In his eternal kingdom with himself,
With boundless joys surrounded. 'Tis strange
the death

Of one should be the life of untold hosts!
But so it is, for God devised the plan,
And all the saving value is confined
By him to the adopted heirs of grace.
Our heavenly Father's tender heart appears
Through all the plan, redeeming of his
seed

From the stern fetters which had held them fast,

Captive by sin to Satan's tyranny.

Oh! we can never tell how great our debt To our redeeming God, who gave himself For us, that interposing thus

On our behalf, we who were doomed to die May through the Spirit live a holy life.

This family of God united meet In one great centre, where sweet fellowship Is now enjoyed, and where communion With kindred minds, cements in unity The heirs of God. When by the grace of

Till all the gems are gathered

Thy diadem to fill,
And tell thy high achievements
On yonder heavenly hill.
Here may the poor and needy
Be fed with living bread,
Drink of the streams of mercy
From Christ their living Head;
The glorious river gliding

From 'neath the throne of God,
To cleanse the soul that's filthy,

Bought with thy precious blood.
'Tis such as these are welcome,
The Spirit doth proclaim,
The gospel feast is open

For those who love his name.
Not for your works or merit
He doth his grace impart,
But of his sovereign favour

He brings it to your heart.
Here's love und mercy meeting
The wounded soul to heal,
And costly gifts abundant

The empty soul to fill,
Here's nothing to discourage
Who long to Christ to fly,
His bosom's ever open,
The refuge ever nigh.
It is the Spirit's witness

That burns within the breast,
The fervent flame desiring
To enter into rest.
The longing soul shall never
Be buried in despair,
For in the time appointed

The vision shall appear.

Then may the voice of Jesus

Within this house resound,
And may the poor and needy

In multitudes abound:
May many a harrassed captive
Find pardon full and free,
And realize salvation

From all his misery.
Here the delightful promise
May waiting thousands share,
Of Jesus' smiling presence
Within his temple here.
There's nothing can be wanting
If Jesus fill the throne.
Oh! reign all-conquering Saviour,
And make our hearts thine own.

Bless, Lord, thy faithful servant,

Thy Spirit's strength impart;

May love, and bliss, and knowledge,
All overfill his heart.

Bring home thy word with power,
Unite our hearts in one;
So shall this place be to us
Like paradise begun.

MOSES G.

1. Praying always," that is, habitually, constantly, in private, and if qualified, in public also.

2. "With all prayer," that is, with the understanding, conscience, will, and affections. All prayer is to read the soul to and before God and not the book. To bring a book full of prayers before God avails nothing, but to have the heart brought before him, under the influence of the Spirit, and to express our necessities to him through Jesus Christ, is more acceptable than anything we can bring; and more like unto all prayer than all the books in the world besides. Will the hypocrite always pray? no, no, he is not for all prayer : all prayer is to pray with Somon on the throne,-with Job on the dunghill, with Abraham in Canaan, -with Lot in Sodom,-with Moses March, 1839.]

in the Mount,--and with Jonah in the

great deep: this is all prayer.

3. "And supplication," which is to pray

like an Abraham pleading with God for a guilty Sodom; like a Moses with his whole soul lifted up to God in prayer against divine wrath; like a Jeremiah floating in tears for the misery of Zion.

4. In the Spirit," this is the great spring of the believer's engine. If you had all the volumes in the world, and were saying, "let us pray," all day long, if the Spirit is wanting, all books and prayers though composed by the best, are but a corpse without a soul. As the body is motionless without the soul so is prayer without the Spirit.

The Lord cares not for those who put on Aaron's linen ephod and use not Moses' living, praying, engine.

This

5. " Watching thereunto.” engine should be watched that it be kept clean; or else formality, hypocrisy, and deadness will like rust eat its strength and stop its discharge. It should be watched that it is properly fixed; it must be fixed by the hand of faith upon the high garrison of the impenetrable promises, or else it will make no execution at all. It should be watched likewise in its discharge; we should watch to see how

H

much sin is destroyed; how many temptations are repelled; how fast the Devil is made to flee by the force and power of all prayer. Prayer goes forth to God in Christ, and brings back with it many blessings into the soul, and how this should draw the soul to love and adore the wonderful God, who condescends to hear such vile worms. I will love the Lord," said David, "because he hath heard my prayer; because he hath inclined his ear unto me; I will call upon him as long as I live.” To see how the Lord answers our prayers will also much increase faith, hope, trust, and confidence in him; it will give us to have sweet experience of the truth and faithfulness of God's word and promises; this will encourage us to pray and praise more and more: to fly unto him as our refuge; to call upon him continually, for we never seek his face in vain. We should also confidently expect answers to all our prayers, which are according to his word; we honour the Lord by trusting in him, and expecting firmly what he hath promised. "Ask what ye will in my name and I will do it," and that blessed promise "whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.' Happy those who are enabled through grace to deal with God in prayer.

6. "

With all perseverance," that is in all the times, the seasons, and the occasions of prayer; with Isaac in the field; with David in the morning; with the spouse on her bed; with Peter and John in the Temple; with Christ on the mountain, in the desert, in the garden, and on the cross. Perseverance in prayer is to pray with Daniel three times a day, when death was threatened to all those who prayed once a month. It is to keep winding and binding the spring of prayer until the mercy is obtained; to take hold of the Angel of the everlasting Covenant, and say to him as Jacob said, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." It is to break through all

the barricadoes which may be met with in the way, as the Canaanitish woman did; her faith overcame,-first, Christ's silence; though she cried aloud, not a word of answer came from him, second, when he at last spoke his words were very cutting, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," but she does not give way, she climbs over this obstacle with the scaling-ladder of faith; for she was behind him, now she runs and gets before him, and with greater vehemency exclaims, " Lord help me.” 3. Christ calls her a dog. Now one would think this would have struck her dead; indeed struck down she was, and being so low she was enabled to put her praying engine on the ground of God's mercy in Christ towards a poor sinner: and like a spiritual engineer finds now the way to strike the mark, when the standers-by think it furthest off and most at random. Being thus humbled she gets into the very heart of Christ, and there hits the mark, and gains the mercy she prayed for, and goes home with trophies of victory. This is perseverance in prayer, to form arguments for mercy out of discouragements and miseries.

7. "And supplication for all saints," That is, striving together in prayer. Unity is the strength of heaven:Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity. Unity is the strength of the militant church likewise; to be one with Christ, and with one another, what can be more strong? So when united together in prayer, what can withstand that prayer? To make supplication and prayer for all saints, is to pray for all the saints indefinitely and universally; for one as well as another; for a Lazarus being at the door, as well as for a Solomon sitting on the throne. We should not divide in our prayers those whom Christ hath united unto himself by his Spirit. To make supplication for all saints, is to persevere in all prayer for them that they may persevere in

prayer and in every duty; that they may use all their armour aright, and fight manfully under Christ's banner; that they may be found faithful unto death, and at last obtain the crown of everlasting life.

We will now regard the properties of this engine of all prayer.

1. It is a perfect and entire engine; it needs no addition either from prelates or popes: human inventions, splendid imagery, elegant language, eloquent delivery add nothing to it, yea they rather deform it. They are about as likely to hit the mark, as an engineer who dischargeth his engine eastward in the morning, and thinks to strike the sun at his setting.

2. It is a portable engine, Noah could carry it with him into the Ark, and use it upon the mighty waters; Abraham could carry it into a strange country; Jacob could carry it with him on his journey, and though he was made to go halting with using it, yet lame as he was, he could carry this engine of all-prayer with him, and with it he made heaven to smile and hell to tremble many a time. This praying engine Moses could carry with him to the top of the mount. All the old testament believers could carry it with them into the caves and dens of the earth. Jeremiah took it with him into the miry dungeon: Daniel into the lion's den: Jonah into the whale's belly: Paul and Silas into the prison, and the report was so loud, that it went to the ear of God, who caused the earth to quake, the prison doors to open, and cast the devil out of the goaler and hell into confusion. The war engines of the ancients were huge and massy, and required great strength to draw them about, but the engine of prayer will fetch in strength enough to carry itself and the carrier too. The weakest believer in the world through the help of the Spirit, may with pleasure carry this engine along with him.

3. It is a hidden engine. It can be placed in secret and used in secret

likewise; it hath many hidden properties and qualities in its mysterious workings, that the enemy with the greatest inspection and policy cannot descry. When Herod raised a battery against the church, and digged deep to blow it up, casting Peter into prison, the church got together in private and prayed without ceasing; their prayer went secretly to heaven and took a courtier of the throne by the hand and brought him down to the prison, he unbolted the doors, loosed the chains and brought forth Peter, and then went to Herod the King, and smote him down to the ground with death. This engine goes off sometimes through an absolute promise, sometimes through a conditional one, but always through a Mediator, and then it never fails, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob seek ye my face in vain:" O believer keep charging and discharging your engine for it shall not be in vain. It is one of God's glorious attributes that he heareth prayer. Oh! little doth the world think what is in the prayers of the saints, what good or what hurt this engine will secretly do them. It can kill and cure at once, it can raise up the lowest saint, and sink to the bottom the highest sinner; it can discharge mercy and judgment, honey and gall at once. "To him who smote great kings; for his mercy endureth for ever. Sihon king of the Amorites, for his mercy endureth for

ever.

And Og king of Bashan, for his mercy endureth for ever." This sheweth the different effects of prayer, it can shoot blessings to the one and millstones to the other. Oh! the mystery of prayer: it will dismount a Haman and seat Mordecai on horseback; it will advance one to honour and the other to the gallows. All this is through our great and glorious Captain, for you must remember that this engine of prayer cannot do anything at all of itself. It is God the Holy Ghost that gives it to move, he causes it to work and perform the

different effects: therefore let us worship God and not maek an idol of prayer and praise, and glorify his name that he is pleysed thus to answer our poor petitions.

4. It makes a loud report. Prayer hath a loud voice, though a carnal and careless world hear it not. Eli though near to her could not hear the voice of Hannah, but her prayer was heard in heaven by her gracious God. Prayer may sound no more than a tear on earth, yet it sounds like a trumpet in heaven. If his people do but sigh on the earth, their God hears them on his throne of glory. The more men endeavour to silence prayer, the louder it will cry.

Oh! enemies

to prayer and praying people, can you stop the running of Jordan, or the flowing of the sea, or the terrible shout of the last loud trumpet, neither can you stop the report of the engine af all prayer.

5. It is a powerful engine. This engine has raised the dead, healed the sick, chained up and cast out devils; when the gift of miracles could not do it, the grace and gift of prayer did it. This engine hath shut up heaven, and opened it again (1 James v. 17, 18 : it hath stopt the sun and moon in their courses. Oh, what a powerful thing is prayer! Oh, praying souls, you are the mighty, the excellent ones of the earth; you have power as princes to prevail with God.

6. It is a terrible engine. When this engine is charged with threats and imprecations, woe to them who are the butts and marks before it. Read the 31st Psalm, then you will find how terrible this engine is. It is said of the Queen of Scots, that she was more afraid of John Knox's prayers, than the invasion of an English king. If one sart's prayers were so dreadful and terrible, how terrible the prayers of the whole militant church when united, when all the militant believers are completely marshalled into ranks, with their armour on, their weapons drawn,

their banners displayed, and their engine firing: then says Christ, Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners."

Seeing then the value and mighty properties of this wonderful engine, let us in dependance on the divine aid, seek to set in on work to kill all the vermin of lusts and corruptions. Let us aim at the very heart of sin in our own hearts, and strive to make a general rout there. Let us make use of it to fetch us soul-provision, to get more spiritual might and force, that we may be quickened, strengthened, stablished, and comforted to go on in the ways of Christ. Many of us have but little or nothing of this world's goods to bequeath to our children, let us pray that we may leave unto them the unsearchable riches of Christ, in the great truths and precious ordinances of the gospel. Furthermore, make use of your praying engine to batter down the strong-holds of popery every where. Oh! fix your engine against the walls of this Babylon, and never leave off until you hear a voice behind you saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen." Pray for the carrying forth of the gospel into all the kingdoms of the world, that the power and fulness of the Gentile nations may be brought in, and that God's ancient people the Jews may be brought unto a saving knowledge of Christ, and that the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ for ever and ever.

FRAGMENT FROM SIBBES.

S. C.

A true Christian is as careful to avoid sin for the time to come, as to be freed from the guilt of sins past. Judas may desire to have his conscience freed from former sins; but Judas cannot desire to be a good man for the time to come.