prayer confession holds a distinguished place: "Our ini"quities testify against us;-our backslidings are many;"we have sinned against thee." As a believing Israelite, he took shame to himself; and as a minister of God he dealt faithfully with the public conscience, and charged every rank with defection and disobedience: "We ac"knowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of "our fathers; for we have sinned against thee."* His exercise is exemplary, and in similar circumstances should be followed. Reigning and crying sins breaking out, whether in the higher or lower ranks of society, or in both, ought to be acknowledged to be, what they are, provocations of wrath and causes of calamity. But to bring men to this reasonable duty is extremely difficult. Confession gives such a stab to self-righteousness, and such a blow to natural pride, that nothing can bring us effectually to submit to it, except the Spirit of God working by his word in us mightily.

> Fourthly, The covenant of grace is apprehended, truly and distinctly, in the light of the word To this covenant temporal good things are annexed, and in its administration, promises of these are performed. When the testimony in the holy writings concerning the covenant, and its condition, and promises, and administration, is received and substantiated by our faith, we will go boldly to the throne of grace, and plead humbly, and fervently, and acceptably, for any good, temporal or eternal. By the obedience, sufferings, and death of Christ, the condition is fulfilled; and, in performing the promises and bestowing the blessings, both of the life which now is and of that which is to come, the justice and holiness of God glorify themselves in the highest. In acceptable and prevailing pleading the covenant is truly and distinctly apprehended, the place which temporal good things hold in it is observed, and pleas for these are raised upon the name and glory of God in Christ Jesus. Jeremiah apprehended this covenant; and, in making intercession for the land, strengthened his faith, and added fervour to his importunity, with claims advanced on covenant-titles: "O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble

*Jer. xiv. 2Q,

“Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us; and we are called "by thy name, leave us not.”*

Fifthly, Considerations of the obedience, blood, and intercession of Christ, are presented to the Lord, and opposed to prevailing iniquities. The monstrous body of the public guilt, testifying against deliverance, and crying for continuation of affliction, stood at the right hand of the prophet, to drown his voice, to stagger his faith, to resist his plea, and to cut off his hope. But in consideration of blood to be shed, and reconciliation to be made, in due time, he opposed to this black and desponding appearance the triumph of mercy, and the glory of forgiveness. Observe the circumstances, and admire the wisdom, and love, and faithfulness, which shine around. In midst of the filthy city, where blood was to be shed, and reconciliation to be made for iniquity, the prophet stood; and, looking forward, cried for temporal good things to his country, the chosen and destined spot of these approaching and unparalleled solemnities; and with equal confidence we may stand up on our island, annexed to the crown of our Redeemer, and, in consideration of the past solemnities, look back, and cry for our temporal good things, which are placed under his power, and dispensed by his hand. "He "that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us "all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all "things?"t

Sixthly, Submission to the will and good pleasure of the Lord of all. Creatures, far less sinners, should never be peremptory in their supplications, nor prescribe to the Sovereign. In all pleadings, room ought to be left to his wisdom and sovereignty to exert and glorify themselves. In this Jeremiah is exemplary: "Do thou for thy name's "sake." He does not say what. This is left to the Sovreign. Hoping in the Hope and Saviour of Israel, and against hope believing in hope, he persuaded himself that, in his administration, the continuance as well as the removal of the national distress might glorify his great name. In our intercessions, let us imitate the modesty and submission of this man of God. Pleas for the removal of distress are furnished to us by the word, and instructions given to use these with reverence and importunity. But

*Jer. xiv. 8, 9. †Rom. viii. 32,

beware of limiting the Sovereign, who, by calamity no less than by deliverance, can sanctify himself, and magnify himself.

These observations, concerning pleading the name of the Lord for temporal benefits, we shall turn into exhorta tion and instruction before we conclude. Unto men of prayer we address ourselves in the hearing of all, and through the blessing of God and the working of his Spirit, all will be corrected and instructed.

First, In your exercise and practice let a true sense of sin appear. A sense of the evil of sin, in its contrariety to the righteousness and holy law of God, appears always in godly men, when they behave as godly men ought to behave themselves. With the nature, and number, and aggravation of his iniquities, David was burdened; and under the pressure of the public guilt Jeremiah mourned. Multitudes, though they speak against sin, hear it condemned on just grounds, and even give it the names which it deserves, appear to have no operative impressions of its evil and malignity. It is not calling sin names, or fixing upon it the epithets, hateful and abominable, but hating and abhorring it, which the Lord requires. If hatred and abhorrence of iniquity be not visible in the conversations of people professing godliness, or if it dis appear in the latter periods, toward the end of their days; if indignation against common and reigning evils cool in old age, and men under gray hairs venture on familiarities and compliances with the world, which in the youth of their profession they abhorred, it is a symptom, either that they never were what they appeared, or that they are falling from their first love.

Secondly, Acknowledge the righteousness of God in withholding some temporal good things, which in the ordinary course of his providence we looked for at this season. His northern treasury, which at this day of the year used to be shut up, is still wide open. Heaps of snow and morsels of ice, hail and hard frost, threaten to famish the fold and the stall, and to sweep along the hope of man.Why doth the Sovereign send upon us hail for rain, and heaps of snow instead of clouds of dew? Why doth he draw out winter to an unusual length, and fill our ear w with the howling of shepherds, instead of the singing of birds?,

Why do not applications to his goodness prevail? Hath he forgotten to be gracious? No. Doth his promise fail? No. Is his covenant with the seasons dissolved? No: Is his hand shortened, that it cannot save? No. Is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear? No. But our iniquities, let it be preached in the valljes, proclaimed in the mountains, and sounded in the dwelling-places of atheism and irreligion—“Our iniquities have separated between us and "our God, and our sins have hid his face from us, that he "will not hear."* "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day-because of our trespasses, which we have trespassed against thee."t

Thirdly, Confess unto the Lord these trespasses which are committed against him in the midst of the land, which provoke him to withhold good things, and which cause him to send upon us evil things. Acknowledgment of sin, and supplication for pardon, are always mixed with the prayers and intercessions of his people for temporal good things. In this intercessory prayer of Jeremiah for rain you will observe these. In the supplication of Daniel for the return of the captivity; and in the prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah, for the good things of their days, these may also be observed. Confession, repentance, and prayer, are duties which every sinner is bound by the law of God to perform. In the chapter before our text, Jeremiah is commanded to recommend them to the first personages in the state: "Say unto the King and to the Queen, Hum❝ble yourselves, sit down; for your principalities shall "come down, even the crown of your glory-And if thou "say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon "me?" the answer for the whole kingdom is, "For the "greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and "thine heels made bare. Because thou hast forgotten me, "saith the Lord, and trusted in falsehood; therefore will I "discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may ap❝pear. I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the "lewdness of thy whoredoms and thine abominations, on "the hills in the fields. O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be "made clean, when shall it once be?" Cast your eye abroad, look eastward and westward, and northward and

*Isa. lix. 2. †Dan. ix. 7. Jer. xiii. 18, 27.

Fix it

southward, and behold the pollution of the land. on the secret corner, bring the heart before the law of holiness, turn it round and round in the light and spirituality of every precept, view it on all sides; and, falling on your face before the Lawgiver, say, "O my God, I am a"shamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our tres"pass is grown up unto the heavens."* In faith of for giveness, and redemption through the blood of Christ, present confessions and supplications to God, and follow them with repentance and reformation. In all your endeavours after new obedience, keep the hold which you have taken of the life, and strength, and acceptance, promised in the covenant.

Fourthly, In pleading, when iniquities testify against you, keep before you the covenant of peace, to which temporal good things are added. Unless your eye be kept upon this covenant, it will be impossible to understand. how God, whose right hand is full of righteousness, glorifies himself in accepting your persons, sustaining your pleas, fulfilling your petitions, and blessing you with good things. But if the covenant, with its condition, promises, and administration, be considered, and the place which temporal good things possess observed, every seemingly interfering interest, with respect to the perfections and glory of God, will appear to be adjusted and consolidated upon the clearest and firmest principles. In the pleading and intercession of his people, his covenant is always considered. When the indignation of the Lord kindled, and every Israelite expostulated, "Wilt thou be angry with us "for ever, wilt thou draw out thine anger to all genera❝tions," a writer in the psalms, looking upon the covenant, and beholding mercy and truth met together, assured himself and the nation of every good thing: "Truth shall "spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look "down from heaven. Yea the Lord shall give that which "is good, and our land shall yield her increase." In another psalm, we observe temporal goods standing among the blessings of the administration of the covenant, and the pleading laid upon the promises, "Thou shalt judge the "people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth

PP

* Ezra. ix. 6. †Pṣal. Ixxxv, 5--12