because he desires that men should be sensible of their wants before he will undertake to remedy them. He has appointed that his favours shall only be obtained by prayer, for the express purpose, that men may by examining themselves find out their own deficiencies and necessities, and learn to depend on him for help. Here we are in his presence, our hearts naked to his sight, their inmost recesses exposed to his all-seeing eye. He perceives all our wants ;-he observes in one heart the absence of devotional feeling, in another the spirit of pride, in another the confidence of selfrighteousness, in another impure affections and lusts, in another a fondness for worldly pleasures, in another an uncharitable temper, and he beholds Satan indefatigably employed in adding strength to the besetting sin of each, and sowing the seeds of others with unsparing malice. He sees all this, and he could correct it in a moment by one breath of his renovating spirit: but yet he suffers it. Weremain formal, and proud, and confident, and impure, and worldly, and uncharitable, and exposed to the machinations of the enemy, though our sins and frailties are noticed, and help is so easy and so near at hand. Why is this? Why, but because God will have men detect their own imperfections, and acknowledge him as the author and giver of all good things, and fly to him for assistance in

their difficulties, and for refuge in their dangers? As our God and our Father, he will have us feel our need of him, our weakness and peril and misery without him, our strength and safety and happiness in his protection.

Is this unreasonable? Is it unreasonable that he should desire to have the trust, and love, and praise, and gratitude of the receivers of his favours? What portion of this affection would he be likely to obtain of us, if we were not conscious of the favours he bestows, or of the necessity that existed for them? Should we not be apt to forget him altogether, and to say, "this is our goodness, this is our strength, this is our courage, this is our piety, these are our conquests over sin, and the reward of heaven is ours by right of victory, and in recompence for our own holiness"? But no, my brethren, "we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God;" and as without his help we are lost, so without prayer for his help we are lost equally; for that is the method by which his blessings are to be ob

very

tained.

Let me ask you to what end prayer is commanded in the gospel, if the divine favours are to be expected without it? Is it not a vain and superfluous ceremony, or unnecessary work of

And

supererogation? And yet the scriptures insist upon it in the strongest terms. "Pray without ceasing." "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." "In every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.' Christ himself, while on earth, spent whole nights in prayer, and "being in an agony prayed the more earnestly." Nay, and he still prays, even in heaven, while mediating on behalf of his servants, and the Holy "Spirit also maketh intercession for us," furthering our weak petitions by combining with them his own more earnest and effectual supplications. Surely then prayer can be no useless form, when so enjoined by positive command, and so recommended by high example. And what is it that we are chiefly taught to pray for? Riches, and health, and long life, and earthly blessings? No, but for spiritual gifts. That very prayer, which Christ has left us as a short model of our devotional addresses to God, contains but one brief sentence which can be considered as a petition for a temporal good, and even that is but the expression of a most moderate desire, "give us this day our daily bread;" all the rest are supplications for the supply of our spiritual wants alone.

And how wisely and piously has our church framed her prayers after this divine pattern! Search our excellent liturgy throughout, from beginning to end, particularly remark the collects, and you will find that the prominent subjects of the prayers which we so constantly use, are for deliverances from sin, for pure affections, for improvement in holiness.

Now, my brethren, do we consider this matter with sufficient seriousness? Do we really pray earnestly and perpetually for the various gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do we feel the aid of that Spirit to be absolutely essential to our salvation? Are we tremblingly alive to the difficulties of our situation, aware of our sinfulness and ignorance and weakness, and of our entire dependance upon God alone for our sanctification, and for our just perception of heavenly truths, and for our strength to resist the temptations, to which we are exposed? Do we in our closets, nay, in the midst of our intercourse with the world, continually and fervently implore the succours of divine grace? Or do we go forth to our duties, to the pursuit of our several avocations in life, without any of the armour of God about us, and undefended by any strength, but that of our own purposes and resolutions? If so, I see no hope of our persevering in our christian

course. I know nothing of the human heart, if man may safely trust in his own confidence, or firmly rely upon the too easily broken reed of his own feeble determinations. Most truly was it observed, in a discourse very lately addressed to you by another from this place, that in regard to temptations as well as to temporal casualties, "we know not what a day may bring forth;" secure as we may feel at one moment, the very next may present a trial which we never foresaw, and from which we cannot possibly escape uninjured, unless we are living in a permanent and habitual reliance upon God. Indeed, "though we live in the flesh, we must not war after the flesh; the weapons of our warfare must not be carnal, but mighty through God." All others will soon be shattered and betray the baseness of the earthly materials, of which they are fabricated, in the violent conflicts in which we must engage with sin and Satan; none but divine armour can bear the shock of such powerful enemies.

My brethren, you will readily believe that when any minister of the gospel is alive to the importance of his office, firmly persuaded of the solemn truth of what he delivers, and sincerely anxious for the eternal welfare of those whom he is appointed to instruct, it must be a subject of