such as would have included a week of our ordinary labour, time was redeemed from sleep for this sacred employment.* The most effectual hindrances, therefore, to the fruitfulness of our pastoral work are those which impede our personal communion with the Lord. The great enemy thus successfully intercepts the supplies of spiritual life, so that the work of God within our own souls languishes from the want of its accustomed and needful support. There is the greater need of this heavenly exercise, lest