Accordingly,

ently from what you think. whenever any one has felt his prayers answered, it must have been by believing that Christ had presented them, and that God had thus accepted them, for the sake of Christ.

"But," you say,

"I do not know that my prayers have been thus heard at the throne

of grace. had interceded for me, I could then easily believe that I was accepted in the Beloved." Well! Do you know any thing to the contrary? Can you prove that He, who never shut his ear to the cry of a perishing sinner, has overlooked you? Would that be like the Saviour's well-known and long-tried character, as the Mediator between God and man? Is it not far more in harmony with all you have read of him, to believe that, when he saw you at the foot of the cross crying for mercy, he took up your cause? You know that he has taken up many such, since he took his place, as an Intercessor, before the throne; and he has not changed since you began to plead at the footstool.

If I could think that the Saviour

"True," you say;

"but how can I know that He has interceded for me? You say, Believe that your payers are accepted through Him; but where is my authority or warrant for believing this? Would you have me to believe it to be true, merely because I wish it to be true? I may say here, (but in another spirit,) What sign showest thou, that we may believe?'"

Now you are right in thus requiring a higher authority than my word, or your own wishes, before venturing to believe that you have obtained the mercy of God unto eternal life. Nothing short of a Divine warrant ought to satisfy you; for nothing less can sanction a Divine hope. But allow me to ask here, what do you mean by Divine warrant for believing that the mercy you implored is granted? What would you consider sufficient authority for the belief of this? Would the written word of God, in the Scriptures, satisfy you? If so, I redeem my pledge at once : "He that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth :" Are you disappointed? Are you ready to say,-" I have asked, but.

not received; sought, but not found?" I am not sure of that. But, were it true that you had not yet found the mercy you have sought, it is equally true that you are warranted, by the express word of God, to believe that you shall find it eventually. "Seek, and ye shall find," is the assurance given in Scripture to all the prayerful. And how gloriously Paul amplifies and applies it!" For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Here, then, is a Divine warrant for believing that your prayers for salvation will be answered: a fact which may well fill your heart with a hope full of immortality, and both increase and confirm your devotional habits.

But even this, pleasing as it is, is not all the truth. If you have prayed like the publican, you are "justified" like the publican. This is the scriptural fact; and it is by believing it, that peace comes into the mind. In this way only could the publican have known his own justification. No voice from the mercy-seat within the vail answered his prayer for mercy; no messenger from heaven

assured him of pardon: if, therefore, he went down to his house with a sense of pardon and acceptance, it must have been derived from believing the often-revealed fact, that God delighteth in mercy, and is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

This subject cannot, however, be well pursued, until the affinity of fervent prayer and saving faith be clearly understood.

No. III.

THE AFFINITY OF FERVENT PRAYER AND

SAVING FAITH.

WHATEVER we may think of prayer,. and however doubtful we may feel as to its answer, we are quite sure that faith, when genuine, cannot fail to save the soul. lieveth shall never perish." lieveth hath eternal life."

"He that be

"He that be

Thus real faith

places the safety of the soul beyond all risk and doubt. Accordingly, were we as sure that we had believed with the heart as that we have prayed with the heart-as sure that we are true believers as that we are praying persons, we should then feel that we were both warranted and welcome to consider ourselves the children of God, and to appropriate to ourselves all the great and precious promises. But we are not so sure that we have truly believed, as that we have truly prayed. We