prayer, than the garments of a man would be the man himself. They may be requisite generally, on account of man's imperfection, and as between man and man; but they are not only not the essence of prayer, but, as respects God, they would be nothing without the other. Indeed, even to our own feeble perception, more may be sometimes conveyed by the silent expression of unutterable anguish and affliction, than by all the power of language. When the affectionate, but solemn and penetrating glance of the Redeemer's eye was cast upon Peter, and the fallen apostle, feeling all the power of its rebuke, rushed from His presence, and burst into a bitter agony of tears, who would not have read in those tears the inward workings of prayer, the remorse, the shame, the sorrow, the repentance, which had bowed his heart, and filled it so, that prayer, before it could find expression in words, was compelled to vent itself in tears? Or who, in these tears, would not have read the characters of feeling, which no words could embody, and under which language had failed?

But, though I state that the aspiration of the soul, without words, would be prayer, and that words, without the aspiration of the soul, would not be prayer, let me not be understood to recommend mental prayer as a general practice. Our prayers

from the heart without the voice, than in mere words of which the mind is inattentive to the sense."

ought generally to be clothed in words.

We could

not pray jointly at all, without a form of words.

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Neither, even as individuals, or in private, ought we always, or even generally, to pray without clothing our thoughts in words. We must not, in contemplating the power of God to understand our thoughts, forget our own infirmity, which requires the aid of outward forms. We must not be led away by the beauty and deep feeling, which, upon extraordinary occasions, will burst forth, in these mental prayers, to neglect that mode of prayer, the clothing our thoughts in words, which is suited to the ordinary purposes of prayer, and the ordinary circumstances of those who pray. We are placed in a body frail and imperfect, and moving in a world, in which the communications and workings of the soul must be carried on, through the bodily organs, and outward senses. Those deep feelings under which all the inward powers of prayer, alluded to, are put into motion, are not incidental to our every day business, nor could they be borne by the mind continually; and if prayer were never to be expressed in words, it would become to us as a soul without a body, too spiritual for mortal faculties 1."

From these observations on the nature of prayer, we will proceed to some general reasons, from

which the duty of offering it to God may be enforced.

It has been justly remarked, by Archbishop Sharpe, that prayer is not only speaking to God, but something more than speaking to Him. " It may, perhaps," says that able divine, "at the first hearing appear strange to some, that prayer should at all be accounted a duty of religion, that is to say, any act of piety towards God, to which mankind should in duty be obliged. For (say they) all acts of religion, in the very nature of them, ought to respect the honour of God; whereas prayer seems only to respect our own benefit, and little, if at all, God's honour when a beggar asketh an alms at your door, doth he thereby mean to do you any worship or respect, or rather purely to serve his own needs? Certainly the latter. It is true, to give thanks for benefits received, (which is one part of prayer, in the large sense of the word), is an instance of respect and honour done to God; but prayer, strictly so called, that is, the putting up requests to God for mercies which we want, seems not to be so, but only to respect ourselves. Thus, perhaps, it may be said; but those that reason at this rate, seem not to have sufficiently considered this matter. Though prayer be put up for the obtaining benefits for ourselves, yet that doth not hinder, but that it may be an act of religion properly so called, and an instance of that honour which we are bound to perform to

God. And certainly we must think so, if we will ever believe God's own declarations in this matter, or reflect on the nature of

prayer itself.

"First, as for the holy Scriptures, prayer is always therein accounted an act of God's worship, and strictly enjoined as such to all mankind. In the 15th Psalm, ver. 13, where God is declaring to his people how he will be served; Thinkest thou (says he) that I will eat bulls' flesh, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgivings, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble. As therefore he that offereth unto God thanksgivings, is in the same Psalm said to honour God (he that offereth me thanks, he honoureth me ;) so he that calleth upon God, honoureth him also. Nay, so great a part doth prayer make of religion, that the whole of it is sometimes expressed thereby, and to call upon God, to pray to God, and to seek God, is in the Scripture language the same thing as to walk religiously before God; nay, it is sometimes put to express and signify the whole condition that is required of us in order to salvation. Thus, Romans xii. 17. The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And, on the other side, the character by which wicked men, such as have no sense of piety and religion, are described in Scripture, is, that they do not practise this duty of prayer, they do not call upon God, as you may see, Psalm liii. 4."

The same point is proved from the nature of prayer, which, independently of its connexion with our necessity, is an act of homage justly due to the Most High. There is an acknowledgment of His goodness, and our dependance on Him in prayer, as well as in thanksgiving. The only difference between them in this respect is, as the author above quoted observes, that "the one (that is, thanksgiving) looks backward and considers the mercies acknowledged as already given; the other (that is prayer) looks forward and considers them as not yet given, but only as desired and expected.” He says, that "to every religious prayer that we put up, (if we put it up as we should do) there will go these four things:

"First of all, there is supposed a sense of our wants, and a desire of the supply of them, but withal a conviction of our own impotence and inability to help ourselves. Secondly, there is supposed a sense of God's presence, and providence, and goodness, and a belief that God doth see our condition, and knows what we want, and hath also that love and kindness for His creatures, that upon prayer He will supply our necessities, and give us either what we pray for, or what is more convenient for us. Upon these considerations there follows, in the third place, a looking up to God, a waiting upon Him for those blessings we stand in need of, disclaiming all help in ourselves, and entirely depending on His care and