HE E that keepeth his Commandments, dwelleth in him (God), and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us, 1 John iii. 24.

It is in the Sovereign Love, which is God, that the Christian Love finds its Perfection, its Peace, and Repofe, to all Eternity: From that it is derived, as from its Source; in that it haftens to be fwallowed up, as in its Fulnefs and its End. It is by Love, which is the Holy Spirit, that we know Love itfelf, that we adoré its Plenitude in God, and that its Refidence and Operation in our Hearts are manifefted to us. Fill me, poffefs me, inflame me, O divine Love, that I may know Thee, poffefs Thee, and Love Thee by Thyfelf.

'Tis this effentially divides

The living from the dead, We know the Lord in us abides, The Spirit of our Head:

O let us in this Knowledge grow,
Hold fast the Earnest given,
'Till JESUS with himself beftow
The ripeft Joys of Heaven:

AN

ND when thou prayeft, thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray ftanding in the Synagogues, and in the Corners of the Streets, that they may be feen of Men. Verily, I fay unto you, they have their Reward, Matt. vi. 5.

A

In order to approach God, and incline him to give Ear to our Prayer, it is neceffary to pray out of the Hearing of Men, and without affecting to be feen by them. A Man loves the World when he feeks to please it, and this Love fpoils the beft Works. God is a jealous God, and cannot fhare with any one what is due to himself alone; and this, not out of Envy but Goodness. He is not afraid of lofing any Thing, but of being obliged not to give, and not to bestow himself.

Lord, thou knoweft I would be feen
Doing good, by foolish Men,
Nature ftill ufurps a Part,
More than fhares with Thee my Heart.
(x)

JESUS fet my Nature right,

Shut the Creature from my Sight,
Thou mine only Object be;
More than all the World to me.

BUT UT thou, when thou prayeft, enter into thy Clofet, and when thou haft fhut thy Door, pray to thy Father which is in fecret, and thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee openly, Matt. vi. 6.

The Heart is God's peculiar Portion; He is the Judge of it; it belongs to Him to reward; it is in this he will be worshipped and adored. Prayer is the most fecret Intercourse of the Soul with GoD, and as it were the Converfation of one Heart with another: The World is too prophane and treacherous to be of the Secret: We must fhut the Door againft it, by forgetting it, and all the Affairs which bufy and amuse it. Prayer requires Retirement, at leaft of the Heart; for this is the Clofet in the House of God, which Houfe is ourselves; thither we ought to retire, even in public Prayer, and in the midst of Company. What Goodness is there equal to this of God, to give not only what we afk, and more than we afk of him, but to reward even Prayer itself! What Advantage is it to ferve a Prince who places Prayer in the Number of Services, and reckons to his Subjects Account even their Trust and Confidence in begging all Things of him.

Father divine, thy piercing Eye

Shoots through the darkest Night,

In deep Retirement thou art nigh,
With Heart-difcerning Sight.

BUT

UT when ye pray, ufe not vain Repetitions, as the Heathen do: for they think they fhall be heard for their much speaking, Matt. vi. 7.

Prayer requires more of the Heart than of the Tongue, of Sighs than of Words, of Faith than of Difcourfe. The Eloquence of Prayer confifts in the Fervency of Defire, in the Simplicity of Faith, and in the Earneftnefs and Perfeverance of Love. The Abundance and choice of fine Thoughts, ftudied and vehement Motions, and the Order and Politenefs of the Expreffions, are Things which compofe a meer human Harangue, not an humble and Chriftian Prayer. Our Truft and Confidence ought to proceed from that which God is able to do in us, not from that which we can say to God.

O may thy own celestial Fire
The Incenfe ftill inflame,

So fhall the Vifits of thy Love
My Soul in fecret blefs,

While my warm Vows to Thee afpire, So fhalt thou deign in Worlds above Through my Redeemer's Name.

Thy Suppliant to confess.

BE not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what Things. ye have need of, before ye afk him. Mat.. vi. 8.

Prayer is not defigned to inform God, but to give Man a Sight of his Mifery, to humble his Heart, to excite his Defire, to inflame his Faith, to animate his Hope, to raise his Soul towards Heaven, and to put him in mind that there is his Father, his Country, his Inheritance, &c. He is a Father to whom we pray; let us go to him with Confidence; he knows our Wants; let us remove far from us all anxious Difquiet and Concern.

For th' Omnifcient's Information,

Need we formal Prayers repeat?
To excite his flow Compaffion,

God, the gracious God intreat?
Alas! I know not how to pray,
But all my Wants are known to Thee,
Father inftruct me what to say,

Lord, our Hearts are before Thee,

Lord, to ALL thy Bowels move,
Help us, for our Wants implore Thee,
Love us with a Father's Love.
Or intercsed thyself for me,
Then hearken to thy Spirit's Groan,
Speak, Father, am I not thy Son.