will. Because He is perfect, perfection itself, He will assist those who are striving to be like Him. And therefore, while we pray for every other blessing with the qualification contained in St. Chrysostom's prayer, with an express or tacit reference to God's unknown purposes, we may in Christ's name pray for grace unconditionally, because we are infallibly certain that "this is the will of God, even" our "sanctification." Prayer for grace seems, in the nature of things, to be a means of attaining it.

In the inquiry, therefore, which we are pursuing, there is no necessity for pausing to examine the controverted meaning of texts such as the following: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that them, and ye shall have them"."

ye receive

"And this

is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us, and if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." It is a matter of faith, that, with respect to all our

c St. Matt. xxi. 22.

d St. Mark xi. 24.

e 1 John v. 14, 15.

prayers, these promises have their relative true fulfilment in some manner, if not corresponding to our expectations yet analogous to our wants in praying for grace sincerely, we may look with certainty for the absolute and indefeasible fulfilment of our petitions. Nay, still more; every faithful prayer, be the subject matter what it may, is a means of grace, and, as such, is heard: the special wish may be granted or denied, yet the prayer of faith at all events does not return empty; it brings with it "the peace of God," that which garrisons our hearts and minds, the strength, the consolations, the presence of the Comforter: for nothing less than this is the import of those gracious words, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"."

Reflections such as these form a suitable introduction to the proper subject of to-day's Lecture, the gift and mission of the Holy Ghost in answer to prayer specially directed

f

1 φρουρήσει.

g Phil. iv. 6, 7.

to that end. All prayer, then, of every sort, is a means of grace. Prayer for the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently so, by virtue of Christ's promise in the text: "Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." In these simple words what a stupendous truth is conveyed! The same Almighty Father who hath given His only Son, will give the Holy Ghost. The Son and the Comforter are both given, each according to His several office in the work of mercy; the ever-blessed Son, to die for our sins; the everblessed Paraclete, to live with, and to be the life of, the redeemed. And this promise is from the same lips which did "pray the Father" that He would "give" to His Church “another Comforter," "even the Spirit of truth," that He might "abide with" it "for everi." The assurance of this gift, also, the great Intercessor Himself has condescended to ground upon analogies drawn from the tenderest instincts of the human heart. The same principle of love and goodness which leads an earthly parent, even an evil one, to "give good gifts unto" his "children," moves our heavenly Father, yet "how much more," to "give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;" the same principle of

h St. Luke xi. 13.

i St. John xiv. 16, 17.

love in Him, yet how infinitely more gracious; the same Fatherly goodness, united with infinite wisdom and infinite power. It is "because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fatherk.”

And thus we are again brought round to that fundamental truth, our adoption as children of God in the laver of regeneration. It is because we are His children that we have a covenanted title to be heard in prayer; it is the Spirit, dwelling in the regenerate, which enables them to cry effectually for the continuance of His presence within them, for His more complete, uninterrupted, and increasing power over our whole nature; that He may be sent again and again into our hearts, ever renewing the influences which sin may for a time have intercepted, illuminating the dark places of our souls, strengthening our remaining weakness, conforming us more and more to the image of the Lord who redeemed us. And in these our baptismal relations all the privileges of the Christian worshipper are ratified and sealed. As children of God, we know that we may pray; as inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, we pray for its coming here

k Gal. iv. 6.

on earth into our hearts, as well as for its final and perfect coming in the world without end. As members of Christ, we pray not in behalf of ourselves alone, we pray to "our Father" for the whole family of Christ of which we are members. Intercession for others is as plainly a Christian duty as prayer for ourselves; not confined to any class of Christians by virtue of their office, though that office may naturally lead to its more frequent use, but the duty and privilege of every member of the Church as such. True, the priest must intercede for the people; but so also must the people intercede for the priest; even as we find St. Paul, while he is careful to assure his disciples that he makes mention of them in his prayers', so does he likewise intreat their special intercessions for himself", and this upon the plain principle, that the prayers of all the faithful were as effectual as his own. In a word, the Christian's prayer, as such, is that of one amongst many brethren; he prays even for his individual and private wants as bound up with the exigencies and interests of the whole body of the Church.

1 Rom. i. 9; Eph. i. 16; Phil. i. 4; 1 Thess. i. 2; Philem. 4. m 2 Cor. i. 11; Eph. vi. 18, 19; Phil. i. 19; Coloss. iv. 3; 1 Thess. v. 25; 2 Thess. iii. 1; comp. Acts xii. 5.