and pain of body, are generally sufficient, of themselves, to deprive the mind of all reflection, and consequently to close up the way of repentance. Besides, at the hour of death, it is not you who abandon sin, it is sin that abandons you; it is not you who abandon the world, it is the world which abandons you; it is not you who break your chains, but your chains are broken by the general dissolution of nature. Now, brethren, repentance, to be acceptable, must be voluntary; but this voluntary renunciation of the world, self, and sin, is seldom realized on a death-bed.

3. But of all who find it hard to repent at the hour of death, they find it the hardest, who have totally neglected it during the whole course of their lives. It seems to me impossible, that such characters can feel any other repentance, than that of constraint and that of nature; and these are qualities of repentance peculiar to devils in hell, and sinners at their death. Surely, my brethren, he who condemns the sins of his life, because he is under the necessity of quitting them, gives unequivocal proof that his repentance is not from good will, but from constraint. Again, such repentance is only natural, because it hath neither God nor sin for its object. Of what are such penitents afraid? Are they afraid of losing God, or of displeasing God? No, my brethren, nothing of this nature troubles them; for so long as they had nothing else to fear, they did not spend one thought about conversion to him. Theirs, then, is the repentance of nature, or of self-love. This inference disturbs you; but is it I who make it? Or could I suppress, or

weaken it, without betraying my ministry, or blotting out of the Gospel what is written there?

I know, my brethren, that what is impossible with man, is possible with God I know that it is possible for him to work repentance in our hearts, even at death: I know that this was the case with the celebrated penitent, who was crucified with Jesus: he lived in sin, and died in grace. But I also know that those were the times of miraculous operations, when God was engaged to perform wonders, in order to do honour to the death of his Son. And I also know, that this conversion, which has passed for a singular example in all ages of the Christian church, is calculated to fill the impenitent sinner rather with fear, than with presumptuous courage.

SERMON XXI.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matthew vi. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

PRAYER is a duty which involves the whole compass of our intercourse with God. It includes our adoration of his perfections; our acknowledgment of the wisdom of his dispensations, and our obligations for his benefits, both temporal and spiritual; together with the avowal of our entire dependance on, and the declaration of our faith in him. Prayer is a conversation with God, in which the soul, admitted and introduced (if I may so express it) into the sanctuary of God, lays her wants before the Deity; represents her weakness, discovers her temptations, and begs pardon for her unfaithfulness. Prayer may,

with

propriety, be termed the dialect of the poor in spirit; and I cannot conceive how a man, who is taught of God, and professes to teach others, can neglect to offer up prayer, according to the example of St. Paul and Jesus Christ, with and for those to whom he dispenses the instructions of the Gospel. Our Lord, in his sermon on the Mount, which may well be denominated an assemblage of doctrinal perfection, gives a complete form of prayer; not, as I conceive, to the utter exclusion of all other words, for we have many of the subsequent prayers of the apostles recorded, in which they do not follow this form to the letter: I conceive, however, that it is a pattern, according to which all our prayers should be formed, both with respect to matter and manner, short, close, full. It contains all we can either reasonably pray for, or desire; whatever is for the glory of God; whatever is needful for the happiness of the whole family, both in heaven and earth. We say not too much when we declare, that it contains our entire duty, both to God and man.

The prayer consists of three parts,

I. The preface.

II. The petitions.

III. The conclusion.

I. The preface-Our Father which art in heaven. These words, while they mark the essential charac

ter of the true God as the first cause of all things, and the loving preserver of his children, lay, at the same time, a general foundation for prayer. Though the profundity and altitude of Deity are not to be encompassed by the orbit of human reason, yet hath he made known to us part of his ways; and we cannot pray acceptably, unless we believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Assisting our minds to form some idea of his goodness and love to the human family by the familiar and well known circumstance of paternal affection, he bids us address him by the term, Father; beside which, though we knew all the names of love and power that ever men or angels bore, we should still say, none half so precious as Father. Now as the old patriarch who blessed Joseph's children, is said to have guided his hands wittingly; so are we taught to single out the proper object of supplication. There are gods many, and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things. Who is this, Christian?

"Tis he, whose rolling chariot,

Drawn by yoked lightnings,

Shakes earth's foundation."

Yes,

"This awful God is ours,

Our Father and our love."

Moreover, if to distinguish him from an earthly father, and from all who are called gods, we address him as Our Father, which art in heaven, we do not