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.

O God, who hast granted the rewards of eternal blessedness[96]
to the soul of thy servant Gregory, mercifully grant that we who
are pressed down by the weight of our sins, may, by his prayers
with Thee, be raised up. V. 480.

[Footnote 96: I can never read this, and such passages as this,
without asking myself, can such an assertion be in accordance
with the inspired teaching?--"Judge nothing before the time,
until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden
things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." I Cor. iv.
5.]

IV. The next form of prayer to which I would invite your serious
attention, is one from which my judgment and my feelings revolt far more
decidedly even than from the last-mentioned; and I have the most clear
denouncement of my conscience, that by offering it I should do a wrong