iv
INTRODUCTION.
degree of desire or repugnance which a man feels to the performance of this amiable duty, is an infallible criterion of his acceptance with God. Let the unhappy child of dissipation let the impure voluptuary boast of his short hours of exquisite enjoyment; even in the degree of bliss they are infinitely inferior to the delight of which the righteous man participates in his private devotions; while in their opposite consequences they lead to a no less wide extreme than heaven and hell, a state of positive happiness, and a state of positive misery. If there were no other inducement to prayer than the very gratification it imparts to the soul, it would deserve to be regarded as the most important object of a Christian; for nowhere else could he purchase so much calmness, so much resignation, and so much of that peace and repose of spirit in which consists the chief happiness of this otherwise dark and stormy being. But to prayer, besides the inducement of momentary gratification, the very self- love implanted in our bosoms would lead