expect to derive benefit from the rite of Confirmation, without any corresponding disposition to renew their baptismal covenant. So again, they receive the Lord's supper from the hands of their minister, and the word of God from his lips, with a carelessness of spirit, as though nothing more were required from them than to remain indifferent and passive, while their calling and election are made sure for them by the pious zeal of others. They desire the prayers of the church when they are in sickness or danger; yet, even then, they can scarcely be induced to listen to the declarations of the Gospel respecting their spiritual malady, or to utter a heartfelt prayer for mercy on their own account. These are dangerous delusions: we cannot become Christians by proxy: it is not what is done for us by the charitable care of others, but what passes in our own souls, that marks our translation from darkness to light, and from death to life. The ministers of Christ may visit the sick man in his extremity, and utter over him the most earnest and befitting forms of supplication; but what profits this unless faith and conscious necessity render the petitions his own? Prayer was not designed to inform God of what by his infinite wisdom he knows already; but it was intended to strengthen those holy affections which should accompany prayer, or to which prayer should

give birth; to shew our reverential homage for the Object of our devotions; our humility in his presence; our deep sense of our wants, and of his entire willingness to supply them; our remorse for our sins; our trust in the sacrifice and merits of our Redeemer; our desire for his pardoning grace, and the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit. Unless, therefore, our prayers are uttered in somewhat of this frame of mind, they are but vain forms. We may kneel down, it is true, with our fellow-worshippers; we may hear them pray for themselves and for us, and our lips may join in their petitions; but if our hearts do not pray, the service of the lips is but a mockery. It was not more absurd to suppose that the prayers of the prophet Jeremiah would avail for his countrymen, if they prayed not for themselves, than that the words of prayer uttered by our own lips will benefit us if offered up with a prayerless spirit. Nay, it was, if possible, a less absurdity; for the intercessions of a righteous man are of inestimable value to the world: and who can say how often the Father of mercies may, for the sake of his blessed Son, have heard and answered the petitions of his servants for others, where the individuals prayed for scarcely thought of or valued the blessing? But when did a prayer, uttered as an unmeaning form, produce any benefit to the utterer?

Or when did the Almighty condescend to listen to petitions issuing from feigned lips?

III. But a third circumstance which may be noticed in the history before us is, the strange inconsistency which it exhibits in the separation of prayer from obedience. They hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord;" yet they said,

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Pray to the Lord for us."-There was nothing wrong in asking Jeremiah to pray for them: this was in itself a wise and pious request: their inconsistency lay in separating prayer from repentance, and faith, and turning to God, and obedience to his commands: thus making it almost a superstitious ceremony without any moral or spiritual benefit. The very spirit of prayer is an endeavour to conform to the known will of God. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." It was disobedience to God that had brought Zedekiah' and his people into their affliction: yet, they hoped that he would hear the petitions offered for their deliverance, while they persisted in that disobedience. But was this likely? Did it consist with his divine honour or equity, or with the rules which he has laid down for the government of the world? Yet, thousands of those who call themselves Christians act in a similar manner. They profess to pray for the pardon of sin; but they do not truly repent of

it, or endeavour to forsake it. They profess to thank God for his inestimable gift in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, whom they call their Saviour and Master; yet they repose not in his sacrifice; they feel no real love or gratitude to him; and they strive not to copy his example. Like the self-deceivers in the text, they entreat that God would deliver them when in affliction or danger; but they pray not, at least with sincerity and fervour, that he would renew their hearts and turn them from those evil ways which were the cause of his controversy with them. They forget that those only have the promise of being heard and answered who approach their Creator, not only through the right channelnamely, Jesus Christ, the sole Mediator between God and man-but also with right dispositions of heart; with simplicity of purpose; with reverence for his commands; with penitence and faith; and with an earnest wish to live to his glory. A wicked life defeats all the effect of prayer. A man's confidential intercourse is with his friends: and those only are the friends of God who worship him in the Gospel of his Son, and earnestly labour, by the assistance of his Holy Spirit, to keep his commandments.

IV. The last point which we shall notice relative to the conduct of the persons spoken of

in the text is, that they did not add their exertions to their prayers.-And what will prayer, efficacious as, when rightly employed, it is, effect without exertion? God has connected the end with the use of the means; and if we neglect the one, it is presumptuous to hope for the other. Will prayer for humility suffice to make a man humble? Will praying to be enabled to understand the Scriptures give that understanding, without studying them and meditating upon their sacred contents? Will praying that our faith may be strengthened, strengthen it, while we neglect to make use of the instruments of spiritual stability? Will praying for holiness. make us holy while we deliberately walk in the paths of unholiness? Will praying for the pardon of our sins bring down that pardon while we use no efforts to live as becomes those who are pardoned, or who desire to be pardoned? Can a parent hope that his prayers for his children will be of any benefit, if he is not adding his exertions to his wishes; if he is not bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, guarding them from the snares of youthful life, and setting before them a Christian example? Is it to any purpose that we entreat to be kept from temptation when we are voluntarily running into it; or that we pray against worldly mindedness, when we choose worldly minded companions; or that we