guments with God from that work which is the alone foundation of hope before him. In the words of our Lord himself, formerly referred to, we have the connexion between the acceptability of prayer and a reference to his name as the ground of request, repeatedly and most pointedly affirmed: see John xiv. 13, 14 ; xv. 16; xvi. 23, 24. 26.

Now, may we not here find causes of the rejection of many of our prayers? Is there no such thing with us, even while on the whole placing our dependance on the sure foundation, as practically forgetting it in making known our requests unto God? Do we not often plead Christ's name in our form of words, while no corresponding reliance on that name accompanies what we utter? Do we not often carry our lurking self-righteousness even into God's presence, and dérive our confidence in prayer from something pertaining to ourselves? May we not often find ourselves cherishing the impression that God has heard our prayers on account of our having prayed well, with liveliness of affection, with enlargement of desire? Is there no such thing as coming to God with

a boldness derived from self-complacent reflection on the frequency of our approaches, the intimacy of communion we have maintained, our attention to duties and consistency in obedience, rather than from an exclusive and self-renouncing dependence on Christ's finished work, as all our salvation and all our desire? Let us only remember, then, that it is the purpose of God in the whole plan of salvation to exalt his mercy and humble the sinner; and we shall cease to wonder when petitions, in which we have done homage to ourselves and not to Christ, go unanswered of God.

4. God interprets our petitions according to the motives from which we present them, and these are often such as God cannot approve or gratify by answering us according to our desire.

The blessings themselves may be substantially good and excellent; but we may seek them as the means to some further ends, in which self-love alone is interested, or by which propensities absolutely sinful are indulged. We may seek, for example, to acquit ourselves well in duty with a view to the applause of men, not of approbation from God. When we entreat

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for the prosperity of Christ's kingdom--an object the very thought of which ought to ennoble and purify the soul, and raise it above selfish aims-in what a variety of ways do the feelings of corruption mingle with our petitions! When we implore a blessing on our efforts, it is that we may have the credit of success. pray for Christian institutions, in order that we may not have the pain of seeing our own plans disappointed. We desire the progress of the gospel that our own party may be advanced. The public teacher longs for success to his instructions in order that his ministry may receive honor; and the people join in the desire, that they may enjoy the comforts of respectability, and the advantages of numbers. It is humbling to think to what a degree we are actuated by such principles, instead of by the purer desire of seeing sinners saved from destruction, the crown of the Redeemer flourishing, and the will of God done on earth as it is done in heaven. Now, in so far as our motives are absolutely sinful, it is impossible that we can obtain our requests; if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us. And in so far as our attention is

turned to ends which, although not positively wrong, are in themselves of inferior importance, in so far does God judge of our petitions, not by the value of the objects which we specify in words, but by the desires which really influence us; and I need not add, that he may see it to be for our real advantage that our wishes should not be gratified till we have learned to set our hearts on worthier objects, and have our eye more single in his cause.

5. The benefits we ask from God may not be conferred because we have not sought them with importunity and perseverance in prayer.

The promises of God to prayer are specially connected with importunity and continuance in it, to which our text particularly refers. The same is intimated in the threefold repetition of the duty and the promise which occurs in Luke ii. 9. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Importunity is thus most pointedly recommended, encouraged, and honored. And what is the reason for this? It is not that the Father of mercies is reluctant to bestow his favors. It is not that he capriciously wish

es to show his power of disappointing us. But it is that the inestimable benefits of which he makes prayer the medium, may be conferred upon us in fuller measure and with happier results. The very exercise of asking does us unspeakable good, and the habit of waiting and longing for the blessing prepares us for enjoying it. Were the favors which God imparts bestowed on the mere utterance of a wish by his suppliants, however feeble that wish might be, their intercourse with him would be short, careless, and infrequent; their humiliation before him would not be deep; their sense of dependence upon him would not be profound; their value for mercies so easily obtained would be small, and their gratitude for gracious answers would be slight and transient. We are so constituted that continuance is necessary in order to make impressions deep and lasting. Importunity is therefore a part of the order established in scriptural prayer, as a medium of grace from God. If we tire of dependence, and suffer our minds to become impatient and go astray, the fault is ours and not his. It is not his will to leave us to the hope deferred which