LOVE not the World, neither the Things that are in the World. If any Man love the World, the Love of the Father is not in him, 1 John ii. 15.

If there is any Thing more dreadful than thefe Words, it is to see how few reflect upon them, how few are moved by them. Who dares fay he loves not the World? To whom dare we say, that he loves not God? And yet Truth itself affures us, that these two Loves are inconfiftent. By how much our Hearts are emptied of the one, by fo much they will be filled with the other. Blind and fenfelefs is he, whoever prefers the World, which paffes away, and carries along with it those who are fond of it, before God, who renders them who love him eternally happy.

To-morrow, Lord, is thine,
Lodg'd in thy Sov'reign Hand,
And if its Sun arife and fhine,
It fhines by thy Command.

The present Moment flies,

And bears our Life away,
O make thy Servants truly wife
That they may live to day.

iii. 15.

Hofoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer: and ye know that no Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in Him, 1 John

Whoever hates his Neighbour commits two Murders at one and the fame Time; he takes away from himself the Life of Grace and the Hope of eternal Life; and he has already killed that Perfon in his Heart, whofe Life is grievous to him, and at whofe Death he would rejoice. How inestimable is thy Grace, O Jefus, fince it plants in the Heart, which it fills, a Scion of eternal Life! We poffefs this Life, even here below, when we have Love and Charity. It is Love which makes Men holy here on Earth; it is the fame confummated which renders them bleffed in Heaven,

Father of Mercies fend thy Grace,

All-pow'rful, from above,

To form in our obedient Souls
The Image of thy Love.

O may our fympathizing Breafts
That gen'rous Pleasure know,
Kindly to fhare in others Joy,
And weep for others Woe.

HE E that keepeth his Commandments, dwelleth in him (God), and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us, 1 John iii. 24.

It is in the Sovereign Love, which is God, that the Christian Love finds its Perfection, its Peace, and Repofe, to all Eternity: From that it is derived, as from its Source; in that it haftens to be swallowed up, as in its Fulnefs and its End. It is by Love, which is the Holy Spirit, that we know Love itself, that we adore its Plenitude in God, and that its Refidence and Operation in our Hearts are manifefted to us. Fill me, poffefs me, inflame me, O divine Love, that I may know Thee, poffess Thee, and Love Thee by Thyself.

'Tis this effentially divides

The living from the dead, We know the Lord in us abides, The Spirit of our Head:

O let us in this Knowledge grow,
Hold faft the Earnest given,
"Till JESUS with himself bestow
The ripeft Joys of Heaven:

AND when thou prayeft, thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites

are for they love to pray ftanding in the Synagogues, and in the Corners of the Streets, that they may be feen of Men. Verily, I fay unto you, they have their Reward, Matt. vi. 5.

In order to approach God, and incline him to give Ear to our Prayer, it is neceffary to pray out of the Hearing of Men, and without affecting to be feen by them. A Man loves the World when he feeks to please it, and this Love fpoils the best Works. God is a jealous God, and cannot fhare with any one what is due to himself alone; and this, not out of Envy but Goodness. --He is not afraid of lofing any Thing, but of being obliged not to give, and not to bestow himself.

my Nature right,
Shut the Creature from my Sight,
Thou mine only Object be;
More than all the World to me.

1

BUT thou, when thou prayeft, enter into thy Clofet, and when thou haft shut thy Door, pray to thy Father which is in fecret, and thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee openly, Matt. vi. 6.

The Heart is God's peculiar Portion; He is the Judge of it; it belongs to Him to reward; it is in this he will be worshipped and adored. Prayer

is the most fecret Intercourse of the Soul with GOD, and as it were the Converfation of one Heart with another: The World is too prophane and treacherous to be of the Secret: We muft shut the Door againft it, by forgetting it, and all the Affairs which bufy and amuse it. Prayer requires Retire ment, at leaft of the Heart; for this is the Clofet in the House of God, which Houfe is ourselves; thither we ought to retire, even in public Prayer, and in the midst of Company. What Goodness is there equal to this of God, to give not only what we afk, and more than we afk of him, but to reward even Prayer itself! What Advantage is it to ferve a Prince who places Prayer in the Number of Services, and reckons to his Subjects Account even their Trust and Confidence in begging all Things of him.

Father divine, thy piercing Eye

Shoots through the darkest Night,

In deep Retirement thou art nigh,
With Heart-difcerning Sight.