Page:The rock of wisdom.djvu/39

 and why we hope to be heard; the kingdom is his, God is king of all the world and has an undoubted right to dispose of all things; the power is his as well as the authority, he therefore can answer our prayer when it is from a a pure heart, this is a well grounded hope of the christian life, whatever God does, it is for his own glory and our good, and if we are disposed to give him all the glory of what he does for us, we may hope that our petition will be granted, this kingdom, this power, this glory are forever, he will never want the power to help, and if we are saved we shall never cease to give him praise; the force of the whole prayer lies in the first and last words of it, our father and amen; in the first we apply to God in Christ as reconciled to us, in the last we set our seal to the whole and say amen, so let it be, so we humbly hope it shall be for Christ's sake, amen.

How awfully is this prayer abused by ignorant people, not ignorant by God's will but by their own wicked words, it is a kind of charm and it is enough to say the words without considering the true sense of its meaning. Oh! leave off, as you love your soul of mocking God by thoughtless prayer; can you call him a father while you obey the Devil? will you say hallowed be thy name and yet profane it daily? what do you care for his kingdom while you belong to another f or talk of God's will without wishing to do it? do you not forget him when you eat and drink and get drunk, and curse and swear? are you not careless about a forgiveness of your sins, adding daily to the dreadful debt and perhaps living in malice and wrath with your neighbors; how can you pray that God will not lead you into temptation when you are running wilfully into the way of it, frequenting the ale house, the play house, the ballroom, the horse race, and all your midnight crimes; remember the broad eye of the supreme judge of the highest court, is looking right down into the heart, and will shortly summon you to his awful bar, and there to render a strict account for those deeds; then your gold and your silver is dead, your soul must stand the test, up to heaven or down to hell, and to there sink with the company of the lewd, the profane, the drunkard and the adulterer. Dear fellow creatures permit me as a friend indeed, to say unto you that thus contradicting your prayer,