i 5 8 On READING and P R AY E R. 
tc thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any 
“ thing before god : for god is in heaven, and thou upon 
tc earth, therefore let thy words be few 5” but few, as they 
ought to be, they may be too few, as they are always too 
many, when the mind wanders from the fubjed. We are apt 
to flatter ourfelves that all is well, when we recover from one 
folly, tho’ we fall into another. But this feems to be the 
criterion ; if we can addrefs our maker with a rational piety, 
we may hope he will hear us. For this purpofe the heart mu A: 
be flncere, and not fondly devoted to any other objed. It is 
true, the integrity of our words and adions fandifies our lives, 
and is an indifpenfable preparative for prayer : and if we live 
well, ’tis probable we fhall pray well. But it muft be re- 
membered, that fome minds are with great difficulty confined 
to any objed ; and unlefs we keep our attention clofe to the 
fenfe and meaning of our words, I fear we fhall never perform 
our devotion in a manner acceptable to god ; nor can we offer 
the incenfe of prayer without zeal ; nor without ail awful fenfe 
of his power and perfedion to whom we addrefs ourfelves. 
If we previoufly confidered the meafure of our own ftrength, 
this duty would become more ealy : fome are more able to 
pray for an hour, than others for a minute. You have often 
heard it faid, that to say prayers, is not praying. I know a 
certain lady of quality, indeed fhe is old, who has prayers con- 
ftantly in her family as well as prays in her clofet ; and if fhe 
is confcious of forgetting what fhe is about, fhe at any time be- 
gins again. Prayer, by a very apt figure, is called a fovereign 
balm to heal the wounds which fin and folly make in the foul : 
but if we do not ufe it properly, we fhall hardly obtain the cure. 
Our 
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