OF PRAYER. apostrophe excites the bodily appetite, but the souL is called upon to contem- plate, to repose on, the soothing prospect, the delights of that voluptuousness for which the " much goods are laid up." Thou fool ! that soul which thou wouldest quicken to such base enjoyment, that soul shall this night be required of thee. Thus we see what restrains prayer in these two classes of character. The sceptic does not pray, because he does not believe that God is a hearer ofprayer. The voluptuary, because he believes that God is such a one as himself, and be- cause he has already gotten all that he wants of Him. His gold, and the means of gratifying his sensuality, would not be augmented by the dry duties ofdevotion ; and With an exercise which would in- crease neither, he can easily dispense. P
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