of blessings that we are to ask; and the degree of confidence with which
we are to look for an answer must be in proportion to the positiveness
of the promises. Our Lord assures us that our heavenly Father is more
willing to give good things, and particularly his Holy Spirit, to them
that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their
children; and he declares expressly, that our sanctification is
agreeable to the will of God. The promises of the daily supply of our
necessary temporal wants are equally positive. What, then, can be more
odious in the sight of God, than for those who profess to be his
children to excuse their want of spirituality on the ground of their
dependence upon him? And what more ungrateful, than to fret and worry
themselves, lest they should come to want? We may also pray for a
revival of religion in a particular place, and for the conversion of
particular individuals, with strong ground of confidence, because we
know that God has willed the extension of Christ's kingdom, and that the
conversion of sinners is, _in itself_, agreeable to his will. But we
cannot certainly know that he intends to convert a particular
individual, or revive his work in a particular place; nor can we be sure
that the particular temporal blessing that we desire is what the Lord
sees to be needful for our present necessities.

4. _We must ask in faith._ "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the winds,
and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of
the Lord." A difference of opinion exists among real Christians, as to
what constitutes the _prayer of faith_ spoken of by the apostle. Some
maintain that we must _believe that we shall receive the very thing for
which we ask_. This opinion is founded on some promises made by our Lord
to the apostles, which those who hold the contrary opinion suppose to
have been intended only for them. I shall not attempt to determine this
point; nor do I think it very important which of these theories is
embraced; because, in examining the history of those persons whose
prayers have received the seal of heaven, I find some of them embraced
one, and some the other; while many who embrace either of them seem not
to live in the exercise of prevailing prayer. The main point, therefore,
seems to be, that we should maintain such a nearness of communion with
God as shall secure the personal exer