The Apostolic Faith from Topeka, Kansas • 4

4 THE APOSTOLIC FAITH. already been offered for us, and all that it needs is our endorsement to make it effectual. It is like the check we receive from a wealthy friend all we need is to write our name on the back of it and hand it in, and it becomes currency. I remember once in my life, in great distress, being thrown in with George Muller. In my distress I went to him and asked him to pray for me.

The dear saint did. so, and to this day I remember his affectionate, fervent and believing intercession for me, and ray consciousness of blessing and help. But. I learned a lesson from that pray-er which led me much higher than George Muller. I begun to think how much better it would be if I could have some one to pray for me in my need, whose petitions would be always heard and answered, and I immediately thought of our blessed Lord, our great High Priest and, Intercessor, who said to Simon Peter, "I have prayed for thee." and "Who ever liveth to make intercession for us;" and 1 thought if I could only have Christ, pray for me, how much better than to have the prayers of the greatest saint.

And, so I began to put my burdens upon Him, and trust Him not only to pray for me, but to pray in me, so that my prayer would be be carried through and my desire be accomplished, and -1 found that He had already prayed for me these, precious prayers. recorded in the Word of God, and that when I endorse them they become exchangeable into the currency of heaven. Dear friends, these are the prayers of the. Holy Ghost. These are the expressions of the will of God, and as identify ourselves with them, they shall be realized in our lives.

We do not claim divine healing, as some would insinuate, in defiance of God's will, but. because we believe it to be God's will. Indeed, no man can take it rightly until he has surrendered his will to the will of God, either to live or die, and then accepts the blessing because it is God's highest will. There is a way of wanting health because we want it, and will only defeat itself; but there is a blessed sur render of our will, which is followed immediately by the revelation of his will and the acceptance of the blessing, not because we wish it, but because He wills it. Our first attitude is a surrendered will, our second attitude is a persistent will in harmony with the divine will; and so when we have surrendered our natural will and taken the higher plane of God's will, we must hold very positively to our faith, and stand very firmly upon his promises.

We find the Lord Jesus, therefore, constantly pressing those persons to whom He came with his help in the days of his flesh, to the strongest and most positive decision in. taking his blessing. To the leper He saidi "I will," and then He demanded as. strong a decision on his part, "Be thou clean." To the man lying limp and languid at the pool of Bathseda, He said, "Wilt thou be made whole?" This literally means, "Wilt thou will' to be made whole?" And as the, man continued to lean upon friends, and tell about having "no man to put- him in the pool," He cries, with startling and imparative tones, "Rie up and walk," and demanded from him the putting forth of a volition that woke up all his slumbering will. And so we still must take a-firm stand in the will of God, if we.

are- to know the power of his working, and the efficency of his promises. But there are also certain spiritual conditions that are essential to our taking this stand and-claiming his physical help. The prayer has certain very finite limitations. It is, "That thou maystv prosper, aud ba in health as thy soul prospereth." It is obvious that external forms come from internal conditions. The nature of the rose is expressed in its gentle form and exquisite fragrance.

The courseness of the hog shows itself in his beastly form and habits. The same garden- develops. side by side, the beautiful, fragrant rose and the sharp, stinging thistle, but the nature of rach is different, and manifests itself in the corresponding form- And so a joyful, trustful and peace- PDBLI8BD TWICJS A MOHTIZ BY Charles PParham. 335cJackson Kansas. Subscription price payable in advance 50 cents per year.

Single copies 3. cents each. All communication should be addressed to the publisher. Entered at the Post-office as second-class matter, Topeka, Kansas. The Connection Between Spiritual and Physical Life, TN the last Epistle of John, we find this, beautiful prayer by the aged apostle for his friend Gaius: "Beloved, I pray above all things that thou may-est prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." This is the prayer of the Holy Spirit, and expresses the divine will, respecting our physical health and temporal prosperity.

It leaves no doubt of God's willingness and desire that his faithful children should enjoy his fullest blessing, even in temporal things, and especially in bodily health. It is an obsolete and unscriptural superstition, that God wants his faithful, and obedient children to suffer from. bodily pain without, any reasonable cause. Such pain forms no part of the suffering of Christ, and is definitely, provided for in the atonement and the promise of the gospel. The Holy Spirit here prays that tboeq who are right with God may be in health and prosper.

Our Lord Himself has. already, prayed the same prayer, (17tchap. of John where, in speaking of, those who should believe Him afterwards, through their wprdsHe says, "I pray not that Tbou shouldsl iake them out of the world, but tha. Thou shouldst keep them from the evil." This is, practically a. prayer for the preservation of the lives and the health of Christ's jcftsciples.

This prayer has.