ar, so far in this m res for E of you, bread a fish e, then gifts unt Ar Fat 25 to the have s the w dey aske how t at your and read he has made our asking of them one condition of our receiving them from him. And now, what higher motives can we wish for, to excite our performance of any duty, than we have for this? What can we desire more to encourage our addresses to God by prayer, than to be assured, that he will hear us-He who is the Lord of heaven and earth, whose goodness as well as power is infinite, and who is as willing as he is able to relieve our wants? O the mighty power of prayer! who would ever be a stranger to it? Who, that considered the excellency of prayer, and what an instrument it is to our happiness both here and hereafter, would either neglect it, or be remiss or careless in the performance of it? It is the highest privilege we are capable of in this life; by this we converse with God, and have an intercourse with Heaven. Prayer is a never-ceasing spring of comfort, where we are invited to taste freely, and from whence proceeds such pleasant streams as will refresh the soul in all the troubles and calamities of life. "Is any among you afflicted ?" says St. James," let him pray *.' This was the constant practice of the Psalmist, and from his own experience he has taught us what mighty advantages attend it. "When I am in het. "I will call upon thee. O trouble savs |