_First_—The MINISTRY of the WORD. This is the glorious _Magna Charta_, exhibiting the loveliness of the Saviour, the wisdom of God, the freeness of grace, the high privileges of all the elect. I mention this because some proud professors have written (and many have imbibed their error) _that every Christian is to be a Preacher_!—and if so, Where would be the _Hearers_? These men, to me, resemble the awful characters that conspired against Moses and Aaron, who said, _all the Lord’s people are holy_; and why should not one be exalted to preach as well as another! But let the above characters read their awful end, as recorded in the 16th Chapter of _Numbers_. The public Ministry of the Word is an Ordinance of Christ, for public good; this is plain from the Old and New Testament—_See_, _then_, _that ye refuse not him that speaketh from heaven in Christ’s name_; _for how can they preach_, to any good purpose, _except they be sent_? _Secondly_—PRAYER, public and private; and good men ought always to pray—_I will that men pray every where_—the Jews had their stated times for Prayer; _in the evening_, _in the morning_, _and at __noon-day will I cry unto thee_. In public, by Ministers, or private Christians at their Prayer-Meetings, which are praise-worthy, when carried on in a spirit of modesty and humility, with life and fervor—and here I would drop a Word of Exhortation—Let your public Prayers be always short. O that Ministers, Masters, Heads of Families, and those who conduct Prayer-Meetings, would adopt this method. God forbid that I should limit the Holy One of Israel to time, in leading the minds of his people to himself, but we can certainly distinguish between access to God, and a long, dry, formal address to the Deity. How tedious the service when the Minister is nearly half an hour (and I have known it the case forty minutes) in Prayer, and the same old, dry, formal address to God twice, and perhaps three times a day. O that Dissenters, Baptists, and Presbyterians particularly, were convinced how painful they render that service that ought to be perfect freedom, to old and young. The same hint I would drop to those who conduct Prayer-Meetings: Why should one brother be so prolix as to engage a full half hour, and sometimes more, wounding the feelings of others that ought to be engaged, and rendering the whole service tedious. Perhaps this is one reason why our Prayer Meetings are so often neglected—no brother ought to occupy more than one quarter of an hour, including the hymn, so that four might engage in one hour; and if there are not brethren enough to carry it on, then I recommend the Scriptures to be read, and singing of Hymns. Permit me, also to advise the Heads of private families, where there are servants kept, and young people, children, and the various branches of that family, to use brevity in your Prayers; your servants, perhaps, have been hard at work all day—they are tired and heavy: O what a burden they must