1. 11.33 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 
 
 BV 210 .W435 1860 
 White, Hugh 
 Meditations and addresses on 
 the subject of prayer 
 
^>. 
 
 MEDITATIONS AND ADDRESSES 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF 
 
 PEAYEE. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. HUGH WHITE, A.M., 
 
 AITTHOB OF "THB BBLEBVES: A SBEIK8 OF DI8COTJE8ES," 40. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 580 BROADWAY. 
 1860. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As it has pleased the Almighty Disposer of all 
 events, that I should continue in a state of health, 
 which still incapacitates me for active exertion, in 
 my divine Master's service, I have been led to 
 adopt the medium of the press, as a substitute foi 
 the ministrations of the pulpit ; and thus to labour 
 in my heavenly Master's cause, not, indeed, in the 
 way I would have myself preferred, but in the 
 only way now placed within ^y reach. 
 
 Should these pages meet tht «yes of any of the 
 beloved parishioners or congiegation, amongst 
 whom I was once privileged to preach the glad 
 tidings of the gospel, I would entreat of them to 
 accept my renewed assurance, that though mv 
 pastoral mmistrations among them have been 
 suspended, my grateful love for them, and affec- 
 tionate solicitude for their spiritual welfare, have 
 not, therefore ceased ; but that the memory of the 
 time, when I used to meet them, and minister 
 among them, in the house of God, ranks high 
 among the recollections, on which, in the retro- 
 spect of my life, I most love to linger. 
 
!V PREFACE. 
 
 And if this litt.e Volume should be made to 
 any of them, through the divine blessing, the 
 means of promoting their best — that is, their eter- 
 nal interests, I shall, indeed, feel that all my time 
 and labour have been abundantly repaid. 
 
 Most gratefully will I rejoice in the result of 
 what I have written, if, thereby, through the di- 
 vine power of the Holy Spirit, even a single soul 
 may be led to cultivate, in the retirement of the 
 closet, more fervent, and more frequent commu- 
 nion with its God — convinced, as I each day 
 more deeply feel, that, in proportion to a believ- 
 er's progress or decline, in the diligent and devout 
 use of this divinely-appointed means of sustaining 
 and strengthening the life of God within his soul, 
 with all his spiritual energies and attainments 
 advance or retrograde ; all his spiritual joys and 
 consolations flourish or decay. 
 
 I would now cast this mite, for the service of 
 the sanctuary, into the treasury of the Lord, with 
 an earnest prayer, that He would vouchsafe, in 
 His infinite condescension, to accept it as an offer- 
 ing of His servant's gratitude ; and accompany it 
 with that blessing, without which all our labours 
 are utterly in vam. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 MEDITATION I. 
 
 On the Importance of Prayer « • . « 7 
 
 MEDITATION II. 
 
 On the Nature of Prayer . • . • • 18 
 
 MEDITATION III. 
 
 A Reflection and a Caution on the Subfect of 
 
 Prayer 47 
 
 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 On the Union of Reverence and Freedom in Prayer 67 
 
 ADDRESS V. 
 
 On the Union of Humility and Confidence in 
 
 Prayer 90 
 
 1* 
 
CONTENTS. VI 
 
 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 VA.au 
 On the Union of Witchfulness and Dependence in 
 
 Prayer 116 
 
 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 On Prayer for Temporal Blessings , . .151 
 
 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 On Intercessory Prayer . . • , . 184 
 
 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 On Thanksgiving and Praise , • , , flS9 
 
MEDITATIONS; &c. 
 
 MEDITATION I. 
 
 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER. 
 
 "Then, began men to call upon the name of the Lord." 
 —Gen. iv. 26. 
 
 "All things, whatsoever, ye shall ask in prayer, belieTing 
 ye shall receive." — Matt, xxi. 22. 
 
 " Pray without ceasing." — 1 Thes. v. 17. 
 
 That there is much in the present aspect 
 of the professing religious world, (as it is 
 called,) calculated to excite feelings of sor- 
 row and alarm, cannot be denied, and should 
 not be concealed. Much hollow profession 
 — much feverish excitement — much danger- 
 ous love of novelty, and desire to make voy- 
 ages of discovery, (or, as I have heard such 
 speculations well described, " flighty excur- 
 sions,") into Scripture; and an impatient 
 spirit of insubordination to all authority, pro- 
 
O MEDITATION I. 
 
 ducing a species of radicalism in religion, re- 
 luctant to pay the deference that is due to 
 opinions long established, and almost as it 
 were consecrated by the venerable voice of 
 antiquity, and the harmonious consent of 
 the wisest and best of every age of the church 
 of Christ ; or to bow, with any measure of 
 submission or respect, to those veterans in 
 the Christian warfare, who have grown grey 
 in the Saviour's service, and to whose un- 
 flinching faithfulness, in many a hard-fought 
 field, and matured experience in all the toils 
 and trials of the Christian conflict, though 
 not a slavish submission, yet assuredly a res- 
 pectful deference, is due from those inexpe- 
 rienced recruits, who have only just enlisted 
 under the banners of the cross. 
 
 It should, however,, be equally admitted, 
 and thankfully acknowledged, that there is 
 much connected with the cause of religion, 
 in our day, calculated to call forth feelings 
 of the liveliest pleasure, and the deepest gra- 
 titude, in every Christian breast. 
 
 There is an unquestionable increase of 
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER. 9 
 
 thirst for scriptural study, and knowledge 
 of scriptural truth ; a more distinctly faith- 
 ful, and widely extended proclamation of 
 the gospel message of a free, full, and ever- 
 lasting salvation, through the alone merito- 
 rious cross and passion of the Son of God. 
 The preaching of Christ crucified, in all the 
 length and breadth of that apostolical sum- 
 mary of the gospel, has, (blessed be God !) to 
 a great extent, superseded the preaching of 
 that half-heathen, half-Christian morality, 
 which so long usurped, in our pulpits, the 
 place assigned in Scripture to the doctrine of 
 the cross. Christian compassion has, after the 
 sleep of ages, been awakened to pity the be- 
 nighted condition of the heathen world ; and 
 Christian philanthropy has embodied her holy 
 and benevolent zeal, to advance the Redeem- 
 er's glory, and the temporal and eternal wel- 
 fare of mankind, in those numerous socie- 
 ties and missionary labours, which are at 
 once the glory and reproach of our day ; its 
 glory, that so many Christian societies, the 
 heralds of a Saviour's love, have been raised 
 
10 MEDITATION 1- 
 
 up amongst us ; its reproach, that any of 
 them should be allowed to languish for want 
 of funds, while there is so much that could be 
 retrenched from superfluities, in the decora- 
 tions of dress, and the indulgencies of lux- 
 ury, among even the faithful followers of 
 Him, who was crucified for us men, and for 
 our salvation. 
 
 But while the wide-extended spread, that 
 in our day has been given to the diffusion 
 of Christian truth, and the mighty impulse 
 that has been imparted to the exertions of 
 Christian zeal, afford matter of honest ex- 
 ultation, and grateful joy ; (and, from my 
 heart, I pity the man, who does not find in 
 them a theme for holy joy and thankfulness,) 
 there is one feature of the Christian charac- 
 ter, in which I cannot but fear that there has 
 not been an advance, at all proportioned to 
 the progress discernible in so many others : 
 and, yet, one of such paramount importance, 
 that on it, above every other, the progress 
 of the divine life, in the believer's soul, is 
 suspended. One so indispensably neces- 
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER. 11 
 
 sary for the furtherance of his growth in 
 grace, and advancement in holiness, that 
 if it be neglected, no knowledge however 
 clear, no information however extensive, no 
 studies however deep, in scriptural truth — 
 yea, no sacrifices however costly, or zeal 
 however ardent, or labours however un- 
 wearied, can compensate for the neglect ; 
 which will assuredly be followed and chas- 
 tised by a decline and decay in every spiri- 
 tual grace, and, if persevered in, by every 
 appalling symptom of approaching spiritual 
 death. 
 
 Need I add, that I mean the habit of private 
 prayer — of devout communion, in the retire- 
 ment of our closets, with the Father of Spi- 
 rits — entering into our chamber, and shutting 
 the door, and praying to our Father in heaven, 
 who heareth in secret — coming before lliui, 
 in all the confidingness and grateful affection 
 of children, in whose hearts the Spirit of 
 adoption has been shed abroad, whereby we 
 are privileged to cry Abba, Father — ap- 
 proaching a reconciled God, through His 
 
J 2 MEDITATION I. 
 
 dear Son, in such a spirit, to spread out be* 
 fore Him all our wants and wishes ; to pour 
 all our griefs and anxieties into His compas- 
 sionate ears ; to confess to Him all our sins ; 
 and confide to Him all our sorrows ; seek- 
 ing to be supported by His strength, sancti- 
 fied by His Spirit, guided by His counsel, 
 and gladdened by His consolations ? Now, 
 I cannot conceal my apprehensions, (and 
 indeed I say it more in sorrow than in 
 anger,) that there has not been a progress 
 in this department of the Christian system, 
 at all proportionable to that discernible in 
 many others. We live in an age of decidedly 
 increased knowledge, zeal, exertion, in divine 
 things — yea ! and increased social prayer ; 
 but do we live in an age of proportionably in- 
 creased secret prayer ? I fear not — and to 
 this single fact may, I think, be mainly at- 
 tributed the many glaring inconsistencies and 
 blemishes, which disfigured the aspect of the 
 professing church of Christ. 
 
 Prayer is the divinely-appointed means of 
 sustaining spiritual life, in a believer's soul ; 
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER. 13 
 
 and by shedding on all within the influence 
 of divine grace, imparting to all without the 
 impress of the divine image. 
 
 It is the gathering of the celestial manna — 
 the feeding on the living bread which came 
 down from heaven, to nourish the soul to 
 everlasting life ; and for the divine nourish- 
 ment thus obtained, nothing can be safely 
 substituted. 
 
 Praising the bread of life, however warm- 
 ly, cannot. Were you to try a similiar ex- 
 periment with your daily food for the body, 
 what would be the result? And does the 
 soul less require its appropriate nourishment, 
 to strengthen its spiritual life ? 
 
 Distributing the bread of life to others, 
 however liberal, cannot be safely substitu- 
 ted for feeding on it ourselves, by prayer. 
 
 Try a similar experiment, but for one day, 
 with the body ; and will not its weakened 
 and exhausted state, at night, painfully re* 
 mind you, that the most benevolent zeal can* 
 not supply the place of necessary food, in 
 supporting animal life ? Behieve me» it caa 
 2 
 
14 MEDITATION I. 
 
 as little supply the place of secret prayer, in 
 support of the spiritual. 
 
 Working for God, however laboriously, 
 is no safe substitute for devout communion 
 mth God : yea ! the more vrork you have to 
 do for God, you but the more require those 
 abundant supplies of divine wisdom, grace 
 and strength, which you can alone obtain 
 by fervent prayer, and without which you 
 will soon grow weary m, or weary of, your 
 work. 
 
 If the invigorating suashine, and refresh- 
 ing showers were withheld, would the seed 
 deposited in the bosom of the earth spring 
 forth ? Or, if it had put forth its tender buds 
 and blossoms would they not, if unnourished 
 by heaven's sunshine and showers, soon lan- 
 guish, wither, droop, and die ? 
 
 If the lamp be unfed with fresh supplies 
 of oil, will not the flame burn dimmer and 
 dimmer, and at length expire ? 
 
 Not less indispensable is prayer to the pro- 
 gress — yea ! the very life of spirituality, in 
 a believer's sou . I 
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER. 15 
 
 Prayer draws down the warming beams 
 of the Sun of Righteousness — the refresh- 
 ing showers of the Spirit of Grace, be- 
 neath whose genial influence all the spiritual 
 graces, which God's own hand has planted, 
 expand in their fullest bloom, and diffuse al' 
 round their sweetest fragrance. 
 
 Prayer, with outstretched arm, fetches 
 from the inexhaustible reservoir above, those 
 rich supplies of the oil of divine grace, fed 
 by which, the Christian lamp of faith will 
 burn' with a steady and increasing bright- 
 ness ; till, having guided the believer through 
 the journey of life ; cheered, by its gladden- 
 ing ray, the gloom of the chamber of death ; 
 and even darted a bright gleam of heavenly 
 light deep down into that dark valley, 
 through which he must pass to the city of 
 his God, it will there be absorbed in the blaze 
 of light that burns around the throne ; for 
 in that city there is no candle or lamp requir- 
 ed, yea ! there is no need of the sun or moon 
 to enlighten iU for the Lamb is the light 
 thereof, and our God its glory ! 
 
16 MEDITATION I. 
 
 Seeing, then, that the habit of devout 
 communion with God, in the secret retire- 
 ment of the closet, is thus indispensably ne- 
 cessary for maintaining, in vigorous heahh, 
 the life of God in the soul, and carrying on, 
 with hallowed success, the work of God in 
 the world ; and fearing, as I do that this 
 communion is not appreciated or enjoyed, 
 to the extent it should be, by many even of 
 the children of God, in this age of extraor- 
 dinary excitement on all subjects, when a 
 kind of restless out-of-doors rambling reli- 
 gion, remarkable more, in its best features, 
 for devotedness than devotion, has become 
 fashionable, I have thought that I might 
 profitably employ a portion of the leisure 
 time, which sickness has afforded me, in the 
 consideration of this deeply-interesting and 
 all-important subject. 
 
 Should these pages meet the eye of one 
 who knows, by experience, the power and 
 blessedness of the prayer of faith, I would 
 earnestly entreat that believer's fervent sup- 
 plications at the throne of grace, that the 
 
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER 17 
 
 almighty Spirit would vouchsafe to make the 
 observations that are brought forward, how- 
 ever weak or worthless in themselves, in- 
 strumental, through His divine influence, in 
 leading those who may read them, to a juster 
 appreciation of the privilege, and a fuller ex- 
 perience of the power, of habitual secret 
 prayer. 
 
 2* 
 
MEDITATION II. 
 
 ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER 
 
 " Thus saith the Lord God : I will yet for this be in- 
 quired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." — Ezek. 
 xxxvi. 37. 
 
 " Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall 
 find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. — Matt, vii, 7. 
 
 We may consider prayer in a four-fold 
 point of view. 1. As a duty. 2. As a privilege. 
 3. As a pleasure. And 4. As the appointed 
 means of obtaining all the temporal and 
 spiritual blessings which we so urgently 
 want, and which God delights so bountifully 
 to bestow. 
 
 1. Prayer is a duty. 
 
 Were it not a waste of words to labour to 
 prove this ? Surely, if God's tender care 
 over us commenced even before we were 
 born, (for His eyes did see and watch ove* 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 19 
 
 our members, yet being imperfect, while they 
 lay hidden in the womb ;) if from the mo- 
 ment of our birth up to the present. He has 
 continued to watch over us, with a love, of 
 whose sleepless vigilance and yearning ten- 
 derness, the fondest mother's is but the 
 faintest emblem ; if there is not a blessing 
 we enjoy, bodily or mental, personal or rela- 
 tive, temporal or spiritual, that is not a gift 
 of his bounty — a token of his love ; if there 
 is not a source of pure or purified happiness, 
 that has gladdened us in the past, nor a hope 
 that brightens the prospect of the future, for 
 time or for eternity, that has not flowed to 
 us from this Fountain of all our mercies ; 
 Oh ! surely it must be our duty to render to 
 the Author and Preserver of our life, and 
 all its blessings, the homage of our gratitude ; 
 to offer to Him the sacrifice of prayer and 
 praise, and 
 
 " Pay Him thanks — how due !" 
 
 If we cannot draw a single breath, but 
 by His permission ; cannot take a single 
 
20 MEDITATION II. 
 
 Step in safety, but by His protection; oi 
 lay claim to the continuance of a single 
 blessing, but on the ground of His mercy ; 
 surely it must be our duty humbly to ac- 
 knowledge our absolute and uninterrupted 
 dependence on our Almighty Protector and 
 Benefactor; and earnestly to supplicate 
 the continuance of His guardianship and 
 guidance ; His directing Spirit, and uphold- 
 ing strength ; His providential bounty, and 
 renewing grace. 
 
 And if our provocations have been as 
 unnumbered as His mercies, and our sins 
 as countless as His loving-kindnesses ; if we 
 have rebelled against His righteous au- 
 thority ; trampled, in contemptuous disobe- 
 dience, on His holy laws ; abused, to His 
 dishonour. His most precious gifts ; and 
 requited all His goodness with a stupid 
 forgetfulness of the hand that has fed, and 
 guided, and upheld us, and lavished on us 
 all our blessings — a base ingratitude, which 
 degrades us far below the very dullest of 
 the brute creation ; for even " the ox know 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 21 
 
 eth his owner, and the ass its master's crib ; 
 but Israel doth not know," (is the complaint 
 of God,) " My people doth not consid-er" — 
 surely, if these things be so, it must be c^r 
 bounden duty to come before God, in a self- 
 abasing and penitential spirit, to confess 
 our sinfulness, and deprecate His displeasure ; 
 and with that broken and contrite heart, 
 which He will not despise, to acknowledge 
 and bewail our manifold, most aggravated 
 and inexcusable offences, by thought, word, 
 and deed, against His divine majesty and 
 mercy. And if, in the boundlessness of His 
 compassion. He has opened for us a way of 
 forgiveness and reconciliation, oh, must it 
 not be our duty to come before Him, and 
 seek forgiveness, in this way of His own 
 appointment, with all the earnestness of 
 criminals, who believe that over them hangs 
 suspended the sentence of eternal death — 
 with all the humility of criminals, who feel 
 that they deserve to die ? 
 
 Surely, surely, the attitude that best be- 
 comes us, as sinful worms of the dust, is that 
 
22 MEDITATION II. 
 
 of suppliants, kneeling at the footstool of the 
 throne of grace, smiting on our breasts, and 
 crying — " God be merciful to me, a sinner !" 
 — yet pleading for pardon, with all the hum- 
 ble confidence of faith, in an all-sufficient 
 Saviour's name. 
 
 2. Prayer is a privilege. 
 
 Had we the liberty of constant access to 
 an earthly monarch, whose wisdom, munifi- 
 cence, power, and love for us, were all un- 
 limited, and would all, on our urgent entreaty, 
 be exerted on our behalf ; and were we as- 
 sured that our frequent visits, and impor- 
 tunate supplications, so far from wearying* 
 or displeasing, really gratified our Royal 
 Master, and were regarded by Him as tokens 
 of our reverence, loyalty, and love ; would 
 we not justly esteem this a very exalted 
 privilege, and most gladly and gratefully 
 avail ourselves of the precious boon, which 
 our sovereign's bounty had bestowed ? 
 
 Yet, were this privilege utterly valueless, 
 compared with that which the believer en- 
 joys in prayer. 
 
ON THE NATITRE OP PRAYER. 23 
 
 By prayer we are admitted into the pre- 
 sence of the King of kings ; we hold com- 
 munion with the Sovereign of the universe ; 
 we are permitted to enjoy confidential con- 
 verse with Him, before the blaze of whose 
 uncreated glory, not merely the throned mon- 
 archs of the earth, but even the throned 
 principalities and powers of heaven, are but 
 as the particles of shining dust, that glitter 
 in the sunbeam. 
 
 By prayer we have access to that Almighty 
 Creator and Disposer of all, who could, with 
 infinite ease, give us ten thousand worlds as 
 our portion, if He saw that the gift would 
 be really for our good ; and, were that too 
 small, could with equal ease, create for us 
 ten thousand worlds more, and bestow them 
 all on us, as a token of His love ; and yet, 
 (surpassing mystery !) had He done all this, 
 would, even then, have done, as it were, no- 
 thing for us, in comparison of what He lia^ 
 done, in testimony of His love — for He gav- 
 for us. His own. His only Son, gave Him, 
 for us, to death — even the death of the cross ; 
 
24 MEDITATION H. 
 
 and, oh ! what are the myriads of worlds, in 
 themselves, or in the eternal Father's sight, 
 compared with His own — His well-beloved 
 Son? 
 
 Is not prayer, as a medium of access to, 
 and communion with such a God a privilege 
 indeed ' 
 
 But let us dwell a little more on the con- 
 trast between the privilege of confidential 
 and constant access to an earthly monarch, 
 and to the King of kings, that we may see 
 how the former, when compared with the 
 latter, hath no glory, by reason of the glory 
 that excelleth. 
 
 How powerless is all earthly power, to 
 alleviate intense anguish, or impart satisfy- 
 ing happiness ! From how many dangers 
 would that earthly monarch, with all his au- 
 thority, be unable to protect us ! In how 
 many difficulties, with all his wisdom unable 
 to guide us ! In how many afflictions, with 
 all his love, unable to comfort us ! And oh ! 
 what mere transient flashes of joy, at best, 
 could his smile impart — flashes, that if our 
 
Olf THE NATURE OP PRAYER. 25 
 
 heart were desolated by sorrow, would pass 
 over it like gleams of lightning over a de- 
 sert, lighting it up with momentary bright- 
 ness, and then leaving it dark and dreary 
 as before — a bleak, and desolated desert still ! 
 
 Look now to the contrast 1 There is no 
 difficulty, in which God's infallible wisdom 
 cannot guide us ; no danger, in which His 
 almighty arm cannot defend us ; no affliction, 
 in which His divine consolations cannot 
 abundantly comfort us ! 
 
 Our heart may, by blighting sorrow, have 
 been made a very wilderness, but His pre- 
 sence can make that " wilderness rejoice and 
 blossom as the rose !" His favour is life ; 
 His loving kindness is better than life ; His 
 smile of love — oh ! there is heaven's fulness 
 of joy in that smile. It fills the boundless 
 realms on high with gladness and glory ; 
 and kindles in the breast of cherubim and 
 seraphim, and all the rejoicing worshippers, 
 around the throne, such rapturous bliss, as 
 constrains them to strike all their golden 
 
 3 
 
2G MEDITATION If. 
 
 harps, in the hallelujah-chorus of thanksgiv- 
 ing and praise. 
 
 Alas ! is it not strange, that when we are 
 privileged, if believers, to enjoy communion 
 with the Being, whose smile is heaven ; and 
 are assured, that the more frequently and 
 fully we avail ourselves of the privilege of 
 constant and confidential converse with Him, 
 He is the more pleased, and vouchsafes to 
 us a more gracious greeting, and imparts to 
 us more abundant communications, and to- 
 kens of His favour ; is it not, I say, surpass- 
 ingly strange, and sad as it is strange, that 
 we show ourselves so insensible of, and un- 
 grateful for, the privilege — that the only use 
 we too often make of it, is to come before 
 our God with reluctance and depart with 
 joy — as if released from a painful interview 
 with One, we rather feared to incense than 
 loved to approach. 
 
 But how glaring this inconsistency, when 
 we consider what reason there is to regard, 
 
 3. Prayer as a pleasure. 
 
 Surely the heart of a child of God must 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 27 
 
 be deplorably out of tune, when it does not 
 feel that prayer is indeed a pleasure — the 
 purest, sublimest, sweetest pleasure. Is it a 
 pleasure to converse with the wise, the 
 good, the excellent of the earth ? And must 
 it not be an immeasurably more exalted 
 pleasure, to converse with the Fountain of 
 all wisdom, goodness, and excellence ! Is it 
 sweet to hold communion with the saints, in 
 whom we discover some faint traces of the 
 divine image ? Oh ! then, how much sweeter 
 to hold communion with the King of saints, 
 in whom all divine perfections, in concen- 
 trated glory, are combined ! Do earthly 
 friends delight to converse together ? and 
 shall not he who is privileged to regard 
 himself as " the friend of God," delight with 
 joy unspeakable, to converse with his Heav- 
 enly Friend ! What so sweet, to a fond 
 and grateful child, as the society of a be- 
 loved and venerated parent? And shall 
 the child of God find the society of his 
 Heavenly Father less sweet to his soul ' 
 
So MEDITATION 11. 
 
 Does not gratitude render the efforts to ex 
 press its glowing feelings to an earthh 
 benefactor, a source of the purest enjoyment? 
 Then, surely the psalmist was right, when 
 he exclaimed — " Oh ! praise the Lord, for 
 it is a good thing to sing praises unto our 
 God — yea ! a pleasant and joyful thing it is 
 to be thankful." 
 
 And even in those parts of prayer, that 
 might seem only painful, there is a pleasure, 
 that would be ill-exchanged for this world's 
 most boasted bliss. In the bitterness of re- 
 pentant sorrow for sin, there is a sweetness ; 
 in the agony of fervent supplication for 
 pardon, there is a joy, as much superior to 
 the best the world can boast, as the heavens 
 are higher than the earth — 
 
 The broadest smile unfeeling folly wears, 
 
 Less pleasing far than " prayer's repentant" tears. 
 
 Oh ! what a happy, heaven fore-tasting 
 life might the children of God enjoy on 
 earth, if they would live a hfe of prayer ! 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 29 
 
 How calm might they be in the midst of 
 the wildest storms. How joyful in the midst 
 of the deepest tribulations. How composed 
 and cheerful, while all around was agitation 
 and alarm — the smile of heaven sparkling 
 round their path the peace of heaven dwel- 
 ling within their heart. 
 
 They say that travellers in Alpine regions 
 are often encompassed with a clear atmos- 
 phere, and cloudless sunshine, while traver- 
 sing the summits of those lofty mountains, 
 at the very time that the world below them 
 is all wrapt in mists and darkness, and 
 thunder clouds are bursting at their feel. 
 Even thus does prayer lift the believer to a 
 loftier and serener region, far, far above the 
 clouds and storms, that darken and distract 
 the world below. In that region of purity 
 and peace, the atmosphere is clear and 
 calm ; and the light of God's countenance 
 shines brightly on the believer's soul, while 
 he sees the thunder-clouds of earthly care 
 and sorrow rolHng beneath his feet ; thus 
 
 3* 
 
30 MEDITATIOX II. 
 
 realizing the beautiful illustration of the 
 poet ; — 
 
 * As some tal. cliff, that lifts its awful form, 
 Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm. 
 Though round its base the roUing clouds are spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head !" 
 
 4. Prayer is the divinely appointed means 
 of obtaining all the promised blessings, need- 
 ful for our spiritual and eternal welfare. 
 This truth must be so manifest, to any one 
 at all acquainted with the Scriptures, that it 
 would be superfluous to multiply quotations 
 in its proof; a few, however, may be desi- 
 rable, to show on what a firm scriptural 
 basis it is established. The lips of eternal 
 truth have uttered those gracious words, 
 which at once prove the indispensable 
 necessity, and I had almost said, the omnipo- 
 tent efficacy, of prayer — 
 
 " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and 
 ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you: for every one that asketh, re- 
 oeiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and 
 to him that knocketh, it shall be opened !*' 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 31 
 
 And, mark, what a blessed assurance fol- 
 lows — " If ye, being evil, know how to give 
 good gifts unto your children, how much 
 more shall your heavenly Father give good 
 things, give the Holy Spirit, to them that 
 ask Him ?" 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, what- 
 soever ye shall ask the Father in My name, 
 He will give it you. Ask, and ye shall re- 
 ceive, that your joy may be full !" 
 
 "Be careful for nothing," says St. Paul, 
 " but in every thing by prayer and supplica- 
 tion, with thanksgiving, let your requests be 
 made known unto God !" 
 
 And again, "Take the sword of the 
 Spirit, which is the word of God ; praying 
 alwaysy with all prayer and supplication in 
 the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all 
 perseverance !" 
 
 And again, " Continue in prayer, and 
 watch in the same, with thanksgiving." And 
 as if he would make the believer's life one 
 uninterrupted act of prayer, he says, " Pray 
 without ceasing." 
 
32 MEDITATION II. 
 
 How solemn is St. Peter's admonition — 
 " The end of all things is at hand ; be ye, 
 therefore, sober, and watch unto prayer 1" 
 
 How encouraging the advice of St. James 
 — " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask 
 of God, that giveth to all men liberally, 
 and upbraideth not, and it shall be given 
 him !" 
 
 How endearing the exhortation of St. 
 Jude " Ye beloved, building up your- 
 selves on your most holy faith, praying in 
 the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love 
 of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ unto eternal life !" 
 
 How gladdening the declaration of the 
 beloved disciple — " This is the confidence 
 that we have in Him, that if we ask any thing 
 according to His will, he heareth us. And if 
 we know that he hear us, whatsoever we 
 ask, we know that we have the petitions that 
 we desired of Him !" 
 
 Surely this consentaneous attestation of 
 the Divine Founder of our faith, and its most 
 illustrious champions, all uniting, as with one 
 
ON THE NATURE OP PRAYER. 33 
 
 voice, to exhort us to fervent and unwearied 
 prayer, must be abundantly sufficient, as far 
 as scriptural testimony can suffice, to con- 
 vince us of the paramount importance, and 
 promised efficacy, of this divinely-appointed 
 means of obtaining all the precious blessings 
 of the everlasting covenant. 
 
 It is not, (oh, they know nothing of the 
 character of God, who think it is,) that our 
 heavenly Father is unwilling to bestow these 
 blessings on the children of His love, and 
 requires His reluctance to be overcome by 
 their importunate supplications. No — no — 
 as one of our collects so beautifully expres- 
 ses it — " He is more ready to hear, than we 
 to pray, and is wont to give more — immea- 
 surably more — than we either desire or de- 
 serve." But, still, (and it is in the very ten- 
 derness of His love, no less than the exercise 
 of His sovereignty,) after having spoken of 
 those very blessings which He is ready, and 
 rejoices, with the freest and most munificent 
 liberality to bestow, He subjoins those em- 
 phatic words — 
 
34 MEDITATION H. 
 
 " Yet for all these things will I be inquired 
 of by the house of Israel, saith the Lord." 
 
 And why will He be thus inquired of for 
 these things ? Not surely, that any unkind 
 reluctance in Him, as our benefactor, to be- 
 stow, but that all proud reluctance in us, to 
 sue, as beggars for these blessings, may be 
 overcome. Not to teach God what He 
 already knows, or remind Him of what He 
 always remembers ; but to imprint on our 
 memories and our hearts the lesson we are 
 so stupidly slow to learn, so sadly prone to for- 
 get, even that we are as absolutely dependent 
 on God for every breath of our spiritual, as 
 of our natural life ; and as utterly unable to 
 sustain the one as the other, for a single 
 moment by our own strength. 
 
 Seeing, tucn, inat oar strength consists in 
 a sense of our weakness, our wisdom in the 
 knowledge of our foolishness, and our safety 
 in the consciousness of our danger, is not 
 God as much influenced by a tender regard 
 to our security and happiness, as by a jeal- 
 ous regard to His own honour and glory. 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 35 
 
 when He suspends the bestowment of His 
 best blessings on the prayer of faith ; and 
 thus incessantly reminds us, of what it is our 
 happiest recollection to remember, that our 
 helplessness can alone be upheld by the 
 almighty arm of God ; and our ignorance 
 alone instructed by the infallible wisdom of 
 God ; and our wants alone supplied by the 
 infinite sufficiency of God : and. in a word, 
 that all our emptiness can alone be filled with 
 all the fulness of God. 
 
 May not this convince us, that it is ths 
 very overflowing of God's love, which 
 prompts Him to hold up, before the eye of 
 faith, every precious blessing in His power 
 to bestow, with that most gracious inscrip- 
 tion written upon each — " Ask, and it shall 
 be given unto you !" 
 
 Assuredly this is no hard condition — no 
 unreasonable demand. If God's best bles- 
 sings are to be had, on terms so easy as ask- 
 ing for them, how utterly inexcusable must 
 His children be, if, by neglect of such a gra 
 cious arrangement, they remain in want of 
 
36 MEDITATION II. 
 
 a single spiritual blessing, which God's bounty 
 can bestow, or their necessities require? 
 And yet, I do not hesitate to say, that to the 
 neglect of this most gracious arrangement, 
 more than to any other cause, is it to be at- 
 tributed, that amidst the superabundant 
 spiritual provisions in our heavenly Father's 
 house — the bread enough, and to spare, for 
 all His children, so many of them starve in 
 the midst of plenty, and continue from day 
 to day, as to their spiritual condition, like the 
 lean kine in Pharaoh's dream, emaciated, 
 famishing, and ready to perish. 
 
 " Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it," 
 saith a bountiful God ; but His careless or 
 distrustful children either neglect or fear to 
 obey the divine command. What wonder 
 they are not filled with spiritual blessings ? 
 How simple, yet how strange and sad, the 
 solution of their spiritual poverty and desti- 
 tution — " They have not, because they ask 
 not ;" or if they ask at all, ask amiss — ask, 
 80 coldly, so carelessly, as to solicit the re- 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 37 
 
 fusal, to compel the denial, of their prayers- 
 Look now at the results — 
 
 Why, if we are indeed believers, in the 
 scriptural sense, why are our corruptions so 
 strong and flourishing, our graces so weak 
 and languishing? Why does sin so often 
 seduce, and temptations so easily triumph 
 over us? Why has our faith so Httle of 
 that realizing character, which substantiates 
 things hoped for, and embodies things un- 
 seen : flashing the light of eternity on the 
 objects of time and sense, and thus exhibiting 
 them in their comparative nothingness — 
 their real insignificance, unless as viewed in 
 their connection with eternal things ? Why 
 is our knowledge of divine truth, so often, 
 at best, but as the moonlight of a frosty 
 night — clear, but cold, very cold ; instead 
 of resembling the cheering, warming, glad- 
 dening, as well as brightening radiance of 
 the summer sun ? Why does our professed 
 love to the Saviour produce so little self- 
 denial or sacrifice for His sake, so little de- 
 •'otedn^^ss to His service ; and yet still le«F 
 4 
 
3^ MEDITATION II. 
 
 conformit}' to His example ? Why have 
 we so Httle, if any thing, of the mind and 
 temper that was in Christ Jesus? Why do 
 we search the Scriptures, and attend all the 
 :>rdinances of divine worship, and run from 
 lecture to lecture, and sermon to sermon, 
 yea, and even approach the sacramental 
 table, to commemorate the stupendous, self- 
 sacrificing love of the Redeemer, month 
 after month, with so little profit — so little 
 visible growth in grace, or progress in holi- 
 ness ? Why, in a word, is there so little of 
 separation from the spirit, as well as the 
 society, of the world : so little of the life of 
 God in our souls, or the love of God in our 
 hearts, or the peace of God in our bosoms, 
 or the glory of God in our lives ? 
 
 To all this I answer — chiefly because we 
 are so little in prayer — cordial, humble, fer- 
 vent, persevering prayer. Because we talk 
 so much about God in public, but so little 
 with God in private ; because we are so 
 nuch more everywhere, than in our closets; 
 and in every exercise than in devotion ; and 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 39 
 
 in every attitude than on our knees ; and 
 thus, the blessing of the Holy Spirit, not 
 being abundantly vouchsafed, because not 
 ferveniiy implored, a withering blight comes 
 over all our doings, and we read, and hear, 
 and talk, and labour, so almost, if not alto- 
 gether, in vain. 
 
 Alas ! what a melancholy inconsistency 
 there is between our creed, and our conduct 
 — our principles, and our practice I 
 
 We unhesitatingly admit, what Scripture 
 unequivocally declares, that without the 
 divine teaching and influence of th^ Holy 
 Spirit, we cannot profitably study a single 
 verse, cannot savingly understand a single 
 doctrine, or comfortably appropriate a single 
 promise, of the word of God ; that without 
 the almighty aid of this blessed Spirit, we 
 cannot conquer one wrong habit, crucify 
 one sinful lust, subdue one wayward temper, 
 or even check one evil, or cherish one good 
 thought — yea ! that in all that is spiritual, 
 holy, and glorifying to God, without the 
 
40 MEDITATION II 
 
 inspiration and influences of ihe Spirit of 
 grace, we can absolutely do nothing. 
 
 We admit all this, but how do we act ? 
 Is it not, as if we were sufficient of ourselves 
 for all these things ? as if all our fresh springs 
 were in ourselves, and not in God? For 
 do we not either neglect to ask for the en- 
 lightening, directing, strengthening, sancti- 
 fying and comforting influences of the Holy 
 Ghost ; or ask for them in such a manner, 
 as practically proves, either that we are 
 very indifferent about the growth of our 
 spiritual graces, or do not cordially believe, 
 that the Holy Spirit's influences are indis- 
 pensable for promoting that growth ? 
 
 Do we not too often ask for them, if at 
 all, in a manner, whose very look and tone 
 are stamped with such utter apathy, as to 
 the result of our supplication, that if a crimi- 
 nal were to sue for pardon in the same 
 manner, his offended sovereign would spurn 
 him, in just indignation, from his presence : 
 if a beggar were in such a manner to ask us 
 
ON THE NATURE OP PRAYER. 41 
 
 for alms, we would turn him away, in well- 
 merited displeasure, from our doors. 
 
 And why is God to be expected to lend a 
 gracious ear to a style of supplication, that 
 would ensure only deserved repulse and re- 
 buke from a fellow-worm ? Were the 
 Almighty to bestow His most precious gifts 
 — the out-pourings of His Holy Spirit, in 
 answer to such prayers, would it not imply, 
 that He valued those gifts as little as we 
 seem to do, since He would consent to give 
 them to supplications, so heartless and so 
 hurried, that they served only to mark how 
 lightly the suppliant valued how little he 
 cared for what he asked. 
 
 When I say hurried, I do not principally 
 allude to the length of our prayers — this 
 must vary according to circumstances ; and 
 no fixed or unalterable rule can belaid down. 
 We must not forget that the best prayer be- 
 yond all competition, that ever was com- 
 posed, is a very short one ; but we should 
 equally remember that He who composed) 
 
 4* 
 
42 MEDITATION II. 
 
 k, often, while on earth, spent whole nights 
 in prayer. 
 
 Nor do I, by the word heartless, princi- 
 pally allude to the intensity and fervour of 
 feeling. This may depend much on consti- 
 tutional temperament, and may therefore 
 be different in different persons, and even 
 in the same person at different times-- 
 changing with the changes of the health or 
 the atmosphere — varying with the variations 
 of the weather — or fluctuating with the 
 fluctuations of the pulse. 
 
 I would not therefore, make the rising or 
 falling of the thermometer of ardent feeling, 
 the standard by which to judge of the 
 spirituality of our devotions. I speak rather 
 of that soul- felt sincerity, that honest hearti- 
 iness in supplication, which is the genuine 
 ilanguage of conscious want a;nd cordial de- 
 sire, prompted by a just sense of the inesti- 
 mable value of the blessings we implore, and 
 the deep urgency of our need of them, 
 springing from the conviction, that if we do 
 not obtain them, " it had been good for us 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 43 
 
 we had never been born." I speak of a 
 heart-breathed earnestness, which would 
 assimilate our feelings, (to reverse our for- 
 mer illustration,) to those of a sentenced 
 criminal, pleading for the pardon, which if 
 not granted, he must die a dreadful death — 
 those of a starving beggar, supplicating the 
 alms, which if refused, he must perish. I 
 speak, in fine, of such a feeling as animated 
 the wrestling Jacob when he exclaimed, " I 
 will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me ;" 
 and the pleading Abraham, when he said 
 for the sixth time, " Oh ! let not the Lord 
 be angry, and I will speak yet but this once." 
 Such a feeling as inspired the great lawgiver 
 of Israel, when, after having received the 
 promise of God's presence, in a holy ardour, 
 he cried out, " I beseech Thee, show me 
 Thy ^Zory." Such as seemed to be the life- 
 blood of the royal psalmist's devotions, and, 
 like a pervading soul, breathes through, and 
 animates the whole body of the Psalms. I 
 speak of such a feeling as Ezra felt, when, 
 " at the evening sacrifice he arose, and having 
 
44 MEDITATION II. 
 
 rent his garments and his mantle, he fell 
 upon his knees, and spread out his hands 
 unto the Lord ;" or Hezekiah, when he 
 spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, 
 and prayed unto his God : or Daniel, when 
 ** he set his face unto the Lord God, to seek 
 by prayer and supplications, with fasting, 
 and sackcloth, and ashes, and prayed unto 
 the Lord his God." I speak of such a feel- 
 ing as constrained blind Bartimeus, when 
 they urged him to hold his peace, to cry out 
 the more earnestly — " Jesus, thou Son of 
 David, have mercy on me :" and the noble- 
 man, when our Lord asked him if he be- 
 lieved, so as to ensure the recovery of his 
 beloved child, to answer with tears — " Lord 
 I believe, help thou mine unbelief;" and the 
 Canaanitish woman to persevere in her 
 petitions, amidst the most discouraging re- 
 bukes, with an unconquerable importunity 
 which drew from the Saviour's lips that 
 glorious commendation of her faith. I con- 
 tend for the necessity of such a feeling in 
 player, as burst fro'n the lips of the sinking 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER 45 
 
 Peter, when he exclaimed — " Lord save me, 
 I perish ;" and from the heart of St. Paul, 
 when tormented with the thorn in the flesh, 
 he thrice besought the Lord, that it might 
 depart from him ; but above all, such as 
 glowed in the bosom of the Son of God 
 Himself, "when, being in an agony, He 
 prayed more earnestly ; and in the anguish 
 of His soul, offered up prayers and suppli- 
 cations, with strong crying and tears." 
 
 Without such a feehng, in its sincerity, if 
 not its strength — its essence, if not its energy, 
 oflTering up a form of words, however evan- 
 gelical in substance, or eloquent in expres- 
 sion, is no more prayer, than a statue, how- 
 ever beautifully sculptured, is a man. 
 
 Such a heartless form of words is a mere 
 carcass, not a living sacrifice to the living 
 God ; for as the body, without the soul, is 
 dead, so is a form of worship, without the 
 spu'it, dead also ; and the oflering thereof is 
 an offence in the sight of Him with whom 
 we have to do. It is a mockery of the Al- 
 mighty, as if He were such a one as our- 
 
46 ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 
 
 selves, and could be imposed on by the mere 
 service of the knee and the lip, unaccom- 
 panied by the homage of the heart. It is an 
 utter waste of breath, a sinful expenditure 
 of time ; a cheat on our own souls — a libel 
 on devotion — a gratification to Satan — an 
 insult to God. 
 
MEDITATION III. 
 
 A BEFLECTION AND A CAUTION ON THE SUBJECT 
 OF PRAYER. 
 
 "Oh! Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all 
 fic&h come." — Ps. Ixv. 2. 
 
 " While they are yet speaking, I will hear." — Isaiah, 
 Ixv. 24. 
 
 "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the Righteous, who ever liveth to make intercession for 
 us." — 1 John, ii. 1. 
 
 " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we 
 know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the 
 Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered. — Rom. viii. 26. 
 
 Before I proceed to consider the spirit in 
 which prayer should be offered up, I would 
 wish to suggest a reflection, which may deep- 
 en our sense of the dignity of this exalted 
 privilege ; and to correct an error, which I 
 fear, is very prevalent, and tends much to 
 destroy, or diminish, the efficacy of prayer. 
 
48 MEDITATION m. 
 
 With what surpassing grandeur and im- 
 portance does it invest prayer, when we 
 view it, in the right of Scripture, as engag- 
 ing the jittention, and awakening the inter- 
 est, of the everblessed God ; calHng, as it 
 were, into exercise, the most glorious and 
 gracious offices and operations of each di- 
 vine person of the adorable Trinity. 
 
 When we reflect upon the verses prefixed 
 to this meditation, what a wondrous scene 
 is presented to our view, as going on in 
 heaven, while the believer, in the secret re- 
 tirement of his closet, on his knees, pouring 
 out his heart in prayer. We there behold 
 the eternal Father engaged in listening, with 
 condescending and complacent attention, to 
 the supplications of his beloved child — the 
 eternal Son, lifting up, on his behalf, the voice 
 of pleading intercession, before the throne — 
 and the eternal Spirit helping his infirmities ; 
 teaching him both what to pray for, and how 
 to pray ; drawing up his desires and affec- 
 tions heavenwards, and promoting those 
 rj^^o* ^fpz-^cJoiis supplications — even those 
 
REFLECTIONS ON rilAYER. 49 
 
 groanings which cannot be uttered, but 
 which are all so fully understood, and gra- 
 ciously answered, by him who searcheth our 
 hearts, and knoweth the mind of the Spirit, 
 because He maketh intercession for the saints 
 according to the will of God. 
 
 Oh ! did we, before we bent our knees in 
 supplication, pierce, with the eye of faith, 
 the veil that hides from mortal sight the 
 sanctity above, and there behold the ever- 
 lasting Father, waiting to listen to us — His 
 co-eternal, well-beloved Son, waiting to in- 
 tercede for us — and the Holy Spirit waiting 
 to assist us — surely our prayers would b^ 
 something very different from the cold, heaiv 
 less, lifeless lip-offering, they too often are I 
 
 Surely, we vi^ould feel, that if we expected 
 our prayers to engage the attention, and ex- 
 cite the interest of the adorable Trinity, they 
 ought to engross our own. Oh I surely we 
 would feel, that it was meet, right, and our 
 bounden duty, that all our faculties, energies, 
 and affections, our whole heart, and mind, 
 and soul, and strength, should be employed 
 
60 MEDITATION III. 
 
 in a work, which we hoped would employ in 
 the exercise of their most gracious offices, 
 God the Father, God the Son, and God the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Let us reflect a little further upon one of 
 these offices — the intercession of the Son of 
 God. 
 
 Can we look up into heaven, and in the 
 vision of faith see Him, who there ever 
 liveth to make intercession for us, end forget 
 that it is He, who was once on earth, a man 
 of sorrows, for our sake ? Can we behold 
 Him, rising up to intercede for us before the 
 throne, and forget that this is He, who ago- 
 nized for us in Getlvsemane — who died for 
 us on Calvary ? Can we gaze on the face 
 of our Advocate, and forget how that face 
 was once, for us, marred more than any 
 man's — bruised with buffetings,and drenched 
 in tears? Or listen to His voice, while 
 pleading for us, before the mercy-seat of the 
 sanctuary above, and forget, what a prayer 
 of anguish, when He tabernacled in the flesh, 
 ^or our sakes, that voice poured forth in the 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 5- 
 
 garden — what a cry of anguish it lifted up 
 upon the cross ? 
 
 Does it not, then, well become us to re- 
 member, before we kneel down to pray, that 
 our sins had so separated between us and 
 our God — had raised such a tremendous 
 barrier, to prevent the ascent of our prayers 
 to God, or the descent of His blessings upon 
 us, that had not the Son of God offered up 
 Himself as a sacrifice, in our stead, and thus 
 opened a new and living way of access for 
 our spirits, and acceptance for our services, 
 before the throne of grace, not a single pray- 
 er could ever have ascended from us, with 
 acceptance, before that throne ; not a single 
 blessing have ever descended on us from 
 above. And ought we not to love and prize 
 prayer more than we do, and offer it up with 
 an earnestness, an energy, to which we are 
 too much strangers, when we call to remem- 
 brance all that our dear Redeemer suffered, 
 to enable Him to sustain successfully the en- 
 dearing office of our ad\ocate with the Fa- 
 ther ; all He endured in the days of His flesh 
 
52 MEDITATION III. 
 
 to make His intercession available on our 
 behalf, for the bestowment of the most pre- 
 cious blessings in His Father's power to give. 
 
 Could we, with this recollection fresh on 
 our hearts, grudge the cost of our time and 
 thoughts to that, to which He did not grudge 
 the cost of His tears and blood ^ And must 
 not gratitude to our gracious Intercessor com- 
 bine with the deep sense of our own need, 
 and the inestimable value of those blessings 
 we implore, to give life to our devotions, 
 and wings to our desires ? And how would 
 such prayers, winged at once with strong de- 
 sire, and fervent gratitude, fly up direct to 
 the throne of God, as swift and successful 
 messengers ; and return as swiftly, laden 
 with blessings, bringing back to us from 
 a covenant-keeping, and prayer-answering 
 God, the most encouraging assurances of 
 His love, the most abundant communications 
 of His grace. 
 
 I would now advert to the error to which 
 I have alluded, as much hindering the effi- 
 cacy of prayer. 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 5.? 
 
 Too many, I fear, even of those who are 
 Christians in more than nante, seem to re- 
 gard prayer, as the discharge of a distinct 
 duty, the performance of a specific act, 
 which, when once finished, need be no more 
 reflected upon, till the stated period for its 
 repetition shall recur. Such persons seem to 
 think that the devotional feelings, excited and 
 cherished by the act of prayer, are to termi- 
 nate with the act, to be suspended at its 
 close, as having then fully performed their 
 appointed oflice. They appear to entertain 
 the opinion that, on rising up from their 
 knees, they are to leave the spirit of devo- 
 tion confined to their closet, to remain there 
 till they come back, at night, to resume 
 converse with it ; instead of taking it with 
 them into the scenes in which they are about 
 to mingle, as their "guide, and companion, 
 and familiar friend ;" carrying it as it were, 
 about their persons, as a sacred preservative 
 from the world's ensnaring power — an anti- 
 dote to its poison — a counter-charm to its 
 spell I Let me not be mistaken ; T am fully 
 
54 MEDITATION III. 
 
 aware that stated periods, and specific acts 
 of prayer, are indispensably necessary ; and 
 they who profess to substitute what they 
 call a general devotional habit, for particu- 
 lar devotional exercises — an atmosphere of 
 piety, for acts of prayer, on the plea that they 
 can pray as well, while walking by the way, 
 or sitting in their drawing-room, as when 
 kneeling in their closet, will soon find that 
 they can indeed pray equally well at all times, 
 and in all places ; but it is only because at no 
 time, and in no place, do they, in any intel- 
 ligible sense of the word, pray at all. 
 
 It is, however, equally necessary to guard 
 against the error, which would at all ap- 
 proximate our devotions to the popish prac- 
 tice of repeating so many words, or counting 
 so many beads, of which all the virtue is 
 supposed to consist in the mere act itself — 
 the opus operaium. 
 
 Now, this is the most dangerous mistake. 
 For what is one chief design of prayer ? la 
 it not to set in motion a kind of moral, or 
 rather spiritual, machinery, which is to be 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 55 
 
 kept in constant exercise throughout the day. 
 drawing up the heart in devout aspirations 
 to God, and directing all our inward medita- 
 tions, and outward movements, to His glory? 
 Is it not to bring into play a spiritual train 
 of thoughts, which are to abide with us, and 
 feelings which are to animate us, and mo- 
 tives which are to stimulate us, and prin- 
 ciples which are to guide us, and promises 
 which are to support us, and prospects which 
 are to gladden us, amidst all the toils, and 
 trials, and temptations of the day? 
 
 Is it not to buckle on afresh, not for an 
 hour's parade, but for the day's warfare, that 
 armour of God. which is the only sure de- 
 fence of the soldier of the cross, and which 
 in our daily conflict with sin and Satan, can- 
 not, with safety, be for one moment laid aside ? 
 
 Is it not to embody in a specific form, 
 for the purpose of strengthening it, that 
 spirit of devotional communion with God, 
 which is indeed the very atmosphere that a 
 child of God should continually breathe ; 
 the only atmosphere, in which all the spirit 
 
56 MEDITATION III. 
 
 tual graces of the Christian chai'acter can 
 flourish, or even live ? 
 
 This habit of devotional communion with 
 God, maintained throughout the day, amidst 
 all its business and bustle, its society or soli- 
 tude, through the medium of devout medita- 
 tion — a kind of holy abstractedness from 
 surrounding objects, (in which, by practice, 
 we become proficients,) and frequent ejacu- 
 latory breathings of love, desire, and grati- 
 tude towards God, it is a special purpose of 
 our morning sacrifice of prayer and praise 
 to promote, and render abiding, and influen- 
 tial ; thus realizing what is intended by that 
 beautifully simple expression, concerning the 
 patriarchs of old — " They walked with God." 
 
 This it is which David meant when he said 
 — " I have set the Lord always before me ; 
 on Thee, O my God, do I wait all the day 
 long." This it is which St. Paul meant 
 when he said — " Continuing instant in pray- 
 er ; praying always ; pray without ceasing ; 
 For what is the essence of prayer ? 
 
 Is it not a felt and acknowledged sense of 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 57 
 
 our absolute dependence on God ? our fer- 
 vent desire after His favour ? our supreme 
 delight in His presence ? our entire devo- 
 fedness to His service ? And is there any 
 moment of our lives, when these feelings 
 should be suspended? Or is there any 
 lawful occupation or enjoyment, which, if 
 pursued or partaken of in a spirit becoming 
 a child of God, need necessarily interrupt 
 this species of mental devotion — of habitual 
 prayer ? Should not the soul be always in 
 the attitude of devotion, though the body 
 cannot ? Should not the spirit be prostrate 
 in reverential adoration, before God, even 
 when the knees are unbent? and the eye 
 of the mind, the voice of the heart, be con- 
 tinually lifted up to our Father in heaven, 
 even while we are unavoidably engaged in 
 worldly occupations, and worldly cares ? 
 
 Is God to be remembered only in our 
 closets, and forgotten in the world ? ac- 
 knowledged and adored for a few minutes, 
 morning and evening, and practically denied 
 throughout the day ? 
 
58 MEDITATION III. 
 
 Is this to pray always? to pray without 
 ceasing ? Now, I cannot but fear that many, 
 of whom, in the main, we would hope well, 
 do not take the view of prayer, implied by 
 these expressions ; and, accordingly, as if 
 the feelings, that follow in the train of faith- 
 ful prayer, were not merely to come, but 
 also to depart with it, they have no sooner 
 finished their devotions, than they at once 
 plunge into thoughts, speculations, and plans, 
 (I will not suppose positively sinful, but still,) 
 utterly unconnected with the holy exercise in 
 which they have just been engaged ; and in 
 these they remain absorbed throughout the 
 day ; and yet complain, at night, of the cold- 
 ness, wanderings, and deadness of their devo- 
 tions, and seem to wonder they can enjoy 
 no happy intercourse of spirit, no sweet 
 communion of heart, with their God. 
 
 Oh I had they regarded their morning 
 sacrifice but as the commencement of a di- 
 vine communion, to be carried on through- 
 out the day, and then affectionately and 
 anxiously desired, amidst all the various 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 59 
 
 scenes of that day, whether in society or 
 solitude, to maintain this communion, and 
 thus make the whole day a kind of prepara- 
 tive for the devotions of the night, how dif- 
 ferent would they find the result? How 
 sweetly would they experience the truth of 
 the poet's declaration, when he says — 
 
 " Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream 
 Of glory, on the consecrated hour 
 Of man, in audience with the Deity !" 
 
 To convince us of the truth of this assertion, 
 we may derive a consideration both from the 
 character of the human mind, and from the 
 character of God. 
 
 1. From the character of the human mind. 
 Though God acts with absolute sovereignty 
 in the dispensations of His grace, and the 
 Holy Spirit with perfect freedom in the im- 
 partation of His influences, distributing them 
 to every man, severally, as He willeth, in 
 whatever manner and measure seemeth best 
 to His infinite wisdom; yet does God exer- 
 cise this sovereignty, and the Holy Spirit 
 this freedom, agreeably to the essential prin- 
 
60 MEDITATION III. 
 
 ciples of that mental constitution, which has 
 been originally established by the Author 
 of our frame. And to trace and illustrate 
 this harmonious agreement between the dis- 
 pensations of divine grace, and the constitu- 
 tion of the human mind, is the proper pro- 
 vince of the true philosophy of Christianity ; 
 and if some master-spirit, highly gifted with 
 intellectual powers, and divinely taught in 
 the school of Christ, would undertake this 
 task, he would not merely produce a deeply- 
 interesting work, but also render an impor- 
 tant service to the cause of truth. 
 
 Now, it is altogether at variance with 
 every thing we know of the constitution of 
 our minds, to expect that, if we have allowed 
 our thoughts, all through the day, to wander 
 in aimless and unrestrained vagrancy to the 
 ends of the earth, we shall be able, in a mo- 
 ment, as if by some magical charm, merely 
 from the act of bending our knees, to call 
 back our thoughts from their wild excursions, 
 and fix them, in serious and devout medita- 
 tion on the *hinor«! of Go':! 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 61 
 
 If, throughout the day, our spirits have 
 been immersed in utter worldliness ; (for I 
 will not suppose the awfully anomalous case, 
 of the deliberate indulgence of those distinct- 
 ly sinful thoughts, which utterly unfit the 
 spirit for communion with a pure, holy, and 
 loving God ;) if our feelings have been ab- 
 sorbed in the excitements of earthly joy, or 
 earthly sorrow ; if our minds have been en- 
 grossed by the trifles of time, and our affec- 
 tions glued, with idolatrous cleaving of heart, 
 to the objects of sense — yea, even to the most 
 deservedly beloved of earthly objects : then 
 is it utterly unreasonable to expect that, at 
 the recurrence of our stated hour for the de- 
 votions of the night, our spirits will be able, 
 all at once, as if by one immense bound, to 
 spring up into the regions of spirituality ; or 
 our feelings to kindle into the ardour of holy 
 joy, or melt into the tenderness of peniten- 
 tial sorrow ; or our minds to rise to the con- 
 templations of the realities of eternity ; or 
 our affections to break away from the en- 
 tanglements of visible and earthly objects, 
 6 
 
62 MEDITATION HI. 
 
 and soar upwards ; to fasten themselves, 
 with holy gratitude and delight, on the things 
 that are unseen and above, where Christ sit- 
 teth at the right hand of God. 
 
 On the other hand, if we have heartily 
 desired, and honestly endeavoured, in divine 
 strength, to maintain habitual communion 
 with God, throughout the day ; if we have 
 faithfully followed the apostolical injunction, 
 to " watch unto prayer, watching thereunto 
 with all perseverance" — keeping our spirits 
 in that aptitude for prayer, in the act, which 
 constitutes an atmosphere of prayer, in its 
 essence ; if we have thus striven to keep a 
 watchful eye, and praying heart, fixed on 
 God, amidst all the avocations in which we 
 have been employed ; looking up to Him 
 continually, amidst difficulties, for guidance ; 
 and dangers, for protection ; in temptations 
 for strength ; and in trials of support ; if our 
 enjoyments have but made us draw nearer 
 to Him in thankfulness, and our sorrows but 
 taught us to cling closer to Him for consola- 
 tion ; if, in society, we have borne a faithful 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 63 
 
 and affectionate testimony to His honour ; 
 and in solitude, our meditation of Him has 
 been sweet ; Oh ! can we for a moment 
 doubt, that if we have thus desired and de- 
 hghted to wait on Him, and walk with Him 
 and live to Him, all the day long, when the 
 hour for approaching Him in the devotional 
 exercises of the closet comes, our spirits will 
 be enabled to enjoy, with freedom and de- 
 light, that communion with our God, unto 
 which we have been looking, and hastening, 
 and preparing for its anticipated enjoyment, 
 all the day. If our souls throughout the day, 
 (like a chained eagle, which still keeps its 
 straining eye turned upwards, and struggles, 
 to get free, that it may soar towards the sun,) 
 have been strainingly looking upward, and 
 longing to mount towards heaven, and bask 
 in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, 
 will they not, as soon as the heavy chain of 
 the day's toilsome labours is taken off at 
 night, the moment they are released from 
 their shackles, rejoicingly mount up, free 
 and imfettered, to the source of light and 
 
64 MEDITATION III. 
 
 life • nor cease their upward flight, till they 
 have reached the throne, and rested in the 
 bosom of their God. 
 
 We shall come to the same conclusion, if 
 we consider, 
 
 2. The character of God. 
 
 " Those that honour me," saith Jehovah, 
 "I will honour!" 
 
 This is the secret of all God's dealings 
 with all created beings — the principle that 
 guides Him in the moral government in the 
 universe — the solution of all his mysterious 
 dispens^ations — the clue to the history of all 
 His doings, in heaven, earth, and hell. 
 
 Now, apply this principle, which Uke that 
 of gravitation in the natural, pervades and 
 regulates the whole moral system, in the 
 spiritual world ; apply to the subject before 
 us, and to what result will it lead ? 
 
 Can we wonder, with this principle full 
 before our view, that if God sees that we so 
 lightly value the privilege of devotional 
 communion with Him, in the closet, that we 
 will not practise any self-denial, or exercise 
 
REFLECTION ON PRAYER. 65 
 
 any watchfulness, or use any exertions 
 throughout the day, by which to be prepared 
 and made meet for the enjoyment of this 
 communion at night — yea ! that so far from 
 this, we allow our time, and thoughts, and 
 feelings, and a/Fections, to be engrossed, if 
 not with objects glaringly sinful, yet with 
 such idolatrous attachment to things, in 
 themselves lawful, as indisposes the soul for 
 relishing the purer pleasures, and sublimer 
 exercises of devotion ; how can we wonder 
 that an insulted God, jealous of His glory, 
 should withhold from us a privilege, the 
 highest He can confer, but which, we have 
 shown Him, we so Httle appreciate, or de- 
 sire to enjoy ? If we do not desire, or en- 
 deavour to live in the light of God's coun- 
 tenance, amidst the occupations of the day, 
 can we complain, if He refuses to lift it up 
 upon us, in our devotions at night ? 
 
 But if He sees that it is indeed the first — 
 
 the dearest desire of our heart, wherever 
 
 we are, to be with God, and whatever we 
 
 are doing, to do it to His glory ; amidst all 
 
 6* 
 
66 MEDITATION III. 
 
 our employments and recreations, to realize 
 the sense of His presence, and cherish the 
 remembrance of His love ; and that it is 
 the habitual prayer, which is silently offer- 
 ed by our spirits whether in society or 
 solitude — " Let the words of my lips, and 
 the meditations of my heart, be always 
 acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my 
 strength and my Redeemer ;" if He sees 
 that we keep a holy guard, a constant watch- 
 fulness over our hearts, that we may not be 
 ensnared, either into any indulgence in un- 
 lawful things, or even such an immoderate in- 
 dulgence in things lawful, as would unfit us 
 for high and holy converse with Himself; 
 oh ! will He not, when He observes how we 
 value and pant after communion with Him, 
 meet us in the sacred retirement of our closets, 
 in all the fulness of His love : and by the 
 sweetest smiles of His countenance, and the 
 tenderest whisperings of His voice, pour into 
 our hearts a joy, indeed unspeakable, and 
 full of glory ? 
 
ADDRESS IV. 
 
 ON '"HE UNION OF REVERENCE AND FREEDOM IN 
 PRAYER. 
 
 " Behold a throne was set in hep.ven, and One sat on 
 I he throne, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
 about the throne, and the number of them was ten thou- 
 sand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, and 
 they worship Him that sitteth on the throne. — Rev. iv. 2; 
 V. 11, 13." 
 
 " Our Father which art in heaven," — Matt. vi. 9. 
 
 We now come to consider the spirit, in 
 which prayer should be offered up. 
 
 In the observations which I shall make on 
 this subject, I shall address myself under the 
 character of a Christian friend or pastor, 
 speaking in the language of affectionate ad- 
 vice to a beloved friend, or a member of his 
 flock, whom he has reason to regard as 
 scripturally a child of God. I mean one, 
 that, by divine illumination and power of 
 
68 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 the Hcjy Spirit, has been taught practically 
 to feel and confess his own utter sinfulness, 
 and the Saviour's all-sufficiency ; to repose, 
 w^ith a simple, unmixed, and peace, if not 
 joy-imparting confidence in that Saviour's 
 all-atoning blood, and alone-justifying right- 
 eousness, for acceptance and everlasting 
 salvation ; and from a heaven-implanted prin- 
 ciple of constraining love, to desire and de- 
 light to walk, with humble faithfulness, in a 
 Redeemer's footsteps, and to live, with grate- 
 ful devoutness, to a Redeemer's glory. Such 
 and such alone, can I regard, as in a scrip- 
 tural and saving sense, a child of God. 
 
 To such I would say — The spirit in which 
 you should approach your reconciled and 
 covenant- God, in prayer, is one compounded 
 of sentiments and feelings almost contradic 
 tory, yet all harmoniously reconciled ; name- 
 ly, the profoundest reverence and awe, com- 
 bined with the most affectionate freedom 
 and confidence, towards your heavenly Fa- 
 ther; the deepest self-abasement, and self- 
 despair, combined with the liveliest trust in 
 
REVERENCB IN PRAYER. 69 
 
 an all-sufficient Saviour's merits and media- 
 tion ; and the most vigilant guard over your 
 own heart and spirit, combined with the 
 most implicit dependence on the divine 
 teaching and influences of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Thus we see that, as each divine person 
 of the adorable Trinity sustains a peculiar 
 office towards us, in connection with our de- 
 votional applications to the throne of grace, 
 we are so to cherish towards each, a pecu- 
 liar state of mind and feeling, corresponding 
 to the gracious offices which they sustain. 
 
 1. We are to cherish a spirit of reveren- 
 tial awe towards God, when approaching 
 Him in prayer. 
 
 How many rush into the presence of the 
 Almighty, with an irreverent thoughtlessness, 
 a disrespectful precipitation, with which they 
 would not dare to hurry into the presence 
 of an earthly king. This must be peculiarly 
 offensive to the Sovereign Majesty of the 
 King of Kings, as arguing an utter forget- 
 fulness or disregard, both of who He is, and 
 w^at we are. 
 
70 ADDRESS IT. 
 
 If those angels of His that excel in strength 
 and holiness — those glowing serephim that 
 are as a flame of fire, burning with fervent 
 love and zeal — if the most exalted principali- 
 ties and powers of heaven veil their . facea 
 before Him who sitteth upon the throne, and 
 cast their crowns at the foot of that throne, 
 in lowliest adoration, oh, with what profound- 
 est prostration of spirit, and deepest solem- 
 nity of soul, does it become poor, weak, sin- 
 ful worms of the dust, like us, to come into 
 the presence of the infinitely great and glo- 
 rious God. 
 
 Before, then, you bend your knees in sup- 
 plication, seek to have your spirit suitably 
 affected by the consideration of the ineffable 
 majesty of the being you are about to ad- 
 dress. 
 
 Pause and reflect that you, who are but 
 sinful dust and ashes, are going to speak 
 with Him, before whom heaven's highest 
 archangels presume not, but with veiled faces, 
 to appear; with Him, who chargeth even 
 
REVEREWCE IN PRAYER. 71 
 
 .ose angels with folly, and in whose sight 
 the very heavens are not clean. 
 
 That you may be more deeply impressed 
 »vith holy awe, in approaching the living 
 God, familiarize your mind with those parts 
 of Scripture, where the Divine Majesty is 
 set forth, in language almost worthy, (if lan- 
 guage could be,) of the magnificent theme. 
 
 Make such verses as the following, the 
 subject of your frequent and devout medi- 
 tation. 
 
 " And God said * Let there be light, and 
 " there was light !' Who is like unto Thee, 
 " oh ! Lord, glorious in holiness, fearful in 
 " praises — doing wonders ? See now that I, 
 " even I, am He ! and there is no God with me ! 
 " I kill and 1 make alive — I wound and I heal. 
 *' neither is there any that can deliver out of 
 "my hand — for I lift up my hand to heaven 
 *and say, *I live for ever!' Behold the 
 " heaven and heaven of heavens, cannot con 
 " tain Thee ! Blessed be Thy glorious name ' 
 "which is exalted above all blessing ana 
 " praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone 1 
 
72 ADDRESS IT. 
 
 Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of Ireav 
 '* ens, with all their host, the earth, and all 
 " things that are therein, the seas and all that 
 " is therein — and Thou preservest them all, 
 *' and the host of heaven w^orshippeth Thee ! 
 " The Lord reigneth ! He is clothed with 
 " majesty — the Lord is clothed with strength, 
 " wherewith He hath girded Himself ! Thou 
 " art from everlasting ! The Lord reigneth 
 " let the people tremble ! He sitteth be- 
 " tween the cherubim — let the earth be mov- 
 " ed ! Oh ! Lord my God ! Thou art very 
 " great. Thou art clothed with majesty and 
 " honour ! who coverest thyself with light, 
 " as with a garment — who stretches out the 
 " heavens as a curtain — who layeth the beams 
 " of His chambers in the waters — who mak- 
 **eth the clouds His chariot, who walketh 
 
 upon the wings of the wind ! who hath 
 ** measured the waters in the hollow of His 
 " hand, and meted out heaven with the span 
 * — and comprehended the dust of the earth 
 *in a measure — and weighed the mountains 
 " in scales — and the hills in a balance. Be- 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 73 
 
 " hold ! the nations are as a drop of a buck- 
 *' et, and are counted as the small dust of 
 " the balance — all nations before Him are 
 " as nothing, — and they are counted to Him 
 " less than nothing, and vanity ! It is He 
 " that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, 
 " and the inhabitants thereof are as grass- 
 " hoppers ; that stretcheth out the heavens 
 " as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a 
 " tent to dwell in, even the High and Lofty 
 " One that inhabiteth eternity ; whose name 
 " is Holy ! the blessed and only Potentate, 
 '* the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who 
 "only hath immortality, dwelling in the light 
 "which no man can approach unto, whom 
 " no man hath seen, nor can see. Holy, holy, 
 "holy, Lord God Almighty! which was, and 
 " is, and is to come ! great and marvellous 
 " are Thy works. Lord God Almighty, just 
 " and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints ! 
 " who shall not fear Thee, oh ! Lord, and 
 " glorify Thy name, for Thou only art holy ! 
 " Therefore, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, 
 "and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, 
 7 
 
74 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 " and might, be unto our God, for ever and 
 " ever ! Amen." 
 
 Frequent and devout meditation on those 
 portions of the word of God, will more 
 deeply affect your soul with an awful sense 
 of the divine majesty, than volumes of ab- 
 stract speculation about the divine attri- 
 butes. 
 
 Before you approach the throne of God, 
 in prayer, pause also, a little, to reflect on 
 what Scripture has revealed to us of that 
 throne. 
 
 " I saw," says Isaiah, " the Lord sitting 
 upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His 
 train filled the temple. Above it, stood the 
 seraphims ; and one cried unto another, and 
 said — Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts ; 
 the whole earth is full of His glory 1" 
 
 " I beheld," says Daniel, " till the thrones 
 were cast down, and the Ancient of days did 
 sit, whose garment was white as snow, and 
 the hair of His head like pure wool . His 
 throne was like the fiery flame, and His 
 wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream is- 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 75 
 
 sued, and came forth, from before Ilim ; 
 thousand thousands ministered unto Him, 
 and ten thousand times ten thousand stood 
 before Him !" 
 
 "I was in the spirit," says St. John, in 
 the apocalyptic vision, " and, behold, a throne 
 was set in heaven ; and One sat on the 
 throne, and out of the throne proceeded 
 lightnings, and thunderings, and voices. The 
 four-and-twenty elders fall down before Him 
 that sat on the throne, and worship Him 
 that liveth for ever, and ever, and cast their 
 crowns before the throne. And I beheld, 
 and I heard the voice of many angels round 
 about the throne, and the number of them 
 was ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
 thousands of thousands, saying, with a loud 
 voice — Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, 
 to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honour, and glory, and 
 blessing. Blessing, and honour, and glory, 
 and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon 
 the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and 
 ever ! Halleluiah ! Halleluiah ! Amen." 
 
76 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 Is this a throne for a sinner, even a par- 
 doned sinner, to approach, with irreverent 
 carelessness, or unhallowed familiarity ? 
 
 Shall a mortal voice mingle with those 
 voices round the throne, and not tremble 
 with awe ? Shall a worm of the dust join 
 with such worshippers, and in such worship, 
 and not bow down in the deepest humility 
 — the most reverential adoration ? 
 
 Does God humble Himself, even when 
 He condescends to accept the homage of 
 heaven's hierarchies — to receive the worship 
 of the seraphim — to listen to the halleluiahs or 
 the spirits round the throne ? Oh, then what 
 infinite — what unutterable condescension is 
 it in Him, to accept your homage, child of 
 corruption and sin — to take heed to your 
 broken lispings of prayer — to listen to your 
 stammering songs of praise ! 
 
 Seek to be deeply impressed with this 
 view of the divine condescension, and you 
 will thus approach the throne of God, in the 
 attitude best becoming a miserable particle 
 of sinful dust and ashes, coming to hold 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 77 
 
 communion with the holy and Almighty 
 God. 
 
 2. But, however profound the spirit of 
 reverential awe with which you approach 
 God, (and it cannot possibly be too pro- 
 found,) it must be tempered, and softened, 
 with a spirit of the most affectionate free- 
 dom — the most grateful and confiding love. 
 
 Remember that, in approaching God, you 
 approach not only the greatest but infinitely 
 the kindest, tenderest, best of Beings — that 
 His mercy is as unbounded as His majesty 
 — His goodness as unlimited as His glory — 
 yea, that His goodness is pre-eminently His 
 glory — for when Moses besought of Him — 
 " Show me Thy glory" " I will make all 
 My goodness pass before thee :" saith Jeho- 
 vah ; thus teaching us that we are to regard, 
 even as He Himself does, His goodness as,, 
 in an especial sense^ His glory. 
 
 Remember the title under which He an- 
 nounced Himself to Moses when He passed 
 by before His highly-favoured servant, and 
 proclaimed — " The Lord ! the Lord Go(: 
 7* 
 
78 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 merciful and gracious, long suffering, and 
 abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping 
 mercy for thousands; forgiving iniquity, 
 transgression, and sin." 
 
 Familiarize yourself with those beautiful 
 psalms, in which the goodness of God is so 
 touchingly proclaimed and praised ; especial- 
 ly that most exquisite one, which I would 
 wish to be engraven, in imperishable charac- 
 ters, by the Holy Spirit, on every believer's 
 heart — the 103d psalm. 
 
 Oh ! how sweet, how exquisitely sweet, 
 those words — " The Lord is merciful and 
 gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in 
 mercy ; He hath not dealt with us after our 
 sins, nor rewarded us according to our in- 
 iquities : for as the heaven is high above the 
 earth, so great is His mercy towards them 
 that fear Him. Yea ! the Lord is gracious 
 and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of 
 great mercy ; the Lord is good to all ; and 
 His tender mercies are over all His works ; 
 yea ! the Lord is good, and His mercy is 
 everlasting." 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 79 
 
 "Who is a God like unto Thee, that par- 
 doneth iniquity, and passeth by the trans- 
 gression of the remnant of His heritage ; 
 He retaineth not His anger for ever, because 
 He dehghteth in mercy." 
 
 Oh ! is it not sweet to see every possible 
 variety of expression used, to magnify the 
 mercy of our God. " Merciful ; plenteous 
 in mercy : keeping mercy for thousands ; 
 delighting in mercy." 
 
 Look now at the picture drawn of this 
 merciful God, by Him who alone knows 
 Him fully, even His well-beloved Son. 
 
 Turn to the parable of the prodigal son, 
 and there see the heart of the Father of all 
 mercies thrown open to your view, by the 
 hands of His own Son. Oh ! what an apo- 
 calypse of mercy is unveiled in that one 
 
 verse 
 
 " When he was yet a great way off, his 
 father saw him, and had compassion, and 
 ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." 
 
 Blessed be God for that verse ! It has I 
 believe, spoken peace and consolation to the 
 
80 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 hearts of thousands, and drawn back many 
 and many a wanderer to His heavenly Fa- 
 ther's heart and home. 
 
 In truth, it exhibits a picture of the divine 
 character, which no merely human hand 
 could ever have dared to draw. What joy 
 to remember, by whose hand it has been 
 drawn ! 
 
 Then turn to another brief, but most 
 beautiful, delineation of the character of 
 God, which, within the compass of three 
 short words, comprises the substance of 
 thousands of volumes on the subject — " God 
 is love." God is love. 
 
 Oh ! do you not feel, even while repeating 
 those three words, as if a voice was calling 
 to you out of heaven, to draw near to the 
 mercy-seat above, with cheerful confidence : 
 for over the throne dost thou not see, as it 
 were, these words inscribed in characters of 
 living light—" God is love ?" 
 
 Then muse on the apostle's divine com- 
 mentary on this divine text — "God is love, 
 and herein is love, not that we loved God, 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 81 
 
 but that He loved us, and gave His Son to 
 be a propitiation for our sins." As if the 
 apostle had said, do you doubt that God is 
 love ? then, look at the cross ! and surely you 
 must confess, that if nowhere else, yet, at 
 least, ^^ herein is love." Love whose height 
 is so unscaleable, that when the angels at- 
 tempt to survey its summit, they find it is 
 too high even for them ; love, so unfathom- 
 ably deep, that when they look down into 
 it, even they, in wondering awe, cry out — 
 " Oh ! the depth !" 
 
 Reflect, in what characters would God 
 have written His love for you, that would 
 have induced you to believe that He loved 
 you, if you will not believe Him, when He 
 has written it in the blood of His own, his 
 only Son. 
 
 Before, then, you lift up the voice of sup- 
 plication to the throne, always lift lip the 
 eye of faith to the cross, that you may draw 
 nigh to God in the full assurance of trust in 
 His love, for such prayers are very precious 
 in His sight. 
 
82 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 No supplications ever enter, with sucli 
 gracious acceptance, into His ears, as those 
 which are inspired by a firm and full confi- 
 dence in His love, as manifested in the gift 
 of His well-beloved Son. 
 
 Having thus contemplated the general 
 character of God. under this endearing as- 
 pect, dwell in grateful contemplation on 
 His covenant-character, in His relationship 
 towards yourself, as a reconciled and loving 
 Father, in Christ Jesus. 
 
 You know you have not received the spirit 
 of bondage unto fear, but the spirit of adop- 
 tion, whereby you cry — "Abba, Father." 
 You know the peculiar title, under which 
 your gracious Redeemer and Intercessor has 
 taught you to approach and address a recon- 
 ciled God in prayer, is — " Our Father, who art 
 in heaven." You know that all the precious 
 promises of the everlasting covenant might 
 be summed up in this one — " I," saith the 
 ever-blessed God, " I will be unto thee a 
 Father." 
 
 Oh ! there is something unspeakably kind, 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 83 
 
 and tender, and encouraging, in the blessed 
 God having revealed Himself under such a 
 character, to the pardoned and purified ob- 
 jects of His love, whom He brings nigh unto 
 Himself by the blood of Christ. 
 
 Who has not enjoyed the influences, or 
 felt the yearnings, of a father's love ? And 
 whether as children, we have experienced 
 its effects, or as parents, have felt its power, 
 or from the union of both characters, have 
 been enabled most fully to understand, what 
 a precious and powerful principle of affec- 
 tion it is, which reigns enthroned in a father's 
 heart, we must surely, know enough, to know, 
 that the blessed God could not, in His infi- 
 nite condescension, have employed any image 
 more beautifully, or affectingly, calculated 
 to enable us (as far as what is, in itself, in- 
 comprehensible, can by any image be brought 
 at all within reach of our comprehension,) 
 to comprehend the nature, to appreciate the 
 preciousness, or to calculate on the move- 
 ments of His unbounded love. 
 
 That one word " Father," seems to make 
 
84 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 argument useless, and assurances superfluous, 
 and by the sweetest and strongest of all de- 
 monstrations, to carry irresistible conviction 
 to the understanding, through the channel of 
 the purest and most powerful affection of 
 the heart. The only direction that seems 
 required in addition, is simply this — after 
 having calculated on the utmost extent, to 
 which the greatest love of an earthly father 
 can be carried, apply the sweet " how much 
 more^^ which the Saviour has suggested, to 
 all your thoughts, desires, and expectations, 
 connected with your heavenly Father's love. 
 Remember that, if all the fatherly love which 
 has glowed in human hearts, from Adam to the 
 present hour, could be concentrated together, 
 it would be no more — yea, immeasurably 
 less, when compared with what glows in the 
 bosom of the Eternal Father, towards every 
 child of His family of grace, than a single 
 drop of water, compared with all the water 
 in all the oceans of the earth. 
 
 When, therefore, you are about to ap- 
 proach such a God in prayer, recollect that 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 85 
 
 you do not so much come, as a subject, be- 
 fore a sovereign, to do him homage, (though 
 this too is meet right, and your bounden du- 
 ty,) but rather as a child to a beloved and 
 venerated Father, to throw open your heart, 
 before Him, without any reserve or conceal- 
 ment, in all the endearing freedom of filial 
 love. 
 
 Seek to have a realizing belief of this 
 most precious truth, with all the gladdening 
 and consolatory reflections that follow in its 
 train, deeply impressed on your heart before 
 you kneel down to pray. Feel assured that 
 God, in the overflowing fondness of His fa- 
 therly love, really deHghts in your happiness, 
 as (if I may, with reverence, say so,) identi- 
 fied with His own. Yes, child of God, you 
 are privileged to believe that God so loves 
 you, that He has made your happiness a part 
 of His own, so that His happiness may, in 
 one sense, be said to be increased by yours. 
 
 Is there something in this you are afraid 
 to believe, because it seems too condescend- 
 
 d 
 
80 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 ing in the great God, towards a worm of 
 the dust ? 
 
 Alas ! alas, why will we thus measure God's 
 love by our own? Why thus degrade it 
 o the level of our own weak and worthless 
 affections ? Why forget that, as His thoughts 
 are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our 
 ways, so neither is His love as our love ; 
 but a love like Himself, and worthy of Him- 
 self, infinite, incomprehensible, unchanged 
 able, from everlasting to everlasting ! 
 
 Are we not told that the " Lord taketh 
 pleasure in His people — taketh pleasure in 
 them that hope in His mercy." 
 
 Who is it that is represented, in the para- 
 ble of the prodigal son, as crying out, when 
 his long-lost child is recovered, and folded 
 in his fond embrace — *' Rejoice with me 1 
 rejoice with me !" 
 
 Did you never read those wonderful words 
 — *' The Lord thy God in the midst of thee, 
 is mighty. He will save — He will rejoice 
 over thee with joy — He will rest in His love 
 — He will joy over thee with singing /'■ 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 87 
 
 I coDjure you, child of God, honestly and 
 heartily to believe all this, as applied indivi- 
 dually to yourself, as fully as if it was writ- 
 ten specially, exclusively, for your comfort 
 and happiness. 
 
 Art thou still incredulous, oh ! thou of lit- 
 tle faith ? Once again, then, I entreat of 
 you, look at the cross, and tell me, if God 
 did not love you, with a love that passeth all 
 understanding, if your happiness was not so 
 dear to Him, as to be in truth identified with 
 His own, why, oh why, did He give His 
 own dear Son for you to death — even the 
 death of the cross ? 
 
 Gaze then upon that cross, till every dis- 
 trustful doubt dissolves away ; and such an 
 assured belief of God's love towards you is 
 awakened, by the dying agonies of Him who 
 hangs upon that cross, that you will be en- 
 abled to approach the throne of grace, with 
 a full confidence that the Everlasting Father 
 is ready to listen, with complacent delight, 
 to the voice of your supplications ; and to 
 bestow on you, with overflowing liberality. 
 
88 ADDRESS IV. 
 
 the precious blessings that you come to im- 
 plore. Yea, that though, at the moment, 
 the full burst of heaven's halleluiah chorus, 
 from the numbers without number, of rejoic- 
 ing cherubim and seraphim round the throne, 
 may be sounding in his ears, and the fee- 
 blest sigh of penitential sorrow, or pleading 
 supplication, that breaks from your heart, 
 will be heard as distinctly, and answered 
 as graciously, by Him, as if there was silence 
 in heaven, and you w^ere the only crea- 
 ture in the universe addressing Him that sit- 
 teth on the throne, in the language of prayer 
 and praise ! 
 
 This union of confiding affection, sobered 
 and solemnized by reverential awe, is the 
 very spirit towards God the Father, in which 
 you should approach Him in devotional com- 
 munion. It does equal homage to His ma- 
 jesty and His love. It combines what St. 
 John felt, while leaning on the bosom of 
 His beloved Master, at the last supper, with 
 what he felt, when, in tne apocalyptic vision, 
 he fell at his feet as dead I It unites what 
 
REVERENCE IN PRAYER. 8d 
 
 a grateful child feels, when folded in a fa- 
 ther's arms, with what the adoring seraph 
 feels, when bending before the Eternal's 
 throne 1 
 
ADDRESS V. 
 
 ON THE UNION OF HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE IN 
 PRAYER. 
 
 " I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and 
 of all the truth which Thou hast showed unto Thy ser- 
 vant." — Gen. xxxii. 10. 
 
 " God be merciful to me a sinner." — Luke xviii. 13. 
 
 " Having, therefore, boldness to enter into the holiest, by 
 the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in 
 full assurance of faith ; and come boldly to the throne of 
 grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of 
 need."— Heb. x. 19, 22 ; iv. 16. 
 
 The Christian scneme is. in one sense a 
 system of paradoxes, in which, almost op- 
 posing doctrines and duties, sentiments and 
 feelings, are blended together, in such nice 
 proportions, and harmonious union, that, like 
 the lights and shadows in a picture, by their 
 contrast, they give increased strength of ex- 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 91 
 
 pression, and beauty of colouring to the 
 whole. 
 
 One of these paradoxes is suggested by 
 the second combination of qualities which 
 we specified as contributing to make up the 
 essence of the spirit of prayer — namely, the 
 union of the deepest sense of our own sinful- 
 ness and consequent desert of eternal con- 
 demnation, with the strongest assurance of 
 the gracious acceptance of our prayers, and 
 the bestowment, in answer to them, of the 
 most precious blessings of grace and glory. 
 
 Is it not an apparent paradox, though per- 
 fectly intelligible to the heart of a believer, 
 and the very foundation and fountain of all 
 his most precious hopes, and joys, and con- 
 solations, that the deeper his conviction that 
 he deserves nothing from God but wrath, 
 the stronger is his assurance, that he shall 
 receive nothing but mercy — the lower he 
 lies in the depths of Christian humility, the 
 higher does he rise in the elevation of Chris- 
 tian hope — the profounder and bitterer his 
 penitential sorrow, the sublimer and sweeter 
 
92 ADDRESS V. 
 
 are his spiritual joys — and that it is when he 
 most fully feels, and freely confesses, that he 
 is entitled, by his own merits, to an inherit- 
 ance of eternal wrath and woe, in hell, it is 
 then he most fully feels, and rejoicingly re- 
 members, that there are merits, through 
 which he is entitled to an inheritance in 
 heaven, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away. 
 
 I would say, then, to the Christian inquirer, 
 who asks, in what spirit shall I approach 
 God in prayer ? 
 
 Pre-eminently seek to come before your 
 covenant-God with that broken and contrite 
 heart which He has so graciously assured 
 you, He will not despise. Come in the spirit 
 of Jacob, when he cried — " I am not worthy 
 of the least of all these mercies, and of all 
 the truth, which Thou hast showed unto 
 Thy servant ! " Of David, when he poured 
 forth the very soul of penitential sorrow, 
 and exclaimed — " Have mercy upon me, oh ! 
 God, according to Thy loving-kindness, ac- 
 cording unto the njultltude of Thy tendei 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 93 
 
 mercies, blot out my transgressions ; hide 
 Thy face from my sms and blot out all mine 
 iniquities ; cast me not away from Thy pre- 
 sence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from 
 me."' Come in the spirit of Manasseh, when 
 in affliction he besought the Lord his God, 
 and humbled himself greatly before the God 
 of his fathers, and prayed unto Him ; and 
 He was entreated of him and heard his sup- 
 plication. 
 
 Approach your God as Ezra did, when, 
 having rent his garment, he fell upon his 
 knees, and spread out his hands unto the 
 Lord his God and said — " Oh ! my God, I 
 am ashamed, and, blush to lift my face up to 
 Thee, my God; for our iniquities are in- 
 creased over our heads, and our trespass is 
 grown up to the heavens." 
 
 Let your inmost soul be penetrated with 
 such feelings as must have filled the bosom 
 of the mourning Daniel, when he prayed un- 
 to the Lord his God, and made his confes- 
 sions, and said, "Oh! Lord to us belongeth 
 confusion of face, to the I^ord our God be- 
 
94 ADDRESS V. 
 
 long mercies and forgivenesses, thougn we 
 have rebelled against Him. Neither have 
 we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, 
 to walk in His laws, which He set before 
 us. Now, therefore, oh ! our God, hear the 
 prayer of Thy servant, for we do not pre- 
 sent our supplications before Thee, for our 
 righteousness, but for Thy great mercies. 
 Oh! Lord hear! oh! Lord forgive! oh! 
 Lord, hearken, and do ; defer not, for Thine 
 own sake, oh ! my God !" Oh ! there is in- 
 deed an irresistible efficacy in supplication, 
 such as this, when it embodies the spirit of 
 that godly sorrow for sin, which worketh 
 repentance unto salvation ! 
 
 Be assured, your prayers will never go up 
 to heaven more acceptably, as a sweet-smel- 
 ling savour before God, through Him who 
 presents them before the throne, than when 
 they thus rise from the depths of an humble, 
 broken, and contrite heart. 
 
 You remember who it is, that has told us 
 of a poor publican, who stood in the temple 
 afar off, and was afraid so much as to lift up 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 95 
 
 his eyes unto heaven, but. smote upon his 
 breast, saying — " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner." You remember who it is, that 
 speaks in terms of such gracious commenda- 
 tion of that broken hearted prayer. 
 
 You know who has said — " He that hum- 
 bleth himself, shall be exalted ; that humility 
 IS the only path to preferment in His king- 
 dom ; that penitence is the precursor of 
 glory ; and that blessed are they that mourn, 
 with godly sorrow for sin, for they shall be 
 comforted. 
 
 You cannot have forgotten what honour 
 He once put on the humiUty which flows 
 from a penitential sorrow for sin, when, in 
 the Pharisee's house. He addressed such gra- 
 cious words of encouragement and comfort 
 to that poor penitent woman, whose attitude 
 and actions, in silent eloquence, so touchingly 
 proclaimed the deep humility of her soul, 
 while she stood at the Saviour's feet behind 
 Him, weeping, and washed His feet with her 
 tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her 
 head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them 
 
96 ADDRESS V. 
 
 with ointment ! Oh ! look on this affecting 
 scene ! listen to the tender language, which 
 our blessed Lord addresses to this weeping 
 penitent — and learn how He loves humility ; 
 and with what peculiar complacency He 
 delights in His people, when, in the humbling 
 sense of their own sinfulness, they feel ut- 
 terly unworthy to stand before Him, and in 
 their grateful affection towards Him, esteem 
 it their highest honour and happiness to lav- 
 ish on Him, whatever they possess most pre- 
 cious, in testimony of their deep and fervent 
 love ! 
 
 But in truth, to bring forward Scripture 
 to prove that an humble spirit, broken and 
 contrite under the sense of sin, is the es- 
 sence of that spirit in which we should ap- 
 proach God in prayer, would be to quote 
 more than half the Bible ; for the more we 
 study that blessed book, the more will we 
 learn, from almost every line, that humility 
 is the Alpha and Omega of a sinner's faith, 
 and a sinner's hopes — the commencing and 
 crowning grace — the all in all of the spirit of 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 97 
 
 Christianity. The foundations of the whole 
 Christian superstructure of hope and hoH- 
 ness, are laid deep in humiUty ; the building 
 itself is a beautiful fabric of humility : and 
 all those ornamental decorations, that crown 
 the pillars of the temple, and on which, even 
 the eye of God Himself looks with pleasure, 
 are all the emblems of humility. 
 
 Oh ! yes, it is humility, which lays the 
 penitent sinner low, in trembling thankful- 
 ness, at the Saviour's feet — humihty, which 
 presents every work and labour of love, in 
 low^ly gratitude, before his cross — humility, 
 which takes the blood-bought crown, and 
 casts it, in self-renouncing adoration, before 
 His throne. And the higher, through eternal 
 ages, that the redeemed spirit will rise in its 
 ascent of glory, the deeper will be the pros- 
 tration with which it will bend, in self-abas- 
 ing humility, before that throne. 
 
 If, then, child of God, you would offer up 
 your sacrifice of prayer and praise accept- 
 ably, appear in the presence of your Heav- 
 enly Father, " clothed with humility, for he 
 9 
 
98 ADDRESS V. 
 
 resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the 
 humble." 
 
 I do not here mean so much, the self-abas- 
 ing humility of conscious weakness, arising 
 from the contemplation of the original cor- 
 ruption of our fallen nature, as the self-ab- 
 horring humility of conscious guilt, arising 
 from the remembrance of your own actual 
 unnumbered and aggravated transgressions. 
 
 I speak rather of penitential sorrow for 
 your own offences, than meditation, (how- 
 ever, in its proper place profitable,) on Adam's 
 sin. 
 
 From not attending to this distinction, I 
 fear many are led to make a most danger- 
 ous use, or rather abuse of the scriptural 
 doctrine of original sin, by deriving from it 
 an excuse, or, at least, extenuation of their 
 own. They seem inclined to regard their 
 natural depravity, however aggravated by 
 their personal transgressions, rather as a 
 misfortune for which they are to be pitied, 
 than a fault for which they are to be blamed. 
 
 Now, it must be confessed, this mysterious 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 99 
 
 doctrine of original sin, (so unequivocally 
 declared in Scripture, and there set forth as 
 the very basis of the whole scheme of redemp- 
 tion,) is not calculated, nor was it designed, 
 to produce in us that godly sorrow for sin, 
 which worketh repentance unto salvation. 
 
 Its scriptural office seems to be, to hum- 
 ble us under such a deep, penetrating sense 
 of our natural corruption and helplessness, 
 as will lead us, (from feeling our urgent need 
 of the enlightening, sustaining, and sanctify- 
 ing influences of divine grace,) fervently to 
 supplicate, and continually to lean upon, the 
 promised aid of the Holy Spirit. But when 
 Scripture would excite us to deep and self- 
 loathing repentance, it is always to our own 
 personal sins it directs our view. 
 
 'Tis true, David confesses that he was 
 shapen in iniquity, and in sin did his mother 
 conceive him ; but it is manifest, that what 
 bowed down his soul, and almost broke his 
 heart, was the remembrance of his own guilt; 
 it is this which wrung from him the agoniz- 
 ing supplication — " Hide thy face from my 
 
100 ADDRESS V. 
 
 sins — ^blot out all mine iniquities — cast me 
 not away from Thy presence." 
 
 I cannot but fear that the edge of godly 
 sorrow for sin is, with many even of God's 
 children, blunted, and thus their humility 
 rendered less deep, their repentance less 
 cordial, and their sense of God's patient mer- 
 cy, and gratitude for His pardoning love, 
 less penetrating and profound, by their 
 making a use of the doctrine of original sin, 
 which it was never intended to answer; 
 perverting it, (perhaps almost unconsciously.) 
 into a ground of palliation for their actual 
 offences, instead of being led by it (as it is 
 God's design in revealing it, that they 
 should,) to distrust entirely their own wis- 
 dom, guidance, and strength, and confidingly 
 and constantly to look up for, and to lean 
 upon, the directing guidance and upholding 
 strength of divine grace. 
 
 Seek, then, to have such a piercing and af- 
 fecting view of your own personal transgres- 
 sions, your sins of omission and commission, 
 the innumerable things which you have done, 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 101 
 
 that you ought not to have done, and those 
 which you have left undone, that you ought 
 to have done, as will constrain you to smite 
 upon your breast, crying — " God be merci- 
 ful to me a sinner." 
 
 If you indeed desire to be thus deeply im- 
 pressed, beware of resting in those generali- 
 ties, in mourning over, and confessing your 
 sins, which produce only a feeble, cold, and 
 transitory impression. 
 
 Go into detail — descend into particulars — 
 above all, descend into your heart. If you 
 would really make humbling work, you must 
 make heart work of your repentance. Dwell 
 especially on the peculiar aggravations that 
 have attended your sins, making them, in 
 your case, exceeding sinful. If they have 
 been committed against peculiar degrees of 
 knowledge, light, and love ; after repeated 
 convictions, warnings, and expostulations of 
 the Holy Spirit ; if there be any thing in 
 your case or circumstances, the profession 
 you have made, or the station you occupy, 
 which has rendered your sins peculiarly 
 9* 
 
102 ADDRESS V. 
 
 odious and inexcusable in you, and peculiarly 
 offensive and dishonouring to God. 
 
 Do not seek to palliate your guilt, by any 
 excuse or extenuation ; but rather desire to 
 feel it in all its hatefulness, and confess it in 
 all its enormity, that you may lie as low as 
 you can lie, (short of despair,) in self-loath- 
 ing shame and sorrow, at the foot of the 
 cross ; looking up, with mingled penitence 
 and gratitude to Him whom you have so 
 deeply pierced ; and in whose blood you 
 read, at once, the greatness of your guilt, and 
 the assurance of your pardon. For how 
 great must be your guilt, since it required 
 the blood of Him who was God manifest in 
 the flesh, to be shed for its expiation ; and 
 how firm may be your assurance of pardon, 
 through faith in that blood, since such an 
 atonement has been offered, as a propitiation 
 for your sins ! Oh ! then, if you would in- 
 deed view sin in its true light, and abhor 
 yourself as you ought, for your transgres- 
 sions, look at the Cross — and while gratefully 
 rejoicing in the hope of eternal glory, reflect 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 103 
 
 on all your beloved Saviour had to suffer, 
 in order lo purchase for a sinner, such as 
 you have been, not merely pardon, but even 
 an inheritance of glory, incorruptible, and 
 undefiled, and that fadeth not away ! 
 
 Do not compare yourself with others ; 
 you know how abhorrent to God, was that 
 proud Pharisee's professed thanksgiving — 
 ** God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other 
 men are." Or, if you will make a compari- 
 son, let it be with those, whose superior ho- 
 liness, progress in the divine life, zeal for 
 Christ's glory, visible conformity to His 
 character, and entire devotedness to His ser- 
 vice, ought to crimson your cheek with the 
 burning blush of shame. 
 
 There is a comparison indeed, you cannot 
 too often make, if you would advance either 
 in humility or holiness. 
 
 Compare what you are, with what the 
 standard of the word of God requires you 
 to be ; with what, if you had faithfully fol- 
 lowed your Divine Master's instructions, 
 you might have been; and compare what 
 
104 ADDRESS V. 
 
 you have done for the Saviour, with what 
 you ought to have done for Him. 
 
 Believe me, if you carry on this investiga- 
 tion with an honest desire to know the 
 whole truth, you will require little else, as 
 far as means are concerned, to fill your heart 
 with such pangs as Peter felt, and your eyes 
 with such tears as Peter shed, when, hurry- 
 ing from the presence of Jesus, he went 
 forth, and wept bitterly. 
 
 Alas ! have you not, too often, like him, 
 denied your Lord ; appeared ashamed of 
 Him, in the presence of His enemies ; main- 
 tained a guilty silence, when His religion 
 was ridiculed, or His friends reviled ! What 
 countless opportunities of advancing His 
 glory have you, through sinful fear, shrunk 
 from, or through sinful negligence, overlook- 
 ed ' How basely have you often betrayed 
 His cause, rather than brave the frown of 
 anger, or the smile of scorn ! How often 
 by palpable inconsistencies, by indulging in 
 feelings, tempers, words, and actions, at ut- 
 ter variance with the standai <1 of tl.o gospel, 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 105 
 
 and the charactei- of Christ, have you brought 
 suspicion on the sincerity, or sanctifying 
 tendency, of the principles you profess ; and 
 thus brought discredit on that name and 
 cause, for whose advancement you should 
 gladly (if called upon,) drain the last drop of 
 blood that fills your vems. 
 
 And when you reflect that during all this 
 time, while you have been thus requiting 
 His love with such shameful ingratitude. He 
 has been continually employed in watching 
 over you, and pleading for you, and obtain- 
 ing for you, from the Father, all the blessings 
 which, while on earth. He purchased for 
 you, with His blood, oh ! can you at this re- 
 trospect, when you see Jesus looking on you 
 with that look of wounded love, whose si- 
 lent reproach cuts so much deeper than the 
 loudest complaints, or severest denunciations 
 — can you- refrain from falling down before 
 Him and weeping bitterly ? 
 
 Would you be yet more deeply humbled 
 before your God, in prayer? Then look 
 down, as far as you can and dare, into the 
 
106 ADDRESS V. 
 
 depths of your deceitful and desperately 
 wicked heart ; and survey the fearful mass 
 of secret sin, which there lies hid don from 
 every eye but God*s. Contrast what the 
 friend, who knows you best, thinks of you, 
 with what God, knows of you ! Just imagine 
 you were obliged to bear the abominations 
 of your heart, all its uncleanness, rebellion, 
 repining, impurity of motive — ^in a word, 
 the world of iniquity within, to the eye of 
 your most indulgent earthly friend. How 
 would he be startled and horrified with the 
 sepulchre of sin, that would burst upon his 
 view. All this you have compelled the 
 holy God to look upon ; with all this you 
 have offended the eyes of His purity ; through 
 all this He has continued to shower His bles- 
 sings and loving-kindnesses upon you. Must 
 not the thought strike even your heart, hard 
 and rocky as it is, with such a piercing stroke 
 of penitential anguish, as will make the 
 streams of godly sorrow gush forth in a full 
 tide ? 
 
 But, you will perhaps say, must not this 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 107 
 
 overwhelming sense of your own unwor- 
 thiness damp your ardour in supplication to 
 Him, whose loving-kindness you have so 
 shamefully requited ? How can you, with 
 all your ingratitude and guilt thus staring 
 you in the face, come before God, to ask 
 Him for fresh mercies ; for a further supply 
 of His most precious blessings ? Here is 
 one of those Christian paradoxes, to which 
 we have alluded. It is this very sense of 
 unworthiness, which, when most deeply and 
 penitently felt, and accompanied with the 
 profoundest abhorrence of sin, and the most 
 earnest desires and endeavours after the 
 highest degrees of devotedness and holiness, 
 which can be attained on earth, gives you 
 the sweetest assurance of the most abundant 
 and invaluable blessings being vouchsafed to 
 you, in answer to your prayers. How is 
 this ? Because it drives you away alto- 
 gether from standing on a ground, in offer- 
 ing up your prayers, which could entitle 
 you to ask for nothing at God's hands, but 
 the heaviest judgments He could inflict — tl f 
 
108 ADDRESS V. 
 
 groimd of your own deserts ; and places 
 you on a ground, which entitles you to ask 
 for the very best blessings your covenant- 
 God can bestow, even the ground of the 
 merits and mediation of His well- beloved 
 Son. Resting your claims exclusively on 
 this ground, how confident may be your as- 
 surance, and how exalted your expectations, 
 of the blessings you desire, and implore, 
 when you reflect that even when you raise 
 that assurance and those expectations, to 
 the highest possible pitch, you are not rais- 
 ing them higher, than you are warranted by 
 the word of God. Yea, so far from this, 
 you are doing that which is most pleasing 
 in your heavenly Father's sight, as you are 
 showing Him that He has not lavished on 
 you the gift of His own Son, altogether in 
 vain; but that you have learned, in some 
 measure, to appreciate aright the precious 
 ness of that gift ; and to estimate, in some 
 degree, at their real worth, the value of the 
 Saviour's blood — the merits of His obedi- 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 109 
 
 cnce — the sufficiency of His sacrifice, and 
 the efficacy of His intercession. 
 
 I address you as a child of God — as uni- 
 ted to the Saviour by a living, therefore, a 
 justifying and sanctifying faith, and thus 
 made a living member of His mystical body 
 — a living branch of the true vine — a living 
 stone in the spiritual temple. 
 
 As such, you are privileged to believe, 
 that you have a personal interest in all that 
 the Son of God has done and suffered, for 
 the salvation of His people. 
 
 You have the full benefit of His atoning 
 sufferings imputed to you, in right of which 
 your sins are remitted, and your iniquities 
 forgiven ; and the full benefit of the imputa- 
 tion of His meritorious righteousness, w^ith 
 which your pardoned spirit is arrayed, as 
 with a seamless robe, that hides all your 
 sinfulness from your heavenly Father's 
 sight ; so that He can look on you with in- 
 finite complacency, seeing you thus clothed 
 in a garment of salvation, woven for you by 
 the hands of His own dear Son. 
 10 
 
110 ADDRESS V. 
 
 If, then, you would approach God in 
 prayer, with a confidence, which the most 
 humbling sense of your own unworthiness 
 cannot shake, habituate yourself to dwell on 
 the privileges, with which your union — I 
 should say your identification — your being 
 one with Christ, invests you. You are 
 privileged to believe, that from the ages of 
 eternity, there were thoughts of loving-kind- 
 ness towards you, in the bosom of the Son 
 of God ! That when He descended from 
 His everlasting throne, and shrouded His 
 deity under a garb of flesh, it was for you 
 He stooped to this inconceivable humilia- 
 tion ! That when He poured forth that 
 sublime intercessory prayer, the night He 
 was betrayed, on behalf of all that should 
 believe on Him, to the end of time, you 
 were in His thoughts, and near His heart. 
 That when, in the garden, He prayed in 
 His agony, that the mysterious cup of an- 
 guish might pass away from Him, what 
 partly made that prayer impossible to be 
 heard, and reconciled Him to draining that 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. Ill 
 
 cup to the dregs, was His desire and deter- 
 mination, that you should be eternally hap- 
 py ! That when He was lifted up on the 
 cross, crowned with thorns, it was that you 
 might be lifted up on a throne, crowned 
 with glory; and when He returned to 
 heaven, to sit down on the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high, it was to make intercession 
 on your behalf — to present your prayers, 
 perfumed with the fragrance of His merits, 
 as your High Priest and Advocate, before 
 the throne of God. 
 
 Now, can you really believe all this, and 
 for one moment doubt the acceptance of 
 prayers, which He presents, or the bestow- 
 ment of blessings, for which He pleads. 
 More especially when you remember, that 
 the very ground on which He rests His in- 
 tercessory plea, is the sacrifice He offered of 
 Himself in your stead, upon the cross ; and 
 that in pleading for you, He is virtually ask- 
 ing the Father to recompense Him — His 
 weli-beloved Son, for all the humiliation, 
 
112 ADDRESS V. 
 
 sorrow, and suffering, which He endured 
 for your sake while on earth ? 
 
 Endeavour to grasp some conception, 
 (however faint it must be) of the love, that 
 subsists between the eternal Father, and His 
 own — His only Son ; and can you really 
 believe, that you could offer up in faith, 
 according to the will and word of God, and 
 yet offer up in vain, a single prayer, asking 
 in the Redeemer's name, and for His sake, 
 blessings, however large, costly, or precious, 
 when you reflect that by granting them to 
 your prayer, the everlasting Father is testi- 
 fying His infinite complacency and delight 
 in His dear Son, and in the work of re- 
 demption, which, to advance the Father's 
 glory. He undertook ; and thus rewarding 
 Him for all the travail of His soul, during 
 His pilgrimage of pain, while bearing the 
 burden of His people's transgressions upon 
 earth. 
 
 See you not, that there are no blessings 
 in the power of God to give, that you are 
 not privileged on this ground to ask ? for 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 113 
 
 though you are utterly unworthy of the 
 very least of them all, is not the Son of 
 God worthy to have procured, as the re- 
 compense of His sufferings, the very great- 
 est that His Father can bestow ? 
 
 Surely you do not mean to say, that there 
 is in the Father's gift a single blessing, for 
 which the blood of His own Son, would not 
 be deemed by Him a sufficient price ; or 
 which the intercession of His own Son, 
 grounded on the merits of His obedience 
 unto death, could fail to procure for any of 
 His blood-bought people ? 
 
 You perceive, then, how it is, that you can 
 at once cherish the most humbling sense of 
 your own utter unworthiness, and the most 
 undoubting assurance of obtaining, in an- 
 swer to your prayers, the most abundant 
 measure of spiritual blessings ; and how 
 that sweet and precious doctrine of the in- 
 tercession of Christ may, at once, inspire 
 you with energy of supplication, and confi- 
 dence of success. 
 
 Let, then, the apostolic exhortation sink 
 10* 
 
114 ADDRESS V. 
 
 deep into your heart. " Having, therefore, 
 boldness to enter into the holiest, by the 
 blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, 
 which He hath consecrated for us, through 
 the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having 
 an high-priest over the house of God, let us 
 draw near, with a true heart, in full assur- 
 ance of faith ; for we have not an high- 
 priest, which cannot be touched with the 
 feeling of our infirmities, but was in all 
 points tempted, like as we are, yet without 
 sin ; let us, therefore, come boldly unto the 
 throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 
 and find grace to help, in time of need ; en- 
 lightening, guiding, sanctifying, sustaining, 
 comforting, grace. 
 
 Yes, child of God, encouraged by the 
 sweet, because sinless sympathy of the 
 great and gracious High Priest of your pro- 
 fession, who pleads for you before the mer- 
 cy-seat of heaven, you may indeed come 
 boldly to the throne of grace, assured by 
 His own promise, that " whatsoever you 
 shall ask in his name, believing, you shall 
 
HUMILITY IN PRAYER. 115 
 
 And, oh, how should it endear 
 Him to your heart, and make every blessing 
 which your heavenly Father's love so boun- 
 tifully bestows on you, unspeakably precious 
 in your sight, wnen you regard them all as 
 the fruit of your own Saviour's intercession, 
 the purchase of His blood. 
 
ADDRESS VI. 
 
 ON THE UNION OF WATCHFULNESS AND DEPENDENCi: 
 IN PRAYER. 
 
 " Keep thy heart with all diligence." — Prov. iv. 23. 
 
 " Commune with your own heart, and in your chamber, 
 and be still."— Ps. iv. 4. 
 
 " Be sober and watch unto prayer ; watching thereunto 
 with all perseverance."—!. Pet. iv. 7. Eph. vi. 18. 
 
 " Praying in the Holy Ghost, with all prayer and supn 
 plication in the Spirit."— Jude, 20. 
 
 There has been no subject of grief and 
 lamentation, more general with the childi'en 
 of God, in every age, than that so feelingly- 
 expressed by the sweet poet of Christianity — 
 
 What various hindrances we meet, 
 In coming to a mercy-seat. 
 
 When w^c view prayer under its most ap- 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN GRAYER. 117 
 
 propriate aspect, as the endearing converse 
 of a child of God with his Heavenly Father, 
 pouring out before Him, in all the confiding 
 freedom of filial love, all the various feelings 
 of which his overburthened heart is full, en- 
 couraged by the sweet assurance, that his 
 Father in heaven is ever ready to listen, with 
 a gracious ear, to all his supplications — and 
 supply, with overflowing liberality, all his 
 wants; one might imagine, that it would 
 have been unnecessary to command as a 
 duty, what one would have expected would 
 be supremely prized, by every believer, as 
 his highest privilege ; and supremely enjoyed, 
 as his highest happiness. 
 
 So, I am aware, it is prized, in his enlight- 
 ened judgment ; and so enjoyed in many an 
 hour of secret communion with his God, for 
 whose pure and satisfying joys, he would 
 deem the wealth of ten thousand worlds a 
 very poor exchange. 
 
 But, alas ! how often is it the very re- 
 verse ! How often does even the child of 
 God feel astonished, and actually horrified, 
 
118 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 to discover in himself a Strang . and hateful 
 reluctance to engage in this sa^ red exercise ! 
 What trifling excuses will he ^?ften allow to 
 divert him from its devout enjoyment ! And 
 even, if, from a conscientious motive, he con- 
 tinues punctual in the perfomftfice, what a 
 weariness is it to his spirit ; how is it gone 
 through, merely to silence the monitor within, 
 whose upbraiding voice would allow him no 
 rest, if he entirely neglected to approach his 
 God! 
 
 But, oh I what cold formality — what list- 
 less vacancy, mark, or rather mar, the per- 
 formance ! What wanderings and distrac- 
 tions of thought and feeling ! What a hor- 
 rible mixture of vain, if not vicious imagina- 
 tions, mingling with expressions of peniten- 
 tial sorrow, fervent gratitude, or holy joy ! 
 Talking to God, but not thinking of Him ; 
 almost if not altogether, unconscious what 
 we are saying to Him — His name on our 
 lips, but some earthly object, or worldly care, 
 in our hearts. So that, if what we are ut- 
 tering with our mouth, and meditating on ii? 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 119 
 
 our heart, were to be united together in 
 continuous language, and written on the 
 walls of our chamber ; and we \vere obliged, 
 by the startling summons of the voice of 
 God, suddenly to look up, and read what 
 was traced before our eyes, as the substance 
 of what we had been saying to the Almighty, 
 from the time we knelt down; we would 
 be so startled by the appalling exhibition of 
 the insult we had been offering to Jehovah, 
 that we must wonder that with all His pa- 
 tience, and forbearance. He could endure 
 such an affront as this ! 
 
 Surely, there is something in this view, 
 which most affectingly magnifies the mercy 
 of the Father of all mercies. Surely, He 
 with whom we have to do, is indeed a pa- 
 tient God, slow, oh ! how slow to anger ! 
 And unquestionably, were every other evi- 
 dence withdrawn, to prove that our nature 
 is fallen from its primeval grandeur — very, 
 very far gone from original righteousness : 
 the most devout prayers of the holiest man 
 on earth would be sufficient to show, that 
 
120 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 some dreadful catastrophe has happened to 
 our race ; some fearful convulsion has w^reck- 
 ed and ruined our moral constitution, since 
 the morning that God made man in His own 
 image, and man walked with God, even as 
 one walketh with a friend. 
 
 How impossible to conceive Adam, before 
 the fall, walking with God, amidst the trees 
 of the garden of Eden, holding converse 
 with his Almighty Father and Friend, and 
 yet, his thoughts — his heart, far away from 
 God. 
 
 Here is the root of the evil — the dark, pol- 
 luted fountain, from which all the streams of 
 alienation from God, and the indisposedness 
 to divine enjoyments flow. 
 
 Ever since the fall, the principle of divine 
 attraction, which united man's heart to God, 
 and drew up his affections to Him and heav- 
 en, has been withdrawn ; and its place sup- 
 plied by a principle of carnal gravitation, 
 which draws down the thoughts, desires, 
 and affections of man's natural heart to earth, 
 and earthly things ; so that it is as contrary 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 121 
 
 to the natural tendency of the human heart, 
 to mount up to God and heaven, as for a 
 stone, of itself, to fly upwards. And though 
 this principle of earthward gravitation, 
 (which, if not counteracted, must at last 
 drag the soul into hell.) is counteracted^ in the 
 regenerated children of God, by the power 
 of divine grace, which propels the thoughts 
 and affections upwards ; though the princi- 
 ple of divine attraction, which draws the 
 heart to God and heaven, isy in them restor- 
 ed ; yet is the renewal of their nature, while 
 on earth, imperfect — the downward tenden- 
 cy, though resisted, is not entirely removed ; 
 and this it is, which makes a life of faith, a 
 supernatural — a miraculous kind of life ; 
 and heavenly-mindedness so exceedingly dif 
 ficult to be constantly maintained. 
 
 This is, we doubt not, one principal cause 
 of that wandering and distraction of mind 
 in prayer, of which the children of God 
 have, in every age, so bitterly complained. 
 
 But we must not omit to notice another 
 cause — Satanic influence. Yes, here also, as 
 U 
 
122 ADDRESS V . 
 
 in every other part of our spiritual conflict, 
 " we have to wrestle, not merely against flesh 
 and blood, (against our natural corruption 
 and deadness to divine things,) but against 
 principalities and powers, against spiritual 
 wickedness in high places." Yea, I believe 
 here especially, Satan tries all his stratagems 
 and puts forth all his power ; for earth does 
 not, I am convinced, present to his eyes a 
 spectacle which he more hates and trembles 
 to behold, than a believer, wrestling. Jacob- 
 like, with God in prayer. 
 
 And well may he tremble ; for he knows 
 that the fervent prayer of faith invests the 
 believer with a strength with which he vainly 
 endeavours to cope ; provides him with a 
 counter-charm to all his spells ; and arrays 
 him with a celestial armour, against which 
 no w^eapon forged in hell can prosper — es- 
 pecially that all-covering "shield of faith, 
 which is able to quench all the fiery darts of 
 the wicked one." Hence it is that the wily 
 adversary uses every artifice, which diaboli- 
 cal subtlety can suggest, to render the be- 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 123 
 
 liever, as much as possible, a formalist in 
 prayer — to divert him from or distract him in, 
 his devotions, by forcing on the mind worldly 
 occupation, anxieties, and cares ; . or present- 
 ing to the eye of the imagination visions of 
 such a character, as almost at times to drive 
 the believer in terror from his knees, lest he 
 should be only sinning against God, by con- 
 tinuing to pray, with such imaginations float- 
 ing before his eyes. A suggestion of Satan, 
 to which it would be as manifest madness to 
 yield, instead of flying, by faith, into the Sa- 
 viour's outstretched arms, as it would be for 
 a man pursued by a roaring lion, to be ter- 
 rified into standing still, or throwing himself 
 into the lion's jaws, while close beside him 
 stood One, who could protect him from the 
 monster's fury — One, whose outstretched 
 arm it only required one vigorous effort to 
 rush forward, seize, and be safe. 
 
 We have thus seen, that the wanderings, 
 distraction, and deadness in devotion, which 
 are among the sorest trials of a child of 
 God, are to be traced to the combined 
 
124 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 influence of the remaining corruption of 
 his imperfectly-renewed nature, and the 
 direct agency of the enemy of our souls ; 
 and therefore if honestly and heartily striven 
 against, (however deeply they must ever be 
 deplored, and however profound the humi- 
 liation, and piercing the anguish of soul, 
 they must ever awaken in one, who desires 
 continually to walk with God,) they must 
 not be regarded as invalidating his claim to 
 a believer's privileges and hopes. It is, 
 however, an inquiry of the deepest interest 
 and importance, what remedy can be pro- 
 vided for an evil of such appalling magni- 
 tude — so fatally injurious to the highest in- 
 terests, and purest enjoyments of a child of 
 God. 
 
 This leads us to consider the third union 
 of qualities of which we spake, as entering 
 into the composition of the spirit of prayer 
 — the union of the most careful watchful- 
 ness over our own thoughts and feelings, 
 combined with the most implicit rehance on 
 the promised aid of the Holy Ghost. 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 125 
 
 We have already glanced at the former 
 branch of the subject, when we alluded to 
 the importance of maintaining, throughout 
 the day, a constant guard over our thoughts 
 and desires, so as to restrain them from 
 whatever has a tendency to unfit us for de- 
 votional communion with God in the closet ; 
 and thus to breathe all day long an atmos- 
 phere of devotional feeling, which, the purer 
 it has been preserved through the day, will 
 be the more easily and enjoyingly concen- 
 trated in acts of devotion, when we retire 
 to our chamber to hold converse with our 
 God. 
 
 As, however, the distractions of thought 
 in prayer, so much complained of by Chris- 
 tians, arise more perhaps from the neglect 
 of this habit of constant watchfulness 
 throughout the day, than from any other 
 cause, it may be desirable to consider the 
 subject somewhat more fully in detail 
 More especially as there appears to exist, 
 among many I'eligious professors in our day, 
 an unreasonable jealousy and dislike of 
 11* 
 
126 4DDRESS VI. 
 
 every exhortation to a believer^s personal 
 vigilance and exertions for the attainment, 
 establishment, and increase of holiness, as if 
 all such exhortations necessarily savoured 
 of a spirit of legality ; entrenched on the 
 sovereignty and freeness of divine grace ; 
 manifested a presumptuous desire to share 
 with the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, in the 
 glory of the work of man's salvation ; and 
 tended to encourage a feeling of proud self- 
 righteousness, and self-dependence. I can- 
 not but fear this unreasonable alarm, at 
 hearing the scriptural injunctions — " Watch, 
 strive, labour, wrestle, run, fight ;" echoed 
 and enforced, has tended very much to hin- 
 der the progress of sanctification, in many 
 sincere believers. For if they are taught to 
 regard every effort of their own (however 
 humbly made, in unqualified dependence on 
 divine grace,) as calculated to rob the Holy 
 Spirit of the honour which is exclusively 
 His due, this must manifestly have a direct 
 tendency to lead them to relax those very 
 exertions, with the faithful and persevering 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 127 
 
 use of which it has pleased this Sovereign 
 Dispenser of all grace, in the most absolute 
 exercise of that Sovereignty, to connect the 
 promised aid and influence which He can 
 alone impart. 
 
 Really many in our day seem to think, 
 that any injunction to a believer to exercise 
 his mental faculties, heartily and vigorously, 
 in reliance on, and co-operation with, the 
 influences of divine grace, is an insult to the 
 God of all grace ; as if the God of grace 
 were not the God of nature — as if He who 
 regenerates, were not the very same Being 
 who created us — as if, in truth, our mental 
 faculties were not bestowed on us by our 
 heavenly Father, but were the gift of Satan 
 so that every exercise of them was an act 
 of homage to him, and not to God. 
 
 This is a dreadful error. 'Tis true, our 
 mental faculties have all been ruined by the 
 fall ; but majestic even in their ruins, they 
 still bear, in desolated grandeur, like the 
 fallen pillars of some magnificent temple, 
 the impress of the divine hand which 
 
128 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 originally formed them. And though all the 
 glory, because all the power, of the work 
 of raising them out of their ruins, and set- 
 ting them up anew, as pillars in the temple 
 of God, belongs exclusively to the Spirit of 
 grace, yet is the believer at once privileged 
 and commanded to labour, under the direc- 
 tions and in the strength of this Spirit, with 
 all diligence, zeal, and perseverance, in his 
 subordinate station, in the building of the 
 heavenly temple. 
 
 Surely, this is not to rob the Holy Spirit 
 of His glory ! Surely, our having abused 
 all our faculties in the service of Satan, is no 
 reason why we should not use them in the 
 service of God. Surely, to work in humble 
 dependence on divine grace, is not to aim at 
 4 proud independence of, or presumptuous 
 encroachment on, the divine glory ! 
 
 Might not the analogy of creation, and 
 providence, teach us a wiser lesson 1 When 
 the husbandman prepares the ground, and 
 sows the seed, does this argue an atheistical 
 forgetfulness, that no matter how carefully 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 129 
 
 he may plant or water, it is God alone that 
 giveth the increase ? Is he not perfectly 
 aware thai it is no power of his own, but 
 exclusively the power of God, which makes 
 the buried seed shoot forth, and bring forth 
 fruit to an abundant harvest ? 
 
 What would we say of the man, who, 
 under pretence of honouring the divine 
 omnipotence, inasmuch as he could not 
 make a single blade to grow, neglected to 
 sow the seed, and yet came in. harvest-time 
 to reap a luxuriant crop ? Would we com- 
 mend him for his trust in God, or rather 
 would we not condemn him as a hypocrite, 
 or pity him as a fool ? 
 
 Then how is it more a denial of the divine 
 power, or an usurpation of the divine pre- 
 rogative, if, in hopes of an abundant spirit- 
 ual harvest, the believer cultivates, with un- 
 wearied diligence the field which the Lord 
 of the harvest has committed to his care ; 
 provided, in all his watchings and labours, 
 he ever remembers, that even when a Paul 
 plants, or an Apollos waters, it is God alone 
 
130 ADDRESS \X 
 
 who giveth the increase. And whether is 
 it really honouring God most, to work stre- 
 nuously, and unweariedly, in the allotted 
 field of labour, lifting up the eye of faith, 
 and the voice of supphcation, for the divine 
 blessing to prosper the work ; or to fold the 
 arms in slothful inactivity, and do nothing 
 under pretence of leaving it to the Spirit of 
 grace to do all, that so all the glory of the 
 work may be given to God? 
 
 And if, from the analogy of creation we 
 turn to the testimony of Scripture, how 
 loudly does it echo the call to exertion, 
 which rises with such an authoritative voice, 
 from the constitution of nature, and the 
 providence of God. 
 
 Might we not challenge the advocate of 
 the system, which would represent personal 
 exertion as offering insult, and lazy inactivity 
 as doing honour to the Spirit of grace, to 
 produce any passages in Scripture, where 
 the undivided glory of the work of sanctifi- 
 cation is attributed to the Holy Spirit, in 
 language clearer or stronger than is the 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 131 
 
 necessity of the diligent and persevering ex- 
 ertions of our own faculties, in the use of all 
 the appointed means of grace, set forth in 
 the following passages of the word of God, — 
 
 " Strive (literally agonize) to enter in at 
 the strait gate ; for the kingdom of heaven 
 suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
 force. Labour not for the meat that perish- 
 eth, but for that which endureth to ever- 
 lasting life, which the Son of Man shall give 
 unto you. Watch! watch and pray, yea, 
 pray without ceasing. Work out your own 
 salvation with fear and trembling, for it is 
 God that worketh in you, both to will and to 
 do of His own good pleasure. Fight the good 
 fight of faith. Run with patience the race 
 set before us, yea, so run that ye may obtain. 
 
 Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
 reap. He that soweth sparingly, shall reap 
 also ?>paringly ; and he that soweth bounti- 
 fully, shall reap also bountifully. Give dili- 
 gence to make your calling and election sure ; 
 for if ye do these things ye shall never fall ; 
 for so an entrance shall be ministered unto 
 
132 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 Now combine with these, and a thousand 
 similar expressions, the plain purport of the 
 parable of the sower, and still more of the 
 two parables of the talents, and surely it is 
 as plain as Scripture can make it, that while 
 we ought, each of us, heartily to feel, and 
 honestly to confess, 
 
 '•' Help I every moment need," 
 
 and that we cannot take one single step in 
 our heavenward journey, in our own unaided 
 strength, yet we are to expect God's promised 
 grace, to help in every time of need, and 
 bring us safe to heaven at last, not while 
 lazily standing still, in slothful inactivity, un- 
 der any pretext, hut while watching — striv- 
 ing — praying — labouring — wrestling — run- 
 ning — using a holy violence to seize on heav- 
 enly things — giving all diligence to make 
 our calling and election sure. 
 
 I have been led into this apparent digres- 
 sion, by a conviction, that the neglect of the 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 138 
 
 principle I have endeavoured to establish, 
 has tended much to promote that wandering 
 distractedness of mind, in devotion, which 
 so often consumes, as it were, its very vitals. 
 
 We are more responsible for the regula- 
 tion of our thoughts, because the control of 
 them is placed more within our reach, than 
 we are perhaps aware, or willing to admit : 
 and I would again and again impress the all- 
 important truth, that a due and hallowed re- 
 gulation of our thoughts throughout the day, 
 would have, under the divine blessing, a 
 most powerful tendency to restrain them 
 from wandering, and enable us to fix them 
 on holy and heavenly things, in our devo- 
 tional communion with God. 
 
 There are several things palpably in our 
 own power, connected with this subject, a 
 faithful observance of which would have a 
 most beneficial influence on our devotional 
 enjoyments. 
 
 If I find that reading a particular book 
 has a tendency to excite in my mind a train 
 of thoughts and feelings, unfriendly to a de- 
 12 
 
134 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 votional spirit, because unfitting me for con- 
 verse with a God of infinite purity and holi- 
 ness, it is, beyond all controversy, in my 
 power to avoid reading that book. 
 
 If I will read it, notwithstanding my ex- 
 perience of its baneful effects, I may then 
 be utterly unable to stem the tide of vicious 
 thoughts that rushes in upon my mind ; or 
 to bid away the voluptuous visions that are 
 conjured up before the eye of my imagina- 
 tion ; because I have, with my own hand, 
 opened the flood-gates, that poured in that 
 tide of thought ; and, by my own voice, 
 evoked those spirits of evil, that will readily 
 come at my bidding, but not at my bidding 
 depart. Still, it is manifest, that I am an- 
 swerable before God, for all the guilt I con- 
 tract through the medium of that ensnaring 
 book, because it was plainly in my power 
 not to take up the book. 
 
 Satan cannot compel me to do this ; though 
 if 1 venture, in opposition to the plain and 
 positive command of God, to read what by 
 experience I have found is fraught with in- 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 135 
 
 jurious influences, Satan may be permitted 
 to use the instrumentality of that work, to 
 excite in me thoughts and desires utterly in- 
 compatible with a devotional spirit. And 
 as, in reading such a book, I have ventured 
 on a disobedient act of self-indulgence, and 
 wandered out of the pale of the Holy Spirit's 
 promised protection, I must encounter Sa- 
 tan in my own unaided strength. 
 
 Can we calculate, without a shudder, the 
 consequences of such an encounter, when 
 we look at the warm-hearted, zealous Peter, 
 in consequence of a similar experiment, de- 
 nying, with horrible oaths and imprecations, 
 that he ever knew the Lord 1 
 
 I have dwelt more in detail on this par- 
 ticular instance, because the spirit of these 
 observations will equally apply to indulging 
 in any style of conversation, society, occu- 
 pation, or amusement, which is found by 
 experience to awaken such imaginations or 
 passions, as unfit us for direct devotional in- 
 tercourse with God. And must not this 
 test, if honestly applied, stamp with the 
 
136 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 Strongest mark of condemnation, as alto- 
 gether unsuitable recreations for a child of 
 God, the theatre, the ball-room, and all those 
 resorts of fashionable gaiety, which are so 
 deeply impregnated with the essential spirit 
 of worldliness, that devotional feelings can- 
 not but droop and die in their chilling atmos- 
 phere? For how can a child of God consistent- 
 ly seek for enjoyment in scenes, in the midst 
 of which it would be an impious mockery 
 of the Most High to bend the knee in sup- 
 plication or thanksgiving before a throne of 
 grace ; and from which it would, indeed, be 
 no less than a miracle to be enabled to bring 
 home a devotional spirit to the retirement 
 of the closet, or to retain a relish or a meet- 
 ness, with feelings distracted, and exhausted, 
 by scenes of feverish excitement, for devout 
 intercourse with a holy God. So that if we 
 are really desirous to enjoy such intercourse 
 in our closet, undistractedly, we must resolve, 
 in divine strength, throughout the day, to 
 avoid every thing, (no matter what attrac- 
 tions it may present, or what pretences for 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 137 
 
 indulgence either from constitutional tem- 
 perament, or deep-rooted tastes, or long- 
 cherished habits, it may plead,) which con- 
 jures up any class of thoughts or feelings, that, 
 if suddenly called upon to unite in prayer 
 to God we would wish to bid away, before 
 we could presume to address ourselves to 
 Him, who is of purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity. 
 
 How can we expect thoughts, whose abid- 
 ing with us we have wooed all day, to de- 
 part from us, at a moment's notice, at night ? 
 How can we complain, if feelings that have 
 been cherished as welcome guests all the 
 day long, refused to be turned out of doors, 
 the instant we choose to order them away ? 
 
 If, then, child of God, you do indeed 
 desire to be relieved from that wandering 
 distractedness in devotion, under whose 
 galling burthen you have so often groaned, 
 I know no rule of more vital importance 
 than this one ; abstain, with conscientious 
 strictness, I had almost said scrupulosity, 
 from whatever (no matter how, in other 
 
138 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 respects, desirable or delightful) you have 
 found, or may justly fear, to be calcu- 
 lated to excite in you such thoughts, desires, 
 or feelings, as would unfit, or indispose you 
 for immediately joining in prayer to God. — 
 And if such spontaneously arise, without 
 external excitements of your procuring, or 
 are suggested by unavoidable objects, or by 
 the inspiration of Satan, immediately check 
 them ; do not indulge or parley with them 
 for a moment ; look up for strength to over- 
 come them — silently implore the Spirit's 
 aid ; thus resist the devil, and you shall 
 conquer. 
 
 Having thus, throughout the day, in the 
 spirit of the apostolical injunction, " watch- 
 ed unto prayer with all perseverance," 
 when the hour of offering up the sacrifice, 
 for which you have been thus making such 
 diligent preparation, arrives, seek to enter 
 on the solemn service with all possible se- 
 riousness, and recollectedness of spirit, as 
 feeling that you are about to be engaged in 
 the most sublime and important occupation. 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 139 
 
 in which a created being can be employed 
 — holding direct communion and converse 
 with Almighty God. 
 
 Pause for a while, before you kneel down, 
 that by reflecting on the unutterable majesty 
 of the Being you are about to address, your 
 soul may be stilled into a deep solemnity of 
 feeling; and the very atmosphere, hallowed, 
 as it were, by the divine presence, may 
 seem to breathe a holy awe around. 
 
 Seek to come before God with an over- 
 whelming sense of His infinite purity and 
 glory, and your own utter unworthiness 
 and vileness. Such as constrained Isaiah, 
 when he had seen the Lord, sitting upon a 
 throne, high and lifted up, and had heard 
 the seraphims crying one to another, " Holy, 
 holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," to exclaim 
 with trembling awe, and self-abasement, 
 " Woe is me, for I am undone ! because I 
 am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the 
 midst of a people of unclean lips ; for mine 
 eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts !" 
 — Such as forced from Job, after the Al- 
 
140 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 mighty had spoken to him out of the whirl- 
 wind, (in language, compared with whose 
 grandeur the loftiest of human composi- 
 tions are, indeed, but as a whisper to the 
 loudest thunder,) the self-abhorring exclama- 
 tion, " Behold, I am vile ! what shall I an- 
 swer thee ? I will lay my hand upon my 
 mouth. I have heard of Thee by the hear- 
 ing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth 
 Thee ; wherefore I abhor myself and repent 
 in dust and ashes !" 
 
 Realize the conviction that God is listen- 
 ing — look up, by faith, into the heaven of 
 heavens — behold the scene at which we 
 have before glanced, there opened to your 
 view. See Jesus waiting to present your 
 petitions before the throne, and, through 
 His all-prevailing intercession, to obtain 
 from the Father a gracious answer to your 
 prayers. 
 
 Glance at Gethsemane and Calvary ! 
 Call to remembrance what your divine Ad- 
 vocate had there to suffer, to make the 
 throne of God, to you, a throne of grace ; 
 
WATCHFULNESS IN PRAYER. 141 
 
 to which you might be privileged, through 
 His blood, even to come boldly, with an 
 humble confidence, that you cannot ask for 
 blessings greater than the Father is willing 
 to give you, for His dear Son's sake. 
 
 Then seek to realize an affecting sense 
 of the value of the blessings you are about 
 to implore — blessings, in themselves so pre- 
 cious, that the Son of God thought it not 
 too much to purchase them for His people, 
 at the price of His own blood ! And just 
 consider what their value must be, to be 
 worthy of such a price — what it must be, 
 when He who created all things in heaven 
 and earth, and whom what is infinite alone 
 can satisfy, deems the procurement of 
 these blessings for His beloved people, an 
 abundant recompense for all the travail of 
 His soul, on their behalf; a recompense^ 
 with which — ecen He is satisfied. 
 
 But, while it is thus meet, right, and your 
 bounden duty, that you should use every 
 exertion, to excite and maintain a devo- 
 tional spirit, as energetically as if every 
 
142 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 thing depended on your own efforts, oh ! 
 never for one moment forget, that you 
 could as easily, by your own strength, scale 
 the heavens, as by any efforts of your own, 
 independently of the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit, send up a single fervent and effectual 
 prayer to the throne of God. 
 
 Were I asked, which of all the scriptural 
 injunctions, on the subject of prayer, I con- 
 ceive to be of paramount importance, for 
 enabling a child of God to maintain a 
 prayerful frame, I would at once answer — 
 " Praying always, with all prayer and sup- 
 plication in the Spirit — praying in the Holy 
 Ghostr 
 
 And if there be one passage, pre-emi- 
 nently distinguished above all others, for 
 the instruction and consolation it imparts, it 
 is that precious one in which we are assur- 
 ed, " that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities ; 
 for we know not what we should pray for, 
 as we ought ; but the Spirit maketh inter- 
 cession for us, with groanings which cannot 
 be uttered." 
 
DEPENDENCE IN PRAYER. 143 
 
 Yes ! child of God, if you would indeed, 
 pray acceptably, you must approach the 
 throne of grace, in a spirit of the most im- 
 plicit reliance on the divine teaching and 
 inspiration of God, the Holy Ghost. You 
 must remember, that after all your prepara- 
 tion of thoughts and recollections, suitable 
 to the solemn occasion, you have but laid 
 the w^ood in order, and arranged the sacri- 
 fice on the altar — it is the Blessed Spirit 
 that must send dow^n the fire from heaven, 
 to consume the sacrifice, and make it ascend 
 as a sweet-smelling savour before God. To 
 this divine Teacher you must look, to in- 
 struct you both in the subject and spirit of 
 your devotions ; both what to pray for, and 
 how to pray. 
 
 You must apply to Him, as your divine 
 Agent, to draw up those petitions, which 
 Jesus, as your divine Advocate, is to pre- 
 sent unto God. 
 
 It is the Holy Spirit's breath, which can 
 
 alone kindle the sparks of devotional feel- 
 
 4ing, and fan them into a flame. It is tt(£ 
 
144 ADDRESS \X 
 
 Holy Spirit's power which can alone, with 
 almighty energy, lift up your earth-bound 
 soul out of the dust, and raise it to the skies. 
 It is He who can alone invest you with that 
 divine panoply — the whole armour of God.* 
 It is He that must give your desires those 
 wings of celestial workmanship, the wings 
 of faith and hope, with which they will soar 
 up, as eagles, and pierce the yielding skies, 
 till they have won their way even to the 
 very throne — yea ! to the ear of Him who 
 sitteth upon the throne. And though the 
 winged messenger you thus send up to heav- 
 en be but an unutterable groan, an almost 
 inaudible sigh, yet will He who understand- 
 eth the meaning of the Spirit, and can hear 
 the very faintest whisperings of His voice, 
 listen to every supplication He inspires, 
 with an attentive and delighted ear. 
 
 In every part, then, of your spiritual 
 work and warfare, but more especially in 
 
 ♦ See on this subject, one of the most valuable treatises 
 in the whole range of practical theology — " Gurnall's 
 Christian Armour." 
 
DEPENDENCE IN PRAYER. 145 
 
 all your devotional intercourse with your 
 God, maintain an entire dependence on the 
 promised inspiration and influence of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Ever keep in mind the glorious and all- 
 important offices, which this blessed Spirit 
 sustains, in the economy of redemption. 
 
 Remember He is the imparter and sus- 
 tainer of all spiritual life — the guide into all 
 spiritual truth — the dispenser of all spiritual 
 grace — the fountain and conveyancer of all 
 spiritual peace, and joy, and consolation. 
 
 This is the Spirit, who moves upon the 
 rude and restless passions of a soul, darken- 
 ed and distracted by sin ; and out of its 
 chaos of conflicting elements, educes a new 
 and beautiful creation, where all is harmo- 
 ny, and holiness, and happiness. 
 
 This Spirit also is the alone infalhble 
 commentator on the word of God — the re- 
 vealer of mysteries — the expositor of pre- 
 cepts — the remembrancer of promises — the 
 inspirer of prayer. 
 
 In the church, this divine Spirit has he^^ 
 13 
 
146 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 in every age, the source of its illumination 
 — the sustainer of its influence — its beacon, 
 and bulwark — its guiding pillar, and pro- 
 tecting shield — the inspirer of prophets — 
 the teacher of apostles — the upholder of 
 martyrs — the comforter of Christians — the 
 glorifier of Christ. 
 
 To every individual member of Christ's 
 mystical body, this blessed Spirit is the 
 Alpha and Omega, the all in all, of his spir- 
 itual knowledge, safety, strength, and joy — 
 the enlightener of his understanding — the 
 regulator of his will — ^the controller of his 
 passions — the cleanser of his imagination — 
 the purifier of his heart — the sanctifier of 
 his soul. 
 
 " Has he peace and joy in believing, and 
 does he abound in hope ? It is through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost. Is he strength- 
 ened with might in the inner man ? It is 
 by the Spirit. Is he, on beholding with 
 open face, as in a glass, the glory of the 
 Lord, changed into the same image, from 
 glory to glory ? It is by the Spirit of the 
 
DEPENDENCE IN PRAYER. 147 
 
 Lord. Does he know, to his unspeakable 
 comfort, that Jesus is the Lord ? No man 
 can say this savingly, but by the Holy 
 Ghost. Is any offering he presents to God, 
 in faith, acceptable ? It is, as being sancti 
 fied by the Holy Ghost. Is he chosen unto 
 salvation ? It is through sanctification of 
 the Spirit. Is he sealed unto the day of re- 
 demption ? It is by the same Spirit." 
 
 Yes, believer ! I would deeply impress 
 on you the recollection, that if there be a 
 single breathing of spiritual life within your 
 soul ; if a single spark of the love of Christ, 
 glowing within your heart ; if a single trace 
 of conformity to Christ, discernible in your 
 character ; if ever a promise of the gospel 
 has spoken peace to your troubled spirit ; 
 or a hope of the Gospel has ever brightened 
 to your view the visions of eternity ; for all 
 this you are indebted to the Spirit of all 
 grace, and love, and peace, and glary ! 
 
 And why do I thus impress on you nere 
 a sense of your infinite obligations to this 
 l»lessed Spirit? Is it to give emphasis to 
 
148 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 the apostolical injunction, " Quench not the 
 Spirit ! Grieve not the Holy Spirit ;" for it 
 is to Him you must look for all those holy 
 tempers and dispositions, of which we have 
 spoken, as constituting the necessary pre- 
 paratives and ingredients for composing the 
 spirit of prayer. 
 
 Yes, it is He that must rouse your sluggish 
 faculties — warm your cold heart — elevate 
 your grovelling affections — check your wan- 
 dering thoughts — cleanse your polluted 
 imaginations, — and thus fit you for commu- 
 nion with a pure and holy God. 
 
 Beware, then, of quenching the Spirit's 
 inspiration ! Grieve Him not, by the indul- 
 gence of sinful thoughts, tempers, or desires. 
 He is a pure Spirit, and dove-like, will not 
 dwell in a defiled habitation — a sin-polluted 
 soul, in contact and converse with impure 
 and unholy appetites and lusts. He is a 
 gentle Spirit, that loves peace, and holy 
 quiet ; the loud angry voice of contention 
 and clamour will frighten Him away ! He 
 is a loving Spirit, and will not fix His abode 
 
DEPENDENCE IN PRAYER. 149 
 
 in a breast, where envy, malice, resentment, 
 or unkindness are allowed to dwell ! Oh ! 
 do not drive Him from you, by preferring to 
 His companionship such guests as these. 
 Gratefully listen to His slightest whispers ; 
 cheerfully obey His gentlest suggestions ; 
 cherish, with a holy jealousy. His celestial 
 influences. Then, indeed, may you expect 
 often to enjoy such sweet communion with 
 your covenant-God, in the devotional re- 
 tirement of your closet, that, like Jacob, you 
 will be ready to exclaim, " Surely God has 
 been in this place, and made it no other 
 than the very gate of heaven !" and from 
 this high and holy converse with your God, 
 you will return to the world, like Moses, 
 coming down from the mount, with such a 
 heavenly light, still lingering about you, and 
 shedding such a lustre of holiness over alii 
 your words, and actions, as will proclaim to. 
 all around that you have been with God. 
 
 Thus combining all that Scripture re- 
 quires, as essential to the spirit of devotion,, 
 you will increasingly find prayer, as youj 
 
150 ADDRESS VI. 
 
 travel heavenward, your support and solace, 
 amidst all the toils, and trials, you may meet 
 with on the way. 
 
 Continually supplied, through this chan- 
 nel, with invigorating and refreshing influ- 
 ences from above, you will pass on fron* 
 strength to strength, till you reach that 
 blessed place, where there will be no more 
 need of any channel for divine communica- 
 tions ; for there you shall drink direct from 
 the divine Fountain of light, and life — 
 exchanging the foretastes of faith for the 
 fulness of fruition ; the prospects of hope, 
 for the possession of heaven : and the sup- 
 plications of struggling prayer, before the 
 throne of grace, for the songs of triumphant 
 praise, before the throne of glory. 
 
ADDRESS VII. 
 
 ON PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 
 
 " Be careful for nothing ; but, in all things, by prayer 
 and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be 
 made known unto God." — Phil. iv. 6. 
 
 It has been, I believe, a question among 
 Christians, whether a child of God should 
 make temporal blessings a subject of suppli- 
 cation at the throne of grace ; or whether 
 he should leave the disposal of them unre- 
 servedly in his heavenly Father's hands, not 
 merely not presuming to dictate what his 
 covenant-God should give, but even ventur- 
 ing to intimate what he himself would wish 
 to receive. 
 
 Our utter ignorance of what is really for 
 our good in our temporal matters, may have 
 suggested the propriety and prudence of 
 thus leaving all that concerns them, unre- 
 
152 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 servedly, in our heavenly Father's hands, 
 without even the expression of a wish upon 
 the subject ; and this idea may have appear- 
 ed to be countenanced by the advice of our 
 blessed Lord, when He enjoined His disci- 
 ples to take no thought, even about the ne- 
 cessary supplies of food or raiment ; for, 
 says Jesus, " after all these things do the 
 Gentiles seek ; and your heavenly Father 
 knoweth that ye have need of these things ; 
 but seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
 His righteousness, and all these things shall 
 be added unto you." 
 
 But surely we are not entitled to infer 
 from these expressions, that prayer for tem- 
 poral blessings is forbidden. For if the fact 
 of our heavenly Father's knowing that we 
 have need of them, and the assurance that, 
 if we seek first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness, all these, in whatever mea- 
 sure He knows to be best, shall be supplied 
 to us ; if these render prayer on their be- 
 half unwarrantable or superfluous, the same 
 mode of reasoning would apply, with in- 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 153 
 
 creased emphasis to prove the superfluity 
 of prayer for spiritual blessings ; because 
 here, pre-eminently, our heavenly Father 
 knows that we have need of them, and has 
 specially promised, that, if we seek them in 
 faith, they shall be given unto us. But, if 
 this knowledge and promise, on the part of 
 God, in the one case, do not supersede the 
 necessity or propriety of prayer, why should 
 they in the other? 
 
 Besides, if we examine the passage, and 
 its context, more closely, we shall perceive 
 that our Lord's design was not to prove the 
 impropriety of humble prayer, for temporal 
 mercies, but the sinfulness of a dishonour- 
 ing disbelief of God's providential care over 
 His children : not to forbid devout supplica- 
 tion, but distrustful solicitude, about the ob- 
 jects of our earthly wants and wishes. 
 
 For this purpose he appeals, with affect- 
 ing beauty of language, and tenderness of 
 feeling, to the birds of the air, and the 
 flowers of the field ; that He may thus carry 
 home to our hearts, with irresistible demon- 
 
154 /VDDRESS VII. 
 
 stration, the precious and consolatory as- 
 surance, which ought to dispel all our anx- 
 ieties and alarms about our earthly wants, 
 that He who feeds the birds, will not starve 
 His babes," — that He who is so mindful of 
 sparrows, will not be unmindful of His saints. 
 And when our Lord desires us, because 
 of the paramount importance of eternal 
 things, to " seek first the kingdom of God, 
 and His righteousness," with a cheerful as- 
 surance that to those who do so, all needful 
 temporal blessings will be supplied, (super- 
 added, as it were, to the spiritual blessings 
 so abundantly bestowed,) this by no means 
 forbids, but rather by implication, directs 
 us, secondly, to seek, and, therefore, to pray 
 for, those inferior blessings, with desires 
 and supplications proportioned to their in- 
 ferior value. Just as the Redeemer's com- 
 mand, to " labour not for the meat that per- 
 isheth, but for that which endureth to ever- 
 lasting life," does not imply that we are not 
 to labour at all for the body's necessary 
 food, but only that we should labour more 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 155 
 
 earnestly for the spiritual food of our im- 
 mortal souls ! The design, in both instances, 
 is manifesly the same — to make us feel the 
 supreme, the infinite importance of those 
 things, which have impressed on them the 
 stamp of eternity, that we may learn to 
 labour for them, with a zeal proportioned to 
 their infinite value ; and to pursue all tem- 
 poral good with that subordinate solicitude, 
 with which beings, born for immortality, 
 should seek any object, whose value is, in 
 the light of eternity, seen to be of compara- 
 tively so little worth. 
 
 We see, then, that this passage, (apparent- 
 ly the strongest dissuasive from prayer for 
 temporal blessings,) is only designed, when 
 rightly understood, to teach the children of 
 God the sweet lesson of cheerful trust in 
 their heavenly Father's providential bounty 
 and care, as pledged to supply them with all 
 needful accommodations for their journev 
 through the wilderness, to their inheritance 
 above. 
 
 But though not prohibited, are we w^ar- 
 
156 ADDRESS vn. 
 
 ranted, by scriptural authority, to pray for 
 temporal blessings ? 
 
 I think we are, and by an authority so de- 
 cisive, as at once to determine the point — 
 the authority of the Author and Finisher of 
 our faith. 
 
 If we turn to that brief, but most beauti- 
 ful prayer, which has been taught us by 
 more than human lips — that divine directory 
 for our devotions, which, though so compen- 
 dious in substance, is yet so comprehensive 
 in spirit, that there is not, perhaps, a petition 
 w^e can suitably present to God, which is 
 not reducible under the head of some one of 
 its clauses, we shall find, (as it appears to me,) 
 our divine Redeemer's sanction, for making 
 temporal blessings the subject of supplication, 
 in the clause — " Give us this day our daily 
 bread." 
 
 That our blessed Lord included, in this 
 petition, a reference to our spiritual food, 
 the bread of life, which nourisheth the soul, 
 may be fully admitted ; as also that He de- 
 signed to remind His people, that they as in- 
 
PRAYER rOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 157 
 
 dispensably require a fresh supply of this ce- 
 lestial food each day, to keep the soul in 
 spiritual health and strength, as of their daily 
 bread for the support of their natural life. 
 But it is more consistent with the beautiful 
 simplicity of our Lord's style, to conclude 
 that, in its primary sense. He intended us, 
 by this petition, to lay our temporal wantg 
 before our heavenly Father, and thus to look 
 up to the same all-bounteous hand, to supply 
 both our temporal and spiritual necessities ; 
 that so, receiving both alike from the same 
 gracious God, they may both draw our hearts 
 closer, by the threefold cord of dependence, 
 trust, and gratitude, to the Giver of all our 
 blessings — the Author and Sustainer both of 
 our natural and spiritual life. 
 
 'Tis true — and it is most worthy of all ob- 
 servation, that both the place it occupies, and 
 the nature of the petition itself, teach us to 
 Dound our desires and supplications for tem- 
 poral things, within the limits of the soberest 
 moderation. 
 
 When we consider how little it asks, and 
 14 
 
158 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 that even that little is not asked, till after the 
 heart has poured forth its fervent desires 
 for the advancement of our heavenly Father's 
 glory, in those repeated supplications — "Hal- 
 lowed be Thy name : Thy kingdom come : 
 Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heav- 
 en :" how strikingly are we taught, that the 
 spirit in which a child of God should ap 
 proach his heavenly Father in prayer, is a 
 spirit of supreme solicitude for that Father's 
 glory, absorbing all other anxieties and aims, 
 and subordinating to this grateful feeling all 
 solicitude or supplication about our own 
 wishes or wants. 
 
 It seems to put this language into the lips 
 of a child of God, when coming to pour out 
 his heart in prayer, before his Father in 
 heaven — " Oh ! my Father, thou knowest 
 that it is the first, the dearest desire of this 
 heart, that Thy name may be hallowed ; 
 Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done ! 
 Thy glory is far dearer to me, than any sep- 
 arate or selfish interests of my own. This, 
 therefore, I would make the object of my 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 159 
 
 first, my most fervent supplications. If this 
 be accomplished — if Thy glory, O my Fa- 
 ther, be but advanced, in the wide-spread 
 extension of thy kingdom, and universal and 
 unlimited obedience to Thy w^ill, in earth 
 and heaven, the most ardent desires of this 
 heart are abundantly satisfied ; and as for 
 myself, all I ask is — Give me, this day, my 
 daily bread !" 
 
 Oh, surely, w^hen we thus contrast the 
 priority of place, and fervency and frequen- 
 cy of entreaty, distinguishing the petitions 
 for the advancement of God's glory, with 
 the simple supplication subjoined — " Give 
 me my daily bread !" are we not forcibly re- 
 minded, that when our heavenly Father's 
 honour is concerned, we should be indeed, 
 ambitious ; and our desires should burn with 
 intense ardour ; and our supplications be en- 
 larged, and importunate, and persevering ; 
 but where our own wants or wishes are con- 
 cerned, we should be most unambitious, and 
 oui desires be bounded by simplicity and 
 moderation, and our supplications be propor- 
 
160 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 tionably simple and moderate. But still, 
 does not this very petition, while it suggests 
 the spirit in which we should pray for tem- 
 poral blessings, supply us with a scriptural 
 warrant for such prayers ? And does not 
 the petition thus understood, afford a most 
 beautiful commentary on those words of our 
 blessed Lord, to which we have before ad- 
 verted, as containing, in the opinion of some, 
 a dissuasive from prayer for temporal bles- 
 sings — " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
 and His righteousness, and all these things 
 shall be added unto you ?" 
 
 Does not this clause in the Lord's prayer 
 give us His own divine comment on His own 
 injunction ; and tell us that, while the king- 
 dom of God, and His righteousness, and His 
 glory, should be sought by us, as objects of 
 prime and paramount solicitude, (because of 
 their prime and paramount glory in them- 
 selves, and value to us as destined for im- 
 mortality.) still may those temporal blessings, 
 of which our heavenly Father knoweth we 
 have need, be desired and supplicated but. 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 161 
 
 only with that strictly subordinate measure 
 of interest, which is suitable to their alto- 
 gether subordinate value. 
 
 This petition seems to determine the point 
 in question, because, though the thing suppli- 
 cated be but daily bread, to intimate with 
 how small a portion of this world's goods the 
 children of God should be content, still does 
 it fully sanction the principle, that we are 
 permitted to make temporal blessings the 
 subject of supplication. 
 
 To this I will only subjoin, by way of con- 
 firmation, the apostolical injunction — " Be 
 careful for nothing; but in all things, by 
 prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, 
 let your requests be made known unto God.'* 
 
 Observe in all things without limitation 
 or exception ; all things — temporal and spirit- 
 ual — all things connected with the concerns 
 and interests both of time and eternity. 
 
 Now two important advantages appear 
 to result from being thus privileged, in re- 
 gard to temporal, as well as spiritual things, 
 to make our requests known unto God. 
 14* 
 
162 ADDRESS vn. 
 
 The first, is, that it supplies a most valua- 
 ble directoiy for the regulation of our desires, 
 in all temporal matters. A child of God 
 could not adopt a safer rule, on this subject, 
 than never to loisli for any thing, for which 
 he could not properlypr«y — never to cherish 
 a desire, which he could not convert into a 
 prayer. 
 
 It were a waste of time to multiply w^ords 
 in proving, how this cuts up by the root, at 
 once, all sinful desires ; all such as have for 
 their object any forbidden indulgence — any 
 gratification, incompatible with the character 
 of a christian, as being opposed to the will 
 and word of God. Only think, how horri- 
 ble even to glance at the idea of asking the 
 pure, and righteous, and loving God, to en- 
 able us to gratify some impure desire, or 
 succeed in some fraudulent speculation, or 
 accomplish some revengeful plan. 
 
 The spirit of this observation will apply 
 to all inordinate desires, whether prompted 
 by ambition, covetousness, or that most 
 subtle and seductive sin, to whose snares the 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 163 
 
 children of God are especially exposed — 
 idolatrous affection. 
 
 Picture to your mind a child of God pray- 
 ing to his heavenly Father, to indulge him 
 in such desires as these ; t'o raise him to 
 some exalted station, that his pride may be 
 gratified, by his being admired and applauded 
 among his fellow men ; or to lavish on him 
 abundant wealth, that he may possess the 
 means of plunging deeper into worldly lux- 
 uries, and sensual enjoyments ; or to render 
 him an object of idolatrous love to some fel- 
 low-creature, to whom he may be allowed, 
 as a supreme source of hope and happiness, 
 to stand in God's stead. You feel how you 
 would shrink from offering up such prayers. 
 Then equally shrink from indulging such de- 
 sires. 
 
 In truth, you may at once determine the 
 lawfulness of any desire, by bringing it to 
 the test of this spiritual touchstone. 
 
 Just consider for a moment, can you come 
 mto your heavenly Father's presence, with 
 an assured heart, and cheerful courage, 
 
164 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 grounded on the warrant of His revealed 
 will and word, to ask Him to give you the 
 desire of your heart. If you can, it is quite 
 compatible with your character, as a child 
 of God, to cherish that desire. But if there 
 be anything, either in the object it&el»f, or the 
 circumstances connected with it, or the 
 means necessary for its attainment, which 
 makes you pause, and feel uncomfortable 
 and reluctant at the thought of bringing the 
 matter in prayer before God, and asking 
 what you wish for, at His hands, then should 
 you suspect the lawfulness of such a desire ; 
 and in this case, you should examine it 
 more closely in the light of Scripture, and 
 weigh it more carefully in the balance of 
 the sanctuary, with an honest determina- 
 tion, (formed in humble reliance on divine 
 strength,) to abide by the result of this scrip- 
 tural investigation. And if your desire be 
 found wanting in any essential qualification, 
 which characterizes such as are suitable to a 
 child of God, then be it even dear to you as a 
 right hand, or a right eye, cut it off — pluck 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 165 
 
 it out — cast it away from you. And if you 
 make this sacrifice, in a spirit of grateful sub- 
 mission and love to God, oh ! will you not 
 be abundantly recompensed for any earthly 
 enjoyment you may give up, when you hear 
 His voice saying to you — "Because thou 
 hast done this thing, and hast not withheld 
 this darling desire of thine heart from me, 
 but hast cheerfully sacrificed it for my sake, 
 and at my command, therefore, blessing I 
 will bless thee, saith God, even thy God." 
 
 The second advantage that results from 
 making all our requests, in all things, known 
 unto God, by prayer and supplication, with 
 thanksgiving, is, that it supplies the most ef- 
 fectual antidote to that feverish thirst, that 
 fretful solicitude, about earthly enjoyments, 
 and earthly cares, which so constantly agi- 
 tate and harass the children of the world — 
 making their hearts like the troubled sea, 
 that cannot rest ; and which too often, alas ! 
 are allowed to disturb the peace even of the 
 children of God : distracting with agitating 
 anxiety those bosoms, which ought ever to 
 
166 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 exhibit a tranquillity, as unruffled as the 
 smooth surface of the placid lake, when the 
 moonbeams are sleeping on its peaceful bo- 
 som, and not a breath of wind is abroad, to 
 disturb its deep repose. Is not this the state 
 of mind, which a child of God is privileged 
 to possess, when he reflects, that if the com- 
 bined exertions of all the glorious attributes of 
 the Godhead, which all are solemnly pledged, 
 and unceasingly employed on his behalf) 
 can secure his happiness both for time and 
 eternity, then is his happiness as secure, in 
 the hands of the God of his salvation, as his 
 heart could possibly desire. 
 
 Is not this what the apostle meant, when 
 he said — "Be careful for nothing?" And 
 having recommended prayer and supplica- 
 tion, with thanksgiving, as a divine remedy 
 for all carefulness, does he not represent, as 
 the blessed result of following his prescrip- 
 tion, the enjoyment of that peace, which no 
 worldly joys can ever give, and (blessed be 
 God !) no worldly sorrows can ever take 
 aw^ay ? — " Let your requests, in all things. 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 1G7 
 
 be made known unto God ; and the peace 
 of God, which passeth all understanding, 
 shall keep your heart and mind, through 
 Christ Jesus?" 
 
 Yes ! believer, follow this one rule faith- 
 fully ! and you will have as much of heaven 
 on earth, as can possibly be enjoyed. 
 
 Oh ! it is strange, it is surpassingly strange, 
 that when the children of God are privileged 
 to get rid of all care, by casting it all on God, 
 rolling over the whole burthen of it on His 
 almighty arm, and so might travel on to His 
 house in heaven, with a light step, and a 
 lighter heart — unencumbered by a single so- 
 licitude about temporal things ; they are yet 
 so enamoured of earthly sorrow — so averse 
 to the enjoyment of heavenly peace, that 
 they prefer dragging on the galling chain of 
 worldly anxiety, which so clogs and fetters 
 their every step, in running the race set be- 
 fore them, making them so often halt, and 
 stumble on the way. 
 
 Strange, is it not, that God should be so 
 tenderly — so affectionately solicitous, that His 
 
168 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 children should enjoy uninterrupted peace 
 by reposing, in a spirit of faithful careless- 
 ness, on His own faithfulness, wisdom, power, 
 and love ; and that they should be so reluc- 
 tant to be as happy, as their heavenly Fa- 
 ther wishes them to be ? 
 
 Now, for the maintenance of that blessed 
 frame of mind, which makes the breast 
 where it reigns a very miniature of heaven, I 
 know nothing more calculated, under the 
 divine blessing, to be efficacious, than the 
 habit recommended by the apostle, of mak- 
 ing our requests, in all things, known unto 
 God. 
 
 It is such a sweet feeling, to be allowed 
 to treat the blessed God with all the endear- 
 ing freedom and confidence of filial love — 
 to tell Him all that is in our hearts — to 
 spread out before Him every wish that is 
 cherished there — and to ask from Him 
 everything that we think is calculated to 
 promote our happiness, in the sweet assur- 
 ance that, if for our real good. He will most 
 gladly grant us the desire of our heart. 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 1G9 
 
 It does so unburthen the heart of its load 
 of solicitude, to take and fling the whole 
 weight of it on the arm of God. It does so 
 tranquillize our spirits, to unbosom all their 
 most secret feelings to the Father of spirits, 
 in the humble confidence — the holy freedom 
 of filial aflfection, and fervent prayer. 
 
 Having, then weighed your desires in the 
 balance of the sanctuary, and ascertained 
 that they are such, as you can consistently 
 present before God, always bring them be- 
 fore Him, in prayer and supplication with 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 Make your request fully known to Him — 
 lay the whole case unreservedly before Him 
 — relieve your full heart, by pouring out all 
 its wishes into your heavenly Father's ears ; 
 and then, leave the matter cheerfully and 
 confidingly in His hands. And you may rest 
 assured that if what you desire, and have 
 asked for, will really conduce to your true — 
 that is your spiritual and eternal welfare, 
 God will as freely give it to you, as he freely 
 gave His own Son. 
 
 15 
 
170 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 But never forget, how utterly incompe- 
 tent you are to form a correct judgment of 
 what, in temporal things, is really best for 
 you ; how prone you are to be deceived by 
 false appearances of seeming good ; how 
 totally ignorant you are of the results to 
 your spiritual interests, that would attend 
 the attainment of your earthly wishes. 
 
 Of all this you are ignorant, but your 
 God is not. Leave it therefore to Him to 
 choose for you. Remember how often, if 
 your own choice had been allowed you, and 
 the desires of your heart granted, you would 
 have been utterly ruined, as to your present 
 peace, if not your etei-nal prospects. Oh ! 
 learn wisdom for the future, from the ex- 
 perience of the past. Whenever God'sjudg- 
 ment and will run counter to yours, with re- 
 gard to some desired object which you have 
 asked, as thinking it would ensure your hap- 
 piness, but which He refuses, accustom your- 
 self to say — "JTe knows best" Trust me, 
 there is in those three short words, repeated 
 in faith and resignation, a sacred charm. 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSlxXGS. 171 
 
 which can allay the most distracting anxieties 
 — reconcile a believer's mind to the bitter- 
 est disappointments, and enable him to re- 
 ceive, with a calm, and even a cheerful 
 smile, the refusal of his fondest earthly 
 wishes — the blighting of his dearest earthly 
 hopes. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, your heavenly Fa- 
 ther refuses your request for any earthly 
 object, say to yourself, " Because He loves 
 me. He refuses to give me, what He knows 
 Satan would render a successful snare, to 
 seduce me into sin. My Father sees the 
 lurking mischief in the object of my wishes, 
 which I cannot detect — the serpent con- 
 cealed amidst the flowers, which strew 
 the path I would so delight to tread — the 
 secret poison, mingled in the sparkling 
 draught, which I so desire to drink — and, 
 therefore, in the very faithfulness and ten- 
 derness of His love. He shields me from the 
 dangers, and saves me from the ruin, I 
 neither see nor fear, by denying requests, 
 
172 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 which it would be criiehy to my soul to 
 grant." 
 
 May you not, in this, learn a lesson from 
 an earthly parent's love ? Suppose you 
 were walking in the fields with a beloved 
 child, and that he, tempted by the beautiful 
 aspect of some poison berries, were eagerly 
 to entreat of you to gather them, and give 
 them to him to eat : would a father's love 
 allow you to comply with his request ? And 
 if he persevered in his entreaty, yea, even 
 if he asked you with pleading tears, would 
 you be acting a father's part, if you were to 
 yield to the eagerness of his desire, and the 
 importunity of his supplication, and give 
 him the poisoned fruit ? 
 
 And shall your heavenly Father be ex- 
 pected to act a part, the bare supposition of 
 which would be so deep an insult to an 
 earthly Father's love ? 
 
 But even admit, what you desire is not 
 poisoned pleasures, but pure and legitimate 
 enjoyments — such as He permits, and could 
 be asked to hallow and bless ; still they may 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 173 
 
 be utterly unfit for you. You could not, 
 perhaps, from your peculiar temperament 
 and bias, be safely trusted with them : 
 would it then be kindness in God to give 
 what. He knew, would hurt your soul ? 
 
 If you had a child, whose delicate consti- 
 tution rendered sweet-meats injurious to 
 his health, and tonic bitters indispensable, to 
 brace his debilitated frame, which would a 
 father's love prompt you to give your 
 child ? what would gratify his palate, or 
 what would promote his health? 
 
 Alas ! the children of God are indeed 
 little capable, even in their healthiest state, 
 of digesting the cloying sweets of worldly 
 ease, and earthly enjoyment. They require, 
 much more, the strengthening bitters of 
 affliction, to give tone and vigour to their 
 spiritual frame, and fit it for active exertion 
 in the service of their God. But of this 
 they may be assured, that, as their heavenly 
 Physician is their heavenly Father too, He 
 will not make the cup, in the smallest de- 
 gree, unnecessarily bitter ; but will propor- 
 15* 
 
174 ADDRESS vn. 
 
 tion it, with equal tenderness and skill, to 
 the constitution of the children of His love ; 
 for he knows their frame, their malady, and 
 the only means of cure ; knows all this, 
 with infallible certainty — and surely should 
 not be suspected of deriving a cruel plea- 
 sure, from putting his children to unnecessary 
 pain. So that they should cheerfully say, 
 however bitter the draught He has pre- 
 pared — "The cup which my Father hath 
 given me, shall I not drink it ?" 
 
 There is another train of thought, that 
 will tend much to reconcile you to the re- 
 fusal of your prayers for any temporal bles- 
 sings, by confirming the assurance that they 
 are refused by your heavenly Father in lov- 
 ing-kindness to your soul. 
 
 Habituate yourself to view them in the 
 light of Eternity, that you may not rate 
 them above their real value, or desire them 
 w^ith an eagerness, disproportioned to their 
 worth. 
 
 Compare them with the spiritual blessings 
 of the everlasting covenant ; and must you 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 175 
 
 not confess that the most precious of them 
 are, at best, but precious trifles, when com- 
 pared with these ? 
 
 I do not deny that health, competence, 
 worldly comforts, domestic happiness, are 
 in themselves desirable and valuable ; but 
 what are they, compared with the pardon 
 of sin — the sanctification of the soul — the 
 restoration to the divine favour — the re- 
 newal in the divine Image — the love of 
 Christ — the comforts of the Holy Ghost — 
 the means of grace — and the hope of glory 1 
 
 Will He who has given you the greater, 
 withhold from you the less, if they would 
 indeed be blessings to your soul ? 
 
 You desire, and with cheerful submission 
 ask from God, some temporal blessing — the 
 realization of some darling scheme, round 
 which you have fondly twined your dearest 
 hopes of earthly happiness. God refuses it 
 to your prayers. Why? Because it is too 
 great a blessing for Him to bestow ? In- 
 deed ! Do you really mean to say so ? 
 What ! does it, in the eternal Father's esti- 
 
176 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 malion — yea, or in our own — exceed in pre- 
 ciousness His own, His only Son ? Do you 
 rate it above Christ? Does it transcend 
 God's well-beloved Son in worth? Now 
 God gave Him for you ; liow then shall He 
 not, if for your good, give the other too ? 
 Still, you plead, the blessing you desire is 
 very precious ! Granted ! But does it, in 
 value, exceed " the inheritance among the 
 saints in light, incorruptible and undefiled, 
 and that fadeth not away ?" Now God has 
 reserved this in heaven for you ; and can 
 He then deem the other too great a blessing 
 to bestow ? For shame ! believer, to rate 
 your heavenly inheritance, Esau-like, below 
 a mess of pottage. The great God our 
 Saviour, the Giver of all, gave Himself for 
 you ; and yet, you think He grudges you 
 some trifling earthly gift, as a token of His 
 love. Why, what was the sin of Judas? 
 He valued Jesus less than thirty pieces of 
 silver ! Oh 1 have you never seemed to esti- 
 mate the Saviour, at as low a price ? Does 
 not a spirit of repining or distrust, because 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 177 
 
 any earthly object of desire is denied, while 
 you profess to believe, that in the bound- 
 lessness of His love, i\\e eternal Father 
 spared not his own Son — does not, I say, 
 such a spirit approximate towards a Judas' 
 valuation of the Saviour's worth ? And oh I 
 how should this thought make you shudder, 
 at the most distant approach towards over- 
 valuing earthly blessings, and undervaluing 
 the well-beloved Son of God. 
 
 I have dwelt the more anxiously on this 
 point, because there is, on this subject, the 
 strangest inconsistency in many of the chil- 
 dren of God. They are willing to trust God 
 with the vast concerns of their immortal 
 souls for everlasting ages, but reluctant to 
 trust Him with the petty concerns of their 
 perishable bodies, for a few years, or it may 
 be hours. They thankfully believe, that He 
 will dehght to make them perfectly happy, 
 throughout eternity ; and yet appear to sus- 
 pect, that He is unconcerned about their 
 happiness now ; yea, that He even visits 
 
178 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 them with trials and afflictions, superfluously 
 severe. 
 
 Now really can it be imagined that God 
 at an infinite cost, even at the price of the 
 blood of His own Son, has provided for the 
 adopted children of His love an eternal in- 
 heritance of inconceivable blessedness and 
 glory in heaven ; and yet will neglect to fur- 
 nish them with all needful supplies and com- 
 forts, on their way through this world's wil- 
 derness, to take possession of their inherit- 
 ance above ? 
 
 But perhaps unbelief will suggest the 
 thought — Is it not altogether incompatible 
 with the infinite majesty of the Almighty, to 
 take any interest in such contemptible trifles, 
 as the temporal concerns of poor, perishing 
 worms of the dust ? 
 
 Indeed ! Then what meant the Son of 
 God, when He said — " the very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." Why did he fasten 
 on a circumstance, of all conceivable ones 
 the most utterly unimportant to our weal or 
 woe — the number of the hairs of our head ? 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 179 
 
 Why select such an image — such an expres- 
 sion as this ? Was it not to say to the chil- 
 dren of God, in a language so emphatically 
 strong and endearing, that one might have 
 thought it would have been found sufficient 
 to overcome the unbelieving distrust of the 
 most incredulous, or the diffident fears of 
 the most timid — "Believe me there is no 
 circumstance connected with your welfare, 
 either for time or eternity, which your 
 Heavenly Father deems too trivial — too mi- 
 nute, to be placed within the sphere of 
 His directing superintendence, and watchful 
 care." 
 
 Oh ! not for the wealth of ten thousand 
 worlds, would I give up the blessed assur- 
 ance, which this sweetest expression war- 
 rants me to cherish, that the minutest events 
 of my life, (if I am a child of God, by a liv- 
 ing faith in His dear Son,) the exact measure 
 of health or sickness, comforts, or cares — 
 the precise proportion of earthly joys and 
 earthly sorrows — the fulfilment or frustra- 
 tion of my dearest earthly hopes — all, all are 
 
180 ADDRESS vn. 
 
 arranged for me, with the tenderest regard 
 to my weakness, and the kindest adaptation 
 to my wants, and the wisest consultation for 
 my welfare, by Him, the infinitude of whose 
 love for me, when I look at the cross, 1 vain- 
 ly endeavour to grasp, and can only look 
 there, and weep^ and wonder, and adore. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, child of God, you 
 feel tempted to repine, because your prayers 
 for some earthly object of desire are denied, 
 just reflect, if your God were to give you 
 the choice of two plans for the future ar- 
 rangement of the events of your life, which 
 of them would you prefer. Either to con- 
 tinue to keep it in His own hands, and, while 
 giving you the privilege of making oil your 
 requests known unto Him, in prayer, to re- 
 serve to Himself the prerogative of putting 
 His veto on such, as He knew would prove 
 injurious to your eternal welfare — or, to 
 promise, that, for the future, he would en- 
 trust the guardianship over your affairs into 
 your own hands, and immediately grant 
 vour every request, without limitation or re- 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL /5ii<.FMrtO>., i81 
 
 serve, oh ! could you be mad enouorh w he- 
 sitate, for one second, which of tho-jo two 
 plans to prefer ? 
 
 Do you know so little of your own heart's 
 deceitful ness, or Satan's wiles, as not to fear, 
 that thus left to choose for yourself, God's 
 unreserved compliance with your every re- 
 quest would prove your ruin ? Because, in 
 your blindness, you would be in fearful dan- 
 ger of not only plunging yourself into inex- 
 tricable trials and miseries upon earth, but 
 even plunging yourself, soul and body, into 
 the intolerable and unending torments of hell. 
 
 Bless God, then, that you are not left to 
 choose or arrange for yourself; but that He 
 vouchsafes, in His Intinite condescension and 
 love, to take the guidance and guardianship 
 of your life into His own hands. Dwell, re- 
 joicingly and thankfully, on the contempla- 
 tion of those thi^ee attributes, whose union 
 in your covenant-God secures your happi- 
 ness, beyond the possibility of chance or 
 change ; a wisdom that nothing can deceive 
 
 16 
 
182 ADDRESS VII. 
 
 — a power that nothing can resist — a love 
 that nothing can exhaust. 
 
 Meditate upon these, till they have infused 
 into you such a sweet contentedness to "lie 
 passive in the hands of God, having no will 
 but His ;" that the peace of God will descend 
 from above, and settle on your soul, dispel- 
 ling the dark clouds of earthly disquietude 
 and care — and driving away from the hal- 
 lowed breast, where it sheds the sweetest 
 foretastes of heaven, every anxiety, except 
 the anxiety to please the God of your salva- 
 tion ; every fear, except the fear of offending 
 Him ; every solicitude, except the solicitude 
 •to promote His glory. 
 
 And when once this supreme solicitude to 
 glorify God is triumphantly established as 
 the master-passion of the soul, the regulator 
 of all its desires, the main-spring of all its 
 movements, then are all the principles and 
 powers of the mysterious mechanism of our 
 spiritual frame harmoniously balanced and 
 arranged. Each part, from the mightiest 
 wheel to the minutest pivot, is in its proper 
 
PRAYER FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. 183 
 
 place and directed to its proper end ; and 
 that end, the very noblest to which the high- 
 est archangel can aspire — the advancement 
 of the glory of God. 
 
 Assuredly, then, if we are ambitious to at- 
 tain, on earth, to something of angelic bliss, 
 we must learn in this to copy the angelic 
 character, and seek our supreme felicity in 
 glorifying God. 
 
ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER, 
 
 " 1 exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, 
 prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for 
 all men."— 1 Tim, ii. 1. 
 
 " Pray one for another." — James v. 16. 
 " Brethren, pray for us." — 1 Thes. v. 25. 
 
 There is one species of prayer, to which 
 we have not yet adverted, which, in its con- 
 stitution, bears such an unequivocal impress 
 01 the character of that '' God who is love," 
 and in Scripture, is honoured with such 
 peculiar marks of His approbation — one, 
 which contains such abundant and gracious 
 provision for giving a safe direction, and 
 sweet expression, to our fondest affections ; 
 and has such a powerful tendency to cherish 
 every benevolent, expand every generous, 
 rebuke every selfish, and utterly eradicate 
 
3N INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 185 
 
 every resentful feeling of our nature, that I 
 cannot conclude these imperfect observa- 
 tions on devotional communion with God, 
 without touching on one of its most delight- 
 ful branches — intercessory prayer. 
 
 Its value will be appreciated when we 
 consider how prominent a place, in the con- 
 stitution of our nature, has been assigned by 
 its Divine Author, to the affections which 
 link us so closely together, in all those en- 
 dearing ties of earthly love, for which 
 " home is a name so dear :" and when we 
 reflect how much of our happiness or 
 misery depends on the due regulation, and 
 legitimate indulgence, of those affections; 
 and also, how fatally prone we are to in- 
 dulge them to an idolatrous excess, and thus 
 defeat the gracious purpose for which they 
 were bestowed, perverting what God de- 
 signed for a blessing into a curse. Surely,, 
 then, it bears a special stamp of the loving- 
 kindness of our God, that He should have 
 provided in intercessory prayer, a way, by 
 which the poisonous sting of idolatrous love 
 16* 
 
186 ADDRESS Till. 
 
 may be extracted from our hearts, and a 
 channel opened, in which our affections may 
 not merely flow with safety to our spiritual 
 welfare, but become a medium of convey- 
 ing to our souls a rich supply of spiritual 
 blessings. 
 
 Yes, it is sweet to think that there is one 
 place, at least, even before a throne of 
 grace, where our love for those, twined 
 round our heart-strings, cannot be too 
 warmly, or tenderly cherished ; where the 
 ilanguage of its fond and fervent feelings 
 cannot be breathed forth with too intense 
 an ardour of affection, or earnestness of 
 intreaty; where all our happiness, connected 
 with the objects of our love, if they are fel- 
 ilow sharers with us in a Saviour's love, can 
 catch a glow of celestial radiance from that 
 .'Saviour's smile; and all our anxieties on 
 their behalf be lulled to rest, by being re- 
 posed in the bosom of their Father, and our 
 IFather — their God and our God. 
 
 Nor is it one of the least decisive, or de- 
 lightful, of those distinguishing marks, by 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 187 
 
 which the children of God may be discrimi- 
 nated from the children of the world, and 
 their immeasurable superiority over them, 
 in all the materials for true happiness, dis- 
 played ; that while, with the latter, all the en- 
 joyments flowing from the affections are but 
 so many idolatrous enticements to seduce — 
 and all the anxieties awakened by them but 
 so many corroding cares to alienate, their 
 hearts from God ; these both are instrumen- 
 tal, through the medium of intercessory 
 prayer, in drawing the hearts of the children 
 of God closer to their Father in heaven, as 
 the sanctifiei of all their affections, the sweet- 
 ener of all their happiness, and the soother 
 of all their careso 
 
 For, by the gracious arrangement which 
 has appointed that, through the instrumen- 
 tality of intercessory prayer, we may become, 
 in the best sense of the word, benefactors to 
 those we love.by obtaining for them supplies 
 of spiritual blessings from our Divine Bene- 
 factor, we are reminded, that the surest and 
 strongest expression of our love for them 
 
188 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 is that which draws both them and us nearer 
 to God. Thus, the more tenderly we arc 
 tauoht to love those for whom we intercede, 
 the more gratefully do we learn to love Him, 
 to whom our intercessory supplications are 
 addressed. The deeper sense we have of 
 our obligations to each other for the blessings 
 obtained through our mutual intercession, 
 we but feel a deeper sense of the infinite 
 obligations we all owe to Him, by whom 
 all those blessings are bestowed. 
 
 Surely on this arrangement is legibly im- 
 pressed the stamp of heaven, with those pre- 
 cious words — " God is love," 
 
 And oh ! it is only those that have ex- 
 perienced, who can at all appreciate, what 
 a healing balm intercessory prayer pours 
 into the bleeding heart of a child of God, w^ho 
 is mourning over unconverted relatives, link- 
 ed round his affections by the closest and 
 most endearing ties of earthly love. How 
 it supports and comforts him, under his 
 otherwise overwhelming weight of anguish 
 on their account, to bring them in the arms 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 189 
 
 of faith and prayer to Him, who can breathe 
 into their souls that spiritual life, to which as 
 yet they are strangers, and draw them to 
 Himself, by the sweet attractions of redeem- 
 ing love ! What precious consolation it im- 
 parts, to confide this bitterest of earthly sor- 
 rows to a compassionate Father's ears, and to 
 be cheered by the delicious hope, that He 
 may, in His infinite mercy, hear and grant 
 the prayer of interceding supplication, on 
 their behalf, and, by His Divine Spirit, in- 
 fuse into their souls a living, sanctifying 
 faith ; kindle in their hearts the glow of 
 gratitude to a Saviour- God, and make them 
 partakers of all the inestimable blessings of 
 His great salvation ! Yes ! when faithful 
 remonstrance, affectionate expostulation, ten- 
 der entreaty, all have failed, to awaken in 
 their bosoms one feeling of serious solicitude 
 about their eternal interests, it has often 
 stayed up the sinking spirit, that was just on 
 the point of giving way to agonizmg despair, 
 to turn, as its last best refuge, to intercessory 
 prayer, and with all the intense fervency of 
 
1 90 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 Christian love, to plead for those who never 
 plead for themselves, that they may be con- 
 verted by the divine mercy of that blessed 
 Spirit, who can enlighten the darkest under- 
 standing, soften the hardest heart, subdue 
 the most stubborn will, and constrain the 
 stoutest rebel, or most careless contemner of 
 a Saviour's love, kneel, in penitential sorrow, 
 adoring gratitude, and unreserved self-sur- 
 render, at the foot of His cross. 
 
 And if the fervour of such intercessory 
 supplication be faithfully followed up by a 
 consistent exhibition of the Christian charac- 
 ter, displayed in all its attractive loveliness, 
 in the domestic circle, and by an affectionate 
 appeal, on every seasonable opportunity, to 
 the heart as well as the understanding of 
 the objects of its tender solicitude, what 
 abundant encouragement is there to hope, 
 that this labour of love shall not be in vain 
 in the Lord — but that He who delighteth to 
 hear and answer the prayers, and especially 
 the intercessory prayers of His people, will, 
 in gracious approbation of the Christian 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 191 
 
 love and zeal which they display, pour out 
 the influences of His live-giving Spirit on 
 the souls, for which such prayers are oflfered 
 up before the throne of grace ! 
 
 The mother of Augustine is not the only 
 one, who has been supported, through years 
 of intense anxiety on behalf of a beloved 
 object, by the consolatory reflection which 
 the good bishop suggested to the weeping 
 Monica, "that the child of so many tears 
 and prayers could not finally be lost !" A 
 similar hope has, in every age of the Chris- 
 tian church, prompted the fervent prayers^ 
 and upheld the fainting spirits of multitudes 
 of Christians, mourning over beloved ones, 
 who are living in the world without God, 
 without Christ — and therefore without hope 
 — at least, without a scriptural hope of sal- 
 vation ! 
 
 Delightful also are the feelings, which 
 flow from intercessory prayer, when it is 
 oflfered up, with all the cordial sincerity and 
 fervency of Christian love, on behalf of our 
 bitterest enemies — of those who have heaped 
 
192 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 on us the most unprovoked and aggravated 
 injuries and insults! When w^e are enabled 
 by divine grace, to pour out our hearts, with 
 atfectionate energy of supplication for them, 
 that they may be abundantly blest with all 
 spiritual blessings, in Christ Jesus, then may 
 we hope, that we have indeed, in the strength 
 of the Lord, triumphed over every resentful 
 emotion, and that the spirit of Christian for- 
 giveness is reigning in our hearts ! And 
 oh ! it is sweet, w^hen we are thus enabled 
 at once to comply with our Divine Master's 
 command — " to love our enemies, and to 
 pray for them who despitefully use and per- 
 secute us," — and to follow His example, who, 
 on the Cross, poured out His expiring 
 breath in a prayer for the forgiveness of 
 His murderers ! 
 
 And thus does intercessory prayer supply 
 a decisive test, by which we may ascertain, 
 whether we have, from our hearts, forgiven 
 all who have injured us — and a source of the 
 purest pleasure in the indulgence of the 
 sweet sensations, which accompany the tri- 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 193 
 
 umph of Christian love over our resentful 
 feelings, and the consciousness of obeying the 
 precept, and participating in the spirit of 
 Him, who was Divine Love manifest in the 
 flesh — and who not merely prayed for, but 
 even died for, His enemies ! 
 
 Intercessory prayer has also a powerful 
 tendency to counteract that deep-rooted self- 
 ishness, which, in some of its innumerable 
 shapes, is the besetting sin of fallen human 
 nature, while unrenewed by divine grace ; 
 and to substitute, in its stead, that diffusive 
 benevolence — that generous philanthropy, 
 which delights, with such disinterested joy, 
 in promoting the welfare and happiness of 
 others — and which more perhaps than any 
 other principle, when sublimated by the 
 spirit of Christian love, assimilates the char- 
 acter of man to the character of God, and 
 approximates the human nature to the divine. 
 
 How beautiful is intercessory supplica- 
 tion calculated to effectuate this triumph of 
 implan:cd philanthropy over innate selfish- 
 ness, by reminding the child of God, that he 
 17 
 
194 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 is not to come before his Father in heaven, 
 in devotional communion, as a solitary and 
 selfish being — entirely engrossed with his 
 own wants and desires, solicitudes and sor- 
 rowsj to pour forth supplications, which 
 would only embody the very spirit of selfish- 
 ness ; but as the member of a large and 
 loved family, whose father is his God, and 
 therefore all its members his brethren, be- 
 loved by him for that Father's sake ; and 
 endeared to his heart's tenderest affections, 
 by sympathy in suffering, and participation 
 in privileges — by fellowship in a Saviour's 
 love, and communion in the Holy Ghost — 
 as sharers in all the exceeding great and 
 precious promises of the covenant of grace, 
 and all the unutterably rich and magnificent 
 prospects of the inheritance of glory. 
 
 The believer is thus taught to bear all his 
 brethren in Christ on his heart, before the 
 throne of grace ; to spread out their wants, 
 as well as his own, before their common 
 Father in heaven ; and seek for them, as for 
 himself, a supply of all spiritual blessings in 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 105 
 
 Christ Jesus, with an ardour of affectionate 
 desire, which shows that he is not forgetful 
 of the command to love them, even as he 
 loves himself. And what can have a strong- 
 er or sweeter influence, to raise him out of 
 the narrow sphere of selfishness, with its 
 low aims, and confined prospects, and con- 
 tracted feelings ; and lift him into that 
 loftier and lovelier region of Christian 
 charity — so much nearer heaven — with its 
 enlarged aims, and generous affections, and 
 boundless prospects — where an atmosphere, 
 impregnated with the very essence of God's 
 character, breathes all around him ; and 
 every object is sparkling with the radiance 
 of that Sun, which rejoices to fling, far and 
 wide. His beams of gladness and of glory — 
 even the Sun of Righteousness. 
 
 Since, then, the habit of affectionate in- 
 tercessory prayer is so peculiarly fitted to 
 cherish the spirit of Christian benevolence, 
 can we wonder it is honoured, in Scripture, 
 with such special tokens of the divine ap- 
 probation : for what is the ultimate design 
 
196 ADDRESS \aii. 
 
 of the gospel dispensation ? Is it not to as- 
 similate our character to that of God — to re- 
 stamp the divine image on the soul of man 
 — and so to make the human, in all its 
 moral features, a partaker of the divine na- 
 ture, as to be capacitated for a happiness, 
 derived from God, and consisting, in its 
 very essence, in likeness to God : without 
 which, it is manifest, we can never derive 
 happiness, either from the service of God 
 on earth, or even from the presence of God 
 in heaven. 
 
 Now, is it not the fact, that the greatest 
 is also the most generous of beings — that 
 the most unselfish of all spirits, (if we may 
 with reverence use the expression,) is that 
 very Spirit who is alone, and infinitely, suf- 
 ficient to Himself, for His own blessedness 
 — that He, who is altogether independent 
 of all other beings, for happiness, is He who 
 most of all delights, in promoting the happi- 
 ness of others, to find his own. 
 
 Can we, in truth, form a more correct 
 conception of the ever-blessed God, than 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 197 
 
 that of a Being of the most disinterested 
 and unbounded benevolence — rejoicing to 
 replenish, out of His own inexhaustible ful- 
 ness, innumerable beings with abundant joy ; 
 to send the streams of His bounty, flowing 
 in innumerable channels, throughout the 
 boundless extent of His creation; to light 
 up an universe with the sunshine of glad- 
 ness, by the smile of His countenance : and 
 then to find His own supreme happiness, in 
 looking from the throne of His glory on all 
 the happiness which He has created, and 
 cherishes around Him on every side ; feel- 
 in|^, as we cannot but believe He does, an 
 inc/ease to His own infinite felicity, in every 
 sn le of gladness that glows throughout cre- 
 at m; in every voice of rejoicing, that thrills 
 tl. oughout the universe, from the warbling 
 c) the linnet in the grove, to the song of the 
 sr^-aph before the throne. 
 
 Oh ! the attempt is delightful amidst all 
 
 its hopelessness, to strain our faculties to 
 
 the very uttermost, in the endeavour to 
 
 grasp even a faint conception of what must 
 
 17* 
 
198 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 be the happiness of the blessed God, in 
 surveying all the happiness diffused through- 
 out the universe, and feeling that of all this 
 happiness He is Himself the Source. 
 
 To grasp the full conception of this bles- 
 sedness, is not within the reach of the finite 
 faculties of mortal man — to comprehend it 
 fully v^ere indeed to be as God. 
 
 But if ever the child of God is conformed 
 to the character, and participates in the hap- 
 piness, of his Father in heaven, it is when, 
 with all the benevolent affections exalted to 
 their highest pitch, and enlarged to their ut- 
 most extent, he comes before the throne of 
 grace, to plead, with all the ardour of Chris- 
 tian love, and all the energy of Christian 
 supplication, on behalf of all his brethren in 
 Christ — yea, of all his brethren of mankind. 
 To pour out his heart, in fervent prayer, for 
 the happiness of the whole human race ; 
 and thus to seek, in the sphere of his humble 
 instrumentality, as an intercessor, to be a 
 benefactor to the world, by entreating the 
 God of all grace to send down showers of 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 199 
 
 blessings from on high — even the former and 
 the latter rain of the Spirit, whose fertilizing 
 influences shall repeal the curse of barrenness, 
 pronounced on our guilty world, and make 
 " its wilderness rejoxe and blossom as the 
 rose." A change that shall be wrought in 
 that blessed period of millennial glory, to 
 whose promised advent the Christian loves 
 to look forward, and plead, with intensest 
 fervour, for its speedy approach — that time 
 of universal peace, and holiness, and happi- 
 ness, to a regenerated world, 
 
 " When one song shall employ ail nations — and all cry — 
 ' Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us !' 
 The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks, 
 Shout to each other ; and the mountain tops 
 From distant mountains catch the flying joy — 
 Till nation after nation taught the strain, 
 Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round 1" 
 
 But it is not, merely because of the sacred 
 luxury of feeling, the impartation of divine 
 enjoyment, which intercessory prayer sup- 
 plies, that it should be so highly prized — so 
 habitually practised. It is, chiefly, because it 
 
200 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 is so pre-eminently fitted to give to a believer's 
 principles and practice, a tone corresponding 
 to that which has characterized his prayers ; 
 and thus to establish, within his soul, the as- 
 cendency of that principle of Christian phi- 
 lanthrophy, which will make his life an em- 
 bodied exhibition of practical benevolence, 
 delighting to administer to the temporal and 
 spiritual welfare and happiness of all that 
 come within the sphere of his influence; and 
 thus identifying his spirit and purposes, his 
 hidden life before God, and his daily walk 
 before man, with those of Him, of whom, in 
 that brief, and simple, but most beautiful de- 
 lineation of the divine Philanthropist, it is re- 
 corded " that he went about doing good !" 
 
 Knowing that it would be a very mockery 
 of the Almighty, to plead earnestly for an 
 object, which he did not labour earnestly in 
 his allotted sphere of instrumentality, to pro- 
 mote, the consistent Christian will endeavour, 
 to the very utmost extent of his opportuni- 
 ties and means, to assist in accomplishing, 
 what he is in the habit of fervently supplicat- 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 201 
 
 ing God, by His Almighty power, to effect. 
 He will learn to live for the object, for which 
 he loves to interecede, even the diffusion of 
 universal righteousness, and peace, and joy, 
 throughout the wide compass of the habita- 
 ble globe. 
 
 Habituated to contemplate the identity 
 of sin with sorrow, and of holiness with 
 happiness, he will do all that in him lies, by 
 the consecrated use of his time, talents, 
 wealth and influence, to extirpate the former, 
 and establish the latter, in the heart of every 
 individual — every family, to which he can 
 gain access. 
 
 Thus will his object, every day, become 
 more and more the very same, for which his 
 divine Master came on earth, and returned 
 to heaven — even to promote "glory to God 
 in the highest, and on earth, peace, good-will 
 towards men." 
 
 Then, in the full sense of that sweet and 
 sublime expression, he will be " one with 
 Christ !" And oh ! what unspeakable gran- 
 deur and glory does it fling around the hum 
 
202 A.DPRESS VIII. 
 
 blest Christian's life, when viewed in this 
 connection, as identified, in aim and object, 
 with the life of no less than — " God manifest 
 in the flesh." 
 
 Such being the blessed tendencies of a de- 
 vout habit of fervent intercessory prayer, 
 how suitable to the gracious purpose of the 
 gospel- scheme, (even that of conforming us 
 to the image of Christ,) to stamp on it the 
 especial mark of the divine approbation. 
 Let us turn, in confirmation of this assertion, 
 to one or two instances, which will establish 
 its truth. 
 
 Look at Abraham, interceding for the 
 guilty cities of the plain. Six times does the 
 fervent patriarch plead for the devoted 
 Sodom, and six times does the condescend- 
 ing God grant his intercessory petition ; and, 
 (as has been truly and beautifully remarked,) 
 Abraham left off interceding, before God 
 left off complying with his requests. The 
 patriarch's faith failed, sooner than the pa- 
 tience of a lonoj-suffering God ! 
 
 Oh ! what an encouragement to plead, 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 203 
 
 with importunate and persevering supplica- 
 tion, on behalf of the most abandoned sin- 
 ners — the very vilest of the human race. 
 
 Look again at Lot, pleading for the city 
 of Zoar ; that it may be spared, as a place 
 of refuge to which he may escape. 
 
 What is the answer of a gracious God to 
 His interceding servant ? " See ! I have ac- 
 cepted thee concerning this thing also, that 
 1 will not overthrow this city, for which thou 
 hast spoken." 
 
 How God seems to love to listen to inter- 
 cessory prayer ! 
 
 Look again at Moses ; how eloquent is 
 his example I 
 
 While he was in the mount with God, the 
 people of Israel made a golden calf, and 
 worshipped it. Filled with righteous indig- 
 nation, Jehovah said unto Moses — " Let me 
 alone, that My wrath may wax hot against 
 this people, and that I may consume them ; 
 and I will make of thee a great nation." 
 
 With a heart overflowing with the most 
 grateful zeal for God's glory, and the most 
 
204 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 generous love for his brethren after the flesh, 
 the disinterested lawgiver of Israel pleads, 
 v^^ith humble boldness and holy importunity 
 for the pardon of this idolatrous people. 
 
 Now mark the glorious triumph of inter- 
 cessory prayer — " The Lord repented him 
 of the evil, which He thought to do unto 
 His people." 
 
 Again the people rebelled against God ; 
 again Jehovah threatens to disinherit them, 
 and repeats His offer to Moses, to make of 
 him a " greater nation, and mightier than 
 they." 
 
 The people had just been murmuring 
 against Moses, and proposing to choose an- 
 other captain, and return to Egypt. 
 
 With a love undamped by their ingrati- 
 tude, the generous patriot again lifts up the 
 voice of pleading intercession on their be- 
 half. " Pardon," he cries, " the iniquity of 
 this people, according unto the greatness of 
 thy mercy 1" and what was the result ? 
 Oh ! how does GoJ, in His answer, set the 
 seal of His special blessing on intercessory 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 205 
 
 supplication — " Pardon this people " cried 
 Moses ; and the Lord said I have pardoned 
 according to thy word." 
 
 What a touching display is here of the 
 noble generosity of Moses, and the unbounded 
 grace of God. How suitable a type does 
 the forgiving intercessor appear of the prom- 
 ised Prophet, that was to be like unto him. 
 How beautifully is here shadowed forth, in 
 his example, one of the most gracious and 
 endearing offices of the divine Intercessor 
 of all the Israel of God. 
 
 What a deep sense must Samuel have en- 
 tertained, of the obligation and duty of in- 
 tercessory prayer, when he cried out, (and 
 this, after the people of Israel had greatly 
 provoked God, by asking for a king.) 
 " Moreover, as for me, God forbid that 1 
 should sin against the Lordy in ceasing to 
 pray for you." 
 
 Could language more emphatically mark 
 how pre-eminently such prayer is pleasing, 
 and the neglect of it sinful, in the sight of 
 God? 
 
 18 
 
206 ADDRESS vm. 
 
 Look again at Elijah, by his prayers, 
 opening and shutting the windows of heav- 
 en — suspending the showers — or bringing 
 down rain upon the earth. 
 
 Now, remember how invaluable is St. 
 James' comment on this instance of the effi- 
 cacy of intercessory supplication, when, 
 having brought it forward, to prove that 
 the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous 
 man availeth much, in connection with the 
 command " Pray one for another!^ he re- 
 minds us that " Eiias was a man subject to 
 like passions, as we are — and he prayed 
 earnestly, and the heavens withheld, or gave 
 rain according to his prayer." 
 
 As if to tell us, that it was not the voice 
 of an archangel, which had such power on 
 high, but that of a mere mortal — a poor 
 weak worm of the dust, like ourselves, Hfted 
 up in the earnest prayer of faith : and so to 
 remind us that still, and to the end of time, 
 such prayer can never plead in vain, because 
 
 " It moves the arm that moves the universe.'* 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 207 
 
 But it is in the New Testament that we 
 find the full-length and finished portrait of 
 intercessory prayer, exhibited in the exam- 
 ple of St. Paul. 
 
 Yes ! if ever there was a man, who lived 
 for others, not himself — willino^ to endure 
 any sufferings by which the sufferings of 
 others might be soothed, and in promoting 
 the happiness of others, supremely desirous 
 to find his own — that man was St. Paul. 
 
 If ever there was a human heart, in which 
 the divine spirit of Christian benevolence 
 was enthroned, and had brought every feel- 
 ing, affection, and passion, to bow beneath 
 its sceptre of love, it was the heart of the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 If ever there was a character, moulded in 
 every feature after the adorable Redeemer's, 
 and reflecting, in beautiful clearness, the 
 image of Him, who was the incarnate mani- 
 festation of divine love, it was the character 
 of this greatest of merely-human philanthro- 
 pists. And if ever there was a life of mere 
 man, which might be considered but as one 
 
208 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 embodied and unbroken exhibition of disin- 
 terested zeal, for the advancement of human 
 happiness, it was the life of St. Paul, from 
 the moment that he met Jesus on the wslv to 
 Damascus, and fell to the ground, beneath 
 His piercing expostulation, till the moment 
 when, as the dying testimony of his grati- 
 tude to that Jesus, he bowed his head be- 
 neath the murderous axe. 
 
 And if, among the numberless manifesta- 
 tions of his generous and glowing love to 
 his brethren in Christ, there be one, in 
 which he seemed more especially to delight, 
 that one assuredly is intercessory prayer. 
 
 Observe how he opens and closes every 
 epistle, with affectionate prayer — " Grace, 
 mercy, and peace unto you, from God the 
 Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 How solemn his appeal to his beloved 
 Roman converts — " God is my witness, 
 whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel 
 of His Son, that, without ceasing, I make 
 mention of you always in my prayers." 
 
 Mark how he reiterates this assurance in 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 209 
 
 every epistle — " I thank my God always on 
 your behalf." " I cease not to give thanks 
 for you, making mention of you in my 
 prayers." " I thank my God, upon every 
 remembrance of you, always, in every pray- 
 er of mine, for you all, making request with 
 joy." " We give thanks to God always, for 
 you all, making mention of you in our 
 prayers." 
 
 How does he throw open his heart before 
 us in those touching words — " God is my 
 record, how greatly I long after you all, in 
 the bowels of Jesus Christ ; and thus I 
 pray, that your love may abound yet more 
 and more." 
 
 Who does not envy the feelings of the 
 apostle, when he cried out, in a transport of 
 the most disinterested joy : — 
 
 "What thanks can we render to God, again, 
 for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy 
 for your sakes, before our God, night and 
 day ; praying exceedingly that w^e might 
 gee your face, and perfect that which is lack- 
 ing in your faith." And then he bursts out 
 18* 
 
210 ADDRESS vin. 
 
 into that beautiful prayer for them — " The 
 Lord make you to increase, and abound in 
 love one toward another ?" 
 
 How often does he break away from the 
 language of admonition, or interrupt his 
 chain of reasoning, to give vent to the ful- 
 ness of his fervent love, in some such prayer 
 as this — 
 
 " The God of hope fill you with all peace 
 and joy, in believing. The God of patience 
 and consolation grant you to be like-minded, 
 one towards another, according to Christ 
 Jesus. The Lord of Peace, Himself, give 
 you peace always, by all means. Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our 
 Father, comfort your hearts. And the very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I 
 pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, and 
 body, be preserved blameless, unto the com- 
 ing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 The man who can read these expressions 
 without feeling any sympathetic glow kindled 
 within his soul — any chord, touched in hij 
 heart, that vibrates in unison with the apos- 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 211 
 
 tie's, has great reason to doubt his claims to 
 be called a Christian. And where is even 
 the decided and devoted Christian of our 
 day, who, on comparing his own experience 
 with that of St. Paul, must not confess, with 
 mingled shame and sorrow, how very far 
 he has fallen below the standard of Christian 
 love, as exhibited in the example of this most 
 finished earthly portraiture of the Christian 
 character ? 
 
 Nor was intercessory prayer, with St. 
 Paul, the benediction of a superior being 
 so raised above human infirmities, or spirit- 
 ual wants, as to be independent of, or indif- 
 ferent about, the supplications of others, on 
 his behalf. No, the humility of the apostle 
 was as deep, as his love was fervent, or his 
 charity comprehensive. He felt that he 
 stood in need of his fellow-Christians' pray- 
 ers' altogether as much as they could do of 
 his ; and intreated their intercessory suppli- 
 cations for himself, as fervently as he pour- 
 ed forth his own for them. " Brethren," he 
 earnestly exclaims, " pray for us." " I be- 
 
212 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 seech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus 
 Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, 
 that ye strive together with me in your pray- 
 ers to God for me." " Praying always with all 
 prayer and supplication for all saints, and 
 for me." " In whom we trust that He will 
 yet deliver us, ye also helping together by 
 prayer for us." ** I know that this shall turn 
 to my salvation, through your prayer, and 
 the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" 
 
 Do we not here see the links of a myste- 
 rious chain, (of whose very existence the chil. 
 dren of the world know not,) which binds the 
 hearts of believers together, in a bond of sa- 
 cred and indissoluble union, strengthened by 
 the feeling of common wants and weaknes- 
 ses, sympathetically experienced ; and en- 
 deared by the interchange of benefits and 
 blessings, mutually conferred. A chain of di- 
 vine workmanship and power, wrought in 
 heaven and held in the hands of God ; by 
 which the affections of all His children are 
 closely and inseparably knit together, and all 
 alike, with sweetly irresistible attraction. 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 213 
 
 drawn upwards to Himself, as the common 
 source and centre of all their love, and hopes, 
 and happiness ; before whose throne of grace 
 they all meet, in spirit, in the sweet fellow- 
 ship of prayer and praise on earth: and be- 
 fore whose throne of glory they shall all 
 meet, face to face, to unite in everlasting 
 songs of praise in heaven. 
 
 But the example of St. Paul's intercession 
 is also most valuable as a guide to direct us 
 in offering up our own. 
 
 What are the objects which the apostle 
 implores, with all the glowing fervour of his 
 warm capacious heart, for those beloved 
 brethren in Christ, whose happiness seems 
 as dear to him as his own ? 
 
 When we cast our eye over them, we see 
 that he deems no riches worth asking for 
 them, except " the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ " — no honours, but " the honour that 
 Cometh from God " — no glory, but " the 
 crown of glory that fadeth not away ' — no 
 possession, but the incorruptible inheritance 
 
214 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 — no blessings but those which shall endure 
 throughout eternity. 
 
 Accustomed to look at objects in the light 
 of that eternity, he considers nothing really 
 valuable, on which God has not stamped the 
 impress of immortality, 
 
 Earthly wealth, earthly honours, earthly 
 possessions, earthly pleasures — these he does 
 not deem worthy of one passing thought — 
 of one single wish — of one solitary prayer. 
 
 He had weighed them in the balance of 
 the sanctuary, and found them wanting in 
 every essential requisite for administering 
 to the true happiness of a child of God — a 
 follower of Jesus, an heir of immortality : 
 and, therefore, he has not left on record a 
 single intercessory supplication, that any of 
 those objects, which the world's votaries 
 idolize, might be bestowed on his beloved 
 brethren in Christ. 
 
 How should this silence of the apostle, 
 when contrasted with the reiterated recur- 
 rence of his fervent prayers for all spiritual 
 blessings in Christ Jesus, to be abundantly 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 215 
 
 poured out upon those he loves — correct the 
 false estimate we are so prone to form, of 
 the comparative value of things temporal, 
 and things eternal. 
 
 How should it teach us, to regulate our 
 judgment in this matter by his, which so en- 
 tirely coincides with the judgment of God ; 
 and like St. Paul, looking not at the things 
 which are seen, and temporal, but the things 
 which are unseen, and eternal, to count, like 
 him, by the unerring calculation of spiritual 
 arithmetic, that neither "the light afflic- 
 tions," nor the yet lighter joys, " which are 
 but for a moment, are worthy to be com- 
 pared with the far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory, which shall be re- 
 vealed in the children of God, when Christ, 
 who is their life, shall appear, and they also 
 shall appear, with Him in glory. 
 
 And how should we thus learn to desire 
 most ardently, and implore most fervently 
 both for ourselves and those we love, those 
 blessings which rank highest in the estim^ 
 tion of Him, who is assuredly, the alone 
 
216 ADDRESS vin. 
 
 infallible Judge of what is most valuable — 
 even that God, who with truly divine liberali- 
 ty, delights to lavish most largely on the chil- 
 dren of His love, the blessings He Himself es- 
 teems the most precious in His power to 
 bestow. 
 
 And these, we have the unequivocal and 
 unbroken testimony of His written word to 
 assure us, are such as have Himself, for their 
 substance — holiness, for their essence — the 
 blood of Hi-s Son, as their purchase- price — 
 the stamp of His Spirit, as their seal — grace, 
 for their channel — ^glory, for their ciown — 
 the place of their habitation, heaven — and 
 the period of their continuance, eternity. 
 
 Make it then the subject of your most 
 fervent supplications on behalf of those your 
 soul holds dearest, that love to a Saviour- 
 God, shed abroad in their hearts by the 
 Holy Ghost, may every day become deeper 
 and more constraining, and zeal for His 
 glory more intense and influential ; that in- 
 creased energy of exertion in His service 
 may keep pace with increased simplicity of 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 217 
 
 reliance on His righteousness ; and that 
 conformity to His character, more strongly- 
 marked, and communion with His Spirit, 
 more devoutly enjoyed, every day, may en- 
 able them at once to evidence to all around, 
 a growing meetness for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light, and to experience within 
 themselves a sweeter foretaste of the fulness 
 of joy, which is to be their portion in heaven 
 for ever and ever. 
 
 The sublimest intercessory prayer on 
 record, (except one,) embodying the suppli- 
 cation for these blessings, in language the 
 most magnificent that ever issued from 
 merely human lips, will be found in the 3d 
 chap, of Ephesians, from 14th verse to the 
 end. 
 
 The man, on whose behalf that prayer is 
 heard, has arrived at the highest possible 
 pitch of happiness, of which a created being 
 is capable ; for what can be added to the 
 happiness of him, who, according to the 
 riches of God's glory, is strengthened with 
 might by His Spirit, in the inner man — in 
 19 
 
218 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 whose heart Christ dwells by faith — so that 
 he, being rooted and grounded in love, is 
 able to comprehend with all saints, what is 
 the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
 height — and to knov/ the love of Christ, 
 which passeth knowledge — and who, to the 
 -utmost extent of a creature's capacity, " is 
 iilled with all the fulness of God." 
 
 Here is the safest pattern and standard, 
 to regulate a believer's intercessions, on be- 
 half of those he loves. 
 
 I said — the sublimest on record, except one. 
 
 That one was offered by more than mere 
 mortal lips, and remains recorded in the 
 17th chapter of St. John — one of the most 
 valuable legacies of His love, which the Son 
 of God has bequeathed to His church. 
 
 When we compare these two patterns 
 of intercessory prayer, might not St. Paul 
 here also, as in all the other branches of his 
 humble, but faithful imitation of the Sa- 
 viour's example, exclaim, " Be ye followers 
 of me, even as I also am of Christ !" 
 
 Let me not, however, be mistaken. 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 219 
 
 So far as the Redeemer's intercession is 
 to be regarded as the all-prevailing plea, 
 grounded on the infinite merits of His own 
 sacrifice, which procures for His church 
 every blessing purchased for it by His 
 blood, He stands alone, in the unapproach- 
 able majesty, the incommunicable glory, of 
 His divine office. And of His people, in 
 this view of His work of intercession, as 
 well as His work of atonement, there is 
 none with Him. But so far as His interces- 
 sion is to be regarded as an evidence of His 
 love for His church, and an exhibition of 
 one of the most endearing methods, by 
 which He delights to manifest that love. He 
 has, (in this view of the subject,) left us, in 
 His intercessory supplication, an example, 
 that we should follow His steps. 
 
 And never, perhaps, does the believer 
 more closely follow his divine Master's 
 steps, or more deeply drink into His Spirit, 
 or more plenteously participate in His joy — 
 (even " the joy set before Him, for which 
 He endured the cross, despising its shame,") 
 
220 ADDRESS VIII. 
 
 than when He comes before God, to plead 
 on behalf of that church, which His well- 
 beloved Son has bought with His own 
 blood ; and, in the spirit of that sublimest 
 of all prayers, intercedes for that church, 
 that it may be sanctified by His word, 
 whose word is truth ; and that all its mem- 
 bers may be one — one, in the unity of the 
 Spirit, and the bond of peace — one, in the 
 mysterious union of Christian love — one with 
 Christ, and one in Christ, " even as He and 
 the Father are one." How dear does this 
 union seem to be to the Redeemer's heart ; 
 and how earnestly should all who love the 
 Lord Jesus — but especially all His ministers, 
 labour, by their preaching, prayers, and 
 practice, to promote an object, for which the 
 Redeemer pleaded, with such earnestness^ at 
 such a time ! And oh ! \Hhis prayer of His 
 had been constantly remembered and acted 
 upon, by all His people, as it ought to have 
 been, how would it have tended to prevent, 
 or to allay, those disgraceful divisions about 
 non-essential points, which have broken the 
 
ON INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 221 
 
 unity, disturbed the peace, and disfigured 
 the loveliness of the church of Christ, in 
 every age ; and thus impeded the progress 
 of Christianity in the w^orld, by dimming the 
 lustre of that glorious attestation of its divine 
 original, (even the display of the spirit of 
 love a-nd unity among all its faithful followers,) 
 with whose full-orbed exhibition the S-aviour 
 appears to have linked the triumphant es- 
 tablishment of the claims of His Gospel, 
 to be recognised by all men as a religion 
 that has come down from heaven — a reve- 
 lation from that God, whose nature and 
 whose name is Love. 
 
\DDRESS IX. 
 
 ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 
 
 " It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to 
 sing praises unto thy name, O Most High !" — Ps. xcii. I. 
 
 " By Him let us oflfer the sacrifice of praise to God con- 
 tinually ; that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His 
 name." — Heb. xiii. 15. 
 
 " In everything give thanks."—! Thes. v. 18. 
 
 There is not, perhaps, a more puzzling 
 or painful inconsistency in the Christian 
 character, than the reluctance so often felt, 
 even by sincere and devoted servants of 
 God, to abound in the work of praise. For 
 ihowever the sweetness of other parts of de- 
 votional services may be dashed with many 
 'drops of bitterness, the pleasure of this em- 
 i.ployment is unalloyed with the slightest 
 admixture of pain. It touches on the bliss 
 •of angels — the borders of heaven. 
 
OS THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 223 
 
 Yes ! praise more than any thing else, as- 
 similates the suffering saint on earth to the 
 glorified saint in heav.en. It approximates, 
 most closely, the worshippers in the terres- 
 trial to those in the celestial sanctuary ; for 
 in that world, where they rest from confes- 
 sion — because they have no sins to be par- 
 doned ; and from supplication — because 
 they have no sinking weakness to be sus- 
 tained, no craving wants to be supplied ; 
 there they j^est not, day or night, singing 
 praises unto Him who sitteth upon the 
 throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. 
 
 Consider, too, believer, what amazing con- 
 descension it is in God, to allow you to pre- 
 sent to Him the poor and worthless offering 
 of your praise ; and yet (oh ! who can 
 fathom the depths of the divine condescen- 
 sion ?) Jehovah speaks, as if your praises 
 added to His glory. 
 
 Yes ! He, who, wrapt in the unapproach- 
 able glory of His own uncreated majesty, is 
 exalted immeasurably above the homage of 
 all created beings — He, who humbleth Him- 
 
224 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 self, with amazing condescension, to accept 
 the adoration of the burning seraphim, that 
 worship, with veiled faces, before His throne 
 — He who is so infinitely sufficient to Him- 
 self, for His own happiness, that if not 
 merely earth, but heaven itself, were silent 
 in His praise — if rebellion were to spread 
 throughout the whole universe of created 
 intelligences, and all the principalities and 
 powers, in heavenly places, were to be cast 
 down from their thrones on high, and heav- 
 en to be left one vast unpeopled solitude — 
 He, who would still remain, though alone in 
 heaven, in the mysterious unity of the ador- 
 able Trinity, perfectly, supremely, infinitely 
 blessed — His uncreated happiness unimpair- 
 ed — His uncreated glory unobscured — He 
 vouchsafes to represent Himself as glorified 
 by the grateful adoration of worms oi the 
 dust — He, whom the heaven of heavens 
 cannot contain, allows Himself to be spoken 
 of, as inhabiting the praises of His Israel : 
 as finding in them a habitation, where He 
 not only deigns, but delights to dwell 1 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 225 
 
 And will you, believer, be reluctant to 
 raise such a residence for the God of your 
 salvation, in your heart ; and this, when the 
 very happiest employment, in which you 
 can be engaged, is building the sacred walls 
 of this hallowed habitation, for your God. 
 
 Perhaps you have never deeply pondered 
 the import of those words, "Whoso ofTereth 
 Me praise, glorifieth Me ;" or dwelt on the 
 recollection, whose words they are. 
 
 And just look at the psalm from which 
 they are taken, and I am persuaded they 
 must strike your mind with a solemnity, 
 which will exercise a powerful influence 
 over your future life, when you see how 
 (if I may with reverence use the expression,) 
 God seems to have set His heart on impres- 
 sing upon all His people, the peculiar de- 
 light which He derives from the offering of 
 their praise. 
 
 The psalm opens with singular sublimity — 
 
 " The mighty God, even Jehovah, hath 
 spoken, and called the earth, from the rising 
 of the sun, unto the going down thereof." 
 
226 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 God is then represented as appearing m 
 all His nnajesty ; a devouring fire before 
 Him, and a mighty tempest round about 
 Him. He calls to the heavens from above 
 and to the earth ; for He is about to judge 
 His people. All His saints are to be gather- 
 ed together, at the summons of the Almighty 
 — for God is Judge Himself. 
 
 And now the voice of God bursts on the 
 solemn assembly. " Hear, oh, my people* 
 and / will speak — oh, Israel, and / will tes- 
 tify against thee ; for I am God, even thy 
 God." 
 
 And what is the complaint which Jeho- 
 vah calls on a listening earth, and witnessing 
 heaven, to hear Him prefer against His peo- 
 ple ? Is it for the neglect of sacrifices or 
 burnt oflTerings ? " No," says God, " I will 
 not reprove thee for these things ; these are 
 not the sacrifices I desire — the offerings in 
 which I delight." 
 
 Then what is the offering, which, with 
 such solemn announcement, such a magnifi- 
 cent display of awful grandeur, Jehovah 
 
ox THANKSGIVING AND PRIASE. 227 
 
 claims from His assembled saints ? Hear His 
 own words — 
 
 " Offer unto God thanksgiving ; for whoso 
 offereth praise, glorifieth Me /" 
 
 Words would but weaken the force of 
 such a command, and such a declaration, as 
 this. I can only pray. Christian reader, 
 that thou mayest not be disobedient to the 
 voice of this heavenly vision ; or refuse, by 
 witholding the offering, which He claims 
 with such surpassing solemnity of attestation 
 and appeal, to glorify thy God. 
 
 Come, then, and collect with me materials 
 for a louder, sweeter song of praise, than 
 you have ever lifted up before the throne on 
 high. 
 
 But here I am perplexed, and bewildered, 
 how to begin. Such a crowd of mercies 
 rushes on my view, that it is difficult to 
 know what to select out of the mighty mass, 
 the countless sum of blessings, that burst 
 upon my sight. I feel lost in the labyrinth of 
 divine love ; and know not which way to turn. 
 
 Like the ladder, that was seen by the pa- 
 
228 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 triarcli in his dream, the pile of mercies that 
 seems to stand, as a monument of the grace 
 of God, before my transported gaze, rests on 
 the earth, but reaches unto the heavens ; 
 where I lose the sight of its towering sum- 
 mit in the skies, and only know, by faith, 
 that it is firmly fixed against the throne of 
 God, and is therefore, as immoveably secure 
 as the everlasting pillars of that throne. 
 
 Look then at this lofty pile ; for though 
 no human eye can discern its summit, (which 
 retires from mortal gaze, amidst the glories 
 of eternity, in the heaven of heavens, into 
 the unapproachable light which burns around 
 the everlasting throne,) yet does it bear on 
 its surface, many an inscription to the praise 
 of God, traced by the finger of gratitude, 
 and legible to the eye of faith. And will it 
 not be a sweet employment to read some of 
 these, that your heart may glow while you 
 read with such gratitude, as would make it 
 indeed pain and grief to you, to keep silence 
 from the praises of your God. 
 
 Look — but in what direction shall I bid 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 229 
 
 you look? In one sense it matters not, for 
 you cannot look in any direction, in which 
 some sweet appeal to your gratitude, some 
 precious material for your praise, will not 
 start up before your wondering eyes. 
 
 Look hack ! even to the ages of eternity. 
 
 Further than you can travel in imagina- 
 tion into the abyss of that eternity, there 
 were thoughts and purposes of loving-kind- 
 ness towards you, in the bosom of the eternal 
 Father — for His love towards you has been 
 from everlasting, and will be to everlasting. 
 
 When the well ordered covenant of grace 
 to guilty man was entered into between the 
 eternal Father and His well- beloved Son, 
 you were included in that covenant, and the 
 stupendous plan arranged for securing your 
 salvation. 
 
 When the fulness of time was come, God 
 sent His Son into the world to purchase for 
 you all the blessings of that everlasting cove- 
 nant, and to give you a title, written in His 
 blood, to the kingdom prepared for you, be- 
 fore the foundations of the world were laid. 
 20 
 
230 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 And when the well-beloved of the Father 
 came to earth, and tabernacled amongst 
 men, as a " Man of sorrows," He came as 
 fully, as if He came exclusively on your ac- 
 count. 
 
 Not a tear He ever shed, not a groan He 
 ever uttered ; not a day He ever passed in 
 toil and tribulation, not a night He ever spent 
 in sleeplessness and prayer; not a sorrow 
 of His Hfe, nor a pang of His death, that He 
 endured ; but in all, and through all. He was 
 thinking of you ; toiling for you — watching 
 — weeping — sorrowing — suffering — dying 
 — all for you ! Yes ! all as much for you, 
 as if you were the only sinner, that He came 
 from heaven to save. 
 
 When He set His face steadfastly towards 
 Jerusalem, though knowing all the sufferings 
 that awaited Him there ; it was to accom- 
 plish your redemption. 
 
 The prospect of your eternal happiness in 
 heaven, as the result and recompense of His 
 sorrows, cheered and sustained Him along 
 His pilgrimage of pain on earth I The Lord 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 231 
 
 of life submitted to death, that you might en- 
 joy everlasting life !. The Judge of all stood, 
 as an arraigned criminal, before an earthly 
 tribunal, that you might stand uncondemned 
 and unterrified, before the great white 
 Throne, in the judgment of the great day. 
 The Lord of glory, stooped to humiliation 
 — yea, even to scorn, and scoffing, and spit- 
 ting of face, that you might oe exalted to 
 everlasting honours, and crowned with eter- 
 nal glory. 
 
 Can you believe all this, and yet your 
 heart or voice ever be untuned for singing 
 the praises of the Lord ? 
 
 Then look up I raise your eyes and 
 thoughts to heaven. 
 
 There is God, your heavenly Father — 
 Preserver — Benefactor — constantly employ- 
 ed in shielding you from evil ; showering on 
 you, every moment, some fresh mercy ; 
 making your pathway through life, one un- 
 broken line of light, all sparkling with the 
 sunshine of His smile — all studded over with 
 a crowded succession of testimonials and 
 
232 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 tokens of His love ; and arranging all the 
 varying vicissitudes of your chequered his- 
 tory, so as to make them all work together 
 for your eternal good. 
 
 There is Jesus — your divine Redeemer — 
 Advocate, and Friend — constantly watching 
 you, from his mediatorial throne, with a 
 look of the most affectionate interest, the 
 most unslumbering care ; and sympathizing 
 in all your alternations of joy and sorrow, 
 with a tenderness of sympathy, so close, so 
 endearing, so identifying, that it can be but 
 faintly imaged by the fondest relationship 
 of earthly love. 
 
 There is the Holy Spirit — your divine 
 Teacher — Sanctifier — Comforter : constant- 
 ly employed in bringing to your remem- 
 brance all things that Jesus said, while on 
 earth, for his people's purification, guidance, 
 comfort, and happiness ; filling your heart 
 with all peace and joy in believing ; making 
 you meet for your inheritance in heaven ; 
 and enabling you to abound in hope, even 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 233 
 
 that hope, full of immortality, which maketh 
 not ashamed. 
 
 There also, are the holy angels : those 
 benevolent and blessed spirits, who now 
 cherish towards you feelings of the tender- 
 est affection, and are delightfully employed 
 in ministrations of mercy on your behalf; 
 (for " are they not all ministering spirits, 
 sen* forth to minister to the heirs of salva- 
 tion '?'■) and who will, ere long, be your com- 
 panions and familiar friends, the sharers 
 and sweeteners of your celestial bliss. 
 
 There, too, is your inheritance among the 
 saints in light. Faint, indeed, are the 
 glimpses you can catch, with the most 
 straining glance of the eye of faith, of the 
 glorv of that inheritance ; for " eye hath 
 not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it 
 entered into the heart to conceive, what 
 good things God has prepared for them that 
 love Him." 
 
 But can you, believer, look up, and catch 
 even the faintest glimpse of its glory, and 
 20* 
 
234 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 forbear to lift up your heart in adoring gra- 
 titude ! your voice in songs of praise. 
 
 Finally, look forward. 
 
 Yet a little — and He that cometh will 
 come ; for however the careless may for- 
 get, or the scoffers deride, the promise of 
 His coming ; " behold He cometh with 
 clouds, and every eye shall see Him ;" and 
 for what will He come ? " To be glorified 
 in His saints ; to be glorified in you, whom 
 He has numbered among His saints, in glory 
 everlasting." 
 
 Yes ! He will come to make you an as- 
 sessor with Himself, in the solemn judgment 
 of that day — for " the saints shall judge the 
 world ;" to make you a partaker of His own 
 glory, even the glory which He had with the 
 Father, before the worlds were ; to pro- 
 nounce you, before the assembled uuiverse, 
 the blessed of His Father; to put you in 
 possession of the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world, purchased 
 for you by His own agony and bloody 
 sweat ; yea ! even to give you, as having by 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 235 
 
 His grace overcome, to sit down w^ith Him 
 on His throne, even as He also overcame, 
 and is set down with His Father in His 
 throne. 
 
 Look forward, further still, into the dis- 
 tant ages of the coming eternity. Carry on 
 your thoughts milHons, and millions, and 
 millions of ages beyond the day of Christ's 
 appearing. When this mighty roll of ages 
 shall have passed away, you shall be still a 
 living, rejoicing, glorified being — the pos- 
 sessor of a glorified body, and a glorified 
 spirit — rejoicing in the fulness of joy, in the 
 presence of the God of your salvation. 
 
 Travel onward in imagination still through 
 ages to come, so innumerable, that they 
 could not be reckoned, though the longest 
 life were to be spent in the ceaseless em- 
 ployment of adding myriads to myriads of 
 ages ; still — still you shall be rejoicing be- 
 fore God, with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory ; and thus onward, for ever, and for 
 ever, and for ever. 
 
 Oh ! to be perfectly, inconceivably happy, 
 
236 ADDRESS IX. 
 
 because perfectly holy, for ever ; to be eter- 
 nally ascending higher and higher in the 
 scale of blessedness ; to be passing on from 
 glory to glory, as age after age, throughout 
 eternity, rolls on ; to be everlastingly draw- 
 ing nearer and nearer to God ; seeing more 
 and more fully His divine glories unveiled ; 
 drinking more and more deeply from this 
 inexhaustible fountain of felicity ; and this 
 by a perpetual progress, that shall never 
 have a limit ! — Child of God, can you really 
 believe that this awaits you, you, a vile, re- 
 bellious, worm of the dust — you, a hell-de- 
 serving sinner — and yet refrain from burst- 
 ing out into a song of praise, deeper, louder, 
 sweeter, than could be sung by any angel 
 before the throne ? And oh ! will you not 
 — yea ! must you not even now resolve, 
 with fervent gratitude for such stupendous 
 love, and humble reliance on Almighty 
 grace to enable you to keep the resolution, 
 that henceforward you will largely mingle 
 praise with prayer, in all your devotional 
 communion with your God, whether in the 
 
ON THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 237 
 
 retirement of your closet, or in the worship 
 of the domestic or social circle : assigning 
 in them all, a more prominent place to 
 thanksgiving, breathed forth in your family 
 devotions, in the sweet voice of sacred 
 psalmody, singing, with grateful heart, the 
 praises of your God. And, above all, will 
 you not henceforward make it the object 
 of your supreme solicitude, and unwearied 
 aim, that the entire of your future life, con- 
 sistently consecrated to His service, and 
 continually employed in promoting His 
 glory, shall sound in the ears of the God of 
 all your blessings, as one uninterrupted 
 hymn of thankfulness, one unceasing song 
 of praise ? 
 
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 . Young Man's Closet Library 75 
 
carters' publications. 
 
 PHILIP'S Mary's, Martha's, Lydia's and Hannah's Love of the 
 
 Spirit. Each 40 
 
 PIKE'S True Happiness. ISmo 80 
 
 Divine Origin of Chi isliauity qq 
 
 POLLOK'S Course of Time. Elegant edition. 16mo. Portrait 1 00 
 
 Do. 18mo. Small copy. Close type 40 
 
 Life, Letters and Remains. By the Eev. J. Scott, D.D., . 1 GO 
 
 Tales of the Scottish Covenanters. Illustrated 50 
 
 Helen of the Glen. 18mo. Illustrated 25 
 
 Persecuted Family " " 25 
 
 Ralph Gcrmnell " " 25 
 
 POOL'S Annotations. S vols. 8vo. Half calf, $12. Cloth. ... 10 00 
 
 PRAYERS of St. Paul. lOm.o 75 
 
 QUARLE'S Emblems. Illustrated , 100 
 
 RETROSPECT (The). By Aliquis. ISmo.... 40 
 
 RICHMOND'S Domestic Portraiture. Illustrated. IGmo 76 
 
 Annals of the Poor. ISmo 40 
 
 RIDGELY'S Body of Divinity. 2 vols. Royal 8 vo 4 00 
 
 ROGER Miller ; or, Heroism in Humble Life. 18mo 80 
 
 ROGER'S Jacob's Well. ISmo 40 
 
 Folded Lamb. ISmo 40 
 
 ROMAINE on Faith. 12mo 60 
 
 Letters. 12mo 60 
 
 RUTHERFORD'S Letters. With Life by Bonar 1 50 
 
 RYLE'S Living or Dead. A Series of Home Truths 75 
 
 Wheat or Chaff 75 
 
 Startling Questions 75 
 
 Rich and Poor 75 
 
 Priest, Puritan and Preacher 75 
 
 8APHIR (Philip) Life of 30 
 
 SCHMID'S Hundred Short Tales 60 
 
 SCOTIA'S Bards. A Collection of the Scottish Poets 2 00 
 
 SCOTT'S Daniel. A Model for Young Men 1 50 
 
 (Thos.) Force of Truth. ISmo 25 
 
 SELECT Works of James Yenn, Wilson, Philip and Ja,v 1 50 
 
 Christian Authors. 2 vols. 8vo 2 00 
 
 SELF Explanatory Bible, Half calf, $4 50. Morocco G 00 
 
 SERLE'S Chi istian Remembrancer 50 
 
 SHERWOOD'S Clever Stories. Square 50 
 
 Jack the Sailor Boy 25 
 
 Duty is Safety 25 
 
 Think before you Act 25 
 
 SINNER'S Friend. ISmo 25 
 
 6IG0URNEY'S (Mrs. L. H.) Water Drops. Illust. IGmo 75 
 
 Letters to my Pupils. With poi-trait 16mo 75 
 
10 
 
 SISOUENE Y'S Memoir of Mrs. L. H. Cook. T5 
 
 Olive Leaves 60 
 
 Faded Hope 50 
 
 . Boy s Book. ISmo 40 
 
 Girl's Book. 18mo 40 
 
 Child's Book. Square 85 
 
 SINCLAIR'S Modem Accomplishments 75 
 
 Modem Society T5 
 
 Hill and Valley 75 
 
 Holyday House 50 
 
 Charlie Seymour 80 
 
 SMITH'S (Rev. James) Green Pastures for the Lord's Flock. . . 1 00 
 
 SMYTH'S Bereaved Parents Consoled. 12mo 75 
 
 SONGS in the House of my Pilgrimage. 16mo 75 
 
 SORROWING yet Rejoicing 30 
 
 STEVENSON'S Christ on tlie Cross. 12mo 75 
 
 Lord our Shepherd. l2mo CO 
 
 Gratitude. 12mo 75 
 
 STORIES on the Lord's Prayer 80 
 
 BTUCKLEY'S Gospel Glass 75 
 
 SUMNER'S Exposition of Matthew and Mark. 12mo 75 
 
 SYMINGTON on Atonement. 12mo 75 
 
 TALES from English History. Illustrated 75 
 
 TAYLOR'S (Jane) Hymns for Infant Minds. Square. Illust... 40 
 
 Rhymes for the Nursey. Square. Illustrated 50 
 
 Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds. Square. lUust... 50 
 
 Life and Correspondence. 18mo 40 
 
 Display. A Tale. l8mo 30 
 
 Original Poems and Poetical Remains. Illustrated 40 
 
 (Isaac) Loyola ; or, Jesuitism in its Rudiments 1 00 
 
 Natural History of Enthusiasm 75 
 
 (Jeremy) Sermons. Complete in 1 vol. Svo 1 50 
 
 TENNENT'S Life 25 
 
 THEOLOGICAL Sketch Book. 2 vols 3 00 
 
 THREE Months under the Snow. ISmo 80 
 
 THORNWELL'S Discourses on Truth 100 
 
 TUCKER, The Rainbow in the North. ISmo 50 
 
 Abbeoknta or, Sunrise in the Tropics. ISmo 50 
 
 The Southern Cross and the Southern Crown 75 
 
 TURNBULLS Genius of Scotland. Illustrated. 16mo 100 
 
 Pulpit Orators of France and Switzerland 1 00 
 
 TYNG'S Lectures on the Law and Gospel. With portrait 1 50 
 
 . Christ is All. Svo. With portrait 150 
 
 Israel of God. Svo. Enlarged edition 1 50 
 
 Rich Kinsman 1 00 
 
carters' publications. 11 
 
 TYNG'S Recollections of England. 12mo. 1 00 
 
 Chi istian Titles 75 
 
 A Lamb from the Flock. 18mo 25 
 
 VARA ; or, the Child of Adoption 1 00 
 
 VERY Little Tales, First and Second Series. 2 vols 75 
 
 WARDLAW on Miracles 75 
 
 WATERBURY'S Book of the Sabbath. ISmo 40 
 
 "WATSON'S Body of Divinity. 8vo 2 00 
 
 "WATTS' Divine Songs. Illustrated. Square 40 
 
 WEEK (The). Illustrated. 16mo 50 
 
 "WIIATELY'S Kingdom of Christ and Errors of Romanism 75 
 
 WHITECROSS' Anecdotes on Assembly's Catechism 30 
 
 WHITE'S (Hugh) Meditations on Prayer. 18mo 40 
 
 Believer. A Scries of Discourses. ISmo 40 
 
 Practical Reflections on the Second Advent. ISmo 40 
 
 (Henry Kirke) Complete Works. Life by Southey 1 00 
 
 WILBERFORCE'S (Wm.) Practical Yiew, Large type. 12mo, 1 00 
 
 Life. By Mary A. Collier T5 
 
 WILLISON'S Sacramental Meditations and Advices. ISmo.... 60 
 
 WILSON'S Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life. IGmo. Illust. T5 
 
 WIN3L0W on Personal Declension and Revival 60 
 
 Midnight Harmonies 60 
 
 WOODROOFFE'S Shades of Character 1 50 
 
 WYLIE'S Journey over the Region of Fulfilled Prophecy 80 
 
 YOUNG'S Night Thoughts. 16mo. Large type, with portrait 1 00 
 
 Do " " Extra gilt, $1 50. Mor. $2. 18mo. 40 
 
 BOOKS NOT STEREOTYPED. 
 
 BICKEESTETH'S Works. 16 vols. 16mo 10 00 
 
 ' On John and Jude CO 
 
 BINNEYS Make the Best of Both Worlds CO 
 
 BRIDGES' Manual for the Young 50 
 
 BUXTON (Sir T. F.), A Study for Young Men [ 60 
 
 CHART of Sacred History. Folio 150 
 
 DA COSTA'S Israel and the Gentiles. 12mo 1 25 
 
 ■ Four Witnesses 2 00 
 
 EADIE on Colossians 
 
 ■ on Ephesians 3 00 
 
 FLETCHER'S Addresses to the Young 60 
 
 HALL'S Forum and the Yatican 1 0« 
 
 HEWITSON'S Kemaina. 2 vols 2 09 
 
12 carters' publications. 
 
 HOWELLS Remains T5 
 
 LONDON Lectures to Young Men, 1853-4 1 00 
 
 " " " J854-5. 1 00 
 
 Mx\LAN"S Pictures from Switzerland 60 
 
 ©WEN'S Works. 16 vols. 8vo 20 00 
 
 PRATT (Josiah) Memoirs of 1 60 
 
 BMITII'S (Jno. i'ye) Scripture Tcslimony to Messiah 5 00 
 
 SELF-EXPL AN ATOK Y Bible, lialf calf, $4,50 mor 6 00 
 
 BWETE'S Family Prayers 60 
 
 THOLUCIvS Hours of Devotion 60 
 
 VILLAGE Churchyard. ISmo 40 
 
 Pastor. JSmo 40 
 
 Observer. ISmo 30 
 
 WILSON (Prof.), The Forester, a Tale 75 
 
 WORDS to Win Souls. 12mo T5 
 
 THE FIRESIDE SERIES. 
 ■A. Series of beautifal volumes of the Na'-.ative kind, uniform In bind- 
 ing, and prettily Illustrated. 18mo. Price 50 cents each. 
 The following are now ready : 
 MAP.EL GRANT. A Highland Story. 
 THE WOODCUTTER OF LEBi^^ON. 
 LOUIS AND FRANK. 
 CLARA STANLEY. A Story for Girls. 
 THE CLAREMONT TALES. 
 THE CONVENT. By Miss M'Crindell. 
 FAR OFF. By the author of the " Peep of Day." 
 NEAR HOMLC. By the same author. 
 HAPPY HOME. By Dr. Hamilton. 
 JAMIE GORDON ; or, the Orphan. 
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE MANSE. By Mrs. Duncan. 
 TALES OF THE SCOTTISH PEASANTRY. 
 SCHOOL DAYS AND COMPANIONS. 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES OF GUIANA. 
 HOLIDAY HOUSE. By Miss Sinclair. 
 OLIVE LEAVES. By Mrs. Sigourney. 
 BROTHER AND SISTER. 
 
 POLLOK'S TALES OF THE COVENANTERS. 
 THE RAINBOW IN THE NORTH. 
 THE INFANT'S PROGRESS. By Mrs. Sherwood. 
 THE WORLD OF WATERS. 
 BLOSSOMS OF CHILDHOOD. 
 MAY DUNDAS. A Tale. 
 ABBEOKUTA ; or, Sunrise in the Tropics. 
 THE FAMILY AT HEATHERDALE. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
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 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HIGHSMITH #^ 
 
 5230 
 
 
 In USA