record of his sentiments concerning prayer: {52} "This is the confidence
that we have in HIM, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he
heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we desired of him." [1 John v. 14, 15.]
St. John alludes to no intercessor, to no advocate, save only that
"Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the
propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1.] St. John never suggests to
us the advocacy or intercession of saint or angel; with him God in
Christ is all in all.

I will only refer to one more example, that of St. James: the instance
is equally to the point, and is strongly illustrative of the truth. This
Apostle is anxious to impress on his fellow-Christians a due sense of
the efficacy of our intercessions: "The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much." [James v. 16.] He instances its power with
God by the case of Elijah, a man so holy, that the Almighty suffered him
not to pass through the regions of death and the grave, but translated
him at once from this life to glory: "Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are, and he prayed that it might not rain; and it rained
not on the earth by the space of three years and six months; and he
prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her
fruit." [James v. 17, 18.] And yet St. James is very far from suggesting
the lawfulness or efficacy of any invocation to the hallowed spirit of
this man, to whose prayer the elements and natural powers of the sky and
the earth had been made obedient. He exhorts all men to pray, but it
must be to God alone, and directly to God, without applying for the
intervention of any mediators or intercessors from among angels or men.
{53} "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth
liberally to all men, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him; but
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." [James i. 5, 6.] Like the