beings, who cannot always give that which we ask, and frequently deceive us when they can then what severity can there be in the command that we implore God for benefits, who alone can give us every thing, and who never deceives?

Approach then, frequently, your holy and omnipotent, merciful and loving Father, who is in heaven, with sincerity and confidence; with cheerfulness and hope; you will never approach him in vain. If you have sinned he will pardon you, if you are in want he will relieve you, and if you are afflicted he will heal you. If he sometimes deny that for which you pray, it may be, it would be injurious to you; or, he may mercifully withold his bounty for a time, to make you the more sensible of your dependence upon him, and make you the more zealous in praying to him; because the more frequently you pray the more will you see the necessity for praying, and the more will you delight in it. Prayer is the pass

port to God's throne. He will also try and improve your faith by such exercise till it become perfect: and faith is the first condition of your acceptance with him but, from whatever cause delay arise, name that cause mercy; be grateful for it, and pray on; for, lest your awe of his greatness should discourage you, he has commanded you 66 to pray and not to faint," in the parable of the unjust judge (St. Luke, c. xviii v. 2.) which read.

I have said that there are persons who abstain from the Sacrament, although they are regular in their attendance on public worship, &c. When this conduct proceeds from ignorance, fear, or doubt, I must observe that it is the duty of all to remove their ignorance, dispel their fear and satisfy their doubt, by prayer and diligent enquiry of the Scriptures; which it is certain they do not attempt, or do not persevere in; for if they did, as industriously as they labour in their temporal vocations, they would not long

remain either ignorant, scrupulous, or timid. But, in many, I fear, such conduct arises from the secret practice of some darling sin with which they are unwilling to part, which they must do if they would take the Sacrament worthily; and such seem fondly to imagine that they can compromise the matter so long as they do not take the Sacrament, since they cannot then be charged with taking it unworthily, and that their case therefore, is not desperate but that hope remains to them. I do not class all such persons with the determined hypocrite, since he, for consistency's sake, goes boldly to the holy table, although the most unwelcome person there: but such dreamers are among the first class of self-deceivers; for darling sins are darling fiends, and the surest agents of destruction; and as God has declared that he will pardon no one but through the mediation of Christ, who will only mediate for those who obey him, and, has com

manded all to communicate, such may see that they do not better their condition by omitting that part of a Christian's duty. From this, and other kinds of self-delusion in regard to the Sacrament, it should appear as if some people separated this rite from every other ordinance of our religion; as if it were the sanctum sanctorum of Christianity, into which none but a peculiar class may enter and live: but it is one indivisible part of our duty; ordained not only for the saint and priest, but for the sinner and door-keeper of the court. Some think, too, that if they take the Sacrament they accomplish every thing; and that they are then perfectly safe, although they neglect other parts of their duty. This is madness, for, if they were so situated that it were impossible for them to take it, yet, if they fulfilled all other Christian duties, they would be saved; but that cannot be the case when they have an opportunity of taking it, and yet neglect; it is not the mere act of

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taking it but the spirit with which it is taken that renders it efficacious; and if we practise all the other parts of our duty, why stop short at this? It imposes no new obligation upon us; all the obligations of Christianity were previously imposed in the Sacrament of baptism; and he who embraces Christianity, having once put his hand to the plough, must not look back" but go forward with indefatigable perseverance, if he would benefit by it; and I know of no other religious system by which we can benefit in another world: and, as that is the manner in which we serve our earthly masters, is it reasonable that we serve our heavenly master otherwise? but, could we persuade ourselves that it were, we may rest assured that such service will never be accepted by him.