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tant, and the name of Christ attached to every sentence, yet there may be no prayer, no personal approach to God. In approaching God in prayer, to be acceptable, there must be a certain disposition and temper of mind. The lowly posture of body, the lifted eye, the plaintive tone, the vague feeling of awe upon the soul, with what we have before mentioned, are not enough to constitute access to God. God looks directly to the soul, through the veil of the flesh, and marks its temper. He must see a lowliness of mind and feeling, arising from a perception of his purity, uncontroulable power, and our vileness and demerits;-he must see an ardent admiration and a glowing affection of himself, for what he has done in the behalf of sinners;-must see an inward conviction that he is, and is the bountiful rewarder, through Christ, of all who diligently seek him;-must see too an anxiety, fervency, and perseverance in moving the suit that proves the soul esteems the blessings it asks, and really wishes them;-a frame like Jacob's, when wrestling he urged, "I will not let thee go unless thou bless me." But who that knows himself,-the weakness, the dulness, the depraved turn of our affections, so distant from the exercise just stated, believes he can work in himself such a disposition ? St. Paul never thought man equal to this; he says, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;" he exhorts them to "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication

in the Spirit." Have you such an acquaintance with the whole range of circumstances, providence, events, consequences, as to know always what is proper to ask at his hands? How know you that in seeking something you conclude advantageous, you may not be asking for scorpions-not for bread? "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities," says inspired writ, "for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered."

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IMPROVEMENT OF AFFLICTION.

Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. Job xxxiv. 31.

A LATE personal indisposition having fixed my thoughts very much upon the text just read to you, I have ventured this morning to offer it as a subject of discourse. For, my brethren, it being apparent to all who have studied human nature, that the various objects with which we come in contact, the scenes familiar to us, and the circumstances in which we may be placed, have a beneficial or evil influence upon our spirits, considered in their relation to a future state of existence to which we are rapidly hastening: our daily object must be to turn them, as they occur, to the better side, and make them minister to that salvation of the soul which we all profess to follow, and which the word of God urges upon us, by every powerful, terrific, and pleasing inducement, as our perpetual aim and the one thing needful. Though this habit of mind is difficult to be acquired, yet it is attainable, and of its incalculable advantages what Christian can have a doubt. Then in a spiritual sense we shall have found what natural men have long sought for in vain. This is indeed the philo

sopher's stone, a sublime species of alchymy, and more truly than

"The charm, by sages often told,
Converting all it touches into gold."

We especially recommend this improving exercise of the mind upon affliction, because of its universality, in one shape or other, either in the form of bodily sickness or mental agony, or temporal loss being entailed upon all mankind: and because the Bible attaches much importance to the effect this trial produces upon our judgment, will, and affections, and augurs accordingly of our spiritual condition; thus, whilst it excites the penitential cry of David, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy word," which is acceptable to Jehovah; it quits others as the vessel cleaves the flood, or the bird the air, leaving no trace behind, and calling forth from the Great Disposer of Events the despairing accents uttered by Isaiah of the Jewish nation, yet they turned not to Him that afflicted them, "Why should ye be stricken any longer, ye will revolt more and more." It is the more inexcusable too, if we derive no advantage from this experience, since sacred Scripture so fully instructs us for the occasion, as in our text, where it strongly intimates that the afflicted house is peculiarly appropriate for conversing with God. The destiny of our nature, the swift transit of our present lives, the boundless futurity before us, the judgmentseat, heaven, and hell, call us to be in close and

anxious communion with that great Being, on whom all is dependant respecting our happiness or misery in distant worlds: and this motive is strengthened by the condescension with which he invites us to hold fellowship with him, through his dear Son Jesus Christ, and the declaration of his word that this converse with heaven on earth is necessary to our everlasting felicity: but fallen man, carried away with an undue affection and solicitude for visible objects, forgets those which are unseen, except by the eye of faith, and even in good men, the family, and business, and friends, too much occupy the space of the day, and the powers of the mind leaving but little interval and less composure to listen to Jehovah, who speaks in a small still voice, to be courted and heard in retirement. Hence certain situations, which for a moment seem to shut from the soul the enticing idols of this world, are more than ordinarily calculated to lead us to this neglected duty; as when a man sailing on the Atlantic wave, with country and connections far behind, and the port far distant, and the world of waters poured around him, in which he knows not but in an hour or two he may be ingulphed, or as when a man is travelling in some African desert, where serpents, and savage beasts, and rising sands, and suffocating heats, constantly hover in his view, and keep alive the image of death, "I will bring her into the wilderness," says God of the Church, "and then I will speak to her heart; as also when an individual in the village church-yard paces the lone dominions of the

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