Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/60

Prayer in its very nature, is an acknowledgement of our absolute dependence upon God for the blessings we petition at his hands. St. John, fully realizing the truth, that "every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights," prays that "Gaius might prosper and be in health." Thus, by his example, he inculcates upon us the duty of cultivating the spirit of dependance upon God for success in all our endeavors, to improve either our temporal or spiritual interests. The worldly-minded habitually indulge an opposite spirit. They are wise in their own wisdom, and strong in their own strength. Hence they attribute the success and prosperity of their affairs to their own prudence and foresight. The folly and danger of this lofty spirit were awfully exemplified in that eventful crisis in the history of Nebuchadnezzar. While he walked abroad in his palace, revolving with a