not reflect on our state, we do not look within beforé hand, and therefore we have so little fervency, or divine unction in our prayers. While I was musing, the fire burned, then spake I with my tongue. Previous to private prayer, endeavour to compose your thoughts, to attain a settled, calm, and attentive mind. Ask yourself, Why do I retire? what is my design? Examine yourself, and note down all that occurs in your mind as proper or advantageous to be said under each head of Self-examination should precede prayer. Conprayer. sider before-hand the particular things which you wish to ask of God, so that you may ask freely, in order, and with method, those things which you need. And while approaching the house of the Lord for public worship, it is advantageous to meditate on the great work in which you are about to be engaged. The son of Syrach says, "before thou prayest, prepare thyself; and be not as one that tempts God." The musician sees that his instrument is in tune before he begins to play on it; and we should surely prepare our minds for prayer and praise. "Let your prayer," says the Rev. Mr. Adam, "be short, and think a long time before you begin. what you are going to say, and what you mean by it; that is to speak plainly, whether you would be taken at your word, and put to the pain of having your prayers answered." "He who would pray," says Bishop Horne,"must first retire. Meditation, which is the mother of Devotion, is the daughter of Retirenient. They who do not meditate, cannot pray; they who do not retire, can do neither." Profitable subjects of meditation abound. Consider the promises of God made to prayer; the character of Him you approach; and your own sinfulness. In the morning, call to mind the

duties which are before you in the approaching day, and ask for grace to fulfil them. In the evening, think on all that has occurred in the past day, and thus you will be better able to confess your sins, and to bless God for his mercies. And continue in meditation, says Bishop Taylor, "till you get some new arguments against a sin, or some new encouragements to virtue, some spiritual strength and advantage, or some act of prayer to God, or praise of him." Gerson justly observes, that " Meditation is the nurse of prayer." My mouth,' says David, 'shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.' Ps. lxiii, 6. The sickle must be sharpened before we reap :-let us, then, by meditation, prepare our hearts for effective prayer.

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5. ASK IN FAITH.--The Scriptures insist much on this. James i, 6; Heb. x, 22; Matt. xxi, 22; Mark xi, 24. All true prayer comes from faith, (Rom. x, 12.) and is the voice and expression of faith. You need, in

order to gain the true spirit of devotion, an unwavering belief that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him;' (Heb. xi, 6.) that he is able to give us all we ask, and if it be for our real good, will do so. By faith realize his presence. Say with David, He is about my path, and about my bed. Fully believe that his almighty power can help and save even in the uttermost extremity, and that he is willing to hear you when you call upon him. It is, in short, a true faith that will make all the difference between a cold, heartless, unprofitable form, like praying (as one expressed it to me) to nothing but empty air, and the real desire of the believer, which poured out unto God for things according to his will, is sure to

succeed,--because Christ hath purchased every bles sing, and intercedes for us; it will make all the difference between a mere ceremony and the soul-reviving and heart-cheering presence of God. To faith in the presence of God, join an undoubting confidence in the faithfulness of his promises. Vincent says, "If we did but firmly believe that God, according to his covenant, for his Son's sake, has pardoned sin and will heal our souls of their distempers, and will give grace sufficient, and make us to grow and increase with the increase of God; verily his promises would appear to be real, and according to our faith it would be to us." This confidence is perfectly consistent with the deepest humility, and the most entire distrust of ourselves. The larger our expectations are, the greater sense do we shew of the generosity and bounty of our unseen, but ever-present and ever-gracious benefactor. "We should endeavour," says Watts, "to impress our minds frequently with a fresh and lively belief of God's existence, though he be so much unknown; of his presence, though he. be invisible; and of his just and merciful regard to all the actions of men." Some have found it a means of strengthening their faith, to appeal, in the midst of their prayers, to the attributes of God, and to plead his promises, and the name of his Son.,

"The spirit and life of prayer in faith," says Trail, "lies more in expectation, than in asking. Unwise Christians let out the vital spirits of prayer, when they let their expectations languish. When they set their face to pray, they make some conscience of searching out their wants; they labour to improve that sight to the raising of fervent desires of a supply of them: if they yet go higher to take in a sense of the fulness and

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freeness of that grace where their help is; yet, how rarely are they careful to raise up expectations of that helping grace! Few can say, 'As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.' Ps. lv, 16.-Our way is if we could see the glory then we would believe; Christ's way is just the contrary: we must first believe, and then we shall see the glory of God.' John xi, 40. It is the very nature of prayer in faith,' says Walker, to cast all manner of care and every burden on the Lord; guilt, corruption, trial, temptation, whatever it be, to come and lay it all upon Christ; and this, with a certain confidence in him, which both does him the highest honor and makes him best pleased with us.'-It charges Christ with all, and leaves every thing with him. It says, 'Lord, here are all these sins that I have done; here are all these temptations I have to struggle with; here are all these corruptions to subdue; here is all this work to be performed; and I am a poor helpless thing: behold, I humbly lay it all upon thee, and leave it all and every part with thee. And I know that thou

canst, and thou hast told me thou

wilt take care of the

whole. It is thy gracious office to do so, and thou delightest to do it: Lord, I cast all my care on thee:' There is no other boldness in this than what the promises of God encourage and give sanction to. Such is the very prayer of faith.

6. BE SIMPLE REVERENT AND GRAVE. Simplicity in our prayers is a great attainment. Beware of setting more value on ingenious and original thoughts, than on devout affections, fixedness of mind, and devotedness of heart. One part of the true character of prayer is, to express all our necessity to our God

* See his Fifty-two Sermons on the Church Catechism.

with the utmost plainness and simplicity, as David did, when he could say, (Psalm cxlii.) I poured out my complaint before him, I showed before him my trouble.No art is needed; no extraordinary talent required; the right feeling of the heart,is the great thing. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.' Ps. cxlv, 19. But avoid haste and precipitation, as if you were going through a task which you wished to be over, that you may get to your worldly employments. Remember, this, this is the grand business. It is the most serious and solemn affair in which you can be engaged. Any thing like affectation, any thing that borders on an undue attention to elegance of language, or approaches to mere vehemence of gesture, should be carefully avoided. Let us not mimic devotion, but seek to be really devout. Avoid also any particular tone of voice. The character of prayer is well stated by Bonnell, where he observes "Devotion is to the soul what blood is to the body, which is the life of it. The best state of the body is when the blood moves regularly and evenly, and we are least sensible that we have such a thing as moving blood within us. It is so when it is in its best condition, and we are in firm health. Convulsive and extraordinary motions in our bodies are not signs of health, but of sickness. So our soul is, in the best state when our mind, in our devotion, has a composed and gracious intercourse with God, in such intenseness and recollectedness of thought, that we are hardly sensible ourselves that we are at our devotion."*-"Fine words and eloquent phrases," says Parr, "are not that wherein God delights; but reverence, contrition, faith, and the groanings of the spirit, however * See Hamilton's Life of Bonnell,