438 CONSOLATIONS OF PRAYER. would be likely to reduce him. What- ever others do, he will continue for ever to " sing praises unto Thee, 0 Thou most Highest ; he will continue to tell of Thy loving kindness early in the morning, and of Thy truth in the night season." It is true that while he considered re- ligion as something nominal and ceremo- nial, rather than as a principle ofspirit and of life, he felt nothing encouraging, nothing refreshing, nothing delightful in prayer. But since hebegan to feel it as the means of procuring the most substantial blessings to his heart, since he began to experience somethingof the realization of the promises to his soul, in the perform. ance of this exercise, he finds there is no employment so satisfactory, none that his mind can so little do without ; none that so effectually raises him above the world, none that so opens his eyes to its empty shadows, none which can make him look with so much indifference on its lying va- nities; none that can so powerfully defend
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