of those who have been distinguished for holiness, and after death glorified by God, as patterns of faith and virtue? D. When and whom hath God thus glorified? A. Are the names of Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, and such like, not known to you? D. I know them. A. What do you think of them? D. What do I think? Why, they were men! A. But holy men, whose faith and lives were agreeable to God; and on this account they are miraculously glorified from above. D. Well, let us suppose so. A. Then it is to them that the church is indebted for all those offices and ceremonies which you denominate idolatrous and vain; and the worship of images has been declared not to be sinful, by the council of the holy fathers. How then, will you make this agree with your views? D. I know not. I only know that hell will be filled with priests, and deacons, and unjust judges. As for me, I will worship God as he instructs me. A. But can you, without danger, depend on yourself? Are you not afraid, that sometimes you may mistake your own opinions, and even foolish imaginations, for Divine inspiration? D. How? To prevent this, reason is given unto us. I know what is good, and what is bad. A. A poor dependence! With the best reason, sometimes good appears to be evil, and evil to be good. D. I will pray to God. deceives. He will send his word; and God never A. True, God never deceives; but you deceive yourself, assuring yourself of that on his part which never took place. D. God does not reject the prayers of believers. A. Believers! True, those requests which are agreeable the law of faith, Divine wisdom will not reject; but "ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss." For this purpose hath he given the book of his Divine word, that in it we may behold his will, and that our petitions may be directed according to it. But it is vain to expect in the present day miraculous and immediate inspirations, without sufficient cause, particularly such as are unworthy of him; and to pretend to such inspirations and revelations, is very hurtful to society, and therefore ought to be avoided. D. But to me they appear to be very useful, salutary, and worthy of acceptation. A. What to break off from the society of your countrymen, though united with you by the same laws and the same articles of faith, and to introduce strange doctrines, and laws of your own making? to begin to N. S. VOL. VII. expound the doctrines of the Gospel, without the aid of an enlightened education, disregarding the advice of such men as are most versed and experienced in those things; and out of your own head to found upon all this a separate society? Is it not also to rise against your country when you refuse to serve it, when the sanctity of an oath is required? Should not the simple command of the higher powers be sufficient to unite you with others to defend your country, your fellow-citizens, and your faith? D.. A. Why do you make no answer to this? D. There is nothing to say. I am not so loquacious as you, neither have I need of it. A. But do you not see, at least, whither your blind zeal is leading you, and that you deserve to suffer much more than all that has befallen you? We look for your repentance and amendment. D. Do what you choose with us: we are happy to suffer for the faith: this is no new thing. Did you ever hear the old story? A. Tell me, I pray you, what story? D. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine-fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard; and they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore an only son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. Now I have done with you. A. At least answer me this: How can it be reconciled, that you reject the Holy Scriptures, and at the same time endeavour to support yourself upon them? D. Argue as you will; I have spoken what was necessary, and shall not say another word. Haddington. J. C. B. THE PARTS AND TOPICS OF PRAYER. "Prayer is appointed to convey The blessings God designs to give ; WHAT does prayer include? The term properly means, to intreat, to supplicate, and when used to express a religious act, it means to address petitions to God; to ask anything at his hands. But it has a wider signification; and prayer, in common speech, is the general name for all those direct addresses to God, which are not sung, whether they are audibly or inaudibly presented; and of which petition forms a part. In the Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, prayer is said to be, "the offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ; with confession of our sin, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.” Dr. Watts divides it into the following parts: invocation, adoration, confession, petition, pleading, self-dedication, thanksgiving, blessing, and the Amen, or concluThe former definition I think defective, the latter unnecessarily minute; and would submit, as more complete than the one, and not less expressive than the other, the following, and say,-that prayer embraces adoration, thanksgiving, confession, supplication, and selfdedication. It may not be necessary that every address to Almighty God should contain the whole of these, to constitute it prayer; or that they should be introduced in the order here adopted. There are seasons when circumstances may dictate the propriety of giving the prominence, or even of confining our addresses, to one of these matters. Now, praise may especially become us, then, confession; at one time adoration, at another petition; and surely there are seasons when the hour of prayer may be most suitably employed in the solemn work of self-consecration; whilst sometimes the exercise may begin with confession, and end with thanksgiving, &c. Yet prayer, as usually understood, includes the whole; the uniform omission of any one would render the offering imperfect, and the above order is, perhaps, at once the most simple and natural. Adoration is the serious and solemn mention of the names and attributes, the works and ways of God, in terms expressive of reverence and admiration, of satisfaction and joy. The Psalmist says, "For the Lord is great. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." things; thou art God alone." said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the of his glory." In the heavenly world, the redeemed from among men, "Thou art great, and doest wondrous The seraphim cried one to another, and Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full the angels that are before the throne, and all the heavenly host, rest not day and night, but present their united adorations, and say, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." "Honour to whom honour is due, fear to whom fear;" and surely we may add, adoration to whom adoration. But the great God is the only being whom it is proper to adore. We are required to love the whole brotherhood of man; to fear the magistrate, who beareth the sword on earth; the cherubim, the seraphim, and the holy angels, we may regard with wonder and admiration; we may remember, in order to imitate, the conversation and worth of departed saints; but we may not bow down and worship them. If it is lawful to ask God to give them charge concerning us, yet them we must not even invoke. Adoration, worship, is a religious act; it belongs to their God and ours alone. He only is worthy of it; whilst it is equally due to him, and befitting in us. And in this part of religious worship, who has not felt that there is something truly elevating and inspiring? It brings the character and glory of God immediately before the mind; more fully and vividly than any other part of devotion, it realizes to us his might and majesty, his wisdom and condescension, his justice and mercy, his holiness and truth. It makes us directly conversant with all that is grand, and sublime, and lovely. It takes the mind into the highest region to which it can soar; it leads us to the seat of God, conducts us to his pavilion, and brings us to his fellowship; we were created for this work; till we enter upon it we do not rise to our proper rank in the scale of being; we sacrifice the glory and dignity of our nature, and leave unexercised some of our noblest powers. But when employed in adoring the great Object of our worship, we feel that we are performing an appropriate part, and using aright our divinest faculties. We are raised above humanity and earth; we become companions of angels in their loftiest employ. By that vision of God, that meditation on his insufferable glories, which the work of adoration necessitates, our nature is transformed; we are made conscious of being one with the Father and the Son; though we cannot but be humbled, we are filled with joy, and experience the same hallowed and delightful results with Moses on Horeb, and the disciples on Tabor, and Paul when caught up to the third heavens, and the Son of Man himself at Olivet or Gethsemane. The solitude, if I may so express myself, of the Majesty on high, gives depth to our emotions, and power to the exercise. The angels excel in strength; but I cannot worship them. The Lord, He is the God, and He alone. I am now in his presence, adoring the only Lord God. I am sure that I am right. There is a grandeur and an elevation in the employment; there is a sacred might in the influence it exerts; there is an intensity in the satisfaction it brings, altogether peculiar, and which cannot be experienced in any other exercise. Thanksgiving and praise ought to form a part of our addresses to God. Adoration has respect to God's own glory, or to the manifestations of that glory which he has made. We magnify his name because he is God; we praise him because he is our God, and deals with us in wisdom, and faithfulness, and truth. Every good and every perfect gift comes to us from his hand. He is perpetually acting as our Preserver, Benefactor, Saviour, Father, and Friend. From the same fountain he supplies us with temporal and eternal benefits. We have received innumerable mercies in answer to prayer; he has bestowed on us ten thousand times ten thousand which we never solicited. There is no image to represent the constancy, the profusion, or the excellency of his gifts. The breath of life which circulates round the globe, sometimes comes charged with pestilence. The sun, which is ever shining on some part of our world, yet leaves each in occasional darkness. God alone is always doing us good. If our nature were not disordered, thanksgiving would be a natural dictate-a spontaneous employment. The renewed man cannot withhold it. Morning and evening, and all day long, when he thinks of what he receives from God, sentiments of gratitude arise in his breast, which must have utterance in the language of praise. One part of the office of the ancient Levite was to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord; and likewise at evening. We are expressly told that David composed the 96th, the 105th, and the 136th Psalms, to thank the Lord; and these, with others, were used as the appropriate thanksgiving odes of the Jewish church; also the Apostle Paul, in all his epistles, mentions it as his constant practice, to offer thanks to God for his goodness, both towards himself, and to all the saints. Our obligations are as numerous as theirs, or more abundant; and if we would bring to God that worship which is due to his name, praise must be frequently, fervently, and cheerfully offered. Its omission is a serious defect. In case of benefits received, even from man, the offering of gratitude, though it may sometimes be felt to be humiliating, is proper. How much more proper when God is the giver; whilst his being God not only takes away whatever is irksome or distasteful, but renders it a most delightful and salutary exercise. Indeed, we are so constituted, that it is not possible for a creature to be happy, who lives without the offering of praise to God. But the discipline which God exercises over us, not less than the direct and positive good he confers upon us, is a suitable topic for thanksgiving. It may often be trying and severe; but its purifying and corrective tendency places it amongst our real blessings. Hence the Psalmist said, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment; unto thee, O |