The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-17 00:00:00

MORE AND MORE PRAYER.

Also, " more and more" prayer: this is really our
strength ; want of this, is our real weakness ;the Lord
bath said it, "ye have not, because ye ask not." (James
iv. 2.) 'Wherever there is little personal communion with
God at the throne of grace, there is very little genuine
personal piety ; there cannot be much : wherever there
is little or no family prayer, there is little or no family
religion; the one is bound up with the other; wherever
there is little congregational prayer, there is little con-
gregational religion : this I have always found true, as
regards individuals, families, and congregations. What
would the sanctuary, the family, and the closet say of
each of you, my dear brethren, in this matter ? The very
best gauge of the spirituality and growth of a person is,
the habit and desire, or otherwise, of being alone with
God : wherever any one has been distinguished in their
Christian course, it has been ever found, that they were
distinguished for prayer ; God gave much to them, because
God heard often from them : want of prayer is want of
power ; the prayerless path is the direct one to a fall if
we venture forth into place or duty without asking the
presence of God, can we wonder that the duty becomes a
temptation, or the place the scene of our backsliding ?
Can you not trace your last step to this, that you had
restrained prayer before God ? Why does your lamp burn
so dimly ? because the oil is not sought. Why does your
leaf wither ? because the dew is not asked for in prayer.
Why is your testimony of Christ so very feeble ? because
you feel alone and forsaken, and justly so, because you
have forsaken God. Why was that last trial and bereave-
ment so great a crush to you ? was it not because you had
grown cold upon your knees ? and God in mercy applied
the rod, to awaken and restore you. Scripture promises
invite to prayer; scripture examples encourage to prayer;
the door of mercy opens to prayer ; the ear of God waits
for prayer ; (Isaiah xxx. 19 ;) the merits of Christ give
effect to prayer; the Holy Spirit prompts prayer; the
wants of souls demand prayer ; the state of our nation, of
our church, of our world, of our own town, or district, or
parish, and of our own kindred, too (many of them, as
yet, far from God), all these imploringly say to us, pray,
pray, pray ! Oh ! my dear people, let the kingdom of
heaven suffer violence from us ; all that I have already
urged, can only be successfully accomplished through
prayer. Pray for your pastors, that we may love your
souls too well to tamper with them ; and fear God too
much, to be influenced at all in our ministrations by " the
fear of man :" (Ephes. vi. 18, 19, 20.) (Heb. xxiii. 17,
18.) And whenever you are kind enough to invite us to
your social circle, be good enough always to ask us to
conduct family worship for you, before we say—good night ;
for assuredly, if such a thing be considered uncalled for,
or " out of place," then the minister must be out of his
place in being there, where his Master is not an honoured
guest. Prayer pleases God ; therefore, as you have re-
ceived of us how you ought to walk and please God, so,
in this, " abound more and more."

Annexed is a brief vidimus of the congrega-
tional progress for the year, which, as a portion of
the statistics of St. Bride's Church, must be pos-
sessed of no inconsiderable amount of interest.

CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS.

If I allude to our " gatherings" for the Lord's cause,
it is in no boasting spirit, and with no desire to promote
amongst you self-gratulation, or pride ; nay, rather do I
wish to " provoke you to love and to good works ;" " and
so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." The
result is as follows :—Widows in Isle of Man, £4l lls 6d.;
British and Foreign Bible Society, £5O Os. 9d. ; St.
Bride's, Church Schools, £7O 4e.; Colonial Church Society,
£43 17s. ld.; Church Educational Society for Ireland,
£43 Is. 7d. ; Grey-street Licensing School-room, £2O ;
Irish Church Missions, £32 Is. ; Church Pastoral-Aid
Society, £ll3 4s. 2d. ; St. Bride's School Clothing Fund,
£26 Is. ; towards enlargement of St. Bride's Schools, £300;
Church Missionary Society, £123 Bs. 10s. ; Jews' Society,
£lO6 19s. 2d. ; St. Bride's Schools, subscriptions and
donations, £lOO ; local charities, £9l ss. 4d. ; sacramental
and other alms, £135 lls. ld. Total, £1,298 3s. Bd.
What shall I write underneath this ? I would put on
record at once the words of David, and say, " Now, there-
fore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious
name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we
should be able so offer so willingly after this sort ? For
all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given
Thee. For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners,
as were all our fathers : our days on the earth are as a
shadow, and there is none abiding. 0 Lord our God, all
this store cometh of Thine hand, and all is Thine own."
Chron. midi. 13 to 16.) Oh, yes ! to God be all the
glory ! it is only honest to pay to God what is due to
Him, as " His own." No heart amongst us, lam sure,
would say with Judas, " why was this waste made ?" and
I trust none of us would say, "it is enough :" on the
contrary, encouraged by the past, let me not here forget
my motto, but say, as concerns this matter of giving unto
God, as I have said concerning other matters, see that ye
" abound more and more."
Finally, brethren, let me thank you for all your kind-
ness to me during the past year ; your sympathy during
a season of illness was a cordial and a blessing to me ;
may the good Lord allow such kindly feelings to continue;
and commending you and yours to God, and praying that
the Lord may pour out upon you, this year, a double portion
of His spirit, and make all grace abound towards you.

AMONG TUB APPLICANTS at one of the London police
courts during the week, was an Irishman, who wanted
to make a declaration that he had lost the duplicate of an
article he had pawned. The pledge was a purse contain-
ing four half sovereigns ; and as some remark was made
as to the singular nature of the transaction, the applicant
thus explained it :—" On Saturday night, or I should say
on Crismas eve, I found meself with four half-soverins in
me purse, and I ses to meself, Tim, me boy, if ye keep
this money, yeel get drunk on Crismas day, and spind it,
and ye had better put it in the pawn-shop and save it ; so
fair, after a good struggle with meself, I did go to the
pawn-shop and got 10s. on the four half-soverins and the
purse. On Crismas day, sure enough, I got drunk, and
lost the tacket ; but fust thing on Monday mornin I wint
to the pawn-shop and stopped me money, and yesterday I
got that paper, and now want to take me money out
TUB ORIGIN or ALe.—The ancient Britons had many
vines, but they esteemed them only as ornaments to their
gardens : and they preferred, says Caesar, the wine of
grain to that of grapes. It is historically demonstrated
that the English, at a very early epoch, applied themselves
to the making of beer. It is mentioned by the laws of
Ina chief, or king of Wessex ; and this liquor held a
distinguished rank among those that appeared at a royal
feast in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Under the
Normans ale acquired a reputation it has ever since main-
tained. Two gallons cost only one penny in the cities ;in
the country four gallons might be obtained at the same
price. Happy age ! "happy ale drinkers ! At that period
—the golden age for the apostles of the Britannic Bacchus
—the brewers rendered no account of the preparation of
this beloved beverage. The English nation did not yet
purchase the right of intoxicating themselves; it was
not till the year 1643 that this authori6Atioll WA6 W be
bought.—Soyer't Panfrop4con.