offenders, the remissness of discipline, and the danger of security; since the means are so very proper, viz., the terrors of the law; and the end so very piousthe amendment and salvation of sinners; let the minister use it duly and devoutly, and the people hear it humbly and penitently; let all be present at it, and make that use of it which the Church intends 1.

THE DUTY OF PRAYING FOR THE PEACE AND PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH. (Psalm cxxii. 6—9.)

WEIGHTY are the reasons in this Psalm to prove, and press this truth upon us. First, the condition of the Church; a city compacted and knit together by many strong bands; one Father, one Head, one family, one rule, one faith, one love, one baptism, one Spirit, one common salvation. No where is peace so natural, so amiable, as in the Church.

Secondly, The celebrity of God's worship, which is the glory of a people. Let the ark be gone, and the glory is departed: no so doleful a sight as the desolations of the temple. (Psal. lxxiv. 3. lxxix. 1. Isa. lxiv. 10, 11, 12.)

Thirdly, The throne of David, the towers, bulwarks, and seats of judgment; in which things stand the external happiness of a nation. Laws and judges are the foundations of the earth. (Ps. lxxxii. 7.) When they were corrupted with injustice and violence, the Lord threatened that Jerusalem should become heaps. (Mic. iii. 11, 12.) Great reason, therefore, to pray for Jerusalem, that it may be " a city of righteousness, a faithful city." (Isa. i. 26.) Fourthly, the benefits of this peace. 1. To ourselves, "They shall prosper that love it."

1 Dean Comber.

God will

not only hear the prayer by giving peace to the Church, but by giving prosperity to him that made it. Such a prayer is like Noah's dove, turns back again to him that sent it out, with an olive branch in its mouth. Yea, if the prayer should be denied as to the body of the people, yet such a man should be heard for himself. He should be marked for safety. (Ezek. ix. 4, 5. xiv. 14.) There should be a hiding place provided for him (Isa. lxii. 20), and a book of remembrance should be written for him. (Mal. iii. 16.) "He shall have peace, though the Assyrian be in the land." Mic. v. 5. Isa. xliii. 2.

2. To our brethren, such a prayer shall be like the beams of the sun which diffuseth light and heat upon thousands at once. God's people have public hearts and aims, look after general and public interests. Moses was offered to be the father of a great nation himself. (Exod. xxxii. 10.) "O no, not so, Lord; Lord, think upon thy people." The afflictions of Joseph more wound, than any such promise can comfort him. He dares not so unman, so unbrother himself, as to look upon his posterity, and forget Abraham's.

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3. To the house of God. The conservation and propagation of his holy doctrine and worship is so dear to all that are of David's mind, that they are willing not only to purchase it with their prayers, but with their blood. "I count not my life dear unto me," saith the Apostle, SO I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus." And again, "I am ready not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts xx. 24. xxi. 13.) They prefer Jerusalem above their greatest joy. And this is an high honour that God doth confer upon the prayers of his servants, that whereas all their good and comfort

flows from the house of God; the very house of God itself doth reap benefit by their prayers. Though it be his rest, the place wherein he delighteth, the place which he filleth with his glory, yet the glory of his own house shall be bestowed upon it, in answer to his servant's prayers.

Consider the root and ground of this duty, which is love. 66 They shall prosper that love it." The love of the Church is the foundation of all our prayers and endeavours for the prosperity of the Church.

1. Love is a fundamental passion, the fountain of all the rest: prayer is nothing else but the affection of desire sanctified and presented unto God for the things we need.

2. Love is a special root of obedience, "Faith worketh by love." Love hath a constraining virtue, is as the sail to the ship, the wing to the bird, the spirits to the blood, the wheel to the chariot that keeps all in motion. The more love the more activity ever; the more we love the Church, the more solicitous we shall be for her peace.

3. Love hath a very great interest in God; it is of him, and from him, and therefore it can find the way unto him (1 John iv. 7—16.), as water which comes from the sea, runs to the sea, the Lord cannot but hear the voice of his own work in us. Every one that loves, is born of God; and a father's ear is open to a loving child: this is the foundation of prayer, that we can call God Father. (Rom. viii. 15. Matt. vi. 9.) Every one that loves, knows God. Other things are known by knowledge, but God is known by love. Experimental, comfortable knowledge of God we can have none but in the face of Christ, in whom he is all love. When Moses desired to see God's glory, he answered him by causing his goodness to pass before him. (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19.) The more

we love God, the more he reveals his goodness to us; which knowledge of him is the ground of our calling upon him.

4. Love hath an excellent virtue in it to season all duties, is as salt in the sacrifice; it makes the duty hearty; and God loves cheerfulness as well in praying as in giving. It makes a man urgent and importunate. It is strong as death, which will take no denial; it keeps the mind intent upon prayer. Love turned Mary's thoughts from a mere civil entertaining of Christ into desires of hearing him. Love stirs up faith to eye and fix on promises. Love facilitates duty, and makes the heart constant in it. Ruth loved Naomi, and so went through with her. Weak things by the strength of love will venture on hard things. Love makes the soul able to manage hard duties, to shoot a prayer as high as heaven. Lastly, love is full of arguments; no man will ever want something to plead in behalf of what he loves. All the strength of the mind, and powers of nature, wait upon love, to contrive and cast about for the good of the thing loved. How witty was the love of the woman of Canaan to her daughter, who could pick an argument out of a repulse, and turn that which seemed a reproach into a petition!

Love is that which commends every service to God, the touchstone by which all our duties are to be tried. Martyrdom without love is nothing. (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.) Truth without love is nothing. (2 Thess. ii. 10.) Prayer without love is nothing. The Lord looks not to pretence but to truth, and will answer every man according to the love, or to the idols of his own heart. (Ezek. xiv. 1-5.) A man may pray for the Church of God only out of self-love (as the Jews were to pray for Babylon, Jer. xxix. 7.), because his own safety is involved in it, as the life of the ivy depends upon the standing of the oak; but true

prayer for the Church is that which is grounded upon love of the Church itself; upon zeal for God's truth and worship, upon delight in his oracles and presence; because here only the means of salvation, and the word of life is dispensed; because in the distresses of the Church, God's name is blasphemed, the blood and Spirit of Christ are injured, the glory of the Gospel is eclipsed, the enemies of God are comforted. "What wilt thou do," said Joshua, "to thy great name?" Nehemiah and Esther were great enough themselves; but the afflictions of the Church made them mourn and pray.

And as no duties are acceptable unto God which do not proceed out of love, so no pretence of love is acceptable unto him which doth not put forth itself into duty. This was the proof of David's love, "I love the Lord, I will call upon him." (Psal. cxvi. 1-2.) This the proof of Paul's love, "My heart's desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved." (Rom. x. 1.) When God is angry we find Moses in the gap. (Psal. cvi. 23.) When Israel flies, Joshua prays; when the plague is amongst the people, David is at the altar. (2 Sam. xxiv. 25.) When enemies are in arms, Jehoshaphat and Asa are upon their knees; when Rabshakeh is railing, Hezekiah is intreating the Lord. Here is the proof of love, it draws out the soul into all zealous endeavours for the peace of the Church; where there is no other ability, yet love will pray; and as Solomon saith of a poor wise man, we may say of a poor praying man, that he hath a great hand in delivering the city. (Eccles. ix. 15.) The meanest Christian may pray for the peace of the Church.-Bishop Reynolds.

THE CHRISTIAN TRAVELLER.

THE devout and aged Christian may be compared to a traveller journeying towards some fair city, in which he