nor have its Being This is the chief Branch of the Worship of God requir'd of all who acknowledge Him to Be and most reasonable for all who own the World to be govern'd by His Providence and themselves to stand in need either of His Grace or His Pardon or who hope for His Rewards or fear His Punishments in a future State And as it is thus a very necessary Duty so if exactly practic'd is it a difficult one too For it is a Discoursing with God and for Man who is but of yesterday to correspond with the Almighty who inhabits Eternity must employ the utmost force of all his Powers and Faculties For if the Cherubim and Seraphim who were always without Spot or Blemish and in whom was never found any Guile cover their Faces while they are Praising and Adoring the infinite Perfections of God what Gesture can be humble enough for Man who composes himself to Pray to Him laden with his Sins and whose Iniquities have gone over his Head If those glorious Spirits are describ'd in Scripture as shifting from place to place while they are worshiping their Creator as conquer'd and overpower'd by the Purity of His Nature with what Confusion must Man appear before Him who was conceiv'd in Sin and born in Iniquity What attention and application of Thought What modesty of Expression What submissiveness of Behaviour What Love and Admiration What warmth of Affection must be us'd to make our Sacrifices acceptable to our Maker And certainly as it had been the highest Presumption to have offer'd to have entertain'd any Entercourse with the Almighty had not He Himself encourag'd it so since He has vouchsafed to do it it is our most excellent Glory that we can address our Supplications to Him But still the Obligation abides to put them up with all the Devotion and Fervency of Spirit which our Imperfections are capable of to prepare our selves with the nicest diligence that we may Pray always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit By Praying always is not meant a constant or continued Exercise of the Act of Prayer so as to be always invoking the Name of God For this would be inconsistent with our other relative Duties for there are Virtues to be practic'd which more immediately regard our Neighbour and our selves as well as those which solely respect God and we are oblig'd to Justice Charity and Humanity as well as to Pray Praise and Adore But by Praying always is to be understood such a Godlike Frame and Temper of Spirit accompany'd with such an Innocence of Life and relish of Heavenly Things that we may be ever dispos'd for this Duty when fit opportunities shall call for it By Praying in the Spirit whatsoever the Enthusiasts pretend seems to be only imply'd that our Prayers ought to have the Qualifications before mention'd so that they ought to be put up rather for things Spiritual than Temporal for God's assistance to enable us to persevere in Goodness for the removal or averting of Temptations for all Graces needful for us and Means for the securing or encreasing of them which are styl'd the Gifts or Privileges of the Holy Spirit And this too falls under the former Head and is a Qualification necessary to make us Pray aright since there can be no better Argument that we are well qualified for Prayer than that we pray for Blessings of the most noble Importance the most momentous Concern So that in the Text are couch'd the Qualifications requir'd to make us successful Petitioners at the Throne of Grace For the reason why so many Prayers are not heard by Heaven after those Promises which are annex'd to the Performance of this Duty is because we are not duly accomplish'd to be Candidates for its Mercies And it is easy for us in this Case to vindicate the Faithfulness of God and to make an Apology for our Maker in our Maker's own Words which are that We ask and receive not because we ask amiss In order therefore to make us fit Supplicants to the God of Glory and to put our Souls into such a Temper that they may be constantly and habitually fitted for the Discharge of this Duty there are several Qualifications needful I shall therefore consider First What Qualifications are necessary to prepare us for Prayer or before we Pray and in order to it Secondly What is requir'd in the very time or act of our Praying when our Devotions are on the Wing and our Lips are touch'd with a Coal from the Altar Thirdly What must be done after we have Pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual Fourthly What Acts are to be continued and extended through each of these both before in and after our Prayers First therefore What Qualifications are necessary to prepare us for Prayer or before we Pray and in order to it Now the First Qualification necessary to prepare us for Prayer is the Purity of our * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menander Hearts or the Direction of our Lives by the Commandments of God For if our Affections are impure or our Ways unrighteous it is in vain to make our Applications to God for we know that God heareth not Sinners but if any man is a worshipper of God and doth his Will him he heareth For The Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers alone For without Godliness whatsoever Antinomian Schemes some Persons may draw whether it consists in Innocence or sincere Repentance our Prayers can never mount up to the presence of God because the Burden of our Sins will certainly keep them from ascending to that Holy Place where nothing but what is compleatly so can appear And it would be Presumption to hope that our spotless Saviour should present so unacceptable a Sacrifice to his Father as the Petitions of a Supplicant who declares himself to be in a State of Hostility against both of them by an avow'd complying with what they most abhor Nay it is the most unwarrantable Insolence for him who still retains a Love for his Sins and yields to them upon the general returns of Temptation to approach his Maker in any Holy Office For it is only an honouring Him with his Lips while his Heart is far from Him and seems to be what the Apostle calls a Lying to God a professing himself his most devoted most obedient Servant while his own Conscience by a reflection on his Actions will tell him that he is his open and inveterate Enemy 'T is a colluding with Him who tries the Heart and the Reins and to whose Eyes all things are nâ—ked and open as if Omniscience could be impos'd on by Pretences or a Religious Pageantry was tantamount to Solid Virtue and Piety or saying of Lord Lord would excuse for the not doing the Will of our Father which is in Heaven So that till we are free from all known and willful Sin 't is to no purpose to make any
Verdict of Reason and Natural Conscience but fully condemn'd by the Sentence of God pronounc'd by Moses and his Holy Prophets As our Saviour did not new extend the Old Commands so neither farther did He impose any New ones oâ— his own But here our Catechist affirms that our Saviour did enjoin several New Commands of his own as the Command of Denying our selves or pluâ—king out our right Eye and cutting off our right Hand of taking up the â—â—oâ—â— and of following Christ But these were Duties before the Gospel before the Day spring from on high had visited us in the Substance tho' not in every Circumstance Branch and Punctilio of them For tho' 't is improper to say That the following of our Saviour was a Duty before this Saviour appear'd on the Earth â—â—o should thus be follow'd before He had led a Life of compleat Virtue and Innocence which should be an Example to all his Followers yet that Resignation to the Will of God that perfect Charity towards Mankind that Humility and Perseverance in Fasting and Prayer which our Adversaries make so peculiarly imitable in our Saviour were obligatory before they were thus practic'd and enforc'd by Him And this will appear by a brief yet particular Examination of each one of them And in the first place Self-Denial which is nothing else but that Virtue by which we renounce our own Will and all its carnal Desires and conform them to the Will of God equally oblig'd under the Old Testament as under the New For did not the former as well as the latter exact a perfect Love of God A Love exerted with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Might A Love in some proportion worthy that Divine Object to which it was addrest and that oblig'd Creature who paid it But could so pure a Love as this be offer'd unless the Offerer renounc'd his own Will and all its carnal Desires and wholly submitted them to the Will of God since all Love of the World and whatsoever belongs to the carnal Mind is Enmity to God every sinful Dâ—â—â—â—e entertain'd in an Heart consecrated to the Almighty making the whole Sacrifice an Abomination in his sight So that since a perfect Love of God was commanded by the Old Testament and this could not be given without a complear Self-denial every Religious Votary under that Dispensation as well as under the Gospel was oblig'd to deny himself to renounce all his carnal Desires that he might love God with a more inâ—â—am'd Affection a more passionate Devotion So that the Command of Self-denial was â—o New Command of our Saviour's but one of those which were deliver'd to the Israelites and upon the Observation of which the God oâ— them Fathers promis'd to Increase them mightily in the Land which flowed with Milk and Honey Secondly The taking up the Cross that is a Preparedness to endure any Misery for the Name of God and Constancy in his Holy Religionâ— â—ay which is the greatest Tryal of an unshaken Courage a Readiness to suffer even Death it self which tho' it is the finisher yet is the most dismal of all Miseries A Disposition to undergo these which is meant by taking up the Cross was a Duty which oblig'd under the Ritual Law as well as since its Abrogation 'T is true indeed Christianity at its first rise seems to be a Religion purely made up of Sufferings The Prospect was wholly dark and melancholy Its Professors as well as its Founder pour'd out their Souls to Death and were number'd with Transgressors shar'd with him in the Agonies of a violent and the Shame of a disgraceful Dissolution Tho' the Duty if taking up the Cross was thus vigorously put in practice by the first Christians yet did it not then begin to oblige but was a Duty in foâ—â—e under the Law and strictly kept by I its Religious Observers Some of which as the Apostlâ— to the Hebrewâ— tells us were Tortur'd not accepting Deliverance others had Tryals of cruel Mâ—â—kings and Sâ—â—â—â—â—ings of Bonds and Imprisonments were Ston'd were Sawn asunder were Tempted or as others read it with perhaps an apter connexion with the Context 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Burâ—â— were slain with the Sword Thirdly The following of Christ that is a conforming our Lives to the Life of Christ or a resembling him in those Virtues which are properly his not known as our Opposâ—â—â— say before He taught and practic'd them Such are a Resignation to the Will of God perfect Charity Humility and Peâ—sevenance in Fasting and Prayer But these were Duties before they were thus practic'd oâ— enforc'd by our Saviour For what greater Obligation could there be to a Resignation to the Will of God than that Command of the Prophets Trust in the Lord for euer for in the Lord Jehovah â—â— everlasting strength What greater Instance could be given of perfect Charity than that passionate Expostulation of Moses upon God's being angry with the Israelites for â—he Molten Calf Yâ—â— nâ—w says he if thou wilt forgive their Sin if not blot me I pray thes out of the Book that thou hast written It seems to rise up to St. Paul's pathetical Wish under the Gospel I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh As for Humility it was a Duty before the Gospel for the Prophet Micah commands us to walk Humbly with our God as well as to do Justly and love Mercy Fasting and Prayer and Perseverance in them were Duties antecedent to the Gospel for we find that our Saviour does not so much settle any New Commands about them as remove those Mistakes which were risen concerning them He supposes that to Pray was a Duty but his Direction is Not to pray as the Hypocrites do He supposes Fasting to be a Duty but his Injunction is Not to disfigure the Face that we may appear to Men to Fast So that He does not enjoin the Duties which were commanded before only corrects the Errors which are frequent in the Practice of them So that we may hence conclude That our Saviour has appointed no. Now Commands of his own only explain'd the Old ones of the Law and press'd Mankind to the practice of them as of Truths in which through his Merits Eternal Life is contain'd But before I proceed to the next Subject of our Enquiry I shall make this remark on what has been already offen'd That it is far from the Design of this Discourse to depreciate the Moral Law of Christ The whole aim of it is to set it in a just Light to shew that it is a necessary and eternal Law such a Law as when God ever impos'd any Law on his Cre 〈…〉 res was the most suitable for him to enact and for them to obey Such a Law as I had almost said the Rectitude of his own Nature laid him under a necessity of establishing according to the Order in which He had form'd the Reasonable
in pursuit of this universal Charity our Saviour according to * De Orat. St. Cyprian's pious Observation has taught us to say Our and not My Father only which art in Heaven that mindful of our divine and common Original and of that glorious dependance on which we stand related to God we might unite our Prayers for all those who bear the same illustrious Character of the Sons of God The Fifth Qualification of Prayer is That our Prayers ought to be short not abounding with an excess of Words For Prayer is the Language of the Heart rather than of the Tongue of the Affections more than of the Lips and great and rais'd Passions such as make up the most perfect Devotion are seldom attended with a copious fluency of Words For the Soul is too much employ'd within to love leisure to exercise it self about Flourish or tedious Harangue Of this concise Nature are most of the sacred Hymns and Prayers which are extant suitable to the Majesty of God for the most short is also the most solemn and stately Method of Address and agreeable to Mankind's Infirmities which hinder us from enlivening with a due Spirit a long and tedious Prayer Of this Nature are our Saviour's own Prayers one of the last of which in his Agony is so short and yet so pathetical that it seems according to the History to be accompany'd with more dropâ— of Blood than Words The Last Qualification in the act of Praying is Perseverance Persevereance not as the Messallians from the Apostle's Command in the Words of Praying always thought by an unbroken continuation of the acts of Prayer but by a constant Preparation for and Exercise of them as opportunities and freedom from other Duties demand For this is the Perfection not only of Prayer but of all Virtues Without this they are only faint efforts and attempts to please God which shall never be accepted of nor rewarded by Him But it has a most especial force in Prayer â— for if the Unjust Judge in the Gospel who neither fear'd God nor regarded Man yet granted the Widow's Petition mov'd purely by her resolute Perseverance how much more shall God who is the Just Judge of all Mankind and whose Goodness inclines Him to be kind and beneficent to His Creatures grant our Requests if we cry day and night to Him I tell you as the Gospel has it He will grant them speedily Humility therefore Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance are Qualifications necessary in the time of Prayer But there are Thirdly Qualifications necessary after we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual As First an observation of God's returns to our Prayers an eyeing the tendency of his Providence whether he does grant our Petitions or not especially as to spititual Concerns And there is an infallible Marâ—â— to measure our Success by for we may assuredly conclude That God has heard our Prayers as to Pardon of Sins for Instance if we find our solves free from voluntary Transgressions But if after our Prayers we are as much Sinners as over this is a sign that God has not heard our Petitions and that our Sins are not pardon'd and the fault must be our own because we did not truly repent of them before we pray'd for their Remission So that we must renew our Repentance as well as our Prayers and if the former is sincere and the latter duly qualify'd we shall certainly be successful Thus we may know that God has granted our Prayers as to spiritual Graces if we find our selves improv'd in Virtue after our Prayers otherwise the fault is our own we have not endeavour'd vigourously after Grace So that we must reinforce ouâ— Endeavours as well as our Prayers and if there is no deficiency on our part it is certain there will be none on God's for He is always more ready to Give than we to Pray He is prepar'd to prevent with his Blessings even our first Wishes for them and to reward our pious Desires even before they have time to cloath themselves with Words The Second Qualification after Prayer is a returning God Thanks for His Grants and Denials that is His Denials of temporal Advantages For this is often as great a Proof of His Fatherly Goodness and Concern for us as any of His most Merciful Indulgences 'T is a mysterious Method of Kindness which obliges us against our Wills and makes us happy in contradiction to our most passionate Desires depriving us of what would prove to us only a more agreeable Ruine a more pleasant and beautiful Destruction And how severe soever Disappointments may appear to us at first yet the event and close of Things will shew that we had good reason to be thankful to God for His crossing us in our Wishes and for visibly frustrating us in the success of our Prayers and we shall at last find the satisfaction of consigning our choice over to Omniscience and that God to use our Sauiour's familiar but expressive Words with some alteration when we pray'd for a 〈…〉 has given us a Fish and when we petition'd for Stone has blest us with Bread The Third Qualification after Prayer is a due Value of our great Privilege That we may pray to God For hole great is the Prerogative of a Christian that he â— may discourse and converse and prevail with God That there iâ— no difficulty of Access no doubt of Acceptation That there is no hinderance of his Entercourse with the Almighty but his own â—ins which are no longes Impediments but as far as they are persisted in and not broken off by true Repentance The Fourth Qualification is a learning by God's Denials to make fitter Addresses for the future For if my Prayer's are not granted there must be some fault in me Till that is amended Heaven will be 〈…〉 to my Petitions and neglect my most solomn Addresses Either I do not pray for what I ought or not after that manner which I ought therefore in the Language of the Psalmist my Words are only like the Chaff before the Wind and the Angel of the Lord will certainly scatter them The Fifth Qualification is Alms-giving For it is â—wet that we should express our Gratitude for God's Mercies by our Bounty to our Brethren which ask of us and need our relief This is all the Return we can make to Providence for the innumerable Bounties which it shatters upon us with open hands This is a kind of relieving our Saviour in his suffering Members and he tells us that he will look on it as if done to himself And there can be no greater Inducement for God to bestow temporal good things on us than if we consecrate a part of them to him by our Alms. We render him if I may so speak our Debtor and pardon the boldness of the Expression we may in some measure according to the Promises made to this Duty appeal to his Justice as well as to his
Goodness to make suitable Requitals which he will most certainly perform tho' not in Kind yet in what will be much more for our Advantage and will consult tho' not our present Satisfaction yet our lasting Benefit An Observation therefore of God's returns to our Prayers Thanksgiving for his Grants and Denials a due Value of the Privilege of Prayer a Correcting our Prayers for the future by our past disappointments and lastly Almâ—giving are necessary aâ—ter we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual So that I shall proceed to enquire into Lastly What Acts are to be continued and extended through each of these both before in and after our Prayers And First We ought to be possest with a great sence of our imperfections in the discharge of this weighty Duâ—y This must nun through all the parts of it but ought more particularly to be exprest both before and after our Devotions At both these times we ought solemnly to entreat God's Pardon son the Errors that we have or may commit for the stragling of our Thoughts which the best of Men can more easily bewail than prevent since the most watchful and steady Mind cannot hinder all the disorders of a roving Fancy in the midst of our most serious Devotions for our over-earnest begging of Blessings of a trivial Nature or for our want of any of the former Qualifications in that measure which is expedient The next Qualification is a very comprehensive one and which takes in all the rest yet withal a very necessary one too and that is universal Holiness and Sanctity For our Praying in a short time will make us loave off our Sins or our Sins our Prayers So that this will be an Effect as well as a Qualification of our Devotion For tho' the former Qualifications may be sufficient for a new Convert and for one who has but lately had the sence and conviction of Religion upon his Mind yet from a Proficient in this Duty nothing will be accepted less than a general a compleat and uniform Obedience to all God's Commands For tho' the Prayers of one who begins to leave his Sins and yet sometimes upon the prevalency of Custom or the surprize of a violent Temptation relapses into 'em may be heard upon his Repentance yet this state of Sinning and Repenting must not continue longin Aâ— general Piety must be super induc'd oâ— else iâ— is a sign that his Prayers have not â—ad their due efficacy if they do not conquer all Sin at least so that it may noâ— reign in us if they do 〈◊〉 give us some sort of fore-tast of the Joys of that Place to which they are directed and make 〈…〉 Soâ—is Sympathize and conform themselves with the Virtue and Innocence of its blessed Inhabitants So that the summ of â—ll is â— That Purity a Consideration of â—ur Wants a Trust in God a good Intention are necestsary to prepare us for Prayerâ— Humility Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance in the time of Praying An Observation of God's Providence â— Value of our Privilege to Pray a Reforming of our Prayers by our Disappointments and Almsgiving are requir'd after we have pray'd And a Senâ—e of our Imperfections and an Vniversal Piety are to run through all the Periods of this Duty A Prayer which is put up to Heaven after this Method is surely more suitable for a reasonable Creature to present before his Almighty Maker than what is utteb'd by or rather impress'd upon a Soul cast into a purely passive State or Posture into a State of Expectations of the Divine Emanations to enlighten the Mind as that Duty has been model'd by some late foreign Mollnos Madame de Bourignon c. Enthusiasts Which is but what had been before advanc'd by Enthusiasts of our own Nation for thus an †James Naylor's Love to the Lost p. 13. Author of great Character amongst the most irregular Sect which ever oppos'd this Church allows of no use of our own Intellectual Powers of our Passions Imaginations or Wills in the exercise of this Duty Because says he God will be serâ—'d with his own alone and not with any thing in Man which is come in since the Fall so the Imaginations Thinkings and Conceivings are shut out And these Qualifications before hinted at seem much more intelligible more adapted to the Oeconomy of our Devotion than * â— Horris's Resteâ—â—ions on the Conduct of Humane Life c. Sect. 11. The taking hold of essential Truth nakedly as it is in it self than the applying the Mind to the intelligible World the World of Truth than the addressing to the Ideal World than †Entretiens Christiâ—nnes de la Recherche de la Verite de P. Malebranche l. 3. ch 6. the union with God the seeing of all things in God Terms in some measure invented by two refin'd and curious Thinkers the one of our own the other of a Neighbouring Kingdom And here I cannot but reflect on a dangerous Error of a Mystick * Monsieur Francis de Salignac Fenelon Archeveque de Cambray Maximes de Saints ou sur la vie interieure Writer of more who seems to exclude Virtue from the Staâ—e of transform'd Souls as he styles them and those wrap'd up in the highest transports of Devotion But that Virtue is not only a preparation for Devotion but also a compleating of it has been shewn in this Discourse and not only so but that it is practic'd by the Blessed by whom Devotion is exercis'd in its most exalted flights was made out tho' far below the Majesty of the Subject in the preceding Essay But to close all Furnish'd with the former Qualifications we may be justly said to Pray always and in the Spirit Yet such Prayers as were before describ'd will never fail of Success till God shall cease from being True and our Almighty's Strength from being Merciful Such Prayers as these will be acceptable Sacrifices to the Heavenly Altar will procure Pardon for Sin and Encrease of Grace and â—t length Eternal Life and will at last expire into Everlasting Thanksgiving When we shall need to Pray no more but this Duty as some fancy of Faith and Hope shall cease and we shall have nothing to do for ever but to give Thanks Adore and Praise AN ESSAY UPON MELCHIZEDEC OR A Parallel between the Priesthood of CHRIST and Melchizedec THERE are scarcely any purely Historical Passages of Scripture which carry the appearance of greater Obscurity or have had more various Sences put upon them than those which regard Melchizedec Tho' who this Person was has been a Controverted Point and perhaps ever will be so for Controversies do not end with the first Authors of them yet that Christ is parallel'd with him in his Priestly Office is as evident as the other part is dark and intricate I shall therefore endeavour to give a view both of the obscure and bright side of this Subject by making