all " be filled with the Holy Ghost," not indeed in his miraculous powers, but in his enlivening, comforting, and transforming energies. We may form some idea of the frame which is proper for us, from the very attitude in which Solomon addressed his prayer to God : " He fell down on his knees, and spread forth his hands to heaven." How different this from the irreverent and careless attitude of many amongst us, who, instead of prostrating themselves before God with becoming reverence, sit during the prayers ; shewing, thereby, how little they feel the elevation of a devout worshipper, or the humiliation of a contrite one! Be it known unto you, that God must be im- portuned in prayer, and that " the kingdom of heaven must be taken by violence," if ever it be taken at all : and, if you find that common efforts will not suffice to bring you to your Saviour's presence, you must resemble those who went up to the top of the house and let down the paralytic through the roof: you must " cry unto God," and '' give him no rest," and not cease from your importunity, till you have obtained an answer to your prayer. It was in this way that the widow in the parable prevailed over the unjust judge ; and in this way shall every child of man pre- vail, if only he will " pray, and not faint."
The confidence of the heart is yet further necessary: for our hands must be lifted up " without doubting ;" *' nor can we hope to receive any thing from God, if we supplicate him with a wavering mind." It must be remembered, that the Temple was called, " A house of sacrifice V On this occasion sacrifices were offered without number ; and on every morning and evening throughout the year they were regularly pre- sented to the Lord. Now this shewed, that every prayer which was there offered was to find acceptance by virtue of those sacrifices ; and that no blessing whatever could be obtained from God, but through faith in the atonement which those sacrifices pre- figured. The same is strikingly illustrated in the Liturgy of the Church of England ; not a prayer of
i 2 Chron. vii. 12.