because as it is obvious that objections may always be made against this or any other good custom, so it is certain, that when the duty is duly felt, it will be easy to obviate such incidental difficulties.

The general objection, which has been stated, is of a more serious kind. Its principle is more deeply rooted in the corrupt nature of our social system. So far indeed as it is felt by devout men, it may be sufficiently obviated by the perusal of some of the sublime yet calming words of Scripture, or by a few moments of such quiet thought as the hallowed wisdom of our ancient ritual* prescribed for the priest, just entering on his lofty ministrations. But its influence is more widely extended. It is the result of a conviction which is secretly acted upon without being openly professed. Men of decent exterior can scarcely bring themselves to avow, that the habitual worldliness of their thoughts and wishes makes it impossible for them to introduce a sabbatical spirit amidst the labours of the week. Yet it is in reality be

*The collect with which our Communion Service opens was formerly offered up by the Priest, while robing himself for the altar, "Dum sacerdos induit se sacris vestibus dicat," &c.-Missale ad Usum, Eccl. Sarisbur.

cause their hearts are overcharged with the cares of this life that they are unable to keep alive the recollection of eternal things. What is this but a confirmation of the ancient saying, that prayer and sin cannot go on together, because either men's prayers will make them leave off sinning, or their sins will force them to desist from praying? Is not this exactly what happens when, because the ordinary state of men's minds is inconsistent with devotion, therefore they forego, not their frivolous and worldly pursuits, but the opportunity of intercourse with heaven? It is no new discovery, certainly, that we cannot serve God and mammon: and can we doubt to which service men devote themselves, when, because they live according to the course of this world, therefore the command to live in the spirit of prayer is neglected? (1 Thess. v. 17.) We are told in Scripture, (1 Tim. ii. 8,) that the habit of devotion is inseparable from a christian life. It is answered, that men's habits, words, and thoughts, make such a state impossible. Do we acknowledge the things incompatible, and can we hesitate which we should abandon? It can be no question, at all events, with those who remember what their baptismal vow bound them to renounce, and to what it pledged them to adhere.

This excuse therefore affords in itself sufficient proof of the low and worldly standard of those who adduce it. It is the very condition of men who know that they are strangers and pilgrims in this world, not so completely to assume its spirit, as for a moment to forget their loftier destination. Their life should be that of the charmed combatant, of whom we read in Oriental fable, who, if he forgot for an instant the object of his pursuit, was to sink into his native weakness. Men act, on the other hand, as though it were their wish, in the trivial distractions of a bustling life, if not in the delusions of sensual pleasure, to forget their high origin and lofty hopes. What wonder, if to such persons family devotion is ungrateful?

The objection before us too is one which makes equally against all christian practice. Private as well as family prayer, public as well as domestic worship, might on this principle be abandoned. If men are prepared to go this length, and, giving up every form of religion,

"Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,"

they must do it at their will. But let them not have a name to live while they are dead, or mislead others by the profession of Christianity, while they give manifest proof that they disregard its power.

And it is not necessary, as some may imagine, that men should seclude themselves from the duties of life in order to pay to God that honour which is due. That a man may be engaged in the hottest throng of worldly business, and yet retain a continual sense of higher things, and continual preparation for holy duties, is a fact which, as God's word would prepare us to expect it, so the experience of life happily confirms.

"There are in this loud stunning tide

Of human care and crime,

With whom the melodies abide

Of th' everlasting chime;

Who carry music in their heart

Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, Plying their daily task with busier feet, Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat."

On this subject no other proof is needed than that which the author of the following Prayers afforded by his own example: the flame of his devotion was but fanned into greater warmth by the storms which threatened to extinguish it. Amidst the temptations of active life, he retained the spirit, because he followed in the steps, of that father of the faithful seed, every stage in whose calm and thoughtful pilgrimage was hallowed by an altar to his God. (Genesis xii. 7, 8.)

But we come now to the other cause which leads some conscientious persons to omit this duty. It is an objection which requires to be treated with the more consideration, because it arises from a good, though a misdirected principle. There is a large class happily in this land, who cling with deep-rooted attachment to that ancient system, by which our country has been brought, under God's blessing, to its present greatness, and by whose healthful and vigorous energy it promises to survive the agitations of an evil age. By such persons the custom before us is sometimes looked upon as of recent origin, and because family prayer was not, they think, a universal practice formerly, they doubt therefore its present necessity.

For the exalted spirits of an earlier age it is impossible to feel too much reverence. If men were called on to attain an eminence which those distinguished servants of God did not reach, they might well despair. But persons who take this view of things ought to be especially on their guard, lest they mistake the accidental circumstances for the guiding principles which they respect. And this is just one of those cases in which a servile obedience to the form may blind men to the spirit of experi