thing to tell of the loving kindness of the Lord early in the morning, and of his truth in the night season; that he remembered the Almighty upon his bed, and thought upon Him when he was waking. Such passages as these are of frequent occurrence in the Psalms; but they are greatly outnumbered by those which describe the delight of being joined by others in the joyful duty of praising God. "I was glad," he exclaims, "when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord." "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and praise the Lord." Praise the Lord, O ye servants of the Lord, ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God." "O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise." These, and many other such expressions, would not exhaust David's praises of the public worship of God, far less would they exhaust the praises which are due to this important duty.

In my first Lecture, I pointed out to you the great privilege, the inestimable blessing, we possess, in having one day out of seven set apart for the peculiar service of God:

I remarked that, if we really knew the value of the Sabbath, we should be far more careful to spend every moment of it in a manner profitable to our souls, and worthy of our character as Christians. I might have added, that if we knew the real value of that day we should regard the institution of the Sabbath as a boon but little inferior to the book of life; for of what use to the generality of mankind would the Bible be, if the Sabbath had not been ordained to hear and read it?

The truth of this observation will be more apparent, when we consider how few there are, comparatively speaking, who read the Bible excepting on the Sabbath, and of those who do, how large a proportion would soon relinquish the good practice, if the return of this sacred day did not every week remind them of their duty. Indeed, the business and cares of the world are so harassing, and the allurements of the world so enticing, that, amidst its troubles and its pleasures, the Bible would be forgotten, were men not thus frequently reminded that there is a heaven to hope for, and a hell to fear,—they would ere long become unmindful of that

great deliverance from sin and eternal punishment, for which the blessed Son of God deemed not his own sufferings and death too high a price.

I have before pointed out how the early portion of each Sunday ought to be spent ; and I carried on my observations respecting the employment of your time, until you reach

the courts of God's house and come into his temple. On entering the Church it is a custom very generally prevalent for persons to address a few words of prayer to God in private. I fear with too many the practice is nothing more than a bending of the knees, a bowing of the head, a covering of the face, and the uttering of a few words, without any corresponding feeling in the heart. But it can never be so with those persons who have spent the previous portion of the day in the manner I described; they cannot do otherwise than pray with the heart and with the understanding; they have entered the Church under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, and that heavenly Guardian will not suddenly desert them; they will therefore kneel with an earnest desire to obtain what they fervently ask, and will

pour forth an ardent prayer to the following purport: O Lord God Almighty, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier, I give thee hearty thanks for the great blessing of being allowed to attend thy public worship; grant that no worldly cares or wandering thoughts, or want of faith, may disturb my devotions, and make me guilty of the great sin of drawing near to Thee with my lips, whilst my heart is far from Thee in thy house may I be humble, teachable, and devout, accompanying each portion of the service with a proper frame of mind; may I be contrite in confession, fervent in prayer, and grateful in thanksgiving; may I listen to thy word with reverence and attention, and sing thy praises with a holy joy: and when the preacher shall expound thy Gospel, may I remember that it is his duty to teach, and mine to listen; and may I endeavour to extract some useful precepts from his discourse; and, finally, when I leave the church, may I meditate on what I have heard, so that the good seed sown in my heart may grow up and bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. A prayer to this effect, devoutly offered, will not fail

to be accepted, for God gives his blessing to all such as call upon Him faithfully; and He I will therefore make the devotions of that day more conducive to their soul's health. Moreover, (even humanly speaking) a duty well begun is likely to be well sustained, and well finished. Such a prayer as this would occupy no longer space of time than every one who is anxious to be prepared, might abundantly spare before the commencement of the service, for be it remembered that our thoughts can hardly be in a proper train, if we come late to church; and what sensible person would incur the risk of forfeiting the benefits of a whole day's devotion, merely for the indulgence of a few idle minutes?

When very young the duty of coming early to the house of God was strongly impressed on me by a friend, who desired me to accompany him to church on a weekly day of prayer; finding, however, on our arrival at the door, that the service had commenced, he instantly turned back with this observation, "If we are too late to confess our sins, we cannot presume to expect that God will accept our praises, or grant our requests.”