follows: "There must be an enlargement of soul previous to any remarkable success; and great diligence in prayer, and strict watchfulness over my own soul, previous to any great and habitual enlargement; and deep humiliation of soul must precede both. When the ground is thus prepared, great and good fruit may arise from small seeds. I find it never well in family worship, when it is not so in secret; never well - abroad, when it is not so at home. The better I pray, the better I study; and when I pray and meditate most, I work most.”

3. Prayer sweetens all our enjoyments.

We are not bound to a hard master, for "the Lord taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants." He has not destined us to vassalage, and given us a keen sense of wants, without discovering any source of supply; but he has called us to freedom, and granted us all things richly to enjoy. "Under the influence of devotion," says one, we soon see through the corruption of our hearts, the blindness of our appetites, and the vanity of sublunary things. We enter into the world of spirits, and contract, as it were, a familiarity with our Maker. We taste, as it were, the pleasures of the new world before we have left the old, and begin to act like angelic and immaterial beings, before we are yet refined and purified from the dregs of matter."

Prayer heightens the relish of common mercies. A devotional spirit throws a lustre over the beautiful and sublime works of nature, which doubles the delight of the beholder. It is the oil of gladness, which diffuses around a lasting fragrance. It is the precious savour, which seasons and sanctifies our daily food, and ministers to the humblest Christian a continual feast. It is the secret charm, which refines and exalts our domestic comforts, and endears all the tender relations of life. A prayerless person may have the empty froth of mirth, but never drinks the pure stream of joy.

Again, the exercise of devotion heightens the relish of spiritual mercies. How sweet is Christian fellowship where prayer diffuses its enlivening influence! Kindred souls meet, and mingle their sighs and supplications, or tune their voices in a concert of harmony, which gives us a faint image of heaven below. How pleasant to peruse the Sacred Book, when prayer has sharpened the appetite to feed on the wholesome doctrine it contains! How pleasant and profitable to hear the Gospel, when we have risen from our knees in the closet to enter the house of God! "Can there," says Mr. Hervey, "be a more sublime pleasure, than to dwell in the contemplation of the beauties of the eternal mind, the amiable Author of all that is beauteous, grand, and harmonious; the beneficent Giver

of all that is convenient, comfortable, and useful? Can there be a more advantageous employ than to present our requests to the Father of mercies, opening our mind to the radiance of his wisdom, and all the faculties of our souls to the communication of his grace?" At a later period of life, the same pious author said, "Were I to enjoy Hezekiah's grant, and have fifteen years added to my days, I would be much more frequent in my supplications to a throne of grace. We sustain a mighty loss by reading so much, and praying so little.”

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CHAPTER II.

ON STATED PRAYER, AS APPROPRIATED
TO PLACES..

SECTION I.

ON CLOSET PRAYER.

REAL religion suits every station, and is equally calculated to dignify the poor in obscurity, and to defend the rich amidst the snares of rank and splendour. It is neither to be concealed through fear, nor displayed through ostentation. The Christian who fills the highest place, and is most engaged in the world, must not forget the duties of retirement. Labour and rest are reciprocally necessary; and either of them unduly prolonged, becomes injurious.. Prayer is our best employment in solitude, as it fills the void which nothing else can fill. It is not only our safeguard in business, but also our solace in retreat.

I. I shall adduce some arguments, to prove the importance of Closet Prayer.

1. The great importance of closet prayer may be shewn from the authority which enforces it. Reason itself, unbiassed by the flesh, and unbribed by the world, plainly tells us, that prayer is a duty, not less binding upon individuals in secret, than upon communities in public. Why was man formed in the Divine image, and furnished with faculties which raised him so much above the beasts, and placed him in a rank, only a little lower than the angels?-It was, that he might contemn the mean objects of sense, and hold spiritual intercourse with God. And after being involved in guilt and woe, for what purpose was man redeemed by the blood of Christ, a price above all calculation and conception, a ransom which filled angels with astonishment?—That he might have fellowship with the Father, who is the origin and everlasting Fountain of goodness; and with the Son, who is the compassionate Friend and Almighty Saviour of sinners. For what end is the soul-dark, degraded, enslaved, through sin-called, illuminated, quickened, and sanctified by divine power, accompanying the Word? It is, that it may aspire to the inestimable privilege of constantly enjoying the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of