DISCOURSE I.

ON PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

LUKE XVIII. 1.

WHILST the plan of reconciliation by Christ Jesus brings glory in the highest to God, in all the relations which it bears to him and to his creatures, it contains pre-eminently a discovery of the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man. This feature of the plan is seen not merely in the deliverance from wrath and sin which it accomplishes for the fallen, but in the abundant blessings of that state of favor with God to which it introduces them. The salvation of the gospel is not simply the con

ferring of a pardon upon offenders, who may enjoy the advantage of their Sovereign's clemency in the remission of punishment, but dare not wish, and cannot be admitted, to stand on terms of actual amity with him. In the exceeding riches of his grace, God has undertaken to make the rebels friends. He brings the far off nigh; he makes the sinful holy; he invests them with the rights of heavenly citizenship; he reinstates them in the privileges of his universal family; he rejoices over them with joy; and calls heaven to participate in the exultation of his kindness towards them—this, my Son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

Among these privileges, the right of approaching God with prayer holds a distinguished place. It peculiarly indicates the closeness and confidence of the relation which God establishes between himself and his redeemed. Because they are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The appointment of this medium of good from God to his people is singularly expressive of the grace and liberality of

his

purpose towards them. When a benefactor has conferred upon us undeserved kindness, we cannot but acknowledge his claim to gratitude, even though our expectations should cease with what we have received, and further application be discouraged. But in what terms shall sense of obligation be expressed, if he should invite us to ask whatever our self-love can suggest for our well-being; if he should even take such delight in doing us good that our very solicitations give him pleasure, and the importunity of our petitions makes us the more welcome to his presence. Such is not the manner of man; but it is the way of Him who is from everlasting to everlasting, who inhabiteth eternity, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth, and who yet dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite

one.

But prayer is not merely an illustration of the riches of divine mercy, and a source of immediate satisfaction in that intercouse with God

of which it forms a part; it is a medium of

substantial and invaluable benefit from the Giver of every good and perfect gift. To establish this latter truth, and especially to obviate some difficulties by which our reliance upon it is apt to be shaken, shall be our object in the present discourse. And in entering on so extensive a field, we shall as much as possible study brevity, particularly in those parts of our subject which have a more general bearing, and are less closely connected with the object of the discourses which follow.

I. Your attention is requested, in the first place, to the duty recommended in the text and the parable which it introduces,—that of perseverance and constancy in prayer--that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

Setting aside at present the more comprehensive signification of prayer, according to which the word is applied to any solemn and serious address to the Deity, we shall consider it as referring specially to the offering up of the desires of the heart to God. The first essential of acceptable prayer is faith in God, without which it is impossible to please him. This

faith is not merely the belief of the fact of his existence, but supposes some just apprehension of his character and nature, along with the assurance, in particular, that he is the hearer and answerer of prayer. In the case of our fallen race, it necessarily presupposes restoration to favor in the way which God has appointed, faith in the atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ the Surety. Without this there is no acceptance for the persons of sinners, and therefore none for their petitions. It presupposes, consequently, the knowledge of the work of mercy, and personal reliance upon it for salvation; and it implies a constant reference of faith to that work, as the only ground on which we request the favors which God has taught us to desire. When the exercise of prayer is cultivated with spiritual understanding, it is directed by a reference to the whole of God's revealed character, to his ways in providence, to his procedure in the scheme of mercy, to example and precept recorded for our instruction, to his warnings and his promises, to our own necessities as frail, dependent, guilty and accountable beings: and it is associated