Yes, there's a power which man can wield,
When mortal aid is vain;
That eye, that arm, that love to reach,
That list'ning ear to gain.
That power is prayer, which soars on high,
Through Jesus, to the throne,
And moves the hand which moves the world
To bring deliverance down.
C. H. M.
Note.—It may perhaps be useful to notice that in the foregoing most needful pages, the beloved author has been speaking of the prayer-meeting, and the moral basis and conditions of prayer in general, not of personal, secret prayer. The importance of it can hardly be overestimated. The lack or neglect of this soon tells in the spiritual life of the Christian. Is not the lack of this the explanation of much leanness of soul, from which knowledge alone is not able to lift us up? It is, as it were, the spiritual gauge of our soul's condition. There, in the secret of the closet, the godly soul ever loves to pour out in its Father's ear its trials, its fears, its desires, its wants, its thanksgivings, in all their details. And what comfort, what joy, what godly strength and purpose, the soul carries from thence! what preparation to go through the daily toil, and testings of the day! Beloved of the Lord, let us wait on God, that we may know more of this secret power, gotten in our closet with Him.
[Ed.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The reader should be informed that the word which is rendered "perfect," in the above passage, occurs but this once in the entire New Testament. It is [Greek: artios] (artios) and signifies, ready, complete, well fitted; as an instrument with all its strings, a machine with all its parts, a body with all its limbs, joints, muscles, and sinews. The usual word for "perfect" is [Greek: teleios] (teleios) which signifies the reaching of the moral end, in any particular thing.
[2] The reader will distinguish between the expression "in the flesh" as used in Gal. ii. 20, and in Rom. viii. 8, 9. In the former, it simply refers to our condition as in the body. In the latter, it sets forth the principle or ground of our standing. The believer is in the body, as to the fact of his condition; but he is not in the flesh as to the principle of his standing.
[3] ["Thou hast magnified Thy word (or saying) according to all Thy Name," seems more exactly to give the meaning of the passage. Ed.]
[4] It is deeply interesting to note that neither the Jews' best Friend nor their worst enemy is once formally named in the book of Esther; but faith could recognize both the one and the other.