screening himself behind his armor, the malicious shafts of the adversary fall harmless at his feet. When his fellow sinners attempt to terrify him by hurling the fiery bolts of endless condemnation, he has nothing to do but to present the helmet of salvation, and the fiery darts are quenched.When the world assaults him with its scorn, contempts, persecutions, troubles and disappointments, he looks up to his helmet, placed on his head, and the light and glory reflected from its burnished front, turns his night to day and banishes his despondency and gloom. Secured by this helmet, he fears no foe; he fights the battle valiently; with undaunted brow, he faces the thick legions of the enemy, breaks through their thronged ranks, "though spears portend and arrows cloud the day," being confident that he shall gain the victory, although he falls in the field of battie; for his helmet is not placed on his own body, but on his "head," the conquering "prince of peace," who has already shaken Satan's throne and given death the "last enemy," a mortal wound.

But again: a soldier wants a sword. A sword is a weapon, both of attack and defence. The soldier makes use of his sword as occasion requires. When not engaged in actual service, he may suffer it to remain for a time inactive. But when foes surround, he always has this weapon in his hand. Now let us inquire again of Paul, and he will tell us what the christian sword is. He says, "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Here we have it; the "word of God" is the sword of the spirit. Let every christian arm himself with this sword, and moreover, when you have got this sword, make use of it enough to keep it bright. Remember that a sword, if it lies still too long, will accumulate dust and become rusty; therefore it is necessary to scour it often to keep off the

rust. Thus, the christian ought to handle frequently the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. "Search the scriptures." The enemy of souls is so vigilant, subtle and active, that the christian ought always to have his arms ready, and be in a posture of defence. There There is no predicting when, where, or in what manner he will commence the attack. The reason why the word of inspiration is called the "sword of the spirit," is doubtless because the scriptures were given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for doctrine, as well as for reproof and correction.— This sword has a blade of heavenly temper; its point turns every way, like the flaming sword in the hand of the cherubim, and its edge is so astonishingly keen and piercing that nothing can long resist it. With this sword, the head may be severed from the Goliah of infidelity. Yes, scepticism itself will sink beneath its stroke; it may dare its point for a while, but can never prevail against it. Superstition also, that horrid monster, that rears her gloomy form, and sits in dismal pomp upon her iron throne, exercising her accursed tyranny upon her trembling slaves, even this potent tyrant falls dead at one well directed stroke with the sword of the spirit. Unbelief and sin, those fiery tormentors of both mind and body, begin to gasp in death whenever they feel the edge of this celestial sword. This sword has power to slay both presumption and despair; and doubt and slavish fear cannot withstand its edge.

Soldiers of the Cross! be careful ever to have this sword at command: keep it in the mind and there will be but little danger of losing it; and there, it will not be liable to rust for want of use. Without the sword of the spirit, the word of God, you cannot prosecute the holy war to any advantage. In this war you will meet with enemies from

without, who will try to force you by threats and frowns,

out of the straight path of gospel truth. In such cases you will find the sword of the spirit of the greatest possible value. If you wield it in faith, it will put your foes to flight.

Reason may occasionally answer a good purpose, but still human reason, unaided by the word of God, is a feeble weapon with which to defend the gospel citadel, when compared with the sword of the spirit. Above all, this sword is necessary in combatting the grand adversary of whom we shall have occasion to speak directly.

To conclude our description of the heavenly armor, we will just mention prayer and watching, these being the two last weapons of the armor of God noticed by the Apostle.He introduces them in the following manner: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication, and watching thereunto with all perseverance," &c.

We shall be obliged to cut short our comments on this part of the armor, not because we think the subject of little consequence, but for want of time.

As to watching, we can only observe here, that the soldier of Christ ought to keep a constant watch. The enemy is subtle and intriguing; therefore, be circumspect and watch all his movements, lest the "adversary get an advantage of you." What would be the fate of an army if the sentinels on duty should neglect to watch, and carelessly fall asleep? The enemy would come at unawares, break up their camp and take them captives. Equally disastrous will it be for the cause of Christianity, if the soldiers of the cross become drowsy, and neglect to watch. The enemies of the gospel are always on the alert, both internal and external, within and without the camp. Watch, therefore, lest ye fall into temptation, "and what I say to one," says Jesus, "I say to all, watch." But "praying always with all prayer," is necessary. Upon this we can only remark,

that prayer is generally spoken of as a duty which ought to
be practised constantly, without any intermission. "Pray
without ceasing." "In every thing give thanks." And
again, says the Apostle, "I will that men pray every
where." This command, to pray constantly, at all times,
and in all places, presents an unanswerable argument, to
prove that vocal prayer could not have been altogether in-
'tended. Prayer literally signifies the earnest desire of the
heart. Such a desire may be addressed to God in the si-
lent breathings of the soul, or it may be expressed in au-
dible words. Christ and his Apostles sometimes prayed vo-
cally; hence we have Apostolic example for vocal prayer.
Let every christian follow the dictates of the "spirit," and
if that tells him that it is his duty to pray audibly, let him
pray audibly, and if not, let him pray with secret desire
towards God. But we do not believe it possible to be a
christian without praying in some way or other. Prayer is
as expressly enjoined as any one thing in the scriptures.—
We cannot here dwell on this point, although the subject
deserves a lengthy dissertation. Instead therefore of com-
menting on the nature of prayer, we will point out a few of
the objects of prayer-objects that a christian ought to pray
for.

1st. Pray, or desire to be delivered from sin.

2d. Pray, or desire that the kingdom of darkness or error may be overthrown.

3d. Pray, that the gospel may have free course, run and be glorified.

4th. Pray, or desire that Christ's kingdom may come, be established in every soul, and righteousness, peace and happiness abound.

Any man who does really desire these things, is truly a "praying man," even if he is deaf and dumb, and has been

so from his birth. And we leave it to you all to judge, whether one can be a christian who has not such desires as these. And if we have such desires, our actions will manifest the same. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

My friends, it is quite difficult at the present age of the world, to tell who "praying men" are, especially if we depend for information on common report. Neither is it certain that those who boast in public congregations, of the frequency of their prayers, are truly "praying" men. We often hear it loudly proclaimed, that such and such persons have got to be "praying characters." What makes them think so? Why, because these persons will now go into a public assembly, and put themselves in an attitude of prayer, and make a boisterous or long address to the Deity. But beware; it is not every person who does this, that ought to be considered a truly praying person on apostolic principles. The Pharisees whom Jesus denounced as a generation of vipers-yes, the Pharisees would boast of a rigid adherence to such forms; and they were hypocrites. They were by no means truly praying characters. In fact, it is possible for a man to address the Deity in a loud voice, five times a day, for fifty years, and yet never once, during the whole time, offer a genuine prayer to God. And one may pray without ceasing, and yet no sound escape his lips.For the time to come, let us determine who praying men are, by what they do, and not from what they say, or from what others say of them. Judge them by their fruits.Shall we call one a "praying man" who is destitute of charity for others, illiberal, bigoted, persecuting, and who like Saul of Tarsus, is constantly breathing out threatenings and slaughter against his fellow sinners? Say, shall we admit him to be a praying man, merely because he pretends to be