or to interfere with the order and harmony of his government. In this age of the world, we are not to expect miraculous interpositions, in our behalf, or in behalf of our friends, our country, or the church of Christ. We, consequently, form very wrong ideas of the ends and design of prayer, if we conceive that it is intended to destroy or alter the plan of the divine government, to suspend the, power of second causes, or to work miracles for us. It was not instituted for these purposes. Such purposes, indeed, would destroy all order, and bring the utmost confusion into both the natural and moral world. If none of the things now mentioned be the ends and design of prayer, the question still returns, what are its purposes, or what valuable ends does it answer?

One is, to impress deeply upon the mind, a sense of the presence of God-our dependance on, and accountableness to him. We are naturally unapt to realize the being and perfections of the First Cause of all things. We see him not with our bodily eyes, for he is invisible, and are inclined to forget his univirsal presence, and all the attributes and glories of his nature, and our constant and entire dependance on him. Prayer is adapted in itself to bring to the mind the divine existence and glories; and our accountableness, as rational creatures and moral agents. We cannot address ourselves to the throne of

grace, without conceiving of the being and presence of God, and that we are dependant upon him for all mercies, and responsible to him for all our thoughts, words, and actions, the temper of our mind, and conduct of our lives. Hence, the apostle to the Hebrews says, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Those who never come to him by prayer, who live, day after day, habitually without it, cannot be supposed to have any realizing and impressive practical persuasion of his being and glories, or their own dependance on him, or accountableness to him. It is impossible for them to have the same sense of his existence, and their dependance, as those have, who give themselves to this duty. We ought to feel our entire and constant dependance on him, every moment, for life and all the blessings of life, for pardon and all the hopes of happiness in a future world. All we have, and are, or hope to have, or enjoy, cometh from the exuberant fountain of all being and blessedness. In him we live, move, and have our beings. He is not far from every one of us, however much we may neglect or forget him, or his providence. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence: if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell

in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand hold me." God is omnipresent, confined to, and excluded from no part of space. And to make us feel that he is present, possessed of all possible excellencies, that he sees us, that we are altogether dependant on him, and accountable to him is one important end of prayer.

Another great and leading purpose of the duty, is suitably to dispose and prepare the mind for the reception of divine favors.While we have no sense of the being, presence, and attributes of God, of our absolutely dependant state, and infinite obligations to him, we are not in a meet situation to have favors and blessings bestowed on us. We should not feel our need of them, or obligations gratefully to acknowledge them, when bestowed. There is a direct and natural tendency in this duty of religion to fit the mind. to receive pardon, and all favors and mercies. It softens the affections. It lays us open to good impressions. It brings us to the footstool of a holy and sovereign God, where we ought to feel ourselves. It necessarily leads us to look up to the Majesty of heaven and earth, as seated on a throne of glory, as the omnipresent, omniscient, all-powerful, and original cause of all things--the Maker, Governor, Lawgiver, Judge, and Disposer of the created universe. Addresses and supplica

tions to heaven tend, therefore, necessarily to make us realize our own state, as frail, dependant creatures-insufficient for our own happiness unable to ward off evils, or fly from them-standing in need of divine pity and grace-of temporal and spiritual good things-having minds darkened-affections impure-and sins innumerable. The native consequence of such views is to make us see and feel how vile we are; how guilty; how unworthy of any favor from a holy God. This is clearly the tendency of humble and importunate addresses to our Father who is in heaven, and therefore they are calculated and designed to fit and prepare us for mercy. More than any thing else doth prayer fit us for receiving gracious aids from God. The great end and design of it is, therefore, to lay the mind open for divine illuminations and teachings-to impress and soften the affections to awe the conscience-to raise and elevate our views to God-and suitably prepare us for divine blessings, for temporal and spiritual favors. It is, consequently, a duty în its own nature, fit and proper; and divine wisdom shines bright in obliging us by express command, to attend upon it steadily and constantly.

A further end and design of prayer is to draw down upon us, as the means divinely constituted, the blessings which we may, from time to time, need. It is expressly appointed

by a wise and gracious God, to be the mods of access to him, and means of deriving blessings to us. It is to be performed in the name of the only Mediator and all-prevalent Advocate at the right hand of the throne of the Almighty, in a dependance upon the influence and co-operations of the ever blessed Spirit of all grace. As it tends, by its native effects, to fit and prepare the mind for the reception of mercies, so likewise to be the channel of conveying them to us. For, when we are suitably prepared to receive, God is ready to confer them on us. It is his delight to confer them, and in his own appointed way. It is perfectly agreeable to him; and his infinite benevolence disposes him to make his creatures the subjects of his kindness. He is the hearer of prayer and the fountain of all grace; able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. When he diffuses happiness, he acts out his own benevolent heart. He delights not in the death or misery, simply considered, of the guilty sinner. He is good, and doth good, continually. And he has made prayer, by his own special appointment, the mean of deriving blessings to us-even all the favors, personal or relative, public or private, temporal or spiritual, which, in our several places or stations, we may need. Therefore we are to go to him as the source of all blessings: to call upon him for all we want; for he waits to be gracious: