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that, or communion with God, must be relinquished, and certainly will be. If you do not keep the sabbath; if you are light and foolish in conversation; jealous and censorious; or given to the indulgence of vile thoughts and practices in secret, you cannot welcome the hour of prayer. It may seem strange that I urge this duty upon them, when they perhaps do not profess to be Christians, or religious people. But am I to blame, if they do not even profess to wish to obey and honour God? If you have lived so long under the government of God, under all the advantages which you have enjoyed, under all the responsibilities which have been resting upon you, and still are living without prayer, are you to plead this neglect of duty as a reason why it should not be urged upon you? Shall I be a faithful friend to admit this excuse, and to allow, that, because you have so long tried to escape the eye of God, and have neither thanked him for his mercies nor asked him for his goodness, neither sought his friendship nor deprecated his displeasure, you ought still to be left, and no warning voice reach you? No. And if you urge that you have not been in the habit of prayer, I assure you that you are inexcusable; that you are losing great peace of mind, and daily satisfaction in laying all your wants and trials before Him who can relieve them you are losing those great principles which make character good, great, and stable; and you are losing opportunities which are passing away rapidly, and whose misimprovement will bring down great anguish upon you.

(4.) Offer your prayers in the name of Jesus

Christ.

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He is the only Mediator between God and man. He it is who sits with the golden censer in his right hand, and who ever lives to intercede for us. He is a great and a merciful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. We have no righteousness of our own; we can have no confidence in offering prayer in our own names. But he who has most

of the spirit of Christ; who has the most exalted views of the Redeemer, and the most abased views of himself, will enjoy most at the throne of grace. Your prayers will be cold unless they come from a heart warmed by his love. Your petitions will not be fervent unless you feel your need of an almighty Saviour. The songs which are the loudest and sweetest in heaven, we are told, are kindled by the exhibitions which he has made of what he has done for us.

(5.) Ask the influences of the Holy Spirit.

Christ promised the Holy Spirit to those who prayed for his influence; and no gift can be compared to this. All that is done for man in the way of calling his attention to eternal things, sanctifying the heart, and preparing the soul for the service of God here and hereafter, is done by the Holy Spirit as the agent. Solemn warnings are given in the Bible, lest we should abuse this last, best gift of heaven. He is the Sanctifier to purify your heart, the Comforter to sustain and cheer in life and in death.

Ask his influences, and you will be shielded from temptation, trained for usefulness here, enlightened in your views, expansive in your feelings, pure in your aims, contented in your circumstances, peaceful in your death, and glorious in immortality beyond the grave.

CHAPTER IX.

THE OBJECT OF LIFE.

How many beautiful visions pass before the mind in a single day, when the reins are thrown loose, and fancy feels no restraints! How curious, interesting, and instructive would be the history of the workings of a single mind for a day! How many imaginary joys, how many airy castles, pass before it, which a single jostle of this rough world at once destroys! Who is there of my readers that has not imagined a summer fairer than ever bloomed, scenery in nature more perfect than was ever combined by the artist, abodes more beautiful than were ever reared, honours more distinguished than were ever bestowed, homes more peaceful than were ever enjoyed, companions more angelic than ever walked this earth, and bliss more complete, and joys more thrilling, than were ever allotted to man? You may call these dreams of the imagination, but they are common to the student. To the man who lives for this world alone, these visions of bliss, poor as they are, are all that ever come. But true Christians have their anticipations, not the paintings of fancy, but the realities which faith discovers. As they look down the vale of time, they see a star arise, the everlasting hills do bow, the valleys are raised,

and the moon puts on the brightness of the sun. The deserts and the dry places gush with waters. Nature pauses. The serpent forgets his fangs; the lion and the lamb sleep side by side, and the hand of the child is on the mane of the tiger. Nations gaze till they forget the murderous work of war, and the garments rolled in blood. The whole earth is enlightened, and the star shines on till it brings in everlasting day. Here are glowing conceptions, but they are not the work of a depraved imagination. They will all be realized. Sin and death will long walk hand in hand on this earth, and their footsteps will not be entirely blotted out till the fires of the last day have melted the globe. But the head of the one is already bruised, and the sting is already taken from the other They may long roar, but they walk in chains, and the eye of faith sees the hand that holds the chains

But we have visions still brighter. We look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. No sin will be there to mar the beauty, no sorrow to diminish the joy, no anxiety to corrode the heart, or cloud the brow. Our characters may be brought to the test, in part, by our anticipations. If our thoughts and feelings are running in the channel of time, and dancing from one earthly bubble to another, though our hopes may come in angel robes, it is a sad proof that our hearts are here also.

Is there anything of weakness in these hopes of good men? Are we not continually seeking rest for the soul? A few years ago, a youth went up to the mast-head of a large whale-ship, and there sat down to think. He was the only child of his mother, and she a widow. He had left her against her wishes and remonstrances, her prayers

and tears. He had for many years been roaming over the seas, and was now returning home. He was thinking of the scenes of his childhood, all the anxious hours which he had cost that mother, all the disobedience on his part, and that love of hers which no waters could quench. Would she be sleeping in the grave when he once more came to her door? Does his home still look as it used to look? the tree, the brook, the pond, the fields, the grove-are they all as he left them? And his mother, would she receive him to her heart, or would she be sleeping in death? Would she recognise her long-absent boy, and forgive all his past ingratitude, and still love him with the unquenchable love of a mother? And may he again have a home, and no more wander among strangers? The pressure of these thoughts was too much. He wept at the remembrance of his undutifulness. Troubles and hardships did not break his spirit, did not subdue his proud heart; but the thoughts of home, of rest, of going out no more, suffering no more, engrossing the love of a kind parent, melted him. Is not this human nature? And is it weakness in a true believer to rejoice at the thought of that day when death shall be swallowed up in victory? when the Lord God shall wipe away all tears, and take away the rebuke of his people, that they may be glad and rejoice in his salvation? "I am going," said the great Hooker, "to leave a world disordered, and a church disorganized, for a world and a church where every angel, and every rank of angels, stand before the throne, in the very post God has assigned them."

The world, the great mass of mankind, have utterly misunderstood the real object of life on earth; or else he misunderstands it who follows

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