with the spirit of humble confidence in God, of nearness to him, and filial reverence and affection towards him; with delight in the privilege of intercourse, and submission to his will concerning us. In this exercise the Spirit of God is peculiarly present with the spirits of believing supplicants; and while the corruption of nature shews itself here in its strongest opposition to what is good, that blessed agent helps their infirmities, making intercessions for them with groanings which cannot be uttered. The effect of prayer is in a peculiar manner to bring near unseen things to the mind; to create a more solemn and affecting sense of the presence of God, and a more commanding impression of our connexion with him; to draw the soul forth towards him in devout affections; to lay open the heart to the influences of all divine realities; and to bring down from the Father of lights those various gifts which we need for our temporal, but above all for our spiritual, well-being.

The text speaks particularly of perseverance in prayer. It intimates that men are apt to faint, to become discouraged, to lose their energy and earnestness in the exercise, and even to cease from it altogether, at least in reference to particular objects of request. In opposition to this the text exhorts to pray always, and not to faint.

We are apt to faint in prayer through the weariness which generally steals upon us in the performance of oft-repeated or protracted exercises, especially when our relish for such exercises is not deeply wrought into our nature, and the advantage to be derived from them seems to be distant. We are apt to faint in prayer in consequence of losing sight of the worth and importance of the blessings petitioned for, and thus ceasing to desire them. We are apt to faint, most of all, in consequence of losing our faith in God, and our reliance on his word and promises. In opposition to all these sources of temptation to failure in this exercise, it ever remains our duty and our interest to persevere in it. It is our duty earnestly to strive against weariness in prayer, and for this very purpose to abound in it, seeing that by frequency alone our relish for it can be increased, and those communications received from above by which our strength for all spiritual duties is renewed from day to day. It is our duty to increase our desire for, and delight in, the objects of prayer, by acquainting ourselves with the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, of divine realities, and imploring from God in prayer an understanding to know their worth, and a heart to relish them. It is our duty to contend against that propensity to unbelief, by which the vigor of prayer is utterly relaxed, and its foundations undermined. We need to guard at every point against the suggestions of distrust; for in no direction are our treacherous hearts proof against it. Sometimes we are led to question whether we have not misunderstood, and interpreted too largely, the ample assurances which God has given with regard to the answering of prayer, even after every qualification which these assurances require or admit. Sometimes we question whether they are as applicable to our times as to those in which they were first given; although many of the declarations have no reference to anything peculiar in the circumstances of ancient believers, and are plainly applicable like the general promises of God to all

ages of his church. We are ready to distrust the veracity of God himself, or at least to lose that absolute confidence in it which alone enables us to ask in faith, nothing doubting. We are ready to question a thousand times, whether the promises on which we have relied are indeed the words of the living God, or those of erring men like ourselves. In order to fortify ourselves against such doubt, let us accustom ourselves, more than Christians generally do, to search into, and familiarize ourselves with the evidence by which the precious discoveries of mercy are attested. We feel persuaded that there is too little of this among ordinary Christians in order to the exercise of really vigorous faith. It is not the place to inquire into the comparative strength of the internal and the external evidences. The faith of the first Christians was founded on both, and on some portion of these evidences must be that of believers in every age. The gospel is a record of most important facts, embodying discoveries of the will of God to his guilty creatures; and the strength of our conviction respecting the reality of these facts and discoveries, must bear proportion to our impression of the claims of that evidence by which alone such facts can be established, and the truths they accompany proved to be from God. It would be profitable for all the practical purposes of the Christian life, if our reference to evidence were more habitual than it is. It would tend to prevent the occurrence of seasons of harassing doubt; it would maintain in a higher degree that powerful impression of reality concerning the things of God which is necessary to the vigorous exercise of faith; and it would thus lay a stronger foundation for that earnest desire which is essential to the effectual fervent prayer which availeth much.

II. Let us consider, in the second place, the encouragements to perseverance in prayer.

These encouragements are found in the word of inspiration itself. Whatever men have to say either in commendation or disparagement of prayer, on the word of God we must take our stand. One declaration of Him who cannot lie, is worth a thousand reasonings of ours; and numerous and full are his declarations on this subject.