tians beware of "restraining prayer before God." Let them "give themselves to prayer;" let them "watch unto prayer;" let them " continue instant in it ;" let them “always pray"—that is, persevere in praying-and "not faint;" let them "pray without ceasing;" let them "pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ;" let them "be careful"—that is, anxious-"about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let them make their requests known to God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep their hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." And this is the way to holiness as well as to peace. It is by complying with this exhortation that you will be inclined to comply with that which follows it: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of grace shall be with you." This is to "walk so as to please God;" this is to "be followers of God as dear children;" this is to "keep ourselves in the love of God." Here I would close, could I but persuade myself that there are among my hearers none who do not belong to the class to whom the epistle is addressed, "The sanctified by God the Father, the preserved in Christ Jesus, and called." But, with the utmost stretch of charity which reason will allow, I cannot indulge so pleasing a thought. There may be, I fear there are, some, it may be not a few," who are sensual, not having the Spirit;"" natural men who receive not the things of the Spirit, to whom they are foolishness ;" who are therefore prayerless, who may say prayers, but who do not, never did, cannot pray, "pray in the Spirit." What shall I say to them? I say, all who have the Spirit pity you. Your condition is indeed most pitiful. A body without a soul is a corpse, tending to decomposition, loathsome, dangerous; and what is a soul without the Spirit? Spiritually dead, spiritually corrupt, spiritually loathsome, spiritually noxious. They pity you, for they were once like you. They were once "dead in trespasses and sins." They know the miseries and dangers of your condition. All who have the Spirit pray for you. They know that nothing but Divine power and grace could have quickened them; that nothing but Divine power and grace can quicken you. Their prayer is, 66 Come, O come from the four winds! O breath of the Lord, breathe on these dry bones that they may live!" All who are in the Spirit, and who pray in the Spirit, would earnestly wish that you in the Spirit were praying for the Spirit. But they know that, in your present condition, for you to employ words of prayer, asking for the Spirit, would be mockery and insult. You have no belief in the truth respecting the existence and work of the Holy Spirit. You have no sense of your need of the Holy Spirit. Supposing the existence of such a thing as his regenerating and sanctifying influence to be forced on your conviction, while your hearts remain as they are, the very last thing in the world you would wish for yourselves is, to be their subjects. It is your duty to pray, it is the duty of all men to pray,—to pray in the Spirit, to pray for the Spirit; but while you remain in unbelief, the thing is a moral impossibility. And what you would call prayer is an abomination to the Lord, intended by you as a substitute for what is your duty, your immediate duty; suggested by the enemy of souls as a means of deepening delusion; and detaining you from Him who alone can deliver from guilt, and depravity, and endless ruin. Your duty, your immediate duty, your interest, your highest interest, is to believe the gospel. Till you do this you cannot know God as the hearer of prayer. You cannot see his throne as the throne of mercy. Its back is, as it were, turned to you, and there is a cloud on it. And do not say, I can no more believe than I can pray without the Spirit. That is most true; but it is nothing to the purpose VOL. III. 2 D "If your sins." And you And as you ought to as an excuse for your not immediately believing. Do not say, I must wait for the Spirit. The Spirit is waiting for you. How long has he waited for some of you? Beware lest you so grieve him as that he give over waiting, and retire from you for ever. He is now striving with you. O, take care lest the awful word be uttered, 'My spirit shall strive no longer!' Then bursts forth the overwhelming deluge, then down comes the thunderbolt. You say you cannot believe. What does that mean, but that you are so stupified with the love of sense and sin, that, in opposition to the plainest statement and evidence, you will not believe the testimony of the God of truth concerning his Son, nor receive the salvation from sin which that testimony believed is ready to convey to you? There can be no reasonable doubt of your obligation. The statement is plain, the evidence is abundant, the authority is supreme. It is your duty; your duty now. you do not believe, you must die in may die very soon, very suddenly. believe, since to do otherwise is to contradict the principles of your rational nature, as well as to pour contempt at once on the authority and grace of God; as you must believe, you would not perish, perish for ever; so you would most certainly believe if you did not wilfully shut your eyes and stop the ears of your mind. Look at the declaration of God's law and gospel, his law condemning you, and his gospel proclaiming free forgiveness, full salvation. It is not in looking away from these things, while professing to be waiting for some operation on the mind, which shall as it were compel you to believe, that you are to be brought to the faith of the gospel. "Faith comes by hearing," by listening to, by understanding the word. Fix your mind on the truth respecting yourselves and the Saviour. Can you do this without seeing your need of him, his suitableness to you? Can you see this without gladly, gratefully accepting Him and his salvation? if Then will you have evidence, you never can have it in any other way, that the Spirit has been savingly working on you, and that he is now in you. Then will you pray, pray in the Spirit; and God will hear your prayers, and give you larger and larger measures of this Spirit; that, building yourselves up on your most holy faith," you may become every day more holy and happy; that ye may "keep yourselves in the love of God," of which, as his regenerated ones, you are the appropriate objects, "looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." SERMON IV. ON LOOKING FOR THE MERCY OF OUR LORD JESUS JUDE 20, 21.-But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. THE great duty to which Christians are exhorted in these words is, "the keeping themselves in the love of God;" and the means recommended for this purpose are, "building themselves up on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." In the first of the three discourses which I have addressed to you from this interesting passage of Scripture, I explained to you "the Christian's duty to keep himself in the love of God;" and, in the second and third, I illustrated the first two of the means recommended for assisting in the performance of this duty, "the building himself up on his most holy faith, and the praying in the Holy Ghost." It only remains, to the completion of our exposition, that I turn your attention to the third exercise recommended by the Apostle as conducive to the Christian's keeping himself in the love of God,-" The looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." |