This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 edition. Excerpt: ... RIGHT AND WRONG PRAYING. "find thy happiness in God, and he shall give thee the askings of thy heart.' This is the exact rendering of the fourth verse of the thirtyseventh Psalm, and it throws a flood of light upon the important question of what is right and what is wrong prayer. A great deal of prayer is born of selfishness, and takes on the airs of dictation to our Heavenly Father. It is not humble supplication, born of a devout, submissive spirit; but it amounts to a demand. When we go into our bank and present a check for one thousand dollars, we have a right to demand that sum from the paying-teller, provided that sum stands to our credit on the books of the institution. But God's promises to his children are not unconditional; and we have no such spiritual assets standing to our credit that we may presume to dictate to the God of wisdom and of love. The hackneyed illustration of "drawing on the bank of faith' may be very misleading. What is laid down distinctly as the indispensable quality of right asking in the above quoted verse from the Psalm? It is a right feeling towards God. When a soul comes into such an entire submissiveness towards God that it can honestly say, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt;" when that soul delights in seeing God reign, and in seeing his glory advanced, then its desires will be so purified and so strained from the dregs of selfishness that they may be fearlessly poured out before God. In this frame of unselfish submissiveness the soul may indeed come boldly to the throne of grace, and ask for grace suited to its every hour of need. The desires of God and the desires of a sincere Christly soul will agree. God loves to give to them who love to let him have his way. They are as willing to accept his "no..".