PRIVATE DUTIES. 107

 

communion with God will be neglected; and thus,
like the tree with a worm at its root, the soul will
wither under the genial rain and sunshine of the gos-
pel. With a few practical directions on this pvint, J
shall close this letter.

1. Spend as large a portion as possible of the.inter-
vals of public duties in your closet. The time thus
spent should be employed principally in the devotional
reading of the Holy Scriptures; meditation, for the
purpose of getting your own heart affected with divine
truth ; self-examination, and prayer. If you have very
much time to spend in this way, you may employ a
part of it in reading some devotional book ; but I think
our reading on the Sabbath should be principally con-
fined to the Scriptures. But prayer should be frequent,
and mingled with everything.

2. Spend no part of the Lord’s day in seeking your
own ease or pleasure. We are required to turn away
our feet from finding our own pleasure on God’s holy
day. All our time is the Lord’s; but the Sabbath is
his in a peculiar manner. On other days of the week
he allows us to do our own work. But on this day
we must do his work only. There is no room, then,
for the indulgence of idleness, indolence, or sloth,
upon the Sabbath. The duties of this holy day are
such as to require the active and vigorous exercise of
all our faculties. That you may not, then, be tempted
to indulge in sloth, use every means in your power
to promote a lively state of your bodily energies.
Make all your preparations on the afternoon of Satur-
day. Spend a portion of the evening in devotional
exercises, for the purpose of banishing the world from
your mind, and bringing it into a heavenly frame ;
and retire to rest at an early hour. By this means,
your animal powers will be refreshed, and you will be
a early to meet the Lord, on the approach of

holy morning.

3. Watch over your thoughts. The Sabbath is a
season when Satan is exceedingly busy in diverting
our thoughts from holy things. Evil thoughts also