Boul. The spouse slept, while her heart was awake: when her bridegroom knocked, she was so overcome with spiritual drowsiness, that she suffered him to stand at the door; but he went his way, and what distress did she experience, and what pains was she obliged to take, before he would suffer himself to be entreated by her, Song V.2-8.

2. Take heed that an unbelieving fear do not beset you, at least, that it do not hinder you from praying. The corruption of your heart, your ill behaviour, your falling repeatedly into sin ought indeed to render you humble, and induce you to stand afar off, like the publican, and cry only for grace; but these things ought not to drive you from the Lord, nor cause you to despair, as though there were no grace, nor mercy with the Lord for you; for by acting thus ye dishonour God, as if his grace and mercy could not overmatch your sins, and could not swallow your sin up. The soul saith sometimes indeed with the people of God, "If my transgressions and my sins be upon me, and I pine away in them, how should I then live? but the Lord saith, As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," Ezek. xxxiii. 10, 11. Are ye not grieved for your sins, will ye hold them fast; remain then aloof, and flee from the Lord, like Cain and Judas; but do ye seek to be delivered from your sins and sinfulness, "cast not then away your confidence, which hath a great recompence of reward," Heb. x. 35.

3. Watch against wandering thoughts; for these remove the heart far from the Lord, even when we draw near to him with our mouths. Do they beset you, endeavour to banish them from you; disengage your minds from them. Are ye not able, propose your requests then, not with many, but with few words, and do not make "use of vain repetitions," contrary to the advice of the Saviour, Mat. vi. 7. We must therefore take good heed that we do not hurry too much, in order to finish our prayer, and utter only many words in haste, and also that we do not limit ourselves to a certain time, praying just so long, and no longer: "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," Eccl.

V. 2.

4. None of us may think that he may abstain from praying, when he is not influenced in just such or such a particular manner by the Spirit of prayer. It is true, we cannot pray aright without his preventing influence; yet we may not forbear to pray, when we do not enjoy that influence, but the experience of our inability, which the Holy Ghost also worketh in us, should urge and induce us to pray VOL. II. 3 B

vehemently, and we shall experience that the Lord will recompence our zeal, and that he will, as he hath promised, Isaiah Ixiv. 5, "meet those who remember him in his ways." Therefore the soui ought also to look up to the Lord, and to depend upon him for the promised "Spirit of grace and of supplications," Zech. xii. 10.

5. Pray for yourselves, but also for the community. It behooves you to mention the land and the place of your habitation to the Lord. God required that they who were carried away captive should pray for Babylon, Jer. xxix. 7. How much more then ought we to remember in our prayers this good land, in which we enjoy liberty and happiness! And since the prosperity of the land depends greatly upon the magistrates, we ought also to "pray for kings, and all that are in authority; that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty," as Paul admonisheth, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 23. Forget not your family, and children: Isaac prayed for his wife, Gen. xxv. 21. Abraham for Ishmael, Gen. xvii. 18, and David for his child, when it was sick, 2 Sam. xii. 15, 16. But the church of the Lord, "Jerusalem," ought more especially to "come into your mind," Jer. li. 50. "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion build thou the walls of Jerusalem," said David to the Lord, although he was sufficiently burthened with his own affliction, Psalm li. 18.

6. Unite with, and forsake not the ordinary prayers of the church; for the Lord manifests himself present with his church, and he hears those prayers: "when only two agree touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father," saith Jesus, Mat. xviii. 19. Masters and mistresses of families ought also to pray for, and with their whole family: "Isaac prayed for, and in the presence of his wife," Gen. xxv. 21. How can families, in which family prayers are neglected, be considered as godly? they cannot certainly expect a blessing. Neither ought private and solitary prayers to be neglected: for we have surely something of a particular nature to lay before the Lord, which we do not desire others to know. We exercise fellowship with God chiefly in such a retired solitude, See what Solomon and the Lord Jesus say, Prov. xviii. 1. Mat. vi. 6.

7. "Pray without ceasing," saith the apostle, I Thess. v. 17. How can or may this be done? our spirit, as long as it is in this mortal body, cannot endure to be always intent upon any subject: God hath also enjoined it upon man to exercise himself in many other employments. But the phrase, without ceasing" denotes

either that we should persevere in prayer, and, as it were, weary the

Lord with our praying, until he show us favour: "for this end Jesus spake the parable of the widow, who wearied, as it were, the ungodly judge, in order to show that men ought always to pray, and not to faint," Luke xviii 1-7. We ought thus to "continue instant in prayer, and to watch in the same with thanksgiving," Col. iv. 2. Or "to pray without ceasing" denotes being continually in a supplicating posture of mind toward the Lord, even while we are engaged in our daily callings, like Nehemiah," who prayed to the God of heaven, even when the king spake to him," Neh. ii. 4. Or it intimates observing our stated seasons of prayer. David and Daniel "prayed in the morning, at noon and night," Psalm lv. 17. Dan. vi. 11. This is praying without ceasing, as the morning and evening sacrifice is called "the continual sacrifice," Exod. xxix. 38, 39. Dan. viii. 11.

8. As we ought to demean ourselves well, while we pray, praying with humility, with boldness, in the name of Christ, with confidence, with thanksgiving, with intense earnestness, in spirit a din truth, and with becoming gestures of the body, so we ought also to endeavour to be well disposed before and after prayer. Before prayer we ought to prepare ourselves for it in a suitable manner, "to order ourselves and keep watch," with David, Psalm v. 3. We ought to dismiss all our worldly thoughts, to inquire what we need, and endeavour to have a suitable sense of God, to whom we are about to draw near: but we ought in a more particular manner actually to repent of and forsake our sins, and to entertain a steadfast resolution to resist them in future. Zophar, the friend of Job, said to him, "If thou prepare thy heart, and stretch out thy hand toward him if iniquity be in thy hand, put it far from thee, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tents," Job xi. 13, 14 After prayer, inquire for what and how ye have prayed, and whether ye be the better for it. Let your hearts continue turned to the Lord, and, as it were, employed in repeating your prayer, and look out for an answer, in order to hear what God the Lord will speak, trusting that " he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but turn not again unto folly," Psalm lxxxv. 8. Doth the Lord hear you, rejoice, and praise him. David was so well pleased with God's hearing of him, that he would not only praise the Lord himself, Psalm cxviii. 21, but would also inform others, who feared God, of God's kindness in this respect, that they likewise might praise the Lord, Psalm lxvi. 16-20. Yea, he found that he was unable to do this alone in proportion to the value of the benefit, and therefore he called upon others to help him: "O magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears," saith he to the people of God, Psalm xxxiv. 3, 4. To conclude, I will finish this discourse with the request of the church, Psalm xx. 1-4. "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble: the name of the God of Jacob defend thee send thee help from the sanctuary; and strengthen thee out of Zion: remember all thine offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel," Amen.

THE ADDRESS

OF

PRAYER.

XLVI. LORD'S DAY.

Mat. vi. 6. Our Father which art in heaven.

Q. 120. Why hath Christ commanded us to address God thus, Our Father ?

A. That immediately in the very beginning of our prayer he might excite in us a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer; namely, that God is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith, than our parents will refuse us carthly things.

Q. 121. Why is it here added, "Which art in heaven ?"

A. Lest we should form any earthly conceptions of God's heavenly majesty, and that we may expect from his almighty power all things necessary for soul and body.

"DANGER

ANGER will cause a person to pray :" this is a common proverb with us. It is also true: for when a man is in danger, he is constrained to call for help. Seafaring men, though ever so care,