Our Saviour says, "Enter into thy closet." The word signifies any retired apartment; and some imagine that he employs a term of such latitude, that we might have no excuse for omission, if we are unfurnished with a place appropriated more expressly to pious use.

The connexion requires this extension of meaning. Our Lord applies the word "closet" obviously in opposition to the "corner of the street ;" and in distinction from the openness of the "synagogue, where persons could be "seen of men," and for which purpose these situations were chosen by the Pharisees. But he would have his disciples to avoid all appearance of ostentation; and perform their devotions where they would be concealed, unless from a witness in heaven. Yet if the end, which is privacy, can be answered, the place would be indifferent.

"Where'er we seek Him, he is found;
"And every place is holy ground."

the Apos

"I will that men pray every where," says tle, "lifting up holy hands, without wrath, and doubting." God said to Ezekiel, "Go forth into the plain, and there I will talk with thee." Isaac made a closet of the field. Daniel, of the river-side, as well as of his chamber. Nathanael, of the fig-tree. Peter, of the housetop.

A variety here must be admitted, or the duty cannot be performed by many, at all. For what numbers are there who are unable to command a convenient room for religious engagement. This is a trying case and especially to those who have been accustomed to enjoy such an advantage. The Preacher

knew a pious female, who had been reduced from a mansion, and compelled to occupy a hired and contracted apartment; yet nothing in the humiliating and distressing change seemed to affect her, but her want now of a place of seclusion, in which to indulge her private devotion. For the "peculiar people," even in common circumstances, fail not to give proof of their distinction: "They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." If, my Christian friends, you have the privilege of accommodation, be grateful for it, and use it well and if you have not, remember your Heavenly Father knoweth it, and that where "there is first a willing mind, a man is accepted according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not."

Be as retired as

retired as you

you can, since you cannot be so would; and if your circumstances will not allow of your being hid, and some of your family must witness your exercises, be not afraid of opposing the Saviour's pleasure. Though you are seen of men, you are not seeking to be seen by them.

It is possible to retire mentally, even in company; and many an act of devotion is performed by the Christian without the formality of the exercise, when he is busied in his ordinary concerns. Nehemiah worshipped secretly, without retirement; and while, as cup-bearer, he was performing his office in attending on the king, "prayed to the God of heaven."

The Jews had their Proseuchæ, oratories, or praying-houses, in secluded situations, by streams of water, and in woods, and on the sides of mountains. The Scripture more than once refers to such places. In one of these it is probable our Saviour passed the night

he spent in devotion; and in one of these Paul seems to have addressed his hearers in the vicinage of Philippi. They were a pleasing and a wise provision; as persons could here indulge themselves in private devotion whenever they were prompted by disposition and opportunity; and especially those who had scarcely any other sacred retreat. We have not such accommodations: but Nature itself, during a large portion of the year, affords us advantages; and it is wonderful that persons do not oftener avail themselves of these interesting spots of retirement. We have known some who, whenever the season and the weather allowed, retired thus, to perform their morning and evening devotions. Instead of their minds being diverted, and their thoughts dissipated, by the scenery, the works of God refreshed and impressed them, and furnished them with excitements and assistance. And there are those, now liv ing, who, if ever they feel devout, feel it in a garden, or a field, or a meadow. The bubbling spring, the apple-tree, among the trees of the wood, the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the purple rising, and the golden setting of the sun, nion with Him who is all in all. grain, the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear; the mower filling his hand, and the binder of sheaves his bosom; the husbandman and the gleaner -all these teach them to think and feel devoutly. They love the creatures of their God, and feel them their friends; and while the herd grazes at their feet, and the sheep repose at their side, and the lambs sport in sight, a voice seems to say, "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." They hear

aid their commuThe sowing of the

God in the breeze; they sing his praise in the note of the bird; they make every scene a book; every object a preacher; every place a temple.

We only add, what an advantage is the omnipresence of devotion, in that solitude which is not chosen, but brought upon us by the necessity of circumstances: when lover and friend are put far from us by death, and the heart within us desolate; when travelling, and we droop in the loneliness that is felt in the midst of strangers; when, by distance or condition, our connexions are beyond our reach, and we inaccessible to them. Ah! says Jonah, in the midst of the sea, "I will look again towards thy holy temple." "From the ends of the earth," says David, "will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed." Cowper has not overlooked this consolation, in the language he has put into the mouth of the lonely islander

"But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest,
"The beast is laid down in his lair;
"E'en here is a season of rest,

"And I to my cabin repair.
"There's mercy in every place,
"And mercy, encouraging thought!

"Gives even affliction a grace,

"And reconciles man to his lot."

We consider it,

II. With regard to TIME.

When are we to enter our closet? and how long are we to remain there? You are not to be there always. You will hear, as we proceed, that the Family, the Church, the World, have all claims upon you. Every duty has its season, in which alone it is beautiful and acceptable. "No duty," says

ap

Bishop Hopkins, "will be approved of God, that pears before him stained with the murder of another duty." Yea, a Christian sometimes forces himself away from the delights of solitude, to engage in services, far less pleasing than lying down in these green pastures, and feeding beside these still waters. But self-indulgence, even when the enjoyment is religious, must yield to the will of his Heavenly Father, as soon as it is known.

Retirement, however, should be frequent. Yet, if you ask how frequent? I do not pretend absolutely to determine. The Scripture does not decide: it was needless to decide-as needless as the prescribing how often you should eat and drink. Your wants will regulate the one, and your love will regulate the other. Love is the Christian's grand principle; and love does not require to be bound: it is ingenuous; it is urgent; it is contriving; and will get, with all possible expedition, to its object. Besides, no rule can be laid down that will apply equally to all. There is a great difference in our conditions, and our callings. At different periods, too, the providence of God may vary our duties. Thus the good people formerly spent much more time alone, than the peculiarities of the day in which we live, will allow us. It does not follow that they had more piety than Christians now their religion was more compressed, and flowed in a deeper channel; but that of modern Christians, though shallower, is more diffusive and rapid. They had not those openings for activities abroad-those calls to extensive and manifold beneficence and exertions, which the followers of Christ now have. These, therefore, cannot gratify themselves by spending hours together in their loved se