Snowments, we may truly affirm, that no har mer bund them, until he became acquainted win God; inci he was made fenfible of his Love, Parter of us Fareurs, and lived in intire Comnumen vict Jum, which is chiefly, if not only, exprefed mú maintained by Prayer, and other Execies of Devecica.

We account it, and that very juftly, a mighty Pavlege and Dignity to be known to Princes and great Men, to have their Ear, and enjoy the Liberty ar Acces to them at all Times: But what is this

the Honour and Dignity we receive in having Leave given us, at all Times, to come into the Presence of the Great King of the Universe, whose Power and Goodnefs are infinite? That we, poor incu Duit and Athes, fhould be permitted to speak to transcendent a Majesty! Ñay, should have free Liberty given us to converse with him as with Frend to open all our Wants, to acquaint him wich all our Concernments, to make known every Thought of our Hearts, and every Affair of our Lives to him! Nay, and to be affured, that he will be so far from taking amifs this Boldness in us, that he will favourably accept all our Applications, and make us as kind Returns as we ourselves can wish or defire! What greater Honour are we capable of than this? And how far are we funk below all the Ambition of human Nature, when we will not take all Opportunities of thus honouring and doing Credit to ourselves, in making our Addreffes to God? Efpecially confidering, farther, the many great Benefits and Advantages that accrue to us hereby.

Of what fingular Efficacy the due Performance of this Duty is, to procure all temporal Bleffings, - avert all temporal Judgments, we are instructed Slomon's Prayer at the Dedication of the TemIf thy People Ifrael be fmitten down before the

Enemy;

Enemy; if Heaven be shut up, and there be no Rain, if there be in the Land Famine and Peftilence; or if thy People go out to Battle against their Enemy; then if they pray towards this Place, and confefs thy Name, bear thou their Prayer and Supplication in Heaven thy Dwelling-place; deliver them from their Afflictions, and maintain their Caufe. So that, according to the wife Man's Account, if Wars infeft a Nation, Prayer is the fureft Procurer of Peace or Victory; if Dearth or Famine rage in a Land, this reftores Plenty and Abundance; if the Heavens be as Brafs, and the Earth as Iron, this diffolves them, and makes them relent into Showers and Fatnefs; if the Peftilence reigns in the Streets, this holy Breathing can purge the Air, and difpel all noxious Vapours: In fine, whatever Calamities, whether private or publick, our Sins have drawn down upon us, a devout Performance of this Duty is able to remove them, and to fecure the Bleffing of God, both upon our Perfons and our Labours, upon our Basket and Store, upon our Families, upon our Employments, and upon all that we either have or do. "Nay, fuch is the Virtue of Prayer, that it makes every Thing we have a Bleffing of God; and all the Actions of our natural or civil Life, however indifferent in themselves, turn into Acts of Religion.

To mention but one Benefit more, which naturally arises from a confcientious Practice of this Duty. As in Prayer we fet our Wants and Infirmities continually before us, we folemnly place ourfelves in the Prefence of God, and call on him, who fees all our Actions; we enter into certain Purpofes and Refolves againft Sin; fettle our Minds into Seriousness and Deliberation; abstract them from fecular and worldly Affairs; and, by frequent converfing with God, are changed (gradually and infenfibly changed) into his Image and Similitude; fo it cannot be doubted, but that this Exercife muft

needs be highly fubfervient to the Purposes of Ho-· linefs, as it produces Humility and HeavenlyMindedness in us, Care and Vigilance in our Conduct, a reverential Fear of God in our Minds, and a Refemblance of the Divine Perfections in our Nature. Nay, fo very conducive is this one Duty towards a Life of Godliness, that we may venture to lay down these three Things for undoubted Truths. 1. That it is impoffible for any Man to be good, that lives without conftant Prayer. 2. That whofoever is good at present, if he disuses himself to this Duty, will not continue good long. And, 3. That whoever makes a Confcience of praying frequently and heartily, and continues fo to do, though he cannot, at prefent, be faid to be a good Man, yet it is impoffible for him long to continue bad. He will certainly, at laft, get the Victory over his Lufts and ill Habits; fince his praying, as one expreffes it, will either make him leave finning, or finning make him leave praying.

"But, if God be fo omnifcient a Being as to "know what we ftand in Need of without our "telling him, or where we are preffed without our complaining, what Reason is there for our acquainting him with our Wants or Calamities? And, if he be an infinitely good and kind Being, "more ready to give than we are to afk or receive, "what Occafion for urging and folliciting him to "do what his own effential Goodness will prompt "him to do for us without our afking? Efpecially "confidering, that he is an unchangeable Being, "the fame Yesterday, To-day, and for ever; the "fame not only in his Nature and Effence, but "alfo in his Counfels and Purposes. What he "hath once refolved he fteadily executes; and is "not therefore to be moved by the Prayers and

Supplications of clamorous and importunate "Petitioners." Now, in Anfwer to all this, it

may.

may be obferved, that, though the Knowledge of God be fuch, that he cannot but be fenfible of all our Wants and Diftreffes, nor can we tell him any Thing that he did not know before, yet it is but fit and reafonable, that, as we are really in Want, we should own our Wants to him; that, as we are really dependent upon him, we should acknowledge" that Dependence; acknowledge, I fay, that we are indigent and impotent Creatures; that we need many Things, and what Things they are that we need; that we cannot fupply our own Wants, and that God alone is able to fupply them.

All this, I fay, God knows as well, nay much better, than we do: But, nevertheless, it is but fit and becoming us, that we should profefs and own what we know to be true, and freely declare the Senfe of our own Weaknefs, and his All-fufficiency. In like Manner, though the Goodness of God be infinite, fo that we can fet no Bounds to it, yet may it be truly faid to be limited by his own Wifdom and Juftice; and therefore, fhould he be fo indulgent as to give us every Thing we wanted, without asking, however this might magnify his Indulgence, it might feem to affect his Wifdom; fince hereby we might forget our Dependence on him, and impute his Bleffings either to fortuitous Events, or the natural Courfe of Things: Whereas now, when good Things are, in a great Measure, withheld from Men till they pray for them, and are made the Confequence, as it were, of their Petitions, by this they perceive from whofe Hand every good and perfect Gift cometh; and by this they are convinced, how highly it concerns them to endeavour to procure his Favour and Good-will. And fo again, though the Purposes of God be unchange-" able, yet are they not fo abfolute as to exclude all Conditions. He determines to fupply the Wants of his Creatures; but then they must be fuch as

F 3

are

are qualified to receive fuch Supply. Now, among the Qualifications which he requires in those whole Wants he is determined to fupply, the very chief of all is our Dependence upon him, and an intire Confidence in his Goodness and Bounty; and the proper Expreffion of his Truft and Dependence is our looking up unto God, from whom cometh our Help.

There is indeed a Temper in Men that affects to be courted and flattered, and fawned upon, and complies with the Requests of others out of mean and little Ends: But this is the Effect of Pride, and Paffion, and Intereft, much different from these Condefcenfions of Almighty God; who, though he cannot be fubject either to Weakness or Corruption, may yet be prevailed upon by fuch Methods as become a reasonable, and wife, and generous Mind. And therefore, when Men pay the Homage due to his infinite Majefty; when they throw themselves intirely upon his Goodness, caft all their Care upon him, commit their Souls and all their Concerns into his Hands, and that with fuch devout and strong Perfuafions of his being a faithful Creator, that no Delays, no Refufals can tempt them to fufpect or diftruft him; this is fuch an Inducement to help and favour People in Diftrefs, as every great Spirit, every Man of Honour and common Good-nature, would think it a Fault not to comply with. So that for God to fhew himfelf flexible, upon fuch Occafions, is not a Thing chargeable with Fickleness or Inconftancy, but rather a gracious Compliance, upon just and reafonable Motives; and to harden himself against the Cries and Complaints of Suitors, thus qualified, would much lefs become the Character of the fovereign Judge, and infinitely good Ruler of the World. It is a grofs Conception therefore to imagine, that our Prayers are troublesome to him, as