The pious soul sometimes sinks, for a season, under an oppressive view of even the just judgments of God. It deprecates them-shrinks away from them-and prays against them. But, in times of calamity, whether national or individual, there is one grace which is called into exercise, and is even strengthened and confirmed, faith, or holy confidence in the rectitude and ultimate kindness of God. Come what calamities may; rise what storms; blow what gales; beat what tempests upon us, or upon our land-God never forsakes his friends. This confidence is to the soul as an ark, into which it may retire until the indignation be past; a rock, on which it may rest till the raging billows are hushed to peace.

How beautifully does the prophet express the confidence of his soul in God! Here, at last, he reposes himself! Here, hope carries him above his despondencies! Here, he rejoices, even in view of the storm which would desolate the land, and send her sons and daughters into a long and gloomy captivity. "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom; neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation."

We know not what betides our own now happy and beloved country. May she still go on, increasing in her busy and happy population, and flourishing in all that contributes to national prosperity and national renown!

But, should storms hereafter arise; should her rulers seduce her from the observance of the divine ordinances and institutions; should civil anarchy fill her with blood, or some foreign foe desolate her fair and beautiful cities, let the righteous within her borders confide in God; let them look back upon her past history, in no small degree like to that of God's ancient people; let them plead the promises; let them "re

joice in the Lord," as did the pious prophet, and "joy in the God of their salvation;" let them say, and sing:

Loud may the troubled ocean roar,

In sacred peace our souls abide;

While every nation, every shore,

Trembles, and dreads the swelling tide.

RESULTS.

THUS we have passed, in review, the most striking examples of prayer which occur in the Old Testament. These, it will be perceived, are quite numerous. They stretch through a period of several thousands of years. They were offered by persons belonging to different ages-different nations-different tribes, and different families. By monarchs and subjects; by patriarchs and prophets; by the learned and the illiterate; the known and the obscure. They were of fered on a variety of occasions, and for widely different objects. But there are certain general truths, or remarks, which may be predicated of them, and which we proceed to state:

1. They are generally short and simple.

2. They are particular and direct. Particular, as to the object sought; and direct, towards that object, and no other.

3. They are expressed with great earnestness. And if, for any reason, the blessing sought be delayed, the supplicant proceeds to importunity.

4. There is an obvious expectation of receiving a blessing, and the identical blessing sought.

5. The petitioners ask-not demand.

6. They act in consistency with the supplications they have offered.

7. Having preferred their requests, and urged and renewed them, and said, "we will not let thee go except thou bless us," they add, bowing with reverence and humility, "Not our wills, but thine, be done."

THE BIBLE HISTORY OF PRAYER.

NEW TESTAMENT.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

SAID Peter, on the mount of transfiguration, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." And good, I trust, it will prove, readers, for us- -in time present and time to come to enter and survey the field that now lies before us.

Of the truth of one position—but that a most interesting and important one-we may find further confirmation, but no higher evidence, than has been furnished in the Old Testament, viz: that God hears prayer. The history of every generation of his people, assures us of this truth; and the many recorded instances in the Old Testament, in which prayer was fully, and often immediately, answered, has left us, it may be said, scarcely any thing further to wish on this point. No humble servant has been sent away empty, and no proper petition, preferred, in submission to the divine will, has failed, at length, of an appropriate answer.

But, if the New Testament contains no ample proof of a truth so confessedly important, it, nevertheless, contains matters, touching the duty and privilege of prayer, which are new, and of intense interest. It was, indeed, to be expected, that a later and richer revelation would evolve new truths: it was the design of the gospel to make an advance upon preceding disclosures: a brighter light was to shine: the duties and relations of men were to be more clearly unfolded: their privileges were to be enhanced: types, and shadows, and promises, were to receive their accomplishment: heaven was

to descend nearer to earth; or, rather, earth was to be raised nearer heaven: the tabernacle of God was to be more emphatically with men, and their privileges and blessings enlarged, as "sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty."

But, restricting our remarks to the more immediate subject of these pages, we may inquire, what advantages, in respect to prayer, do believers enjoy under the gospel, over the Old Testament saints? To this inquiry the reader will find a fuller answer in the progress of the work; but certain truths, it is deemed important, should be impressed upon him, before entering the field which we are about to survey. They will serve to enlarge his views of the grace and condescension of God; they will enhance his estimation of the gospel; they will warm and strengthen his love to Jesus Christ; they will impress him with a sense of his high obligations to improve. those superior advantages which are furnished him for intercourse and communion with God; and thus he will be better prepared to profit by the perusal of the pages which lie before him.

My first remark is, that the New Testament abounds with directions to pray for, or seek after, spiritual blessings. Independent of the Psalms of David, there are few, if any, such directions; and few examples of such prayer in the Old Testament.* In that portion of the divine word, the examples of prayer relate particularly, and almost exclusively, to secular or temporal blessings. Whatever spiritual favors they might involve, these were not the objects directly and specifically sought.

The explanation of this remarkable fact-and it will probably be deemed satisfactory-is, that it was not the design of God, in the Old Testament, to give the spiritual history, either of nations or of individuals. We know, however, that in every age there were some, and in some ages many, indi

Should it be thought that the writer's statement here is too strong, the reader, after due examination, will please qualify it, to conform it to what he may find to be the fact in the case.

viduals of deep, fervent piety; those whose faith reached and influenced the arm of Omnipotence; whose example shone out upon the moral darkness of the early ages, as stars upon the gloom of night. And, moreover, we know, that faith never exists solitary and alone. She has sister-graces, which she binds by her influence; which she inspires and animates; and by which she is strengthened and animated in turn. The graces, therefore, which belong to, or are distinctive of, true piety, existed, in greater or less degree, in all the Old Testament saints. Nor can it be doubted that they sought and obtained spiritual blessings by means of prayer. We have, in part, the spiritual history, or exercises, of one saint-that of the Psalmist; and, though he lived centuries before the light of the gospel shone out in its full splendor, how rich and instructive his experience! Whose piety now is stronger, or more fervent and active? Whose supplications are more importunate? Whose confessions of sin could be deeper, or more sincere? As to spiritual communion with God, his pantings are like those of a hart after the water-brook. "As the hart panteth after the water-brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." "Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on the earth that I desire beside thee."

Let it not be supposed that David, man of God that he was, was the only saint, in ancient times, of fervent and exalted piety. He may have been in advance of others; but had we the spiritual history of others, we should, doubtless, find that there were many whose piety was of the same pure and heavenly character. Indeed, from incidental passages in the lives of some, which we find in the sacred narrative, we may be sure that in them abounded, and in their example shone forth, those virtues, which are strongly inculcated in the gospel, and for which saints of modern days are taught importunately to pray.

The growth of believers, then, under the former dispensation, was by a process essentially the same as under the