strength of body or mind? does he feel conceited, and though wearing outwardly pretence of modesty, secretly be vainly puffed up as though his knowledge or power were of any account? Watch such thoughts, for they are the tares of Satan; and if you once admit them, they will multiply and beget evil words and evil acts. Man may not see them, but ever remember, "Thou GOD seest me !"

And again, in word. Watch. Watch, for here is the devil busy hourly, ay, every minute of our lives. Most awful is the responsibility of words,for has not CHRIST Himself said, "By thy words thou shalt be justified," i.e., saved; "and by thy words thou shalt be condemned?" And yet again,

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every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account of in the day of judgment." Take the words of each day,-from early morn till the moment when you lie down, would there be no word of unkindness, of ill-temper, of malice, of deceit, of impurity, of peevishness? I fear not one or two, but many.

over your words.

Therefore I say to you, watch

Perhaps they seem to you mere empty sounds, meaning little or nothing; but they ofttimes wound, ofttimes hide the truth, ofttimes offend "GOD Who is Love!" You discuss some one's character, you pick out his peculiarities, his weaknesses, his failings, his faults. Why should you not rather be silent on them, and if you cannot praise, do not find fault. Do you not often seek to create a

laugh by detailing some story to the discredit or ridicule of another? Throw away your vanity which makes you tell the story, and leave the story untold.

And yet once more, in your acts. Watch. Never think yourselves safe, no, rather, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." In your humility lies your strength, in your conceit lies your weakness. The boy who thinks himself strong enough to resist temptation, who is "wise in his own conceits," who thinks himself clever, and better than others in his heart,—of such an one the wisest of men sharply and sternly says, "There is more hope of a fool than of him." That boy is an easy prey to Satan, for he is standing on the verge of a steep precipice of which he knows nothing. Far rather is he likely to be safe who distrusts himself, who is modest, unassuming, not puffed up by self-esteem; who does not value the worthless praise of unthinking persons, who feeling his own weakness, is ever watchful against temptation. Therefore I earnestly beg, in thought, word, and deed, ever be on your watch. Avoid any companions, any situation, any place, where it is difficult to you to watch, where temptation most easily assails you.

And here must follow the second half of the text, -not only "watch," but "pray." For how can the true soldier of JESUS CHRIST watch aright, unless he be armed with the mail armour of "prayer?"

C

There are souls which are so girt round with the spirit of prayer, that they indeed walk with GOD, and are ever with the LORD.

"Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher loves endure;

What souls possess themselves so pure,

Or is there blessedness like theirs?"

To-night, in the few minutes that remain, I would try to show you, (1) The power of prayer, (2) The sympathy of prayer. And I cannot here for lack of time speak of the deep importance of public prayer, but only of those petitions which you send up all of you, I trust, night and morning to GOD, those darts of prayer wherewith you do most grievously wound Satan and pierce even the throne of God Himself. I say then, such prayer all-powerful. It is all-powerful against Satan, for he cannot assail the child of GOD when he is on his knees in the presence-chamber of his FATHER in heaven. No attitude is so hopeless to the Devil and his wiles as that of prayer. not true that

"More things are wrought by prayer

Than this world dreams of ?"

is

And is it

Not to speak of the power of public prayer, of the pleading of a whole nation with GOD, as perhaps some of you remember when England's prayers rose up for our Prince well-nigh on the

bed of death are there not many times in our lives when we feel that prayer can alone avail? We have requests which we make to GOD for ourselves, let us pray in faith that He will give them if good for us,--and if not, "His will be done." Let us wrestle all night with Him and prevail over Him by our might of prayerful energy. And not only for ourselves, but for others,-shall we not pray for our dear and near ones, those whose weal or woe is bound up in ours, be they far or near; for the whole brotherhood of mankind, ay, and for those who cause us pain. Shall not the father and mother pray for their dear one far away from home, far from the shelter and tenderness of love? shall they not kneel by the empty bedside where in infancy and boyhood their dear one lay, and supplicate in secret their FATHER above to turn the heart of that wayward child, exiled from home, and lead him by words of love to a mother's embrace and a father's blessing. And yet one step more. Is not prayer able to lift the veil of death for us, and carry us for a little while out of the struggling day of life into the bright communion of saints, and let us hear for a moment the melody of the angels singing round the great white throne?

And lastly. Has prayer no sympathy in its right hand? They best know who put it to the test. In this world we are ever at times alone. The friends of our whole life, those who are intimately

bound up in our lives, they deem they know us,— but do they? Have we not got deep down in the hiding-place of our hearts a hope, a struggle, a disappointment, a yearning, with which a stranger, (nay more, the dearest friend,) cannot intermeddle? We bar the entrance to such with a jealous care; we will not that any should enter that "study" of thought known and felt alone by us. Here and there in our lives we retire there and ponder over the shelves of thoughts laid aside, hopes, bright enough once, but now laden with the dust of hard fact and reality; disappointments hidden from the eye of the world, but to which we can turn from page to page with exact memory. Passing words, shot out at random, may make us fly thither; here a memory, there a memory may knock at its door,-GOD alone shares the full knowledge.

"There is a secret place of rest,

GOD's saints alone may know,
Thou shalt not find it east or west,
Though seeking to and fro;
A cell where JESUS is the door,

His love the only key;

Who enter will go out no more,
But there with JESUS be."

Yes, my dear boys, bear these words of our LORD JESUS CHRIST ever with you. In prayer and humble watchfulness you have an unceasing safety. For if here on earth you have from your boyhood