the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and shall openly reward them that have prayed to him secretly, it will be manifest to assembled worlds, that no families have been so prospered, protected, and blessed. as those who have been most diligent in maintaining secret communion with him.

As to spiritual things, it is most certain that private devotion prepares the heart, and fits the soul, so to speak, for the public duties of religion. He who willingly neglects one has seldom much enjoyment in the other. But he who in secret waits upon God sincerely, will, in the public means, frequently find his spiritual strength renewed, his languishing graces revived, his intercourse with Heaven more pure, his hopes more elevated, and his enjoyments more spiritual. Want of private prayer may be one great reason why many are so heavy and dull, so formal and careless, so unfruitful and lifeless, under the public means of grace. Oh, that Christians would seriously lay this to heart! He who would have his soul athirst for God, and long to see his

goings in the sanctuary, (Psalm lxiii. 1, 2.) who would have public ordinances lovely and delightful to his soul, his drooping spirits refreshed, his weak faith strengthened, his strong corruptions subdued, and his affections set on heavenly things, (Col. iii. 2.) should be frequent and fervent in secret prayer. How strong in grace-how victorious over sin-how dead to the world-how alive to Christhow fit to live-how prepared to diemight many a Christian have been, had he more diligently, seriously, and conscientiously discharged the duties of the closet!

Diligence and perseverance in secret prayer may be regarded as a certain evidence of sincerity.

PRIVATE prayer is not the hypocrite's delight. He can find no solid satisfaction in such exercises. He loves to pray where others may notice his devotions,

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and commend him; and he has his reward. (Matthew vi. 5.) The Scriptures record nothing of Saul and Judas, Demas and Simon Magus, that affords the slightest evidence of their having addicted themselves to secret prayer. The Scribes and Pharisees assumed the garb of exterior sanctity, but we never read of their retiring to a solitary place to pray. good name among men is more valued by a hypocrite than a good life or a good conscience. Under some temporary alarm he may cry aloud upon his bed, or seek relief on his knees in retirement. But, "Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?" (Job. xxvii. 10.) If the cause be removed, the effect will cease. When his fears have subsided, and his spirits are tranquillized, he will discontinue the practice, laying aside his private prayers as an irksome task. Secret duties are not his ordinary work. Self is the oil of his lamp;-worldly interests and the plaudits of men nourish its flame. If these are wanting, its brilliancy declines; and, as

his hope of these fail, its light gradually or instantly expires. "Can the rush grow up without mire?-can the flag grow without water?-whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God: and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.” (Job. viii. 11, 13.)

He does not "forget God, who perseveres in the duties of the closet." God is the object, and his glory the end, of his secret devotions. He retires from the observation of men to "give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, (and to) worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." (Ps. xxix. 2.) He is not satisfied with a mere external performance of the duty. He examines his motives, scrutinizes the workings of his heart, and afterwards reviews the whole transaction. "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: my spirit made diligent search.” (Ps. lxxvii. 6.) Not so the hypocrite. "Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto

with all perseverance," (Eph. vi. 18.) is not his practice. He has ever at hand some excuse for the neglect of private prayer. Though he squanders perhaps every day more than an hour of his time in frivolous conversation or unnecessary visitings, he can persuade himself his engagements are so many and so urgent, that he has no time for retiring to his closet without neglecting his worldly business, in which he must be diligent from a regard to the divine precept (Rom. xii. 11.) and for his family's sake. Or, should his conscience testify that he has time sufficient, another circumstance will furnish him with an excuse-the want of a convenient place. Oh, let it ever be remembered, that the most illustrious example we have of diligence and perseverance in this sacred duty, namely, Christ Jesus, was pressed for time more than any man, through a multiplicity of other engagements; so much so, that at times he "had no leisure so much as to eat." (Mark vi. 31.) And as to place, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of