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THE high estimate which we set upon the following tract, induces us to give it a place in the pages of the Evangelical Magazine. Though large and cheap editions of it have been given to the public, we think it a great benefit to the church to put more than fifteen thousand copies of it at once into circulation. Our fervent prayer is, that it may be accompanied by the Divine blessing. EDITOR.

"We all do fade as a leaf," and human affairs, no less than men themselves, are subject to continual decay. Our short life, and our frail bodies, need continual repairs and revivals, and we communicate our own tendency to mortality, to all the works that we undertake, or share it with all the objects that surround us. But the continual tendency to decay, in order to maintain the permanence of the world, supposes an equal tendency to renovation; and though we all do fade as a leaf, yet before the leaf fades, a new bud is formed under it; and though the ancient actors are dismissed, yet the stage of life is never empty; and former things are only swept away, in order that there may be ample room for a new aftergrowth of fresh and more vigorous productions.

In religion, there is the same decay, and the same renovation as in nature. The deepest impressions that we receive are not of themselves permanent, and

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would be quickly effaced, if not repeatedly renewed; like the characters traced in stone, and which are subject to the injuries of the weather, the chisel must again deepen their outlines, or they will soon become dim, and at last be effaced. Personal religion can only be kept up by a reiteration of impressions, and by a series of personal revivals. The things of time and sense acting on our animal frame, and our passive nature, may seem to exert au influence more equable and unbroken to our apprehension; but true religion, naturally a stranger to the heart of man, and which finds its entrance, if it comes at all, by being admitted in the thoughts and the affections, must owe its impressions to less continuous agency, because to more energetic efforts. Thus men are scarcely conscious when they are declining in religion, because the seeds of decay are constant, permanent, and every where surrounding them; but when they advance forward, in general they must be conscious of that advancement, since it is made contrary to the bent of nature, by the effort of the higher faculties, and in the exercise of faith and prayer for the Divine assistance. We owe our progress to the especial teaching of God, by his providence, and by his Spirit to the outward calls upon our attention, which are made by disappointments and distresses, or the more inward

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admonitions which are addressed to us; when the imagery of our vain imaginations is broken, and our thoughts are forcibly recalled to the truth; when a power superior to our own bids the tumult within be still.

It is the same in public as in personal religion-the decay is continuous, but the progress is not so, and whatever advancement is made, may be traced to distinctly recurring intervals of moral sunshine, when the waste of many generations has been repaired by a sudden and reviving spring. It is thus that we may trace whatever is flourishing in religion to some former periods of moral restoration-all of them repetitions, on an inferior scale, of the great period of revival during the Reformation, which itself was a lesser repetition of the great awakening which took place, when Christianity was first proclaimed, during the times of the apostles. And thus we find that religion consists in a series of influences mutually connected, and depending upon each other, they terminate in the past, in the divine aid of the Spirit showered down upon the apostles; and in the future, have their full manifestation in that "life from the dead," which shall constitute the glory of the latter day.

The reason why the advancement of religion proceeds rather at intervals than is continuous, may probably be, that in this manner we are the better reminded of our own weakness and sinfulness, and of the necessity of the Divine aid. Our natural life, as well as our spiritual, depends at every moment upon God-in him we live and move and have our being; but because that dependence is uninterrupted and involuntary, how little. are we apt to think of it, till God withdraw his secret support, and our life seems about to fail us, when disease takes hold upon us, and death appears at hand, and our bodies seem to be returning to their original dust. But if we attend to the life of the spirit we are the more immediately made sensible, that, by the withdrawing of the Divine Spirit, we morally perish, and that in the light of God's countenance alone, is life, deserving of the name that in ourselves is no strength and no continuance-that we all do fade as a leaf, and that our iniquities, like the wind, are ever ready to hurry us away.

Without the Divine Spirit we can neither advance nor continue in religion; but not upon that account are we left helpless. They greatly abuse the doc

trine of supernatural aid, who plead their inability as an excuse for their spiritual sloth or declension. The God who prolongs our natural life is still more willing to promote our spiritual welfare, but the healthful life of the soul, unlike that of the body, is of voluntary existence. We must will to be holy in order to be so, and then our will coincides with the Divine willfor "this is the will of God, even our sanctification;" and then do our faculties co-operate with the Divine Spirit, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do.

Christ, in his miracles, afforded a sign and emblem of the manner in which our inability is removed. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other." The man might have pleaded natural inability, as we plead spiritual helplessness; but the command of the great King is accompanied with power to perform it. In health we will to lift our arm, and our hand is raised, not by might that dwelleth in us, but by the Divine appointment. There is no health, and no strength in our spirits, but there is abundance of strength in the Lord Jesus; and God has appointed a way of communication between our helplessness and infinite power; and that ever-open channel is prayer. We satisfy ourselves too easily, that we have done all in our power for removing the ills that flesh is heir to, when we have done our utmost to cause the gospel to be preached, and the truth to be proclaimed. The truth has no separate or independent existence, it is inherent in intelligence. The word, if not received into our understanding and affections, remains but words still, though of awfulest import. Its true dwelling-place is in the Infinite Mind, and from that mind alone can it be effectually communicated to others. The form of sound words, and outward religion, may extensively prevail; but how worthless is the form, however fair and proportionate, unless it be endued with life! Like the first created man, though modelled by the hand of the Divine Artist, it still remains but a statue, until the Spirit of God breathe into it a living soul.

But prayer, which should give life to the form of religion, may become a form itself; too often we are satisfied with having spoken the right words, as if the mere sounds were to operate as a charm, and do not sufficiently regard that which

is the essence of prayer, the pleading of God's own promise, and the continuing to urge it until the answer is obtained. Prayer is the voice of faith, and perseveres in opposition to disappointments and delays. He is no true suppliant who departs because he has not received an immediate answer; but scriptural prayer waits until it obtains.

Christian intercession is not only persevering but prevailing. God has promised-shall he not perform? "I will not let thee go except thou bless me," is its animating principle and final determination. The church of God is founded on prayer. They are reminded by the name of Israel, that here lies their strength and their privilege; by the force of prayer they have power with man and with God; and by this alone can they prevail.

Jacob, before he received the name of Israel, which has descended to all his spiritual posterity, was left alone, surrounded by darkness and danger, and with no other help than solitary supplication, "And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." Jacob struggled for a blessing, and the mighty stranger came on purpose to bless him, yet he seemed reluctant, at least long delayed to grant it.

It was the same with the Saviour and the disciples of Emmaus. The unknown traveller " made as though he would have gone farther; but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent, and he went in to tarry with them." He who

is able and who is willing to bless us, passes near to us often, and we perceive him not; or seek not to detain him, when he makes as if he would go farther. How wise are those who will not let him go, except he bless them!

"And he said unto him, What is thy name? and he said, Jacob; and he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." In Scripture, the name indicates the nature of the office; here the change of a name denoted the exaltation of person and of dignity. Jacob was raised to be a prince, and a prince with God! A royal priesthood was conferred upon him; the privilege of admission into the Divine presence, and the right of presenting petitions, and of having them granted. And all this was given to him not as an individual merely, but as a public personage-the head and re

presentative of those who, in after times, should possess like faith and a similar spirit of prayer.

Nothing could be more dissimilar than Israel's real dignity, and his outward condition-an exile and a suppliant, scarcely escaped from the hands of Laban, and now seemingly about to perish by the revenge of his brother, yet possessing an invisible power, that secured the success of his undertakings. By prayer he could prevail with God, and through him, who overrules all the thoughts of the heart, he could prevail with men also-though they are harder to be entreated than the King of kings.

"And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name; and he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? and he blessed him there." The name was to indicate the nature. That was wonderful and mysterious. The name was ineffable, because the nature was incomprehensible, and yet the heavenly antagonist made himself known by a truly Divine manifestation, "He blessed him there." We are made aware of the Divine presence and existence by the benefits we receive. He makes himself known by blessing us. "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

It is important always to bear in mind the reason why God did not bless Jacob until the breaking of the day, and why our petitions are generally not granted until the very last moment. In prayer, the mean is more valuable than the end. The spirit of prayer, and the frequent exercise of it, is a greater blessing than the attainment of any other object short of heaven itself. It is the key to the treasury of heaven, and the promise and pledge of every other attainment. There is but one higher exercise than that of prayer-the returning of thanks for the granting of our requests; but each have their fitting season-prayer is the service of time-praise the employment of eternity.

Thus, when the Israel of God were first constituted, the charter of all their privileges, their power, and their preeminence, were founded upon prayer. To the same purpose was the covenant which was ratified between Solomon and God, at the erection of that house of prayer, which was a type of that spiritual temple, afterwards to be built of living stones. And the agreement was, that