, perfect love cherishes the soul that was chilled by its own guilt, and imparts to the earth something of the sweetness and blessedness of its own holy being.

And all this will continue until the Church militant has finished its last fight. Then shall the end come, the token of the Son of Man shall be seen in the clouds, and then only the consummation of glory shall appear, wherein every work of the profane spirit shall be destroyed and the work of the Holy Spirit shall be completed-completed in the manifestation of glory, in the wiping away of many tears, in the removing of every hindrance, in the beholding of what eyes have never seen and the hearing of what ears have never heard, in the ecstasy of what never has entered the human heart; but, more than all this, in the perfect revelation of love in its holiest and purest manifestation, in the undisturbed communion with the Lord our God.

Third Chapter.

PRAYER.

XXXIX.

The Essence of Prayer.

"Praying always with all prayer and

supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."-Ephes. vi. 18.

IN the last place we consider the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer.

It appears from Scripture, more than has been emphasized, that in the holy act of prayer there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit working both in us and with us. And yet this appears clearly from the apostolic word: "Likewise the Spirit helpeth also our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. And He that knoweth the heart, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. viii. 26, 27). Christ expresses this with equal clearness when He teaches the woman of Samaria that "God is a Spirit, and the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth"; for, so He adds, “the Father seeketh such to worship Him." In almost similar sense St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

They already possessed the ancient promise to Zacharias: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication" (Zach. xii. 10). And this promise was fulfilled when the apostle could testify concerning Christ: "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephes. ii. 18). In the "Abba, Father" of our prayers the Holy Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God (Rom. viii. 15). And in her longing for the coming of the Bridegroom, not only the Bride, but the Spirit and the Bride pray: "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Upon closer examination, it appears that prayer can not be separated from the spiritual rule that we must pray: "Not as tho we had received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God"; a prayer which we then offer, Not with the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Cor. ii. 12, 13).

Hence there can be no doubt that even in our prayers we must acknowledge and honor a work of the Holy Spirit; and the special treatment of this tender subject may bear fruit in the exercise of our own prayers. We do not propose, however, to treat here the entire subject of prayer, which belongs to the explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism on this point; but we wish simply to emphasize the significance of the Holy Spirit's work for the prayers of the saint.

In the first place, we must discover the silver thread that, in the nature of the case, connects the essence of our prayer with the work of the Holy Spirit.

For all prayer is not equal. There is a great difference between the high-priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus and the prayer of the Holy Spirit with groans that can not be uttered. The supplications of the saints on earth differ from those of the saints in heaven, those who rejoice before the throne and those who cry from under the altar. Even the prayers of the saints of earth are not the same in the various spiritual conditions from which they pray. There are prayers of the Bride, that is, from all the saints on earth as a whole; and prayers of the local assemblies of believers, supplications from the circles of brethren when two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus; and supplications of individual believers poured out in the solitude of the closet. And distinguished in the root from these prayers of the saints are the prayers of the still unconverted, whether

regenerate or not, who cry unto God whom they do not know and whom they oppose.

The question is whether the Holy Spirit is active, either in one or in all these prayers. Does He affect our prayers only when, in the rare moments of exalted spiritual life, we have intimate communion with God? Or does He affect only the prayers of the saint, excluding those of the unconverted? Or does He affect all prayer and supplication, whether from saint or sinner?

Before we answer this question, it is necessary accurately to define prayer. For prayer may be taken in a limited sense, as a religious act requesting something of God, in which case it is merely the expression of a desire springing from a conscious want, void, or need which we ask God to supply; an application to the divine power and providence, in poverty to be enriched, in danger to be protected, in temptation to be kept standing. Or it may be taken in a wider sense and include thanksgiving. In the Reformed Church the Service of Prayer always includes the Service of Thanksgiving. In this sense the Heidelberg Catechism treats it, calling prayer the chief part of thankfulness (q. 116). In fact, we can scarcely conceive of prayer, in the higher sense, ascending to the Throne of Grace without thanksgiving.

When, in

Moreover, prayer also includes praise and every outpouring of the soul. Prayer without praise and thanksgiving is no prayer. In the supplication of saints, prayer and adoration go together. Oppressed with the multitude of thoughts, the soul may have no definite supplication, or thanksgiving, or hymn of praise, yet frequently feels constrained to pour out those thoughts before the Lord. Psalm xc., Moses pours out his prayer, there is: (1) a supplication, "Lord, how long! and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants"; (2) thanksgiving, "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations"; (3) praise, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." And besides these there is (4) an outpouring of the thoughts that fill his soul, "We are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled"; and stronger still, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away."

And so we find in the high-priestly prayer of Christ: (1) a sup