5. Never attend the public worship of God, before you have waited upon him in private prayer. Enter the closet before you enter the house of God; and there consider first, and then pray. Consider the importance of those sacred duties which you are going to be engaged in consider the value of the means of grace, and the account which must be given of the talents entrusted to your care and then pray to God to grant unto thee his gracious presence in the public worship.

6. Go to the house of God in the spirit of praise. "I was glad," said the psalmist, "when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord." Psa. cxxii, 1. We should enter HIS house with a thankful spirit; for it is our privilege "to serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song to enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with joy." Psa. xcv, in the Liturgy. But holy joy should be always joined "with reverence and godly fear." The Israelites were commanded to reverence the sanctuary of God. Lev. xix, 30. See Gen. xxviii, 16, 17. The more just and lively views we have of the

character of God, his presence, and glory, the more we shall seek to honour him: and this reverence the apostle Paul inculcates, when he says, 66 Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." Heb. xii, 28.

7. When you enter the house of God, be greatly humbled on account of your own sinfulness, and unworthiness. Self-abasement becomes all the servants of God, when they approach his presence. Abraham said, "Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." Gen. xviii, 27. Job said, "Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth." Chap. xl, 4. Isaiah said, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts." Chap. vi, 5. Daniel also most appropriately prayed, and said, "We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies." Chap. ix, 18. With these self-abasing sentiments of the saints of old, the prayers of our Liturgy are admirably in unison, and express

"the feelings and experience of every humble and devout worshipper.

8. When in the house of God, it is proper to ask in private for the grace of God to enable you to "worship him in spirit and in truth," and to profit by the means of grace. When this is done earnestly, and fervently, but briefly, the mind and the affections are to be entirely fixed on the great and solemn work of worshipping God. Aim, then, to have the mind engaged in the duty before you. Let heart and tongue unite in offering up prayers and supplications to the throne of grace. But let it be here observed, that prayers are not to be heard as sermons: prayers are to be fervently and really offered up to God, in the name of the great mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the truths of God's word are either read or preached, we are to hear and receive the word, "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in them that believe." See 1 Thess. ii, 13. When we join in confessing our sins to God, we should call to mind our sins and transgressions, and our hearts should confess as well as our lips. When we join in petitions for forgiveness of

sin, and a supply of our wants and necessities, we are to realize by faith the almighty power, love, and willingness of God to grant us those things we stand in need of. When we unite in prayer for others, we should remember that the children of God are members of that one body to which we are now united; and that those, who are now in darkness, may yet be translated into God's marvellous light, and be made fellow-members of the same body. When we join in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, we should call to mind our own various and particular mercies, and utter unworthiness of them. Our hearts should overflow with gratitude, while our mouth is filled with praise. We should be so deeply impressed with a sense of God's goodness, as to be able to say with the Psalmist, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." Ps. xxxiv, 3.

The heart is required to go along with all the service. We should, by faith, realize the presence of Christ with us, for he has promised us his presence. Matt. xviii, 20. When this is the case, then life and unction accompany the means of grace, and the glory of the Lord

is felt. We should remember that Jesus Christ alone can give efficacy to the prayers and supplications offered up to the throne of grace, for he is our only mediator and inter

cessor.

When the humble Christian comes to the house of God in the spirit of prayer, and with an earnest desire to enjoy the presence of God, and to hold communion with his fellowworshippers, does he not often experience that nearness to God, that inward peace and joy, which is an evidence of the divine presence with those who meet in his name?

9. At the close of public worship, never be in a hurry to go out; but pause, and offer a brief secret prayer to Almighty God, that he may pardon all amiss in your imperfect services, and impress his word on your heart, that it may produce in you" the fruits of good living, to the praise and glory of his name."

THE DISPOSITION OF MIND AND CONDUCT WHICH SHOULD ENSUE AT DEPARTURE FROM PUBLIC WORSHIP. The impressions made upon the mind during the solemn act of public worship, are too gene