One of the sorriest creatures in all the world is a preacher who does not pray, except in public.  Even with the theology of Calvin, the illustrations of Spurgeon, and the searching applications of Edwards, if a pastor has not been alone with God in secret, he is a pitiful figure in the pulpit.  Without secret prayer he is without unction, a lifeless shell.  Though ministers may, as other true saints, fall into intervals of prayerlessness, he is no man of God in whom this condition prevails.  He is a hypocrite who is all superstructure in plain view with no unseen foundation.  Bright flowers without roots are plastic having no life.