are successful, will be found in our being individually taught to pray for ourselves. And what encouragement, my brethren, we have to do this! We are told of the ability of God, and of the benevolence that prompts him to communicate his gifts; we have received "great and precious promises;" his honour is pledged to their fulfilment ; we are invited to come into his presence, and to plead them before him: we are informed that we have a com

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passionate High Priest," who is touched, even in heaven, with a feeling of the infirmities that encompass us on earth, and who has received of the Spirit to shed upon his servants; we are invited and urged to go with "boldness" to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and "find grace to help in every time of need:" we are assured, again and again, that God can supply all our wants; can enrich us with all knowledge and spiritual understanding; and can strengthen us with all might in the inner man;—because, he can do for us not only according to our requests, but far above and beyond all that we can either ask or

think,—all that the greatest master of language can express in words, and all that the most vigorous intellect can conceive in speculation! If this be not encouragement to prayer, it is impossible to find terms adequate to convey such encouragement at all.

Seek, then, my brethren, each of you for himself, the fulfilment of the apostle's desire, by making it continually your own. Seek for it, not only by direct supplication, but by such a serious attendance on the means of grace, such preparation for the sanctuary, and such a mode of hearing the word, as may be calculated to invite and not to repel the Spirit. Cherish a humble dependence on Divine aid. Pursue every thing in the spirit of devotion. Contemplate every thing in connexion with God. Frequently remember the certainty of the truths which have at present been established: that is, remember that there is no kind and no degree of assistance but what God can give; that there is no duty but what he can strengthen you to discharge; no sacrifice but what he can enable you to make;

no trial but what he can teach you to endure. Remember, that you can have no weakness but what he can correct; no besetting sin but what he can show you how to conquer; nó corruption but what he can subdue. Confident, therefore, of these great and invigorating truths, you may each adopt as your own the language of the apostle," I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me." "His grace is sufficient for all things; His power is perfected in weakness."

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Suffer me to conclude, by presenting to God, for all that are before me, this comprehensive supplication. "May grace be with you all." May grace be with you that are rich, that you may not trust in uncertain riches,”—that you may lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven," by faith in Him, "who, for your sakes became poor," that you "may be willing to distribute, ready to communciate," usefully employing the "unrighteous mammon," that when you leave all, and leave it you must, you may be admitted into everlasting habitations. May grace be with you that are poor, that you may be "rich in

faith," that you may "know in yourselves that you have in heaven a better, even an enduring substance:" that you may possess that eternal treasure, which dignifies the mean and enriches the indigent; without which none can be great; conscious of having which, you would not for worlds change places with those who have it not. May grace be with you that are fathers and masters of families, that you may be zealous for domestic religion, and exemplary in your conspicuous and important relations. May grace be with you that are young, that you may be obedient to parents; that, in the anticipation of life, you "may learn to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;" that you may feel religion to be a "reasonable service," and contemplate it as the grand instrument for improving and perfecting your nature; that you may be led to the cross, may imbibe the spirit, and follow the example, of Jesus Christ. May grace be with the aged, to prepare them for death; and with the afflicted, to succour and to sanctify. May grace be with all and each of you, to enlarge knowledge, to

kindle zeal, to elevate devotion, to correct mistakes, to supply deficiencies, to advance and mature, to establish and to perfect. May grace pardon the defects of our ministrations; the errors inseparable from imperfection, and those involving culpability; the inadequate manner in which, too often, the truth has been seized, presented and enforced. May grace pardon your inattention, forgetfulness and sloth. May that grace, for which we pray now, be ultimately consummated in glory. May it then be seen that neither our preaching nor your hearing is in vain. "Satisfy us, O Lord, with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.— Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it."

"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, that is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified;" and, "unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and