which alone can render men acceptable in the eyes of the all-seeing Judge. Should any one pretend to say that sinful men cannot of themselves acceptably approach the supreme throne of God; we have, by divine appointment, a sufficient mediator and advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who sitteth continually on the right hand of God, as our great high priest and intercessor, to mediate for us, and to offer up our prayers unto the Father. Through him we have access unto the Father. And our Lord's own direction is; Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it you. Prayer therefore is to be directed to God alone, through Christ alone. And as praying to false gods, derogates from the honour of the one true God; so praying by or through the intercession of false and fictitious mediators, derogates in like manner from the honour of Christ, the only true mediator. For as there is but one God; so there is also but one mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus.

As an encouragement for us to pray, David says, The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him in truth: he will fulfil the desires of those that fear him: he also will hear their prayers, and will save them: the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. And our Saviour says to his apostles, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do; and again he repeats it, If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Yet, if it should be thought that this promise was made to the apostles only, and doth not concern us, let us hear what St. John writes to us: Brethren, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God; and whatsoever we ask we receive of him. Ask, says our Saviour, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Nothing can be more gracious, nothing more comfortable than this promise; which is still enforced most pathetically, immediately following: What man is there among you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then,

being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more will your heavenly Father give good things unto them that ask him? Besides, the holy scriptures not only contain many promises and assurances that God will hear our prayers, but afford us many instances of his making good those promises at all times, and to all persons, and that in a most wonderful manner. For, by prayer, Moses quenched the devouring fire: by prayer, Elias brought down fire from heaven: by prayer, Elisha restored the dead to life: by prayer, Hezekiah slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians in one night: by prayer, David stopped the avenging angel, when his hand was lifted up to destroy Jerusalem: and by prayer, Jonah was delivered out of the fish's belly. Yet,

Notwithstanding this usefulness, advantage, and necessity of prayer: nay though God has declared absolutely, that we shall not have the good things that we stand in need of, except we pray for them; there have been and doubtless are still, some emissaries of the devil, who pretend to argue against the duty and efficacy of prayer; founding their sophistry upon the unchangeable decrees of God; and, devillike, quote scripture to support their own impiety. Is it not written, say they, that with God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning? This is a mere fallacy. God's hearkening to, or being moved by the prayers we put up to him, doth not in the least clash with his unchangeable decrees. We grant, when God is pleased to give us those things, which without our prayers he would not have done, there is a change; but not in God: for God resolved that if we humbly and heartily beg such or such things at his hands, we should have them; but if not, we should go without them. Therefore, when upon our prayers we obtain that grace, or that blessing, which we had not before, it is not he that is changed, but us. We, by performing the conditions he required of us, looking with another aspect to him, do entitle ourselves to quite different treatment from him than we could claim before we were changed from our wicked course of life, by making ourselves capable of receiving those benefits, which before we were not capable of.

When this objection has failed, then they rest upon God's infinite and essential goodness. We grant that the goodness of God is infinite, and that he governs the world in the best way that is possible, and consequently he always will do that which is best, let us behave ourselves ever so badly. Yet doth it from this follow that we shall have all such things as we stand in need of, without praying for them? No. Because the same God, that will do always what is absolutely best for his creatures, knows that it is best for them, that in order to their partaking of his benefits, they should pray for them; if they do not, he knows it is best that they should be denied such things. Whence the necessity of God's acting for the best doth not in the least destroy the necessity of prayer in order to our obtaining what we stand in need of. God will do always that which is best; but we are mistaken if we think it for the best, that we should have our necessities supplied without the use of prayer; because it is the means appointed by God to obtain them.

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VI. To prayer it is necessary to subjoin the duty of REPENTANCE: a duty which the apostle St. Paul particularly testifies to be due to God; because, all sin being forbidden of God, we never transgress his commands, whether in regard to our neighbour or ourselves, but we incur his displeasure; and must dread his justice, except we repent. Wherefore, says the church; The grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God (we may) rise again, and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as long as they live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. This repentance is an entire change of heart and mind, which produces the like change in our lives and conversations; so that to repent of our sins is to be convinced we have done amiss; whence follows hearty sorrow for having foolishly neglected the most im

* See the 16th Article of Religion.

portant concern of our lives, and done what in us lies to make ourselves everlastingly miserable; that we have been ungrateful to our mighty benefactor, and unfaithful to our best friend; that we have affronted heaven with those very blessings we have received thence; and that we have despised the riches of God's goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, which should have led us to a thorough change of our life and conversation. And this sorrow for our sins must be expressed, by humbly confessing them to almighty God, with shame and confusion of face, by an utter abhorrence and detestation of them, by being heartily troubled for what we have done amiss, and resolving not to do the like any more: and by testifying the reality of our inward sorrow, by all those ways that we find naturally occur in other cases that afflict us; as in fasting, weeping, mourning, and praying; it being very fit, that as the soul and body have been partakers in the same sins, so they should join together in the same humiliation and firm resolution of amendment. But

All sorrow for sin, and all purposes of amendment for the time to come, are not in all cases sufficient to be properly called repentance, or a hearty contrition: because if this sorrow and purpose of amendment arise not from a pure love of God, and deep sense of our own foul ingratitude in offending so good and gracious a Being, but only from a dread of his justice, and fear of being punished for transgressions; our repentance and good purposes, though they carry with them the appearance of ever so much truth, and reality, ought justly to be suspected as insufficient. Which duty therefore does not only hence appear to be necessary, but it is strongly enforced, even with the force of command, when our Saviour declares, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

The best method to make such a resolution of amend ment effectual is to extend it to all the particulars of our duty, obliging ourselves to have a respect to all God's commands, and to avoid every thing his law condemns. Thus true repentance must be pure, constant, and perse vering in its effects; that is, it must put a man into such

a state, as that he will not any more return wilfully unto sin. He therefore, that repents, ought to be exceedingly fearful of relapsing into sin, as one that is recovering out of a dangerous and almost mortal sickness. Whenever he wilfully relapses, he makes his case worse than it was at first, and his disease more in danger of being mortal; it becomes much harder for him to renew himself unto repentance, and much more difficult to procure pardon. It is true, evil habits are not to be rooted out at once, and vitious customs to be overcome in a moment. So long therefore as a man does not return wilfully and deliberately into the habit of sin, many surprises and interruptions in the struggle with a customary vice may be consistent with the progress of repentance: but it is then only that it becomes complete and effectual, when the evil habit is so entirely rooted out, that the man thenceforward obeys the commandments of God without looking back, and returns no more to the sins he has condemned. Let no man therefore think that he has truly repented of any deadly sin, so long as he continues to practise and repeat it. He may fast, and pray, and lament, and use all the apparent signs of repentance imaginable; but God will never esteem his repentance true, nor accept it as available to the forgiveness of sin, till he sees it pure, and constant, and persevering.

It is mere delusion and unpardonable stupidity for man, who has not the power of his own life, and should he be cut off in the midst of his sins must be eternally punished, to delay this great and necessary work for the present, and defer it to some future opportunity; either till the hoat of youth is over, or till sickness, or old age, overtakes him. And it is not only the greatest folly to venture a matter of such consequence upon such an uncertainty as future time, which we cannot be sure of; and to defer a necessary work to the most unfitting season of performing it; but it is highly wicked, in that we abuse God's patience, who gives us an opportunity for it at present, and prefer the slavery of sin before his service; it is a contempt of his laws, and of that wrath, which is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness: therefore we may justly fear,