addicting themselves to the service of sin. "If I had served my God as I have served my king," exclaimed the disappointed Wolsey, "he would not have forsaken me in my old age. 92 "If I had served the Lord as I have served the world," myriads might exclaim," he would not have abandoned me to the sting of death, and the gnawing of the worm that never dies!" O, then, if any of you are still walking "according to the course of this world," renounce, before it be too late, the service of sin. To continue in that service, even another day, would expose you to hazard incalculably tremendous. Hesitate no longer. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Direct your imploring, and believing views to that Divine Redeemer, whose blood can cleanse you from the awful guilt you have contracted, by innumerable acts of disobedience and rebellion. Remember that the very first act of acceptable obedience, is to believe on the name of the Son of God; and under the impulses of love to him who died for the ungodly, may you consecrate to him your heart, your life, your all.

2. We cannot be sufficiently thankful, that the will of God is so clearly revealed, and so powerfully enforced in the word of truth.

How perplexing and bewildering were the disputatious reasonings of the ancient sages, on the nature and the standard of virtue; and how defective were the clearest views they entertained, and the best rules of life they formed. Blessed be God, he has shown us

what is good, and what it is which he requires of us. The general requirements of his will are, that we should "do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God," Micah vi. 8; and the minuter directions are given us, either by express precept, or by still more impressive examples, in order "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 17. Let the word of God then be to us the rule of life. Instead of aiming, with the deluded Antinomian, to establish an immunity from the obligation of that law which is "holy and just, and good," Rom. vii. 12, let us rejoice that it is immutable and eternal. Blessed be

God for the motives to obedience which we derive from the cross of Christ. If we are redeemed from the condemning power of the law which we had violated, it is that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, by our walking, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Rom. viii. 4.

3. Let it be our daily prayer, that we may receive those aids of the Holy Spirit, without which we cannot serve God.

When we would serve God, do we not often feel our incompetency? Whatever difficulties we find in entering into some parts of the experience of the apostle Paul, we feel no difficulty in adopting the language of his bitter lamentation; "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.—I

find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." Rom. vii. 18, 19, 21-23. Under the distressing consciousness of so much evil and so much inability, how cheering is the assurance that God, by his Holy Spirit, can work in us both to will and to do according to his own good pleasure, Phil. ii. 13; and that it is perfectly easy for the omnipotent Spirit to exert a power, which can bear down all opposition, and overcome every counteracting principle. For the glorious exertion of that power, let our most fervent petitions perpetually ascend to him who heareth prayer, and who has absolutely engaged to give his Holy Spirit to them that

ask him.

4. Let us exult in the hope of full qualifications for obedience in the heavenly world.

Oh what force and beauty is there in that concise petition, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!" Were one of the heavenly hosts permitted to address us on the subject which has now been occupying our attention, how glowing and how rapturous a description would he give, of the pleasures resulting from unreserved obedience to the will of God! With what seraphic eloquence would he show us, that in heaven, to hear is to` obey, and to obey is to be blessed; that beholding the unvaried glory of every Divine

perfection, they love supremely him that sitteth on the throne; and loving him supremely, with eager promptitude they carry into effect his every command. Say, then, Christian, to the joy and solace of thy heart, "I shall one day-nor is the day far distant-be in these respects even as the angels that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. In purity like theirs, I shall stand before the throne; with alacrity like theirs, I shall rejoice in every act of homage and obedience; with songs like theirs, I shall celebrate the attributes of my God and the achievements of my Redeemer; and, surely in one point I shall surpass even them-in love and gratitude to him who loved me and gave himself for me. Under the animating influence of that love, may I spend the short remainder of my days on earth, ever prepared to say, as he said, whom my soul loveth, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart!"" Psa. xl. 8.

CHAPTER VI.

THAT

THE PLEASURES OF PRAYER AND PRAISE.

prayer and praise are duties incumbent on us all, we may be assured on principles which reason asserts, and revelation explicitly

confirms. If God be the Author of our existence, then our relation to him, as his dependent creatures, should be humbly acknowledged. If the attributes of his nature comprise all that is good, as well as all that is great, then adoration must be unquestionably due. If his bounties flow to us in an uninterrupted stream, that stream should be gratefully traced to its Divine and unbounded source. If he condescend not only to permit, but even to invite our supplications and thanksgivings, these offerings of the heart should be regarded as a reasonable and delightful service. If it be his benevolent design that they should become means of happiness, as well as means of grace, then the inducements to prayer and to praise are the most powerful which can possibly be presented to our minds. That they are so designed is evident from the words of the apostle: "Rejoice evermore." 1 Thess. v. 16. Yield yourselves to the sacred pleasures which the gospel provides; and, with a view to the full enjoyment of these delights, "Pray without ceasing," and "in every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Ver. 17, 18.

Let me then invite your regard to the characteristics of these pleasures, and to the conclusions which they authorize.

FIRST. Consider the characteristics of these pleasures. Let your attention be directed,

1. To the pleasures which both prayer and praise are alike adapted to yield.