but in spite of myself. I must be so affected, that God shall see my tears as well as hear my voice; and in order to being so affected, I must meditate. It was while David mused that the fire burned; and then he spake with his tongue in the language of prayer. And we know that which melted his heart affected his eye, for in the same Psalm, the 39th, he says, "Hold not thy peace at my tears.'

4. There are other accompaniments of prayer which I must not omit. Nehemiah not only wept and prayed, but also mourned, and fasted, and made confession. Why should not I do the same?

5. I must plead as well as pray. My prayers must be more of the nature of arguments--and I must make greater use than I have ever done of certain pleas. There is one derived from the character of God. "For thy name's sake pardon mine iniquity. Have mercy on me according to thy loving kindness." Another is derived from the promises of God. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Another is drawn from the past doings of God. 'I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy wonders of old." plead Christ more in my prayers. is drawn out to our hands by Paul : not his own Sọn .... how shall also freely give us all things?"

I must also The argument "He that spared

he not with him

6. But again: I must cry unto the Lord. Crying expresses more than praying. It ex resses earnest, fervent prayer. This is what they all used to do. They cried to God. The Psalmist says: I cried with my whole heart." I must cry with my whole heart-yea mightily, as even the Ninevites did, else those heathen will rise up in the judgment and condemn me.

7. I must seek the Lord in prayer, feeling as did Job, when he said, “O, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat !" And this I must do, as Judah is once said to have done, with my "whole desire." Yea, I must search for him with all my heart. I must even pour out my heart before him, as the Psalmist, on one occasion, exhorts. I must "keep not silence, and give him no rest," as Isaiah directs; "night and day praying exceedingly," as Paul says he did.

8. And I must pray in the Holy Ghost, as Jude exhorts. We need the Spirit to help our infirmities, and to make intercession for us. Nor should we be satisfied with any prayer in which we have not seemed to have his help.

Finally, I must alter and alter my prayers, till I get them right; and I must not think them right until I obtain the spiritual blessings which they ask. If I pray for more grace, and do not get it, I must pray differently for it, till I do obtain it.

Oh, if Christians prayed differently, as well as

more, what heavenly places our closets would be: What interesting meetings prayer-meetings would be! What revivals of religion we should have! how frequent, numerous, and pure! What a multitude of souls would be converted! What joyful tidings we should hear from our Missionary stations, and from the heathen world! Oh, what times we should have! The Millennium would be on us before we

knew it.

And because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, the offering of a different kind of prayer for the Spirit, would do more to put down error than all other means which can be resorted to. The preachers of truth cannot put it down without the aid of the Spirit of truth.

Let us then pray differently. Let us at least try. I am sure it is worth the effort. Let every one who reads this resolve, “I will pray differently."

5. Why Prayer is not heard.

There are some who are not at all interested in this inquiry. They offer no prayer. There is in their case nothing to be heard. They are content with the things which are to be had without asking. Such are in a bad way, and I suspect they some

times themselves think so. That dependent crea tures should habitually and devoutly acknowledge their dependence before God; and that needy crea tures, whose necessities return every day, and in deed recur with every moment, should ask God to supply them, is too reasonable a thing for men to neg lect it, and yet be at perfect peace with themselves.

But to pass from those who never make the experiment of prayer, we observe that some pray without any expectation or care to be heard. To obtain is not their object. Their end is accomplished in asking. They hear and judge that prayer is a duty owed to God. They therefore pray, that they may discharge this duty; and having prayed, and so done their duty, they are satisfied. Of course such persons obtain nothing. Why should they? If a child of yours should come and ask you for any thing from a mere sense of duty, you would say, "Very well, you have done your duty, go;" but you would not give him the thing. He did not ask it with any wish to get it. He does not feel his want of it. He meant only to do his duty in asking. It makes very little difference with such what is the matter of their prayer-what petitions they offer. Any thing that is of the nature of supplication will do. It is true, they generally pray for the right things, because the prayers they have heard and read petitioned for such, and they fall naturally into that style of prayer. Ask such persons if their prayers are heard, and you

astonish them. That is what they never looked for. They never asked any thing with the hope of receiving itt—never prayed from a sense of want. I have sometimes thought, how many would never pray, if prayer was not a duty. They never pray except when urged to it by conscience. As a privilege, they set no value on it. Now the truth is, when a man is really engaged in prayer, he altogether forgets that it is a duty. He feels that he wants something which God alone can give, and therefore goes and asks it, and feeling that he wants it very much, he is in earnest, asks and asks again, and waits and pleads for it, till he gets it. Does any one suppose that the publican smote on his breast, and cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner," from a sense of duty, and not rather from a conviction of sin, and a deep feeling of his need of mercy? And yet how many ask for mercy from a mere sense of duty. They have their reward, but they do not obtain mercy.

Some prayers proceed from a conviction of want, while there is no sense of want. The persons judge that they need the things they ask for, but they do not feel their need of them. Now, prayers, which come from no deeper source than the understanding, are not heard. They must come from the heart True prayer always originates in the heart. It is the heart's sincere desire. Or, as another has well described it, "It is a sense of want, seeking relief from God."