On READING and PRAYER. 157 
muft alfo learn to think, as we learn to talk. Can we 
enter into the concerns of a future ftate, without fre- 
quently and filently converfing with ourfelves ? impofilble I 
What fhall we make of our laft long reckoning ? How will it be 
perplexed with intricacies, unlefs we account often with our 
own hearts, fairly and diftindtly ? Is this the language of the 
pulpit ? It is the language of reafon and common fenfe. 
If the heart is stained, and whofe, alas, is not, we muft 
ftrive to cleanse it ; it will not cleanfe itfelf. If the mind is 
difeafed, we muft feek the remedy from his prefcriptions who 
is emphatically ftiled the great phyftcian of fouls : and with 
what irrefiftible perfuafton does he invite ! “ Come unto me all 
u that travel and are heavy laden, and I will refrefh you.’* 
Do you believe that words exa&ly correfpondent with thefe, 
tho’ not in our language, were really fpoken by the fivior of 
mankind ? Do you believe he intended by this declaration to 
comfort and fupport, not only thofe who were in his company, 
at that time, but all the children of men, through all genera- 
tions, to the end of the world ? If you do believe, you will 
confider this as a very ftrong and perfuaftve invitation to accept 
of mercy : if you do not believe it, you may as well give up 
all pretenftons to the belief of the scriptures. 
I propofe the queftion dogmatically ; I know you believe : 
but the beft trial we can make of our own hearts, how our ac- 
counts ftand, is to examine ourfelves if we perform our addref- 
fes to the almighty in a proper manner. You remember the 
inftru&ion given us by a very wife man : “ Be not rafti with 
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