perform their Duty to him where also his Justice or punitive Goodness and the Psalmist concludes with as general an acknowledgment by his mouth speaking the praises of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever Read also a magnificent particular acknowledgment of God's Power Goodness and Wisdom in Psalm 104. which begins bless the Lord O my Soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with Honour and Majesty who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain and then ends O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy riches that is of plenty and abundance of good things For reasonable trust in God we meet with the most significant Expressions every where of the greatest and boldest degree thereof both as to particular favours of Peace Plenty good Name and Honour c. and also in general Psalm 37. Verse 3 4 5 6. and so on throughout the whole Psalm Trust in the Lord and do good behave thy self as thou oughtest and do thy Duty so shalt thâ—â— dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee thine hearts desire Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass c. Psalm 146. Verse 3. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of man in whom there is no help And Verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God who made Heaven and Earth c. And how often doth the Psalmist seem to be exalted above himself and triumph in his trust confidence and firm hope in God For Confession and Grief for Sin see the reality and seriousness of it in the 38 Psalm Verse 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger nor any rest in my bones because of my sin And Verse 18. I will declare mine Iniquity I will be sorry for my sin The 51 Psalm is a known Example both of David's hearty confession of and piercing grief and bitterness of Soul for his sins as also of the vehemencies of his desire and petition to God for purging and pardon to cleanse and rectifie his Soul and to forgive him and then to grant him Joy Comfort and Peace Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgressions c. We may read the whole Psalm than which there cannot be any thing more pathetical O Lord open my mouth and my lips shall shew forth thy praise that is give me an occasion and a cause of acknowledging and praising thee in this thy particular favour of granting me Purification Pardon Peace and enable me to do it and then I resolve also to declare and make known how much thou deservest to be praised thanked loved admired by me and all men As for Profession of Obedience there are not many Verses in the 119 Psalm in which we have not some Emphatical signification of the firmness and unmovableness of his resolution the very frequency is a great sign thereof Verse 97. Oh how I love thy Law Verse 103. How sweet are thy words unto my tast sweeter than honey to my mouth Verse 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments Ver. 111. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage â—â—r ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Ver. 127. I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above sine Gold Ver 131. I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy Commandments c. Are these the Words and Expressions of a cold indifferent or of a luke-warm man in his love to resolution for Righteousness and consequently for the Commands of God For the Psalmist's Thankfulness and Love to God for his Benefits to him in particular the passages and places are as numerous Psalm 86. Verse 12. I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy Name for evermore for great is thy Mercy towards me thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from the deep Grave or the Grave underneath that is from Death which had overtaken me and seized upon me had it not been for thy special eare A very pathetical and emphatical Expression of his Love and Thankfulness to God both for his personal Favours towards himself and those towards his own Nation the People of the Jews nay towards all his Works in all places is the 103 Psalm all which Read we heedfully and imitate Verse 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who forgiveth all thine Iniquity and healeth all thy Diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies c. And lastly his Petitions and Desires are with the greatest fervency and importunity signified and expressed and that principally in the things of greatest concernment especially considering his case sometimes fain to fly to Idolatrous People for shelter as particularly for to be admitted and restored to the external publick Worship of the true God as it was by himself instituted in order to his internal Worship which as I have above said contains all Religion nay all Duty Psalm 42. Verse 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God even for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psalm 63. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is to see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee The Psalmist Asaph very passionately expresseth his Joy repoâ—e and â—â—quiescence in God in that of the 73 Psalm Verse 25. Whom have I in Heaven and I have delighted in nothing on Earth in compare with thee or with thee at all that is besides thee as our Translation hath it That is I put my Trust and place my Delight neither in any God the Heathen Gods nor man in compare with thee or together with thee Thou art my Ultimate Trust my chiefest Delight My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The like earnestness and fervency may be observed when the Psalmist prays for deliverance from his so great and malicious Enemies that they sought utterly to ruine him to defame and reproach him by malicious and mischievous slanders and so banish him perpetually or take away his life or when he prays for
of the Earth may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only He premises the express Acknowledgment of the Divine Supream and Uncontroulable Power to his Petition both as an Honour to his God and a cause of Confidence and Faith in himself and consequently of his petitioning God And this especially was most seasonable where there was some Power viz. that of Sennacherib and his false Gods opposed to the true God and which indeed had prevailed against the reputed Gods of other Nations which were in truth no Gods And so it is always most proper where there is any thing that seems to flatten or weaken our desire there to take notice of some Attribute in God just contrary which may easily excite and embolden it In David's Psalms nothing more frequent and particularly in the 86. Psalm Read the whole Psalm at leisure Verse 5. After several Petitions he strengthens and confirms his Faith and Prayer by the Consideration of the Divine Goodness For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee And Verse 8 9 10. from the consideration of his Supream Power Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy Works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorisie thy Name For thou art great anâ— doest wondrous things thou art God alom Verse 13. is a particular Acknowledgment oâ— God's Mercy and a Reslection upon his paâ—â— Goodness to him For great is thy Mercy to wards me and thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell That is my Life from the low Grave or from Death And lastly Verse 15 16. But thou O Lord art a God fuâ— of compassion and gracious long-suffering ani plenteous in Mercy and Truth O turn unto me and have mercy upon me c. The Reader may himself casily observe many places in thesâ— Excellent Psalms and I cite these Examples to give him an occasion of observing these and such like places of the Scripture And to make our Apprehensions of Godâ— insinite Excellencies and Persections more clear and strong we may here mention oâ— take notice of our own Infirmities Weaknesses or Imperfections that so by the apprehension and compare of these contraries we may the more clearly apprchend the Greatness of the other It will also well come in as a distinct Particular just after this or immediately before our Petitions to render them still more earnest and ardent because we do not use to ask of any one or at least importunately when we can probably or possibly have it done elsewhere and least of all if we can do it our selves Nay here we may mention and reslect upon the insufficiency of all the Creatures in the World without God and independent upon him to help us and do us good and that what they can do is only by his power and appointment And that therefore there is a Necessity of God's Help or we must be quite helpless This necessity of having all from God will still make our Desires more importunate particu'arly towards him But more of this hereafter II. The second Action or Operation of Soul in a Prayer is generally Confession For sometimes this Part as also others of Prayer except Petition may be omitted or used more sparingly according as the Occasion is By which I mean as in all parts of Prayer not Words or any other external Actions or Postures but an express Attention to and Judgment that we are or have been guilty of some Sins or Faults directed and proposed to God which supposes a free and impartial Disallowance Disapprobation and Dislike and consequently a Determination and Resolution of Soul to quit and abandon them and to do so no more An express and willing Judgment concerning our selves that we are guilty of some things which are not reasonable and cannot be justified is certainly I say a sign of a present changed Mind and Resolution to be guilty no more for what we have no mind to leave and yet know it not justifiable we conceal it from others and our selves too as much as we can and will not attend to it nor take notice of the unreasonableness and iniquity of it lest we should be engaged and pulled by contrary Appetites as that of good Opinion of others and of our selves concerning our selves and that of Virtue Justice Right often signisied by the name of Conscience of which last there is somewhat in the worst of Men to leave that which we love better and be disturbed in the enjoyment of it and consequently possess it with less delight and satisfaction After this Change of mind must needs also succeed a hatred and aversation from the sin for the time to come and a serious and sincere sorrow that we have been so foolish unreasonable unhappy for the time past on set purpose that we may be the more cautious and flee more therefrom for the suture This Confession is very proper in Prayer for it doth strengthen and embolden our desires thus It is a sign to us of a serious and real goodness in us as I have just now said and what is so confirms our Faith and Hope of God's particular goodness to us and that we are more capable of his Favours As being conscious to our selves of the Badness and Wickedness of our Temper of too great kindness for any sin weakens and oppresses them For we all naturally know God is righteous and good to the World and that it is most for the good government of it that he should put good men into a good and bad men into a bad condition that it should be well with the one and ill with the other generally But now what confirms our Faith and Hope emboldens our desire what weakens and sinks them and makes it less probable we should obtain any thing though we should desire it never so importunately cools and allays our desire too And here the more comprehensive and particular and accurate our Confession is so that we conceal not the least Fault but take notice even of small ones the more it is also principally of the greatest and foulest the most dear pleasant and delightful sins the more it is of the aggravating circumstances of any sin that is of those things which are signs of a greater degree of sinfulness in us such as are being against great means to be better against much knowledge both of our duty and of the mischievous consequences of our sins against the divine bounty elemency or justice or the like I say the more our Confession is thus performed the more still it is a sign of a greater degree of sincere and real goodness and consequently still more confirms and strengthens both our hopes and desires Besides this more immediate and proper use thus of Confession there are also many others As that it is an exercise of our disapprobation hatred sorrow
Introduction of Constitution may well be one cause of their too great Multitude and Unâ—difyingness And I do not see why a Bishop of Londoâ— with his Clergy or an English Synod maâ— not be as well instructed in the means jusâ— now suggested and all others to know what Constitutions aâ—e of best Effect and most for Edification to their own Church in their Circumstances as a Bishop of Hippo or Constantinople or a Carthaginian Synod to their Church in theirs but much better sure may they constitute for their own Church than these can do And particularly I hope it is not impossible but that in Conjunction with their use of these and other Means especially the first of sincere Intention they may also have some special Influence of God to direct them I am sure it is but too much their own fault if they be not as capable of it as other Christian Churches have been Thirdly It seems of most good Effect and particularly most conducible to the Promotion of the internal Worship of God that there should be some external Signs thereof or some other besides those that are absolutely necessary as Time and Place Circumstances constituted but not many The good Use of some to be constituted is a constant standing sensible Testimony of the publick Opinion of wise and good Men concerning the internal Worship of God what Honour Love Obedience c. we ought to have towards him and how we ought to shew and express it by the most sit and proper Signs not only in those few that are constituted but also by all other which our own Prudence shall determine Those few are but for an Example of our inward Affectioâ— and external Behaviour and for a Directiâ— to our general Practice Further The feâ— external things that are constituted may â—â— somewhat helpful really to introduce and â—â— up in us the due inward Operations of oâ— Souls to God as hath been before observeâ— Further It will prevent at least some perfoâ— appearing to others to be utterly negligeâ— and careless thereof to be senseless or ecâ— temptuous of them and consequently â—â— offending our Brethren both grieving anâ— displeasing the more pious and drawing tâ— more weak and indifferent in Piety to â—â— Imitation of the like Irreligion and Prophanâ— ness And however Men for a few yeâ— may be so serious in the Worship of God â— not to need this Help yet in a Nationâ— Church after some time of settlement theâ— will be found to be need enough as theâ— seems to be in this very prophane Age. â— the mean time it can do little or no Hurt â— them who may think they do not or maâ— not really want it If none of these external Circumstances of Worship be instituted then they must all be left to the Desire anâ— Advice only of the Publick or of each particular Governour of any Religious Assembly and consequently to the Judgment and Choice of every particular Member though never so ignorant and bad But I believe it doth now by Experience appear and whether it will ever be otherwise in larger Churches especially God knows when in Liberty and Peace that a very great number of Persons are not yet so inwardly Religious as to abstain from many indecent things and some which are Signs of sottish Irreligion contemptuous Prophaneness and Pride or to follow the Advices and Intreaties and Examples of their Superiours especially Ecclesiastical though of acknowledged Prudence and Piety Nay I think at this time in this Nation Persons are generally disposed rather to do clean contrary even in things manifestly enough of good use and which it would become Prudence Piety and Charity to appoint Which Humour seems still to be of the growing side and is just the contrary Extreme to the receiving all Institutions though manifestly hurtful or useless with Veneration Which one consideration may afford a sufficient reason for some diversity of external circumstances in the Celebration of the Lords Supper even from the practice of our Lord himself and his Apostles Jesus himself is not now present to distribute it Nor are the Communicants Apostles to receive it There was no need of commanding any external rite to help their seriousness attention and affection or to secure them from neglect or contempt But as it seems to be of very good Consequence to constitute some things in external Worship so it seems best to constitute buâ— few how few Governors must determine especially if they be such as do in themselveâ— strongly affect the Sense or excite much thâ— Passions of Admiration Love or Delight or take up much Time and Pains that sâ— Mens Attention be not taken off from the internal Worship of God It is certain theâ— may be so many so garish so operose and so long as to take up all a Man's Attention pleasing the Vulgar especially in the same manner as some things in a Comedy do As if â—â— Man should be obliged to cross himself at every Verse of Scripture read or to say Lorâ— have mercy upon us just thirty times and Hallelujah ten times as I think it is reported of the Russians of the Greek Church Nor seems it less advisable that the few things which are constituted be of great and manifest good use and particularly for Edification that so those who enjoyn teach or use them may the more easily justifie them and not spend too much time in dispute about them and those who are enjoyned them being without scruple may the more chearfully observe them This will also prevent their too great multiplication of which there is danger in some tract of time For if any be admitted for the reason of some small though real convenience it will make way for all those and they are none knows how many which can alledge as much Fourthly It is undoubtedly best that the Persons who constitute and appoint should be not the People who are generally so ignorant and selfish but the Governors of each Church who are generally more wise and generous of more publick Spirits The larger the Church also the better for by that means the Constitutions are of greater Authority and more freely observed generally also they are both wiser and fewer as being made by a greater Number of wiser and honester Persons and those of different Apprehensions and Tempers and then as being to fit a greater Number of Persons The same may be said of Articles of Belief The Conditions of Communion both in Doctrine and Discipline are likely in equal Time to be far more numerous and of less consequence in lesser Churches such as some amongst us affect and contend for than in larger such as Diocesan Provincial National and if it were possible one Universal Church and consequently there will be less of Liberty in them It is true the wisest and best men are not the greatest number But yet it is more probable that more of them should be found in a greater number of men than in a less Nor
habitual Temper or Inclination Prayer therefore thus performed by a rightly informed discrect and knowing Soul according to its Fervency and Frequency hath a most natutural Influence to preserve and strengthen us to make us grow in all Goodness And the neglect of it may reasonably very often not always because there are other Means be the Cause of Persons declining and growing more cold and indifferent in all their Duty I do not say that all Prayer is a necessary Means of Mens growth in Goodness not are we presently to expect such mighty difference between all those who pray and those who do not And then upon any disappointment by the miscarriages of some who use it gladly take occasion to reproach or despise the Duty as a useless but troublesome thing as some naughty men are apt to do For men may perform it very erroneously idly and carelesly And then they may so engage their Affections with that Concern and Constancy to other Objects in the World after they have done their Prayer that they may quite forget it or drown and overcome the good Sense and Affections they had therein Whence their Prayers are but little effectual From all these Causes it often comes to pass that you may see those that are not negligent in this Duty or Performance but frequent and constant and long too so bad in their Tempers Lives and Actions all the Day that you can see little Difference between them and those who do not pray at all Little I say for I am apt to think there is some general good usually by the meanest performance of it and Men who are bad would otherwise generally be much worse and therefore though Men seem to be very little the better for their Prayers I would not have them to leave them quite off for all that As for Acknowledgment of God's excellent Perfections his infinite Power Wisdom Universal Goodness his Bounty Mercy Justice c. which is another Ingredient in a Prayer It is manifest That the oftner we do this the more Spiritual our Minds are and we see that by Exercise and Use we apprehend and conceive these spiritual things more strongly and clearly and our Affections too of Honour Admiration Reverence Fair Faith Hope Joy in God and Love to him grow more substantial and real more strong and vigorous not so faint and languid so that we feel them in our Breasts as really and as powerfully as to any other Object we come to have a real Understanding Perception Sense and Affection for those things when they are named we know and feel them in our Minds and Hearts we know what it is and have it as really in our selves to honour fear and love God for his infinite Perfections though invisible as a Prince attended with all his Ensigns of Majesty and Greatness and whom we know to be as wise and good as great By our frequent Converse thus of our Minds with God he becomes readily a very real thing to us is really perceived by us and hath real Influence upon our Affections whereas before we thus begun to use our selves the Name of God and of all his Attributes and Perfections was an insignificant thing to us we understood little or nothing by it and no more affected with it most times than our Statues of Wood or Stone would be We might hear much talk and read much of God indeed or his excellent Nature and Attributes but little know what they meant We apprehended better and more were much more affected with some little particular kindness of any honest or good Neighbour than with the infinite Bounâ—y and Goodness of God who is the constant Cause and Author to us and to all things of all the good things we all have and enjoy Moreover in some Prayers as secret Prayers where we may have time to apply our Thoughts to what we please we do not only transiently which if frequent will do a great deal but also fixedly and for a longer time attend sometimes to one or more of these infinite Perfections of God when we acknowledge them whence a more particular discovery and clear apprehension of the Greatness thereof insomuch that the Soul may break forth into Raptures of sutable Passions that is great and sudden Violences thereof As for Example If a Man contemplating the Power of God should attend to the Greatness and Vastness Excellency and Nobleness and Strangeness of the Nature of things he hath made were it but only of the indefinitely extended material World much more of the intellectual or the World of Spirits Or contemplating his Wisdom should attend to this that all things that we and all the rational Creatures in Heaven and Earth know by little Parcels and successively to Eternity it self are all present at once to that infinite Understanding or contemplating his Goodness should take notice of the Freedome of it he being infinitely powerful thâ— Immutability of it the Universality anâ— that all the greatest Evils that so seem to uâ— are permitted or appointed out of Goodnesâ— and the least of things and most miâ—uâ— disposed by the same Goodness the best waâ— that can be or should take notice of somâ— one or more excellent Instances thereof â— his free and ready pardoning upon Repentance the fottish Heedlesness and sometime the malicious Rebellion and insolent Contempt of his own pitiful Creatures againâ— him I say a Man contemplating these Perfections thus and attending to some such thingâ— therein will more strongly apprehend them and sometimes be affected and seized wiâ— the greatest Violence and Raptures of sutabâ— Passions Such as we often meet withal iâ— the Psalms when David in his Acknowledgement of God glanced at and discovered or â—â—â— more steadily and clearly his Wisdom Power Mercy Goodness Righteousness in some Instances or Effects As in Psalm 36. Verse 5. Thy Mercy O Lord is in the Heavens and thy Faithfulness reacheth unto the Clouds That is thy Mercy and Goodness particularly expressing it self in thy faithful performing thy Promises is every where and in all thy Creation manifesteth it self thy Righteousness â— like the great Mountains That is again thy Universal Goodness is vast as to Extension and unmoveable and unchangeable as to Duraâ—ion For so are the Mountains as far as we observe compared with other things thy â—udgments are a great Deep The infinite Decrees and Resolutions of thy Will few of them known and all done with an incomprehensible Wisdom and Knowledge O Lord thou preservest Man and Beast All Creatures are maintained by thee Then upon this Contemplation and Reflection he breaks forth in the next Verse O how excellent and â—recious is thy Loving-kindness therefore the Children of Men shall put their trust in the shadow of thy wings Now the real clear strong and vigorous Apprehension of and Affections towards these divine Attributes or this excellent Nature of God do more powerfully dispose our Minds to Imitation of and Obedience to God and consequently to
and mostly of the greatest importance and concernment Not but that there may be some time or other too in which we may mention in our Prayers many lesser things Things of greatest concernment and use must in proportioâ— to their concernment compared with those of less be more and more frequent in our Prayers And this concerns all the parts or Ingredients of a Prayer As in Acknowledgment let us be careful to be well instructed in the greatest the most comprehensive and general the most useful and beneficial Perfections iâ— God that we make our Acknowledgments of those principally and chiefly as that of his infinite and general goodness to all more than his particular goodness to us And so when we make an Acknowledgment of the Instances of his Power Wisdom Goodness Mercy Justice let us take those chiefly which are the greatest and largest and endeavour to be affected with them such as are God's Creation of all things Preservation Providence throughout the whole Universe that towards Mankind and especially the making of us Reâ—sonable Creatures and giving us such Faculties Aid Sufficiency Opportunities Helps to improve our Reason and Understanding also the Revelation of such excellent Doctrines and Truths to the World by especial Messengers the Prophets of old and lastly by Jesus Christ his beloved Son In Confession let us take notice of and bewail most our greatest Sins that have most of Iniquity in them where there is the greatest degree of the depravedness Inordinacy of our Wills included the greatest Aversation from Righteousness the greatest degree of unreasonable and mischievous Self-love in a usual Phrase our most aggravated Sins Consequently let us confess our dearest most pleasing and delightful sins for our greater degree of delight in any thing more than in our Duty argues a degree of the inordinacy and depravedness of our wills as to Intenseness those also which are most frequent Contrariwise let us not confess little sins much and neglect great ones or more than those confess those which we can more easily forsake and neglect those which are most sweet pass over them or slightly only take notice of them confess those which we commit rarely and neglect those which we do frequently When this fault is in our Confession purely through ignorance through want of understanding of the degrees of sin and there is no fault in the will which I scarce believe it begets in us a great deal of superstition that is an opinion that some actions are more or less displeasing to God than indeed they are compared with others and consequently being more afraid of doing some of them and of God's anger or punishment for them than we should be and in others again less which is a very bad effect and doth much deprave and corrupt the Inclinations of the will as to the Instances of our duty and renders us less capable of any happy condition till we are better instructed in them though we should be truly conscientious and love that which we judge right and our duty which possibly may be But I am apt to think that most ignorant superstition proceeds from unconscientiousness But when this fault proceeds out of a desire to indulge our selves in some sin both the Cause and the Effect is extremely bad If we have occasion to confess National Sins or those which are most practised frequently by the generality of a Nation have we a care to confess those principally and most which are indeed the greatest both as to the Principle and the Effect those that argue and include the greatest degree and neglect of and aversation from our duty and the great instance thereof compared with other objects or the greatest degree of ultimate self-love compared with or opposed to the common good and those which are the most mischievous or do the greatest hurt in the World Such as are some the more colourable and undiscerned sins of Malice Pride Envy Ambition Affectation of Superiority Equality Liberty add Tyranny Disobedience Revenge Oppression Covetousness Fraud Hypocrisei or want of Integrity and others more notorious of Prophaneness Irreligion Atheism Unbelief Disbelief of Christian Religion Sensuality Lasciviousness Intemperance c. Those Sins also which are the most frequent and continual in several or the same persons are to be principally confessed In thankfulness likewise it is much to be attended to and we ought to give thanks in the first place and most frequently and most ardently for the greatest favours those that are most publick diffused and general those that are spiritual or intellectual those that appertain more immediately to the Soul those among spiritual ones which concern our wills or inclinations and in order thereto our affections called generally by the names of Sanctiâ—ication or Regeneration purifying and renewing of the heart or in one word usually by the name of Grace then afterwards for the good things that appertain to our Knowledge or Understandings as quick and plentiful Suggestion Revelation Illumination in Truths of the greatest Excellency Use and good Effect for ability to signifie convey or propagate these such as ready Invention Memory Utterance c. all which have been known by the name of Gifts Then for the good things appertaining to the Body or in it as the subject as Strength Health Comeliness plenty of such things as Food and Diet Raiment Habitations with their Ornaments c. which gratifie our Senses and secure us from Corporeal Pain which the most necessarily affects us and consequently from necessary care and solicitude to prevent it c. Then for the External good things without us of Riches Reputation Liberty Magistracy Friends Relations c. The Reason of all this is because to thank God more for personal than publick benefits as it doth usually proceed from so it will increase a particular and selfish spirit To thank him more for bodily or external sensible good things than for spiritual is both a sign and cause of sensuality in us i. e. it doth proceed from and confirm our excessive love to corporeal and sensible good in compare with spiritual as well as keep us in some respect to God It is that which may be ordinarily observed viz. that men are usually much more sensible of and grateful to God for bodily good and the things of this life than for spirtual or intellectual And so likewise to thank God more for Gifts than Graces though both spiritual things confirms one in too great an esteem and love for Gifts compared with Graces which notwithstanding are incomparably inferiour to them Gifts sometimes may be â—ill used be mischievous and hurtful which sincere Virtue and Grace can never in the least be Knowledge puffeth up without Charity and is contentious affecting contemptuous but Charity edifieth saith the Apostle Charity even without Knowledge can do no harm but in its own nature necessarily tends to do good Now although this be better than not to be thankful to God at all than to thank him
in external and bodily actions with their mouths or other parts of their body yet the internal actions of their Souls such as I have above mentioned are very slight weak and slender Persons approach to God with their Lips and their Bodys when their Hearts are far from him and it may be after their Covetousness or any other Lusts Or they are there with him and conversant about him and other matter of their Prayers as men use to be in the company of those persons and in doing those things they do not much care for or have no great value for It is really a thing of which men are to be ashamed that they are conversant about lesser matters with great attention and affection and about infinitely greater such as are in this part of the Worship of God with little or none it is certainly a sign of their pitiful ignorance and errour degeneracy baseness and meanness that they are like Children and School-boys who are attentive and eager about their Sports and Pastimes but not at all concerned in the Cares of their Parents for them and the rest of their Families Is it not a shame to see men honour and admire mortal men a potent Prince a profound Statesman of great capacity for business one that administers Affairs with much prudence and dispatch or a great Scholar one of large Revenues splendid Train and Attendants and perhaps sometimes but more rarely a virtuous just pious holy and very spiritual minded person I say to honour some of these with the Titles of Incomparable Prodigious and other significations of astonishment and yet to have very little of these in their Souls to God from whom all these and the Subjects of them came and who is the Authour of all these and all other never so great and never so little things in the World to whose Infinite Perfection all those and all other compared are not so much as one Atome to the content of the starry Heaven and whose is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever and this even when they make their most solemn Addresses and pretend to Worship him And so likewise it is a sign of pitiable ignorance or folly in men to be more confident and secure to put their trust more in the savour and power of an ordinary Relation or Friend possibly in a man's self in his own Power Wit Prudence Riches Strength than in the All-mighty All-wise and All-good God for which indeed sometimes there may be reason if their designs or hopes be unjust Who would not be moved to contempt or pity to hear men protest with the greatest zeal and earnestness to one some very little their superiour how much they are their servants and with all the gestures that may be signifie it but when they profess their Universal Obedience to God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate the Supreme Monarch of Heaven and Earth in saying thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven or in any other words to do it so remissly coldly and indifferently that if they should do in like manner to any one little their betters they would think themselves so unjustly neglected as to bid them or to be content they should keep their service to themselves Who could like to see men with great reality and submission to confess their Offences against those they fear can punish them but to confess to God their Offences against his Laws as if they were afraid they should do so again and were very loth and unwilling to prevent it To see men with a great deal of earnestness and humility and mouthful of blessing render thanks to their Brother for a satisfying meals meat when hungry or a refreshing draught when thirsty or a scrap of silver to buy them necessaries when destitute but to thank God both in their publick and private Devotion for his innumerable Benefits even all good things that ever we have had in our lives and especially for spiritual ones as if it were a meer Compliment or Ceremony and they would gladly have done with it as soon as may be And lastly How great a senselesness and sottisness is it in men to beg with so much importunity of those in whose power it is to punishness them a little in temporary good things forgiveness and pardon or of others their favour countenance assistance direction counsel their Alms or Charity or in poor Prisoners guilty and ready to be condemned to mulcts banishment or corporal pain or death to Cry out with the most pitiful Voice for Mercy or Pardon but to ask of God Grace to Repent strength to be better and then pardon for innumerable lesser and many greater and more heinous Sins That God who can make them miserable here and hereafter who can throw both Body and Soul into Hell would forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us to ask of him to take care of them and provide for them to counsel and direct them I say to ask these and all other things of God as if they were unwilling he should grant them or very indifferent and little concerned whether he did or no or as if God were obliged to them that they would ask and receive any thing from him What can be more absurd more unreasonable more shameful than this This is not Superstition but Truth and Reason And this slackness streightness perfunctoriness in the Worship of God comes from Sensuality or Immorality or both Either men are dull and carnal and cannot take notice of and be affected much with God who is a spirit or they are unwilling to do it they care not how little because they know they do such things and live in such courses as do not please him and which he doth not allow of Of this their Duty they may do a little it may be to appease some remainder of the natural appetite that all men have to Worship God and for Credit or Reputation sake and that 's enough Contray to the excellent Examples and Precepts which we have in the Holy Scriptures There can hardly be given any more certain signs of the greatest strength and fervour of all those Operations of the Soul in Prayer than what we meet withal in the Psalms every where Read for an Example of the most sensible acknowledgment the 145 Psalm in Verse 1. is a general acknowledgment and admiration I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever c. And Verse 3. to Verse 6. is a magnificent acknowledgment of God's Power Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable c. and Verse 11 12 13. again in Verse 8 9 10 15 16. is an acknowledgment of the general Divine Goodness and Verse 17. of his Holiness and Verse 14 18 19 20. of his mercy or goodness to persons in misery and distress especially who
deliverance of the Jewish Nation the people of God from their Enemies all of them things of great concernment especially considering God's Honour concerned too and consequently also the good of men sometimes in vindication of his greatness in opposition to false Gods because the Heathen would think their Gods the mightier if they should prevail sometimes in vindication of his Providence both his Justice to punish very wicked persons his most unjust Enemies and his Mercy in being kind and rewarding the righteous and true lovers of himself such as he was and some with him according to his promise I have before instanced in the 51 Psal where David so vehemently and earnestly begs for Purification Pardon Peace Indeed his Sins were great and hainous and much aggravated and so we must have a care that we imitate him when the things we desire are of as great concernment our degrees of Earnestness and Affection must be proportioned always to the importance or good effects of the action most what depending upon the goodness of the objects thereof but I doubt it is but too ordinary for Christians to be guilty of more and more hainous sins than David's were and yet not to use the least part of the Importunity that David here doth for forgivness if they do desire it at all and make not a sport at it And so of other good things they betake not themselves to God St. James tells us that the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much or the active Prayer that in which there is much of activity and life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That earnestness or fervour is principally meant there by those words seems from what follows of Elias's praying earnestly that it might not Rain c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ordinary Hebraism to express earnestness James 1. 16. 17. Our Saviour after he had given his Disciples an Example of Prayer he adds an advisement of great importunity in Petitions sometimes and for some things when necessary and of great importance and intimates that sometime it may be a condition of our receiving what we ask Luke 11. Verse 5. And he said unto them Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him Friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine in his Journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him c. And Verse 8. I say unto you that though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of his Impudence properly that is Importunity so great as it might seem near to that or as men impudent use to do who without the restraint of fear or shame do things and with the greatest vigour and ferventness he will rise and give him as many as he needeth And verily it may sometimes be very reasonable for God to with-hold any benefit asked especially if a great one on purpose to heighten the eagerness and fervency of our desires that we might be more sensible of our dependence upon him and obligation to him and be more thankful when we do receive after such long importunity And it might reasonably seem good to God net to give the thing at first or with only cold and luke-warm wishes and desires nay never to give it if we will not take the pains to continue and invigorate inliven our Supplications and Entreaties And this may often actually be one reason why as St. James saith we ask and receive not namely because we ask so rarely and seldom so weakly languidly and remissly and consequently so unbecommingly to the great and good God so infinitely superiour to us and to the things themselves the least being too good to be given to such idle and heartless Petitioners Indeed a man may reasonably think that rather than such Prayers should be the condition of receiving they should oftner be a cause of denial or should even as little be the condition of receiving as none at all if not less God may give us benefits indeed but not on condition of such Prayers as he often doth when we do not pray at all ungrateful Creatures SECT VII III. A Third due Qualification of our Operation of Soul in Prayer or rather of Prayer in general is that it be as frequent as ought to be and this our Prudence must determine For Ejaculatory Prayers they may be at all times in all places all companies upon all occasions And we are always to keep our mind in such temper and so truly innocent as that we may in the beginning especially of any considerable action send up to God a smart desire for Wisdom Discretion and Prudence sincerity and uprightness in our Intension and Design to do that which is in those circumstances best for the greatest good and most pleasing to God for courage and strength and constancy or vigour and perseverance that we might do nothing we might have reason to repent of for success or deliverance He also who much addicteth himself to and frequently useth this sort of Prayer may pray much more in the sum and most-what doth pray more fervently and more seasonably than he that prayeth many long continued Prayers his Acknowledgments Confessions Professions Thanksgivings Petitions being when he is under a stronger and distincter apprehension and greater sense of the things he conceives in his short Prayer As for publick Prayers they are determined by the Publick and I do not see but that most men generally might if they pleased be there as often as they are appointed many more than there are surely But especially those whose affairs are not so much abroad whose time and garb and other circumstances might be more easily fitted thereto whose affairs are more regular as to time and more at their own dispose And if all those were but present who stand still looking about or who purposely find themselves very little business as well to be done at another time all those who are either idle or do business of far less if of any concernment to be done just at that time the number I do not doubt would be very considerably increased And as for private and secret Prayers surely most persons may have opportunity to perform them once or twice a day in some length or other or some part of the day or other I confine them not to time nor length though it may be best for men who can to fix some time and to use to order their affairs so as not to interrupt them and that they may not be hindred by them as possibly before them all and after they be all dispatcht Better too they be short than none at all If it be but some short and pithy comprehensive form with the Lord's Prayer of which some learned judicious pious and devout men have been so deserving of the Publick as to give great variety which men need not be ignorant of if they have