Such petitions will dispel all malice, will soften the heart, will lead to a spirit of love, and to a temper something resembling His, who, when upon the cross, prayed for his enemies; Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. These are some of the benefits which will result from secret prayer. But, whilst its advantages are so numerous, the obstacles in the way of continued fervent communion with God are so many, that it may be justly said to be one of the most difficult parts of a Christian's duty. It is, of all things, most contrary to the secret alienation of the heart from God. The delays in answer to prayer, the discouragements from the dulness of the frame, the distractions from worldly thoughts and from the temptations of Satan; all are great hindrances. Hence, in the Scriptures, it is compared to wrestling, which requires continued exertion. Hence we are told to watch unto prayer; and that men should pray always, and not faint. This being the case, it may not be amiss to add a few directions for promoting this exercise. The first direction I would beg to suggest to your readers is, To fix stated times for prayer. The more spiritual the mind, the more frequently will there be a recollection of God by ejaculatory prayer; but it is important that there should also be particular seasons set apart for communion with God. Our Lord directs this, when he says, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret*" Here there is manifestly a preparation and an order in drawing nigh to God. Let these seasons, then, be observed, and such times chosen as are found most favourable. Particularly avoid, for the principal time of prayer, a late hour at night, when the body is fatigued and the spirits become faint. Whatever season is chosen, * Mat. vi. 6. let it not be easily departed from, but consider it as a time in which an engagement is made which cannot be given up. 2dly. We ought to enter into the exercise with a deep view of its im portance; that there is no blessing, as a minister, as a master of a family, or as a child, but must come from God; and that no blessing can be expected in any other way than in answer to prayer. Let us, therefore, consider, not merely that we are to spend a certain time in this way, but that we have an object to attain. 3dly. Let us engage in this duty in a humble dependence on the assistance of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of grace and of supplication. He assists our infirmities, and maketh intercession for us. When wander, ing thoughts intrude upon the mind, let us, therefore, pause for a short time, and address ourselves to the Lord for a greater supply of his influence. 4thly. Let us follow the Scriptures both in manner and in matter. The prayers of Abraham, Jacob, David, Nehemiah, and others, in the Old Testament; and of St. Paul, and, above all, of our blessed Saviour, in the New, afford excellent examples to teach us how to pray. But let us not confine ourselves to these instances; whatever part of Scripture we are reading may be turned into prayer. This may be done by ask ing that the doctrines may be understood, the precepts followed, the promises fulfilled in our experi ence, and the terrors avoided. 5thly. Let us beware of any thing that may check the spirit of prayer. If we experience extraordinary dulness, let us consider if there may not be some reason for it: whether an improper intercourse with the world, vain conversation, an unprofitable employment of time, or an indulg ence of some evil temper, has not grieved the Holy Spirit. If we have reason to fear that this is the casts we should immediately confess ont sin, and apply for pardon through the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus. If the cause is merely depression of spirits, or bad health, as is often the case, we may read over some enlivening psalm or hymn, or engage in intercession for others; and frequently we shall find that this dulness is removed, and that we are enabled to pray with freedom. 6thly. Let us never put our prayers in the place of the Saviour. When we have done all that is commanded, we are but unprofitable servants. He is our righteousness and our peace. He is our Advocate with the Father; and in him only can we be accepted. After the most fervent petition, we ought, therefore, still to remember, that it is not the excellence of our prayers that can give us favour in the sight of God, since all that passes from us is mixed with sin; but solely the merits and intercession of the Lord Jesus. May his ments be received by faith by every reader of this paper, and his love shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto them; that prayer may become their delight, as it is their duty; and that, in answer to their petitions, many blessings may be obtained for themselves and for all the church of God! H. IN supplying us with motives to obedience, Scripture, by way of adding to their force, sometimes, promises rewards which are similar in kind to the obedience which is to be performed. "He that re ceiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward." Again, in the words preceding the text, and which formed the subject of the Eighteenth of these Sermons; "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Here, the importance of the obedience which is required, a confession of Christ before men, is greatly increased by the peculiar reward attached to it, Christ's confession of us before his Father. For, on the occasion of every such confession, we are permitted to look forward to that future, and certain, and immortal honour, of being confessed by Christ before the assembled world. "He We may observe something of the same kind when the object is to deter us from particular sins. The Scripture does not, in many cases, describe the sin in a general way, as odious in itself, and destructive of our happiness, but also as bringing upon us a punishment corresponding to its baseness; a dishonour of the same kind with that which, by the commission of it, we had brought upon the Author of all good. that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword." So again, in the words of the text, "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven;" in other words, if we disown or reject Christ before men, he will disown and eternally reject us at the judgment of the great day. As on a former occasion the great duty as well as the reward of confessing Christ were explained, so now I would expose the sin of denying him, together with its punishment. For this purpose I intend to shew, I. What it is to deny Christ. II. What are the motives which lead to a denial of him. III. How it is that he will deny us before his Father. I. What it is to deny Christ. The denial or rejection of Christ, being opposed to the confession of him (which is to acknowledge and accept him both as the Lord aud Saviour of the world), must mean, to reject and disown him as the Lord and Saviour of the world, and to disclaim all hopes of pardon and happiness at his hands. To deny Christ, in this worst of senses, is, in short, to reject the Christian revelation altogether. But this is a denial of Christ on which I need not at present particularly dwell. There is, however, a rejection of his doctrines, which is the same thing in effect with the rejection of himself. Christ, indeed, classes himself and his doctrines together. "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words ...... of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father." He, therefore, who offers contempt to the truths spoken by Christ, offers contempt to Christ himself: he is equally guilty of rejecting Christ's authority, and equally deprives himself of any interest in his blessings, as if he denied the Messiahship of Christ altogether. The point, therefore, in which I mean now to consider the denial of Christ to consist, is in the rejection of the essential truths of his religion. 1. There are truths in Christianity which are too humbling to be readily embraced. Among these stands foremost the doctrine of man's corruption. The sacred Scriptures, the word of Christ, uniformly represent man as a sinful and guilty creature; bis understanding darkened, his will perverted, and his affections unholy. They say, that "the heart (itself the fountain and seat of all these) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:" they even represent God as looking down from, heaven, to see if there were any that would understand and seek after God; "but they are all gone out of the way; they are altogether become abominable; there is none that doeth good, no not one." But these strong representations, confirmed as they are by history and experience, are not sufficient to secure the reception of this doctrine. Men cannot bear to be told, that ey are thus one and all of them naturally wicked, and “the children of wrath." Their pride revolts at it; and they either maintain, in opposition to this doctrine, the goodness of human nature, and es pecially the goodness of their own hearts; or they explain it away, by ascribing all appearances of a contrary kind to the influence of bad example, or the force of temptation. Now, in either of these cases, we clearly oppose a truth revealed and confirmed by the word of Christ, and therefore we do in reality, though perhaps not in words, oppose the authority of Christ. 2. Closely connected with the doctrine last mentioned, is that of man's redemption through the death and righteousness of Christ. Those who deny or who do not feel their natural depravity and guilt, are apt to deny, or, which is the same thing, in practice to overlook, their need of Christ's atonement and intercession. Their reliance is not on him for pardon, acceptance, and salvation; but on something which they themselves perform. But let such know that there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we can be saved but that of Christ Jesus; that it is his blood alone which cleanseth from sin; and that he is our Advocate, through whom alone we are permitted to draw near unto God. In denying, or practically undervaluing, these truths, they incur the guilt, and are exposed to the fearful doom of those "who have trodden under foot the Son of God," and "have counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing." 3. There is another doctrine of Christ's religion which is denied nearly on the same ground with the first. I mean that of the influence of God's Holy Spirit. As in the former case men deny the extent of their depravity, so in this they deny the extent of their weakness. To be told, indeed, of our depravity is offensive enough, but to be assured, that we are weak and helpless, not only without the will, but without the strength to resist evil, and this at the very time, perhaps, when all our faculties, both of body and mind, are in vigorous exercise, is a truth most repugnant to our feelings. We are, therefore, very slow to believe, that the assistance of God's Spirit is necessary to produce those fruits of holiness, which are said in Scripture to come from him alone. We expect to be able of ourselves, and without his help, to repent sincerely, believe firmly, pray fervently, and act consistently. And whether these views are expressed in so many words, or are acted upon even in opposition to our professed belief, the guilt is nearly the same. We are chargeable with rejecting a fundamental truth of Christ's religion. Christ never could have stated it to be one grand end of his mission to procure for us the gift of the Holy Spirit, if we liberty to make light of his influence: and to deny our need of the Holy Spirit's help, or, which is the same thing, not to feel our need of it, in our attempts after holiness, is to deny one chief design of Christ's death and ascension. were at 4. There are also principles of the religion of Christ which are too strict for the careless. The words, "He that keepeth the whole law, and yet offendeth in one point, is guilty of all," are plain and explicit. They prove that one single sin, wilfully and habitually indulged, shews a disposition to commit any other to which there are the same temptations and opportunities. There are many who consider Christianity, in bringing us under a dispensation of mercy, as allowing of deviations from the strictness of the law, provided outward decency be maintained. And when such persons are told that, besides this outward morality, Christianity demands, that the motive be sifted, the intention laid bare, the secret thoughts weighed, and the prevailing temper examined, they are apt to shrink from such a view of the subject. But, surely, this is no more than Christ demands and God approves. It asserts only, what none can deny, that the character of our actions is good or bad according as the motive is so; and that right principles are the only security for right practice. But if, in opposition to the word of God, which asserts, "that while man looketh at the outward appearance, God looketh at the heart," trieth and searcheth it: we confine our inquiry only to the outward conduct;-if we put honesty in our ordinary dealings, and alms-giving to the poor, in the place of that repentance towards God, that faith in Christ and devotedness to him, that purity of heart and life, that godly simplicity and sincerity, and that unfeigned love to God and man which the Gospel requires;-if, I say, we estimate our own character and that of others by this false standard ; in what do we differ from those who flatly deny the mission of Christ? In such a case we oppose some of the most positive declarations of Christ; we misrepresent his religion; we rob it of an honour, which even its enemies have al lowed to it--I mean, the honour of teaching a morality of the most exalted kind, which regulates no less the secret motions of the heart than the outward actions of the life. 5. Again, there are truths of Christianity which are too spiritual for the worldly. "My kingdom," it is said by Christ himself, "is not of this world;" and his followers are to be known by their cultivating those affections which are to fit them for another. They must, indeed, live in the world, but they are forbidden to cherish its spirit, or imitate its example: they are told expressly, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world." Now, if in opposition to this, we make this world the place of our rest; if we live only for its wealth, its honours, or its pleasures, and act upon its principles; if we neglect communion with God, and holy contemplation, and do not cultivate devout af fections; if our hearts, instead of being captivated with the glories of heaven, and rejoicing in the prospect and foretaste of those glories, are distracted by the cares, engrossed by the business, and devoted to the pleasures of the world; and if, in addition to all this, we dare to regard such a state as compatible with a good hope of future happiness, we do, in truth, "deny the Lord who bought us," and shall "bring upon ourselves swift destruction." II. I come, secondly, to point out the motives which lead to this denial. These might all be included under that love of the world and of worldly objects, by which the carnal mind (that mind which is enmity against God) is chiefly known. This is the great cause why men reject Christ, and refuse any share in his blessings. Let us exemplify the assertion by one or two instances. A motive which frequently leads. to a denial of Christ, is the fear of reproach; in other words, the fear of suffering in the esteem of the world. And this fear it is, which, perhaps, more than any thing else, has tried the faith and sincerity of Christians in all ages. Peter was first ashamed of his Lord before he denied him. And though open persecution has ceased, yet there exists, even in the present day, so strong a prejudice against the genuine principles and practice of the Gospel, that it is to be feared one of the great discouragements to a life of piety is the dread of worldly reproach. A man may live for years, nay, during his whole life, in a state of utter indifference to the concerns of his soul, and yet be deemed by the world around him a good man, nay, perhaps, a good Christian. But no sooner does he begin to live to any valuable purpose, and to answer the only end which makes life itself a blessing; no sooner does he begin to live to the glory of God, and to act from a principle of love to him, than the charge of weakness or absurdity, or enthusiasm, or something worse, will be thrown out against him. What! shall a man then be thought weak, because he chooses Christ as the foundation of his hopes and the pattern of his life? Shall he be thought absurd, at the very moment when he is giving the greatest proof of wisdom, by preferring the favour of God to that of the world? Astonishing as it may seem, yet so it is Nor is it difficult to be accounted for. The world will "ever love its own;" and when it sees us escaping its pollutions, despising its happiness, disregarding its applause, and exposing its defi ciencies, a last grand effort will be made either to terrify or seduce us from our choice. But let none of these things move us; let neither the sneer of contempt, nor the reproach of singularity, nor the threat of power, shake our determination; and we shall at last be "more than con querors, through Him that loved us." Take another example. The young man in the Gospel, who promised so fairly, and seemed so intent upon confessing Christ, fell a victim to his love of the world. His possessions he valued more than Christ; his earthly more than an heavenly inheritance. Now, though it may not be necessary for us to make exactly the same kind of sacrifice which this man was required to make, yet there are sacrifices of worldly interests, and worldly pas sions and pursuits, and sensual gra tifications, which must be made by every Christian. Many men will have no objection to confess Christ, while such confession does not clash with their interest, or reputation, or enjoyment; but when these come in the way, they make shipwreck of their faith, and deny Him whom they confessed before. Thus is Christ made to give way to the world; thus is his truth denied, his cause abandoned, and his person slighted for the sake of the most paltry and insign ficant objects; while, at the same time, it remains eternally true that "a man would be nothing profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul." |
