s himself into his bath; and Jeremiah second and twenty-second he
uses regularly to repeat to himself half a dozen times a day as he washes
the smoke and dust of the city off his hands and face. And then
Revelation third and eighteenth till his toilet is completed. Nay, this
same Clito has come to be such a devotee to that he had at one time been
so expeditious with, that I have seen him forget himself on the street
and think that his door was shut. But there is really no use telling you
all that about Clito. For, till you try closet-prayer for yourself, all
that God or man can say to you on that subject will be water spilt on the
ground. All we can say is, Try it. Begin it. Some desperate day try
it. Stop when you are on the way to the pond and try it. Stop when you
are fastening up the rope and try it. When the poison is moving in the
cup, stop, shut your door first. Try God first. See if He is still
waiting. And, always after, when the steel shears of a too early, too
crowded, and far too exacting day are clipping you out of all time for
prayer, then what should you do? What do you do when you simply cannot
get your proper fresh air and exercise everyday? Do you not fall back on
the plasticity and pliability of nature and take your air and exercise in
large parcels? You take a ride into the country two or three times a
week. Or, two afternoons a week you have ten miles alone if you cannot
get a godly friend. And then two or three times a year, if you can
afford it, you climb an Alp or a Grampian every day for a week or a
month; and, so gracious and so adaptable is human nature, that, what
others get daily, you get weekly, or monthly, or quarterly, or yearly.
And, though a soul is not to be too much presumed upon, Clito came to
tell his friends that his soul could on occasion take in prayer and
praise enough for a week in a single morning or afternoon, and, almost,
for a whole year in a good holiday. As Christ Himself did when He said:
Come away apart into a desert place and rest a while; for there are so
many people coming and going here that we have no time so much as to eat.

6. But I see I must clip off my last point with you, which was to tell
you what you already know only too well, and that is, what terrible
shears a bad conscience is armed with, and what havoc she makes at all
ages of a poor sinner's Bible. But you can spare that head. You can
preach on that text to yourselves far better th