and conduct of every child of God, the spirit of selfdenial is the prominent feature. He who possesses most of this spirit, possesses most of the spirit of his Divine Master. In the same proportion in which the glory of God and the welfare of His kingdom take the place of personal advancement, does vital religion predominate in the soul.

I wish I could press this point upon the conscience of the reader as closely as its importance demands. The end of the Christian in the exercise of grace, is the glory of God, and not merely his own present or future happiness. The object at which he aims rises far above anything that is confined within the limited circle of which his little self is the centre. Let the reader call in his wandering thoughts, and inquire, Have I ever been taught to fix my heart on anything infinitely more important than myself? Do not all my religious affections spring from some selfish motive? Is the desire of self-advancement, or the desire to advance the glory of God, the paramount principle of my feelings and conduct?

The monastery and the cloister are not the only evidences that there is much of the show of selfdenial where there is none of its spirit. We must look diligently into the nature of our religion, if we would not be deceived. Men may deny themselves

in a thousand instances, from no other motive than

"And no

that they expect to be the gainers by it. marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." You cannot know whether your self-denial is genuine, or whether it is spurious, without knowing whether it is founded upon a supreme attachment to the glory of God. To deny yourself from a supreme regard to a higher interest than your own, is to possess the spirit of the Gospel. Is this then the principle which regulates your conduct both toward God and toward man? Which do you pursue most, your interest or your duty? Which do you think of most, your interest or your duty? Can you sell all for the pearl of great price? Can you renounce your ease, your profit, your honor, when they come in competition with your duty? Can you renounce everything which is inconsistent with the glory of God, and the highest good of your fellow-men? Are these the natural breathings of your heart—" Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done!" Is the highest interest of this kingdom identified with the object of your highest wish, and your most vigorous exertion? Is the cause of Christ your concern; the dishonor of Christ your affliction; the cross of Christ your glory? If so, you are not strangers to the spirit of self-denial. You are not without conclusive evi

dence, that you are born from above.

The more

you forget yourselves in a supreme regard for God's glory, the more will you advance your own interest, both in this world and that which is to come.

But

the more you seek a selfish, private, separate interest, in opposition to the glory of God, the more are you seeking an interest which God has determined to destroy.

ESSAY XI.

SPIRIT OF PRAYER.

SAUL of Tarsus was once a hardened, obstinate sinner. He styles himself the chief of sinners, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. But he was a chosen vessel. It pleased God, who separated him from his mother's womb, suddenly to arrest him in his career; and near the spot where he had anticipated the success of a commission armed with the most unrelenting virulence against the trembling Christians, to humble him to the dust. He had in all its strength and prominence, borne the image of the earthly; but now he bears the image of the heavenly. "Behold," saith the testimony of the faithful and true witness," Behold, he prayeth!" He is not now the persecuting Saul; but the heaven-born, praying Paul. The proud Pharisee has become the humble suppliant; the stubborn rebel,

the meek child of Jesus. "No sooner is the soul born, than it breathes; no sooner is Paul converted, than Behold, he prays!"

When we say that the spirit of prayer is conclusive evidence of Christian character, we feel under obligation to point out wherein that spirit consists. We are not to forget that there is such a thing as "drawing nigh unto God with the mouth, and honoring Him with the lips, while the heart is far from Him." The hearts of men may be as stupid and unfeeling, as proud and as self-righteous; they may be in the exercise of as sensible opposition to the character of the Most High, to the law and the Gospel, while offering up the most solemn expressions of homage, as they are when God is not in all their thoughts. But it is not so with the righteous. His prayer "goeth not forth out of feigned lips." With the spiritual worshipper, the heart feels what the lips express.

The spirit of prayer is humble. It flows from a broken and contrite heart. The publican "could not so much as lift up his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner!" Before Him who is so great, that the nations are as the drop of the bucket in his presence; and so holy, that the heavens are impure in his sight; the suppliant feels as a man of unclean lips