SERMON XX.

Delivered at City Road Chapel, London, on Sunday Evening, April 7, 1832, in aid of the Funds of the Methodist Sunday Schools.

BY KAHKEWAQUONABY, OR PETER JONES,

A CONVERTED INDIAN CHIEF.

"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you." 2 THESS. iii. 1.

My Christian brothers and sisters, we are here this evening before the presence of the Great Spirit, who looks down from heaven, and who sees what is in every heart. This great God, my Christian brothers and sisters, requires every one of us to worship him in spirit and in truth; and unless we worship him in this way, our coming together, in this place will not be of any good to our souls. I therefore exhort every one of you who has named the name of Christ, to raise up your hearts in prayer that God may send down his blessing among you; that he may open your hearts to receive the good Spirit, and that he may help me to speak to you to-night all those truths which relate to the salvation of your immortal souls. While you are praying for yourselves, my Christian friends, I earnestly solicit also an interest in your prayers, that the Lord Jesus Christ may help me to speak boldly, that I may not fear the face of clay, but speak boldly the words of the Great Spirit-looking upon all of you as dying men and women, that must shortly appear before the bar of that great God, as well as myself; for we are all accountable beings for the manner in which we worship at this time.

I feel glad, my Christian friends, that I have had another opportunity of meeting with you in this place, and to worship with you, before I take my leave of you; and as I expect in a very few days to leave your great city, I have thought it advisable to select a subject from the word of God that would lead me to make some general remarks applicable to such an occasion. I have, therefore, taken this verse in the

third chapter of the Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians :"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you." These words, my Christian friends, were written by the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, and it appears that the object which the apostle had, was to encourage those Christians to grow in grace, and to become stronger and stronger, to do the will of the Great Spirit, and also that they might have more correct ideas of the right road that leads to heaven that they might know more of the Great Spirit-that they might feel more of his power in their hearts, so that they might be enabled to worship him with their whole heart. And it appears, my Christian friends, that the apostle had great confidence in these Thessalonians; he knew that they were good Christians; and that they wanted to know all about the Christian religion; that they wanted to know all about the Saviour-what he did for them; and they wished to walk as the children of the light-to love God, and to love one another. The apostle had this confidence in these Christians, of their sincerity, and of their devotedness to the cause of God, of their zeal and faith, as to desire them to pray for him and for those who at that time were around him; therefore he writes and tells them, in the words I have just read to you, that they might pray for him; and he gives them the reason why they should pray for him-" that the word of the Lord might have free course and be glorified, even as it was among them," at Thessalonica. Now, as I have already said to you, my Christian brothers and sisters, I have selected these words, to make from them a few remarks; first, with respect to the prayers of Christians, and then to show the reason why Christians should pray, and, especially, why Christians should pray for us, the Indians in the woods of Canada. And I shall endeavor to express the feelings which are in my heart, with respect to what I have seen and heard since I have been among you in this country.

First, then, As TO THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS TO PRAY. The Great Spirit, my Christian friends, has ordered and commanded, that all persons, all people of every nation and in every land, should pray; and he has made it known in this good book, that there is no other way of obtaining the favor and mercy of the Great Spirit, but only by prayer and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is a great thing, my Christian friends, to know how to pray aright, so that our prayers may be accepted by the Great Spirit whom we worship. This good book tells me, and I believe, that many people pray with their mouths, but their hearts are far from the Great Spirit; and, therefore, it is serious and very important, that every one of us should know what kind of prayer the great God will receive, and what kind of prayer he will

answer.

You all know, my Christian friends, better than I do, the nature

of prayer. I find, my Christian friends, that the kind of prayer which the Great Spirit hears and answers in the woods of Canada, is that prayer that comes out of the heart; and I have, moreover, heard that the Great Spirit does not only listen to the words which we speak, but that he knows the desire that is in the heart. Sometimes we pray in the woods: we fall down upon our knees by the side of a tree, or in the wigwam, and we simply raise up our hearts to the Great Spirit, without speaking any words, without calling aloud; and then we have found that the Great Spirit did know what was in our hearts; he could see that we desired certain blessings in our hearts, and he heard and blessed our souls. At other times we have prayed in the woods, and called upon him aloud. We pray with our mouths, and when the words come from the heart, which we speak to the Great Spirit, while we ask him to take away the old wicked heart, and give us new hearts, he hears our prayer and answers us; and he takes the old wicked heart, and gives us new hearts.

You see, then, my Christian friends, that the prayer which the Great Spirit loves proceeds from the heart, and not from the words merely which we utter. Our Saviour, you know, told some of the people in his day, that the Pharisees made long prayers and stood in the corners of streets and public places, and made very long prayers, and talked a very great deal about their goodness-how often they fasted and how much good they did to the poor; but the Great Spirit did not hear that kind of prayer, because it did not arise out of the heart; they prayed in order that they might be seen of menthat men might hear their prayers. They did not direct their prayer to the Great Spirit, but they directed their prayer to the ears of men; that men might call them good-that they might have the applause of this poor little world; and their prayers were abominable in the sight of the Great Spirit.

It is a very good thing, my Christian friends, to pray to the Great Spirit prayer is the life of the soul of a Christian. Every true Christian prays, and loves to pray, and he prays what is in his heart. Without prayer the soul will become cold and dead. But he that prays in spirit and in truth, shall find his heart live, and grow, and flourish-he shall know more and more of the mind of the Great Spirithe shall renew his strength-he shall run and not be wearied-he shall walk and not faint; while he has good, true, sincere prayer in his heart, his soul shall live in the enjoyment of the love of God. But oh, my Christian friends, we have deeply to lament how weak our prayers are very often-how cold and how careless are they frequently! How often do we kneel down before the Great Spirit and utter words, and while we are asking him to do this or that thing for us, we, at the same time, do not believe that these things will be done for us! This, my Christian friends, is mocking the Great Spirit. The prayer which the Great Spirit hears, is the prayer which is offered up in faith.

We are to believe, when we pray, that the Great Spirit hears us, and that he is able and willing to do for us the things that we ask him, otherwise we had as well hold our tongues.

Prayer, my Christian friends, will help us to see wondrous things out of God's book: prayer is that which will raise up our hearts to things above; prayer is that which will plant for us the ladder of Jacob-it will take us up to glory. Prayer, accompanied by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is that kind of prayer which the Lord hears and answers in the woods of Canada. It does not, I find, my Christian friends, make any difference with the Great Spirit, in what kind of language we pray. You, in your own country, pray in English; the Great Spirit understands English; and when you pray in sincerity and in truth, he hears and answers your prayer, and he gives you the things that you ask; we, in the woods of Canada, pray in the Chippewa tongue; and, blessed be his name, the Great Spirit understands that as well as the English tongue, and he hears us when we pray in our native language. God understands all languages, for he made all languages; he made us all, we are all his children; he it is that watches over us-he takes care of us, and he holds us up every day of our lives; he rules over all in the world-he governs all things according to his own will, and all the nations of the earth are his!

Now, the design of prayer, my Christian friends, is to bring us nearer to God. God has commanded us to pray that we might approach him in that way; and in approaching him by prayer he has promised to draw nigh to us. If we draw nigh to him, the Great Spirit will come and meet with us, and do us good. The design of prayer is also to teach us to know how weak we are, and that we may feel our entire dependence on the Great Spirit. The more a man prays, the more he sees his own weakness-the more he feels that he himself cannot do any thing; and that all the good he has, all the blessings he receives, come from the Great Spirit. The design of prayer also is, that in feeling our dependence on the Great Spiri seeing ourselves to be poor sinners, we may come to Jesus Christ, and say to him, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" "Save, Lord, or I perish!" We should come to God in this way; and in calling upon the Great Spirit through Jesus Christ, he will change our hearts, convert our souls, take away all evil dispositions out of us, and give us clean hearts-hearts that will delight to serve, and honor, and please him. That God does hear and answer prayer you all very well know, my Christian friends. You who have experienced a change of heartyou who have found the Lord to be gracious, know that he hears and answers prayer. You recollect the time when your heart was very sick and sorry on account of sin-you recollect the time whe you wept for your sins-when you struggled for the blessing-when you called on the Great Spirit; and all at once, when you fell at hi feet, when you prayed with all your heart to Jesus, the Great Spirit said

to you-" Poor sinner, go in peace; thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee!" and you experienced and felt in your hearts that the Lord had heard and answered your prayers, and granted you the desire of your hearts.

We have a great many instances of the answers to prayers recorded in this good book. The prophets, when in difficulties, prayed, and the Lord heard their prayer; they prayed for the people, and the Lord heard their prayer they prayed for themselves, and the Lord heard their prayer; and in every country and nation the Lord hears prayer and answers it, and comes down and blesses his people. We, in the woods of Canada, have prayed, and the Lord has answered and fulfilled our prayers.

But, again, my Christian friends, it is not only necessary that we should pray for ourselves, but that we should pray for others; and the Great Spirit has been pleased to make it known to us, that if we pray for others he will hear us. Therefore St. Paul calls upon the Thessalonian Christians in the text, "Brethren, pray for us ;" and I say in behalf of my countrymen in the woods of Canada, "Brethren, pray for us." Brethren, pray for ús, because God hears prayerGod has already answered your prayer; when you have prayed for the conversion of the poor Indians in the woods, the Great Spirit has answered you. You have prayed for your own friends and relations, and the Lord has converted your sons and your daughters-your brothers and your sters, perhaps; God has heard your prayer in their behalf, and God will also hear your prayer when you pray for us poor Indians in the woods. "Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is among you." Now, the reason, my Christian friends, why I call upon you to pray for us, is this-we want the word of the Lord to run very swiftly among us. We are poor and we are needy-many of my brethren know nothing of this word of God; they know nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ-they are worshipping things that are no godsthey are worshipping the sun, the moon, and a great many other things; and these foolish gods have neither hands nor ears to do them good; they cannot hear their prayer-they cannot give them the things which they ask.

Another reason why we wish you to pray for us, my Christian friends, is, that many of my brethren are every year perishing for lack of knowledge; every year hundreds and thousands are dying off without knowing the Great Spirit, without hearing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a sad thing, my Christian brethren, is it, that the souls of those for whom Christ Jesus gave his most precious blood, should die without ever hearing of his name! Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly among us, before all heathens die off and be no more; for the Lord will save them, my friends, if

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