My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord! and unto thee will I direct my prayer.-Let my prayer come up before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. PRAYER is the cry of faith to the ear of mercy. It is the service which is due to Almighty God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, from mankind, his creatures, who depend upon him for the comforts and necessaries of body and soul. This service is not only most reasonable in itself, as it is an humble acknowledgement of God's dominion and sovereignty over us; but is in many places of scripture expressly enjoined by Christ and his Apostles, as a necessary condition, a sure means of having our wants supplied. Our Saviour makes our asking the only means of our receiving; Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. And St. James expressly says, that we have not because we ask not; and St. Paul's precept is, That in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we must let our requests be made known unto God. Now the reason why God requires us to pray to him for his blessing and assistance, is not, that he wants to be informed what our necessities are. He understands them much better than we do ourselves; as our Saviour says, God knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him. But the design of making prayer a religious ordinance, and obliging Christians to ask that they may receive, is to preserve upon their minds a constant sense of their dependance upon God, and of their manifold obligations to him; and that so these daily acknowledgements of the divine power and goodness may keep up in men a due fear and love of their Creator, and an habitual reverence and obedience to him and his laws. er. Hence appear the reasonableness and necessity of frequent prayGod has no where promised to supply the daily wants of our souls and bodies, but upon our earnest prayer to him. The cares and pleasures of this world also are very apt to make us forget the things of the next life, unless an heavenly temper, and a sense of God's being and goodness, be preserved upon our souls by the exercise of frequent prayer; which is a conversing with God, and the nearest communication we can have with him, as long as we continue in this world. ue in The Apostle commands us to pray without ceasing; and to continprayer, and watch in the same; he speaks of labouring fervently in prayer from all which we learn, that this service must be performed by Christians, frequently and earnestly. We read in scripture of the hours of prayer; and we find particularly, that it was the practice of David and Daniel, two eminently good and holy men, to pray to God three times in a day. In the morning, when they arise from rest, and before they enter upon their daily business, what can become Christians more, than to fall down before God, to thank and praise him for the preservation of the past night, and to beg his blessing upon the business of the following day, and his protection to body and soul, amidst the dangers and temptations of a seductive world? Again, in the evening, after they return from their worldly business and conversation, and before they go to rest, can any thing be more proper for devout and serious Christians, than humbly to acknowledge the goodness of God, and to make confession of their sins and unworthiness; and then to implore a continuance of his protection the following night? BAD EXAMPLES AMIDST A CROWDED POPULATION. MAY 9. 137 Their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. Look at the state of things which obtains in our cities and populous towns, after a young man has been fairly introduced into the world. He finds himself in a land of strangers and too soon conforms to them--a voice, like the voice of protecting friendship bids him to the feast; and a welcome, like the welcome of honest kindness, hails his accession to society; and a spirit, like the spirit of exhilarating joy, animates the whole scene of hospitality before him; and hours of rapture roll successively away on the wings of merriment, jocularity and song; and, after the homage of many libations has been rendered to honour, and fellowship and patriotism, impurity is at length proclaimed in full and open cry, as one presiding divinity, at the board of their social entertainment. And now it remains to compute the general result of a process, which we assert of the vast majority of our young, on their way to manhood, that they have to undergo. The result is, that the vast majority are initiated into all the practices, and describe the full career of dissipation. Those who have imbibed from their fathers the spirit of this world's morality, are not sensibly arrested in this career, either by the opposition of their own friends, or by the voice of their own conscience. Those who have imbibed an opposite spirit, and have brought it into competition with an evil world, and have at length yielded, have done so, we may well suppose, with many a sigh, and many a struggle, and many a look of remembrance on those former years when they were taught to lisp the prayer of infancy, and were trained in a mansion of piety to a reverence for God, and for all his ways; and, even still, will a parent's parting advice haunt his memory, and a letter from the good old man revive the sensibilities which at one time guarded and adorned him; and, at times, will the transient gleams of remorse lighten up its agony within him; and when he contrasts the profaneness and depravity of his present companions, with the sacredness of all he ever heard or saw in his father's dwelling, it will almost feel as if conscience were again to resume her power, and the revisiting spirit of God to call him back again from the paths of wickedness; and on his restless bed will the images of guilt conspire to disturb him, and terrours of punishment offer to scare him away; and many will be the dreary and dissatisfied intervals when he shall be forced to acknowledge, that in bartering his soul for the pleasures of sin, he has bartered the peace and enjoyment of the world along with it. But, alas! the entanglements of companionship have got hold of him, and the inveteracy of habit tyrannises over all his purposes; and the stated opportunity again comes round; and the loud laugh of his partners in guilt chases, for another season, all his despondency away from him; and the infatuation gathers upon him every month; and a hardening process goes on within his heart; and the deceitfulness of sin grows apace; and he at length becomes one of the sturdiest and most unrelenting of her votaries; and he, in his turn, strengthens the conspiracy that is formed against the morals of a new generation. And thus the mischief is transmitted from one year to another, and keeps up the guilty history of every place of crowded population. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him. WE learn from the incidental instructions of the New Testament, that a future life will be an active, social, progressive and holy one. I have no idea, that in heaven the powers of all minds will be equalized. There may be in all some felt deficiencies. A future life will be one of moral consequences. The good man will be as happy as his virtue can make him, yet, suffering from every admixture of sin in his character. Diversities of capacity may be no diminution of happiness. Without pride, or vanity, or mutual jealousy, with undissembled humility and unmingled love, the faculties of all souls shall be incessantly occupied, in ways of which here we can form very indistinct and uncertain conceptions, ways which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," in serving and glorifying God. What diversified departments of knowledge shall there engage the elevated and expanded powers, it is hardly for us to conjecture. One we know there is, which will have a decided, and universal, and eternal preeminence; one which, alas! occupies sadly little of the regard of this world's philosophy ;-need I say, that I mean the wonders of celestial grace. On these may our minds dwell in their eager researches, their delightful discoveries, their holy contemplations. All things are progressive here, but they are not perpetual. Our Sabbaths return in their season, and remain only for a season. Our ministers, like the messengers from heaven in former days, the angels who were sent to the patriarchs, deliver their message, and disappear. Many gather round the grave of one, and take up the lamentation, "Alas, my brother !" or exclaim, "My father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" And his offices are performed, his pulpit is filled by another. So we pass away in succession. The table spread here is continually changing its guests; but it is not so with the banquet of eternity. It is in heaven;-for there the guests are uniform. Here they are gathered from all nations-they sit at different tables-call themselves by different names-speak a different tongue-range under a different party-and are sometimes scarcely in charity with each other. But there, collected from all quarters of the world, they appear in one dress-they are called by one name-they meet in one place-they participate one salvation-they are "of one heart, and of one mind." Here, they differ in talents; and even there, they shall differ in glory; but the glory of each shall be in proportion to the holiness possessed; and every happy spirit shall possess what it can enjoy-shall contain a felicity overflowing all, according to the capacity of each. So that, while they differ in glory, they are alike and equal in enjoyment, each possessing as much as it can grasp. All-seeing God! in lowliness I bow My proud heart in the dust before Thee now. O light death's valley with Thy beam of love, And smile a welcome to thy throne above. THANKS TO GOD AS OUR MAKER AND REDEEMER. MAY 11. 139 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker-for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. WE are to give thanks to God. To God, I say; that is, to Him, unto whom we are obliged, not for some small inconsiderable trifles, but for the most weighty and invaluable benefits; from whom we receive not a few or some, but all good things; whatever is necessary for our sustenance, convenient for our use, pleasant for our enjoyment; not only those that come immediately from his hand, but what we obtain from others, who from him receive both the will and the power, the means and the opportunities of doing us good; to whom we owe, not only what we ever did or do at present possess, or can hereafter hope for of good; but what we were, are, or shall ever be in capacity to receive any; to the Author, Upholder, and Preserver of our being, without whose goodness we had never been, and without whose care we cannot subsist one moment. To Him, who is the Lord and the true owner of all things we partake of; whose air we breathe, whose ground we tread on, whose food sustains us; whose wholly we are ourselves, both the bodies we carry about us, (which are the work of his hands,) and the soul we think with, which was breathed from his mouth. To Him, who has created a whole world to serve us, a spacious, a beautiful, a productive world for us to inhabit and to disport in; who has subjected so fair a territory to our dominion, and consigned to our use so numerous a progeny of goodly creatures, to be managed, to be governed, to be enjoyed by us. So that wherever we direct our eyes, whether we reflect them inward upon ourselves, we behold his goodness to occupy and penetrate the very root and centre of our beings, or extend them abroad toward the things about us, we may perceive ourselves inclosed wholly, and surrounded with his benefits. At home we find a comely body framed by his curious skill, various organs fitly proportioned, situated, and tempered for strength, ornament, and motion, actuated by a gentle heat, and invigorated with lively spirits, disposed to health, and qualified for a long endurance; subservient to a soul endued with diverse senses, faculties and powers, apt to inquire after, pursue, and perceive various delights and contents. To the satisfaction of which all extrinsical things do minister matter and help; by his kind disposal, who furnishes our palates with variety of delicious fare, entertains our eyes with pleasant prospects, ravishes our ears with harmonious sounds, perfumes our nostrils with fragrant odours, cheers our spirits with comfortable gales, "fills our hearts with food and gladness," supplies our manifold needs, and protects us from innumerable dangers. To Him, who has inspired us with immortal minds, and impressed upon them perspicuous characters of his own divine essence; has made us, not in some superficial lineaments, but in our most intimate constitution, to resemble himself, and to partake of his most excellent perfections; an extensive knowledge of truth, a strong complacency in good, a forward capacity of being completely happy, according to our degree, and within our sphere. To this Being, who has done so much and who promises to do every thing for us, to Him be thanks forever. 140 THANKS TO GOD AS OUR MAKER AND REDEEMER. MAY 12. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all his praise? WE are to give thanks to God. To God, I say; that is to Him, who grants us free access to him, calls us his friends and children; invites us frequently, and refreshes us with his spiritual gifts.-To Him, who, not compelled by any necessity, or obliged by any law, not induced by any extrinsic arguments or by human merits; not wearied with our importunities, nor flattered with promises of recompense, is most freely and fully our Friend and Benefactor; whose intentions are neither uncertain or mutable, but who has designed, from eternity, and through eternity will promote our highest advantage, improvement and holiness. To Him, whom no ingratitude, no undutiful carriage, no rebellious disobedience of ours, could for one minute wholly remove or divert from his steady purpose of caring for us; who regards us, though we do not attend to him-procures our welfare, though we neglect his concernments-employs his restless thought, extends his watchful eye, exerts, his powerful arm, is always mindful, and always busy to do us good ;-watching over us when we sleep, and remembering us when we forget ourselves. To Him who is as merciful and gracious, as liberal and munificent toward us-who not only bestows on us more gifts, but pardons us more debts, forgives us more sins, than live in our memory-who with infinite patience endures, not only our manifold infirmities and imperfections, but our petulant follies, our obstinate perversenesses, our treacherous infidelities ;-overlooks our careless neglects, and our wilful miscarriages." To Him yet, who, as St. James says, "giveth freely, and upbraideth no man ;" who calls us neither very frequently, nor overstrictly to account; who exacts of us no impossible, no very difficult, no greatly burdensome or costly returns-being satisfied with the cheerful aceeptance of his favours, the hearty acknowledgments of his goodness, the sincere performance of such duties, to which our own welfare, comfort, and advantage, rightly apprehended, would otherwise abundantly dispose us. To Him-who has spoken by prophets, and at last, by his Son; explaining to us his will, unfolding his paternal character, offering the easy terms of pardon and acceptance, developeing human nature and the duties it requires, and then rending the veil of the future before us, and opening an eternal state of glory to our piety and holiness. Whose soul does not glow with gratitude to God, who has crowned all man's gifts with the blessedness of eternal life? To Him, lastly, whose benefits to acknowledge is the greatest benefit of all; to be enabled to thank him who deserves our greatest thanks; to be sensible of whose beneficence, to meditate on whose goodness, to admire whose excellency, to celebrate whose praise, is heaven itself and paradise, the life of angels, the supreme degree of felicity. For ten thousand blessings given, For the hope of future joy, Sound his praise through earth and heaven, Sound Jehovah's praise on high. |