Lord absent himself for ever, and will he be no more intreated? Is his mercy clean gone for ever; and is his promise come utterly to an end for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious; and will He shut up his loving kindness in displeasure?" (Ps. lxxvii. 7-9). Still a tried servant like David will not absolutely despair; but consider these reflections as proceeding in a great measure from his own infirmity; and "remember, (as he says) the years of the right hand of the Most High" (Ib. 10). Thus memory steps in continually with a servant of the Lord, as a substitute for assurance and enjoyment. For it is a necessary condition in remembering, to suppose the absence of what may be remembered; though memory itself shall be mistaken, perchance, when it considers divine goodness as a thing gone by.

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The remembering now mentioned as a godly objective and a part of inward or essential worship is that sort of remembering which a good shepherd finds in his flock. They remember their guide: they anxiously expect his sence in the morning, whether to lead them to shady pastures or to the free-fed mountain: "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice" (John x. 4). It is that sort of remembering which a mother finds in her infant, to whom she is all the world; particularly when he happens to be kept from her, as in that beautiful comparison of the Psalmist's, "I refrain my soul, and keep it low like as a child that is weaned from his mother; yea, my soul is even as a weaned child" (Ps. cxxxi. 3). It is that sort of remembering which a master finds in his servants, or a mistress in her maid. Behold, even as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; even so our

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God, until he have mercy that sort of remembering 66 spouse: By night on my

eyes wait upon the Lord, our upon us" (Ib. cxxiii. 2). It is which an husband finds in his bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him; but

I found him not... I SLEEP: BUT MY HEART WAKETH (Cantic. iii. 1, and v. 2).

2, And if this be not mental worship, or if we would come nearer to its idea, we must take for it a property without a name: for it is remarkable that while most of our other godward acts, or accidents direct, on both sides; i. e. both positive and negative or good and evil, have corresponding properties which are their sums or aggregates, expressed in proper terms-usually by a simple flection; for the habit or constituent of Praying to God, which is as positive as believing in Him, we have no simple term, as we have Faith for this; but must use a periphrasis, as Habitual, or the Habit of-Prayer, to correspond with Faith, which means habitual, or the habit of believing. Yet prayer is a part that may go on, and in good set terms too, as some have experienced, while the subject sleeps; as well as faith or memory or any other, however indelible, impression.

3, The same may happen likewise by another very essential part of inward worship; which is, not only gratitude, but the Habit of Praise: so that one shall think upon God, and call to remembrance one's song in the night perhaps, not only while "thou holdest mine eyes waking" (Ps. lxxvii. 4); but while their sight is latent and unconcerned. As soon as our eyes shall be released from their night's imprisonment we may find other and more effectual ways to thank and praise Him. For as we cannot be grateful enough to our Almighty Father, "Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. i. 12), especially for having restored an image of Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ, to be an object of universal praise and adoration, so neither can we better study to express our humble gratitude, than in a faithful imitation of this adorable object; glorifying God for all his mercies by all the means that He has conceded to Let our labours praise Him as well as our lips; for

us.

actions are generally the best expressions of gratitude, and particularly where, as in this case, the credit of our actions is ascribed to the object of our imitation.

Many a man there is, who will pride himself only on the performance of an horse, which owes nothing of its fleetness to him: how much more then will God be glorified in the splendid exhibition of those virtues and graces which he actually confers! And how happens it, that so many can pride themselves on the performance of a brute, as if the performance were their own; without thinking perhaps of Him who has actually endowed the same with his strength and speed? Cannot they imagine, that God too must take a delight in the performance of his creatures, and particularly of a rational, self-taught and, under Him, self-directed sort? "He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse, neither delighteth He in any man's legs: but the Lord's delight is in them that fear Him, and put their trust in His mercy" (Ps. cxlvii. 10, 11). We should therefore endeavour rather TO PLEASE AND GLORIFY GOD BY RATIONAL EFFORTS rationally directed, than by the performance of either our legs or our lips.

Yet should not the tribute of our members, and of the lips especially, be withheld in a case wherein so much more than all that we can pay is due. The gift of language must be accounted one of the greatest and most peculiar blessings with which the Creator is pleased to distinguish our kind, the very foundation of reason itself, and of all the temporal advantages (to mention no others) of us rational creatures: therefore, as God is pleased to distinguish mankind with this important gift, it cannot distinguish itself or be distinguished in a more appropriate service. As far as circumstances will permit, not only the best prose at our command, but the best poetry too should be thus employed; that, "by prayer and supplication to let our requests be made known unto God" (Phil. iv. 6); this, to praise Him worthily, as well as to recreate ourselves most agreeably, "speaking to

ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in our heart unto the Lord" (Eph.v.19).

In a word; though the efficient part of godliness-judgment, mercy, and all that is generally meant by obedience, must be owned more important than hymns, or prayers either, of any quality or on any subject, yet these are important enough, leaving their agreeableness out of the question, to claim a considerable share of our attention; as Jesus told the sanctimonious scribes and Pharisees, "These ought ye to have done and not to leave the others undone" (Matt. xxiii. 23). All that passes under the denomination of worship, whether inward or outward, is little enough for relief in the drama of life, to fill up the intervals of an active obedience; and to be indeed, what our own natural reason would dictate and our heart approve, some little attentions paid to a great Benefactor, besides the best services that we can perform, and the greatest degree of pleasure that we are able to take in them; as it is said by the psalmist, "My soul shall be satisfied even as it were with marrow and fatness, when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips (Ps. lxiii. 6). But where services are so inadequate to duty and obligation, as in this case, prayers must go for purchase money, and thanks for ready payment.

§ 10. Thus proceeding, as it were, step by step, from one species or particular of worship to another, and especially among those of the inward or heartfelt kind frequently known by the name of Devotion, we shall with good practice arrive at the extent of what is called Communion or companying with God; which means the enjoyment of his presence and perception, and all that is generally meant by Going to God; by Waiting for Him, Walking with, after or before Him, Living before Him, Communing, or having communion or fellowship with Him, and other terms of the kind; all being as foreign as possible to the nature of the subject, and though serving to express the affection of those who apply them, not calculated to express one tittle of the matter to which they are applied; for example,

1. There is going, in the first place, without locomotion. A man may go to God on a sick bed, before he dies, and does, oftener than in the prime and vigour of life; in prison, for his name's sake, surer than by any personal liberty without the fear of God; and in adverse circumstances generally, sooner than in more favourable; the simplicity of childhood will help a man on this journey as far as worldly wisdom, nay, far beyond all the veteran craft in the world; he may go without any other guide than the word that is closeted in his own breast; and by staying in his closet, if he cannot help it, as directly as by going to churchthere being in all these cases not one word about moving. But, what would seem most strange to one who had not considered it, a man may go to God by God's coming, or, as we say, descending to him; (though there be no descending nor ascending with omnipresence,) and he could not go to God without it.

For it may here be pertinent to observe, how all men go to God by his miraculous incarnation in Christ as well as by the continual operation of the Holy Ghost being a divine assumption of our nature in that case, and our assumption of the divine in this; though this may not be the place for considering such relations. Let it suffice, therefore, to observe at present, how we naturally go to God by the effect of his covenant descending into our hearts, and restoring in us that primitive or even nearer resemblance whereby we are partly enabled to see Him as he is. “For we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is" (John I. iii. 2); being holy as he is holy (Lev. xx. 7); perfect as he is perfect (Matt. v. 48); loving as he is loving (Ps. cxlv. 9); happy as he is happy (Ib. xvi. 12). And to know this may be enough for any one without his particularly considering however it may happen, like Nicodemus in the Gospel.

There are those who, judging by their practice, have no idea beyond one point of resemblance between God and themselves, thinking it sufficiently divine to be terrible as