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his Son. And blessed be God that such is the measure of attainment that he has set before us. Blessed be God that he has set before us a standard of perfect holiness to aim at, to which we must be labouring to attain; that we may be at his coming "without spot, and blameless." Let me warn you against that chiefest of all errors, the allowing any state to the Christian as a right state in which a spot of sin remains. Let me warn you against that most fatal of all Antinomian errors which regards the sacrifice of Christ as a covering for sin, so as to make you content to remain in sin. Of all errors this is the very worst, the doctrine of perfection in the flesh, bad as it is, (and it is an awful heresy-it is at least an awful error) is not worse, if it be so bad, as lowering the standard at which a Christian ought to aim, and allowing himself to use Christ as a covering for sin and iniquity, and so making that blood, which was shed, not to cover sin, but to cleanse from sin, a cloak to hide it; and so leading Christians to all kinds of carelessness of living, to a neglect of the ordinances of God and the means of grace, and making them satisfied to be in sin. Oh, let me warn you against that as the most awful and the most destructive poison that the devil ever infused into the mind of man. Oh, no; let us know, that to be without sin is our Christian duty; to be blameless is the privilege which Christ has conferred upon us: this is the power with which Christ has invested us that we fall short of it is our ever unceasing sin: a state not to be satisfied with, but a state unceasingly to be mourned over. "Having, therefore, brethren, such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit ; perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord."

HYPOCRISY IN PRAYER.

REV. DR. THORP.

BELGRAVE CHAPEL, EATON-SQUARE, DECEMBER 22, 1833.

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men, Verily, I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”—MATTHEW, vi. 5—8.

It is remarkable that, in his sermon on the Mount, our Saviour points out sin and guilt, not merely in those things which are universally acknowledged as wickedness, but in those things also which are regarded as good; in those which are excellent and meritorious acts. Thus he points out sin, as connected with alms-giving, as connected with fasting, and, in the passage before us, as connected with prayer. Now, these are the things which we are all disposed to treat and to consider as most important and valuable: and they are most important and valuable. But our Saviour's instruction teaches us, that by our perversion of them we may convert them into sin and folly and guilt. Our Saviour shows, with respect to the three things we have adverted to—prayer, fasting, and alms-giving-that hypocrisy may be connected with them: and, thus, what is in itself excellent is converted into what is refuse and vile.

Let us attend to the instruction which our Saviour gives us in the words of the text, on the subject of prayer. We must all be sensible, that this is a most important subject. Prayer is what we all have recourse to; it is what we are all ready to think of as our resource in seasons of difficulty and danger. When distress is imminent, then we are ready—even those who neglect to pray at other times-to fly to prayer. Surely, then, this must be an important subject for examination; especially when explained and enforced, as it is here, by the Wisest and the Best of Beings, by that Being who knew best how prayer ought to be offered up-who knew best what that ingredient in it is which renders it acceptable, what we ought to pray for, and how we ought to pray so as to procure an answer to our supplications and the divine blessing.

It deserves to be noticed, that our Saviour does not here command us to pray. He had given commands to this effect before; and he gives them one other caution: "Ask," says he, "and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." His Apostles also direct us to prayer: “In all things by prayer and supplications, with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known unto God." "Pray," says the Apostle," without ceasing." Our

Saviour, by his own example, taught us the importance of prayer; his apostles, and all his servants, whose acts and histories are recorded in Scripture, all set an example of prayer; and by their conduct mark their sense of its value and of its excellence. Our Saviour, in fact, has given us a form of prayer which we are to use, and according to which we are to model our own supplications. He does not, in this passage, give us then a command to pray; but he gives such a direction, as implied that his real servants would all be in the habit of praying.

In fact, my brethren, the necessity of prayer arises from the condition in which we find ourselves. What is our condition? That of creatures dependent on our God: it is "in Him we live, and move, and have our being:" we derive from him all the supplies of life; we depend upon him every moment, even for the breath in our nostrils. Surely, then, nothing can be more suitable than prayer. But this is not all: we are all accountable creatures to God; we not only depend upon him, but we are to answer before him. His observing eye is now upon us; he marks us incessantly; he is "about our path, and about our bed, and spies out all our ways;" and we are at last to appear, and render an account for the deeds done in the body. It is most proper and becoming, therefore, that we should prepare for that account, by prayer and supplication continually.

But even this is not all. We are not only the dependent and accountable creatures of God, but we are his sinful and rebellious creatures. We have brought his displeasure upon us. What act is it we perform that will bear his observation? What thought that ever arises in our breast is clean before the Holy One and the Just? Are we not continually defiling ourselves? Are we not continually living in a world that is defiled, and in which we contract sin? Are we not hourly offenders against the Majesty of heaven? Oh, then, should we not deprecate his displeasure? Should we not entreat his pardon? Should we not, in prayer and supplication, habitually cast ourselves on his mercy and pardoning love? Yes; our condition marks to us at once the value and necessity of prayer.

But our Saviour's language here teaches us, that prayer may be connected with hypocrisy. "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are." A hypocrite is one who is wicked whilst he pretends to be good: he is one who endeavours to throw an air of sanctity over wicked acts and evil conduct that is the ordinary sense of the word "hypocrite." It is taken here in a somewhat different sense; but in a very proper one also. Our Saviour uses it to denote a person whose great object and aim is to be seen of his fellow men; who has one great object in what he does of a religious nature, and that is, to attract the observation and regard of his fellow-men. “When thou prayest," he says, "thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." Their object was not the proper object of prayer-to be seen of God, to have his regard fixed upon them, to have his ear open to their supplications, to have his grace and mercy exercised in their behalf. They had an object, indeed; but it was a most unworthy one: it was to be seen of men, and commended of Our Saviour, probably, had here in view the besetting evil at that time of the Jews. These persons were, many of them, mere formalists in religion. This was probably the case with the Pharisees: all the essence of religion had evaporated as it respected them; all their religion consisted in mere outward

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forms; the aim and object of it was to attract the attention and commend thei to the regards of their fellow-men. These persons used to pray at certain stated times and hours, a certain number of times in the day; and no matter where hey were when the stated time came-whether in the synagogue or walking in the streets-they stopt immediately, they put themselves in a posture of supplication, and commenced their routine of prayer to God. Our Saviour, who knew the heart of man well, asserts that they did it " to be seen of men." Now, it would not become us, if we saw a man in a situation, however untoward and improper, it would not become us, to say that that man's only object is to attract the attention of others; because we cannot see the heart: the man may be a very imprudent and foolish man, and yet may be very sincere in praying at that time; but what it would not become us to say, our Saviour might well say; for he penetrates the mind, he sees the sources and the springs and the motives of human conduct, and he knew the parties when he said, "They pray to be seen of men." Now, are there not those who pray only in public; who offer up their supplications, or join in supplications only in public? They come occasionally, or it may be habitually, to the house of God to pray there. Are the prayers of such offered in an acceptable manner? or, are they such as are regarded with acceptance by the Divine Being? We may, surely, say of the man, whose prayer is only offered up in public, that there is much of the spirit of what our Saviour here condemns in him. Mark, my brethren, the real servant of God. The real Christian will habitually come to the house of God, and join in its public worship; he will, in coming to the house of God, and joining in its services join in them with feeling and with fervour, and show that he can worship God with his brethren. And he also values the privilege and the opportunities of doing so he will show this by his outward manner, by his demeanour in the house of God. We should all endeavour, in the house of God, to have our minds impressed with the importance and solemnity of what we are engaged in; we should show it in our demeanour, and we should show it by joining audibly in the service. Look into your Prayer-Books, and you will see it was never intended that merely the clerk and the children should join in the responses of our service: the church is constructed, and the service is constructed, on this principle that the whole congregation are to join in its service. The minister takes his part, the other part is to be taken audibly by the people. And, surely, our public services would exhibit a different appearance from what they do, if, instead of answering by proxy, by means of the clerk and children, each, in an audible but subdued tone, offered up his own supplications to God, and joined his brethren in the services of our excellent church. I repeat, that the servant of God will habitually present himself in the house of God, and thankfully and joyfully join in its services.

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But I come back to the position, that the man who only prays in public shows, by his neglect of it at other times, that he has much of the spirit of the men whom our Saviour here reprehends. You will see this, when you contrast it with what our Saviour says: "Be not as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Contemplate this interesting and blessed scene which our Saviour here describes. The sinner going into seclusion and retirement, shutting himself out from the world-that world which

lieth in sin, and so often tempts him into its sinful ways—going aside to commune with his God and his Father that seeth in secret; going to confess his offences and evils before that Being against whom they are committed; going into his closet, and shutting his door, and saying, "Lord, thou seest that I am worthless and vile; but I remember that thy mercies fail not; thou art infinitely compassionate and gracious, I come to cast myself on thy divine mercy, through our Lord and Saviour." Then follows a confession of his offences; then follows supplication for grace and strength; then follow thanksgivings for that gracious Redeemer, through whom the assurance of pardon and peace is given; and then he departs strengthened and refreshed.

But we have only given one view of this interesting scene: our Saviour gives another. He says, that God sees him, that he marks it, and will reward, what he has done secretly, openly and before the world. There is the eye of God bent upon this supplicating sinner: there is the prayer of this sinner entering into the ear of his gracious and heavenly Father; the Divine Being looking at him with complacency, rejoicing over him to do him good, and treasuring up for him grace and mercy against the day of the revelation of the full salvation of our blessed Saviour. Here is a scene which we should endeavour to realize ourselves in the course of our lives as we pass through this world.

But our Saviour cautions us, in this passage, not only against hypocrisy, but also against what we may denominate superstition. He says, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." Our Saviour here had reference to the practice of the heathens, who, in addressing their gods, used constant repetitions, and other superstitious services, by which they should call the attention of their false gods to the supplications they offered. You have an example of this in what occurred in the time of Elijah, when the worshippers of Baal besought him to send down fire from heaven upon the sacrifice which they were preparing, and for which we are told they cried out, from morning to night, "O Baal, hear us!” and that then "they cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them."

These were some of the superstitious observances which these people practised on such occasions. Our Saviour cautions us against them: but his direction here against repetition does not imply that we are not to use repetitions of a certain kind in our prayers. Earnest and intense desire will lead to repetition in our prayers. Our Saviour himself furnishes an example of this; we are told, that in his agony in the garden, he prayed three times to his heavenly Father, that if it were possible the cup might pass from him: and the Evangelist distinctly says, that he used the same words on the three occasions. We have an example of that repetition which arises from earnest and intense prayer in the excellent Litany of our church, in that part where, after frequent supplications offered up to God, it is supposed that the congregation have caught (if I may so express it) the very spirit of prayer, and are earnest and intent in their prayers to God for what they ask: then it is, we are directed to say, "Good Lord deliver us," "We beseech thee to hear us good Lord," and to use other repetitions of that kind, marking our earnestness and the intenseness with which we offer our prayers to God. The repetitions which our Saviour disapproves of in this passage are vain repetitions; repetitions, which (as the latter part of the passage shews) would intimate that God does not know what we are in want of, or would not be willing to give us what we want. Our Saviour, so far from

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