who made heaven and earth!" And where do creatures learn this? where do they say this? where do they feel it? It is prayer alone that thus leads the soul to God. It is no voice of creatures that can inspire us with hope; it is no created arm, faint and weary, that can give us help in danger, and make our way prosperous. Heaven's own voice alone can say, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer!" Creatures control not our condition and destiny; God can control them by a word. They cannot promise what he promises. Well did he say to the heathen, "Go and call upon your gods, and let them save thee, if they can save thee!" Nothing like prayer teaches us the vanity of all other confidence. Wonders, wonders upon wonders have been done in answer to prayer, when all around us has been full of darkness, and when human helpers have been no better than senseless idols.

6. I remark, in the sixth and last place, prayer becomes us as dying men, and men who are hasting to the judgment and eternity. Every man, not excepting the ungodly infidel, feels that he needs the divine presence and favor when he comes to die. Nothing prepares men for death and eternity, who restrain prayer. Let them neglect this appointed means of preparation, and the hour of death proves a sad hour. It is an awful spectacle to see a prayerless man die. But how tranquil the scene, how delightful the view, to see the young, or the old breathe out their departing spirits in

humble and believing prayer! Who would not die in the very act of prayer, and with the very language of prayer on his lips? Men who restrain prayer in life and health, may pray when they come to die, but their prayers will be bitter prayers. They shall call, but God will not answer. To live without prayer, to be wasted by disease, or to be cut off by sudden calamity, -to be swallowed up in the grave without hope,-what a life, what a death, were this! Do not put these solemn reflections far from you, and say that they are gloomy thoughts. They are pensive and gloomy subjects because they are not thought of. Do not say you have no time to think of them; you must have time to think of them, because you must have time to die.

The end of the man of prayer is peace. The days of his mourning are ended; his struggle with sin is over; he is dismissed from toil, and gone to his rest. They are not unthought of, unpremeditated scenes, on which he enters; death has but removed the veil, and broken down the dense wall that separated him from the God he loves, and the object of his prayers. He has come home to his Father who is in heaven. His immortal spirit is there a few hours, it may be a few moments, after it leaves its forsaken clay. Angels bear it to Abraham's bosom. And when, from the long sleep of the tomb, he awakes, it is to stand in his presence whose favor and fellowship he so often sought and enjoyed in the present world; to behold his face in righteousness, whose love, and the light of whose countenance, so often cheered him this side the grave.

It was of men of prayer that the Saviour once said, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” It was to men of prayer that he said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

"Go on

Ye who are men of prayer, take courage. your way, till the end be; for you shall rest, and stand in your lot, at the end of the days." When Jesus shall come with great power and glory, and erect his throne in the clouds; when the angels shall be sent forth to gather together the men of prayer from the earth and the sea; you also shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be openly acknowledged and acquitted by your Judge, and to enter into his joy.

Ye who cast off fear and restrain prayer, must look

for a different allotment. Remaining as you are, you will die in your sins, make your grave with the wicked, come forth in the resurrection of the unjust, stand at the left hand of your Judge, and hear that melancholy sentence, Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

Which of these two characters, which of these two allotments, will you choose? Which life, which death, which resurrection, which place at the judgment, which allotment for eternity? And forget not this question is to be decided by another; and that is, Whether you will restrain prayer before God?

SERMON XVIII.

THE FEAR OF GOD THE GREAT PRESERVATIVE FROM SIN.

NEHEMIAH V. 15. But so did not I, because of the fear of God.

MEN are everywhere, and constantly exposed to do wrong. They are "prone to evil from their youth," and easily led to commit it from the evil disposition which they bring into the world, and carry with them to their latest breath. They are allured to it by the example of others; by the love of pleasure, or of gain; and they are tempted to it by wicked men, and by the devil, the great Seducer.

There are strong and persuasive motives to keep them from sinning; but there is one that is more persuasive, and more powerful than all others. The Prophet Nehemiah, who utters the language of the text, was a very learned and great man; he was, too, a very decided and bold man. He does not seem to be afraid of anything; yet was there one thing which no threats and no promises could induce him to do; and that was to sin against God. He was afraid of doing wrong. The fear of God ruled his heart, and kept him from evil. In view of a long course of wicked conduct, which was practised by others, he could say with an honest conscience, "So did not I, because of the fear of God."