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ian precepts, and we shall not easily be brought to waver in our Christian faith. Let us always remember, that it rests upon the strongest grounds of moral probability: such as those upon which we constantly act in the most important affairs of our lives. If we attempt to carry it farther, it may lead us into enthusiasm; which, by a not unnatural process, may finally settle in doubt or unbelief. If we suppose it to fall short of this, we do it injustice and have not examined its evidences with sufficient care and impartiality. But let us by no means suffer our feelings to be uninterested in the question.Whether their proper discipline shall serve to confirm our faith, or whether that shall guide them in the paths of righteousness, is immaterial; provided those two great objects are adequately secured. For upon them will certainly depend our real happiness here, and upon them will still more certainly depend our irrevocable destiny hereafter.

SERMON XVII.

1 THESSALONIANS v. 17, 18.

Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you.

IN these words the Apostle lays down the whole of our duty to God, as it regards the worship we should pay to him; and accordingly it will be found, not only that our public services consist of little else than prayer and thanksgiving to him, but that they are the only modes in which we can address ourselves to him with propriety, or with any probability of benefit to ourselves. So simple, yet so sublime, is the relation in which the creature stands to the Creator, with such humility does it become weak and helpless mortals to approach the throne of the Eternal, Almighty, Invisible God! I propose therefore, in the following discourse, to consider the

nature of these two great Christian duties, and the influence which the right performance of them will naturally have upon our conduct in this world, and upon our Salvation in the

next.

When the Apostle enjoins us to pray without ceasing-it is obvious that the precept was never intended to be taken in a strictly literal sense. In the strong language of Scripture, things are frequently expressed universally, which can only be understood generally. And nothing is so easy as to fall into error from not attending to this particular, and nothing shews more clearly the necessity for the exercise of reason and discrimination, in discovering the spirit of Scripture, when it is at all at variance with its letter.

So little did our Saviour require prayer to be without intermission, or even needlessly frequent; that his language always implies the reverse of this. In giving his disciples that admirable form of words, which might almost supersede the necessity for any other mode of intercession with the Almighty-so emphatic is it in its brevity, and so comprehensive in its signification—he introduced it in this manner" when ye pray, say”—de

noting that that duty was to be performed at intervals. And he strongly censures every thing like ostentation either in the mode, the length, or the frequency of our prayers. When thou prayest (he says) thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men—but when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathens do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Upon which passage I would observe incidentally, that I consider it not only highly important to us as doctrine, but also as evidence. For it is certain that if Jesus were not what we believe him to be, he must have been a religious enthusiast. But can any thing be more free from any taint of enthusiasm, than the whole of his Sermon on the Mount, and particularly this part of it? Where do we find enthusiasm delivering doctrines so perfectly sober and rational as these are; so well adapted to the nature and exigencies of man, so entirely worthy of the being and attributes of God?

Prayer and Thanksgiving are sometimes considered only as parts of the same duty, but

there is this material difference between them. To the former we are impelled by our necessities, to the latter we are excited by gratitude. The one partakes much therefore of the nature of fear, the other much more of that of joy; the former respects mainly ourselves, and the latter has regard almost exclusively to God. They have, however, many qualities in common. They may be both either mental or vocal. That is, they may be the silent subjects of our thoughts, or they may be audibly expressed in language. Provided they are sincere and properly conceived, they will equally reach the ears of him to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. Indeed, the deeper is our feeling of the reverential awe due to the Divine Majesty, the more shall we be at a loss for terms adequately to express our sensations, and the more shall we be disposed to adopt the precept of the preacher: God is in heaven, thou on earth, therefore let thy words be few.

Both prayer and thanksgiving may be also either public or private; but they will generally if not always be connected. He who systematically, except from necessity, neglects

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