jii, 1. Finally, brethren pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. Mr. Moss of Bishop's Burton concluded in prayer. The settlement of this church with so promising a minister gives sincere pleasure to many. The service was interesting, and the only cause of regret attending it was the absence of two of our most valuable

Ministers, Mr Birt of Plymouth Dock, who was to have addressed the charge to his son, but who was detained at home through the attention necessary to be paid to Lord Sidmouth's bill, and Mr. Fuller of Kettering, who was to have addressed the church, and who, we are exceedingly sorry to say, was prevented coming by illness.

Lines on the Death of Mrs. Tanner.
(See page 291.)

Ah! highly favoured Saint! while there are some
Who're summoned slowly to their heavenly home,
Feel the sharp pangs and bitterness of Death,
With woes unnumbered, ere they yield their breath;
And oft times e'en in their departing hour,
Have to withstand the tempter's wily power;

Twas thine-while listening to the theme of Grace,
Sent by the Saviour, to our guilty race,

To be caught up to see him face to face.

And now no more oppressed with doubts and fears,
Satan's suggestions cannot reach thine ears,
Jesus reveals his providence, and shews
His greatest blessings were thy sharpest poes;
Opens the Book of Life, and bids thee see
Thy name engraved from all Eternity.

Oh blessed change! no more a child of grief
And sufferings that can seldom find relief,
But freed from sin the source of every woe,
Thy spirit henceforth shall no sorrow know;
Securely blest in Jesus' sweet embrace,
To gaze for ever on his lovely face.

Lombard St. London.

E. D.

Breviates of the Baptist Associations and several other Articles are unavoidably deferred to our next Number.

Printed at Smith's Printing-Office, Tiverton.

THE

BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 181.

Prayer an abomination to God.

He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. PROV. xxviii, 9.

There is something at first view uncongenial with the general spirit of scripture, and at direct variance with many particular passages of it, in these words of the wise man ; a very little consi deration, however, will discover to us their truth, will enable us to perceive that the exercise of the mind, which is alike the duty of all the human race, and which, by general consent, is called Prayer, may in some instances arise from such motives, and be directed to such objects, as shall be honourable to the sup plicant, and acceptable to God; while in others, the motives and objects of prayer shall be such as to constitute and promote their wickedness, and of course be regarded as an abomination by the Lord.

Prayer is generally defined "a making known our wants and desires unto God;" which though an inaccurate definition, inasmuch as they are all better known to him than ourselves, is sufficiently true, to prove, that even the sincere prayer of a wicked man is an abomination unto God; for what are the wants and desires in general of a wicked man? The Avarici ous wants an increase of wealth, and security from the hand of the robber-the Ambitious wants greater honor, the removal of obstacles, the downfall of some rival and opponent to his prefer ment-the Adulterer, Voluptuary, and Sensualist all desire the gratification of their different passions, and pray, (internally at least) to be exempt from the diseases and punishments which are concomitant to them. These are they who turn away their ears from hearing, (or will not regard,) the words Vol. III. Y v

of the law; that is, who live continually violating its express commands, yet perhaps sometimes sincerely pray to be delivered from the penalties of it, while they as sincerely desire to be permitted to continue in the enjoyment of the sinful gratifications which it forbids.

But there is another cause why the prayers of the wicked are offensive to God; and that is when they are considered as a meritorious duty, and offered to him as such, rather than used or enjoyed as a privilege. This is an error which does not so much apply to the description of persons considered above, but to others, who have not only heard the words of the law of God, but who have likewise heard and professed to believe the Gospel of his Son; it was perhaps this error which occasioned the numerous written forms to be provided by the popish church, and commanded to be used by each of its community, in proportion to the turpitude of their crimes, or otherwise to be performed for them, in proportion to the magnitude of their fee; if this error, however, did not introduce the forms, the forms perhaps engendered the error, or at least have been very instrumental in disseminating it; for thousands there are, both in the popish church, and in the protestant establishment of this country, who imagine that in the repetition of these formu laries they are discharging one of the positive duties they owe to God, and that of course the more frequently and constantly they are repeated, the more will the great mass of their trans gressions against God, and the vast amount of their obligations to him, be reduced,-the more he will be pleased with them, and they secured against the possibility of his being so cruel, after such a punctual observance of so important a duty, as to send them to that dreadful place, where none but fallen spirits and actually wicked men are confined. Such prayers, however, as these are an abomination unto him. He has graciously condescended to make it known to us, that he will hear us when we cry unto him; this information should be considered as a privilege of unspeakable importance, granted to us for our own benefit; and must not be regarded as a duty enjoined upon us to be performed to him, at any particular seasons, or in any particular measure; lest by our exceeding that measure and those seasons, we should make God himself a debtor to us, and then begin a flaming account of supererogation with him.

This erroneous view of the nature of prayer, however, is not confined to those who make use of prescribed forms. The Pharisee, in the New Testament, seems to have had a similar notion by the strain of his prayer, which appears to have been

extempore; and how many pharisees are there in our own churches, who deceive others, and even half deceive themselves into an idea of their being sure of heaven, while the secret and only ground of that assurance is because they have been enabled to avoid the great sins in practice, and the gross errors in doctrine, which will exclude others from it-because they have attached themselves to certain societies of Christians, and are received into church fellowship with them-because they believe and can defend some creed which is called sound, or orthodox; give a few pence now and then in alms, though they can omit this duty, and justify the omission, from its being almost too pharisaic,-but above all, are regular in their attendance at all public meetings for prayer and preaching, and never fail to pray twice a day to God in their own families. Though these things are in themselves unexceptionable, and indeed must be considered as some of the visible evidences, or more properly, indications of the reality of Religion in the heart, yet many people have nothing else but these things in their minds when they bless God that they are not as other men, though they know not at the same time, in all these respects one half of the world are as religious as themselves; and in the composition of this wretched foundation of their hopes, that is most depended on, perhaps, for their support, which least deserves their confidence, namely, the punctual observance and efficacy of family or private prayer.

This error is imbibed even in our infancy, (or with our earliest impressions) by the custom of our being taught to repeat daily. the Lord's prayer to our parents, even before we know the meaning of the word prayer, much less the nature of the exercise; though the object of pious parents in this, doubtless, is to impress their children's minds early with the fear of God, to sow the good seed of devotional feelings in their hearts, yet how seldom do we find the same parents equally careful to destroy the noxious weeds, which spring up with the good seed, and which either choke its growth, or so sap all its essential nourishment, as that at the time of maturity, only the blade and the blossom, but no good fruit appears. And is it not to be suspected that the ministers of the Gospel themselves, frequently support the growth of this error, or establish it in the mind, by repeatedly enforcing the duty of prayer upon their hearers; without cautioning them against misunderstanding the term duty, or warning them against imagining that the performance of it must necessarily be acceptable to God, or apprizing them that there is such a thing as rendering teemselves more abomi

able to him, in the performance than in the omission of it? Nor do they indeed themselves sufliciently consider this, or they would less frequently make use of the term duty, which is indeed an improper one, for it is by this means placed upon an equal rank with other exercises of the mind, which are in their nature essentially good and acceptable to God, while this may in itself be directly the reverse: to fear, to love, to believe, to revere God, are all duties, which he demands and approves, and if we have any knowledge of him, we shall assuredly desire to love, and fear and revere him, and these desires will be uttered, which is prayer, that will be acceptable unto him: but it is evident that there are thousands who frequently ask God to enable them to love and fear him, who feel no corresponding desires in their hearts, yet this may be called prayer; but it is that prayer which is abomination unto him.

If this be the case, how frequently then, is it not to be feared, that even the place where his name is invoked, and where his presence is sometimes manifested, are barred against the kindly visitations of his Spirit, and rendered unholy in his sight? How frequently do we find the leaders of our devotions engaged in this exercise, without appearing to feel the slightest interest in the greater part of the requests they make, without evincing in the least degree that the spirit of prayer and supplication is striving within them! Justly as they reprobate and avoid the absurdity of praying to God by the dic tation or instruction of another man, let them likewise shun the form (without the spirit) of prayer of their own framing.

An attentive hearer in our places of worship will much more easily discover in some ministers when engaged in prayer (and perhaps more especially so in those who possess most eminently what is called the "Gift" of prayer) an over anxious desire to make such an address to heaven, as shall please the ears of the people (either by unusual trepidation or energy of voice, or polish or pathos of diction,) than they will the earnest wrestling of the Spirit with the Angel of the covenant, for a blessing on his own soul, and the congregation assembled around him; and where this ability to please the ear (which is too frequently mis-considered as the Gift of prayer) is wanting, how laborious does the exercise appear; how difficult the exertion to link and patch human and scriptural intercessory sentences together, of a sufficient length and quality to be called a prayer. But how different in its nature is this exertion, (or this infirmity, as they would fain excuse themselves by calling it) from that wherein we are promised the assistance of the Spirit, who shall (then)