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of being hurried along by the conclusions — the rash, perhaps, nay passionate conclusions of the Understanding. Prayer brings us to a pause, that we may recollect, What saith the Lord? We are tossed, perhaps, upon a sea of troubles our prospect overcast, our land-marks gone, our reckoning at fault. Prayer runs to the compass and the chart which God has given us, to find in what direction we must steer. We are wavering between divergent trains of thought, each carrying us in turn along its course. Prayer discloses some new object which at once decides their relative correctness. Prayer saves us from the judgment of our solitary and exclusive self, by reminding us of another than ourself, and of the judgment of that other, to modify our own. Who has not experienced the advantage of considering, in cases of perplexity, What would such or such an honoured Friend think of this matter? How would his mind, untroubled by the personal considerations which disturb my judgment, decide?—And what then is the privilege of thus referring to the mind of God! of waiting, with a growing sense of his immediate presence, for that calm serenity in which the slightest whisper of the conscience may be heard! In the very act of such re-arguing the case before the quiet glance of his piercing eye, our mind is gradually purifying; all that is earthly sinks away — all that

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is heavenly streams into the consciousness, subtle lusts slink off like unclean spirits at the coming dawn-our holier principles start up from their sleep-we find ourselves impelled against ourselves into another judgment— and yet are conscious and assured that this other is a better, and the right one. We have passed from the twilight of the Understanding into the noon of Reason, and Reason we feel is none other than the light of God.

"Whene'er the mist that stands 'twixt God and thee
Defecates to a pure transparency,

That intercepts no light, and adds no stain-
There Reason is, and then begins her reign!"

Nay, more than this. Prayer is not only meditation on our purposes under God's all-purifying glance it is communication to him of our inmost mind—spreading before him all our circumstances, recapitulating our reasonings, discoursing with Him on our plans. And who knows not the value of discourse to modify what was crude and arbitrary, to clear up what was confused, to bring out our conclusions clean and sharp? "Whosoever," says Lord Bacon," hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up in the communicating and discoursing with another. He tosseth his thoughts more easily, he marshalleth them more orderly, he seeth

how they look when they are turned into words, and he waxeth wiser than himself, often more by an hour's discourse, than by a day's meditation." Dear Christian Reader, would you wax wiser than yourself from day to day? Discourse with God. in prayer! Submit to him your decisions. Talk with him of your purposes. Pray that by the influences of his Spirit you may have "a right judgment in all things." Beseech him so to "cleanse the thoughts of your heart by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit that you may perfectly love him and worthily magnify his holy name." Intreat that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

But Prayer influences the Will, further, by strengthening our determination to do the will of God, when known. The willing spirit may exist, but it may be dull and languid. It may clearly see its path, but it may not be alert to enter vigourously upon that path. It requires to be roused and animated and propelled to pass from being well inclined to being resolutely determined, to the service of God.

And this determination it obtains in Prayer. For Prayer not only brings the will of God distinct and

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full before the mind, but it stimulates the heart to embrace that will, and devote itself to its accomplishment. For who can look on sin without abhorrence when he views it in the light of God's own countenance? Who can look on holiness without a yearning for its full possession and a deep resolve for its pursuit, when he gazes steadily on its surpassing beauty? We cannot purpose evil, we cannot but resolve for good, when we behold them as they are in prayer. And hence the saying of the old divines that Prayer will make men give over sinning, or sinning will make them give up prayer. The two states of mind-as prolonged and settled states - are incompatible. We cannot "think upon" the things that are true, and comely, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report, without being won and carried away by them. The glow of admiration kindles into love, and love bursts forth into determination, and we go forth from the presence of the Lord instinct with vigour in His cause. Look only at the contrast between those poor disciples, who, with all their willingness of spirit, neglected the admonition of their Lord, and did not give themselves to prayer - and the Holy Jesus who sought therein the life and power of God. As the last great trial drew nearer to him, he drew nearer to his Father. Once, and twice, and thrice, he brought the fluctuating emotions of

humanity under the assuaging influence of the Idea which formed the living principle of his existence, and renewed and re-invigorated that Idea by immediate communing with God, till God's will alone possessed his soul-God's will breathed and burned in the very centre of his consciousness, subordinated every other thought into entire harmony of action with itself, and brought him back in calm, untroubled majesty -in himself collected saying to his astonished disciples, "Rise, let us be going; behold he is at hand that doth betray me."

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And this-something, at least, like this—is the effect of Prayer upon the will of those who bring it in its weakness to be inspired with power from heaWhat we have not in ourselves the Spirit of God supplies and we gain more strength from prostrate supplication than from all the arguments and efforts that human ingenuity can devise. By the thoughts awakened in the mind, and the feelings stirred within the heart, amidst the awfulness of Prayer, the Holy Ghost descends into the will and turns it whithersoever it should go, and nerves it to high purposes and noble deeds. We become strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. We are strengthened with all might by his Spirit in the inner man. We find him doing exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, by His power working in us. We labour striving according