common that is, even in institutions where men are being trained for the ministry, even institutions which may be altogether orthodox. Third, The Spirit-given message, the Word, the Bible studied and apprehended under the Holy Ghost’s illumination is given out to others with “enticing words of man’s wisdom,” and not in “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” We need, and we are absolutely dependent upon the Spirit all along the line. He must teach us how to speak as well as what to speak. His must be the power as well as the message. CHAPTER XVII. PRAYING, RETURNING THANKS, WORSHIPPING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. Two of the most deeply significant passages in the Bible on the subject of the Holy Spirit and on the subject of prayer are found in Jude 20 and Eph. vi. 18. In Jude 20 we read, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, _praying in the Holy Ghost_,” and in Eph. vi. 18, “_Praying_ always with all prayer and supplication _in the Spirit_, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” These passages teach us distinctly that _the Holy Spirit guides the believer in prayer_. The disciples did not know how to pray as they ought so they came to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke xi. 1). We to-day do not know how to pray as we ought—we do not know what to pray for, nor how to ask for it—but there is One who is always at hand to help (John xiv. 16, 17) and He knows what we should pray for. He helps our infirmity in this matter of prayer as in other matters (Rom. viii. 26, R. V.). He teaches us to pray. True prayer is prayer in the Spirit (_i. e._, the prayer that the Holy Spirit inspires and directs). The prayer in which the Holy Spirit leads us is the prayer “according to the will of God” (Rom. viii. 27). When we ask anything according to God’s will, we know that He hears us and we know that He has granted the things that we ask (1 John v. 14, 15). We may know it is ours at the moment when we pray just as surely as we know it afterwards when we have it in our actual possession. But how can we know the will of God when we pray? In two ways: First of all, by what is written in His Word; all the promises in the Bible are sure and if God promises anything in the Bible, we may be sure it is His will to give us that thing; but there are many things that we need which are not specifically promised in the Word and still even in that case it is our privilege to know the will of God, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit to teach us God’s will and lead us out in prayer along the line of God’s will. Some object to the Christian doctrine of prayer; for they say that it teaches that we can go to God in our ignorance and change His will and subject His infinite wisdom to our erring foolishness. But that is not the Christian doctrine of prayer at all; the Christian doctrine of prayer is that it is the believer’s privilege to be taught by the Spirit of God