MONTHLY RECORD.

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1852.

DISCOURSES, ESSAYS, &c.

PRAYER MEETINGS.

BY THE REV. H. O. CROFTS, D.D.

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PRAYER-MEETINGS are of great antiquity. Men have been accustomed "to call on the name of the Lord" from the earliest period of time. There have been places appointed for saints to meet together, and unitedly to pray to God in, ever since the children of Israel were delivered from Egyptian bondage and had the worship of God established among them. The ancient Jewish temple was styled by Jehovah himself "a house of prayer for all people." When we come to New Testament times, we discover that separate meetings, in addition to the public worship of God in the Temple and in the synagogues, were held for the purpose of prayer. After Jesus ascended to heaven, we are told, in the first of Acts, that the apostles, in "an upper room," "all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place," undoubtedly praying. When the Holy Spirit descended upon them in all his fulness-when the three thousand were converted, "they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." In Acts xii. we are informed that when Peter was delivered from prison, and " had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying." Peter knew where to find the disciples of Christ-he knew they would be at the prayer-meeting; therefore he went thither, and, to his joy, found "many gathered together praying." But in our day, the very last place in the world where we should be likely to find many of the professed followers of Christ would be the prayer-meeting; for they are never found at a prayer-meeting from the first of January to the last of December. We cannot tell what Peter would think of such Christians were he now upon the earth; but some of the best of God's children think that those who thus neglect the prayer-meeting resemble the Church at Sardis, and as much need Christ's rebuke as that Church did : I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief in the night, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come

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upon thee." In Acts xvi. we read, "And on the Sabbath-day we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither;" and at that meeting Lydia was converted to God. The piously-inclined women at Philippi were accustomed to go out of the city by the river-side, for the purpose of holding a. prayer-meeting. Paul and his company repaired thither also; and one soul, at least, was converted to God. Prayer-meetings, then, are of great antiquity-were attended by the apostles and the first Christians-were sanctioned by the Lord; so that we have the highest authority for holding prayer-meetings in our day.

The importance of prayer-meetings is very great. Prayer-meetings, we conceive, are just as important to the Church and to the world as the preaching of the Word, or any other means of grace, not even excepting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Prayer-meetings are admirably adapted to promote growth in grace among the followers of Christ. Those who neglect the prayer-meetings wilfully and habitually are certain to be found dwarfs in piety, mere babes in Christ, and are sure to be found of little service to the Church with which they stand connected. Nay, more, they are often dead-weights which prevent the Church from rising and prospering. Those who neglect the prayermeetings lose all the spiritual blessings which are bestowed in answer to the united prayers of God's people. Those who neglect these means of grace can never feel those ardent desires for holiness which the lively, warm-hearted, believing prayers of the brethren at the prayer-meeting are calculated to produce. Persons who grow in grace rapidly, and become eminent for piety, attend the prayer-meetings, enter into the spirit of them, and thus both obtain good and do good at the same time. They are found generally" forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," pressing " toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Prayer-meetings promote love among brethren. How often, when strangers, who love the Lord Jesus Christ, meet in a prayer-meeting and mingle their prayers together, do they feel instantly such a warm affection to each other, that in a few minutes they become as great friends as if they had known each other for years! The very best way to promote love among the brethren is to bring them often together in a prayer-meeting. Praying together, if it be worthy the name of praying, will destroy every wrong feeling which they may have towards one another, and cause them to love as brethren. In many Churches offences are found: some of the members of the Church are at variance with each other; they avoid each other; and the result is, the whole Church is brought into a state of confusion or stagnation. No good is done in that Church; none can be done. Every effort to reconcile these parties is vain. We once heard of a minister who wanted a revival in his Church; but there were two of the leading members who were at sword's point with each other. He could not effect a reconciliation in the usual way; but he was determined to have a revival, and he began with a prayer-meeting, at which both of the belligerents were present. An intelligent local minister of ours, who was present, told us that the minister called upon the most implacable of the two to pray. He began; but he could scarcely proceed. He uttered a sentence or two, and then began to cough violently. For a time he had difficulty in proceeding; but the man

prayed on, and finally gained the mastery over his vindictive feelings. A reconciliation was effected that night between him and his brother Christian, and a glorious revival followed. Two brethren in our own Connexion in a distant land, with whom the writer was acquainted, had a serious difference over a bull which had broken loose and done great mischief to the other's property. This difference sadly damaged the Church. They were brought together in a prayer and fellowship meeting, which are there often united; they prayed together, a good feeling was present; one of them got up to speak his experience, and alluded to the unhappy difference between him and his brother, the grief of mind it had occasioned him, and so on: the other was melted into tenderness, he rose on his feet, strode across the chapel, grasped the other by the hand, who at once enfolded him in his arms. They wept on each other's neck a good while; and then one of them cried out, "There is no bull between us now." After that the work of God revived in that Church; and these neighbours were ever afterwards united in the bonds of love until one of them was removed to heaven. Praying with those we have any illfeeling towards will soon displace it, and cause us to be kindly affectioned one to another. The writer was once, as the chairman of a meeting, severely handled by a well-meaning brother who had allowed his feelings to get the better of his judgment, and who had said things which would have made us enemies for life had they been resented; but on that occasion, as soon as his speech was ended, and while he was almost boiling with rage, we proposed to the meeting to spend a short season in prayer, and at once called upon our angry brother to pray. He began with a tremulous voice, hardly knowing what to say; but by-and-by he began to confess his rashness and to implore forgiveness, and, by the time he had done praying, we were all melted into tenderness and love. We went on with our business as though nothing had happened; and for years since then that man has been one of our best friends. He said to a mutual friend afterwards, that he never was so overcome in all his life. Oh, what immense mischief is done in the Church of the living God when his people fall out by the way, or live in enmity one with another! We know of nothing that will so effectually prevent these evils, or remove them where they do exist, as attention to prayer-meetings. "Let brotherly love continue!" To obey this precept, we must, as members of the same Church, be often found together praying.

Prayer-meetings promote spirituality of mind. Nothing is so well calculated to destroy earthly-mindedness as a good prayer-meeting. While praying together we are brought into nearness to God, to heaven and eternity. And while a truly spiritually-minded brother is wrestling with God in an agony to obtain the power of religion in his own soul, and for others to be saved to the uttermost, we ourselves are quickened. The same feeling takes hold of us, and we are led to pray for the removal of our earthly-mindedness. Never does the world appear of such little importance as in a good prayer-meeting. If we could only get our worldly-minded professors to attend the prayer-meetings as they ought, we should soon have them singing—

Let worldly minds the world pursue→

It has no charms for me;

Once I admired its trifles too,

But grace has set me free.