Morning Star

PRAYING MINISTERS.—Ministers, if they
would win souls, must be eminently men of
prayer, and enjoy much communion with
God. And unless they do, though they may
possess the most shining talents—though they
may attain to the highest point of literary fame,
and though they may rival the eloquence of
Demosthenes or Cicero, yet they can accomplish little in the great work of saving souls.

Those ministers that have been the means of
many conversions have always been remarkable for their devotion to God. Thus Livingston,
a Scotch minister, after spending the
whole preceding night in prayer, so preached
at the Kirk of Shotts, that 500 were converted under one sermon. Luther, Whitefield,
the Wesleys, and all the great reformers whose
labors have been signally blessed, were much
in secret communion with God. The apostles, and even Christ himself, spent whole
nights in prayer. It has always been and
ever will be the case, that when Christians,
and especially ministers, are "full of faith and
the Holy Ghost" that the work of the Lord
prospers in their hands.

Dear young brethren, who are just commencing your labors in the vineyard of the
Lord, let it be printed on your hearts as with
the pen of iron, or the point of a diamond, that
without Christ you can do nothing—and that
the degree of your usefulness mainly depends
on the degree of your devotion to God. O
then, be much in prayer, and you will have
much of the aid of the Holy Spirit. Your
communications will be full of solemnity and
power, and you cannot help being in earnest.
You cannot help speaking in a manner that
will persuade sinners, if you address them
when you are deeply realizing the guilt and
wrath they are heaping upon themselves against the day of wrath. In spite of all your
efforts, you cannot help weeping to think how
many, notwithstanding all you can do, will
still madly urge on their way down to hell;
and the language of your heart will be, "If
ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall
weep sore, and run down with tears." O
brethren in the ministry, pray, pray much,
pray in faith, and you will turn many to righteousness.