830 ERRORS IN PRAYER blessed influences, when they have been both invited and rejected ? Do you never, by unwholesome read- ing, fill the mind with images unfavour- able to serious exercises ? The children of the pure and holy God should feed on the bread of their Father's house, and not on the husks of the prodigal. Do you never use prophanely or lightly, that name which is above every name ? He who made the ear, shall he not hear ; and if he has heard; during the day, his awful name used by the thoughtless as an expletive, or by the impious as an interjection, or by the pre- sumptuous as an imprecation, will he in the morning be called on as a saviour, and in the evening as an intercessor ? But no profession of faith, however orthodox, no avowal of trust in Christ, however confident, no entreaty for the aid of the Spirit, however customary, will avail, if it be not such an influential faith, such a practical trust, such a living devotedness, as shall be productive of
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