eous man, and "be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. And they, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour; how is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints"!"

Think of all this, my Brethren, and rouse yourselves, and run forward with a good courage on your way towards heaven. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. Strive to get holier and holier every day, that you may be worthy to stand before the Son of MAN. Pray GOD to teach you His will, and to lead you forth in the right way, because of your enemies. Submit yourselves to His guidance, and you will have comfort given you, according to your day, and peace at the last.

6 Wisdom v. 2-5.

SERMON CXLIII.

INWARD PRAYER.

1 THESS. V. 17.

"Pray without ceasing."

THERE are two modes of praying mentioned in Scripture; the one is prayer at set times and places, and in set forms; the other is what the text speaks of,-continual or habitual prayer. The former of these is what is commonly called prayer, whether it be public or private. The other kind of praying may also be called holding communion with GOD, or living in GoD's sight, and this may be done all through the day, wherever we are, and is commanded us as the duty, or rather the characteristic, of those who are really servants and friends of JESUS CHRist.

These two kinds of praying are also natural duties. I mean, we should in a way be bound to attend to them, even if we were born in a heathen country and had never heard of the Bible. For our conscience and reason would lead us to practise them, if we did but attend to these divinely-given informants. I shall here confine myself to the consideration of the latter of the two, habitual or inward prayer, which is enjoined in the text, with the view of showing what it is, and how we are to practise it; and I shall speak of it, first, as a natural duty, and then as the characteristic of a Christian.

1. At first sight, it may be difficult to some persons to understand what is meant by praying always. Now consider it as a

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natural duty, that is, a duty taught us by natural reason and religious feeling, and you will soon see what it consists in.

What does nature teach us about ourselves, even before opening the Bible?-that we are creatures of the Great GOD, the Maker of heaven and earth; and that, as His creatures, we are bound to serve HIм and give HIM our hearts; in a word, to be religious beings. And next, what is religion but a habit? and what is a habit but a state of mind which is always upon us, as a sort of ordinary dress or inseparable garment of the soul? A man cannot really be religious one hour, and not religious the next. We might as well say he could be in a state of good health one hour, and in bad health the next. A man who is religious, is religious morning, noon, and night; his religion is a certain character, a mould in which his thoughts, words, and actions are cast, all forming parts of one and the same whole. He sees GOD in all things; every course of action he directs towards those objects which God has placed before his heart; every occurrence of the day, every event, every person met with, all news which he hears, he measures by the standard of GOD's will. And a person who does this may be said almost literally to pray without ceasing; for, knowing himself to be in GOD's presence, he is continually led to address HIM reverently, whom he sets always before him, in the inward language of prayer and praise, of humble confession and joyful trust.

All this, I say, any thoughtful man acknowledges from mere natural reason. To be religious is, in other words, to have the habit of prayer, or to pray always. This is what Scripture means by doing all things to God's glory; that is, so placing GOD'S presence and will before us, and so consistently acting with a reference to HIM, that all we do becomes one body and course of obedience, witnessing without ceasing to HIM who made us, and whose servants we are; and in its separate parts promoting more or less directly His glory, according as each particular thing we happen to be doing admits more or less of a religious character. Thus religious obedience is, as it were, a spirit dwelling in us, extending its influence to every motion of the soul; and just as healthy men and strong men show their health and strength in all they do, (not indeed equally in all things, but in some things more than in others, because all actions do not require or betoken

the presence of their health or strength, and yet even in their step, and their voice, and their gestures, and their countenance, showing in due measure their vigour of body,) so they who have the true health and strength of the soul, a clear, sober, and deep faith in HIM in whom they have their being, will in all they do, nay (as St. Paul says), even whether they "eat or drink," be living in Gop's sight, or, in the words of the same Apostle in the text, in ceaseless prayer.

If it be said that no man on earth does thus continually and perfectly glorify and worship GOD, this we all know too well; this is only saying that none of us has reached perfection. We know, alas! that in many things all of us offend. But I am speaking not of what we do, but of what we ought to do, and must aim at doing,—of our duty; and, for the sake of impressing our duty on our hearts, it is of use to draw the picture of a man perfectly obedient, as a pattern for us to aim at. In proportion as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our SAVIOUR, SO shall we approximate to HIM in obedience, who is our great example, and who alone of all the sons of Adam lived in the perfection of unceasing prayer.

Thus the meaning and reasonableness of the command in the text is shown by considering it as a natural duty, religion being no accident which comes and goes by fits and starts, but a certain spirit or life.

2. Now, secondly, I will state all this in the language of Scripture; that is, I will confirm this view of our duty, which natural reason might suggest, by that other and far clearer voice of GOD, His inspired word.

How is religious obedience described in Scripture? Surely as a certain kind of life. We know what life of the body is; it is a state of the body: the pulse beats; all things are in motion. The hidden principle of life, though we know not how or what it is, is seen in these outward signs of it. And so of the life of the soul. The soul, indeed, was not possessed of this life of God when first born into the world. We are born with dead souls; that is, dead as regards religious obedience. If left to ourselves we should grow up haters of GoD, and tend nearer and nearer,

1 1 Cor. x. 31.

the longer we had existence, to utter spiritual death, that inward fire of hell torments, maturing in evil through a long eternity. Such is the course we are beginning to run when born into the world; and were it not for the gospel promise, what a miserable event would the birth of children be! Who could take pleasure at the sight of such poor beings, unconscious as yet of their wretchedness, but containing in their hearts that fearful root of sin which is sure in the event of reigning and triumphing unto everlasting woe? But God has given us all, even the little children, a good promise through CHRIST; and our prospects are changed. And He has given not only a promise of future happiness, but through His HOLY SPIRIT HE implants here and at once a new principle within us, a new spiritual life, a life of the soul, as it is called. St. Paul tells us, that "God hath quickened us," made us live, “together with CHRIST, . . . and hath raised us up together" from the death of sin, "and made us sit together in heavenly places in CHRIST JESUS'." Now how God quickens our souls we do not know; as little as how He quickens our bodies. Our spiritual "life" (as St. Paul says)" is hid with CHRIST in GoD3." But as our bodily life discovers itself by its activity, so is the presence of the HOLY SPIRIT in us discovered by a spiritual activity; and this activity is the spirit of continual prayer. Prayer is to spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of the breath are to the life of the body. It would be as absurd to suppose that life could last when the body was cold and motionless and senseless, as to call a soul alive which does not pray. The state or habit of spiritual life exerts itself, consists, in the continual activity of prayer.

Do you ask, where does Scripture say this? Where? In all it tells us of the connexion between the new birth and faith; for what is prayer but the expression, the voice of faith? For instance, St. Paul says to the Galatians, "The life which I now live in the flesh" (i. e. the new and spiritual life), "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me." For what, I say, is faith, but the looking to GoD and thinking of HIM continually, holding habitual fellowship with HIM, that is, speaking to HIM in our hearts all through the day, praying without ceasing? After

2 Eph. ii. 5, 6.

3 Col. iii. 3.

4 Gal. ii. 20.