prayers, you should put away all vain or wandering thoughts. When the time arrives, and the family are assembled for devotion, seat yourself in a serious reverent manner; and if there should be a few moments' delay, do not engage in conversation nor in reading newspapers, or any thing calculated to divert your mind; but direct your thoughts upward to God, and seek a preparation for his worship. Suffer not your mind to be occupied with any thing but the service before you. Let not your eyes wander about, to catch vagrant thoughts. Let not your hands be occupied with any thing to divert your attention or to disturb others. Have your Bible, and take your turn in reading. Be attentive and devout during the reading of God's holy word, endeavouring to apply it to your heart. If the family sing, enter into this sweet service, not only with your lips, but with your heart. When prayer is offered, place yourself in the attitude which is taken by your father and mother. If they kneel, kneel you also; do not sit nor recline, but stand upon your knees in a reverent posture. Shut your eyes and keep your heart. Let your heart embrace the words of the prayer, and make them your own. Remember that the devotional habits you form at the family altar, are the habits that will follow you to God's house, and probably adhere to you through life. And what can be more shocking than to see persons pretending to gentility, who do not know how to behave with propriety before the great God that made them! If you were in company, and should treat the person that invited you with as much indifference as you treat God by such conduct, you would be considered a very ill-bred person. He has invited you to come to his mercy-seat to converse with him, and to receive favours at his hand; and yet, by such

conduct as I have named, you show no interest at all in the matter.

Family devotion, when rightly improved, is a very important means of grace. If you attend upon it seriously and reverently, you may hope that God will bless it to your soul. It tends, also, to tranquillize the feelings and prepare you to engage in the duties of the day with serenity and cheerfulness.

CHAPTER IX

PRIVATE PRAYER.

SUPPOSE, if my readers are the children of pious parents, they have been taught from their earliest recollection, to retire, morning and evening, to some secret place, to read their Bible alone, and engage in private prayer. This, in very early childhood, is often an interesting and affecting service. But when young people come to a certain age, if their hearts are not renewed, they are disposed to regard this as an irksome duty, and gradually to leave it off. They find the old adage, in the primer, true: "Praying will make thee leave sinning, and sinning will make thee leave praying."

It is a sad period, in the history of a young person, when the early habit of prayer is given up. Then the heart becomes like the garden of the slothful, described by Solomon:

"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."

There are no good plants thriving in the prayerless

soul; but weeds, and briars, and thorns, grow thick and rank, occupying every vacant spot. The stone wall is broken down: there is no defence against the beasts of the field. Every vagrant thought, every vicious passion, find free admittance. The heart grows hard, and the spirit careless. Sin is not dreaded as it once was. The fear of God and the desire of his favour are gone. "God is not in all his thoughts." That youth stands on the very edge of a frightful precipice.

I would not have you think, however, that there is any merit in prayer; or that the prayers of one whose "heart is not right with God" are acceptable to him. But, what I say is, that every one ought to pray to God with a right heart. If your heart is not right with God, then it is wrong; and you are to blame for having it wrong. I will suppose a case, to illustrate what I mean. You see a child rise up in the morning, and go about the house; and though its mother is with it all the time, yet the child neither speaks to her nor secms to notice her at all. After a while, the mother asks what is the matter, and why her dear child does not speak to her? The child says, "I have no heart to speak to you, mother. I do not love you; and so I think it would be wrong for me to speak to you." What would you think of such conduct? You would say, "The child ought to love its mother; and it is only an aggravation of its offence, to carry out the feelings of its heart in its conduct?" Would you then have it act the hypocrite, and speak with its lips what it does not feel in its heart? No; but I would have it love its mother, as every dutiful child ought to do, and then act out, in its speech and behaviour, what it feels in its heart. But I would never have it excuse itself from right actions because its heart is wrong. Now, apply this to the subject of prayer, and you will see the

character of all impenitent excuses for neglecting this duty. And those who go on and continue to neglect it, certainly have no reason to expect that their hearts will grow any better by it, but only worse. But in attempting to perform a sacred duty, the Lord may give you grace to perform it aright, and then you will have a new heart.

If possible, have a particular place of prayer where you can be secure from all interruption, and particular times for it. At the appointed hours retire alone, and put away all thoughts about your studies, your work, your amusements, or any thing of a wordly nature, and try to realize that God is as truly present as if you saw him with your bodily eyes. Then read his word, as though you heard him speaking to you in the sacred page; and when your mind has become serious and collected, kneel down and acknowledge God as your Creator and Preserver, your God and Redeemer; thank him for the mercies you have received, mentioning particularly every good thing you can think of, that you have received from him; confess your sins; plead for pardon, through the blood of Jesus Christ; and ask him to give you such blessings as you see and feel that you need. Pray also for your friends, (and for your enemies, if you have any;) and conclude with a prayer for the coming of Christ's kingdom every where throughout the world.

Some young people neglect to pray, because they think they are not able to form their words into prayer. But you need not be afraid to speak to God. If you can find language to ask your parents for what you desire, you can find words to express your desires to God; and he will not upbraid you for the imperfection of your language. He looks at the heart. If that is right, your prayer will be accepted.