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our bonden obedience to a divine command; it is our self-humiliation before our Maker, the deprecation of his wrath, and the imploring his assistance against the temptations of sin. Let us, therefore, draw near with a pure heart, in full assurance of faith, making our petitions in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and relying on his merits alone for God's acceptance of them.

DUTY OF SECRET PRAYER.

LET me earnestly exhort all to be frequent in secret prayer. Be diligent in the practice of this duty, in obedience to the will and the authority of God. "Pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplications for all saints." Let the deep convictions of your secret sins, and secret wants, and secret temptations, urge you to go often to the throne of grace-not in the spirit of cold formality, but with the affection of a child to its parent-that you may obtain mercy to pardon, and find grace to help you. Say not that you have not time for the performance of this duty; for however much engaged, you can easily and most profitably spend a few minutes in holding intercourse with the Father of your spirits, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though you were obliged to abstract these minutes from the time devoted to rest and sleep, the sacrifice thus made is nothing, and cannot injure either your health or your spirits; while the privilege to be enjoyed is invaluable, and, when improved aright, will have an important influence on all your interests.

PROMISE OF GOD AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER.

OUR prayers should run parallel to God's promises; we should ask nothing of God but what we have an intimation he will do for us. Our needs and necessities would not be sufficient arguments; but the principal argument is the word of God. Finding a promise in the word, faith fixes there, and presseth God from it; and a believer so praying cannot be denied, unless God deny himself. The word of God is himself; it is his will: so the soul may go with a holy boldness unto God; for the thing that is promised is half done. God may keep us in suspense awhile; but he expects we should live upon the word, and hang on it till the time of the promise comes. All that faith labours for, is to work the soul to assurance that God will deal with us according to his word. And, if I can make it out that such a promise belongs to me, I have quite enough to live on.

DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER.

Or the ancient sanctuary, the house of prayer, Jehovah condescended to say, "Mine eyes and my heart shall be there continually." More extended is the promise which encourages Christians to meet together for the purpose of social worship, since the Redeemer has given this most gracious assurance, "Where two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." But the encouragement arising from the divine omniscience extends beyond the sanctuary, even to the most secluded spot to

which a single individual may retire for the exercises of devotion. There may the humblest worshipper say to him who heareth prayer, "Thou, God, seest me." There, without presumption, may he seek an audience of Deity. Yes, and notwithstanding that thousands may, at the same moment, be offering up their petitions, he may cherish the delightful persuasion, that he shall as effectually engage the eye, and the ear, and the heart of the omniscient God, as though he were the only suppliant at the throne. Enter then Christian, with habitual delight and expectation into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, "pray to thy Father, who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward the openly."

NIGHT MEDITATION.

DAVID, surveying the firmament, brake forth into this consideration: "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?"

How cometh he to mention the moon and stars, and omit the sun? The other being but his pensioners, shining with that exhibition of light which the bounty of the sun allots them. It is answered, this was David's night meditation, when the sun, departing to the other world, left the lesser lights only visible in heaven; and as the sky is best beheld by day in the glory thereof, so it is best surveyed by night in its variety.

Night was made for man to rest in. But,

when I cannot sleep, may I, with this Psalmist, entertain my waking with good thoughts. Not to use them as opium, to invite my corrupt nature to slumber; but to shut out bad thoughts, which otherwise would possess my soul.

EXHORTATION.

LET us take care never to grieve the Holy Spirit of God that has been given to us; and for this purpose, never let us trust in ourselves. However evident our regeneration may be, we have - always the enemies of our salvation in our bosoms. Our concupiscence is a lion which is sometimes humbled under grace, but which rises up against it on the first occasion, even so as to tear it in pieces, if we do not take peculiar care. Let us read the holy scriptures, be frequent in the exercises of devotion, and never grow weary of advancing in the knowledge of the mysteries of heaven; and let us repulse with zeal and indignation all the doubts which may arise against the truth of the gospel. Let us undauntedly regard all the afflictions which we must suffer for the sake of the Lord Jesus. If nature complains, let us check its complaints by recollecting our calling; if the flesh murmurs, let us impose silence upon it, by arguing the honour of suffering for so glorious a cause. Let us be shaken by nothing; neither death, nor life; nor angels, nor men; nor humiliations, nor exaltations; nor fear, nor hope; nor the love of ourselves, nor the love of our children, more tender than ourselves. Let us keep the faith; let us fight the good fight; and let us beware that, in the midst of our race, we

do not lose the prize which is proposed to us. Let us practise the works of sanctification; let us live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. While we are looking for the happy day, and glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us remember that we have been scaled unto that great day of our redemption. Let us live in the enjoyment of the honour of this seal, until at length God puts us into the enjoyment of the promise which it secures to us. Let us not fear death, since its darkness will be succeeded by so glorious a light, and its night by so bright a day. Let this monster swallow us up, when God pleases, we are confident that he must cast us on shore, and that all his power must yield to that of our deliverer. He will descend from heaven to seck the flesh which he has redeemed; and, after raising it from the tomb, he will exalt it to the abode of his Spirit. For then the Spirit will no more visit the earth to associate himself with the infirmities of the flesh; but the flesh will follow the Spirit into the eternal paradise, and its meanness will be happily lost in the glory of that Spirit, who shall ever continue to be, not the seal of our redemption, but the source of our felicity.

TIME.

TIME, like a long flowing stream, makes haste into eternity, and is for ever lost and swallowed up there; and while it is hastening to its period, it sweeps away all things with it which are not immortal. There is a limit appointed by Providence to the duration of all the pleasant and de

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