A SERMON Preach'd before HER MAJESTY THE Queen Dowager In Her Chappel at Somerset-House upon the Fifth Sunday after Easter May 9. 1686. By WILLIAM HALL Preacher in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published by Her Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills for William Grantham in Cock-pit-Alley near Wilde-Street 1686. A SERMON Preach'd before the Queen Dowager On Rogation-Sunday May 9. 1686. Amen Amen dico vobis Si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis Petite accipietis ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum Joh. 16.23 24. Amen Amen I say to you If you shall ask the Father any thing in my Name he will give it you Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full OUR Blessed Saviour in that incomparable Sermon at his last Supper of which his Beloved Disciple St. John has given us a Copy from his thirteenth to his seventeenth Chapter reads a Lesson to his Apostles of the highest importance to their future Conduct and Comportment He exhorts them with an Eloquence Divine in its Original an Eloquence Divine in its Force and Energy to the performance of many things as hard and difficult as they were necessary to be put in practice Besides the Command he gave them of loving one another and that according to the measures of the Love he bore them Sicut dilexi vos He gave them a clear and ample View a full Prospect of all those Pains and Afflictions of all those Torments of that Death they were to undergo for his sake He acquainted them with the nature of their Sufferings with what they were to endure from the Jews and Gentiles who would both combine like as Herod and Pilate to the Death of our Saviour in the Contrivance of such exquisite Torments as should put a period to the Lives of the Apostles with the most intolerable Pains that could possibly be invented The Jews would think themselves obliged to destroy them as Impostors as Preachers of a false and pernicious Doctrine a Doctrine so opposite to the Tenor of their Belief as that was of their Messias being already come whom they obstinately blind through Ignorance as gross as criminal expect even to this day The Gentiles would perform their utmost Endeavours to offer up these Men a most acceptable Sacrifice to the Divinities they ador'd inasmuch as the Apostles were to wage War against them to become their profess'd and irreconcileable Enemies I need not mention with St. Chrysostom upon this place the rest of the Contents of this great Sermon of our B. Saviour I need not give you a more copious Account of his farther Orders or Commands You know how he encourag'd them to raise themselves above the Concerns or Cares of this World He press'd them to an assimilation or likeness in Holiness to his Heavenly Father He did not bid them aspire only to the Sanctity of Angels Cherubins or Seraphins of any of the seven ministring Spirits that stand before God they were to bear up to the Eternal Father and from thence to take a pattern of Perfection You know how he enjoyn'd them not only to acquire such Vertues as were to adorn or embellish themselves but to plant them in the Souls of others to prescribe Rules and Methods of a new Life of a new Belief to preach Penance Afflictions Crosses Persecutions even to death to Men indulging themselves all sorts of inordinate Pleasures to preach Poverty of spirit at least as absolutely necessary to Salvation to Men boundless in their Riches boundless in their Desires of scraping them together by all means possible good or bad to preach Humility to the Proud Patience to those that brook not Affronts Chastity to the Impure Temperance to the Glutton to controul lawless Usurpation and Tyranny to level immoderate Flights of Ambition to transform the Idolaters of Vice into the Admirers and Proselytes of Vertue In a word to transplant Men from Sin to Grace from Grace to Glory It was very hard for the Apostles before whose clear view was plac'd such a Scene or Landskip of future Events so disagreeable to Sense and corrupted Nature not to be discourag'd not to shrink back not to cry out as upon another occasion Quis ergo poterit salvus esse Who is it then that can be saved Our B. Saviour therefore who well knew how easily Men are deterr'd from doing good even at the distant view of ensuing Dangers to animate and encourage his Disciples to an Enterprize so highly conducing to their own Advantage that they might not be disheartned or dismay'd at the mighty Task after he had convinc'd them in his precedent Discourse that there was nothing that lay under his Commands but what was so far from being not feasible that it was easie confers upon them more sensible Encouragement in the Verse foregoing that of my Text. In which he promises to give them unconceivable Comfort and Consolation in the midst of all their Troubles and Afflictions and then for the obtaining of it in the words of my Text advises exhorts nay commands them to have recourse to Prayer as the necessary Means to render all Burdens light all Yokes sweet all Labours and Pains easie Amen Amen dico vobis si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis Petite accipietis ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum Amen Amen I say to you if you shall ask the Father any thing in my Name he will give it you Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full As if he had said as St. Chrysostom remarks You must not think you must rely upon your own strength to surmount the Difficulties you are to encounter with You must implore in your daily Prayers the Assistance of Heaven and you 'l never fail of its Protection Petite accipietis Ask and you shall receive offer up your Petitions to the Father in my Name and he 'l bless your Endeavours he 'l strengthen them with his all-surmounting Grace he 'l enable you to withstand and overcome whatsoever would obstruct your Proceedings Petite accipietis c. Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Since therefore our Holy Mother the Church in a Season sacred to Prayer do's propose to her Children the Gospel wherein our Saviour encourages his beloved Disciples to addict themselves to that holy Exercise as being the only Sourse or Origin from whence flows the fulness of joy in this World and the assurance of the ineffable Bliss of the World to come I think it will not be unseasonable from the words of my Text to exhort you likewise D. Christians to apply your selves with joynt consent with united affection and fervor to the devout and holy Exercise of Prayer and that not for these ensuing Days only wherein we are more strictly engag'd by the Church to pay our respective Duties to Almighty God the better to dispose us on Thursday next to ascend with Christ in Spirit
into Heaven and prepare us to entertain that supreme Author of all Sanctity and Grace the Third Person of the ever Blessed Trinity who descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues and will come to enflame our Souls with the fire of Love but during also the series or continuance of your Days to the end that by addicting your selves to an Employment as necessary as advantageous to a Christian your joy may be full Vt gaudium vestrum sit plenum To this purpose I design God willing this day to set before you in the First Part of my Discourse the Excellency of Prayer together with the Advantages you may reap from it In the Second the absolute Necessity of Prayer with a short Method how to Pray as we ought Amen Amen si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis c. Amen Amen I say to you if you shall ask the Father any thing in my Name he will give it you Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full But that God may bless and crown my Endeavours that he may seal this solemn Promise of granting what we ask and make it good in My behalf I must desire you to joyn your Prayers with mine that what I shall say may be to his Honour and Glory to the good of all our Souls And to this end let us with our best Devotion implore his Divine Assistance by the Intercession of the most Holy Virgin-Mother AVE MARIA c. I Am throughly persuaded D.A. that there cannot be given a more elevated Idea of the Excellency of Prayer then by shewing 1. That it came from Heaven 2. That it conducts us to Heaven 3. That it makes us find Heaven upon Earth 1. It came from Heaven where it was even before the Heavens before those material Orbs that now rowl over us were call'd from the dark and profound Abyss of unessential Nothing Before the Angels were establish'd in Glory God himself was taken up with Prayer not as the word commonly signifies with us Petition or Impetration in as much as that Supreme and Independent Being could neither Pray in this Sense to others or make such Addresses to it self His Prayer was the Contemplation of his own Divine Essence His Prayer was that Expression or Consubstantial Word which from all Eternity as an Eternal Coeternal Beam shone from the Father His Prayer was and is a Reflection upon his own unlimited Perfections in that compleat Resemblance of himself his Son When this Word descended from the Bosom of his Eternal Father without either Change or Separation to cloath himself with our Flesh in the chast Womb of the Virgin-Mother I find he came among us to teach us what he put in practice himself the holy Exercise of Prayer It is written of his House that it is to be Consecrated to Divine Service or Prayer Domus mea Domus Orationis vocabitur And which was his first House but the Womb of his Virgin-Mother where he dwelt nine Months in that divine Employment The first Chapter of his Prayer-Book or first Lesson he read was to comply with the sacred Decrees with the holy Will of his Eternal Father as the Royal Prophet says of him Psal 40.10 In capite Libri scriptum est de me c. In the beginning of the Book it is written of me that I should do thy will I 'le follow thy Orders my God I 'le engrave thy Law in the middle of my Heart When he came into the World at the appointed time he employ'd in that holy Exercise of Prayer the space of Thirty Years This Light of the World shed not a Beam upon benighted Man he broke not from the sacred Cloud whereinto he had retir'd Nubes latibulum ejus till the Revolution of that time was ended And as if he thought it not enough to spend whole Thirty Years under the Roof of Mary he repairs to a Desert a lonely and melancholly Desert where for Forty Days and Forty Nights not granting his Body the satisfaction of the least Repast free from the noise and bustle of the World he is totally addicted to Contemplation Our B. Saviour was as well God as Man he needed not by consequence a private House or Desert to become more recollected more retir'd 't was to give us an Example to teach us where we ought to Pray that he chose those solitary Places 't was to encourage us to an imitation of his holy Life to render our Prayers more efficacious more meritorious he selected such Conveniences as might be an help to our Prayers Methinks he acquaints us with his divine Intentions from the Desert with an Exemplum dedi vobis I have given you an Example that you do as I have done Ah! my Lord 't is too much honour for such poor Creatures as we are to be permitted to address our Prayers to thee but what a happiness is it to be invited to Pray in Company with our God When he left the Desert he left not the practice of Prayer he quitted not this sacred Employment in the midst of the most pressing Concerns of his Mission And altho' he equally Pray'd in all Places and at all Times the Evangelists have taken a particular care to acquaint us that after he had labour'd and toyl'd all the Day in Preaching Teaching and inviting Sinners to a sincere Repentance he employ'd the most part of the Night in the Practice of Prayer Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei As he liv'd in a continual Exercise of Prayer he expir'd upon the Cross as we may say in the Arms of Prayer he consecrated to that purpose the three last hours of his Life he drew the Curtains of the Night upon the face of this World he shrowded it with darkness more seasonable more proper for Prayer Ah what comfort must a serious Meditation upon those three last mysterious Hours our B. Saviour was dying in upon the Cross bring to the Soul of a repenting Sinner He made there an Application of his most bitter Passion of his most dolorous Crucifixion of his most painful Death to the Distempers of our diseased Hearts He Prayed then that as the whole Series of his Life was spun out for our Good for our Instruction so his Death for our sakes might conduce to the entire Remission of our Sins He offer'd the infinite Price of his inestimable Blood for the Redemption of Mankind He begg'd of his Eternal Father to cancel the Debts we had contracted to blot out of his remembrance our Transgressions at the same time that he interceded at the Throne of his Mercy for the blind and ungrateful Jews Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt Nor may we doubt but as he pour'd forth his Soul in Prayer with his last Breath saying to his Eternal Father Into thy hands I commend my spirit so he bequeathed the Spirit of Prayer as a Legacy to us both to
accompany and secure our Exit out of this Life and the bowing of his Head to us at that time is an Invitation to us to lift up our Hearts to him Inclinato capite emisit spiritum Ah my dearest Saviour I receive with the most profound Submission possible with the greatest Veneration thy Holy thy Divine Spirit I embrace it as bequeath'd me by my most tender Master I 'le cherish this sacred Depositum this divine Pledge of an infinite Love I 'le carefully preserve it to the end of my days for 't is then I desire to die when I cease to Pray 2. If Prayer came from Heaven as we must needs allow since it was brought us from thence by the Worlds Redeemer it glories in a Prerogative more to our advantage that is it leads and conducts to us Heaven 'T is the property of Water to remount to a Level with its Sourse or Origin Prayer therefore taking its rise in Heaven we must attribute to it an Excellency common to it and Grace Omnis qui bibit ex aqua hac fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam If any one drink of that delicious Spring which pious and religious Souls so frequently refresh themselves with in the holy Exercise of Prayer it shall become in him a Fountain whose Waters shall reascend as high as their Origin as high as Heaven to that inexhaustible Ocean of ever-living Waters Quid est oratio says to this purpose the great St. Augustin nisi ascensio animae de terrestribus ad coelestia inquisitio supernorum invisibilium desiderium For what is Prayer but an elevation of the Soul from terrestrial to celestial Cogitations an inquisition or search into supernatural Concerns a fervent desire of purchasing that Happiness which is as yet out of sight 'T is for this Reason that Prayer is compar'd to the Ladder Jacob the Patriarch saw in a Vision As that gave an ascent from Earth to Heaven as those mysterious Rounds bore the mounting Angels to their Sovereign Lord so Prayer wings our earthly lumpish Nature that we can soar aloft to the Region of Spirits and to this purpose it refines our Humanity from all dregs of Mortality As our Lord was seen leaning upon the utmost Rounds of this mystick Ladder or rather as the Septuagint give a more congruous Construction as the Ladder was seen leaning upon our Lord that supported it so Prayer derives its efficacy its vigour and force from the gracious assistance of an all-powerful God who both raises and draws its Votaries to himself Finally as there were in Jacob's Vision seen ascending and descending Angels they are yet upon the same Concern for Christians devoted to Prayer They carry our Petitions as St. Hilary saith to the Throne of Glory they return to minister for us in the great work of our Salvation The Soul likewise upon the Wings of Prayer takes her flight to Heaven she enters into the Palace of her Lord without controul or disturbance Prayer being the Key of Paradise saith S. Augustin which gives her admittance into the Royal Bed-Chamber where she freely entertains her self with an infinite Majesty she becomes familiar with her God she not only obtains his Blessing as her Father disarms his just Indignation against her own and the Worlds Offences atones for her self and others but addresses her self to him as her dearest Friend appropriates him to her as her Beloved with the Spouse in the Canticles Dilectus meus mihi ego illi Insomuch that our Sovereign infinitely delighted with such familiar Addresses invites encourages and engages the Soul to continue her languishing Desires Fac me audire vocem tuam Let me hear thee speak Vox enim tua dulcis For thy Voice is sweet and charming Labia tua sicut vitta coccinea Eloquium tuum dulce Thy Lips are like a Thred of Scarlet thy Speech is sweet and grateful Such was the Prayer of Moses upon the Mount where he made up to God as to his best of Friends Discoursed with him face to face so much to the advantage of the glorious Saint that one would have thought the Almighty had interchanged Properties with him for he seems to tie the Hands of an Omnipotent God that was ready to dart his revenging Thunder at the criminal Heads of the rebellious Jews Dimitte me saith the Almighty ut irascatur furor meus Let me alone that I may give way to my anger As if he were unable to resist the Influence of the Prayers of Moses 3. But we have not only the advantage of being conducted to Heaven by Prayer 't is also blessed with a singular Priviledge that it makes us find Heaven upon Earth To evidence this Truth let us settle our serious Consideration let us fix our Regards upon such devout Christians as are given to Prayer We see they are disencumbred from the Bustle or troublesom Concerns of this World we see they are intirely divorc'd from the Creature totally united to the Creator we see they are dead to the Life of the World living a divine or supernatural Life dead to themselves animated with the Life of God Ah happy Death Happy end of a Life well lost Thrice happy beginning of a Life that must never end The union of Body and Soul is the Life of a Man the separation of the Body and Soul is the Death of a Man The union of the Body and Soul with the World is the Life of a Worldly Man the Death of a Christian The separation of the Body and Soul from the World is the Death of a Man as to the present World but the Life of a Man in reference to the World to come Men living with the Life of the World are dead to Heaven Men living or leading their Lives in Prayer find Heaven even in this World inasmuch as they are dead to the World to live with God to live with the Angels with the Life of God they are penetrated with God they are absorpt in God they are chang'd by a thrice happy Transformation into God himself But this Death to the World ought rather to be stil'd a Resurrection then a Death A Resurrection with their divine Original Christ Jesus from the Grave of this World Those that are risen with Christ have their Affections taken off from the things here below they savour nothing but what 's above Those by consequence that are devoted to Prayer are risen with Christ have a Heaven upon Earth with Christ not yet ascended will mount with Christ from Earth to Heaven If the Angels our Guardian-Angels to whose care and custody Man as yet a Traveller is recommended by God if they that keep us in all our ways that direct our steps through the Mazes of this World if they that are so much taken up with our Concerns as that they are continually upon the Watch upon the Guard to secure us from that roaring Lyon the Devil seeking to devour
Christians of the Excellency of Prayer of the Advantages we may reap from the constant Exercise of Prayer We are convinc'd I suppose of the Necessity of Prayer We have been furnish'd with the Conditions requisite for Prayer If we admire it for its Excellency we should embrace it as an Advantage Nay we ought to comply with so necessary an Obligation since we are not ignorant of the Manner how to discharge our selves I was not Master of Ceremonies my self when I plac'd Prayer amongst the Seraphins A Learned Author tells us That a Person constantly addicted to so pious an Employment has not only the Love of a Seraphin but likewise enjoys the Perfection of each Hierarchy of every Quire He is a Cherubin in his Knowledge a Throne inasmuch as his Soul is the Seat or Residence of God the Temple of the Holy Ghost A Domination in the Government of his Passions A Power in the Dominion over the Infernal Spirits A Vertue in his miraculous Life in his Life of Miracles An Archangel in his Heroick Enterprizes An Angel in his Prompt Obedience to the Commands of his Sovereign A Person in fine devoted to Prayer is a wonderful Epitome of all Heaven Who would not after this addict themselves to Prayer That holy Bishop of Geneva St. Francis Sales taxes those that will not of the want of common Sense But the foolish and unwise shall perish saith the Psalmist Simul insipi ens stultus peribunt Men may be asham'd of their supine Neglect in a Business of such Moment and Concern while they shew themselves so eager in the pursuit of Toys and Trifles If its charming Excellency do's not invite us let its Advantages engage us let its Necessity oblige us For its Advantages saith St. Ambrose Vberior est gratia quam precatio semper enim Dominus plus tribuit quam rogatur God is more liberal of his Grace then we of our Prayers he always confers more upon us then we require then we look for or expect Abraham desir'd a Son and obtain'd over and above the Measure of his Petition a numerous Progeny from his Loyns a Progeny as numerous as the Stars Obtain'd a Blessing never to be mention'd but with Joy The Redeemer of the World came from the propagation of his Seed Jacob the Patriarch beg'd God would be pleas'd to furnish him with Necessaries with Aliments for the Body and was stor'd with Riches in abundance was honour'd with the Company of Ascending and Descending Angels Solomon Pray'd for Wisdom and receiv'd Omnia bona pariter cum ea An affluence of all good things with it Ezechias Pray'd for his own Recovery when sick to death which was granted with an addition of Fifteen Years and the Promise of a glorious Victory over his Enemies The Samaritan desir'd Water but obtain'd Grace The Centurion beg'd of our Blessed Saviour to restore his Servant's Health Our Lord cur'd the Body of the Servant and the Soul of the Master The Thief upon the Cross desir'd only to be remembred when our Saviour came to his eternal Kingdom whereas our most gracious Lord promis'd him on that very Day to place him in Paradise Add now to these Advantages with those above mention'd the strict Obligation the pressing Necessity A Soul without Prayer is like a City in time of War without Guards without Walls without either Food or Ammunition which the Enemies may take and Plunder as they please S. Augustin and St. Ambrose the greatest and Learnedst Doctors of the Church both center in this Opinion That a Person stands in as much need of Prayer as of Grace to attain Salvation St. Ambrose farther assures us That Prayer is as much the Life of the Soul as the Soul is the Life of the Body Hence I rationally and evidently conclude That as the Soul is essential to the Life of the Body Prayer is as essential to the Life of the Soul The Body without a Soul is but a foul and ugly Carcass the Leavings of a Man the Food of Worms and the Grave The Soul without Prayer is dead detestable in the sight of God and his Angels whose Grave will be the nether Hell whose Worms those Stings of Conscience which shall never die As we take all Care possible therefore to preserve Nature the union of the Soul and Body since we are not ignorant of the Means we ought to take all Care possible to preserve Grace by a constant Exercise of Prayer Should you deny your Body its necessary Food the Soul takes Wing and leaves the Skeleton Should you deprive your Soul of the Sustenance of Prayer Grace quits the barren the unhospitable Soil the roaring Lion the ravenous Wolf the infernal Serpent each from Hell every Beast of Prey Omnes bestiae sylvae do not pass through only but inhabit there Let us Pray therefore always D. Christians as our Blessed Saviour has enjoyn'd us Sempe rorare not always upon our Knees with Hands erected with Eyes lifted up to Heaven that Ceremony at all times is neither necessary nor convenient Let us Pray always by a constant union of our Souls always with God Let us Pray always by doing what we do for the sake of God Let us Pray always by bearing our Sufferings for God Let us Pray always by desiring what we desire may redound to the Honour of God Let us Pray always by loving what we love for the love of God Let us Pray always in fine by rendring our Thoughts Words and Works constant Effects of Faith Hope and Charity Prayer then and Grace will be individual Companions Grace will be acquir'd at the Instances of our Prayers Glory will be the due Reward of Grace Gratiam enim Gloriam dabit Dominus For the Lord says the Psalmist will give Grace and Glory Which God of his infinit Mercy grant to the Prayers of your most Sacred Majesty to my Prayers and to the Prayers of all that hear me In Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Amen FINIS Jo. 13.34 Matth 19.25 Chrysost Hom. 23. in Matth. I. Part. Matth. 21.18 Job 22 14. Joan. 13.15 Luc. 6.12 Luc. 23.34 Luc. 23.46 Joan. 4.14 Cant. 2.16 8.13 Cant. 2.14.4.3 Exod. 32.10 II. Part. Job 14.1 Matth. 10.36 Psal 49.15 Rom. 7.24 Rom. 6.6 2 Cor. 12.7 2 Cor. 11.26 Psal 41.5 Eccl. 35. Chrysost Hom. 5. de Incompr Dei Natura Acts 9.4 Acts 9.1 Aug. Ser. 1. de Sanctis 4. I. Condition 1 Joan. 3.21 S. Greg. Mor. l. 17. c. 11. Joan. 15.7 Isa 1.13 S. August Conc. 3. in Psal 30. II Condition Psal 122.2 III. Condition IV. Condition Joan. 15.5 August in Manual cap. 21. V. Condition Matth. 11.12 2 Tim. 2.5 Psal 43.11 Luc. 18.1 Psal 18.1