on his own ground. The more talent and knowledge is enlisted in the church, the better. I rejoice to see learning and sound theology increasing. But what I now regret to discover is, that standard theology is going into disrepute. An age of active enterprising christians seems to be coming upon the stage; but it is also an age, alas! of light thinkers, running too and fro, and gaping after some "new thing." There is a spreading contagion for flimsey reading-for religious news to the neglect of sound works and profound investigation. While I most heartily co-operate in the activity of the benevolent, and praise God that my eyes behold this day, I weep that we should degenerate into such unnecessary and criminal extremes." The conversation was much more protracted than I have thought it advisable here to rehearse; but this will serve as a specimen of the weekly and sometimes daily conversations of the families. And in conclusion I have only to say, that if we would talk less about our minister and more about the truths he advances, we should, no doubt, grow up more rapidly into the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus. SENECTUS.

THOUGHTS ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION.

No. III.

AGREEABLY to the plan proposed, I shall conclude these numbers on Revivals of Religion, by some remarks on the Prayer of Faith.

It cannot be said with propriety, that any new doctrines have been discovered in the Bible during the two last centuries; but it may be stated in perfect accordance with truth, that several of those which are most important, have had much light shed upon them, by writers who have lived within fifty or one hundred years. Some of these were formerly but partially understood. They were exhibited in sermons and theological dissertations obscurely, wrapped up in obsolete and indefinite phraseology, so that a careful reader, after spending much time in the examination, would rise from the task dissatisfied, and feel as if he had laboured in vain. This was true concerning the great doctrine of Faith. I well remember, that thirty years ago, when the question was asked, "What is intended in the scriptures by faith?" the answer uniformly was, "I cannot describe it, but I will show what it is by its fruits." This subject has been thoroughly discussed, in these last days of the church; and it is now well understood that the scriptures exhibit faith as confidence in God, in his word, and in his promises. The inquiry has often been made within a short period, What is meant by the Prayer of Faith? I rejoice that this subject has arrested the attention of several writers in this, and a neighbouring state. The few remarks which I propose to make at the present time, if they should be found to have nothing new in them, will, I hope, induce some person, much better qualified

than I am, to throw light on a subject acknowledged by all to be of supreme importance.

It must be a delightful consideration to every humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that while he is obeying the command of God in the great duty of prayer, he at the same time promotes his own happiness, here, and hereafter. "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," are the directions of the Almighty; and he has no where said, that he will grant good gifts to the children of men upon any other conditions. There seems, therefore, to be an indissoluble connection between asking and receiving. "Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Although this great and glorious Being knows our wants, as well before as after we rehearse them in prayer, yet before he grants his favours "he will be enquired of by the house of Israel, (the church of God), to do it for them." it is in answer to prayer that all blessings, especially those of a spiritual nature, are bestowed upon the children of men. It is not intended here that food and raiment, and health and property, are not given to those who do not pray, but it is intended that these several gifts are not blessings, unless they are dispensed in answer to prayer. An impenitent person may live to the common age of man, may roll on in splendour, and fare sumptuously every day; but how can the things he possesses here, be considered as blessings to him, when "in hell he shall lift up his eyes, being in torment ?" -Our prayers do not alter the views and purposes of the unchangeable God; what his purposes on this subject are, he has told us; “ask and ye shall receive." If then we wish for favours, we must ask for them. But our prayers when offered in spirit and in truth, do have this most excellent effect, they prepare our hearts to become the recipients of the blessings he bestows.

An unbeliever, one who is not a disciple of Christ, cannot pray with faith. The Bible informs us that persons of that character" are condemned already, because they will not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God." How can that heart exercise faith, where neither love, nor confidence, nor hope, have ever gained admission? We must look then, to the heart of the humble and faithful follower of his Lord and Master, for the only place where the prayer of faith can originate. "Can we gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" Even so, christian emotions and exercises cannot spring up in an unsanctified heart. When promises are made to him who prays, he is ever considered as one who is truly on the Lord's side, and who comes to the throne of grace to ask for blessings, not on account of any merit or desert of his own, but for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.

No one can be said to pray, who does not believe in the government and superintending providence of God; with much less propriety can such a person be said to pray with faith. If we do not believe that God governs the world, and controls the events which daily occur, then it must be trifling with him, to ask him to order the circumstances of our lives, in one way or in another. If we believe that he looks with an eye of indifference on us and on our concerns,

surely it must be absurd to ask him to interfere and assume a direction altogether foreign to his settled plan of procedure; but if the occurrences of a day or of one's life are casualties, then it is supreme folly, and altogether useless to pray for any thing; for how can events dependent upon chance be controlled, or how is it possible for any being even to foreknow them. On the other hand, the person who is fully settled in his belief that the Creator of the world is likewise its moral governor; if he feels that in the relation of creature he is dependant on this great and glorious Being for life, and breath, and all things, then he may consistently ask for mercies, and expect with confidence, that all things will be made to work together for good to those that love God. He that cometh unto God, must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently

seek him."

To constitute the prayer of faith, it is essential that a person prays with sincerity. If the petitions are uttered only with the lips, while the heart is unconcerned and indifferent to what is passing, it is a perversion of language to call it prayer. If I were to repeat the Lords prayer, or any other, in a language of which I was ignorant, could it be said that I prayed? so if my lips rehearse a certain set of words, while my heart is inattentive to the business before me, wandering with the fools eyes to the ends of the earth, I do not pray; it is mere pretence and solemn mockery. The heart and lips must be united; they must desire, and ask, and confess, and render thanksgiving, and ascribe glory with perfect coincidence; they must mean the same thing or they do not pray. If any emotion arises in the heart contrary to the words which are uttered; if any cloud passes over it, any doubt or difficulty, then there is not perfect accordance, and the lips mean one thing, and the heart another. When therefore a worshipper asks for a revival of religion, and feels no solicitude concerning the subject, it cannot be called prayer: his lips call it so, but his heart speaks a different language. Can christians be surprised that such prayers as these are not answered? And shall they lose their confidence in the promises of God, because he does not listen to such unmeaning sounds? If these observations are just, what shall be said of the public prayers, which are daily rehearsed in the Roman Catholic Churches, and in the Jewish Synagogue; the former composed in Latin and the latter in Hebrew. Nine tenths of the worshippers in the one case ignorant of the language in which their prayers are written; and almost every individual in the other. Surely this is folly in the extreme; as inconsistent with the precepts of the scriptures, as it is with the dictates of common sense. But if that only is prayer in which the heart is engaged, what shall be said of the innumerable cold, heartless, prayers, which are daily offered up by listless formal and sleeping professors! Are they not "a smoke in his nostrils," an abomination in the sight of a Holy God, in whose presence the heavens are not clean ?

Prayers are not sincere unless accompanied by corresponding efforts. "Faith without works is dead, being alone." If a beggar address you, and say, I am suffering with hunger, and distressed with cold from want of raiment, I beg of you to supply my neces

sities; and you reply, my friend, I pity your condition exceedingly, I will enter into my closet and pray for you, be you warmed, and be you filled, depart in peace: is there any person who will say there is any sincerity in the heart which can dictate such an answer? Will they not say it is filled with gross hypocrisy. So if the christian falls down on his knees, and asks for a revival of religion, and stops there, can it be said there is any sincerity in his prayer? If his heart is animated and warmed with love, will not his hands, and his feet, and his lips be moved? Will he not labour as well as pray for a revival of religion? Will he not shew his faith by his works Will he not warn, and reprove, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, and strive to save some of those perishing immortals with whom he associates? No, it is impossible for a person in whose heart glows the love of God and man, to sit by, and see sinners going down to the pit in immense numbers, and not lift a finger to arrest them in their progress. When we have laboured, and done all we can do to promote a revival of religion; and have prayed with faith for the divine blessing on the feeble means which have been used, means which are of divine appointment, then may we look with confidence for an answer to our prayers. Here we have a key, by which to unlock the mystery, why prayers are not oftener answered; a mystery so great, that some christians appear to doubt whether they are answered at all. The real difficulty is, there was no sincerity in the prayers. As no corresponding works accompanied them, it is certain they were not offered in faith.-If a husbandman in the spring of the year should say, I wish for a crop this season on my farm, and will go into my closet and pray to the Almighty to give it to me, and should omit to plow his field, and sow his seed, would not his neighbours affirm that he was beside himself, that he was fitter for Bedlam than for the employments of agriculture. And what shall be said of the christian, who says that he is extremely anxious for a revival of religion in the place where he resides, who enters his closet and prays for it, and who does not sow the seed in the morning, and who in the evening witholds his hand? To what place shall he be assigned? Shall we believe that the former is deranged, and that the latter acts rationally; or shall we say, that the spiritual field will bear a crop without cultivation, while from the natural field we do not expect it? Surely the children of this world are wiser in their generation, than the children of light.

Prayers which are sincere, will be presented with earnestness. It is the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man which availeth much. Is it possible for a Christian to pray for a revival of religion with indifference and apathy? A mere formalist might pray in this manner, but the humble follower of Christ will be in earnest. God is in earnest for the salvation of sinners: he has given his well beloved Son to make an atonement for them. He says that he does not choose the death of him that dieth, but would rather that he should turn and live. And he makes proclamation to all, "whosoever will, let him come and take of the waters of life freely." The Lord Jesus Christ is in earnest he has given himself to die on the cross, that we might live. The Holy Spirit is in earnest; he re

proves the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and operates on the hearts of sinners, striving with them, and influencing them to come to Christ by repentance and faith. He is unwilling to relax his benevolent efforts, and take his final departure from them, until they harden their hearts, and grieve him away by their unbelief. And shall not Christians be in earnest ? Shall they come to the throne of grace and ask for spiritual blessings with cold and icy hearts, and in a careless and indifferent manner? Can they look on a world lying dead in tresspasses and sins, and their hearts not burn within them for its deliverance and salvation.

He

It is essential to the prayer of faith, that it be offered with entire confidence in the character of God as exhibited in the Scriptures. The mind of the suppliant must be like that of a little child, who comes into the presence of his earthly parent to ask for some good at his hands. He has no doubts as to his father's knowledge of his wants, of his love to him, and willingness to relieve his necessities. can place the most implicit trust in his unwarping integrity and justice. He can put himself into his hands without hesitation, to be dealt with according to the pleasure of his parent, knowing that he will do that which is most for his good. So the child of God will go to his heavenly Father, and with unreserved freedom make known all his difficulties and perplexities; relying on his readiness to hear, his faithfulness to relieve, and his willingness to bestow every needed blessing.

The declarations of God, as exhibited in the Scriptures, must be believed fully, and entirely, by him who would pray with faith. Whatever doctrine or precept comes to us with this sanction, "thus saith the Lord," cannot be rejected without the sin of unbelief. It seems singular, that it can be necessary to prove, that Christians ought to believe the unequivocal declarations of Scripture; but strange as it may appear, it is still true, that many who call themselves Christians, do not give them their hearty assent. Some preconceived opinion, some prejudice, some sectarian dogma, has taken such entire possession of the mind, that if we cannot twist and torture the Scriptures so as to favour our own notions, we pass them over with neglect and disbelieve them. In this way, unbelief has crept into the Church, and human philosophy has usurped the place of the word of God. I will mention an instance or two by way of example: God has said, "that he is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than Parents are to give good gifts to their children," and "if any of you lack wisdom [religion] let him ask of God, who giveth liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." Now notwithstanding the truths in these passages are perfectly clear, yet great numbers of Christians, from confused notions concerning the decrees of God, derived from human systems, do not believe that God is willing to save sinners; some scheme of instruction taught in the schools has received their implicit assent, and rather than give it up, they reject the clear and plain declarations of Jehovah. In the cases just cited, the persons do not give their entire assent to the great truths declared; they doubt whether they are to be understood literally, and to the full extent in which a plain