These prayers I could not offer in faith.  I am taught in the written word to look for no other intercessor in heaven, than one who is eternal and divine, therefore I can need no other.  Had God, by his revealed word, told me that the intercessions of his servants departed should prevail with Him, provided I sought that benefit by prayer, I should, without any misgiving, have implored Him to receive their {249} prayers in my behalf; but I can find no such an intimation in the covenant.  In that covenant the word of the God of truth and mercy is pledged to receive those, and to grant the prayers of those who come to him through his blessed Son.  In that covenant, I am strictly commanded and most lovingly invited to approach boldly the Supreme Giver of all good things myself, and to ask in faith nothing wavering, with an assurance that He who spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will, with Him, also freely give us all things.  In this assurance I place implicit trust; and as long as I have my being in this earthly tabernacle, I will, by his gracious permission and help, pray for whatever is needful for the soul and the body; I will pray not for myself only, but for all, individually and collectively, who are near and dear to me, and all who are far from me; for my friends, and for those who wish me ill; for my fellow Christians, and for those who are walking still in darkness and sin;—­I will pray for mercy on all mankind.  And I will, as occasion offers, desire others among the faithful on earth to pray for me; and will take comfort and encouragement and holy hope from the reflection that their prayers are presented to God in my behalf, and that they will continue to pray for me when my own strength shall fail and the hour of my departure shall draw nigh.  But for the acceptance of my own prayers and of theirs I can depend on no other Mediator in the world of spirits, than on HIM, whom his own Word declares to be the one Mediator between God and men, who prayed for me when He was on earth, who is ever making intercession for me in heaven.  I know of no other in the unseen world, by whom I can have access to the Father; I find no other offered to me, I seek no {250} other, I want no other.  I trust my cause,—­the cause of my present life, the cause of my soul’s eternal happiness,—­to HIM and to his intercession.  I thank God for the blessing.  I am satisfied; and in the assurance of the omnipotence of his intercession, and the perfect fulness of his mediation, I am happy.

On this point it were well to compare two prayers both offered to God; the one pleading with Him the intercession of the passion of his only Son, the other pleading the prayers of a mortal man.  The first prayer is a collect in Holy Week, the second is a collect on St. Gregory’s Day.

    We beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who among so many
    adversities from our own infirmity fail, the passion of thy only
    begotten Son interceding for us, may revive.  V. 243.