We can plead no merit of our own. We have no legal claim on the store-house of God's boundless mercy and love. But we remember that we have a Friend; that this Friend has suffered the same trials and temptations; that He knows by bitter experience just how we feel; that He deeply sympathizes with us, and that He loves us with a devotion and faithfulness beyond human experience or expression. Remembering this, how can we feel otherwise than confident that an already loving Father will hear our petitions in harmony with His will, and bless us as His believing children? The efficacy of prayer, therefore, grows out of the mediatorship of Jesus, and the confidence in prayer grows out of our appreciation of the mediator and of His work. Hence a light appreciation of the mediatorial work of Jesus leads to a prayerless life. Jesus Himself taught that there is no way of approach to the Father except through Him. "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." No man can approach God _in his own name_. God does not look upon men in their own personality. He looks upon them only _through their mediator_; and what He sees to commend, is seen and commended only through, and on account of, their mediator. In other words, God sees the mediator only, not them. Hence the man that does not accept the mediator cuts himself off from God. He rejects the only way of approach to God. He prevents God's considering his case; for God considers us only through the mediator. It is this fact, that God considers the mediator through whom the petition is made, rather than the petitioner, that gives significance to the fact that our prayers are to be _in the name_ of Jesus Christ; and that we ask that our petitions be granted for "Christ's sake." At a throne of grace we present the name of our intercessor. We ask in _his name_, not our own. We present Him, not ourselves. We hide ourselves behind Him, put Him in our place, and ask what God will do for Him. He authorizes us to thus use His name, and the blessings bestowed are just to the extent that that name prevails with God. Should Vanderbilt grant you the legal right to use his name to the full extent of your desire in presentation of checks, etc.; with his pledge to redeem all paper bearing his signature in your hand, his whole fortune would be pledged to meet the demands of your drafts upon him. Bankrupt financially, as you are spiritually, you present your check for a large amount and it would be rejected. But add to that the name of Vanderbilt, and your check is honored. You draw the money not in your name, but in his. The bank sees not you, but him. Now, just as you would thus present the name of Vanderbilt, with full assurance of your request being granted to the extent of his fortune, you to-day present the name of Jesus at the court of heaven, and a heaven honors that name; its resources are pledged to meet your petition. The name of Jesus, therefore, when thus