of our "infirmities ;" and it will be in vain that God "looks upon" the latter, unless He graciously interpose to "help and defend" us in the former. But the good Samaritan (blessed be His adorable name!) doth not merely look with pity on the wounded traveller; but He goes to him, binds up his wounds, and provides effectually for his cure and salvation.

Our dangers are imminent, and our necessities urgent; and surely our importunity ought to correspond with the nature of the exigency that demands it. But if our dangers and necessities be compared with the degree of importunity which they excite in the generality of our prayers, O how disproportionate will the latter be found to the former! May fervency be added to our supplications while the subject is under our review.

"Our dangers" are awfully great, and surround us on every side. Indeed our present state, whether we consider it in relation to our bodies or souls, is one uninterrupted scene of danger. So many are the avenues by which pain, disease and death may find their way to these frail bodies; and so universal is the hostility of the natural elements, and of other creatures, to their health and welfare, that they are never free from peril. When we rise in the morning, it is uncertain whether we shall live to see the sun set; or whether, if life be spared, it will not be rendered miserable by some catastrophe more to be dreaded than even death itself. When we commit ourselves to repose at night, we know not that we shall again hail the returning day. To enumerate the immense va riety of dangers to which we are hourly exposed,

is impossible; for while we see enough to make us shudder, those of which we are conscious bear no proportion to those concerning which, through our ignorance, we entertain no apprehensions. Our situation, from infancy to our exit from the present world, may justly be compared to that of a man who travels on the brink of a precipice in a dark night. If he escape from destruction, it is because Divine Providence directs his steps.

But the dangers which encompass the immortal soul are of a nature still more alarming, as its safety is of more consequence than that of the boy. A countless host of inbred corruptions are continually labouring for our ruin; and each of them, if unrestrained by Divine grace, is sufficient to effect the dreadful catastrophe of the tragic scene. "For lust, when it is con"ceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is perfected, bringeth forth death." Legions of malignant, subtle and mighty spirits conspire with our own corrupt propensities to plunge us into hell. "For we fight not against flesh and "blood" only, "but against principalities and

powers, against the rulers of the darkness of "this world, against spiritual wickednesses in "high places. Add to this, that the world abounds with baits suited to our natural inclinations, which the god of this world is continually presenting to our notice in their most attractive forms, and which, were we suffered. to swallow them, would prove inevitably destructive to us. So great is our ignorance, that the most watchful mind can be aware of a few only of these dangers which surround us; and so great is our weakness, that it is impossible,

in our own strength, to shun or counteract them. In the series of perils to which we are liable, there is no break of continuity; for

Incidit in Scyllam, qui vult vitare Charybdem:

no sooner are we delivered from the snare than we are on the brink of the pit. We may illustrate our spiritual state by that of a soldier in the heat of action. Innumerable messengers of 'death whiz around him. It is impossible that he should discern their approach so as to avoid them; and it is equally impossible for him to resist their fury, if they strike him. He is 'wholly dependent on Divine care. If he escape,

it is because God has covered his head in the

day of battle.

The propriety of earnest prayer for defence in our dangers cannot be disputed; but the duty will be omitted, or coldly performed, unless by Divine grace our souls are roused to a sensibility of their real situation. Does the reader feel the necessity of cordially uniting with the church in the petition with which he is furnished by our collect? If not, he is more to be pitied than the wretched wanderer whose powers the wintry blast has benumbed, so that he becomes insensible of his hazardous state, indifferent to life or death, and perishes without a struggle to escape.

The pressure of necessity is not less forcible than that of danger. And a deliverance from all our dangers would leave our case truly deplorable, unless our necessities were also supplied. Of what avail would a rescue from the raging deep prove to a mariner who was thrown on a desolate island destitute of every kind of food? His miserable existence would

indeed be lengthened for a few hours; but death, in a more ghastly form, must inevitably seize him at last. "Our necessities," like our dangers, are more in number than the hairs of our head; and the relief of them is equally out of our power with our defence from danger. Our corporeal wants are multiform: so that, did not a superintending providence hourly care for us, we could not subsist through a single day. The necessities of our souls are still more urgent, and further placed out of human reach. Every moment we need pardoning, sanctifying, comforting, and supporting grace; because every moment we are guilty, polluted, helpless, and miserable in ourselves. Happy are those persons, who feel their spiritual wants with the same acuteness with which those of the body are felt, Quibus doleat natura negatis: who hunger and thirst after the bread and water of life, and who cordially call on God, who filleth the hungry with good things, to "help them in all their "necessities."

God's "right-hand" is His Omnipotence, so expressed in condescension to our capacities. We are not to suppose that Jehovah has a "body, parts, or passions;" but, as "the right "hand" is the principal instrument of human action, it is made use of by the sacred writers as an apt emblem of Divine agency. And when we intreat that God would stretch forth His right hand to help and defend us," we implore the exertion of His Almighty power on our behalf. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly "above all that we ask or think;" and He has promised to be the Saviour of all them who put their trust in Him.

There is no method which we can adopt for the encouragement of our faith, in approaching the mercy-seat to ask help and defence in our dangers and necessities, that seems more favourable to its confirmation than that which we have already employed, namely, a contemplation of the character and conduct of the Divine Jesus. What He was, and what He did, when on earth, affords evidences and specimens of what God is able and willing to do for all His praying people, who seek His succour. Did He

awake and rebuke the winds and the sea, when His disciples roused Him from His sleep, during the storm which threatened their lives and excited their fears? Let the trembling penitent, during the continuance of the storm of life, awaken the attention of his God by earnest supplication, and He will hear and answer, preserve and comfort, and in His own good time, produce an eternal calm. When Peter, attempting to walk on the sea, began to sink, and cried, "Lord, save! I perish;" did the gracious Saviour take him by the hand, and rebuke his unbelief? He will act the same kind part towards all who claim His aid, however great their danger, or weak their faith. Had Jesus compassion on the multitude, who had been with Him three days and had nothing to eat? Did He supply their wants to the full by an exertion of His mighty power? Thy God, hungry soul! "will supply all thy needs out of "His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thou too shalt eat and be satisfied," and bless His name. Remember that God in Christ is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, without "variableness or shadow of turning."