port and comfort in the heart of Hannah, when he spoke to her, amid her tears, that seasonable and affectionate reproof. But there was One who could do more for her than her husband could, and who loved her even better than he did; and it was to Him that, although her heart was sometimes inclined to fret and to despond, she looked alone for strength to endure, or comfort in her endurance. She went up to the temple of the Lord," and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore." "And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." That was prayer indeed! the prayer of the heart! the prayer which God loves! She was in sorrow, and therefore the Lord was ready to hear her. She was persecuted, and therefore the Lord was ready to hear her. She prayed in faith, and therefore the Lord was sure to hear her. "She continued praying before the Lord," earnestly and perseveringly; so that Eli the priest could not help noticing her manner. "Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken." So it is that the manner and the actions of the penitent and the suppliant are sometimes mistaken, and often misrepresented. A man has been brought to see and to feel that his past life has been one either of gross and flagrant sin, or of carelessness in the great work of his salvation, or of indifference and lukewarmness in the service of God. He gradually withdraws from pleasures and

pursuits which once engrossed him; grows serious, as every one ought to do who has a soul to be lost or saved; has recourse to the ordinances of religion, as a man must do if he would save that soul; becomes a man of prayer. And his former companions and acquaintance think some strange thing has happened to him. They do not indeed say that he is drunken; though some did say this of the Apostles; but they jeer at him, and misrepresent him; call him a bigot or a hypocrite. Nor is it only the careless, and the worldly, and the unkind, who are sometimes strangers to the workings of the prayerful and sorrowful heart; the good and religious cannot always understand them. Eli did not understand Hannah, until she was reluctantly compelled to enter on her own defence. "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord; out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken." But while the good, and the kind, and the generous, and those who are influenced by mutual respect, are continually misunderstanding, and are in effect unknown to each other; it is the greatest of all consolations to reflect, that all who mean well are quite known unto the Lord. His eye was upon Hannah when she prayed; He, too, saw the moving of her lips; and though her voice was not heard, her prayer was. And He enlightened His minister, who had misappreciated her, and gave him the privilege to return her a happy answer. And "Eli said, Go in peace and the God

of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him."

Hannah had

She had been
She was now

And although the ministers of religion cannot read into the hearts of those who kneel, or of those who move the lips, yet are they privileged and commissioned to declare to all who really pray (that is, who pray from the heart for gifts or aid, which have anything of a spiritual character or tendency in them), "Go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him." been a child, and then she was mirthful. a bride, and then she was glad at heart. a wife, and she was sorrowful. Such is the course of human life. And, after all, what does it comparatively matter much, whether it be mirth or sorrow here, if it be but happiness and joy hereafter? The wisest of the sons of men has left it on record, as a precept of inspired truth, that "sorrow is better than laughter," because by it the heart is improved. As out of the heart are evil thoughts, so out of the heart comes prayer. Do you suffer from the wanton provocations of others? Pray to the Lord, and He will hear you, and give you patience to endure, and perhaps turn the hearts of others to you. Do you suffer from the neglect and unkindness of those of your own household? Pray to the Lord, who taketh the suppliant up, though father and mother forsake. Do you suffer from calumny and slanderous report? Pray to the Lord, who foresaw your very case and your sorrows, when He promised to "hide from the scourge of the tongue." Do you suffer

from the goading remembrance of past guilt, and grieve over a heart still too prone to err? Pray to the Lord, and He will hear you, and help you, and receive you, and forgive you, and strengthen you for future trial. It is His special promise, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." It is the Saviour's voice which says to you especially, my repentant brother, (to you especially, because you are especially burdened,) "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." He has promised, and He will not disappoint. Whatever be the subject of your trouble, my dear friends, be assured that prayer never fails to be heard, and never fails to be answered: not, perhaps, at once; not in your time, but in God's time.

What a rod and a staff it would be to us under all the transient evils of life, to have faith to say from the heart, and to act daily upon it; " God's time is the best time; and His way is the best way!" May He grant to us all such faith and such grace, for His sake, who has promised, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you."

THE PRISON.

Preached 4th Sunday after Trinity, 1858.

"Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being fast bound in misery and iron; because they rebelled against the words of the Lord, and lightly regarded the counsel of the most Highest."—Psalm cvii. 10, 11.

ONE of the figures under which the Psalmist speaks of the redeemed, is that of persons sitting in the solitude and sadness of a prison; not able to look out on the brightness of the day, or to breathe the pure air which is abroad; no longer at liberty to rove among the beauties of nature, to wander through her valleys or climb her hills; debarred the sweet intercourse of those they love, fettered and chained, and not knowing what worse thing may come unto them. A celebrated writer gives us a very touching description of one of these. "I looked through the twilight of his grated door. I beheld his body half wasted away with long expectation and confinement, and felt what kind of sickness of the heart it was which arises from hope deferred. Upon looking nearer, I saw him pale and feverish. In thirty years the western breeze had not once fanned his blood; he had seen no sun, no moon