ligion with regard
to it. Some say to us, What need is there of joining a church? Why may I
not be a Christian by myself? We know what we say, in reply to such
questions. We are aware how much the public act helps the private
feelings and conduct, besides being required by our feelings when they
are deep and strong. I thought of this illustration: In the wakeful
moments of the night, upon a lonely bed, one feels a special nearness to
God. He can think of God, as he lies upon his pillow, both with prayer
and meditation; but suppose that he rises from his bed and kneels at the
bedside, and, with oral prayer, prevents the night-watches, and cries?
His voice at that midnight hour affects his mind; the darkness and
stillness impress him with a sense of the presence of God, and though
his ejaculations on his pillow were acceptable, has he not probably done
that which, through Christ, is peculiarly acceptable to God, and is
profitable to himself as his child? He who was always in communion with
the Father, the man Christ Jesus, nevertheless, sometimes withdrew into
a mountain, and continued all night in prayer, and, rising up a great
while before day, he went into a solitary place, and there prayed. These
special acts of worship, no true Christian needs to be told, are good
and acceptable to God, and profitable for men. We do not refrain from
them, pleading that they are nowhere commanded in the New Testament, or,
that, so long as we pray at stated times, or strive to live in a praying
frame, these special devotions are superfluous. So, while it is our duty
and privilege to dedicate our children to God in private, it is
acceptable to him, and profitable to us, if we take them, and bring an
offering, and come into his courts.

The baptism of the feeble-minded youth furnished me with an illustration
of the suitableness of parents and guardians doing for children, in
religion, that which they are constantly doing for them in common
things, that is, conferring privileges and blessings upon them without
their consent. There seemed to be such an illustration of the riches of
free grace, in the baptism of this poor child, such a comment on that
passage, "I am found of them that sought me not," it corresponded so
much with the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man, that we
all felt instructed and softened by it, and, at the same time, we all
had feelings toward that helpless boy, such as we, perhaps, never could
have had bu