lieth in sin, and so often tempts him into its sinful ways—going aside to commune with his God and his Father that seeth in secret; going to confess his offences and evils before that Being against whom they are committed; going into his closet, and shutting his door, and saying, "Lord, thou seest that I am worthless and vile; but I remember that thy mercies fail not; thou art infinitely compassionate and gracious. I come to cast myself on thy divine mercy, through our Lord and Saviour." Then follows a confession of his offences; then follows supplication for grace and strength; then follow thanksgivings for that gracious Redeemer, through whom the assurance of pardon and peace is given; and then he departs strengthened and refreshed.

But we have only given one view of this interesting scene: our Saviour gives another. He says, that God sees him, that he marks it, and will reward, what he has done secretly, openly and before the world. There is the eye of God bent upon this supplicating sinner: there is the prayer of this sinner entering into the ear of his gracious and heavenly Father; the Divine Being looking at him with complacency, rejoicing over him to do him good, and treasuring up for him grace and mercy against the day of the revelation of the full salvation of our blessed Saviour. Here is a scene which we should endeavour to realize ourselves in the course of our lives as we pass through this world.

But our Saviour cautions us, in this passage, not only against hypocrisy, but also against what we may denominate superstition. He says, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." Our Saviour here had reference to the practice of the heathens, who, in addressing their gods, used constant repetitions, and other superstitious services, by which they should call the attention of their false gods to the supplications they offered. You have an example of this in what occurred in the time of Elijah, when the worshippers of Baal besought him to send down fire from heaven upon the sacrifice which they were preparing, and for which we are told they cried out, from morning to night, "O Baal, hear us!" and that then "they cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them."

These were some of the superstitious observances which these people practised on such occasions. Our Saviour cautions us against them: but his direction here against repetition does not imply that we are not to use repetitions of a certain kind in our prayers. Earnest and intense desire will lead to repetition in our prayers. Our Saviour himself furnishes an example of this; we are told, that in his agony in the garden, he prayed three times to his heavenly Father, that if it were possible the cup might pass from him: and the Evangelist distinctly says, that he used the same words on the three occasions. We have an example of that repetition which arises from earnest and intense prayer in the excellent Litany of our church, in that part where, after frequent supplications offered up to God, it is supposed that the congregation have caught (if I may so express it) the very spirit of prayer, and are earnest and intent in their prayers to God for what they ask: then it is, we are directed to say, "Good Lord deliver us ;""We beseech thee to hear us good Lord," and to use other repetitions of that kind, marking our earnestness and the intenseness with which we offer our prayers to God. The repetitions which our Saviour disapproves of in this passage are vain repetitions; repetitions, which (as the latter part of the passage shews) would intimate that God does not know what we are in want of, or would not be willing to give us what we want. Our Saviour, so far from

disapproving the repetition which arises from earnestness and intenseness of desire, set us an example, as we have seen, in his own case.

There is a remarkable abuse of this kind, a remarkable violation of this instruction of our Saviour, enjoined by the Roman Catholic Church: its votaries are directed to offer up multitudes of prayers; they heap up great numbers of prayers together, and these false teachers instruct their people to use them as penances; for thus, they tell them, they remove their sins, and at the same time bring on themselves God's favour. This is not only a direct violation of our Saviour's instruction, but it is a perversion of prayer which we could scarcely suppose it possible, if we had not proof furnished us, that any rational person could be guilty of. To convert prayer into penance, to call the soul's drawing nigh to God, the God of all grace and mercy, the soul's drawing nigh to him for pardon and eternal life, and the blessings he has to give, to call that a penance is absolutely such an absurdity, that one could scarcely suppose it possible it could enter into the mind of any rational being. But to such a degree of infatuation has that church proceeded, and so easy is it to deceive persons with regard to the things connected with their eternal peace.

In order to have a full view of prayer as our Saviour has set a full example of it, and as we are instructed to use it in the Scriptures, let me call your attention to a passage from the writings of the Apostle Paul: Hebrews iv. 14-16, "Seeing, then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Now here, my brethren, all that is connected with prayer, as it is set forth by the Holy Scriptures, is most perspicuously and impressively presented to us by the Apostle. Here we see how it is that God can regard us, as our reconciled and heavenly Father, in the manner our Saviour instructs us in this passage; and here we see why it is we can come boldly to the throne of grace. The reason, the Apostle tells us is connection with this, is, that “we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens:" we have an advocate in the court of our God and King above, and, therefore, we may come to that court ourselves. The apostle calls him, "a great high priest," to remind us of the sacrifice which he had completed on earth, to remind us of his atoning death, by which he has cancelled sin, to remind us that he has passed into the heavens with his own blood to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat above, that that is our reconciliation with our heavenly Father, that it is that which assures us we shall be saved and blessed, that procures our welcome, and brings down blessings from a God whom we have offended.

The apostle reminds us further, that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. He knows we have sinned-that disgusts him not: he knows we have weaknesses-that disgusts him not-" he was tempted," the Apostle says, "like as we are, yet without sin." He knows, therefore, what we are: We have his atoning sacrifice to remove our sins; and he has promised his blessed Spirit to them that ask him, to help and strengthen their weaknesses. A sense of sin, therefore, should lead us to him; and a consciousness of weakness should make us cast : ourselves on his mercy and grace. We should come, then, remembering that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and not concealing our sins, our weaknesses, our temptations, or our trials from him, but confessing them before him.

The Apostle adds, what it is we are to ask for. He says, we are to "obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." The two expressions appear to he synonymous: but in fact there is an important difference between them. As here used, the expression "mercy," is put for "pardon," we are to go confessing our sins, and asking the pardon of them. The expression "grace" is used to denote those blessings and gifts of guidance and strength, of peace and comfort, which we require while passing through this life. He directs us to ask for "mercy"-that is pardon-and "grace”—that is, all his various blessings to help us in our time of need; that is to ask for all we require. Our God bas treasured up all the riches of wisdom and power and grace, in our Substitute and Mediator Jesus Christ, that out of that rich treasure he may dispense to us according to our necessities. Pardon we require every hour, and strength we require every hour also, as we pass through this vale of tears. We are to go,

then, remembering, that we have a great high priest who was touched with a feeling of our infirmities, that he was tempted as we are, yet without sin: we are to go and ask for mercy and grace.

"Let us," says he, Boldness warranted by

But the Apostle teaches us also how we are to go. "draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace." our God's encouragement; boldness the result of an assurance that we have a Mediator and Intercessor before his throne; boldness resting upon his promise, that he hears, and answers, and blesses us.

Now, my brethren, we see on comparing this instruction of our Saviour with the Apostle's instruction in this passage, what an important privilege prayer is; what blessings we are to derive from prayer and supplication offered up to God; how it is our prayers are offered up-through our great High Priest who has passed into the heavens; and what it is we are to ask for-mercy and grace. We are to ask it not with am repetitions, as if our God knew not what we require, or as if our God were not willing to dispense it. We are to ask it not to be seen of men, but that we may be seen of our heavenly Father, and with a view to the promise of our Saviour, that He "who seeth in secret will reward us openly.". Oh, yes, many a prayer which was offered up when no eye but the eye of God saw the suppliant, will before the assembled universe receive its blessed answer and reward-the grace of our Gracious and Heavenly Father. May it be so with respect to us! May we pass through life, habitually in our seclusion and privacy offering up our prayers to God! And may he pour down upon us day by day that grace which we all need!

THE CHRISTIAN'S DEBT TO THE WORLD.

HON. AND REV. G. T. NOEL, A. M.

PERCY CHAPEL, FITZROY SQUARE, APRIL 10, 1831.

"I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise." Rom. i. 14.

THE man who wrote these words felt very deeply the force of those obligations under which the Gospel had placed him; he felt the obligation in no ordinary manner. God had laid upon him a weighty charge; and to the accomplishment of the work assigned him, he desired to bring all the powers of his mind, all the faculties of his body, and all the feelings of his heart. He desired to be a living sacrifice, yielded up unto God as a reasonable service.

I propose, my brethren, on the present occasion, to make some remarks upon the nature, the grounds, and the extent, of the obligations to which the Apostlehere refers. May the Spirit of that God under whose direction the Apostle wrote, imprint upon our hearts such impressions of his own truth and grace, that we may find it good to have listened to the exposition of God's word; and that that blessing which maketh rich may rest upon every one of us. I. The Nature of the Obligation to which the Apostle refers. debtor."

"I am a

The debt to which he alludes was one of a peculiar kind: it was a debt which none but God himself could justly estimate, but which the Apostle Paul was chabled to value in a very considerable degree. He felt himself to be a debtor to all mankind. What was the debt? Love-" Owe no man anything, but to love one another." This was a debt which the Apostle delighted to owe a debt he desired to contract every day more and more deeply, in order that he might by every successive view of the extent and character of that debt, be enabled to rise by the power of God to discharge it.

This debt was to carry the gospel of Christ to mankind. He owed to them the manifestation of that truth which God had entrusted to his charge. We find the nature of this trust described in his own language. Descanting upon the history of his conversion to Christianity, he declares, that when he was cast to the earth by the splendour of that vision with which God encircled him, he heard a voice saying, "Rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. These expressions mark out the nature of that debt, under the pressure of which during

the rest of his life he felt himself to live. He was never hereafter free from the pressure of that obligation; it clung to him with a tenacity which could be relaxed only by death. His determination henceforth was to realize in his own mind the continual presence of that obligation; that he should no longer esteem himself to be his own, but God's; and for God's sake, and by God's power, he was to belong to others, and not to himself. He was to live to God as his motive; he was to live to men as his action. This was to be his pursuit-to search out the sheep of Christ scattered through the wilderness of this world; and to bring them, as an instrument in the hands of the Great Shepherd, to that mysterious but secure fold where they were to find goodly pastures, where their weary feet were to lie down beside the still waters of comfort, and where they were to know the actings of that grace which is in Christ Jesus, out of whose fulness they were to receive.

II. Consider the grounds upon which he specially rested this obligation.

It is very evident that the command of God was the first and prominent ground of this obligation. He received the charge, not from man, not from the conjectures of his own mind, not from any fancy or any taste which he might have for that Christianity into which he had been marvellously conducted; but he had received this charge, and had come under its obligation, by the direct command of God his Saviour, (Acts xxvi. 13—20.) This was the source of the obligation to which the Apostle referred: it rested on a direct command from God his Saviour-a command that he was not at any time authorized to invalidate-a command which was henceforth to be operative to the end of his life—a command of which he was never to lose sight, from the obligation of which he was never to escape. He was to identify life with this debt of obligation. In after times when, in the execution of his trust he anticipated the most disastrous trials to which human fortitude can be exposed, he declares, "None of these things move ine, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." This was the source of the obligation. If he proclaimed the message of salvation to a lost world, it was because the dispensation was committed to him to preach that gospel; it was because he acted and went forth under the direct mandate of heaven: and he could not be disobedient to that vision which broke upon his astonished soul, by God's effective interposition; and which made him hereafter to be the man he was-bold as a lion in the cause of truth-uncompromising before Jew and Gentile-and yielding up himselt willingly to all the consequences of his embassy, and ready to take his station in the grave when God should please to place him there.

But there are other sources accompanying this paramount ground of obligation. One of them I find in the experience which the Apostle had of the worth and efficacy of that gospel with which he was put in trust. We find him declaring, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Do you wish to know whether, while expressing his sense of the value of that gospel, he had applied it to his own soul? Witness his declarations to the Galatians:"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved