ever will come and receive them. There is provided for the poor, guilty, trembling penitent, the blood of sprinkling, that his conscience may be cleansed from guilt, and that he may have courage to speak, to him who sits there, as a father, and a friend; having no charge to lay against him, because Jesus died. There, too, we have "An Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, the propitiation for our sins;' who ever lives, to plead the merit of his own work, for the benefit of sinners; through whom, therefore, we may ever come, and, under a sense of daily infirmity, and daily need, renew our peace, and recruit our spiritual strength, and obtain mercy, and grace to help in time of need." There, too, is "the Spirit" that "helpeth our infirmities;" meeting the faint-hearted, bewildered soul, ignorant, in great measure, of its own wants and dangers, and making intercession for us, by pleading in us, according to the will of God.

Now, Is this the God to whom we come? Has he thus provided for sinners' access? Did he conceive the thought of all this grace, and arrange the method of it, and execute it by the blood of Jesus? And does he now reveal it to sinners,. in the word? And shall not God avenge? Shall an unjust judge be overcome by importunity, and shall God have gone out of his

way to give us audience, and, after all, have said, Seek ye me in vain?

But we must consider another particular, which adds, exceedingly, to the encouragement of our importunity in prayer: and that is, not only God's character, to whom we come; but the deep, and peculiar interest which he has in us ; "his own elect." That poor widow drew nigh to one, who had no particle of feeling for her, and took not the slightest interest in her. It concerned not him, whether it went well, or ill, with her. But O, it is far otherwise, as respects God's praying people. They are his own elect: objects of his special delight, his eternal, and distinguishing love. He chose them in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to be holy, and without blame before him, in love: predestinated them unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself. Thus they are his own; his peculiar treasure. The day in which their blessed number is complete, wherein he will gather them together to himself, he calls," the day that I make up my jewels." (Mal. iii. 17.) They belong to him, in a relation inconceivably near; even in Christ. They are dear to him, as none beside, in the whole compass of creation. True; he bears long, as respects them. Their adversaries seem to triumph; and, for the present, have the advantage over them, in numbers and influ

ence. Spiritual enemies oppress them, and make them sad, whom God would not have sad. There have been times, when the bare name of their God and Saviour, called upon them, has exposed them to brutal indignities and cruelty; to the loss of all things; to fire and sword. And this same name of their God and Saviour, confessed by them, not in word only, but by the power of a holy conversation and godliness, still exposes them to the dislike and hatred of the world, and the furious assaults of principalities and powers, the rulers of this world's darkness. And God seems to wink at it, and care nothing for it. The enemies of his church without, and the more dreadful enemies of the soul within, carry all before them; so that, when his saints cry to him, Avenge me of my adversary, that may even be said of him, which we find here, “He would not, for a while.” But,—those cries, and importunate wrestlings, of his believing, though sorely pressed people, which enter, day and night, into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,-Do they, indeed, enter there, in vain? Hasty sense and impatient unbelief say, Yes: but, Not so, saith, again, the heaven-born faith of God's elect.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." True; I have looked long, and yet he delays; but I will, yet, kok again, toward his holy temple.” Though the vision tarry, I will wait for it; for

it will surely come, it will not tarry." That poor widow conquered a wicked judge, by her importunity. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry, day and night, unto him? I tell you, (saith Christ,) "he will avenge them, speedily."

Now, let me apply the subject, first, to those among you, and perhaps they are not a few, who never pray. I speak not, here, of a mere repeating prayers. That is customary with many, who, yet, know not what real, spiritual supplication, or fervent desire after God, means. And they are conscious that so it is. Their hearts go not forth to God. They do but utter a form of prayer: speak of blessings they are well contented to be without; and deprecate spiritual evils, which they neither feel, nor fear. They know not what it is to pray. Now, think ye, how awfully your conduct, herein, stands in contrast with that of the people of God. See how they are described, here ;—They "cry, day and night, unto him.” Are you, then, in no danger of wrath to come? Have you no enemy seeking your destruction? Have you no need of Christ, as a present Saviour, to cleanse you from the pollution, and to rid you of the love, and power, and curse, of sin? And, if it be so, Is God so evil, in your eyes, so heartless, and indifferent to your misery, that you count it altogether fruitless labour, to be a

glory to God, by manifesting the reality, and power of his grace, in creatures, naturally, so unequal to such experience; and it brings a blessed evidence, to ourselves, of the truth of his work in us, when, amidst disappointments, and failures of expectation, to sense, our faith can yet hold out, and pray on, and hope, against hope. And then, again, these seeming delays issue, at last, in the more abundant communication of the desired blessing, in the Lord's appointed season of its bestowal. "O woman, great is thy faith: Be it, unto thee, even as thou wilt."

Learn, then, dearly beloved, “always to pray, and not to faint." It may be, this or that particular has often been made a subject of your fervent prayers; and nothing seems to have come of them. Well, be not hasty to conclude, that God has fixed it otherwise than you have sought of him ; that it is in vain to plead with him any more. Wait for " the end of the Lord." "The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.” He has received the early rain, but he must receive the latter rain, as well, or the harvest comes not: and so it is in prayer. Some little earnest, perhaps. God has given us of acceptance, but still the fua blessing is delayed: still we want, and wait for it; and it looks as if it would never