turns the balance. Would not a man, though he had nothing, think himself happy, if some great prince was busily thinking how to advance and enrich him? much more, if a number of kings were upon this thought, and devising together? Yet these thoughts might perish. How much more solid happiness is it to have him, whose power is greatest and whose thoughts fail not, eyeing thee, and devising thy good, and asking us, as it were, What shall be done to the man whom the king will honor?

And his ears are open unto their prayers. What suits thou hast, thou mayest speak freely; he will not refuse thee any thing that is for thy good. "O! but I am not righteous, and all this is for the righteous only." Yet thou wouldst be such a one. Wouldst thou indeed? then in part thou art righteous. If still thine own unrighteousness be in thine eye, it may and should be so, to humble thee; but if it should scare thee from coming unto God and offering thy suits with this persuasion, that his ear is open, should it make thee think that his favorable eye is not toward thee, yet there is mercy; creep in under the robe of his Son. Thou art sure he is Jesus Christ the righteous, and that the Father's eye is on him with delight, and then it shall be so on thee, being in him. Put thy petitions into his hand; thou canst not doubt that he hath access, and that he hath that ear open to him, which thou thinkest shut to thee.

The exercise of prayer being so important, and bearing so great a part in the life and comfort of a Christian, it deserves to be very seriously considered. We will therefore subjoin some few considerations concerning it.

Prayer may be considered in a threefold notion-1, as a duty we owe to God. As it is from him we expect and receive all, it is a very reasonable homage and acknow ledgment thus to testify the dependence of our being and life on him, and the dependence of our souls upon him, for being, and life, and all good; that we be daily suitors before his throne, and go to him for all:-2, as it constitutes the dignity and the delight of a spiritual mind, to have so near access unto God and such liberty to speak to him.-3, as a proper and sure means, by divine ap

pointment and promise, of obtaining at the hands of God those good things that are needful and convenient for us. And as believers are in these respects inclined and bent to the exercise of prayer, the Lord's ear is in like manner inclined to hear their prayer in these respects.-1, he takes it well at their hands, that they do offer it up as due worship to him, that they desire thus as they can to serve him.-2, it pleases him well that they delight in prayer, as converse with him; that they love to be much with him, and to speak to him often, and still aspire, by this way, to more acquaintance with him; that they are ambitious of this.-3, he willingly hears their prayers as the expressions of their necessities and desires. Being both rich and bountiful, he loves to have blessings drawn out of his hands that way. The Lord's treasure is always full, and therefore he is always communicative. In the first respect, prayer is acceptable to the Lord as incense and sacrifice; the Lord receives it as divine worship done to him. In the second respect, prayer is as the visits and sweet entertainment and discourse of friends together, and so is pleasing to the Lord, as the free opening of the mind, the pouring out of the heart to him. And, in the third sense, the Lord receives prayer as the suits of petitioners who are in favor with him, and whom he readily accords to. And this the word for supplication in the original, and the word here rendered prayer, and that rendered cry in the psalm,

mean.

I shall now add some directions, I. for prayer, that it may be accepted and answered; II. for observing the answers of it.

I. For prayer. 1, the qualification of the heart that offers it; 2, the way of offering it.

1. As to the qualification of the heart, it must be in some measure a holy heart, according to that word here, the righteous. There must be no regarding iniquity, no entertaining of friendship with any sin, but a permanent love and desire of holiness. Thus indeed a man prays within himself, as in a sanctified place, whither the Lord's ear inclines, as of old to the Temple. It must be also a believing heart, for there is no praying without this. Div. No. VI.

2 G

Faith is the very life of prayer, whence spring hope and comfort with it, to uphold the soul and keep it steady under storms with the promises; and as Aaron and Hur to Moses, keeping it from fainting, strengthening the hands when they would begin to fail. Without faith, the soul is a rolling unquiet thing, as a wave of the sea, of itself unstable as the waters, and then driven with the wind and tossed to and fro with every temptation. See and feel thine own unworthiness as much as thou canst, for thou art never bidden to believe in thyself; but what hath thy unworthiness to say against free promises of grace, which are the basis of thy faith? So then believe, that you may pray this is David's advice, Trust in him at all times, ye people, and then, pour out your hearts before him. Confide in him as a most faithful and powerful friend, and then you willopen your hearts to him.

2, For the way of offering up prayer. It is a great art, a main part of the secret of religion, to be skilled in it, and of great concern for the comfort and success of it. Much is here to be considered, but for the present take these advices briefly.-First; offer not to speak to him without the heart in some measure seasoned and prepossessed with the sense of his greatness and holiness; considering wisely to whom you speak, the King the Lord of glory, and setting the soul before him in his presence; and then reflecting on yourselves, and seeing what you are, how wretched, and base, and filthy, and unworthy of such access to so great a Majesty. The want of this preparing of the heart, to speak in the Lord's ear, by the consideration of God and ourselves, is that which fills the exercise of prayer with much guiltiness, makes the heart careless, and slight, and irreverent, and so displeases the Lord, and disappoints ourselves of that comfort in prayer and those answers of it, of which otherwise we should have more experience. We rush in before him with any thing, provided we can tumble out a few words; and do not weigh these things, and compose our hearts with serious thoughts and conceptions of God. The soul that studies and endeavours this most, hath much to do to attain to any right apprehensions of him, for how little know we of him! yet should we, at least, set ourselves before him

as the purest and greatest Spirit; a Being infinitely more excellent than our minds or any creature can conceive. This would fill the soul with awe and reverence, and ballast it, so as to make it go more even through the exercise; to consider the Lord, as the prophet saw him, sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, 1 Kings xxii, 19, and thyself a defiled sinner coming before him-how would this fill thee with holy fear! O his greatness and our baseness! and O the distance! This is Solomon's advice; Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few.

Secondly; when thou addressest thyself to prayer, desire and depend upon the assistance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God; without which thou art not able truly to pray. It is a supernatural work, and therefore the principle of it must be supernatural. He that hath nothing of the Spirit of God, cannot pray at all: he may howl as a beast in his necessity or distress, or may speak words of prayer, as some birds learn the language of men; but pray he cannot. And they that have that Spirit, ought to seek the movings and actual workings of it in them in prayer, as the particular help of their infirmities, teaching both what to ask, and then enabling them to ask, breathing forth their desires in such sighs and groans, as are the breath not simply of their own, but of God's Spirit.

Thirdly; as these two precautions are to be taken before prayer, so, in the exercise of it, you should learn to keep a watchful eye over your own hearts throughout. And in order to this, strive to keep up a continual remembrance of the presence of God, which, in the entry of the work, is to be set before the eye of the soul. They that are most inspective and watchful in this, will still be faulty in it; but certainly the less watchful the more faulty. And this we ought to do, to be aspiring daily to more stability of mind in prayer, and to be driving out somewhat of that roving and wandering, which is so universal an evil, and certainly so grievous, not to those who have it most, but who observe and discover it most and endeavour most

against it. A strange thing, that the mind, even the renewed mind, should be so ready, not only at other times, but in the exercise of prayer, wherein we peculiarly come so near to God, even then to slip out and leave him, and follow some poor vanity or other instead of him! Surely the godly man, when he thinks on this, is exceedingly ashamed of himself, cannot tell what to think of it. God his exceeding joy, whom, in his right thoughts, he esteems so much above the world and all things in it, yet to use him thus !-when he is speaking to him, to break off from that, and hold discourse with some base thought that steps in, and whispers to him; or, at the best, not to be stedfastly minding the Lord to whom he speaks, and possessed with the regard of his presence, and of his business and errand with him! This is no small piece of our misery here these wanderings are evidences to us, that we are not at home. But though we should be humbled for this and still be laboring against it, yet should we not be so discouraged, as to be driven from the work. Satan would desire no better than this; it were to help him to his wish. And sometimes a Christian may be driven to think-What, shall I still do thus, abusing my Lord's name and the privilege he hath given me? I had better leave off. No, not so by any means. Strive against the miserable evil that is within thee, but cast not away thy happiness. Be doing still. It is a froward childish humour, when any thing agrees not to our mind, to throw all away. Thou mayest come off, as Jacob, with halting from thy wrestlings, and yet obtain the blessing for which thou wrestlest.

Fourthly; those graces which are the due qualities of the heart, disposing it for prayer in the exercise of it, should be excited and acted; as holiness, the love of it, the desire of increase and growth of it; so the humbling and melting of the heart; and chiefly faith, which is mainly set on work in prayer; these draw forth the sweetnesses and virtues of the promises, teaching us to desire earnestly their performance to the soul, and to believe that they shall be performed; to have before our eyes his goodness and faithfulness who hath promised, and to rest upon that. And for success in prayer, it is altogether