ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me!" May God forgive us these our former provocations; and that He may not hereafter call on us in vain, may He subdue our stony hearts with the searching graces of His Holy Spirit, through the merits and mediation of His Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour!

SERMON XLVIII.

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

[SERMON BEFORE THE COMMUNION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.]

EPHESIANS, iii. 15, 16, 17.

I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

In this earnest and moving prayer there are several circumstances which well deserve the devout attention of those who believe that St. Paul spake and wrote by the help of The Holy Ghost; and that his doctrines are to be no otherwise received than as the teaching and lessons of The Most High, and of The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom he was the faithful minister. The points which are most striking, however, are, first, the example here afforded us of earnest prayer in behalf of other and absent persons:secondly, the benefit and privilege which he thus earnestly desired might be be

stowed on his Ephesian converts: and, thirdly, the consequence which he expected to follow, if his prayer were heard, and those gifts and graces granted to them which he desired that they might receive. “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you ;"— here we have the example, which I noticed, of prayer in behalf of other and absent persons :-" that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man;" here is the benefit and privilege which he prayed that those persons might receive: -" that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith:" there follows the blessed consequence of such a spiritual strengthening. So that we may learn from these words, whom we are to pray for, what we are to ask for, and what will be the consequence and certain token that such our intercession has been heard and accepted by the Almighty.

We are to pray for our fellow Christians; we are to pray that the grace of God may renew and strengthen their hearts; - and we may be sure, that these our prayers are heard, if the natural consequence of that grace follows, and Christ is made to dwell in their hearts by faith. Of these doctrines it is the first only, which I shall now endeavour to assert and explain, namely,

that it is our duty and privilege to address the throne of grace, in prayer for one another.

That, sinners as we are, and stained with sin, as even our best services must be in the present world, we should be permitted, far more, encouraged and commanded, to intercede at the throne of mercy and power, for our brethren in transgression and infirmity, has seemed strange to many, whose attention has been fixed on the weakness and worthlessness of human nature. Who are we, that we should plead with God on our brother's behalf, when all, which we can say or do, is but too little to show forth the sense of our own deep misery, and to obtain assistance for ourselves? Shall the prisoner for debt busy himself in obtaining a discharge for his neighbour, and forget that all the time, all the money, which he contributes to this end, is the property of his own creditor? Shall the malefactor, under sentence of death, instead of soliciting his own pardon, draw up petitions for his comrade in sin and shame? Is there not something more than foolish,-is there not something presumptuous and offensive,—in giving ourselves the airs of a mediator, an indifferent person, a bystander, a common friend to God and our offending neighbour, when we are, in truth, as deeply, perhaps more deeply stained with sin than he, and more liable, than he is, to the righteous vengeance of God?

If we are forbidden to pluck out the mote which is in our brother's eye, till the beam from our own eyes be removed, is it not a presumptuous neglect if our own urgent wants, to spend our time and prayers in asking that grace for others, which we ourselves so greatly need? Does not the very act of doing so imply, that, in our opinion, our own wants are less than theirs; that their danger, their sin is greater than ours; and that, in our comparative safety and innocence, we can spare some time to the consideration of their distress, and approach the Almighty on their behalf with more confidence, than they can do it for themselves? Is it not, in another sense, also, presumptuous, as undertaking an office which belongs to one greater than ourselves, the proper Mediator between God and man, the Intercessor for the sins of the universe? “no man can redeem his brother, neither give to God a ransom for him,"1 can we hope that our breath will do that, which our blood could not have done? or that God will accept our prayers as atonement for those sins, for the pardon of which His own Son was content to lay down His life? To His mercy, therefore, and to the mediation of that Blessed Son, let us leave, it has been said, our erring brethren, employing what time remains to us to make our own peace with Him, and giving diligence,

1 Psalm xlix. 7: