DISCOURSES ON PRAYER.

OF THE NATURE OF PRAYER IN GENERAL; WITH THE IMPORT OF PRAYING WITHOUT CEASING.*

THESE words are an exhortation briefly delivered, as laws use to be; and therein we have, 1. A duty proposed, "Pray." 2. The manner of it, "without ceasing."

I. We have the duty itself, "Pray." It may be asked, What is prayer? I answer, It is "an offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies." Here I shall consider,

1. The object of prayer, or whom we are to pray to.

2. The parts of prayer.

3. The matter of it.

4. In whose name we are to pray.

5. The several kinds of prayer.

First, I am to consider the object of this duty, or whom we are to pray to; that is, God: not to saints and angels, as the Papists do; for prayer is a part of religious worship, and therefore due to God only, Matth. iv. 10; and he only knows all things, and is present everywhere to hear us, Isa. lxiii. 16. To all the three persons in the Trinity prayer is due. That it is so to the Father, nobody doubts. That it is due to Christ, the Son, appears from Stephen's calling upon him in his last moments, and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," Acts vii. 59. Even Christ the Mediator is to be worshipped, though his divine nature is the reason why he is wor ́shipped, Heb. i. 6, "And let all the angels of God worship him." The Holy Ghost also is to be worshipped, as appears from the apos

*The substance of two Sermons preached at Etterick, in the year 1727. VOL. XI.

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tolical benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, "The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all."

In respect of the object of worship, people would do well to satisfy themselves, in their addresses to God, with the belief of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, who are but one object of worship, and not think to comprehend God, but to make use of the names and titles he has taken to himself in the word. Beware of imaginations of God or the three persons, and of dividing the object of worship, as if praying to the Father, you did not also pray to the Son and the Holy Ghost.

It is most necessary our prayers begin with such a description of God, as may both strike fear and dread in our hearts, and confidence of being heard; as, " Our Father which art in heaven;" "O, Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy," &c., Dan. ix. 4. And this will readily be the case, if we have due thoughts of his glorious majesty and infinite excellency.

Secondly, The parts of prayer are three, (1.) Confession, (2.) Thanksgiving, and (3.) Petition.

1. Confession, Dan. ix. 4, 5, "I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments: we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled," &c. It well becomes sinful dust and ashes, in addresses to God, to come with a blush in the countenance, and tears in the eye, and confession in the mouth. It is necessary to humble us in the sight of God, and it is the humble only that are heard, Psalm x. 17. Confession is the vomiting up of the sweet morsel, and God has joined pardon and confession together, 1 John i. 9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God's ears are shut to those whose mouths are bound up from this. Some say they cannot pray: O can ye not confess what you are, have done, and daily are doing? How can ye want matter of prayer, while ye have so many sins to confess?

2. Thanksgiving, Phil. iv. 6, "In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Every man is God's debtor for mercies, as well as sins; the least return ye can make, is to acknowledge debt. He that is unthankful for what he has got, cannot think to come speed in addresses for more.

3. Petition, wherein prayer properly consists. It is an offering up of our desires to God. Wherein we may note the act of prayer,

offering up our desires." The prayer that God makes account of is first in the heart, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also." It is a pouring out of the heart to God, Psalm lxii. 8. The Spirit of God moves on the waters of our affections, and then they are poured out before the Lord, as the water of the well of Bethlehem was by David. Many times our prayers come as mud out of a vessel; but as water they should flow freely. Then

In prayer there are real desires of what we seek of God, which desires are offered to the Lord. The mouth must not speak out anything but what is the desire of the heart. It is dangerous to mock God, who knows the heart; to confess sin, and not have the heart affected with it; to seek supply of wants from him, and not have the heart impressed with a due sense of the want of them. There are two sorts of desires.

(1.) There are natural desires, which are the mere product of our own spirits, offered unto God, but not regarded as prayer (Hos. vii. 14.) by the Lord. These may be not only for temporal things but for spiritual also, as those who said to Christ, "Lord evermore give us this bread." A natural man, from a gift of prayer, may seek grace and glory, as a bridge to lead him over the waters of wrath; but coming only from their own spirits, such a prayer is not acceptable.

(2.) There are spiritual desires, Zech. xii. 10; which the saints breathe out unto God, having them first breathed into them by the Spirit, Rom. viii. 26. And these may be for temporal things, as well as spiritual, accepted, seeing they are put up in a spiritual manner. These are always sincere and fervent, so as the soul earnestly craves the things sought.

Thirdly, The matter of prayer, or what we are to petition and seek for. These are, the things that are agreeable to God's will. To pray for the fulfilling of unlawful desires, is horrid, Jam. iv. 3. But the will of God is the rule of our prayers, 1 John v. 14, "This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." We find the will of God in his commands and promises. Whatever God has commanded us to seek, whatever he has promised, that we may and ought to pray for. These are, (1.) Spiritual mercies, grace, glory, the increase of grace, comforts, &c. (2.) Temporal mercies, health, strength, &c., mercies relating to our bodies and temporal estate in the world.

Some have no freedom to bring their temporal concerns to their prayers. ANs. That we may and ought to do it, is plain.

1. In that God has given them a place in his covenant; they are

promised as well as spiritual mercies, 1 Tim. iv. 8, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." Isa. xxxiii. 16, "Bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure." Psalm i. 3, "Whatsoever he

doth shall prosper."

2. It has been the practice of the saints in all ages. Memorable is Agur's prayer, Prov. xxx. 8, "Give me neither poverty, nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me.'

3. Christ teaches us so to do in that pattern of prayer, Matth. vi. 9, &c., "Give us this day our daily bread," where we may observe, that they ought to have a place in our prayers daily.

4. God has commanded it, Phil. iv. 6, "Be careful for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Ezek. xxxvi. 37, "Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." Compare vers. 30, 33, &c., "I will multiply the fruit of the tree," &c. It is a general command, "In all thy ways acknowledge him," Prov. iii. 6.

5. Sin and duty are very large. Men are under a law as to their management of temporal concerns, and light and wisdom should be sought for the same from the Lord, Psalm cxii. 5, "A good man will guide his affairs with discretion." No doubt many things go the worse with us, that God is so little owned in them. If that be true, that "God doth instruct the plowman to discretion, and doth teach him," Isa. xxviii. 26, there is a good reason we pray, that "God may establish the work of our hands upon us," Psalm xc. ult. Surely those Christians that neglect it, deprive themselves of many experiences of the Lord's kindness. For the temporal mercies they meet with, were they answers of prayer, would be so many experiences of the Lord's love, Isa. xli. 11. Nay, I think it were a piece of Christian prudence, for the child of God, when he finds his heart not so affected as he would have it for spiritual mercies, to make an errand to God of a temporal mercy, whereby his heart may be the more fitted for asking spiritual blessings; as we have instances often in the Psalms, and also in the famous wrestling of Jacob. Only,

(1.) Pray for temporal mercies for the sake of spiritual, not contrariwise, Matth. vi. 33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousnesss, and all these things shall be added unto you. Prov. xxx. 8. 9, "Give me neither poverty, nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."

(2) Keep within the bounds of the promise. Now, all promises

of temporal things have this condition, if they be for God's glory and his children's good. Pray so as you may be content to want them, if God see it meet. But as for grace, the favour of God, and communion with him here and hereafter, it can never be our duty to be content to want them, 1 Thess. iv. 3, " For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

Fourthly, In whose name are we to pray ? In the name of Christ, John xiv. 13, 14, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." This is to plead the merits of Jesus Christ. We must come to God in the name of Christ, laying all the stress upon his merits. All things go by favour in the court of heaven; the Father hears us for the Son's sake. This implies that we must be in Christ, before we can pray acceptably. But I shall consider this particular more fully, when I come, in course, to speak of praying in the name of Christ.

Fifthly, There are several kinds of prayer. I shall speak a word to these three, ejaculatory, secret, and family.

1. Ejaculatory prayer, which is a sudden dispatch of the desires of the soul to heaven, upon any emergent occasion; sometimes with the voice, and sometimes without it. I will say of it,

(1.) It has been the practice of the saints. Thus Jacob, when making his testament, says, Gen. xlix. 18, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." And when giving charge to his sons concerning Benjamin, chap. xliii. 14, "God Almighty give you mercy before the man," &c. Moses, when brought into a great strait at the approach of the Egyptians, Exod. xiv. 15, "The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." David, when told of Ahithophel's being among the conspirators with Absalom, says, 2 Sam. xv. 31, "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." And Nehemiah, when in the king's presence, and asked by him his request, says, chap. ii. 4, "I pray to the God of heaven."

(2.) Such prayers are very necessary. Light and strength for duty, against temptation, &c., are often needed, when we cannot get to our knees.

(3.) They are very useful for present help, and are notable means to keep the soul habitually heavenly and in a proper frame, when we make more solemn approaches to God.

(4.) It is no small mercy, that God's door stands always open, and that our prayers may be at heaven, before we can be at a secret place.

2. Secret prayer, wherein the man or woman goes alone to a secret place, and they pour out their souls before the Lord.