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seek for the guidance and consolation of the Holy Spirit in words, when in our conduct we are grieving Him by wilful impenitence and inconsistency? Care, and vigilance, and selfcontroul, and self-denial, and self-examination, are as necessary as prayer: neither without the others is sufficient. We readily allow this in our temporal concerns. When we pray for our daily bread, we do not expect to procure it without corresponding exertion. Prayer," remarks a pious author, "will not plough one's field, nor fence it, nor reap the grain, nor thresh it; but prayer may procure strength to labour, and a blessing to accompany and succeed our prudent industry." And it is thus in religion; God does every thing that is good for us; but he expects us to make use of the appointed instruments of spiritual blessing as much as though we did every thing for ourselves. He graciously preserves us from many an unseen peril; but if, instead of using the means of prevention, we wilfully put our foot into the snare, we cannot hope that he will interpose to prevent our being entangled. We are "to watch" as well as to pray" that we enter not into temptation: we are to keep at a distance from it we are to employ every effort to resist it; and if we neglect to do this, are we to wonder if we fall? Moses, and the people of Israel, did well to cry unto God in their extremity; but they did ill in neglecting the means of

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escape which he had set before them; and their supineness was accordingly rebuked by the Almighty: "Why criest thou unto me? Speak to the people that they go forward."

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We perceive, from the foregoing remarks, that true prayer is not merely the occasional formal act of uttering a few unmeaning petitions with our lips, while our affections and understandings are otherwise engaged. True prayer generally supposes a habit of prayer; and in order for there to be such a habit, our lives must be conformable to our prayers. mere verbal address to the Almighty is of itself of no avail; we pray most efficaciously when we are cherishing the dispositions and performing the duties which are the subject matter of our entreaties. Thus, in the prayer which our Lord himself taught us, we truly acknowledge God for "our Father" when we repose in him as such, and feel a filial reverence towards him: we cannot pray aright that his name may be hallowed, and his kingdom come, unless we are endeavouring to hallow that name, and to advance that kingdom: our asking that his will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven is not true prayer, unless we are endeavouring to do that will: we cannot expect our daily bread, if we are not " learning and labouring to get our own living," and "to provide things honest in the sight of all men:" our prayer that God

would foregive us our trespasses, is not only an unmeaning form but will turn against ourselves, if we do not "forgive them that trespass against us ;" and our petitions to be kept from temptation, and delivered from evil, are little better than a mockery, if we are wilfully running into the one, and using not the appointed means of rescue from the other. Let us then carefully examine how we pray; our state of mind at the time, and our dispositions and endeavours afterwards. In so doing, we shall have humiliating cause to perceive why our prayers are usually followed by so little practical benefit. Our petitions are not offered in faith, or accompanied by a spirit of love, or followed up by a corresponding attention to practical duty. Hence they fall inefficacious to the ground. And can we be surprised at this? If, on our part, we do not "hearken to the word of the Lord," to walk in his ways, can we wonder that on his part he rejects our petitions? It is not without reason that the Church, in the midst of our professed devotions, so often recals our wandering thoughts with the exhortation "Let us pray;" to which, after our petitions are concluded, we should add, "May we ever live as we pray;" for "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight." "God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth."

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SERMON VI.

THE CRIME OF JUDAS.

LUKE XXii. 48.

But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

OF the miserable and wicked man whom our Lord addressed in these words, nothing is known except what is recorded in the Gospel narrative. Respecting his education, his early history, and habits of life, before his call to the holy office of the Apostleship, from which he so awfully revolted, we are not informed. He is first mentioned on occasion of our Lord's choosing twelve individuals from among the multitudes which attended his ministry; the three Evangelists who give us an account of that transaction, all concluding their catalogue with the name of "Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him." Some time after this we find him endued, in common with the eleven, with the power of working miracles, and commissioned to go and preach the Gospel to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The next

time we hear of him, is on that memorable occasion when, many professed disciples having forsaken our Lord, he put the question to his Apostles, "Will ye also go away?" and received from the lips of St. Peter the reply of every heart but that of Judas, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." In answer to which, Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" that is, as the term literally signifies, "an accuser;" alluding, says the Evangelist, to Judas, who should betray him. We next hear of him when the box of precious ointment was poured upon our Saviour's head, shortly before his agony. He affected to be indignant that the ointment had not been sold, and the money given to the poor; not," adds the sacred historian, “that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein."

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These brief events in this wicked man's life prepare us for the dreadful deed which blackened his closing days, and has consigned his memory to eternal infamy. We shall not dwell upon the particulars of this awful narrative. Behold him contracting with the priests and leaders of the people to betray the Innocent Blood; yet afterwards sitting at the table of

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