KEEP THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. We should carry with us the spirit of prayer throughout every duty that we have to perform in life. Why should we? One of the simple reasons that appeals to my mind with great force is that man is so utterly dependent upon God! How helpless we are without him; how little can we do without his merciful providence in our behalf! I have often been led to make the remark, that not one of us, not a human being in all the world can make even a single spear of grass grow without the help of God. We have to use his earth, we must avail ourselves of the benefit of his soil, his air and his sunshine, and the moisture that God provides, and gives to the earth, to enable us to produce {274} even a single blade of grass; and the same applies to everything that ministers to our existence in the world. You can't raise an ear of corn or grain of wheat without God's help. You cannot produce a single thing essential to the existence of man or beast without the help of God. Then, why should we not feel dependent upon the Lord? Why should we not call upon his name? Why should we not remember him in our prayers? Why should we not love him with all our heart and mind, and strength, since he has given us life, since he has formed us in his own likeness and image, since he has placed us here that we may become like unto his Only Begotten Son and to inherit the glory, exaltation and reward provided for God's own children?--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1914, p. 6. TRUE PRAYER. I pray you, my young brethren who are present in this vast congregation, and who are liable to be called to preach the gospel to the world, when you are called to go out, I pray that you will know how to approach God in prayer. It is not such a difficult thing to learn how to pray. It is not the words we use particularly that constitute prayer. Prayer does not consist of words, altogether. True, faithful, earnest prayer consists more in the feeling that rises from the heart and from the inward desire of our spirits to supplicate the Lord in humility and in faith, that we may receive his blessings. It matters not how simple the words may be, if our desires are genuine and we come before the Lord with a broken heart and contrite spirit to ask him for that which we need. I would like to know if there is a young man in this congregation, or anywhere else, who does not need something of the Lord. Where is there a soul upon the earth that does not need something that the Almighty can give? In the first place, all that we have comes from him. It is by his providence that we exist on the earth. It is by his kind mercy that we see and hear, that we have the power of speech, and that we possess intelligence, for as the sage of old said, "There is a spirit in man; and {275} the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Therefore, the very power of understanding that we possess is the gift of God. In and of ourselves we are but a lifeless lump of clay.