ion of the latter of the two, habitual or inward prayer,
which is enjoined in the text, with the view of showing what it is, and
how we are to practise it; and I shall speak of it, first, as a natural
duty, and then as the characteristic of a Christian.

1. At first sight, it may be difficult to some persons to understand
what is meant by praying always. Now consider it as a natural duty,
that is, a duty taught us by natural reason and religious feeling, and
you will soon see what it consists in.

What does nature teach us about ourselves, even before opening the
Bible?--that we are creatures of the Great God, the Maker of heaven and
earth; and that, as His creatures, we are bound to serve Him and give
Him our hearts; in a word, to be religious beings. And next, what is
religion but a habit? and what is a habit but a state of mind which is
always upon us, as a sort of ordinary dress or inseparable garment of
the soul? A man cannot really be religious one hour, and not religious
the next. We might as well say he could be in a state of good health
one hour, and in bad health the next. A man who is religious, is
religious morning, noon, and night; his religion is a certain
character, a mould in which his thoughts, words, and actions are cast,
all forming parts of one and the same whole. He sees God in all
things; every course of action he directs towards those spiritual
objects which God has revealed to him; every occurrence of the day,
every event, every person met with, all news which he hears, he
measures by the standard of God's will. And a person who does this may
be said almost literally to pray without ceasing; for, knowing himself
to be in God's presence, he is continually led to address Him
reverently, whom he sets always before him, in the inward language of
prayer and praise, of humble confession and joyful trust.

All this, I say, any thoughtful man acknowledges from mere natural
reason. To be religious is, in other words, to have the habit of
prayer, or to pray always. This is what Scripture means by doing all
things to God's glory; that is, so placing God's presence and will
before us, and so consistently acting with a reference to Him, that all
we do becomes one body and course of obedience, witnessing without
ceasing to Him who made us, and whose servants we are; and in its
separate parts promoting more or less directly His glory, according as
each particular thing we happen to be doing admits mo