that we have prayed over it, or mean to ask forgiveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.
In public prayer we often go beyond our means, beyond the honest standpoint of fervent and habitual desire. If we are not secretly yearning and openly striving for the accomplishment of all we ask, our prayers are “vain repetitions, such as the heathen use.” If our petitions are sincere, we shall labor for what we ask, and be blessed by “Him who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly.” Can the mere expression of our desires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear sooner by words than by thoughts? If every prayer is sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him about it. If we leave the desire honestly and silently before Him, we shall incur the less risk of exaggerating our real wishes in a torrent of words.
Prayer is sometimes used, like the Roman Catholic confessional, to cancel sin. This error impedes religion. Sin is forgiven only as it is destroyed by Christ. An apostle says that Jesus came “to destroy the works of the Devil.” We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scripture says that, if we deny Jesus, “he will also deny us.”
Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform, and the very easiest step. The next and great step required by Wisdom is the test of our sincerity, — reformation. To this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances. The temptation bids us repeat the offence, and the woe comes for what has been done; and so it will ever be, till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice, that we must pay the uttermost farthing. The measure we mete will be measured to us again and it will be “full and running over.”
