what to pray for, and we know not how to pray as we ought.

So far as the MATTER of our supplications is concerned, we know not what to pray for. Such is our ignorance of ourselves and of the things which are really good for us, that we need the illumination of the Holy Spirit to show us what we should implore of God. By nature we are utterly blind as to religion; and even when we are converted, and pardoned, and devoted to the service of Christ, our infirmities are so many, that we require the unremitting aid of divine grace. Can Jacob, though so pious a servant of God, be supposed to have known what to pray for, when he exclaimed of some of the merciful appointments of God, All these things are against me? Did Rebekah know what to ask for, when she said, Give me children, or else I die? Did Job, when he cursed his day? Did Moses, when he spake unadvisedly with his lips? Did David, when he almost envied the prosperity of the wicked: or Elijah, when he fled from Jezebel, and requested for himself that he might die? Or the Israelites, when they murmured in their tents? Or Jonah, when he fled from the presence of the Lord? What, again, did the mother of Zebedee's children know of the right object of prayer, when she ber sought our Lord that they might sit, the one on his right'hand and the other on his left, in his kingdom? How ignorant was, Peter, when he would have dissuaded our Saviour from suffering! And the disciples, when they would have called down fire from heaven to consume the city of the Samaritans !

And how exactly do our infirmities resemble theirs! We know not what blessings even in PROVIDENCE we should ask of God. The divine promises and commands ought to be the guide of our supplications; but our own will is too often suffered

to take their place. Our eternal good should be our chief concern, even in prayers for temporal mercies: but how rarely and faintly is this object pursued! Every thing around us, as well as the express declarations of Holy Scripture, instruct us that all below is vanity and vexation of spirit; and yet we eagerly crave and continually supplicate: earthly prosperity. Afflictions are perpetually exhibited in the Bible as necessary chastisements inflicted by our heavenly Father; but we pray passionately and unreservedly against them. The remote tendency of events is utterly unknown to us; and yet we implore particular results of some favourite objects of pursuit, as though no doubt hung over them. We are taught to live by faith, but we pray according to the impressions of sense and passion. And after all our past disappoint ments, we are sure, if we trust to ourselves, to pray amiss the next emergency which arises.

And if we thus err in seeking the gifts of Providence, how much more are we likely to err in seeking those of GRACE! Spiritual religion is altogether strange to us, except as the mercy of God has enlightened and taught us; and our weaknesses and mistakes in prayer will be proportioned to this ignorance. We know, indeed, generally by the instruction of the Scriptures, that we ought to pray for repentance, for the pardon of sin, for peace of conscience, for consolation, for all things needful for growth in holiness of heart and life, for victory over sin and temptation, and for the continued influences of the blessed Spirit of God. But such is our depravity and hardness of heart, that we frequently seem as if we were ignorant of all these subjects Our perceptions are blinded; our minds a blank; our thoughts distracted. We forget all particulars. We have no apprehension of the number of our

wants. We find few petitions to offer; and a cursory and hurried devotion satisfies us.

And yet the materials and topics for prayer to be derived from Holy Scripture, and the observation of our own several cases and circumstances, are inexhaustible. The extension of the work of grace, the increase of our spiritual attainments, the more exact fulfilment of our duties, the love of our adorable Master, growth in every Christian temper, the improvement of our talents, the instruction to be derived from the dispensations of God, are all subjects which might present us with copious topics of fervent supplication. The eminent examples of the patriarchs and other servants of God, as recorded in Holy Writ, might also furnish us with large materials of prayer. The more complete knowledge of ourselves would, again, open an exuberant source of holy desires. Mediation also on the character, and offices, and love of Christ; on the person and work of the Spirit; on the state of our families and neighbourhood, of the church of God, of our country, and of the world; on the great scheme of salvation, the love of God, the mysteries of his will, the covenant of grace, the witness of the Holy Ghost, and the order and design of the different parts of revealed religion; and on the unnumbered injunctions, promises, threatenings, cautions, and encouragements of Holy Scripture, would supply abundant topics for prayer. The various patterns and forms of devotion adapted to different circumstances, which are contained in the book of Psalms and other parts of Scripture, would likewise assist our devotions. From these various sources the Christian might always derive abundant matter for prayer; and yet how often is he ignorant of what he should pray for! How weak is his memory! How confused are his perceptions! How difficult does he

find it to employ these materials, though spread before him in the Scripture, according to the interchanging scene of his duties and trials? Nothing is so difficult as to bring God and his own heart together.

2

Besides our infirmities, however, as they relate to the matter of our prayers, we have infirmities also which regard the MANNER OF THEM—we know not how to pray AS WE OUGHT. We ought to pray with the most solemn reverence and awe, as though in the immediate presence of God; but, alas, how prone are we to indulge a light and careless spirit! We ought to pray with holy fervour and importunity, as Jacob who wrestled with God, or the widow who supplicated the unjust judge, or the Syrophoenician woman who cried after our Lord; but how tame and lifeless at times are our devotions! We ought to pray with a deeply humble and contrite heart, as the royal Psalmist, or Jacob, or Daniel, or the lowly publican in the parable; but with how much of secret pride and self-consequence are we apt to approach God! We ought to pray with an entire resignation to the will of God, and humble faith in his promises; with an holy sincerity and uprightness of soul, with an ardent hunger for spiritual blessings, and a simple reliance on the mediation of our Saviour: but O, how often does a repining, unbelieving, insincere, cold and selfish spirit steal upon us! How quickly do our hearts wander from God! How weak are our best prayers, and how polluted our most sacred offerings ! How poor, how miserable, how impotent! We seem at times to want every thing, we are able to ask for nothing, we do not even know, and are unworthy to know, how and what we ought to pray for.

Such are some of those infirmities in prayer, of which the Christian alone is conscious; and which, notwithstanding his efforts and his watchfulness, from time to time surprise and afflict him. For,

of

small as all these defects may appear in the eyes others, they are the subject of his deep and daily self-abasement before God; and on account of them he abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. Nothing more decidedly and painfully reveals to him the total depravity of his nature, than the imperfection of those secret and retired duties. These, were it not for that depravity, would be the most easy and delightful of all duties; but they now seem to collect and draw to themselves, as the weaker parts of the human frame, the infirmities of every other. This depravity pursues him through them all, and too often converts what ought to be the occasion of his pleasure and gratitude, into the scenes of his conflict and discomfiture.

Let us then proceed to consider,

II. THE ASSISTANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BY WHICH THE CHRISTIAN IS RELIEVED UNDER THESE INFIRMITIES.

The blessed Spirit of God affords us the aid which our weakness requires. If we were left to ourselves, we should entirely fail; but by his powerful help we are enabled to resist our corrupt affections, and to persevere in imperfect, indeed, but humble and sincere prayer.

We are accordingly directed in the Holy Scriptures to this Divine Agent as to the great subject of promise in the New Testament dispensation, which is therefore called, by way of eminence, The ministration of the Spirit. We are commanded to pray tn the Holy Ghost. We are said to have access by the Spirit unto the Father. We are to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. It is this eternal Spirit who helps and supports us, as a nurse bears in her arms the tender and feeble infant.

The word rendered help, in the text, is one of peculiar strength. It implies that the Spirit takes