men in all the circumstances in which they can be placed, for every blessing, and under every variety of relation. Now, what God has, at so great length, and in so great a variety of ways, encouraged us to do, must be not only a privilege, but a duty.

In a word, the Bible teaches us, on this subject, that our relation to God is infinitely nearer, and more universal, than that in which we can possibly stand to any other being. He allows us, with the simplicity and confidence of children, to unbosom all our cares, to make known all our wants, and express all our thanks, with unreserved freedom to Him. He assures us, that this exercise, and the temper from which it springs, and which it cultivates, is most acceptable to Him. And, having thus condescended to humble Himself to our situation, He holds us as most ungrateful, proud, insolent and sinful, if we venture to undertake any business, or receive any favor, without holding direct and child-like communion with Him.

ye

Under the remedial dispensation, a special encouragement is given to prayer. We are there taught, that though we are unworthy of the blessings which we need, yet we may ask and receive, for the sake of the Mediator. "Whatsoever shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.' The death of Christ is also held forth as our special ground of confidence in prayer: "He that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, freely give us all things?" And, yet more, we are informed, that it is the special office of the exalted Mediator, to intercede for us before the throne of God. Greater encouragements than these, to prayer, could not possibly be conceived.

III. The utility of prayer.

This may be shown,

1. From the nature and attributes of God: He would not require any thing of us which was not for our good.

2. The utility of prayer is seen from the tempers of mind which it presupposes. We have already shown what these tempers of mind are. Now, it must be evi

dent to every one, that the habitual exercise of these dispositions must be, in the nature of the case, in the highest degree, beneficial to such creatures as we.

3. The utility of prayer is also evident from its connection with our reception of favors from God.

1. In the government of this world, God establishes such connections between cause and effect, or antecedent and consequent, as he pleases. He has a perfect right to do so. The fact, that one event is the antecedent of another, involves not the supposition of any essential power in the antecedent, but merely the supposition that God has placed it in that relation to something that is to follow.

2. The bestowment of favors is one event. God has a right to ordain whatever antecedent to this event he chooses. We are not competent to say, of any event, that it cannot be the antecedent to the bestowment of favors, any more than that rain cannot be the antecedent to the growth of vegetation.

3. Since, then, any event whatever may be the antecedent to any other event whatever, we are, surely, not competent to say that prayer cannot be the antecedent to the bestowment of favors, any more than to say this of any thing else. It is, surely, to say the least of it, as good as any other antecedent, if God saw fit so to

ordain.

4. But, since God is a moral Governor, and must, therefore, delight in and reward virtuous tempers, there is a manifest moral propriety in his making these tempers the antecedent to his bestowment of blessings. Nay, we cannot conceive how he would be a righteous moral Governor, unless he did do so. And, hence, we see, that the supposition that God bestows blessings in answer to prayer, which he would not bestow on any other condition, is not only not at variance with any of his natural attributes, but that it is even demanded by his moral attributes.

5. But, inasmuch as God has revealed to us the fact, that this is the condition on which he bestows the most

valuable of his gifts, and as he has bound himself, by his promise, to reward abundantly all who call upon him, the utility of prayer, to creatures situated as we are, is as manifest as our necessities are urgent, both for time and for eternity.

And, finally, there can be no clearer evidence of the goodness of God, than just such a constitution as this. God promises favors in answer to prayer; but prayer, as we have seen, is one of the most efficient means of promoting our moral perfection; that is, our highest happiness; that is to say, God promises us favors, on conditions, which, in themselves, involve the greatest blessings which we could possibly desire. Bishop Wilson beautifully remarks, "How good is God, who will not only give us what we pray for, but will reward us for going to him, and laying our wants before him!"

That a man will, however, receive every thing he asks for, and just as he asks for it, is by no means asserted, in an unlimited sense; but only that which he prays for, in a strict sense. True prayer is the offering up of our desires, in entire subjection to the will of God; that is, desiring that he will do what we ask, if He, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, sees that it will be best. Now, if we ask thus, our prayer will be granted, for thus He has promised to do for us. Hence, our prayers respecting temporal blessings, are answered only contingently; that is, under this condition; but our prayers respecting spiritual blessings, are answered absolutely; for God has positively promised to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.

If God has allowed us thus to hold the most intimate and unreserved communion with Him; and if He has promised, on this condition, to support us by His power, to teach us by His wisdom, to purify us by His Spirit, and to work in us all those tempers which He sees will best prepare us for the highest state of future felicity, what can be more ennobling and more lovely than a prayerful life? and what more ungrateful and sinful, than a life of

thoughtless irreverence and impiety? Is not the single fact, of living without habitual prayer, a conclusive evidence that we have not the love of God in us; that we are living in habitual violation of every obligation that binds us to our Maker; and that we are, therefore, under the solemn condemnation of His most holy law?

16*

CHAPTER FOURTH.

THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.

THIS is the second special means appointed by our Creator, for the purpose of cultivating in us suitable moral dispositions. We shall treat, first, of the original institution of the Sabbath; secondly, of the Mosaic Sabbath; thirdly, of the Christian Sabbath.

Although the Sabbath is a positive institution, and, therefore, the proof of its obligation is to be sought for entirely from revelation, yet there are indications, in the present constitution, that periods of rest are necessary, both for man and for beast. The recurrence of night, and the necessity of repose, show that the principle of rest enters into the present system, as much as that of labor. And, besides, it is found that animals which enjoy one day in seven for rest, live longer, and enjoy better health, than those which are worked without intermission. The same may, to a considerable degree, be said of man. The late Mr. Wilberforce attributed his length of life, and the superiority of health which he enjoyed over his political contemporaries, mainly to his resolute and invariable observance of the Sabbath day; a duty which, unfortunately, they too frequently neglected.

I shall not go into the argument on this subject in detail, as the limits of the present work will not admit of it, but shall merely give what seem to me the results. To those who wish to examine the question of the obligation of the Sabbath at large, I would recommend the valuable treatise of Mr. J. J. Gurney, on the history, authority, and use of the Sabbath; from which much of the present article is merely an abridgment.

I. Of the original institution of the Sabbath.