Liturgy, know the contrary. But no real saint ever lived with- out pouring out before God, from time to time, many " cries and breathings" which proceeded from the state of his own mind, and which no written form could have furnished. And if this be not our habit, we are as truly prayerless, as if we had never used even an outward form. Let me then ask of such persons, Have you no sins to confess to God? no mercies to implore ? no blessings to be thankful for ? or have you any other source from whence you can derive the blessings you stand in need of? Ah ! think how soon the season for prayer will be for ever past ; and how vain even the most importunate supplications will soon be, though you should pray only for a drop of water to cool your tongue. Be in earnest, I pray you, and no longer deceive your own souls. Our Lord tells you, that the mere formalist worships him in vain." And if you will only candidly examine the state and habit of your souls when at a throne of grace, you shall attain a deep insight into your real character, and shall know, with great precision, the doom that awaits you in the eternal world. What will be your feelings in that world, when you reflect, that when all heaven was offered you, you would not so much as ask for it ! How will the poor ignorant heathen condemn you, when their labours in the pursuit of happiness shall be recounted, and your reluctance even to offer a prayer shall be adduced against you ! See the papist, with all his penances and mortifications ; will not he also condemn you? See but a beggar, in the pursuit of relief for his body ; how urgent ! how importunate ! how averse to take a denial. Shall not he also rise up in judgment against you ? Verily, the bitterest reflection in hell itself will be, that, when the Lord Jesus Christ had purchased heaven for you by his blood, and offered it to you freely in answer to your prayers, you deemed the task too heavy, and the terms too hard. May God in his mercy save you from such bitter reflec- tions as these ! And may it never be said of you, in relation to the heavenly glory, " They had it not, because they asked it not."]
3. How truly blessed are they who live nigh unto their God in prayer —
[They understand the subject, and can bear witness to the truth of God in relation to it. Often have they gone to a throne of grace oppressed with their sins, which, like an insupportable burthen, sink them to the earth: but God has sustained them, and given them " rest unto their souls." They went contemplating nothing but continued and perhaps augmented sorrows ; and, " ere they were aware, their souls are made like the chariots of Ammi-nadib1 :" "even before
t Cant. vi. 12.