LETTER XV.

ON CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER.

Confidence in prayer the privilege of Christians-Arises from the character of God as a Father-From the atonement-From the intercession of Christ-From the promises of a gracious answer-Includes freedom of speech at the throne of grace-Necessary because of discouragements-Blessings we are warranted to ask.

MY DEAR FRIRND,

I HAVE repeatedly recommended to you the exercise of prayer, and shall now lead your attention to the duty, and the privilege, of coming to the throne of grace with filial confidence and freedom of speech.Prayer is the very life of genuine religion. It serves to maintain on the mind a devout sense of our entire dependence on God, of his right to govern us, and of our deep responsibility as his creatures and his redeemed children.-It is calculated to excite the most profound veneration, and the deepest self-abasement and contrition of heart; while it endears to us the character of Christ, and increases our desire of conformity to his spirit.—It relieves, sanctifies, and enriches the soul; fits for the thankful reception of the blessings of heaven; and prepares us at once for the duties, the conflicts, and the varied circumstances of this life, and for holy fellowship with God in that which is to come.

The throne to which we are called, is denominated a "throne of grace." Had it been merely a throne

of glory, and still more had it been a throne of judgment, we might well have been filled with alarming fear and with slavish dread.-But as it is a throne of grace, we may approach it with composure and confidence. It were, indeed, at once dishonourable to God and injurious to ourselves, did we come to it with rude audacity, or coarse and trifling familiarity. That boldness which the Gospel warrants is opposed, not to holy veneration and godly fear, but to servile dread and distrustful despondency*. It is such confidence as is adapted to the case of a suppliant imploring mercy and unmerited favour, under a consciousness of guilt, and filled with contrition. It arises from nothing in ourselves, but from the gracious character and the wondrous love of God; and consists in a confident persuasion that as we are allowed, yea invited and besought to come to him, we may assuredly expect a cordial reception.

He whom we address is our Father. This is a most endearing relation, and fraught with abundant consolation. It serves to aid our conceptions of the Divine goodness, but yet it cannot do justice to the subject. Conceive in your mind the bowels of compassion, which fill the breast of an affectionate friend and an indulgent parent, and then think of the perfection of all that is kind and amiable in the heart of the Father of mercies. He gives with the heart of a parent, not reluctantly but with cordial pleasure,-even with all the love, tenderness, and bounty, which this character

* Heb. iv. 16, compared with chap. xii. 28, 29.

supposes. Earthly parents may be unnatural; a woman may forget her sucking child, but He will never forget his children. He tenderly pities them; and even when he afflicts them, it is with the yearning bowels of a Father, and with a view to their profit. We should certainly approach him with filial confidence and sacred boldness, did our faith correspond with this view of his relation to us; in which he so far condescends to our weakness as to excite our trust in him, by an appeal to the feelings of a parent's heart. He knows all our circumstances and wants; he is ever with us; and is ever able to relieve us. He delights in shewing mercy; and never does he upbraid with guilt, with favours formerly conferred, or with the frequency of our applications. He will, with the utmost readiness, forgive our sins; purify our hearts; keep us from evil; give us strength for duty; patience under suffering; in due time deliverance from trouble; and, finally, everlasting life. "Fear not my dear flock,” said the Saviour, "your Father is delighted in giving you the kingdom." He gives it with all his heart; it gratifies his very soul to confer it; and will he not, then, cheerfully give all that is necessary on the way to it?

The confidence which this view of the Divine character inspires, is exactly that which, as sinners, we need. Sin at one time was viewed as nothing; it was difficult to excite our fear, and to convince us of our need of mercy. We rushed headlong with presumptuous boldness.-The stupor of insensibility was mistaken for the peace of God. When, however, we are brought to see it in its true light, we can hardly be persuaded

that God will forgive it, and receive us into favour, and so are in danger of perishing with the fearful and unbelieving. To meet this state of mind, and to gain our confidence, he has revealed himself as merciful and gracious-as full of pity and compassion-and as abundant in goodness and truth. He adapts his dispensations to our necessities and our fears, and seeks to recover our alienated minds by the overflowings of his goodness. He has even given up his own Son unto suffering and death, that he might "commend his love towards us," in all our guilt and demerit. Much has been done, that the heirs of promise might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them. And why has he done all this? but because, till we are brought to trust in him, we cannot come to him with a proper spirit, and cannot be conformed to him

Admirably fitted are the discoveries of the divine goodness, and the gifts of divine love, to attract us to God, and to cherish the most assured hopes of all that is good in itself, and adapted to our condition. Animated by this, we may come to the throne of grace with holy and steady confidence. We are apt to view God as rather unwilling, than otherwise, to communicate the blessings of his covenant; and to consider what is bestowed as drawn from him by the interposition of Christ: But the whole of the mediatorial work of the Saviour is the fruit, and not the cause of his love. The opposite view must destroy all confidence,

* Psalm cxlvii. 11. Heb. xi. 6, 7. with Gen. iii, 8.

and infuse a spirit of jealousy and suspicion. Scriptural apprehensions of his character lead us to him as one cheerfully disposed, yea delighted, to do us good.

I shall now call your attention to another ground of confidence in approaching unto God-namely, the boundless merit of the atonement and character of our great High Priest. He is the way to the Father. Our state and character require that all intercourse between God and us should be through a mediator; and we are accordingly called to approach him in the name of Christ. To come to God in his name, is to draw near to the throne of grace as guilty sinners, disclaiming all confidence in ourselves, and pleading exclusively the worth of his character and sacrifice; and looking for all that we ask as the reward of his work.

The Throne of Grace means the Mercy Seat. The reference is to the covering of the Ark in the Mosaic Sanctuary; on which, and towards which, the blood of atonement was sprinkled. Here God sat as propitiated: Here he could display his mercy and his grace, in consistency with the purity and the holiness of his character. This was an expressive emblem of the Redeemer, by whose atonement the curse of the law has been removed, and whose sacrifice has become an honourable medium of the forgiveness of sin, and of communion with God. As the Jewish mercy-seat or propitiatory was the medium of mercy, and of fellowship with heaven for the ancient worshippers, so Christ is the great medium through which we have access to God, and through which he communicates of his goodness to us. It was towards the mercy-seat that