either of them, will not often be found to observe the other. Public prayer has its own and peculiar advantages. In all Churches, probably, it is performed at stated periods, which gives it the force and regularity of habit, and prevents its falling into that neglect, which uncertainty in point of time might produce. But in all Churches it is not, as it is in ours, regulated by fixed forms. This preference we conceive to be established upon the soundest principles. In the first place it is founded upon the example of our Saviour himself, and is but an extension of the injunction he has left us, to use that admirable form of prayer to which I have alluded. In the next place, congregations being necessarily composed of every variety of persons and conditions, and all having their peculiar distresses and necessities, it requires the utmost caution and deliberation, so to frame our petitions, and to return our thanks to the Almighty, as to embrace the circumstances of the greatest possible number of persons, of whom any congregation may be supposed to consist. And considering the ineffable majesty and dignity of him to whom our public addresses are offered, too much care cannot

possibly be employed in selecting such expressions as may most suitably convey our sentiments to that most awful and Divine Being. Both these objects it has been attempted to accomplish (and we think with great success) in that excellent Liturgy, which has so long been in use in our Church, and which has frequently been highly commended, even by those who have not adopted it. To meet the case of almost every individual, some of its forms are conceived in the most general terms, and some in the most particular. Of the former, the prayer for all sorts and conditions of men in the evening service, may be adduced as an instance; as may also that beautiful prayer of St. Chrysostom, which we repeat both in the morning and the evening, wherein, with the most perfect propriety, we implore God to fulfil our petitions, not so much according to our views of what is good for us, as according to what he shall judge to be most expedient for us. Of the latter, our admirable Litany is an eminent example, in which hardly any thing is omitted, which under any circumstances whatever, it can be fit for us to ask, or desirable to receive. And the whole is drawn up in a style of sober

piety and Scriptural eloquence, well adapted (so far as that can be said of any human compositions) to the supplications of a creature, addressed to the eternal and omnipotent Creator: and avoiding those tautologies, incoherencies, and other improprieties, which are but too apt to find their way into extemporaneous effusions, either from the pulpit or the desk. In addition to these advantages of public prayer, may be mentioned its utility, and indeed its necessity, for that numerous class of persons whose minds are too little instructed to enable them even to pray as they ought to do. And for all classes it is desirable that they should frequently be reminded, by promiscuously assembling together in the house of God, for the purposes of prayer and thanksgiving, of the common relation in which they all stand to him, as the universal parent of mankind, their present protector, and their final judge.

These are some of the great ends of public prayer. But private prayer has also its peculiar motives and benefits. And first for all those, who from a variety of causes, may be prevented frequently or altogether from attending the services of the Church. Great

age, sickness, distance, and other circumstances, may reduce them to the necessity of being absent, when they would willingly be present at them. In all such cases it is a great consolation to know, that prayer, whether addressed from the poorest cottage or the most splendid temple, from a numerous congregation or a single individual, will equally reach the throne of grace: and if preferred in a proper spirit, will equally be accepted by him, who regards neither the persons nor habitations of men, but looks down from the heaven of heavens with an impartial eye upon all the

inhabitants of the earth.

But even for those who are in the habit of attending the public worship of. God-notwithstanding the comprehensiveness and particularity of our Liturgy-such is the endless diversity of human affliction, that recourse must frequently be had to the medium of private prayer, to meet the exigencies of sudden or permanent calamity. Under the pressure of such visitations, the soul turns almost instinctively to God, either at regular periods and in the prescribed forms, or at occasional moments in its own natural eloquence, to beseech his powerful succour, the only aid upon

heart, and

which it can rely in such an emergency. Nor does it ever in such a case rely in vain. Because, although the burden is not always removed, nor even materially lightened, strength to bear it is almost inevitably granted. The very act of prayer, when it springs from the engrosses the thoughts, elevates and fortifies the mind. And in this view private prayer has an evident advantage over that which is offered in public. The latter is performed from habitual custom, and therefore sometimes without sufficient attention, and concentration of our faculties upon the business in which we are engaged. It is liable also to various interruptions and distractions from its very nature. That private prayer also which is regular and periodical, may degenerate into a mere unmeaning formality. But that which is occasional, and as it were involuntary, prompted by the circumstances in which we find ourselves placed, which bursts irresistibly from the heart, and carries the whole mind with it, is of a very different character. I imagine that there are few persons, particularly of those who are somewhat advanced in life, who do not frequently find themselves in this condition. Afflictions of the severest