He was to be no longer in this world the enlightener of his disciples in the midst of their difficulties, but if in any thing they stood in need of aid, they were to apply to the Father by prayer, through his mediation, and it would be granted: and truly we believe that while Christ is the object of prayer, as being one with the Father, we yet also cordially believe that he is the only mediator through whom all acceptable worship is to be offered and blessings obtained.

This Discourse, which we have not left ourselves space at length to improve, has been prepared rather from a sense of duty, than from any other motive. The subject has been discussed by men of rare talents and of great acquirements, and the passages on which it is built have been quoted and illustrated by every writer upon the subject. To Smith, Watson, Wardlaw, Dwight, Scott, Doddridge, and others, I have been much indebted for the Scriptural import of many of the proofs which I have quoted, arranged, and endeavoured to make to bear upon it. If my arguments should by any be regarded as weak, the fault is mine, and not in the inspired record, where the doctrine of the divine worship of Christ is not so much supported by isolated passages, as interwoven into the very frame and texture of the whole.

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Earnestly do I beseech you to adhere to this doctrine which I have been endeavouring to inculcate, and to glory in it. 'Calling upon the name of the Lord," was the distinguishing characteristic of the first disciples of Jesus. Because they called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, the Jews and Gentiles fixed upon this as distinguishing them from all other sects and parties. When Paul came down from Jerusalem, breathing forth threatenings and slaughter against the church of Damascus, Ananias said of him to the Lord, who appeared to him in vision, "He hath authority from the Chief Priests to bind all that CALL ON THY NAME." And, again, when the multitude heard Paul, after his conversion, preaching in the synagogue, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God,

they said, in astonishment, "Is not this he that destroyed them that CALLED ON THIS NAME in Jerusalem.” That such was the honourable, and, I may add, generally received appellation by which the first disciples were designated, is put beyond all doubt by the language of Paul. Says he, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."* Calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus was thus a common mark of discipleship in the first ages of the church; and no one was to be esteemed a disciple, or considered an heir of the grace and peace of the gospel, who did not worship the common Saviour. Shall we be ashamed of that appellation which was their highest honour, and not follow in the footsteps of apostles, and evangelists, and martyrs, who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and who now cast their crowns before his feet in heaven?

The practice of calling upon the name of Jesus by prayer, is not only hallowed by antiquity-it is also the source of unspeakable comfort. It is a refuge in the evil day. When the storm of adversity gathers around us, and spiritual maladies render us sick at heart, and death, with all its forebodings, makes our courage quail, I know nothing so much calculated to beget confidence and dispel fear, as to throw ourselves at once upon the compassion of Jesus, and to pray to him immediately as the hearer and answerer of prayer. There is a something in the love and tenderness of Christ, when kept directly before the eye of faith, which conveys unspeakable comfort to the depressed spirit. Sinking amid the yielding billows, say, with Peter, "Lord, save me, or I perish." And when your feet are ready to stumble on the

* 1st Cor. i. 2, 3.

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dark mountains, at the period of your departure, say, with Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." You will still find him, as in the days of his flesh, a very present help in the time of trouble. He who never sent a son or daughter of distress when he dwelt upon earth empty away, now that he sits on his Father's throne, will not be less prompt to aid or less compassionate to bind up the broken heart. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."*

*Heb. iv. 14-16.