that require not much time to perform their Errands in for there is a holy Mystery in pointing our earthly Employments with these heavenly Ejaculations as Men point their Writings sometimes with Stops ever now and then shooting up a short mental Prayer unto Heaven such Pauses as these are you will find to be no Impediments to your worldly Affairs This is the way for a Christian to be retired and private in the midst of a Multitude to turn his Shop or his Field into a Closet to trade for Earth and yet to get Heaven also into the Bargain So we read of Nehemiah 2.4 Nehem. 2.4 That whilst the King was discoursing to him of the State of Judea it is said that Nehemiah prayed unto God that is he sent up secret Prayers to God which tho' they escaped the King's notice and observation yet were they so prevalent as to bow and encline his Heart 4. It is always to keep our Hearts in a praying Frame Fourthly and Lastly There is yet something more in this Praying without ceasing and that is this We may then be said to pray without ceasing when we keep our Hearts in such a frame as that we are fit at all times to vent our selves before God in Prayer When we keep alive and cherish a praying Spirit and can upon all Opportunities draw near to God with full Souls and with quick and vigorous Affections This is to pray without ceasing and this I take to be the most genuine natural Sense of the Words and the true Scope of the Apostle here to have the Habit of Prayer enclining them always freely and sweetly to breath out their Requests unto God They that would maintain a praying Temper must be careful of Two Things and to take all Occasions to prostrate themselves before his Throne of Grace Now those that would maintain this praying Temper must be especially careful of Two Things 1. That they immerse not themselves in the World First That they do not too much ingulf themselves in the Businesses and Pleasures of this Life for this will exceedingly damp and deaden the Heart to this holy Duty as Earth cast upon the Fire puts it out so the World when it is spread over the Affections must needs stifle and extinguish that holy Flame that should ascend up to Heaven How hard is it for a Man that oppresseth himself with a heap of Businesses to raise his Heart unto God under all that Load How hard is it for those that let out their Hearts thus too and fro a thousand ways to summon them in the next moment to attend upon God with that awful and serious Frame that becomes all those that appear before him When we come to Prayer reaking hot out of the Affairs of this World we find our Hearts subject to manifold Distractions and Discomposures and our Thoughts scattered like Bees still flying from one Flower to another still bringing some Intelligence from worldly Objects even then when we are about divine Employments Secondly 2. That they fall into no known and presumptous Sin If you would maintain a praying Temper of Soul be careful not to fall into the commission of any known presumptuous Sin The Guilt of Sin lying upon the Conscience will exceedingly deaden the Heart to Prayer Alas how can we go to God with any freedom of Spirit How can we call him Father with any Boldness and Confidence while we are conscious to our selves that we have daringly provoked him by some wilful Offence I may appeal to your own Experience in this Do not your Consciences fly in your Faces Do they not take you by the Throat and even choak your Speech while you are praying with some such Suggestions as these What can I pray for the Pardon of Sin that frequently commit that which I know to be Sin Shall I dare to lift up unclean Hands before his pure and holy Eyes or to speak to him in Prayer when as those Sins that rancor and fester in my Conscience must needs make my Breath unsavory and noisome to him Will the Lord hear such Prayers Or if he doth hear them will he not account them an Abomination You now whose Consciences thus accuse you do you not find such Reflections as these to be great Deadnings to your Hearts such Damps to Duty such Clippings of the Wings of the Spirit of God and takings off of the Wheels of the Soul so that it drives on but slowly and heavily in the performance of that Duty Certainly Guilt is the greatest Impediment to Duty in the World for it takes off from the Freeness and Filialness of our Spirits and fills us with Distrust Diffidence and a slavish Fear of coming before God rather as our Judge than as our Father And therefore we find that as soon as Adam had sinned against his Maker he hides himself from him Yea and we may observe it in our selves what a slavish dejectedness and deadness seizeth upon us when we come to God in Duty after we have wronged him by any known Sin how doth this make us come with such misgiving Fears as if we would not have God to take notice that we were in his Presence making us to be continually in Pain until the Duty be done And thus you see what it is to Pray without ceasing It is to pray constantly at set Times and Seasons it is to pray importunately and vehemently it is upon all Occasions to be sending up holy Ejaculations unto God and especially to keep alive and cherish a praying Frame of Heart Which whosoever would do he must beware of emerging himself in the World and of committing any known and presumptuous Sin And so much for the doctrinal part An Exhortation unto Prayer The Application shall be to stir us up and excite us to the performance of this Holy Duty wherein indeed the Vitals of Religion and Holiness do consist And to press this upon you consider with me these following Particulars 1. Prayer is a Sign of the new Birth First Prayer is one of the greatest Signs of a Man's new Birth As in the natural Birth we know the Child is living by its Crying when it comes into the World so also in this spiritual Birth it is an evidence that we are born living Souls to God when we cry mightily unto God in Prayer And therefore in Acts 9.11 Acts 9.11 when God sent Ananias unto Paul that he might take off that Fear from him that might otherwise seize upon him in going to such an enraged Persecutor as he was he tells him St. Paul was changed for behold he prays This is an infallible Sign that we are Children of God when we can with a Holy Reverence and Boldness cry Abba Father 2. Prayer is an inestimable Priviledge Secondly Consider it is a great and inestimable Priviledge that God will permit us to approach so near to himself that he will permit such vile Dust and Ashes
may enforce a holy Awe and Fear of him and indeed if ever it was necessary to press Men to a due Fear and Awe of God it is so now since on the one Hand the open Prophaneness of ungodly Men and on the other Hand the pert Sauciness of some notional Professors are apt to think that Communion with God consists in a familiar Rudeness doth plainly testifie to all the World that there is little Fear or Reverence of him in their Hearts And now whilst I am shewing what reason there is that Gods dearest Children should fear him as a reconciled Father let wicked Men in the mean while sadly consider with themselves what great cause then they have to fear him who is their sworn Enemy if God's Smiles are tempered with that Majesty that makes them awful surely his Frowns then must needs carry in them an astonishing Terror that makes them insupportable We may observe how unexpectedly sometimes from the Goodness and Mercy of God that is the sweetest and most natural attractive of Love the Scripture draws an Inference to fear God Psal 130.4 Psal 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Not only a Sin-revenging but a Sin-pardoning God is here set before us as the Object of our Fear these two Sister Graces Fear and Love are nourished in the Soul by the same Attribute God's pardoning Mercy The great Sinner in the Gospel is said to love much because much was forgiven her and here much Fear as well as much Love is the result and issue of God's pardoning Grace And so you have it in Hos 3.5 Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness And in Exod. 15.11 Moses describing the most glorious Attributes of God tells us That he is glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises even then when we are to praise God for his Mercy yet are we to fear him as being fearful in Praises And therefore Nehemiah Neh. 1.5 in Nehem. 1.5 praying to God says he O Lord the great and the terrible God Wherein Is it in overwhelming Kingdoms in bringing upon them decreed Destruction Is it in the fierce execution of his Wrath against Sinners No says he O Lord the terrible God that keepest Covenant and Mercy for them that love him So again in Chap. 9.32 O God the mighty and terrible God that keepest Covenant and Mercy Let us now consider what there is in the Mercy and Favour of God as he is a reconciled God unto us and in Covenant with us that may justly render him to be the Object of our Fear 1. That dreadful way that God took to manifest his mercy to us may justly cause us to fear him First The consideration of that dreadful way and method that God took to manifest his Mercy towards us is sufficient to affect our Hearts with Fear though we stand fully possessed of his favour In Gen. 28. when God had made many gracious Promises all along that Chapter unto Jacob of blessing of him and keeping him in all his ways of multiplying his Seed as the dust of the Earth you would think this was no terrible Thing and yet because God reveals this Mercy to him in an awful and amazing manner a Gap is opened in Heaven a bright Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven God on the top of it Angels on every Round of it though the Message was joyful yet the strange kind of delivering of the Message makes Jacob cry out How dreadful is this place it is no other than the Gate of Heaven The very Gate of Heaven becomes dreadful when it is represented in such a Majestical manner But now the way that God took for his Mercy to arrive at us is much more dreadful than any such Dream or Vision and therefore we should be the more deeply affected with Fear and Trembling even then when God speaks Peace and Pardon to us for if we consider either the Terms upon which he is become ours or the way by which he discovereth himself to be ours both of them are full of Dread and Terror 1. The terms upon which God becomes ours are full of Terror First It cannot but strike our Hearts with Fear to reflect upon those dreadful Terms upon which God is contented to be induced to become our God His Mercy towards us is procured upon Terms of infinite Justice and Severity Divine Vengeance arrests our Surety and exacts from him the utmost Satisfaction that Curse that would for ever have blasted and withered the Souls of all Mankind seizeth upon Christ in all its malignity that Wrath some few Drops of which scalds the Damned in Hell was given him to drink off in a full and overflowing Cup He did bear the chastisement of our Peace and by his Stripes we are healed nor would God upon lower Terms have consented to a Reconciliation betwixt wretched Man and himself than the precious Blood of his only Son As of Old Friendship betwixt two Persons was wont to be attested and sealed by a Sacrifice as we find it both among Heathen Authors and also in Scripture an Instance of which we have of Laban in Gen. 31.54 where Laban and Jacob returning to Amity make a Ratification of it by a Sacrifice So the Attonement that God made betwixt us and himself is solemnized by a Sacrifice even the Sacrifice of his own Son As a Lamb without spot or blemish in this Blood the Treaty betwixt God and Man stands ratified and confirmed Oh! dreadful Mercy that clasps and embraces us about with Arms died red in the Blood of Jesus Christ But now is not this Ground enough to cause a holy Fear of God to seize upon every Soul that shall but seriously consider this sad Tragedy of pardoning Grace If a King resolve to forgive a Malefactor upon no other Terms than a Pardon writ with the last drop of the Heart-blood of his dearest Friend who is there that is so hardned that will not tremble at such a Mercy as this is though it save him So is the Case betwixt God and us the Contents of the Pardon are joyful but it is written all with the Blood of Jesus Christ reaking warm from his very Heart 2. The way by which God discovers himself to be ours is dreadful and may make us to fear him and who then would not fear even a forgiving God Secondly Consider the way and method that God takes with us when he becomes our God and that is most dreadful and must needs make the most confirmed Heart to shake with Fear and Trembling Indeed God deals not with us in such Rigour as he dealt with Jesus Christ his Son but yet usually when he becomes our God when he enters upon us as his Possession first he shakes all the Foundations of our Hearts breaths in Flames of Fire into our very Marrow cramps our Consciences and unjoints our Souls O the Tempests and Storms of Wrath that God pours into a wounded
Conscience when it is under searching Convictions O the Smart and Anguish of a wounded Spirit when God instead of Balm shall only chafe it with Brimstone And yet this is the common method that God useth to prepare Souls for himself he seems to arm himself in all his Terrors against them singling them out to the Conflict and when they give up themselves for lost lying gasping for Hope scarcely at length is administred some few reviving Comforts It is with these as it was with the Children of Israel upon Sinai first they were astonished with a confused noise of Thunder the Air full of Lightning the Mountains all on a Flame and the Earth trembling under them before they heard that comfortable Voice in Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God So is it with convinced Sinners God dischargeth his Threatnings against them that speak more dreadfully to them than a Voice of Thunder he speaks to them out of the midst of Flames and every Word scorcheth up their Hearts and when they stand trembling and despairing once at length they hear those reviving Words I am the Lord thy God What Hearts are there now that such a dreadful Mercy as this is would not over-aw Those Discoveries of Gods Love that break in upon the Soul in the midst of a doleful and gloomy Night of Despair and Despondency work naturally a sweet kind of Terror and a shivering Joy and that 's the first Consideration The dreadful method that God takes to procure Mercy for us even by the death of his Son and to apply Mercy to us even by the Terrors of a convinced Conscience is a sufficient Ground to affect our Hearts with Fear Reas 2. We ought to fear God tho' he be our God because it is possible to lose his Love and the Sense of it though we stand fully possess'd of his Favour Secondly Though God be our God yet to consider that it is possible to lose his Favour and the Sense of it this is enough to affect the Heart with a holy fear even of a reconciled God It is true God's Original and Fountain Love can never be dried up Whom he loves he loves unto the End Psal 89.33 John 1.13 And my loving Kindness will I never utterly take away from him Psal 89.33 But yet the Streams of this Fountain Love may be very much obstructed from flowing freely down upon us though we shall never again be Children of Wrath yet we may be Children under Wrath every presumptuous Sin we commit raiseth God's displeasure against us he is angry with us upon every more notorious and known Sin we commit and since then we are in danger every Day of falling into gross and foul Sins and are kept only by his almighty and free Grace from the worst what cause have we to fear lest we forfeit his Favor and turn his Displeasure against us Yea again though we should be preserved from Sin and continue in his Love yet we cannot assure our selves that we shall continue in the Sense and comfortable Apprehension of it Comfort is most arbitrary and at God's free Dispose neither hath he ingaged himself to bestow it upon any by any absolute Promise though now his Lamp shined clearly upon thy Tabernacle and thou rejoycest in his Smiles yet how quickly may he wrap thee up in a dark Night of Desertion and turn all thy Songs into Mourning Thou therefore that art now assured that God is thy God fear lest ere long thou mayest not think him to be so certain thou art he is so now yet before it be long possibly through thy Miscarriage thou mayest not think him to be so and it is all one as to Comfort or Discomfort whether God be thy God or not if thou dost not apprehend him to be so and therefore fear him Thirdly Reas 3. Why we should fear God because every Frown of our God touches to the quick Consider every Frown and Stroke toucheth to the Quick that cometh from a reconciled God and a loving Father and therefore the rather fear because he is thy God Every little Blow from a Father strikes deeper and causeth more Smart than greater Blows from other Persons others strike the Body but when a loving Father strikes he wounds the Heart So is it here the nearness of the Relation betwixt God and us puts an Anguish and Sting into every Correction As the Psalmist speaks in his own Case Psal 55.12 It was not an Enemy that reproached me neither was it he that hated me then I could have born it but it was thou a Friend mine Equal my Guide and mine Acquaintance These are sad Accents and so is it here The Blood of a Sin-revenging God may indeed break the Back but the Blows of a gracious and reconciled Father break the Heart Fear therefore lest through some Miscarriage of thine and such Miscarriages thou art every Day guilty of thou shouldest provoke thy God to lay some heavy Stroke upon thee which will be the more smart from the aggravation that provoked Love puts upon it And thus you see now in these three Particulars what ground there is from the consideration of God as our God to enforce a holy Fear of his divine Majesty upon our Hearts He is our God therefore fear him because the way that he became ours is most dreadful he is our God as yet fear lest we may not apprehend him so long he is our God therefore fear him because every Stroke and Frown from a God in Covenant comes with an aggravated smart and sting Why now this holy Fear as it is no Enemy to full assurance as I have shewed you so neither Secondly 2. Holy Fear is not contrary to the Love of God Is it any way prejudicial to a most ardent love of God Filial Love and Filial Fear are two Twins but not such as Jacob and Esau that strive to supplant one another The pure Flame of divine and heavenly Love is like other Flames the higher it mounts the more it vibrates and trembles Indeed St. John tells us 1 Joh. 4.18 opened 1 John 4.18 That perfect Love casteth out Fear It should seem then that all Fear of God is swallowed up in those Hearts that are once brought into an holy Love But the Apostle doth very well explain himself in the reason that he gives of this Assertion in the next Words Perfect Love casteth out Fear because Fear hath Torment in it Hence therefore we may distinguish of a twofold fear of God The one is tormenting causing unquiet rollings and estuations in the Heart in a sad suspense of what our future and eternal State may prove and this is slavish Now this Fear perfect Love casteth out and expells for where divine Love is perfected in the Soul there are no more such Suspences Hesitations and Doubtings what will become of it to Eternity Now by perfect Love may be meant either that state of Perfection to which we shall
the Holy Ghost we must pray conditionally if the Lord will for these Things are not absolutely necessary neither are they absolutely promised to us by God neither any degree of Grace or any Consolation of the Spirit is absolutely promised to us But however our Prayers ought to be so much the more fervent and importunate for these Things than for outward temporal Things by how much these are of far greater concernment than the other Thirdly 3. We may also pray for temporal Blessings conditionally To pray for outward and worldly Blessings is not contrary to the Will of God for he hath promised to bestow them But then as his Promise is conditional if it may stand with our good so truly also must our Prayers be conditional that God would give them to us if it may stand with his Will and with our Good whatsoever we thus ask we do it according to the Will of God and we are sure of speeding in our Request either by the obtaining of our Desires or by being blessed with a Denial for alas we are blind and ignorant Creatures and cannot look into the Designs and Drift of Providence and see how God hath laid in order Good and Evil in his own purpose oftentimes we mistake Evil for Good because of the present appearance of Good that it hath yea so short-sighted are we that we can look no farther than outward and present appearance but God who sees through the whole Series and Connexion of his own Counsels he knows many times that those Things we account and desire as Good are really evil and therefore it is our Wisdom to resign up all our Desires to his disposal and to say Lord though such temporal Enjoyments may seem good and desirable to me at present yet thou art infinitely wise and thou knowest what the Consequence and Issue of them will be I beg them if they may stand with thy Will and if thou seest they will be as really good for me as I suppose them now to be if they be not so I beg the Favour of a Denial This is the right Frame that a Christian ought to have upon his Heart when he comes to beg temporal Mercies of God and whilst he thus asks any worldly Comforts he cannot ask amiss It was an excellent Saying of the Satyrist We ask those Things of God says he that please our present Humours and Desires but God gives those things that are best and fittest for us for we are dearer to him saith the Heathen than we are to our selves And says another very well it is mercy in God not to hear us when we ask Things that are evil and when he refuseth us in such Requests it is that he might not circumvent us in our own Prayers for indeed whilst we ask rashly and intemperately whatever we foolishly set our Hearts upon God need take no other course to plague and punish us than by hearing and answering of us So much for the matter of our Prayer it must be for Things that are according to God's Will Fourthly 4. How we must pray Observe also the manner how our Prayers must be directed unto God That is 1. In 〈◊〉 Name of Christ First We must pray in the Name of Christ Before the Fall Man might boldly have gone to God in his own Name and speak to him upon his own account but since the great Breach made betwixt Heaven and Earth since that great Quarrel and Enmity arose betwixt God and Man there is no hope of Man's finding acceptance with God upon his own account and therefore he must go to God in the Name of a Mediator Hence Christ saith If ye ask any thing in my Name I will do it for you John 14.31 Now to ask in the Name of Christ is nothing else but in all our Addresses to God to plead his Merits and to depend upon his Mediation for the obtaining of those good Things that we desire It was truly said God heareth not Sinners John 9.31 John 9.31 And how then can we who are Sinners yea the chiefest of Sinners hope for audience and acceptance with him who heareth none such But yet though God heareth not Sinners yet he always heareth his Son who is continually making Intercession for Sinners yea and he always heareth Sinners that come to him in the Name of his Son and by Faith tender up his Merits through which alone they expect Favour and to prevail with God All Things go by Favour and Friendship in the Court of Heaven if we stand upon our own Merits and Deserts we shall be shamefully disappointed in our Expectations no Merit takes place in Heaven but only the Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ and whilst we argue that by Faith with God we come to him in the Name of his Son Secondly 2. We must pray in Faith Jam. 1.6 Our Prayers must be put up with Faith James 1.6 Let him ask in Faith says the Apostle nothing wavering for let not such a Man that is let not such a Man that wavers think to receive any good Thing of God Heb. 11.6 So in Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him Faith is the Souls Hand whereby it receives those Blessings that God willingly bestows Now this is the Reason why though we do so often pray to God yet we are still so indigent and necessitous God's Ears are not heavy his Arms are not shortned neither are his Bowels dried up no still he hath the same Power the same Will and the same Love to his Children that ever he had but we want a Hand to receive those Mercies that God hath a Heart and a Hand to give forth unto us and that 's the reason of our Necessitousness notwithstanding we do so often come before God in Prayer 3. Prayer must be with Affection and Fervency Rom. 12.14 Thirdly Our Prayers must be put up as with Faith so with Fervency also and therefore it is required that we should be fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.14 and so the forecited place The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much We should strive to kindle in our Souls a holy Flame of heavenly Affections when we come to God in Prayer The Prayers of the Saints were typified under the old Law by Incense but now no Incense was to be offered up without Fire So truly there should be no Prayer offered up to God without the Fire and Flame of holy Affections and Fervency How do you think that a dull and heavy Prayer should mount up as high as Heaven Or that God should hearken or regard what we speak when we scarce regard what we speak our selves That for the manner of our Prayer Fifthly 5. The End of all our Prayers must be the Glory of God We must observe the End that we ought to aim at in our
as we are to speak to him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh The holy Angels in Heaven stand always ministring in the presence of God and Prayer doth in some kind associate us with them it brings us to lye prostrate at the Feet of God at whose Feet also Angels and all the Powers in Heaven do with much more Humility than we fall down and worship him we and they fall down together at the Feet of the great God we in Prayer and they in Praises This Priviledge cost Jesus Christ dear for it is through him as the Apostle speaks that we have access with boldness unto the Throne of Grace All Access thither was barred against Sinners till Christ opened a Passage for us by his own Death and most precious Blood And shall not we make use of a Priviledge purchased for us at so dear a Rate as that is Hath Christ shed his Blood to procure us liberty to pray and shall not we spend our Breath in praying Hath Christ died such a cursed cruel Death to purchase liberty for us to pray and shall we rather choose to die an eternal Death than make use of it This is to despise the Blood of Jesus Christ to offer an high Affront and Indignity unto him to account it a vile and contemptible Thing when we make no more esteem of that for the purchase of which he shed his precious Blood We look upon it as a great Priviledge to have free and frequent access to those that are much our Superiors and shall we not reckon it a much higher Priviledge that we may at all times approach the presence of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and higher than the highest as we may do at all times in Prayer 3. Prayer is a sovereign Remedy for an afflicted Mind Thirdly Prayer it is the most sovereign Medicine and Remedy for an afflicted Mind Nothing is so desirable in this World as a faithful Friend to whom we may at all times unbosom our selves and make all our Secrets and Grievances known Now Prayer directs us to go to God himself he is our most faithful Friend that can best counsel and best help us and Prayer is a means whereby we reveal the Secrets and Troubles of our Souls unto him Prayer it is our discoursing with God When our Hearts swell with Grief and are ready to break within us how sweet is it then to take God apart and give our Hearts vent Prayer it is a making our Case known to him and a spreading our Wants before him casting all our Burthens upon him who hath promised to sustain us Fourthly consider 4. Prayer is a means appointed by God for all Mercies that we want Prayer is a means appointed by God for the obtaining of those Blessings and Mercies that we stand in need of for all Things are Gods he is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth whether they be spiritual or temporal Mercies that we desire if it be Wealth Strength or Wisdom all are his If we would have spiritual Blessings conferred upon us our Faith our Love our Patience our Humility strengthned and encreased he is the God of all these Graces and Prayer it is a means appointed by God to convey all these unto us Our Prayers and God's Mercy are like two Buckets in a Well while the one ascends the other descends So while our Prayers ascend to God in Heaven his Mercies and Blessings descend down upon us 5. We are always in want therefore we should pray always Fifthly consider All our Supplies are only for our present Exigences to serve us only from Hand to Mouth the stock of Mercy is not ours but God's he still keeps it in his own Hands and this he doth that he might keep us in a constant Dependence upon him and in a constant Expectation of Mercy from him Our Wants grow up very thick about us and if we did but observe it we should find every Day yea every Hour new cause to present new Requests and Supplications unto God and therefore as our Necessities never cease so neither should our Prayers 6. They â—hat will not Pray shall Howl Sixthly consider this If you will not be persuaded to pray you shall one Day be made to howl You that will not now look up to Heaven in Prayer shall hereafter look up in Blaspheming Isai 8.21 Isai 8.21 They shall fret themselves says the Prophet and curse God and their King that is in their horrid Despair and Anguish they shall Curse and Blaspheme both God and their King that is the Devil and they shall look upwards Tho' now wicked Men will not look to Heaven yet then God will force them to look upwards There may Two Objections possibly be made against this Duty of Prayer Object 1 First God doth before-hand know all our Wants and Desires and therefore what Necessity is there of Prayer Answ To this I answer with St. Augustine God says he doth require that we should pray to him not so much to make known what our Will and Desire is for that he cannot be ignorant of but it is for the exercise of our Desires and to draw forth our Affections towards those Things that we beg at his Hands that thereby we may be made fit to receive what he is ready to give Object 2 Secondly Say some It is in vain to pray because all our Prayers cannot alter the course of God's Providence we cannot by our most fervent Prayers change the method of God's Decrees if he hath resolved from Eternity to bestow such a Mercy upon us we shall receive it whether we pray or pray not if he hath resolved we shall never partake of it if we do pray all our Prayers will be in vain Answ I have long since Answered this Objection and told you That it is true God's Providence is immutable But the same Providence that orders the End to be obtained hath likewise ordered the Means by which it must be obtained As God hath decreed Blessings to us so he hath decreed that they should be obtained by Prayer and therefore we must pray that we may obtain those Blessings for that is the Means God hath decreed for the obtaining of them Directions how we must Pray so as to be accepted Some possibly may say If we must thus pray without ceasing how shall we be assured that God will hear us If it be our Duty to pray how shall we pray so as that our Prayers may become acceptable unto God I Answer 1. They that hear God God will hear them First If you would have God hear you when you pray you must be sure to hear him when he speaks See that place Prov. 1.24 28. Because I have called and you have refused and have set at nought all my Counsels therefore says God you shall call but I will not answer you shall seek me early but shall not