SERMON I.

ON PRAYER.

EPHES. iii. 14, 15, 16, 17.

FOR THIS CAUSE I BOW MY KNEES UNTO THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, OF WHOM THE WHOLE FAMILY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS NAMED; THAT HE WOULD GRANT YOU, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY, TO BE STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT BY HIS SPIRIT IN THE INNER MAN: THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS BY FAITH.

IN all nations God hath left Himself not without a witness, having at the creation of man breathed into him the breath of life; thereby gifting mankind with the powers of speech, and reason; and also with a knowledge of good and evil. This latter power is called conscience; whereby the soul, or inner man, is acquainted with the tendency of its thoughts, or deeds, whether they be good or evil.

No man living is exempt from the influence of this internal Monitor, nor is the lot of men in this particular unequal. All, therefore, who hear me, know that I speak truly of this awful and wonderful power, implanted in the human breast; which, as it frequently influences the inner man, without causing any emotion of the body, or outer man; is a proof that "there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." It is an unanswerable proof of the immortality of the soul.

Now, as this inner man is frequently admonished by conscience of our sinful acts, and perverted inclinations; while our fear of some future evil consequences is kept awake by the same just, and internal, conviction of a supreme Being; "for that there is a God all nature cries aloud through all her works :" so does there appear to be some great need of escaping from His judgments. Hence the necessity of Prayer.

Accordingly we find, not only in sacred, but in profane history; not only in the records of old times, but in the relations of modern discoveries, that over the whole earth one God is feared, and worshipped. To Him the Christian bends the knee; to Him the

Heathens offer prayer, and praise; to Him the Jew, a captive in all lands, a wanderer among men, prays for Redemption. Before His awful throne the Brahmin bows; and the Mahometan humbles his proud spirit in the dust. While all the mighty host of Eastern Idolaters, though almost lost in darkness, amidst the great confusion of their many gods; nevertheless, look up to one first cause, as the Lord, and governor, of all.

Such, also, was the conviction of the Greeks, and Romans, who thought even their gods subject to one over-ruling power; which they called fate; but we the Providence of God.

Nor was this surprising; since all their gods can be traced, as may all the monstrous idols of the Heathen, all the pretended mediating saints of Romish worship, to mere mortal men. Men, who in the darker ages of the world, distinguished themselves as conquerors, legislators; or teaching arts, and commerce, became the benefactors of mankind.

To them natural gratitude, excited by a conscientious sense of their merits, or misled by general flattery, erected statues. And frequently altars were also given to departed

worth, on which were offerings in remembrance of their deeds.

Hence, in future generations, the very antiquity of the practice added a certain solemn feeling to the offering; and thus mere mortal men, liable to error, full of sin, became the gods of the heathen, the objects of their false idolatry.

Upon this knowledge of the human heart, the impostor Mahomet built up his faith; but rejecting all idolatry, or image worship, he taught One God supreme. Yet did he debase his pretended faith by scandalous impurities; admitting into his Paradise, what Christ, in the Revelation, has expressly excluded from the future hope of joy in heaven for ever.

Nor is it a less remarkable proof of mere mortal interests having brought error into our sister Church of Rome; when we trace her corruptions to the same, the self-same sources of idolatry.

Else, would she dare to pervert Scripture by teaching men to pray to Saints; when that declares" there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus?"

Or would she presume, like Mahomet, to

grant indulgences for sins, and all licentiousness; while her Lord Christ has said, "be ye holy !"

"Take my yoke upon you," said He, “and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find peace for your souls." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh to God but by me."

Our God, the Lord Jehovah, is a jealous God; and He suffers those who fall away from the only true faith, to be misled into the grossest idolatry. He will not give His honour to another, nor share His glory with the many unworthy creatures of His handywork; whom vain superstition, aided and instigated by the craft and subtilty of the devil, and man, has made gods, demigods, saints, and idols.

"As for all the gods of the Heathen, they are but idols; but it is the Lord who made the heavens. Glory and worship are before Him, power and honour are in His sanctuary."

"To Him all Angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein. To Him Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry; Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and Earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory!"