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THE SOLEMN NATURE OF PRAYER.

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with the great God, who made heaven and earth. To him, though we behold him not, we speak, and are as really in his presence, as if death had dismissed us hence, and our separated spirits stood before him. You would not trifle in a dying hour; and if you feel aright the nature and solemnity of prayer, you will no more trifle in prayer than trifle in death.

Pursue this thought a little further. In prayer you speak to God-that awful God, whom you must shortly meet, with whom you must have a most solemn interview when a few years at most have rolled away;—that God, in whose kingdom you will rejoice ten thousand millions of ages hence, or whose displeasure you will then be lamenting as your bitterest curse. Prayer is not the mere repetition of a few words, uttered by us where none can hear. The faintest whisper of real prayer passes beyond the limits of this world, and goes where we cannot at present fly; it enters the skies, and God hears it.

Suppose you could discern the glory and majesty of him who is invisible, how would you pray then! While looking up to the throne of his glory, small would seem the value of the universe in comparison of his love! Then what would earth and time appear! The sun, the moon, and stars glowing in the sky, would vanish into nothing compared with him who fixed them there! With eyes fixed on heaven, and hearts sinking to the earth, overwhelmed with astonishment and rapture, might we view the glory of that God whom we must shortly meet. The splendours of eternal day might delight, the rewards of blessed spirits enrapture, the astonished soul, but what would be the feelings these excited, compared with those, springing from the view of his majesty, whose presence is the source of that glory, and the spring of that happiness! What would be your thoughts and feelings could you gain a glimpse of his Majesty! Would you see the sun? ah, no! the sun would shine unseen. Would you look upon the earth? ah, no! its bustles and its tumults, its pleasures and its sorrows, would pass unnoticed by.

Suppose then, whenever you pray, you could quit the earth for a short time, and enter the presence of this holy God, and after pouring out your desires and thanksgivings before him, could return to this world,-how solemnly would you enter his presence, how fervently, yet with what awe, call upon his

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WATCHFUL CARE NECESSARY FOR PRAYER.

name and bow at his footstool, and with what a thoughtful serious mind would you return from these interviews to the business of life! O consider, you have now as really in prayer to speak to God as you would then--as really to go into his presence, though clouds and darkness, and the veil of mortality, hide him from your view.

Another consideration that should add solemnity to prayer is, that it cannot be an indifferent thing. You cannot rise up from your knees as you knelt down. You have either gained a blessing or incurred guilt. If offered through Jesus, in sincerity, the continuance of former blessings, or the bestowment of new ones, is surely obtained. But if it be a formal lip-service, it is a mockery of the divine Majesty. When you rise from prayer you must rise possessing the favour, or labouring under the displeasure, of the Almighty.

§ 3. To have such impressions as these on your mind in the hour of prayer, is of no little moment; for fervent prayer, though the most inestimable of privileges, is often a difficult duty. To repeat a few lifeless words is indeed an easy thing, but to pray in sincerity a very different one. To push the world aside; to place ourselves as in the presence of God; surrounded by earthly things to forget all that is earthly; and far from heavenly scenes to have our hearts engaged among them; to bow down as before the throne of the Most High; to address an invisible God as if he were visible; to have our thoughts, our hearts, our desires engaged in his service, and thus to hold communion with him;-this is effectual fervent prayer, but this is no easy thing. Address the blessed God as in his immediate presence, pray to him, praise him, as if he were visible, and this is communion with him; but words repeated without thought, offend God, and bring no blessings down upon the thoughtless creature that utters them.

§ 4. The subjects of prayer should chiefly be those blessings which respect God's glory and our own eternal welfare. The blessed Jesus has taught this in that form which he gave as a pattern for the devotions of his followers. The first three petitions respect the divine glory: "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Thus he teaches us that this is the subject which should lie nearest to our hearts, and take the lead in our

THE SUBJECTS OF PRAYER.

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prayers. He introduces only one petition for earthly good, and that the most limited possible, "Give us this day our daily bread." Bread is what he tells us to implore, and that for but one day at a time.

Earthly blessings should not be a leading subject in prayer. It is true you may pray for them, and for deliverance from temporal evils; for the most eminent saints did so. But for every thing of this kind you should pray with resignation and submission, leaving the subject after all to God; for time is short, and earthly good of little importance to one who has to live for ever. Besides, our own blindness should teach the necessity of praying humbly and conditionally for what we may deem earthly blessings. God sees more than we see, and he may see that the very objects we most importunately desire, might be a source of ruin here or destruction hereafter. Rachel said, Give me children or I die! God granted her desires; she had children given her, and died through the grant. God may see the objects we desire would be a bitter curse; the troubles we deprecate our greatest blessing. Life, that desired object, the sorest of evils; death, that dreaded foe, the best of friends. We may desire life for ourselves or others, when we might see storms of affliction too heavy to be borne arising, and therefore send death to lay our bodies in the grave, that silent abode, over which the tempests of life may pass, but which they never reach; and to conduct our spirits to that world, where

"Pains, and groans, and griefs, and fears,
"And death itself shall die."

For spiritual blessings you may pray without apprehension of asking amiss. For them you may go boldly to the throne of grace. These are blessings, which it is for the glory of God to bestow, and for the good of man to receive. These are of everlasting importance, and everlasting worth. Whatever trifles others pray for, when your heart rises to heaven, in solemn devotion, let your petitions chiefly relate to the glory of God and the honour of Christ. Pray that you may understand clearly, and believe firmly, the invaluable gospel; that you may discern the infinite evil of sin, and comprehend the love of Christ; that you may be cleansed from all sin in his atoning blood; that with full confidence you may rest your eternal all on him, as on the Rock of ages; that you may

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THE SUBJECTS OF PRAYER.

obey his holy instructions, copy his spotless example, and trust his sacred promises; that you may live on earth as one who belongs to heaven; that swelling multitudes may travel with you to that happy world; that the divine Spirit may rest on them and you, and that at length you may enter that world where, all error and corruption being left behind, you shall continue to eternity, praising, loving, admiring, and adoring him that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb that was slain, and redeemed you to God by his blood.

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To see that such should be the leading subjects of prayer, observe what is expressed in a few scriptural petitions. "Hallowed be thy name." "Thy kingdom come." "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Done in us, and done by us, and done with us, and done as perfectly and as cheerfully as it is done in heaven. Pray that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified." "I pray that your love may abound yet more and more;" "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye may know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge." "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 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ "e "Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will." "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all."

What important prayers are these! The direction of an ancient poet, to pray for, mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a healthful body, has been admired and applauded; but how unspeakably did the noblest advice of a heathen philosopher fall below the sublimity and importance of the subjects of Christian prayer.

§ 5. The word of God also represents what are the requisites of acceptable prayer.

Prayer must be sincere. If it be not the offering of the heart, it is worse than nothing. "God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." The bended knee, the suppliant look, the devout expression, cannot please him where the heart presents not the offering. No bodily services, or repetition of devotional but lifeless (a) Matt. vi. 9, 10. (b) 2 Thess. iii. 1. (c) Phil. i. 9. (d) Eph. iii. 15-21. (e) 1 Thess. v. 23. (f) Heb. xiii. 20, 21. (g) 2 Cor. xiii. 14. (John iv. 24.

PRAYER MUST BE SINCERE AND FERVENT.

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words, is sufficient. If that were prayer, teach a parrot to repeat them, and a parrot could pray. Such were the prayers of Israel of old. This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."i Such are the prayers of myriads now. They ask for what they do not desire; beg for holiness and follow sin, and mock God with their solemn requests; because their hearts join not sincerely in any petition that their lips

utter.

§ 6. Prayer should be solemn and fervent. "The effectual FERVENT prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

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In the season of devotion we address that God whom we cannot love enough, and implore blessings of everlasting importance. At such a time reverence, humility, unfeigned sorrow for sin, earnest desire for blessings needed, and thankfulness for blessings possessed, cannot be called into exercise sufficiently lively. Think of God, and what is man! What a moment his life! What an insect himself! What an atom the world on which he dwells! Before that God what humility should we feel! with what reverence adore! What deep self-abasement should we cherish, and what entire abhorrence of the dreadful ingratitude and hellish evil of sin committed against such a Friend! Then too should the immense, unbounded love of God call forth gratitude the most devout. Who would cross the Atlantic ocean to save a fly perishing on the other side that ocean! Such love to a dying insect warms no human breast. But the Son of God, at his Father's appointment, performed a miracle of mightier love. Man, compared with him, is far more worthless than a fly compared with man. Yet, given by his Father, for us he left his heavenly dwelling, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This "love of infinite degree," this "immeasurable grace," should ever be remembered in the hour of devotion. At such a season too there is every thing in our state to excite fervour. We speak to the God whose decision will fix our everlasting state; whose smile is life eternal, and whose frown eternal death. We ask him for blessings of eternal worth. How earnestly would a wretch condemned to die, implore the mercy of his judge, if he saw that judge melting with compassion over him. And can we in prayer feel

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