Let us pass on to examine how it is that prayer ministers to the after-growth in grace of the true believer; only bearing in mind, that in whatever I now say respecting prayer, I speak not of the prayer of the formalist, and not of the prayer of the hypocrite, and not of the mechanical utterance of set forms of petition, which selfdeceived persons may think to be praying; but of that sincere and earnest expression of fervent desire which is offered to the great Searcher of hearts in the alone-prevailing name, for the alone-prevailing merit's sake of Jesus, and by the help of that Divine Spirit whose office it is to make “intercession for the saints according to the will of God."1

Now there is a purifying and a sanctifying influence in the exercise of faithful supplication. Those who have given their best attention to the subject of influences in general, of the method in which we act

1 Rom. viii. 27.

upon others, and are in turn acted upon by one another, are universally agreed that the mind will acquire somewhat of the character of the object with which it has constant and habitual intercourse: if that object be ennobling or elevating, the mind will become elevated or ennobled; if the object be the contrary to this, the effect will still correspond. Apply this principle to the subject of our present consideration. Prayer is intercourse with God; it is the communion of the soul of man with the infinite and invisible Jehovah; it is the ennobling exercise in which for the while the creature is detached from earth and soars aloft to the throne of Divinity, and there stands, in communion with the infinitely pure and holy God. It is an unspeakably solemn spectacle, that of a true believer engaged in earnest devotion. What a scene is then presented to the eye of faith! How near does heaven appear to be brought! The believer who, on his bended knee, is thus

holding converse with the Creator of the universe; he is associated with the thousand times ten thousand ministering spirits that stand around the throne of Divinity; with the eye of his inner man he is looking upon the King eternal invisible; he is speaking to that King as a child speaking to its father; and the Son of God is standing before the throne, hearkening to the cry of supplication, the confession of guilt, or the accents of praise and thanksgiving; and the Spirit of God, who in the beginning moved on the face of the waters, is present with this humble suppliant, offering intercession with him; and Jehovah Himself bends down to hear his cry and accept his homage. Is it not a solemn, yea, and an awful moment? Could we realise the transaction in all the circumstances that belong to it— the relation which it has to man's creation in the likeness of God; his fall; his ruin; redemption; probation, and eternal destiny;—it is a transaction upon which we might almost

F

imagine that angels would hush their anthems to gaze with wonder and amazement. But I ask if this must not be a purifying exercise to the man who engages in it? And if it be a law of our present condition, that the soul gathers impressions from the object of its constant contemplation; that it is ennobled by what is ennobling, and deteriorated by what is debasing, then can it be that the soul should be frequently upborne to the courts of heaven, and not derive a purifying influence from the atmosphere of glory which surrounds the throne of Divinity? So that, just as Moses, when he had been permitted to tarry upon the mount with God, returned from thence with so much of reflected radiance on his countenance as dazzled the eye of Israel; in like manner the soul of the believer, which has been caught up into near communion with God, will catch somewhat of the ethereal purity and sacredness which pervades the upper sanctuary.

And here I might appeal to experience in confirmation of the point, that prayer is in itself a mean for attracting to the suppliant somewhat of the holiness of heaven itself.

Look at two, at least, of those who emphatically appear in Scripture as eminent for prayer: Enoch, who lived such a life of prayer that he is said to have "walked with God," and at last became so fitted for heaven that he was translated without seeing death; Elias, who, on the page of God's word, is equally distinguished for his having been a man of prayer, and who also gained such meetness for paradise that a chariot of fire and horses of fire were prepared to convey him, in the full integrity of his being, body and soul, at once to the rest of heaven. Look at the testimony of experience in modern times; is there a single instance of any one having risen to eminence for holiness of character, of whom it may not be recorded that by how much he surpassed others in the exhibition