without Measure, and ferve and praise him without Weariness, and obey him without Reluctancy, and still be more and more delighted in knowing, and loving, and praifing, and obeying him to all Eternity. Bleed is the Man whom thou chufeft, O Lord, and receiveft unto thee: He shall dwell in thy Courts, and fhall be fatisfied with the Pleasures of thy Houfe, even of thy boly Temple.

PR

SECT. II.

Of external Duties to GOD, and,

1. OF PRAYER.

RAYER is a folemn Act of worshipping the fupreme Being; whereby we recognise his eternal Power and Godhead; whereby we acknowledge that he is the Creator and Governor of the World; that we abfolutely, in every Refpect, depend on him; that every good and perfect Gift cometh from him; and that, in all our Exigencies, he is ready to hear, and able to relieve us. So that the Reason of our making our Requests known unto God, is founded upon the Belief of his infinite Goodness, which disposes him to grant the Petitions of his Servants; of his unlimited Power, which inables him to fulfil all their Defires; and of his Truth and Veracity, which make it impoffible for him not to keep the Promises which he hath made, of giving to thofe that afk. This is the Duty: And, I. The Grounds and Reasonableness hereof; together, II. With the Conditions requifite to make it an acceptable Service to God, will be the Scope

of this Difcourfe.

I. It has been the Opinion of the best and wifest Men of all Ages, that the chief Design of making

3

Man

Man was, that there might be a Being able to ap prehend and fet forth the Glory of God in thefe lower Regions; for the Creation feemed to be imperfect, and the Glory, which redounds to God from his Works, obfcure, while there was no Creature able to take Notice of them. Man therefore, the laft, best Work of God, was formed to fupply this Want; and, as all other Creatures were made for his Ufe and Entertainment, he himself was fet apart for the Service and Worship of God. To this End he was endued with the angelic Faculty of Understanding, and the no lefs useful and noble Inftrument of Speech, by which he was capable of cloathing his Thoughts with outward Expreffions, that, by his Reason, he might apprehend, and, by his Voice, celebrate the Divine Perfections; and, as the Priest of Nature, offer up the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving for the whole Creation. And into what Raptures of Admiration, into what Expreffions of Gratitude, may we fuppofe the firft Man to break forth, when he awaked out of the Duft into Being, and beheld this goodly Fabrick of the World, and himself the greateft and happiest Creature in it! Whence the Order, whence the Beauty, whence the Variety of this blissful Paradife around him; nay, whence himself? Such wonderful Effects must neceffarily raife him up to contemplate the first Cause, from whence they flowed; and we may piously prefume, that the firft Time he opened his Lips was to fhew forth his Creator's Praife.

Thus early did the Duty of Praise and Thankf giving to God begin, commanded by no Laws, inforced by no Motives, but those of Gratitude and Inclination. For our firft Parents had no Wants to be relieved, no Grievances to be redreffed; even their Defires for future Mercies were prevented, and all they could afk of God, in that blissful

3

i

blissful State, was only the Continuance of it. But when unhappily they fell from their Innocence, and thereupon contracted Guilt, and intailed Mifery upon their Pofterity, Supplication and Prayer became the neceffary Duty of Mankind and fo will continue, as long as we have Infirmi ties to be healed, and Wants to be relieved, and Sins to be pardoned, which will be as long as we abide in this State of Mortality. Our Dependence upon God makes it neceffary to fae to him for what we want, as well as to give him Praise for what we have Our Guilt, by making us fubject to his Juftice, prompts us to feek his Favour by humble Contrition for Sin, and earnest Defire of his Pardon: Our Infirmities and Temptations fhew us, how abfolutely needful it is to be affifted by his Grace, both to recover ourfelves by true Repentance, and to perfevere in doing the Things that he requires: And, laftly, the common Ties of Humanity and the Religion of Charity oblige us to pray for one another, as well as for ourselves: So that natural Light discovers this Duty, and fhews it through all the Ways of Invocation, or Calling upon God.

And accordingly, if we look into the Heathen World, we fhall find, that no Nation was ever yet fo rude and barbarous, as not to have fome Form of religious Worship; and that, however the Vulgar might differ in the Object of their Adoration, the wifeft, in moft Nations, were generally of the Roman Orator's Opinion; "That the Na"ture of God may juftly challenge the Worship "of Men, because of its fuperlative Excellence, "Bleffedness, and Eternity; and that whoever " doubts or denies this (as Ariftotle afferts) ought "not to be dealt with by Arguments, but by Pu"nifhments." Their Acknowledgment therefore was, that all their Actions fhould begin with the

Gods,

Gods, and that a Bleffing could not be derived upon them, without imploring their Aid; nay, that the Sacrifices were not duly offered, nor the Gods rightly worshipped, without Prayer. The Stoics indeed, who imputed fo much to their own Strength, feemed to exclude the Divine Affiftance, and, in Confequence of that, to shut out Prayer; but we find them frequently retracting this Opinion, and teaching their Difciples, that, as no Man can be good without God, fo their Business was, to pray for Health of Mind and Body, but more especially for the former. And indeed, whatever fome profligate People may pretend, and, in the Height of their Jollity, fay to themselves, Who is the Almighty, that we should fear and call upon him? There are some certain Intervals, viz. when Anguish and Distress come upon them, and all human Means of Relief and Support fail, that they will naturally cry unto God, and endeavour to take Sanctuary in his All-fufficiency: Infomuch that it may juftly be questioned, whether ever there was a Sinner, fo wicked and obdurate, who, in the laft Efforts of Life, (could we but fee what passed within) was able to overcome all fecret Prayer, and Motion of the Soul towards God.

And indeed, if we confider the Matter rightly, what can we fuppofe more reasonable, than that the fovereign Lord of all the World should be acknowledged by us? That we, who do continually depend upon him, fhould, ever and anon, be looking up to him, and expreffing that Dependence? For is it not fit, that we, who every Moment experience a thousand Inftances of his Kindness, partake of a thousand Mercies and Favours from his Hand, and muft perish the next Minute, unless they be continued to us; is it not highly fit and reasonable, I fay, that we should take Notice of thefe Things to our bounteous Benefactor? We fhould think it very ill Manners to pass by our

Prince,

Princé, or even any of our Betters, without faluting them, or, fome. Way or other, testifying our Refpect to them, though they had no Way particularly obliged us; but, if we are beholden to them for our Daily Bread, to come into their Presence without taking Notice of them, or their Bounty to us, would be intolerable: How much more intolerable therefore muft it be to pafs by the Almighty, Day after Day, nay, to be in his Prefence continually, (as indeed we always are) and yet neither pay any Homage and Reverence to him, as he is our fupreme Lord, nor any Acknowledgments, as he is our daily Preferver? Especially confidering, that this is one of the moft delightful and honourable Employments that our Natures are capable of.

Vicious Men perhaps may have other Conceptions; but, as they have no Experience of Devotion, they are not competent Judges; thofe only, who have a good Senfe and Relish of God upon their Minds, and have used and accustomed themfelves to fpiritual Exercifes, can form right Notions of it: And to fuch we appeal, whether the Delights, and Satisfaction, and Confolation they receive from converfing with God, and an hearty pouring out their Souls unto him, be not inexpreffible? Whether they do not find more Joy, and Peace, and Comfort, in their Attendance upon God's Service, either in publick or private, than ever they did from the Pleasures and Gratifications of any of their outward Senfes. As much as the Soul is more pure and excellent than the Body, fo much are the Pleafures and Gratifications of that more exquifitely delicious than thofe, which arise from corporeal Objects: But, of all the Pleafures of the Soul, those that it receives from the Communications of God, in the Exercife of Devotion, are incomparably the highest and most affecting; infomuch that, however we talk of Pleafures F

and