Artaxerxes the King, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it to the King." Meantime the sorrow of his heart appeared in his countenance. "Now," continues he, "I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the King said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart." "Then," he adds, "I was very sore afraid." And well he might be, for he served a monarch of the most despotic power, and filled an office regarded with such jealousy, that the slightest suspicion of treachery on his part would have exposed him to instant execution. Truthfully, however, though tremblingly, he answered, "Let the King live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the King said unto me, For what dost thou make request?" An opening was thus given him to present his suit. And, agitated and affrighted as he was, it would have been natural for him to have at once stammered forth his application. But mark his irrepressible spirit of devotion! Though not always in the act, he was always in the attitude, of supplication. He was not, therefore, thrown off his guard; he paused; he was silent; and so, says he, "I prayed to the God of heaven." Then, having first made known his request to Him in

whose hand are the hearts of kings, he next presented his petition to his earthly sovereign. Is it possible to conceive of a more expressive evidence of the constancy with which this great man waited upon God than the evidence furnished in this simple incident? It speaks volumes as to the

steadiness of the sacred flame which burned within his breast.

Our interesting subject then for this evening is, ejaculatory prayer-the habit of lifting up the heart in brief aspirations to God in all places and under all circumstances;-thus hallowing the commonest pursuits of life, and turning the warehouse or the workshop into a house of prayer. God grant to us the spirit of grace and supplication whilst we dwel on this vital theme!

Few have any just conception of the essence of prayer. Very many, when they think of praying, think of it as necessarily involving a formal kneeling down in the closet or the sanctuary, and a presenting our petitions in a set manner to God. This, no doubt, when spiritual is pre-eminently prayer; but if a man never prays anywhere save in the closet, the family, or the temple, there is reason to fear that he never prays at all. For, if he prayed truly in these consecrated spots, he could not repress the silent aspiration that would sometimes gush from his heart in the market-place,

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in the counting-house, in the social circle, as he sat in his house, and as he walked by the way. If the spirit of genuine devotion animated his stated worship, it could not be inert all the day beside. The sad formality which man has superinduced on the religion of Christ, has tended to foster many unscriptural notions on the subject of devotion. Hence it is that multitudes have thought that they must come out of the world in order to hold communion with God-hence they have sought the cell in the wilderness or the gloom of the cloister, that they might spend their days and nights in converse with heaven. But, counteracting God's purpose, they have generally failed of their object, and it is no breach of charity to say that, for the most part, whilst they left the world the world did not leave them; and that, in many instances, the monastery and the nunnery, instead of being houses of prayer, were dens of thieves. The religion of Jesus is far too practical to abstract us from the duties of our stations, or from the relationships of social life. Instead of interfering with them, it secures that they shall be effectually performed; it cheers, sustains, and sanctifies us in their performance. It converts the toils, the cares, the ills of ordinary life into a heavenly discipline; bracing our principles by bringing them into conflict-strengthening our devotion by

calling it into exercise. The devout spirit, like the well-strung Eolian harp, not only gives forth sweet sounds when woke by the gentler breathings that steal over its chords, but when vibrating under the ruder blasts that sweep across its strings. You could not have the rule of life more beautifully expressed than it is in the language of the lesson for this evening-"not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." See to it, that this fervency of spirit pervade your secular occupations, and your business will invigorate your devotion, whilst your devotion will hallow your business. To be slothful in business will quench devotion as fatally, as to pursue business with inordinate affection. The hardiest devotion is the healthiest. The devotion of the cloister is for the most part like the ghastly light that hovers over decomposition and decay; the devotion which characterises the diligent, spirituallyminded man of business, resembles the star which shines on in the storm as in the calm-when the sky is clouded as when it is serene.

It is then utterly a mistake to suppose, that except a man bend the knee and use the language of supplication, he cannot pray to God. How beautiful the hymn which we have recently been singing, and it is scriptural as it is lovely!—

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To the same effect is the language of our incomparable Liturgy :-"O God, that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful." The sigh of the penitent is prayer in God's ear; the desire of the sorrowful is heard by the Omniscient. Language is necessary to communicate our sentiments and feelings to our fellows; not so to convey them to Him who knows our thoughts long before we conceive them-"who knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God." Be assured of it, there may be no praying where there are long prayers-there may be much prayer where not a word is spoken. There are groanings unutterable which the Spirit excites in the heart of the believer that prevail mightily with God; whilst the long-spun address of the Pharisee standing in the synagogue, or at the corners of the street, is loathsome to Him who requireth truth in the inward