ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." In joint acts of worship, Christians feel the mutual attraction of congenial spirits. On the memorable day of Pentecost, it is said, "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Hence Paul exhorts the Hebrews "to consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works;" adding immediately, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." Nor did this glowing zeal for the public worship of God expire with the Apostles and the first race of Christians. Tertullian, speaking of the assemblies of the church, says, "We meet in the congregation, that we may, by our fervent prayers, environ God, as an army besiegeth a castle; and this holy violence, with which we assault heaven, is pleasing to God." And we may judge of the attachment of those primitive Christians to public and social worship, when we recollect the known fact, that nothing could induce them to desert it, even when malignant spies and bloody persecutors were constantly on the watch, ready to seize them, and sacrifice their lives for this sole crime. In every age,

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pious men have always deemed it one of the heaviest afflictions to be debarred from the ordinance of public worship. While David was in banishment, and remembered the days when he had gone to the house of God with the multitude that kept holy day, he poured out his soul in effusions of grief and mourning. (Psalm xlii. 1-4.)

4. Public prayer ought, by those who lead the devotion of religious assemblies, to be so conducted, as to its matter, language, and manner, as may conduce to general edification and profit.

A private Christian, in his closet, confines his thoughts within a narrow compass; but a minister in the congregation should take a wider range. His petitions and thanksgivings ought to comprehend the wants and circumstances of all classes, and, if possible, touch some consenting string in every heart. And besides including the cases of such as are present, we must remember at a throne of grace, all the churches of Christ throughout the world, and pray particularly for our own country and our civil rulers: nor must we forget to intercede for profligates and infidels, for Jews, Mahometans, and Pagans.

With respect to the language of public prayer, it should certainly be plain and grave, suitable and impressive. Nothing can be more absurd

than the custom of the church of Rome, praying in an unknown tongue*. Our Lord warns us against using vain repetitions like the heathen, who thought they should be heard for their much speaking. This warning should be well considered, as the state of the world renders it as necessary now, as it was when first given. It is not merely among the Mussulmans of Turkey, or in the Greek and Roman churches, that vain repetitions are to be found; few communities are free from them. If it be asked, whether printed forms are desirable for public worship? without entering elaborately into this controverted subject, I must confess, I much prefer extemporary prayer, for these reasons:

1. It is better adapted to keep the feelings of devotion alive. I think an appeal might be made to experience, for the support and confirmation of this remark. When a man, pos→

Nor is this absurdity confined to the adherents of popery. "I have within the last few years visited the Romish, the Greek, the Coptic, and other churches, which have their service habitually in a language which the people do not uns derstand. St. Paul, when giving directions for conducting the devotional feelings of the Christian Church, says, I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue :' yet, in these churches, they seem to have reversed their choice, and to have adopted the contrary of that which St. Paul preferred."— Rev. W. Jowett's Christian Researches in the Mediterranean.

sessing the gift and the grace of prayer, pours out his desires to God, he will generally utter his requests more happily in his own spontaneous language, than in that of any precomposed form.

2. It is better adapted to embrace passing events, and to meet the wants and woes to which those events give birth.

Even in a moderately large congregation, regularly meeting for public worship, there are frequent vicissitudes; some are raised and others depressed; new connexions are formed, and old ones dissolved by the stroke of death; while the signs of spiritual advancement, and the symptoms of backsliding, the awakening of the careless, and the softening of the impenitent, and the reclaiming of the wanderer, serve both to give an enlargement to the mind of the minister, and an interest to the minds of the people, when these cases are judiciously and feelingly touched in our public prayers. Those who wish to examine this topic more fully, may consult Watts, Doddridge, and Dwight, who have fairly met and answered the objections of Archdeacon Paley.

5. Public prayer ought to be attended by all who have the power, with punctuality, decorum, and seriousness.

Too many, alas! entirely neglect this duty; and turning their backs upon the house of God,

the Sabbath is divided between business and amusement. Others pay a sort of compliment to Christianity, established in the country, by an occasional visit to their pews in the church, without feeling, or at least discovering, the least interest in the passing ceremony; and when they have even determined on one of these rare acts of conformity to general usage, a slight head-ach, a shower of rain, or a cloud which threatens such a disaster, or any trivial domestic impediment, is sufficient to deter them.

Public worship requires punctuality.

If you are influenced by conscience, and not by mere custom, surely you must acknowledge this. Late attendance in the house of God, is not the less culpable because it is exceedingly common. Those who are notoriously chargeable with this fault, would do well to consider how much they both injure themselves and disturb others; how palpably they pervert, and, as far as in them lies, defeat the design of those sacred institutions, which have God for their author, and human happiness for their object. It would be a loss of time to bring forth arguments in this matter, like the attempt to prove a self-evident proposition. Every one knows, that noise, and hurry, and confusion, have a direct tendency to distract the attention; yet are there not some who scarcely ever take their