in which you always find yourself the same; those duties which always meet the same repugnance in your heart; in a word, if you feel that inexhaustible fund of weakness and of corruption which remains with you after your conversion, and which alarms so much your virtue, you will not only have ample matter to address the Lord in prayer, but your whole life will be one continual prayer. All the dangers which shall threaten your weakness, all the accidents which shall shake your faith, all the objects which shall open afresh the former wounds of your heart, all the inward emotions which shall prove that the man of sin lives always within you, will lead you to look upwards to Him from whom alone you expect deliverance from them. As the apostle said, every place will be to you a place of prayer; every thing will direct your attention to God, because every thing will furnish you with Christian reflections upon yourself.
Besides, my dear hearer, even granting that your own necessities should not be sufficient to fill the void of your prayer, employ a portion of it with the evils of the church; with the dissensions of the pastors; with that spirit of schism and revolt which seems to be forming in the sanctuary; with the relaxation of believers; with the depravity of manners; with the sad progress of unbelief, and the diminution of faith among men. Lament over the scandals of which you are a continual witness; complain to the Lord, with the prophet, that all have forsaken him; that every one seeks his own interest; that even the salt of the earth hath become tasteless, and that piety is become a traffic. Entreat of the Lord the consummation of his elect, and the fulfilment of his designs upon the church; religious princes, faithful pastors, humble and enlightened teachers, knowing and disinterested guides; peace to the churches; the extinction of error, and the return of all who have gone astray.
What more shall I add? Entreat the conversion of your relations, friends, enemies, protectors, and masters; the conversion of those souls to whom you have been a stumbling-block; of those whom you have formerly estranged from piety through your derisions and censures; of those who perhaps owe their irreligion and free-thinking solely to the impiety of your past discourses; of those of whom your examples or solicitations have formerly either perverted the virtue or seduced the weakness. Is it possible that these great objects, at once so sad and so interesting, cannot furnish a moment's attention to your mind, or some feeling to your heart? Every thing which surrounds you teaches you to pray; every object, every accident which you see around you, provides you with fresh opportunities of raising yourself to God; the world, retirement, the court, the righteous, the sinful, the public and domestic occurrences, the misfortunes of some, and the prosperity of others; every thing, in a word, which meets your eyes, supplies you with the subject of lamentation, of prayer, of thanksgiving. Every thing instructs your faith; every thing excites your zeal; all grieves your piety, and calls forth your gratitude; and amid so many subjects of prayer, you cannot supply a single instant of
