seats in a place of worship, till the prayer is more than half over? And are not such persons often heard to say, with an air of supine indifference, while making tardy preparation,

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Well, we shall be in time for the Sermon," as if they attached no idea of value or importance to any thing else?

Public worship requires decorum.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few." (Eccles. v. 1, 2.) Had you any momentous business to transact with persons of high rank and dignity; had you petitions to offer to an earthly monarch; would it not be folly to disregard all the known rules of propriety? Could you, in such a case, expect success in your object, by exhibiting a conduct full of rude and repulsive insolence? The least portion of common sense is sufficient to answer these questions, and to perceive how aptly they illustrate the point we are now enforcing. "If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? If ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now to thy governor, and see whether he will be pleased with thee, or

accept thy person, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Mal. i. 8.) The clearer light of the New Testament does not authorise a licentious and crude mode of conducting or attending the worship of God. A blind service of ignorance, or lame-halting, half-hearted service of mere formality, is as displeasing to God now, as the blemished and crippled victims which the ancient Jews unblushingly carried to the altar of Jehovah. When the apostle Paul heard of the excesses and intemperance which were mixed with the celebration of religious ordinances in the church at Corinth, he was filled with grief and holy indignation, and reproved them sharply, adding a direction which must ever remain in force, and be emphatically applicable to public worship: "Let all things be done decently, and in order." The way in which some people enter the house of God, their restless and flippant behaviour while there, and the rushing, abrupt, and impetuous manner in which they depart, are most offensive and inexcusable.

Public worship requires seriousness.

There may be, and often is, outward decency, without inward devotion. While you occupy a place in the sanctuary, remember in whose presence you stand, and in what work you are engaged. Holiness becomes the Lord's house for ever, and woe to them that profane

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it. As you enter the place where prayer is made, and praise offered, ask these questions: "To what end, O my soul, art thou come hither? Is it to converse with the Lord in prayer? Is he present? will he hear thee?Is he merciful? will he help thee?" thou come to bring thy tribute of thanks, and dedicate thyself, and all thou hast, to his service and glory, who has a sovereign claim upon the love of thy heart, the praise of thy lips, and the obedience of thy life?

"Summa religionis est imitari quem colis." The substance and essence of religion, is to imitate the Being whom you worship. Be ye followers of God, as dear children. The worshippers of Jupiter, Mars, and Bacchus, might be expected to burn with rage and revenge, or riot in the wildest excesses of intemperance: Christians profess to serve a Being of immaculate purity. "Would we," says Bishop Atterbury, "be admitted into an acquaintance with God, let us study to resemble him. We must be partakers of a divine nature, in order to partake of this high privilege and alliance."

be seen,

If you go to the sanctuary only to see and or to pass away an hour which would hang as a burden upon you, how is it likely that you should gain any spiritual profit? If, while God is addressed in the most solemn language, you are laying worldly plans, and

thinking over your future engagements and pursuits, are you not in effect turning the house of God into a house of merchandize? The mind is a thoroughfare of vanity, crowded with a motley mixture of low and sordid, idle and foolish thoughts, which pass and repass, loiter, or lurk secure, without interruption. And indeed, whoever worships Mammon all the week, cannot be expected to change his master, when he changes his raiment, on the Sabbath. Be it then your concern, 0 my reader, to walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless, and worship him in spirit and in truth. Sanctify the Sabbath, and set a high value on the privileges of Zion; and God shall verify his word, and "make you joyful in his house of prayer."

CHAPTER III.

ON PRAYER, AS SUITED TO VARIOUS TIMES, CIRCUMSTANCES, AND RELATIONS.

SECTION I.

PRAYER IN ADVERSITY.

MAN is the child of sorrow, the heir of unnumbered wants and woes; and the sad inheritance is entailed upon him by a law which cannot be repealed. How is this? Why, all our suffering flows from sin. Many rashly talk of fate and fortune, without knowing what they mean; for there is no such thing as blind chance, because all the powers of nature are under the control of a wise superintending Providence. But although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. We every where see the goodness of God blended with