revives at every retrospective glance; meditation ponders over the works of divine power, and the wonders of eternal love; then the hands are lifted up, and the desires of the heart are poured out in humble and importunate prayer. If we note the Psalmist on the mount of joy, as we have seen him in the vale of sorrow, we shall come to the same conclusion. (Psalm cxix. 15, 16.) When we consider this as a matter of fact, verified by experience, we shall find every pious man ready to become a witness. Archbishop Tillotson says, "To worship God, to study his will, to meditate on him, and to love him; all these bring pleasure and peace." Most men are miserably deluded, supposing that honour and happiness consist in, or flow from, certain outward circumstances; meanwhile the state of the mind is not taken into their account. Now there is neither true dignity nor pure delight, without a serene, contemplative, devotional spirit, daily approaching to God, daily growing in a conformity to his perfections, and deeply imbued with his heavenly grace. That valuable minister of the word, the Rev. John Flavel, many of whose useful works are well known, was not less happy in the private exercises of prayer, than successful in his pulpit labours. His intimate and delightfu] intercourse with heaven is manifest, from a remarkable story which he relates in his Pneumatology, though with great modesty using the

third person, as the Apostle Paul did, when speaking of his extraordinary revelations. The following is the substance of the narrative:

Being on a journey, he set himself to improve his time by meditation, when his mind grew intent, till at length he had such ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such full assurance of his interest therein, that he utterly lost the sight and sense of this world, and all its concerns; so that for hours he knew not where he was. At last, perceiving himself faint, through a great loss of blood from his nose, he alighted from his horse, and sat down at a spring, where he washed and refreshed himself, earnestly desiring, if it were the will of God, that he might there leave the world. His spirits reviving, he finished his journey in the same delightful frame of mind. He passed all that night without a wink of sleep,-the joy of the Lord still overflowing him; so that he seemed an inhabitant of the other world. After this, a heavenly serenity and sweet peace long continued with him; and for many years he called that day one of the days of heaven, and professed he understood more of the life of heaven by it, than by all the discourses he had heard, and the books he had ever read*.”

Nonconformist's Memorial.

ON ABSTINENCE AND SELF-EXAMINATION, AS MEANS OF PROMOTING PRAYER.

WHOEVER considers the nature of Christianity, as it appears in the New Testament, cannot peruse the pages of church history, without instantly perceiving how grievously the great body of nominal Christians, in every age, have departed from the principles and spirit of the Gospel. In nothing has this perversion been more evident, than in substituting servile fear for filial love, as the chief motive of obedience, and consequently putting external ceremonies and corporeal austerities, in place of moral duties and spiritual exercises. Hence the secluded and sordid habits, the penances, rigid fastings, and flagellations of the monastic orders. John Climachus, who was an abbot of the sixth century, gives a most striking account of a monastery near-Mount Sinai, which would appear incredible, did we not know that superstition has a power of degrading man so far, as almost to extinguish reason. The inmates of

this gloomy prison voluntarily immured themselves, and spent their time in prayer, with every possible external mark of self-denial and wretchedness. They did not allow themselves one comfort of human life. They did not dare to ask in their prayers to be entirely delivered from punishment: they only begged not to be punished with the utmost rigour. The voluntary torments they endured were amazing; and this voluntary humility of theirs continued till death.* It is impossible to read such accounts, without condemning the folly, or pitying the ignorance and weakness of such miserable vassals. The age and the country in which we live, are not much exposed to danger in this direction: there is far more to apprehend from the opposite extreme of laxity. It is no easy matter to find and keep the true medium. Whatever has, for a length of time, been greatly abused, is apt to be laid aside or neglected. It is but too evident that fashion finds its way into religion, as well as exerts its power over the ordinary habits and manners of life. Those who would follow the dictates of divine truth, and consult their own best interests, must, as far as possible, emancipate themselves from its capricious sway. I propose, therefore, to consider, among the means

* Milner's Church History.

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of promoting prayer, Abstinence, and Self-examination. These, I am aware, may not, to some, be very alluring topics: they may, nevertheless, be useful,

I. Abstinence is, in some cases, calculated to revive and promote prayer.

Let not the reader start, as if I were about to send him to the Jewish synagogue, or Mahometan mosque, for examples. It was cast as a reproach upon Christ, that his disciples bore no resemblance to the Pharisees and the disciples of John, in self-mortification and abstinence. To this he replied, "Can ye make the children of the Bridegroom fast; while the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days." (Luke v. 33, &c.) As fasting is obviously a duty of a moral, not a positive kind, it must be obligatory under every dispensation of religion. Our great Teacher, indeed, has cut off occasion. of using it as an expedient of self-righteousness, and forbidden all unnatural rigours, and the appendages of pride and ostentation, which have too frequently accompanied it. (Mat. vi. 16-18.) It is not a stated, but an occasional duty, incumbent upon Christians in peculiar