(An Extract.)
Now what is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. Of course, the secret, full history of falls will not be known till the last day. I can only give my opinion as a minister of Christ, and a student of the heart. That opinion is, I repeat distinctly, that backsliding generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.
Bibles read without prayer, sermons heard without prayer, marriages contracted without prayer, residences chosen without prayer, friendships formed without prayer, the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart,-these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall. This is the process which forms the lingering Lots, the unstable Samson’s, the wife-idolizing Solomon’s, the inconsistent Asas, the pliable Jehoshaphat’s, the over-careful Martha’s,-of whom so many are to be found in the Church of Christ. Often the simple history of such cases is this,-they became careless about private prayer.
Reader, you may be very sure men fall in private, long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world. Like Peter, they first disregard the Lord's warning to watch and pray; and then, like Peter, their strength is gone, and in the hour of temptation they deny their Lord.
The world takes notice of their fall, and scoffs loudly. But the world knows nothing of the real reason. The heathen succeeded in making the old Christian Father, Origen, offer incense to an idol, by threatening him with a punishment worse than death. They then triumphed greatly at the sight of his cowardice and apostasy. But the heathen did not know the fact, which Origen himself tells us, that on that very morning he had left his bed-chamber hastily, and without finishing his usual prayers.
Reader, if you are a Christian indeed, I trust you will never be a backslider. But if you do not wish
to be a backsliding Christian, remember the question I ask you,-Do you pray ?
Moreover we live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came in. There cannot be sin without sorrow. And till sin is driven out from the world, it is vain for any one to suppose he can escape sorrow.
Some without doubt have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others. But few are to be found who live long without sorrows or care of some sort or another. Our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relatives, . . . our friends, our neighbors, our worldly callings,-each and all of these are fountains of care., Sickness, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander-all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Some day or other they find us out. The greater our affections, the deeper our afflictions; and the more we love, the more we have to weep.
And what is the best receipt for cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better receipt than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer.
This is the plain advice that the Bible gives, both in the Old Testament and in the New. What says the psalmist? " Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me " (Psa. 1. 15). "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee:He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved "(Psa. 55:22). What says the apostle Paul? "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7). What says the apostle James? "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray " (James 5:13).
The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is the trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will only tell their troubles to God, He will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will find one day that the very grasshopper is a burden.