unsatiable and inordinate Love of the World must possess your Soul when you lift it up to God For you can never perform aright the great Duty of Prayer unless your Heart be Penitent and your Affections Pure The Holiness of your Person makes the Prayer Holy and the savour of your Sacrifice sweet in God's Nostrils But if any wilful Sin lyes at the Door it stops the passage of Prayer and hinders it from being graciously heard Put away then the evil of your Doings and remove your inward Impurity and be wholly Consecrated to God's Service And then shall your Prayer be set forth in his sight as the incense and the lifting up of your hands shall be as the Evening sacrifice Psal 141.1.2 For though you should outwardly appear never so Pure and so carry your self that no Spot can be seen upon the Surface of your Actions Yet if you regard iniquity in your heart the Lord will not hear you Psal 66.18 So that in short your Preparation to Prayer consists in your Repentance for all the Sins whereof upon the most diligent Scrutiny you find your self to be Guilty for every Sin whereof you do not Repent will hinder the Power and Efficacy of your Prayer And it will be with you as it was with Joshua whose Prayer for Israel God utterly refus'd Because they had taken of the thing which was devoted unto him and which had brought a curse upon them Josh 7.10.11 CHAP. VIII Graces necessary to Prayer AND when you have thus swept the House and cast all the Filth and Rubbish out of Doors your next business is to see it Decently Furnish'd For you are not only to Cleanse your Heart from noysom Lusts and Passions but get it Replenish't with such Graces and Vertues Qualities and Dispositions as are requir'd to Prayer Now Faith is the first of these Graces and the Foundation of all the rest Of the use of Faith in Prayer Worship you have heard is that Great Duty which you owe to God and by which in an especial manner you acknowledg his Godhead And this Worship you are to perform both in Soul and Body For both are his and in both he will be Glorified and Worshipt Now Prayer is the Soul's part of this Worship and is to be made in Faith or otherwise it will not please God He that comes or prays to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Which Text implies That you are not only to acknowledge the Essence of God which is done by the Infernal Fiends but also to believe that he will give what you duly beg of him and bountifully recompence your diligence in the Search and Performance of his Will And believing this you can find nothing fit to Tempt you to neglect God's Service And altho' your Sincerity and Faithfulness therein should cost you dear yet you are assured that whatsoever Pains or Expences you bestow in his Service it will be abundantly rewarded by your Gracious Master And your Belief of this is the Ground of your Entrance on God's Worship and Perseverance in it And as you may best shew your Faith by your observance of Prayer so you may be thought to have little or no Faith if you are seldom or never at your Devotion But if once your come stedfastly to believe the Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness of the Almighty you can want no motives to Pray to him There is no Promise annext to any Prayer but what is made in Faith and for this you have the Authority of our Great Master who told his Disciples That they should receive all things whatsoever they ask'd in Prayer if they believ'd Matth. 21 22. Not that Christ by those words gave you Toleration to ask whatsoever shall come in your fancy for Prayer must be regulated by Faith and Faith must not go beyond the bounds of the Word But our Lord forbids you to trust and confide in your Self and to rely on your own Strength and Abilities for the getting of what you want he would have you by Prayer to apply your self to God the Father in the Name of God the Son and firmly to believe that what you beg in Christ's Name will be granted you according to his Word in S. Mark 11.24 I say unto you what things soever ye desire when ye Pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Believing in this place has respect to the Promise Christ made to all who call upon God in his Name And it signifies your being throughly perswaded that God will grant the thing you beg of him in the Name of Christ through whom alone your Prayers are Effectual and Prevailing If any of you lack wisdom let himask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering Jam. 1.5 6. If any man pray let him pray with Confidence to be heard and with a Mind resolv'd to stick fast to God and stedfastly to adhere to the Doctrine and Practice to Christianity And doing thus he has no reason to be Doubtful of the Divine Care and Protection The Prayer of Faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him Jam. 5.15 Here are Display'd two wonderful Effects of those Prayers which proceed from Faith in Christ First they prevail with God for the Recovery and Restoring of the Sick to his former Health unless God has purpos'd to dispose of it otherwise for the Good of the Infirm and his own Glory Next they shall prevail for the Pardon of the Sins for which he is chastised of God with Sickness if upon his Recovery he amend his Life But still in granting your Prayers God has respect to his own Glory and your Benefit And when the Granting what you Pray for is Inconsistent with either of these he mercifully withholds his Hand from giving it And seeing this Faith whereof we now speak is the Gift of God humbly beseech him to pour this most Excellent Gift into your Heart and to work in you such a Faith as may be as an Hand to receive all his Favours Be careful not to acquiesce in a dead ineffectual effectual Faith but in such a Faith as shews its self in good Works and which inables you to overcome the World and to conform to his Will in whom you believe To the end that you may Pray aright take care when you enter upon this Service to entertain your Mind with the serious Thoughts of God's Excellencies and Perfections That his Mercy is over all his Works and endureth for ever That he is Faithful and without all Variableness or shadow of Change That his Promises are Yea and Amen That he is nigh to all that call upon him faithfully and that he will one way or other fulfil the Desires of them that Fear him With these and the
now recommend as an excellent help against the wandring of your thoughts in Prayer Which is a fault whereof you can not be guilty when you pray with spiritual Affection with ardent Desire with a fervent Mind and with a Heart inflam'd with that Zeal which the Holy Ghost kindles in it God regards not the Prayers which you offer when you do not stir up your Affections and chafe your desires and move your mind into a warmth The Great Ruler of the world will not listen to cold luke-warm Devotions Such Prayers can never reach Heaven which want Zeal and Love the only Wings that should carry them thither Be careful then when you approach God to raise up your Soul to the highest pitch of Zeal and Earnestness that you are able And because that of your self you are not able to do this beseech the Divine Omnipotence to inflame your Heart with the heavenly fire of Devotion and when it is obtain'd beware of quenching it with wilful sin or letting it go out again for want of fuel or stirring up and imploying it And there want no Motives to beget in you this Fervency in Prayer when you consider God's wonderful kindness and carry the thoughts thereof through your whole Devotion For to think that he is not only good by Nature but also in communicating his Benefits That he is ready upon your Repentance to blot out your transgressions and to be merciful to your Sins Such Thoughts as these are good inward motives to raise your heart into Zeal When you lift up your voice and call upon the Lord either in his house or your own And First when you come to the Lord's house to joyn in publick Prayers you have a good opportunity to shew your Earnestness and Zeal God has Promis'd a special blessing to the joynt Requests which the Faithful make in his House and that He will be in the midst of them and bestow his Mercies and set marks of Favour on them when they meet together in the unity of the spirit and in the bond of peace And your absence from the Publick Prayers cannot be excus'd without an important occasion for if it be wilful and deliberate you cut your self off from the Church and from the partaking of those Prayers wherein all are in common concern'd And by this means you inflict a punishment upon your self even a sort of Excommunication which is never inflicted by the Church but in case of the most heinous offences The same Zeal and Attention are also requisite in the Prayers made in your Family which are a sort of Common-Prayers because all the Members of the Houshold joyn therein And it belongs to the Master of the Family carefully to provide for this office and to see nothing be wanting for the welfare of their Souls who are under his Government For the Family is Heathenish where God is not worshipt and where the Master does not resolve with Joshua That he and his house will serve the Lord. Josh 24.15 And as to the Prayers you make apart when you are solus cum solo and have no witness of what you do but only God and your Conscience yet because that even here you are subject to Wandring and Distraction as well as you are in company you have need of the same Zeal and Attention to correct it In your private Devotions you may be more particular according to your personal Necessities and you may use therein a greater freedom both in words and gestures than you can in publick But still the Devotion of the Heart is therein requir'd as being that which God principally regards And as it is your duty to perform all these sorts of Prayers so it is likewise your duty to be Zealous and Attentive at them all Prayer in your Family and Closet will not excuse your Prayer at Church all are requir'd all are necessary and one must not be taken in exchange for the other And whosoever is diligent in publick Prayer and yet negligent in private it is to be fear'd he rather seeks to approve himself to men than to God Which is contrary to the mind of our Saviour who commands you to Pray to God in secret and from him alone to expect your Reward and not from the vain praises of Men. You have been often told That Prayer is that part of divine worship which the Soul is to pay unto the Lord and you have also been told with what Circumspection it ought to be perform'd Give me leave to conclude this particular with observing that tho' Prayer be a spiritual duty and the proper business of the Soul yet the Body has its share and part therein For both being God's workmanship and purchase both ought to give him homage and observance Now the observance the Body ought to pay unto God in Prayer consists in such lowly decent and reverent gestures as may testify the humility and reverence of the Soul Bowing prostration and the like external acts of Religious Worship are a particular right belonging to God before whom you are to fall down and kneel for he is your maker your shepherd your protector The Royal Author of the 95. Psalm does affectionately call upon every one joyntly to adore worship and pray unto God and to make the members of the Body the partners and witnesses of the real devotion of the Heart and to joyn inward and outward reverence together That the submissive and lowly gestures of the Body may serve to express and signifie the sincere humility of the Soul For tho' the humblest external bodily gestures are the least considerable thing in Prayer as having little or no proportion to the necessary dispositions of the Soul yet they are of such moment that if you pray without them it looks as if you did not consider or know what a weighty business you are about nor had a sense of God's Dignity or of your own Vileness But in these bodily Gestures you are carefully to avoid whatsoever is vain fantastical and superstitious and to keep within the bounds of decency and prudence And your gestures being thus conducted they will help to heighten inward Devotion in your self and be an happy means to raise the Devotion of others But I leave the farther prosecution of this particular to consider of the Frequency you ought to use in Prayer CHAP. XII Of Frequency in Prayer THough Prayer be a Duty which you are never to neglect yet there is not any Text in Scripture that determines how often you are to use it The Inspired Word positively commands you to call upon God but it has left it to your Conscience how frequently you are to do it The Scripture that is most peremptory in this particular is 1 Thes 5.17 where S. Paul exhorts to Pray without ceasing By which Text you are certainly obliged to these two things viz. 1. Not to grow restive in Prayer but therein to be constant and persevering it being an homage you are to pay
Pray and go not thither full of thy Sins unrepented of And be not as Fools who offer Sacrifices for their Sins and yet turn not from them Only Penitents then are fit to come to the House of Prayer and to be Suppliants at the Throne of Grace Every one is to put off his Shooes to abandon his Sins when he comes unto God to take heed to his Feet and approach him with all possible Reverence Under the Law no man had liberty to come into the Congregation who had touch'd any Unclean thing till he was sprinkl'd with Water by the Priest And under the Gospel there is no coming unto God without having your heart sprinkl'd from an evil Conscience and your body wash't with pure water Heb. 10.22 2. The Masters forbad any to enter the Temple with Dust on their Feet meaning thereby That all Earthly and Worldly Affections Thoughts and Passions were to be shaken off and discharged by them who come to offer Spiritual Holy Services unto God The Jews were also injoyn'd not to bring with them into the Sanctuary any of those Tools and Instruments used by them in their Civil Trades and Imployments by which they were also minded to leave behind them whatsoever might in the least suggest any Earthly Concern Worldly Notion or Incumbrance whilst they were at God's House lest they should be disturb'd or diverted in Devotion Nor were the Jews singular in this particular or the only People that were careful thus to Prepare themselves for Prayer For the Mahumedans who took many of their Rites from the Jews are very precise in Preparing themselves for the Moschs or Giamma's the places of their Publick Worship For they never repair to these till they have first Wash't at home nor do they enter those Solemn Places with their Shooes on And they are of Opinion That if they come Unprepared to Prayers or behave themselves Indecently at them that they lose the benefit of their coming Cleanliness according to Mahumed is the Key of Prayer and that it is not regarded without it Under the name of Cleanliness all the Preparatives to Prayer are understood And by Prayer is meant the whole System of Religious Worship Now this Cleanliness does not only respect the Body but also regards the Mind and Conversation and it implies the putting away of all unlawful Actions the purging of the Heart from all vicious and unworthy Thoughts and Affections And they hold that Filthiness in these is a thing most offensive to God who according to their Alcoran as well as our Bible is of Purer Eyes than to behold the least Defilement And it may well be suppos'd that Christians will not come behind Jews and Mahumedans in this particular Nor boldly and inconsiderately rush upon those holy Duties which these Infidels approach with so great Preparedness The Apostle advises all of his Religion to lift up holy and pure hands in Prayer 1 Tim. 2.8 By his Apostolical Authority he appointed that not only at the Temple at Jerusalem but every where else Christians should Pray with that Ceremony of holding up the hands joyn'd with Purity of Conscience and Good Works And that they should take care that no doubts or irresolutions of Mind should hinder the exercise or benefit of Prayer You do but burn Incense to Vanity and lift up your hands to Heaven to no purpose whilst you regard Iniquity in your Heart and your Actions are unjust God will cast back your Prayers like dung upon your face and reject both them and your Person when you tread his Courts and at the same time hate to be reform'd God hears not sinners but if any man be his worshipper him he heareth S. John 9.31 His eyes are over the righteous and his ears are open to their Prayers but his face is against them that do evil Psal 34.15 1 Pet. 3.12 God looks kindly on his obedient servants but he sets himself as an enemy against the obstinately wicked He is nigh to good men and hears their Prayers but their Prayer is an abomination unto him who turn their ears from hearing the Law Prov. 28.9.15.29 The humble dutiful Soul imploring God's assistance is sure to receive it in kind or in equivalence But the Texts of Scripture declaring the Prayers of Sinners to be ineffectual are to be understood of none but Impenitent sinners who stubbornly walk in the Ways of their own Hearts and do that which is Right in their own Eyes who either wilfully continue in their Impieties or retain a kindness for them It is not then your having committed Sin and your sense of some Guilt being upon you that ought to hinder your Praying For you must Pray the rather that God may remit and pardon the sins you have commited For if you are humbly minded and sincerely chang'd from Bad to Good if you loath and forsake your evil Ways and with a broken and contrite Heart grieve for your Offences you then are one whose cry God will hear and whose tears he will put into his bottle and not suffer a Drop falling from the eye of a Penitent to be as Water spilt upon the ground He will hear your cry and deliver your soul from death He will recover your feet from falling that you may walk before him in the light of the living Psal 116.8 9.13 He will give you space and opportunity to live and acceptably to serve him He will hear your Prayers when you come unto him without the love of your Sins about you or purposes to continue in them When Noah came out of the Ark in which saith one he had long been Buried not Dead his first Care was to Build an Altar unto the Lord and to take of every Clean Beast and of every Clean Fowl to offer in Burnt-Offerings And the Lord smelt a sweet Savour he took notice of the Purity of Noah's heart and accepted of his Actions and shew'd himself pleas'd with his Holy Intentions But that which herein seems to be most observable and to our purpose was Noah's great Industry and Care for the right offering of this Sacrifice And this was seen in his Building an Altar and making Choice of such Beasts and Birds as were fit thereon to be Offered Now Prayer is your best Sacrifice which in Imitation of Noah you are to offer unto the Lord with great Preparedness For the want of this will betray in you a Prophane temper of Spirit and a lack of a just Esteem and Reverence for God and his Service And therefore according to Siracides Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempteth the Lord Ecclus 18.23 Let the Clean Beasts and Birds offer'd by Noah mind you of keeping your Soul Clean and Pure from all wicked Resolutions and Affections and to appear before the Lord empty of all Sinful Habits and Intentions And let no Envy Hatred Malice or any Uncharitableness lodge in your Heart For no Lusts of Carnal Uncleanness no Filthiness of Spirit no
like considerations you may vigorate and enliven your Devotions with an Active Faith and draw near and fall low at his Footstool in full Assurance that his Ear is open and his Hand stretcht out to give you the things you long for or some thing else which in his Infinite Wisdom he knows to be better for you You are not alway to believe you shall certainly receive every particular thing you Pray for you cannot with any just confidence expect what God hath no where promis'd And tho' he has absolutely promis'd you all things pertaining to Eternal Life and Godliness yet as to the things appertaining to this present Life he has limited his promise of them so that he will give or withhold them as he sees them Necessary Profitable or Convenient for you Seeing then that all the Promises of God are not of equal Extent and seeing your Faith can go no farther than the Promises you cannot firmly believe that you shall have every particular thing granted you because you cannot certainly tell whether this or that will be Beneficial or Proper for you For whatever you may imagine or conceive in your own Thoughts it is God alone that knows that Infallibly and therefore you cannot be assur'd that God will bestow it on you CHAP. IX Charity requir'd in Prayer AND as you are to pray in Faith so likewise in Charity This is a diffusive Grace ready to do good and extend it self to all It takes the whole Race of Mankind into your Litany and obliges you to pray according to our Saviour's Form which teaches you to beg all the same Blessings for others that you beg for you self All your business in this Life next to serving God is to do all the Good you can to your self and others And seeing by reason of the narrow and weak condition of your Nature it is not in your Power to do all that is needful you must therefore apply your self to him from whom cometh every good and perfect Gift praying that he out of his own infinite and inexhaustible Treasures would supply the Wants of all Men. And seeing every one is in some Want or other every one must have a share in your Prayers The forgiveness of your Trespasses is that which above all things you have absolute need to desire of God for without this all other Blessings would be insignificant But you have no reason to expect God should forgive you your Trespasses unless you forgive Men their Trespasses In the Petition you make for Pardon of your own Sins you solicit your own Ruine if you pardon not others their Sins For in saying Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us you pray God would never pardon you if you do not pardon others How can you rationally desire Forgiveness from God when you deny it to your Neighbour The great Man in the Gospel who forgave his Servant a considerable Sum when he desir'd it charg'd the same anew upon him when he refused to forgive his Fellow-servant a small Debt Matth. 18.23 His doing this so far provok'd his Lords indignation against him that he gave him up to the Tormentors And thus will God deal with you if you deal thus with your Fellow-Christians who can never so far trespass against you as you do against God Who will assuredly handle you as you do them If you forgive not men their trespasses your heavenly father will not forgive you yours Matth. 6.15 And as the Goodness of God can in nothing be more Evident and Illustrious than in readily Forgiving those who beg his Pardon So there is not any thing in which his Justice can be more Equal than in dealing Severely with those who deal Severely with their Brethren It 's observable that our Saviour took hold of frequent occasions to inculcate the Necessity of Mutual Charity and that he made it the Badge whereby his Followers were to be distinguished from men of all other Religions And to the end you might continually remember it he inserted it into the Prayer which you are to use daily Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And with what Face can you look up to the Father of Mercies with this Petition in your Mouth if you want Compassion and Charity How can you hope to prevail with your Crys and Importunities on God as long as you have no Bowels your self towards your Neighbour Remember it is the Rule of Gods Proceedings That he shall have Judgment without Mercy who has shew'd no Mercy Jam. 2.13 And tho' Prayer be the best Sacrifice and the best Gift you can bring to God's Altar yet it will not be accepted at your hands if your Heart be malicious when you come to offer it There were many things which under the Law would render the best of Sacrifices rather Offensive to Almighty God than be of any Avail to him that offer'd them and in like manner there is nothing which more effectually at once destroys the whole design of what is the True and Proper Christian Sacrifice than Uncharitableness If therefore you have any Pique or Uncharitable Variance with your Neighbour do all that in you lies to be reconcil'd to him before you present God with your Supplications For Christ taught you this when he bad him who brought his Gift to the Priest to be offer'd in Atonement for his Sins that if he remember'd he had injur'd any man he should leave his offering unpresented and repair to the person he had wrong'd and to use Means to make him Friends with him and then to come and compleat his intended Atonement Every wilful Sin is a Cloud interposing betwixt you and Heaven and hinders the Ascension of your Prayers but no cloud is so thick as Uncharitableness This darkens the whole Heaven of Religious Exercises rendering them void of all Efficacy and Advantage for Whatsoever you do without Charity profiteth nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 God has made of one Blood and Redeem'd by one Ransom all Nations of Men so that you are not to harden your Bowels against any that partake with you of the same Common Nature and Redemption And therefore if you want Tenderness of Heart you are humbly to importune the Father of Compassions to give it you that you may be deeply affected with the Miseries and Calamities of all Men and imploy your Abilities for their Succour and Relief Beg the Holy Spirit of Love to dwell in your Heart and to cast out thence Malice Hatred and Uncharitableness and to beget in you that Pious Generous Temper of Mind which seeks not only to please your self but also your Neighbour for his Good to Edification And seeing that all your doings without Charity are nothing worth beseech God to pour into your Heart that most excellent Gift of Charity without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before him What was it that provok'd God to animadvert so severely upon Corah and his Accomplices when they
continually to God and that without which you can never hope to be safe and prosperous For Praying gives you a title to God's safeguard and preservation and it must be as lasting as your own wants and obligation to worship God And therefore till you find you have no need of God's Mercies nor any tye upon you to adore him you must Pray without ceasing Which words imply Secondly That your Prayers under the Gospel must bear proportion with the Daily Sacrifices under the Law which were constantly offer'd Morning and Evening And you cannot sink your Prayers to a lesser proportion or pray seldomer than Morning and Evening It being highly reasonable and necessary that you should begin all your works with calling upon God for his direction and blessing and end them with praise and thanks for his protection and assistance Some have interpreted the Apostles words Pray without ceasing of spending every moment of their life in Prayer which can be no error if it be understood of such an excellent frame of Spirit and pious disposition of Mind as is alway in readiness to call upon God This religious temper and habitual devoutness of Soul is like the Holy fire of the Sanctuary which never went out For it is always ready to flame in pious ejaculations and affectionate breathings after God And when for want of meet circumstances your Prayers cannot be Vocal yet they may be Mental And in this sense you may be said to pray without ceasing which according to Diodati is to be understood rather of the heart and affection than of the tongue and words And tho' you have not always leisure and opportunity to be upon your knees yet you never want either to bow your heart before God and by a pious temper of mind and spirit of Devotion to lift it up to the Lord. And notwithstanding the Scripture has left the frequency of Prayer undetermined yet you may take your measures as to publick Prayers from the Rules of the Church and in your private Devotions from the examples of Holy Men. And first the Rules of the Church acquaint you with the stated times of Publick Prayer from which you are not to be absent when you can possibly be at them And it must be a matter of considerable moment that can justify your absence from the Lords House at the set times of Prayer Now according to some Expositors you may be said to Pray without ceasing when you observe the hours or times of Prayer appointed by the Church But if you were not injoyn'd to observe such stated times of Prayer yet the very Light of Nature and the Law of Piety would oblige you to observe them For both these teach you to omit no occasion to express your Duty to God Which consists in worshipping him giving him thanks calling upon him honouring his holy Name and his word and serving him truly all the days of our life And as to Frequency in your Private Devotion you have the Examples of Holy men in Scripture for your Guide And first of David Who evening morning and at noon did cry unto the Lord and he heard his voice Psal 55.17 With his constant importunity he re-inforc'd an impression of his Prayers upon God the better to move him to grant them My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 5.3 This religious Prince made the first fruits and prime of the day to present his supplications before God and after the manner of earnest Petitioners he fix'd his eyes on heaven resolving to wait and never to move till the Lord hearken'd unto the voice of his Prayer nay from thrice David encreas'd his praying to seven times a day Psal 119.164 rightly concluding that he could never sufficiently admire and magnifie the Divine Excellencies and that if he had had nothing else to be the matter of his praises yet he thought himself bound continually to extol them It 's true the phrase seven times may be taken in a larger sense and not meerly to signifie that number but be look'd upon as a mode of speech denoting a great frequency in Prayer and shewing that David was daily very often imploy'd therein which custom to pray often was not peculiar to David only but was also used by God's people many hundred years after he saw corruption As was seen in Daniel who when he knew the Dead-warrant was sign'd for his execution Went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneel'd upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime Dan. 6.10 The last words shew that it was not an emergent zeal or an extraordinary fit of Devotion but that it was his constant and usual practice to pray thrice a day which was the common custom of the Jews who made Morning noon and evening the three times of prayer Acts 3.1 and 10.4 and 9.31 which custom was observ'd also by the Apostles and some Devouter Christians went farther and pray'd six times a day taking in the Compline or the Prayer made by good men at nine at night But if you should imagine these examples to be imitable and that it would exhaust too much of your time to be so often on your knees then revolve with your self 1. That you are never so far to immerse and bury your self in worldly business as not to allow space to begin and end the day with Prayer And you cannot justly complain you want time to be thus often in Devotion when you consider how much time you can find to cast away if not upon that which is vicious yet upon that which is wholly impertinent to your Station If you would prudently retrench your Recreations and imploy in Piety the hours you spend in Vanities you would never be straitned for time to bestow in Devotion The true reason of your having so little time to give to this is because you lavish so much away in things of so little moment if not worse that when it is past you cannot but condemn your self for it But seeing you must one day give an account of the spending of your time it behoves you to be wary how you spend it And the more time you have wastfully mispent already the more signally careful you ought to be of that which yet remains And to redeem the hours you have thrown away upon Impieties by a vertuous and religious imployment of those God shall yet please to vouchsafe you Consider Secondly how reasonable and just a thing it is that you allow a liberal portion of your time to his service who is graciously pleas'd to allow so much to your own God does not grudge you space enough for your lawful Business and necessary Diversions but then he expects you would not encroach upon those minutes which are appointed to Religious Exercises It is very observable That men of