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great nation for a long while. He was a wiser ruler and had more influence than any other man living on earth, and yet he was a man of prayer, and was not afraid to pray publicly. We are told that when he was taken down to Babylon the great king had a dream, and no man in his realm could interpret it. The king thought of his captive Daniel, and brought him and asked him what it meant. The young man, if he had not believed in God's power, might have turned away. But he didn't. He boldly told Nebuchadnezzar what God had written there.

But not only was Daniel a praying man, but he had faith that God would answer his prayers. Some people pray enough, but do not have faith that the Lord will hear them. They are lukewarm. There are a good many people of this sort here to-day. Daniel spoke to God with every confidence of being answered. Look at him when he went down into the den of lions, how he prayed. Prayer was with everything he did. I think we would have a good deal better government in this country if our rulers prayed more. There would be a good many sneers at first, but the result would be a good government and a wise one.

This man believed in prophecies, too, and I can fancy how the old man's eyes opened on turning away back to Jeremiah's writing, seventy years before, and reading: "I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine," and then looking around him and seeing how all the words pronounced had been fulfilled. They disobeyed the Lord. When they were in Palestine, He said to His people that they must rest on the Sabbath day, but for 490 years they disobeyed God's command, and the Lord said, "If they won't do what I want them, I will make them." So he sent Nebuchadnezzar out after them, and he captured them, and held them for 70 years. If they would not give the Lord this, He said He would take it, and so if we do not give up what God wants us to, He will not forgive us our sins, but keep us in bondage, and we will never hang our harps upon the willow or sing the songs of Zion.

I will just read: "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.

"And now, O Lord our God, Thou hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten Thee renown as at this day, we have sinned; we have done wickedly.

"O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee let Thy anger and Thy fury be turned away from the city of

Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain, because for our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

"Now, therefore, O, our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake."

He had not Christ to pray to like us. Daniel asks: "for the Lord's sake." He lived on the other side of Christ and could not, like us, say "for Christ's sake." Oh what a power we have in prayer in Jesus. And he goes on:

"Oh Lord incline Thine ear and hear; open Thine eyes and behold our desolation and the city which is called by Thy name, for we do not present our supplication before Thee for our righteousness, but for Thy great mercies.

"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.

"And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my

sin

Mark that "And confessing my sin "—

"And the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God.

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Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

"And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding."

Before he got off his knees Daniel's message was answered. I don't know how far heaven is off, but the angel Gabriel, the messenger of God, came to him while he was praying. Think of that. Here was a man who could not look at God for the sins of his people, who only prayed earnestly, and before he was through his prayer was answered, and Gabriel appeared. We know of only three visits that Gabriel ever made. This one, when he came to bring God's people to the Promised Land. Daniel was told that God was able to do everything, and the messenger not only told him that the children of Israel were going to the Promised Land, but he let Daniel into the secret of the Messiah's coming. The second time he came to Zecharias. At first Zecharias doubted him, but he said: "I am he who sits in the presence of God." And then he came to the young maiden who bore the Christ, and that was the third visit.

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There are a great many young Christians in Chicago who have got into the way of the world, who are falling into the way of thinking and believing that God has given over answering prayer. God answers prayer to-day, as readily as he did of old. Infidels and scoffers and scientists may tell us that the world must move along in a certain way, and a Divine answer to a prayer is absurd-the affairs of the world are and always have gone along in a regular way. There were infidels and scoffers, doubtless, in Babylon, who very likely laughed at this answer to the prayer of Daniel.

But we have in this book a long list of promises to answer prayer, and let us unite in asking God's blessing on our meetings in Farwell Hall, and that the harvest of converts will be abundant. Ask it sincerely and earnestly, and you will see how quick the Lord will come and revive His work in this city.

Heart-Searching.-I want to speak to you about the two verses-twenty-third and twenty-fourth-of the 109th Psalm. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." "Search me "-not my neighbor, nor my brother, nor my sister, but "search me." You who have been here during the week will have seen that I have been trying to instill into all the system of heart-searching; that every one will go down to the bottom of his own heart. Try to get all to say: "O, Lord, know my heart." If God searches us through He will make quick work in Chicago. The great trouble is that people search themselves and do not ask God's aid. We want to ask God to come to us with His searching power, that our hearts may be bared. What is it that keeps away from us this searching of our hearts? It is not the world, it is not the devil, for he has not the power. The only thing that keeps it from us is our own will, and the only thing that keeps the blessing of God back from Chicago is the people. A great many of us wonder how it is that our prayers have done no good-how it is that they have gone no higher than our heads. The truth would be discovered if we examined, that we are not living in communion with God. Some of us think we are in communion with God, but it is a false thought. A false hope is worse than no hope at all, because in it a man is at rest and happy, and they cannot do any work. If we get that heartsearching truly we will know just where we stand. We must not look at what people think of us, but what we look like in God's sight. Therefore we must beware that we have only a false hope, and ask God to give us the true searching power.

If we

falsely believe that we have it, may God take it from us to-day, so that the work may be deep in Chicago. I have been praying all along that the work might be deeper here than anywhere else, but unless we get this searching power we don't do much good.

I was out on my brother's farm a short time ago, and he was plowing. He could not go very deep, owing to the roots in the ground. So it is in Chicago-the roots have got to be taken out before our work can go on. Let the prayer of David, 66 Teach me, O Lord, and know my heart," sink deep into us. Let us pray that this hour may be a heart-searching time, and if our hope is a false one, let us be willing to give it up. I have heard of a lady who would not attend our meetings when everything was pleasant. If I was ill with an incurable disease, and called a doctor in, and he was to say: "Well, you are all right, you will soon be around again," although he knew I should die in thirty days, I shouldn't like him. But there are a great many people whom this would suit. Those people do not like to come here and listen to us telling them that their souls are sick. and diseased, and prescribing just what will cure them. It is better to know the truth, that unless we search those hearts of ours and take out the disease there is no hope for us. So let us pray, and let it be an honest prayer from us. "O God, search our hearts." And if, when you go home, you feel troubled, don't say that you won't come back to the meetings, but ask God for more searching power, and then you will be ready to work.

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A doctor comes to a man who has broken his arm. The doctor feels around at first and he says, "Does that hurt you?" touching the arm. The man answers, "No." The physician goes a little higher, and says, "Does that hurt you?" "No, it don't." But by and by he touches the broken part, and the man cries out, "Oh, that hurts me!" And so with God. He touches our broken spot, and we don't like it.

Now, I have been thinking that there is a passage in Christ's sermon on the Mount that might point out our hindrances in Chicago" Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hast ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Now, I don't want you to think me personal, but I hope the Spirit of God may be present to-day to carry the truth to every one who has a quarrel going on. I believe the difficulty with us is the trouble in the church, the strife, the dissension going on among the brethren. If you have come to the altar with a quarrel between you and your brother, leave there thy gift and

go out and be reconciled to him. If you have any malice or hatred against any one, your prayers will go for nothing-they will go no higher than your head. I believe this is the reason there is so much work lost among us-that you have something against some one, or some one has something against

you.

ciled.

I knew of two brothers who had a quarrel-a regular Cain and Abel over again. The mother could not get them reconShe could not sleep. Her prayers went up night after night. One of the brothers saw how his mother felt, and was sorry for her. To please her he bought a very costly gift and took it to her. "I don't want any gift," said she. "I want you to be reconciled to your brother." If he had been reconciled first, and then brought the gift to his mother, it would have been all right. So it is with God. You take your gifts to the altar and keep in your heart hatred toward your brother. God don't want your gift until you are reconciled.

Now think for a moment. Think of any one who believes you are a hypocrite, anyone who says you are black-hearted, and who does not believe in anything you say in the meetings. Go and seek him out and be reconciled to him. That is the Gospel of the New Testament. "Oh!" you say, "he will not believe me-he with whom I have a quarrel will not forgive me." Go and speak kindly to him, show him a forgiving spirit yourself, and be reconciled to God. Tell him that you want his forgiveness-that you do not want him to stumble in the way of his salvation over you. I do not think of anything that would lift Chicago more than the fact of everyone here taking this truth to their hearts. We would make quick work with it.

There is a passage in the 11th chapter of Mark, if I know it correctly. I hear it quoted very often in the prayers at the meetings: "Whatsoever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them." But they stop there and do not go on to the next verse, and they say: "God has not answered my prayer," when nothing comes from their supplication. They should read the next verse for the reason: "When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any, that your Father which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." When they pray they want God to forgive them, but they are not willing to forgive others. Suppose I was a minister, and I had trouble with a brother, and some pretty hard words arose from the quarrel. Well, I get up and go to a man and pray with him. I find he has a great deal of trouble, and I say to him: "Won't you just cast your

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