spending the Sabbath, account them upright and consistent characters ? No : they would see at once the glaring inconsistency between such professions and such practice. But, perhaps, they will say, " We do not make any such profession of religion." Then, I answer, you have gone to God with a lie in your mouths. What mean you when you pray, " that you may lead a righteous, sober, and a godly life, to the glory of God's holy name ? " Is dissi- pation, or carelessness to his praise and glory ? Has he not required that " you should refrain from doing your own pleasure on his holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and should honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words ; but should throughout that day delight yourselves in the Lord^?" Yes, this is what you will do, if you are consistent Christians ; nor can you in any other way expect to obtain any blessing from the Lord. This, also, is very particularly noticed by Solomon in his prayer : he does not venture to hope for mercy on behalf of any, unless " they return unto God with all their heart and with all their soul'." He prays, " The Lord our God be with us, that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers™." And then, to impress this the more deeply on the people's minds, he addresses them also, saying, " Let your heart be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day"." Solomon would have the solemnities of that day carried, as it were, into their daily converse ; and the engagements then entered into, remembered throughout their whole lives. Thus it should be with us: and thus it must be with us, if we would prosper in our souls. Our prayers are to be the pat- tern of our whole lives. What we have sought for.
^ Isai. Iviii. 13, 14. i ver. 47, 48.
m ver. 57, 58. " ver. 61.