we see it, we should utter some thanksgiving to the Almighty Creator; who hath given to us, not only the natural light, but the light of truth, the light of the Gospel; and hath promised us an inheritance of the saints in the light of the new Jerusalem. When we awake to such thoughts, we awake as men and Christians, not as beasts; who receive the benefit of the light, without knowing what glorious things are to be understood by it. When we see the sun in his daily course, we should say to ourselves, such is the Sun of Righteousness, and thus did he rise upon the world, and thus will he rise again to dispel the darkness of the shadow of death, and begin the glorious day of Eternity. As the natural light moves from East to West, so hath the Gospel shined throughout the world: as the day declines, and the evening comes on, so doth the life of man decline. When this happens, we should say with the two Disciples, when they invited Christ to tarry with them at Emmaus, "abide with us, for the day is far spent."

The elements and the changes of the weather will supply us with more matter of the same sort. If there cometh rain to water the earth, let us be thankful, not only for that, but for the grace of God, and the word of truth, which cometh down from heaven as the rain: that the soul of man may be fruitful in works of righteousness. As the earth is parched in a time of drought, and cracked with dryness, so should man open his mouth, and say with the Psalmist, " my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is." If there cometh thunder, we should listen to it, as to the voice of God; which, what noise soever men may make below, will be heard above all. How insignificant do the word and power of man appear, whenever God is

pleases to shew himself, and his lightning shines from one end of heaven to the .other! This appearance should always remind us, that the Lord will at last be revealed in flaming fire.. What will then become of us, if we have never thought of his judgments, till they are upon us, and the great account is to be given by all sinners? He who lives by the rule I am now giving, will never be surprized. He sets the Lord always before him, therefore he shall not be moved if his heart is ready, he will in every place find matter for prayer or for praise. If he is in a garden, he thinks on Paradise: how it was lost by the first Adam, who ate in sin; and how it was regained by the second Adam, who fasted in the wilderness. If he is in the

fields or meadows, by the river side, and sees the flocks and herds feeding,, he remembers, that he himself belongs to God's pasture: he prays, that the Lord, the keeper of Israel, who is his Shepherd, will convert and bring him back, when he strays from the paths of righteousness, and will lead him forth beside the waters of comfort: under these circumstances he may be disposed to repeat the twenty-third Psalm; and he will then feel the force of it.

The husbandman, who is employed in the works of the field, has many opportunities beyond other men; all his works are of such a sort, as may suggest religious thoughts, and lead his mind to devotion: our blessed Saviour took one of his finest parables from the labours of the field; where the ground, good and bad, is the heart of man; the seed is the word of God; the wheat the righteous; the tares the ungodly; the harvest the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Who can have these things before him, without thinking about himself; what he is, and what is to become of him? and these thoughts will lead him to

If

prayer be a

vantage of praying in this manner. labour to the mind, there is none of it here: a small transient ejaculation is sufficient to signify the disposition of the heart, even though it be not uttered by the lips for God is a witness to the meditations of the heart. Therefore it may be used in society, as well as in solitude: and in whatever work a man is employed, provided it be lawful, it will not be interrupted but promoted. Is the husbandman interrupted, if, when he casts the seed into the ground, he prays that the seed of God's word may take root in his own heart? so far from it, that it will bring down a blessing upon himself and his labour and improve his daily work into a work of grace; a work, by which his mind will be kept in constant practice, to a temper of piety so that he may be strictly said, to walk with God, as the Saints did of old; which should be the first object of a Christian's ambition. The agreement between the objects of the natural world and the objects of revelation, so amply and illustriously displayed in the Scriptures, shews (to those who understand it) a wonderful sight; it shews the whole Creation as one great picture of divine truth; which will give as much entertainment, and afford more variety to the imagination of a Christian, than all the works of genius, which all the wit of man ever did, or ever will invent. It is as wide as the world, and as bright as the ocean, when the sun shines upon it. Religious meditation and devotion draw it forth into use; and shew, so many ways of applying it to the edification of the mind,. that if we can bring any qualified person to this one employment, he will never complain that Christianity is a dry study. It infuses a new spirit into common things, which in themselves are dull and insipid: every trifling event assumes a new figure and new import

ance, when applied to spiritual things: every common object changes its nature and value*: the touch of a devout mind has a magical effect upon it, and turns it into gold; so that to live by this rule, and turn all objects to a spiritual use, is the next thing to living in a spiritual world.

སྨཱ

There will be this further advantage, and a great one it is, that we shall find this sort of devotion our best security against temptation. Good thoughts will keep out evil ones. The tempter makes use of all objects to corrupt our minds, and draw us into evil: the way of turning them to godliness, is directly contrary to his way of turning them to sin: and therefore it is the best remedy in the world against his devices; it may be used also, as a test to the mind, whether it be alive to God or not. If the Christian finds himself disposed to it, or if he does not, he may thence learn the state of his own soul, and discover, whether he is a carnal or a spiritual man; whether he is in the light or in the dark if he feels no inclination to it, his own soul is then a thing of no concern to him. Satan may have it, for what he cares; this world has blinded his eyes all the objects in it serve to wrong uses; it is a curse, and not a blessing to him, that he was hrought into it; and when that perishes, he must perish with it.

If a man sees nothing spiritual here, he will see nothing hereafter; but if he looks at the things of this

If the reader wishes to know better this art of applying natural objects to sacred subjects; I would desire him to consult a small Key to the language of Prophecy, bound up with the third edition of the Book of Nature; also, Lectures on the Figurative Language of the Scriptures. The Husbandman's Manual; with such other things as he can collect of the same kind: particularly a Treatise on Ejaculatory Prayer, by the Rev. Robert Cooke, late Vicar of Boxted, in Essex. All printed for Rivingtons.

world with an eye of faith, and can make them the subject of some petition to God, he may then conclude, that his heart is alive; and that, with the help of divine grace, he may so pass through things temporal, and make such an use of them, that they shall help him to pass on through them, to things eternal.

Before I conclude, my beloved brethren, suffer me once more to look back to the subject of prayer in general; of which I must always think, and will always affirm it, that it is the first practical duty of the Christian religion: on which consideration, I know not what to say of those Christians, who do not pray : they will pardon me, if I know not what to call them; I can scarcely cry out with the prophet, "awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." To speak freely, I wonder how any family can look one another in the face, when they assemble together in the morning, to begin the works of the day, without a solemn invocation of Almighty God, for his direction, help, and blessing on all the affairs of this transient and dangerous state. I shall be thankful, if one single soul should be brought by what I have here said to a better mind.