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XXXIV.

COUNSELS CONCERNING PRAYER.

(Delivered on Thursday Evening, March 7th, 1844.)

"And herein I give my advice."-2 CORINTHIANS viii. 10.

THIS regarded the liberty of the Corinthians in making the collections for the poor saints suffering in Jerusalem, and sending it by messengers who would gladly and safely and faithfully convey it. And if you ask, wherein I am going to give my advice this evening? I answer, the subjects of ministerial admonition are so numerous, that the brevity of this exercise requires selection. My mind this evening leads me to one thing, and to one thing only; namely PRAYER.

The noblest idea we have of real religion is, an intercourse between God and man. There is such an intercourse, and is carried on,'on God's side by His word; on our side by prayer. Prayer falls under various characters and distinctions. There is public prayer, family prayer, private prayer, and ejaculatory prayer. It has also various relations and qualities. It is offered only in the name of Jesus, as the only mediator between God and man ; "Whatsoever says the Saviour, "ye ask the Father in my name, He will do it." We also read of our "praying in the Holy Ghost;" because the Spirit teacheth us, and inclines us, and enables us to pray. He is therefore called "the spirit of prayer and supplication." We also are to ask in faith nothing wavering. Our prayers also are to be sincere; "then shall ye find Him, if ye seek Him with the whole heart." "He is nigh unto all that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." They must also be frequent and importunate; we must therefore resemble Jacob, and wrestle, and say, "I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me." But these are not the things on which I am going to enlarge during the remainder of this evening. I am going to deviate a little from my usual textual preaching. The old divines

often discussed cases of conscience, and such cases are always to be found in the experience of real believers, who often have their difficulties and doubts.

Asaph was deeply impressed on account of the prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the righteous; as he says in the seventy-third Psalm, "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked;" and to such a degree was he impressed, that he was tempted to say, "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency; for all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." How did he obtain relief? What did he do? He enquired in God's house. "I went," said he, "into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." There he saw the clue, and was enabled to unravel the mystery.

Now the case I have to bring forward this evening and concerning which I am going to give my advice is as follows:May not a Christian for a time lose much of his earnestness, freedom, and pleasure, in prayer? Though he could not wholly neglect the duty, he may have lost much of the favour and the privilege and freedom; and perform it in a dull and lifeless manner and fall asleep at the throne of grace.

If there are any here who can rise and say, "I acknowledge I have but imperfectly performed the duty, but I have never to complain in regard to my praying"-to these our subject has no reference. But are there not others who may say, "Well, I cannot hear as I ought, nor pray as I once did. O, that it were with me as in months past, when the candle of the Lord shone round about me, and when by His light I walked through darkness! Then did I love the Sabbath, and I numbered the days that intervened between me and it; then I did not gaze about while I heard the Word, or fall asleep, but either felt as the Jews did, when they cried out and said, What must I do to be saved? or with Jeremiah, who said, Thy words were found, and I did eat them and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Oh, how I sang the praises of God then! how I heard then! But I cannot hear now as I once did. What is to be done?" "Herein I give my advice," and it is comprehended in seven articles.

I. You say, "I cannot pray as I once did:" then carry the case to and lay it before God. If you cannot do anything else, this will be of some avail. The very exercise will be use

ful. You remember when Hezekiah received the blasphemous letter of Rabshakeh, " He went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." You remember, when John's disciples took up his body and buried it, they "went and told Jesus." When Martha and Mary sent unto Jesus, they said nothing but, "Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick;" and it brought Him to Lazarus, though not to raise him up from his sickness, but afterwards to raise him from the grave.

II. Then cause your condition to pass and repass before your mind; go into your closets, walk in your fields, retire somewhere and reflect upon it. Is there nothing to pray about? Nothing to excite you to prayer? What, are you not in the body? and in a world that lieth in wickedness? What, have you not a course of duty to perform? Have you not trials awaiting you? Must you not "pass through the valley of the shadow of death?" Are you yet fully prepared for all your serving, and for all your suffering? What are you relatively? Are you the head of a family? Where is the desire of your eyes? Where are the children of your bosom? Where are your domestics? Have you no friend whose afflictions you are to make your own? with whom you are to weep?

you.

III. "I cannot pray as I did!" Then read a portion of some good book which would serve either to shame you, or enflame Above all, take your Bible; take some psalm, as the matter and model of your devotions. Oh! how many are there appropriate to your own case, whatever it may be? Oh, how soon after you took the holy book to read, would you find that it furnishes something answerable to your case! Are you depressed with a sense of guilt? Read the fifty-first psalm, and say "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." Are you under affliction? Read such a psalm as the twenty-fifth: "The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring Thou me out of my distresses. Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me: for I am desolate and afflicted." Or are you depressed in spirit? Read the forty-second psalm; there you hear David express himself: "O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

IV. "I cannot pray as I did." Then remember you are heard according as you can pray, and not according as you cannot. How is it now with your own children? Have you a family? One of them can come and ask in proper language; another can only just lisp his desire in broken accents. But the second is heard as well as the first. But here is a third who cannot speak at all, but he can stretch out his little hand; he can cry. Is he to be despised and refused? Why, the big tear in his face-yea, everything pleads for him. So our Lord says in His exhortation, "If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask Him"! They ask according to their ability: He gives "according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

There may be gifts without grace. It is not the arithmetic of your prayers, how many they be; nor the geometry of your prayers, how loud they be; nor the rhetoric of your prayers, how fine they be; nor the music of your prayers, how melodious they be, that is the important thing. But the sincerity thereof, their coming from within, their being the feelings of a broken heart and contrite spirit; the being able to pray with David, "Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groanings are not hid from Thee." Or with Job, "Mine eye poureth out prayers unto God." This was his praying; it was also David's. Nor in vain did he address God, and say, "Thou heardest the voice of my weeping." Hezekiah said, "As a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter." Hardly could he use the word "prayer," yet God heard and answered him.

V. You say, "I cannot pray as I did." Then consider your encouragements to pray. Prayer is infinitely important in the Christian life. Not only is it an evidence of it, but the medium thereof; and all such prosperity depends entirely upon it. Let this be considered by you; as Henry says, "Prayer is an outlet and an inlet too—an outlet to grief, and an inlet to grace." It is a duty. Remember, you are to "pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands." And as to the continuance, you are to "pray without ceasing," to pray and not faint. Is there not enough here to arouse and animate you afresh, especially when you go over the exceeding great and precious promises made to prayer? You hear God saying, "For all these things will I be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." Is there not enough to excite and encourage you? The God of prayer stands before you as the God of love and the God of

all grace and mercy. His hands are filled with all the blessings you need. The throne you approach is a throne of grace, the seat you come to is a mercy-seat, and you have a mediator there to take you by the hand and lead you in and present your services acceptably, offering up your prayer with His own like sweet incense. He gives you His Spirit to help your infirmities. Can you produce no instance of usefulness in prayer? Have you no Ebenezers of your own to raise ? Can you not say with David, "It was good for me to draw near to God?"

VI. You say you cannot pray as you once did. Then examine the cause of this. Your state of mind, be assured, is not an instance of Divine sovereignty. There are some persons who carry their views on this subject too far; and because He saves sovereignly, they think He damns sovereignly; but this is a mistake."He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." Is there not a cause? Hear Him state the cause Himself. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; ""but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Hence He addresses the Jews, "Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when He led thee by the way? And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee." Again, "O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto Thee." Yes, there is a reason for this state of mind; and in general a particular cause, and I need not say that we should endeavour to find it out. If you are sincere in your researches, you will soon put your finger on the enemy, perhaps some known duty omitted, some creature improperly regarded; perhaps ingratitude for some deliverance; some ungenerous temper indulged; neglect of the means of grace or indifference to them. In some way or other you may have grieved the Spirit of God who hath sealed you to the day of redemption.

Are the consolations of God small with you? Is there no secret thing by which you may account for this? The gourd withers over your head; is there not a worm at the root?