where in Scripture as I remember have express mention made of any Prayer directed to the Holy Ghost yet whosoever allows him to be God cannot deny him this Worship of Prayer if we must believe in him we may then certainly call upon him as the Apostle argues Rom. 10.14 yea Rom. 10.14 we have an Instance of the Seraphims giving Praise unto him which is one part of Prayer Isa 6.3 Isa 6.3 They cried to one another holy holy is the Lord God of Hosts This God is the same who in Verses 10 11. bids the Prophet say to the People Hear ye indeed but understand not make the Heart of this People fat make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they hear with their Ears and see with their Eyes This is that God whom the Seraphims adored and this is that God that spake to the Prophet and the Apostle quoting this very place out of Isaiah Acts 28.25 tells us Acts 28.25 that it was the Holy Ghost spake so that by comparing these two Places together you see plainly that the Holy Ghost is God and that he is to be adored by us with the same Worship that we worship the Father and the Son for the Holy Ghost is the Lord God of Hosts which St. Paul refers to the Holy Ghost well spake the Holy Ghost concerning them Thus if we consider God personally each Person in the Trinity may well be the Object of our Prayers Secondly Consider God essentially and so we are also to direct our Prayers to him God essentially is to be prayed unto Now to consider God essentially is to have the Eye of our Faith fixed upon his Attributes not upon his Person to consider him when we pray to him not as Father Son or Holy Ghost but only as an infinitely glorious wise powerful gracious God and the like to look upon him as a most pure Essence whose Presence is every where whose Presence and Goodness is over all Things to conceive him to be an infinite Being altogether unconceivable this is to consider God essentially Now this Notion of God is equally common to all the Three Persons and therefore this is the most fit and congruous way when we come to God in Prayer to represent before us his Attributes we need not select out any one Person in the Holy Trinity Father Son or Holy Ghost to direct our Prayers unto unless it be in some Cases wherein their particular Offices are more immediately concerned but when we pray to him who is Almighty who is All-wise infinitely Holy infinitely Just and Merciful we pray at once to the whole Trinity both to the Father Son and Holy Ghost So when we pray according to that holy Form that Christ hath taught us Our Father which art in Heaven Father there denotes not only God the Father the first Person in the Trinity but it is a relative Attribute belonging equally to all the Persons in the Trinity God is the Father of all Men by Creation and Providence and he is especially the Father of the Faithful by Regeneration and Adoption Why now as these Actions of Creation Regeneration and Adoption are common to the whole Trinity so also is the Title of Father common to the whole Trinity God the first Person is indeed eminently called the Father but that is not in respect of us but in respect of Christ his only begotten Son from all Eternity in respect of us the whole Trinity is our Father which art in Heaven and when we pray so we pray both to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost to all the Three Persons yea and it may seem very probable that when Christ prayed Matth. 26.39 Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not my Will but thy Will be done I say it 's probable this Prayer was not directed to God the Father personally but to the whole Trinity for we must consider that Christ prays here only as he was Man and that appears by his distinguishing of his Will from and submitting it to God's Will Why now not only God the Father but the whole Trinity was the Father of Christ as Man yea Christ himself according to his divine Nature was the Father of his humane Nature and therefore praying as Man to his Father that that Cup might pass from him he prayed to all the Three Persons both to God the Father and to God the Son and to God the Holy Ghost And thus much for the Object to whom we must direct our Prayers and that is to God only whether considered personally or essentially Thirdly Observe also the Matter of our Prayers We must pray for Things that are according to the will of God 1 John 5.4 It must be a representation of our Desires to God for such Things as are according to his Will So we have it 1 John 5.4 If we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us God's Will in bestowing a desired Mercy upon us is best known by the Promises that he hath made to us which Promises are of two Kinds some refer to temporal Blessings and others refer to Grace and Glory Why now here First Grace and Glory are promised absolutely We may pray for Grace and Glory absolutely it is that we are commanded all of us to seek after and therefore here can lie no mistake upon us while we beg these for there is no doubt while we pray for Grace and Glory but we do it according to the Will of God Here we may be earnest and importunate that God would sanctifie and save our Souls and while we ask this and make this the matter of our Requests we are under an impossibility of asking amiss yea and the more violent we are and the more resolute to take no Denial at the Hands of God the more pleasing is this holy Force since it shews a perfect conformity and concurrence in our Wills unto his Will who hath told us It is his Will 1 Thes 4.3 even our Sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 This was one part of that violence that our Saviour saith the Kingdom of Heaven suffered in the Days of John the Baptist It is an Invasion that is acceptable unto God when we storm Heaven by Prayers and Supplications with strong Cries and Tears when we plant against it unutterable Sighs and Groans this is such a Battery that those eternal Ramparts cannot hold out long against it We may pray absolutely for Grace and Glory Secondly 2. We must pray for the Degrees of Grace and for the Comforts of the Spirit conditionally Though we may pray thus absolutely and with a holy peremptoriness for Grace and Glory saying to God as Jacob to the Angel that wrestled with him I will not let thee go until thou hast blessed me with spiritual Blessings in heavenly Things in Jesus Christ Yet Secondly For the Degrees of Grace and for the Comforts of
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
Slave unto God And such Slaves are all convinced Sinners that have not yet arrived to the free and filial Spirit of Adoption but are kept under Bondage under the Wrath of God and manacled in the Fetters of their own Fears So saith the Apostle Heb. 2.15 To deliver them who through fear of Death and of Hell that follows after it were all their Life-time subject unto Bondage Thirdly 3. Slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit This slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God though it be slavish for it is his Office to convince as well as to comfort and to cast down by the Terrors of the Law as well as to raise up by the Promises of the Gospel In John 16.8 He shall convince the World of Sin and therefore it is said in this place Rom. 8.15 We have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 implying that those Terrors that seize upon the Conscience are the Work of the Holy Ghost We bring our selves into Bondage under Sin and he brings us into Bondage under Fear If therefore at any time thou who art a secure Sinner art suddenly surprized with fearful and trembling Thoughts concerning thy present state of Sin and thy future state of Wrath beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a Fit of Melancholy or a Temptation of Satan to drive thee to Despair but know assuredly thy Conscience is now under the Hand of the Holy Ghost himself he raiseth those Tempests of Fear in thee and as usually it is fatal to divert and hush them so is it no less than ignorant Blasphemy to impute his Works to Melancholy or to the Temptations of Satan Fourthly When the Soul is prepared for the Work of Grace by the Work of Conviction 4. When the Spirit hath been a Spirit of Bondage it becomes a Spirit of Adoption when it is prepared for Comfort by the Work of Humiliation the same Spirit that was before a Spirit of Bondage becomes now a Spirit of Adoption that is the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God and enables us through divine Light beaming in upon our Consciences to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge The same Wind that in a raging Storm tosseth the Sea too and fro in restless Heaps in a Calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing Purles So is it here that Spirit of God that in Conviction raiseth a Tempest in the Conscience afterwards the same Spirit breaths forth a sweet Calm of Peace and Comfort upon it The same Spirit that before was a Spirit of Bondage when the Soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for Grace becomes a Spirit of Adoption This is that Spirit of Adoption that is here spoken of and is called so because it witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God by Adoption God hath but one Son by eternal Generation and that is Jesus Christ called therefore The only begotten of the Father John 1.14 He hath many Sons by Creation even all Mankind so Adam is called The Son of God Luke 3.38 He hath many Sons also by Adoption even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his Grace all that are sanctified who are of Strangers made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself who is the natural Son of God as it is Rom. 8.17 Now because it is the Work of the Holy Ghost to testifie to us this our great Privilege that we are enrolled in the Family of Heaven and become the Children of God therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption that is the Spirit that witnesseth to us our Adoption Fifthly To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption 5. Where the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption it never more becomes a Spirit of Bondage it never more becomes to them a Spirit of Bondage and Fear That is it never again proclaims War after it hath spoken Peace it never represents God as an inraged Enemy after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father It is true the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing Office in the Soul of the most assured Saint it convinceth them of Sin and of Wrath due to them for Sin A twofold Conviction of Sin But now there is a twofold Conviction there is a Conviction of the Evil of particular Actions and there is a Conviction of the Evil of our State and Condition Why now though upon particular Miscarriages of Gods Children the Holy Ghost secretly smited their Consciences shewing them the Guilt and Evil of their Sins thereby bringing them to Repentance and a godly Sorrow yet the Holy Ghost never again testified to them that they are in a graceless unregenerate and sinful Estate and Condition and in a State of Wrath and Condemnation it brings them to a deep Humiliation by convincing them of the Evil of their Actions but it never brings them into legal Terrors by convincing them of a sinful State neither indeed can it be so for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Truth and to witness that we are yet Children of Wrath who are indeed the adopted Children of God this were a false Testimony and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Truth Doth the same Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter Doth there proceed from one and the same Mouth Blessings and Curses Certainly the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the Love and Favour of God never after pronounceth us to be Cursed and under the Wrath of God Object But you will say Have not the best of God's Children sometimes concluded themselves to be reprobated and cast away Have they not lain under sad and fearful apprehensions of God's Wrath Have not some of them who formerly walked in the Light of God's Countenance and flourished in their Assurance yet afterwards have been so dejected that they would not entertain any comfort or hopes of Mercy and Salvation Answ To this I Answer It is true it may indeed so happen that those Saints whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent at another time wither and drop off so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees destinated to make Fuel for Hell Whence proceeds this It is not from the Spirit of God but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes When the Children of God after full assurance come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition but also to despair of themselves looking on themselves as Persons that God hath singled out to Destruction this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost but from Melancholy or Temptation Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs
them from the sorest Torments that others shall for ever suffer 4. Slavish Fear is preparatory to and inductive of filial Fear Fourthly This slavish Fear is Isagogical that is it is preparatory to and inductive of a filial and holy Fear of God We usually fear God first as a revenging Judge before we come to fear him with a reverential filial Fear as a reconciled Father As the Poet of Old fabulously fansied that the Giants heaped Mountain upon Mountain that they might scale Heaven This is true in Christianity the way to climb Heaven is by laying one Mountain upon another even Mount Sion upon Mount Sinai Those commonly prove the most stable and stayed Christians that have been most harrassed by legal Terrors before they enjoy the sense of Comfort for the Structure of Grace in the Heart is quite contrary to other Buildings it stands firmest when it is laid upon a shaking and trembling Foundation It is a Seed that never thrives so well as where the Heart is most broken up and where the Wrath of God hath made long and deep Furrows in it Well now to conclude this methinks what hath already been spoken should fill the Heart of every carnal Wretch with Fear methinks this should make them cry out with those Sinners in Sion Isa 33.14 Isa 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with devouring Fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting Burnings Can the Drunkard hear these things and yet put his intemperate Cups to his Mouth with a steady Hand Can the Swearer hear these things and yet his Tongue move steady in his Mouth and not tremble when he raps out Oaths Certainly how secure and confident soever Men may now be yet there is a time coming when the Wrath of God shall melt down their Hearts like Wax in the midst of their Bowels Death is a thundring Preacher and it will make you fear the dreadful Representations of that fiery Indignation that shortly it will display before your Eyes in all its Terrors Oh! when your Eyes shall swim in the Night and in the Dark and it cannot be long first when you shall meet with those dreadful Shapes and Visions of a flaming Hell and a more flaming God it will be too late then to Fear and alas it will be too late then to Hope God will then laugh at your Calamity and mock at you when this unseasonable Fear cometh Be persuaded therefore to entertain a Fear of God at last though but a slavish Fear this is the preparation that the Holy Ghost works in the Heart in order to a filial and a holy Fear of God Use 2 Secondly Another Use that we may make of this Point is this If God be a consuming Fire how highly doth it concern us to look out for a Screen that may fence us from those everlasting Burnings We are Stubble and Fuel fully prepared our Sins have made us so and for us to stand it out against God is no other than for dried Stubble to challenge the devouring Fire Now God that he might not break forth upon us and destroy us hath himself prepared a Screen to hide and shelter us from this flaming Wrath and that is Christ the Mediator We have a lively Type of this in Aaron Numb 16.48 Numb 16.48 when the rebellious Israelites mutined against Moses God did suddenly break forth upon them and slew almost fifteen hundred thousand of them Dead upon the Place As Fire runs on a Train of Powder so did this Wrath of God pass swiftly from one to another till Aaron interposed and stopt it there stood that mighty Priest as a Bulwark betwixt the living and the dead and intercepted the rest from this destroying Wrath and though it overwhelmed so many Thousands yet it could not bear down his powerful Intercession he alone was the Fence and Safeguard of a perishing People Christ upon the Cross maintains the same Station interposing betwixt the Living and the Dead the Wrath of God consumes all before it that is not under the Protection of that Screen there it stops and though it seized fiercely upon him too yet it never burnt through him to reach those that fled for Security to that Refuge set before them In a general Conflagration even Chaff and Stubble may be secure under the Covert of an Adamantine Wall Though all the Wicked of the World shall burn together and all Believers be in themselves as combustible Matter as they yet Christ interposeth as a Wall of Adamant betwixt Stubble and Stubble and when the Wrath of God hath consumed the one he stands and keeps off the Impressions of it from the other Indeed there is a Wall that stands betwixt God and every wicked Man but it is a Wall of Partition as the Apostle calls it Ephes 2.14 Eph. 2.14 it is a Wall that separates them from the Love and Favour of God and hides his Face from them A Partition of dry and rotten Boards may keep off the Light and kindly Influences of the Sun but it is no Fence against the Rage of Fire but rather encreaseth and augments it So wicked Men are separated from the Love and Favour of God by their Sins Isa 59.2 Your Iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God yea and they keep off his cherishing Influences but they contribute to his fiery Wrath. Why now Christ is a Wall of Defence that separates his from the Wrath and Indignation of God A Wall of Crystal is a safe Defence against the force of Fire yet is it no obstruction to the warm Beams and cherishing Light of the Sun Such a Crystal Wall is Christ that keeps off God's fiery Indignation from us but yet conveys to us the cherishing and reviving Influences of his Love Let me now persuade and prevail with you to betake your selves to this shelter The same Storm of Fire and Brimstone that destroyed Sodom hovers over all the Wicked of the World and we are as Lot still lingring behind let me therefore hasten you as the Angel did him to your Zoar to get under the Protection of Christ whether the fiery Indignation of God cannot pursue you In the former Instance when the Israelites saw so many of their Fellows slain by an un-perceived Stroke what running and crowding was there think you to get behind the Priest Why we are all in the same Danger but we have a more prevalent High-Priest There are Thousands dying and perishing under the Wrath of God and shall not we then with Fear and Trembling press close behind our High Priest that by him we may be hid from this consuming Fire Use 3 Thirdly The next Vse shall be to exhort you to a holy Fear and Reverence of this great and terrible God I lately gave you several Considerations enough to daunt the boldest Sinners and to bring them at least to a slavish Fear Be persuaded now to advance it a Degree higher and to over-awe your Hearts with a holy filial
from accusing and condemning of you So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER WITH Exhortations thereunto ON 1 THESSAL v. 17. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER 1 THESS v. 17. Pray without ceasing THIS Text is one of those many Commands that the Apostle lays down in this Chapter being now almost at the end and close of his Epistle and not willing to omit the mentioning of Duties so necessary for their Practice he pours them out in short but weighty Exhortations the Connexion betwixt most of them is dark if there be any I shall not therefore vex the Words by tacking them either to the precedent or subsequent Verses by any forced Coherence but take them as they are in themselves in one entire Proposition and so they contain in them a Duty and that is Prayer and the manner also of performing of it and that is without ceasing and both of these do administer to us this plain Doctrin Doctrin That it is a Christians Duty to pray incessantly This is a plain and necessary Point and I intend to handle it in as plain and familiar a Method And there are two Things that I shall enquire into First What it is to Pray And then Secondly What it is to Pray without ceasing 1. What it is to Pray 1. I shall begin with the First What it is to Pray I Answer To Pray is by the Assistance and Help of the Holy Ghost in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ with Faith and Fervency to make an humble representation of our Desires unto God for those Things that are according to his Will with submission to his Pleasure and with reference to his Honour This is that holy Duty of Prayer in which of all that belong to Religion the Soul usually enjoys the most near and sweet Communion with God When we are oppressed with Guilt or overwhelmed with Fears and Griefs what sweeter Retreat than to betake our selves to our God and to our Father into whose Bosom we may unload all our Burdens It is the greatest solace of an afflicted Mind to lie prostrate before the Lord and melt it self down in holy Tears and in holy Affections at his Feet Hence it is said of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That after she had poured out her Soul before God her Countenance was no more sad And therefore this is not so much our Duty as our Privilege it is the Happiness of the glorious Angels in Heaven and of the Spirits of just Men made perfect that they are always near unto God in their Attendance upon him that they are Waiters about his Throne And Prayer gives to us the very same high Privilege and brings us into the Presence and before the Throne of the same God only with this difference they draw near to a Throne of Glory and we draw near to a Throne of Grace Let us now take a more particular View of this excellent Duty of Prayer according to the Description given of it 1. The efficient cause of Prayer is the Spirit First The efficient cause of Prayer is the Holy Ghost then we Pray when we breath out those Requests unto God that the Holy Ghost hath breathed unto us and therefore it is said Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered All Prayers that are not dictated by the Holy Ghost is but howling in God's esteem And though wicked Men in their Distresses may be very passionate and very vehement in their Requests yet they have no Promise that their Prayers shall prevail with God Sometimes indeed God doth hear them and out of his common Bounty and Goodness grants to them those temporal good Things that they crave he that hears the young Ravens when they cry he that hears the lowing of the Oxen sometimes also hears wicked Men under their Afflictions when they roar to him as wild Bulls in a Net as the Prophet expresseth it but yet such Prayers of wicked Men tho' they are answered yet they are never accepted God accepts no Petitions but such as are presented to him through the Intercession of Christ now Christ makes Intercession for none in Heaven but only for such in whose Hearts the Spirit makes Intercession here upon Earth their Prayers alone ascend up to God as sweet Incense being perfumed with that much Incense that Christ offers up with the Prayers of all the Saints God always hears and answers them either in the very Thing that they pray for or else in what oftentimes is far better when they ask that which will be to their own Hurt then he answers them graciously by denying them In James 16. the Apostle tells us there Jam. 5.16 That the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much This indeed may seem a needless Tautology to say an effectual Prayer availeth for it is but one and the same thing to avail and to be effectual but if we consult the Original we shall find the Words may be translated The in-wrought Prayer and possibly we may with more Congruity render it thus The Prayer of a righteous Man wrought in him that is to say by the Spirit of God such a Prayer availeth much Secondly As the efficient cause of our Prayers is the Holy Ghost 2. God is the Object of Prayer essentially and personally consider'd so the only Object of our Prayers is God for it is a representation of our Wants and Desires unto him Now God may be consider'd either essentially or personally and under both respects we may direct our Prayers unto him 1. All the Persons in the Trinity are to be prayed unto First If we consider the Persons of the glorious Trinity so they are all adorable with this Act of divine Worship None will deny but that we may direct our Prayers unto God the Father and that God the Son may be distinctly prayed unto we have an uncontroulable Instance in that of S. Stephen Acts 7.59 Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit yea Acts 7.59 and this Adoration is due not only to the Divine Nature of Christ which was from all Eternity the same in Being in Majesty and Glory with the Father but it is also due unto Christ as Mediator as God-Man and so his humane Nature is also joined in the participation of this high Honour through its union to the Divine Nature The very Angels in Heaven are commanded to adore him as God-Man as Mediator Heb. 1.6 Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in his first begotten into the World that is when he brought him into the World as Man he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Indeed we no