112. Prayers of the New Testament
Introduction. But a part of our pleasant task is accomplished; but we trust we have gathered that “hidden fire” from the hearts of the patriarchs and prophets which sheds a halo of glory over the Old Testament, and we trust will kindle to a brighter glow the flame of devotion in the Christian heart, while it lightens the path of the wanderer to the mercy-seat and cross of Calvary. We will go softly for the ground is holy; we have come to glean in a field which the men who spake as moved by God saw only through the veil of prophecy. We have come to gather into the Christian granary a rich harvest—the Prayers of the New Testament. The wall of partition between Gentile and Jew is now broken away, and the veil that covered the most holy place is severed.
He whom Israel waited for—the theme of the loftiest, holiest strains of patriarchs and prophets—has come, treading the same earth, breathing the same air with ourselves, a perfect God and perfect man, and as we tremble at the mystery, and read of the incarnation, atonement, and sanctification by the Spirit, our hearts are melted in love, for we know we have an Intercessor pleading for us at the right hand of God.
It is our precious privilege to review the wanderings of the meek and lowly Jesus with a few of earth’s humble children as his followers; we watch him as he listens to the inward struggle with sin, the groan for mercy, the first whispered desire of the penitent, the wail of the lonely and brokenhearted, the sob of the afflicted, and the call of the terror-stricken, we hear his gentle encouragement to the weak, his mild rebuke to the proud, his caution to the self-righteous, his admonition to the worldly and covetous, his soothing words to the sad and sorrowing.
We follow him from the low manger where slept in infancy the “God omnipotent,” while on his vesture and thigh his name is written, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” We see his humble parents bearing not the crown or scepter of Judah— no, the Savior came to pour contempt on the pride of man, to bring him a beggar to the mercy-seat, that every knee might bow before him, and every tongue confess him “Lord of all.” We may go with him “When slipping from his mother’s eye, He went alone into the temple, Among the gravest rabbis disputant.”
We see him in the wilderness, and on the wave, homeless and houseless, at the mountain side, always ready, and never weary of listening to and answering the prayers of his loving children. Our Savior has ascended to heaven, but he has not left us comfortless, for from his holy home above he is calling each one of us to follow him. He knows that in our infirmity we cannot struggle alone; his almighty arm is therefore stretched out to help, and he would have us daily ask for strength to battle with our inborn sin and corruption. He struggled with the waves of life that we too might breast the current; as he found the world a vale of tears so every Christian will find it; he tells us to “Lean not on earth, ’twill pierce thee to the heart, A broken reed at best, but oft a spear, On its sharp point peace bleeds and hope expires.” Our blessed Lord has established a throne of grace, at which we may hold as immediate communion with him as did his followers when he was made flesh and dwelt among them; the star in the East is ever guiding to the new and living way, and with the same unerring light as when it first brightened the plains of Judea, and will lead each one as truly as it did the eastern magi to where the Savior lies.
While we take Christ as our great exemplar in our journey homeward and heavenward, it becomes us Christians to search the Scriptures to examine well and closely the lives and characters, and more particularly the prayers of those who were associated with our Savior on his earthly career, that we may, from their petitions and his approving answer or gentle rebuke, be guided in our own prayers at the mercy-seat. We see a company of men, mortal as we are, subject to like passions, some leading lives of faith and holiness, some proud and covetous, some following closely in the footsteps of the Savior, and others following afar off; each one of us may here find a daguerreotype of his own heart, in some one of the many who came to Jesus in prayer. In the eye of the world we may not all be self-denying and devoted as Paul, or faithful and loving as John, yet we may follow the injunction of the one to pray without ceasing, and strive for the name of the other, the “loved disciple of the Lord.” At the throne of grace the rich and the poor man may meet together; the Lord is the Maker of us all, no matter what our name or profession among men. We are called to the mercy-seat, and, through this waste howling wilderness, we need aid from above to guide us. If to any God has given earthly power, and yours is an exalted station among your fellow men, trust not in your own strength, go to your Creator for wisdom, encourage in your heart no longer the ambition that makes you forget to pray, or leads you to be satisfied with the poor crumbling crown earth can bestow. Seek at the mercy-seat that which can be found only there, a crown of immortality, which you may wear forever in heaven.
God rules among the armies of heaven; and to the soldier he is calling from the tented field and amid the din of battle, to lift up his spirit in prayer, strengthened by it he will be nerved for every conflict, for there is for him a shield of faith, a sword of the Spirit. Under the banner of the King of kings victory is sure; in the good fight he will be able to subdue his last great enemy, and enter as a conqueror a land, where garments dyed in blood are rolled away and rumors of war never reach the ears of the ransomed. In the dark house of the body our souls must struggle with our nature’s base desires, and man has many temporal as well as spiritual interests; but these interests with all their cares and anxieties should be brought before the mercy-seat, and committed to the guidance of that God who marks the sparrow’s fall.
Let the way to the mercy seat be a worn and beaten track, and whether your work be little or great, you will do it with your might, for beyond your toil and care you will see a home of rest in heaven. If to any have been given the light of genius or the pen of ready writers, forget not the mercy-seat, depend not on your own strength to guide you in the use of such great and good gifts; consecrate them to your God. He who placed within you the light of mind, would have you go where its flame may burn purely, fanned by the Holy Spirit, that its beams may soften, and warm the hardened heart, and lead some convicted sinner to kneel with you before the Lord. Beware lest it be said of you in the sarcasm of the prophet, “Ye were wise to do evil.” Your works will live long after you are at rest in the shadowy valley, and if written without prayer they may draw from the worldly a voice of praise, but from God a withering curse. In this volume of prayers mothers will see that parents brought their little ones to Jesus. Oh, bring yours to him, he is ever ready to welcome you, and those he has given you. Angels are at the mercy-seat to bear your prayers upward. Teach your children to hold communion with their heavenly Father, whose kind care will be over them when earthly parents are sleeping in death, and early instill the lesson, that there is naught in all this hollow world to lighten sorrow but prayer.
We are able to point out to the poor man as he struggles with the ills of life a rich treasure; we have “a golden key to the wicket of mercy;” if you use it yours may be gifts that cannot be bought, for the price of them is far above rubies; he who died that you might win this treasure was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, poor and rejected with no resting place; weep not then over thy poverty, for Christ himself was poor. “Heaven wept that man might smile.”
“Therefore pray, 0 creature, for many and great are thy wants;
Thy mind, thy conscience, and thy being—
Thy rights, commend thee unto prayer, The care of all cares, the grand pauacea for all woes;
Doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties.”
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2.
“Thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.”—John 15:1