Say with David, Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

It may be advantageous not always to confine yourselves to the same parts of worship, or the same order. Watts enumerates the following eight parts of prayer: Invocation, Adoration, Confession, Petition, Pleading, Self-dedication, Thanksgiving and Blessing.

We may occasionally be assisted in our devotion by these more extended and enlarged parts and divisions; only take heed, lest in the use of them, our prayers should become too artificial, and be merely the work of the head, instead of the feeling of the heart. Yet Watts justly observes, that if young Christians did not give themselves up to a loose habit of speaking what is uppermost, but attempted to learn the holy skill of prayer, by a recollection of its several parts, and disposing their thoughts into a suitable method, they would be more successful in attaining this great gift. Only let us take heed not to lose the sweet power of the Holy Ghost on the affections, by building up human frameworks.

These parts of prayer will be more plain by the following example of each part from the scriptures.

INVOCATION.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto thee will I pray.

ADORATION.

Thou art God, and none else; thy name alone is Jeho

vah, the most High-Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

CONFESSION.

I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.

PETITION.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me.

Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary.

PLEADING.

For thy mercies' sake, O Lord, save me.

cried unto thee, and were delivered.

SELF-DEDICATION.

Our fathers

I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

THANKSGIVING.

My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.

O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name; who forgiveth all thy sins, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.

BLESSING.

Blessed be his glorious name for ever.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

O that every reader might be inclined, and by the Spirit of God enabled, to enter on a full and enlarged practice of private prayer! A continual spirit of devotion is the highest attainment of man; it is the root which draws up the sap and life of the tree of righteousness, and thus causes it to bring forth all that fruit which glorifies God and benefits man. Hence love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and temperance, all godliness, and all true excellence. Believe me, it will be worth many sacrifices and struggles to gain the spirit of prayer, guarding against trusting in your own strength and self-righteousness, and remembering, in prayer we put off our own righteousness and pride, our wisdom and riches, and confess our sinfulness and poverty. We shall then find constant prayer bring in the richest return of all our labours and employments.

While this account of the various parts of prayer has been given, it is readily admitted that the purest private prayer is above form and method. It is the expression of a heart full of the Holy Ghost, pouring

1 "Prayer is a sweet travailing and trafficking of the soul betwixt emptiness and fulness, betwixt want and all-sufficiency, and betwixt our inability to help ourselves, and his ability to help us."-A. Gray, on Prayer.

out the inmost desires of the soul before God, in the most natural and obvious words.

It was a saying of the martyr Bradford," that he would never leave a duty, till he had brought his heart into the frame of the duty; he would not leave confession of sin, till his heart was broken for sin; he would not leave petitioning for grace, till his heart was quickened and enlivened in a hopeful expectation of more grace; he would not leave the rendering of thanks, till his heart was enlarged with the sense of the mercies which he enjoyed, and quickened in the return of praise.

And surely every part of our duty, as it is brought before us in the word of God, shews us both our guilt and our weakness. But still the perfection of that rule must be declared. It is calculated to stimulate us to higher efforts, and to humble us in lower prostration of soul, under a sense of our so frequently coming short of the mark set before us.

SECT. VI.-Brief Observations on the Lord's Prayer.

The Prayer which our Lord gave to his disciples is not only a perfect form of prayer, but also an admirable pattern and guide. It is in one place introduced to our notice, thus, When ye pray, say, (Luke xi. 2) and in another, After this manner pray ye. (Matt. vi. 9.) It is so full and comprehensive, that we generally find, after our longest prayers, that there is something asked for in the Lord's Prayer, which we had not before requested.

Its method is simple and clear. It consists of three parts:

I. AN INTRODUCTION, expressing the goodness and greatness of Him to whom we speak.

Our Father which art in heaven.

II. SIX PETITIONS, three of which have a more immediate respect to the glory of God.

1. Hallowed be thy name.

2. Thy kingdom come.

3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And the three remaining more immediately respect our own personal wants, temporal and spiritual. 4. Give us this day our daily bread.

5. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.

6. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The first four of these petitions are for the obtaining of good, and the last two for the averting of evil.

III. A CONCLUSION, not only acknowledging the perfections of God, but most powerfully pleading them as a reason why our prayers should be heard. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Every part of prayer is comprehended in this pattern.

Confession is plainly implied in every request; for the requests suppose either our weakness or our sinfulness in the particulars desired.

Petition forms the main substance of this prayer. Intercession is also involved in the whole; in the first three petitions more directly, and in the remaining petitions by their being in the plural numbergive us, forgive us,-lead us, &c.