break off such courses praying to God importunately for his help so to do and that we may be forgiven for Christ's sake all that is past that is in one word that God would give us Repentance Some of these things thus understood and such like may be expressed in Sentences of Scripture thus That God would grant unto us and help us to present our selves a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God our most reasonable Service and that we may not be conformed to this World to the wicked Manners thereof but be transformed by the renewing of our Mind that we may prove what is the acceptable and perfect Will of God Rom. 12. Verse 1. That God would quicken us when dead in Trespasses and Sins and walking according to the Course of this World Ephes 2. Verse 1. That we may put off concerning the former Conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to the deâ—eitful Lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and put on the new Man created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes 4. Verse 22. That we may deny all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and live righteously soberly and godly in this present World We especially to whom the saving Grace and Favour of God by Christ hath appeared and been made manifest Titus 2. Verse 11. That we may cast off the Works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light All Virtues commended to us by Christianity which gives us so large and clear a Knowledge thereof And walk honestly as in the Day not in rioting and drunkenness c. but put on the Lord Jesus Christ that is his Temper and Spirit which he was of and which he taught a Temper and Life according to the Doctrine and Example of Christ and make no Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 13. Verse 12. That as Christ's or as Christians we may crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5. Verse 24. In this and such like manner we may conceive express and signifie our hearty unfeigned eager Desires that God would make us in general holy righteous good conscientious honest virtuous regenerate converted renewed penitent and keep us so and make us more and more so to our Lives end But this in general may most often not suffice but we may proceed further to the general Instance or Subject of Righteousness viz. Universal Charity or Benevolence to all the Universe God and all his Creation and then to particular Virtues which are but so many Instances or Instruments of Universal Charity As Love to God for himself as a Being infinitely perfect and most capable of Happiness and therefore rejoycing that his Perfection and Happiness is so great as to receive no Addition Further to love him without any reference to our selves separately but as a Being infinitely good and benign and using all his other Perfections of Power and Knowledge to do good with to all his Creation of which we have a share even all that we have that 's good being the Effect thereof nay all evil things absolutely in themselves considered to any particular Creature are permitted and disposed by him for the good of his whole Creation and therefore all things that are come from his Goodness And this is that very Perfection of Righteousness and Holiness and its only Instance Universal Love and Benevolence in God which we before were to desire for our selves and when we pray to God that we may love him if we have but a tolerable distinct conceit of him it is principally that we may love Righteousness and Holiness Universal Beneficence and Love it self For these are the principal Attributes of his Nature God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love therefore dwelleth in God Pray we therefore to God that he would work in us a sincere strong habitual Love to himself that we might love him with all our Hearts and Minds and Might and Strength and Understanding Matt. 22. Verse 37. And that he would direct our Hearts into the love of himself 2 Thess 3. Verse 5. Next to this may follow Charity which more precisely signifies Love and Good Will to all Creatures To do which to each particular with the limitation of its desert i. e. so as is most consistent with our Universal Love to all and as far as we see effective of the greatest good of the whole is the true notion of Justice or giving to every one his due I say to all Creatures within our Cognizance according to our Knowledge of them to the holy Angels holy Souls departed hence all Mankind to all Christians our own Country Town Family Relations We are to apply our general Will and Power of doing good to the whole by doing good to each particular as we are best able and can best reach and this all the ways we can which being the various kinds distinguished by Means or Parts or other Logical Respects of doing good or of Charity as is before said are so many Graces or Virtues Pray we therefore that God would make us just merciful compassionate chatable in Alms-giving candid covering of faults most ready to take notice of and commend what is good to pass by and conceal what is bad in men patient forbearing forgiving liberal hospitable ready to visit relieve and comfort the Sick those in Want the languishing in Anguish Pain and Grief to contribute what we can to and rejoyce in the good of any one particular in others Plenty of the good things of thâ— World so long as they would use them weâ— But especially to instruct exhort encouragâ— give them good Example wish they migâ— use all good things well and not be â— unworthy and undeserving of them thâ— neither God nor good Men may think it â— they should have them to adventure our oâ— Credit and good Opinion among others anâ— our Ease if it be necessary for the Discoâ—ragement and Suppression of Vice Some of those things we may express iâ— the Words of Scripture That we may sâ—fer long be kind envy not vaunt not â—â— selves not be puffed up c. 1 Cor. 13. Verse â— Further that we may be inspired with thâ— most self-denying Temper refusing our seâ—â— Pleasure ultimately and absolutely consequenâ—ly that our Corruptions or Lusts that is aâ— our selfish and immoderate Appetites and Iâ—clinations which are corrupt might be cleaâ—sed and mortified such as Malice Hatred Revenge Anger Wrath Pride Ambition Vain-glory false self-Conceit Covetousness Affectation of Superiority in any thing â— Equality Liberty Desire to be feared suâ—â— unto Contemptuousness Obstinacy Self Will Peevishness Envy Slander and Detraction Intemperance Luxury Lasciviousness Chambering and Wantonness Immoderate and Inordinate Love of Games bodily â—r mental Exercises and Actions c. In words of Scripture That we might not â—lfil these Lusts of the Flesh viz. Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Haâ—ed Variance Emulation Wrath Strife Seâ—tions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunâ—enness Revelling and such like which things
is it unworthy our observation that among many other inconveniencies which may be mentioned there seemâ—â—ar greater danger of a greater and speedieâ— corruption of the Christian Doctrine in â— vast number of little Independent Societies whereof some if not most would consist â— very ignorant and weak persons than in â— smaller number of large ones It is notoriously true indeed that thâ— Church of Rome hath monstrously swelled the bulk of Articles of Doctrine and Riteâ— of Discipline into hundreds whereof a greâ—â— number are false or doubtful useless or miâ—chievous but it is to be considered that theâ— have been breeding and multiplying manâ— hundreds of years But so much for this nâ—â— altogâ—ther a Digression Moreover it may be observed that thiâ— Publick Prayer though made by many togâ—ther yet may be for one private Person 〈◊〉 is not necessary that what is here prayeâ— should be the Wants of all but they may alâ— join in their Prayers for one And therefore it may here be advised that if in any Prayeâ— something happen to be said which doth noâ— concern us yet supposing it to be true and just we may join in the Prayer for them whâ— do want it be they who they will in the Congregation Though we do not know the particular Person God doth And so may it be in an Acknowledgment and Confession of Sins A Man may use it thus viz. though he himself should be guiltless yet he may acknowledge that those are Sins and are to be acknowledged and confessed by those that are guilty whosoever they be in the Congregation The like is to be done in Thanksgiving and in singing of Psalms which usually contain these and other parts of a Prayer before mentioned The Psalms also are always to be recited as a history of the thoughts and affections and condition of some holy and devout person though one should not have or be in the like himself SECT V. V. A Fifth Distinction of Prayers is usually taken from the Persons concerned And so a Prayer at least many of the Ingredients in it may be either for ones self or for other Persons whether the Prayer be Publick Private or Secret Thus our Petitions and Thanksgivings and Acknowledgments may be for the whole Creation for all the Inhabitants of this Earth all Mankind we may petition and thank God for his Goodness to us and to all Men to the Church or Christian Society to the Nation of which we are Members to the Parish or Place of our Habitation to the Family in which we live to any Society to which we any way belong to our selves or any other part or parcel of God's Creation capable of receiving any thing from God and acknowledging him for it according as their Wants and Capacities are And the greater the Number of these is on whose behalf we pray or give thanks the more comprehensive and extended the more fervent and enlarged should we be therein And so it should be in our Prayers for those upon whose good the good of others much depends and whose good is a more comprehensive and diffused good such as Governours of all sorts Civil and Ecclesiastical and any Persons who have Riches Power Wisdom and Knowledge or any ability to do good that they may have an answerable Goodness This kind of Prayer is especially fit for Publick Prayer Thus I have dispatched the Second general Head viz. some of the sorts of Prayer CHAP. III. SECT I. III. WE proceed to the Matter or Contents of Prayer or Petition not of a Prayer which as we have said consists of Petition and many other Parts as express Acknowledgment of the Divine Perfections c. which we have mentioned There are in General but two Qualifications of our Petitions or the things we ask First That they be just and righteous or that it is just and fit they should be given us that is procurative of or at least consistent with the greatest Good of the whole Universe Secondly That we want them If the things be not just we ought not to ask them and if we have them already we need not though the continuance of them we may Now the things which it may be most just for God to give and which we may at some time or other want may be such as these The principal thing to be asked and the greatest good that we can ask or God give is our greatest Perfection viz. Holiness Righteousness Goodness sincere Conscientiousness a good honest Mind and Heart Virtue Grace as it is usually called All which signifie the same general thing with some small Differences viz. a Will habitually inclin'd to a Man's Duty to what is right what his sincere Conscience or Judgment of Right or Wrong directs him to and commands him We are to ask and beg of God most earnestly as the greatest Boon he can give that he would beget or ingenerate in us Grace in some considerable degree for all Men have it is likely some faint and little one already the worst of Men hath hardly quite extinguished this Tendency or Appetite after Righteousness that he would increase and augment make it more vigorous and strong in us and at least to be so strong as to be prevalent over all our other Appetites and Inclinations That we may habitually more desire will and love Holiness than Riches Honours all sensual Pleasures and Delights finally than all things the Heart of Man can desire besides Nay that we may love it in such manner and its great Instance Universal Love with its Object the greatest good of the whole Universe as to love it only and in all other things or all other thingâ— for its sake that they may make us more holy universally charitable humble c. or help us to obtain the Ends thereof that they may make us more to be good or to do good Further that God would make us more univerâ—ally and more constantly so in all things and to our Lives End That God would quite extinguish and mortifie in us the Inordinacy and Immoderacy of all our Appetites and Affections that is our Lusts That our Affections may never be to any other Object whatsoever ultimately and for it self and never beyond its due Measure but habitually always for the End and in such Measure as that we may do the most good save our own Souls that is bring them to a State of the greatest Perfection and Happiness and please God That our Affections inordinate and immoderate may cease so to be and be turned ultimately to and in the highest degree placed upon Holiness and the things so often mentioned to which we were before but too dead and cold that is that we may be converted and renewed That God would give us to reflect seriously upon the Badness and Sinfulness of our past and present Tempers and Actions to be sorry heartily for it to hate and detest it inwardly between God and our Consciences in the highest degree and resolve to
our pleasure and satisfaction all we can possibly in a thing so rightly directed and so truly useful to please God and serve the World and thank God we are so tempered as to receive so much therefrom And these therefore being but personal and proper Goods must not either in this nor any other action be placed in the room of our Ultimate end so often named nor be admitted to any mixture or co-ordinacy with it but as Instruments or little parts thereof The pleasing God and doing the greatest good to all others and our own Salvation that is our own greatest Perfection and Happiness considered all together as one good thing is absolutely the noblest and most perfect end of our Actions we can have and is the same which God himself always hath But any other end besides this which almost always is some personal good where the other is not is comparatively mean ignoble sordid contemptible All the Psalms are Instances and Examples of this sincerity as well as fervency and other qualifications to follow as much as can be conjectured by Words written and feignedness and hypocrisie and bie and bad respects would somewhat betray themselves as Psalm 17. Verse 1. Hear the right O Lord attend unto my cry give ear unto my Prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips or as in the Margin without lips of deceit The most likely sense is that David had no other end in his Prayer to God but that God should favour that which was right that he should bestow that which was just upon him And Psalm 66. Verse 18. If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me It a man have an habitual love to and approbation of any wickedness it is the most likely way to and most generally it would hinder the granting his Prayer nor can a man see any sufficient reason to expect any such thing if he be conscious to himself of regarding any Iniquity with allowance But much less sure could David think his Prayer should be heard if he were conscious to himself that he was guilty of insincerity or that particular Iniquity of having any unlawful end even in his Prayer it self as to gratifie Revenge Pride c. It is true It might seem in some places as if some of his Prayers proceeded from Revenge as especially Psalm 69. Verse 22. After he had complained of the cruelty of his Enemies he prays that their table might become asnare before them and as for their good things or their peaces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Hebrews signified all good by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or peace let them be a trap that is let even their good things mischieve them or prove evil to them Let their eyes be darkened that they see not c. But surely first David supposeth them to be villanous and wicked unjust proud cruel men c. and that they were all other milder ways incorrigible And then certainly it is equally lawful to pray for their punishment or to wish it as to inflict it which a man might and ought if he had lawful Power And this a man might do even in his own Case not out of Revenge in the least but out of hearty love to the publick good by encouraging resâ—uing and defending Innocency and Virtue and by restraining and supressing Wickedness and Injustice I do not think but that David would willingly have had his Enemies changed their minds and repented not meerly because his Enemies but because unjust and consequently Enemies to God and Men or hurtful to the World But if it appeared they would not do that after long forbearance there might be reason to judge it most just and consequently pray to God that they might be punished David also is found somewhere praying for his Enemies it may be till they were incorrigible but by punishment Ps 35. Vers 13. They rewarded me evil for good but â—s for me when they were sick my cloathing was sack-cloath c. SECT VI. II. THe Second due Qualification of our Actions or Operations of Soul in Prayer is That they be intense and servent in such proportion as they ought especially considered comparatively with the same Operations about other Objects Thus in acknowledgment of the Divine Perfections and Attributes let us apply our minds thereto and be attentive And so likewise in our Confession Profession Thankfulness Explication Petition cause we our minds to attend to the objects thereof with all the vigour and strength they ought so as that they might not be too easily drawn off by other Objects that may either present themselves to our Senses or make an attempt upon our Imagination our Thoughts are not to be too slight wavering wandring uncertain unconstant so as to be sometimes more smartly upon other matters of more trisling concerment our ordinary daily and small Affairs or it may be upon our Sins and Lusts when we are performing this Duty we casting only a short and weak glance upon the things we are about Our hearts and minds ought to be much and as much as it is possible upon such excellent and useful things as are or should be in our Prayers We see with what application and attention of mind we do all other things of far less concernment and in particular if we are to make any address to any person of Dignity and Authority and real worth either to thank him for or desire from him any one and no great favour So for our Admiration Honour Reverence Fear Love Faith Hope Joy Delight Resolution of Obedience be they in that measure and proportion of Life Vigour and Strength they ought and certainly that cannot be too much for the Objects of all those in God are infinite In Confession let our grief for Sin in general or Sins in particular and hatred of them be inward piercing great lasting according to the mischievousness of Sin above other Evils which is almost without compare and according to the degree of Iniquity and pravity in every Sin Our Resolution in the Profession of our Obedience let it be firm and strong Our Thankfulness and Love to God for his particular Goodness and Benefits towards us or to any other for the Instances of his general Goodness to all as also our Petitions and Desires let them be hearty strong vigorous according to the goodness and value of the things received or desired It really is an unreasonable and unjustifiable thing that men should have all these Passions and Actions all these Operations oâ— Soul in the fircest and intensest degree about other small inconsiderable trifling objects in other affairs of Life and yet here to be almost meer Hypocrites to have little of inward Action and Life which sometimes betrays it self even by bodily dulness sluggishness sleepiness Oscitancy not caused by length or any meanness of the performance but when it is done short enough and well and by mens own selves too Or if they be a little busie
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
Hand of God asked or unasked except we be in some degree good Examples of this are very frequent in the Psalms Psalm 7. Verse 1. David prays to God to save him from his Enemies Save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me And Ver. 6. Arise O Lord in thine Anger lift up thy self because of the rage of mine Enemies But Vers 3 4. he reflects upon his past Innocency and particularly in something his Enemies or his Conscience might suggest whether he was not guilty and upon the greatness of his Goodness and Charity that he had not only done good to his Friends but even to his causless Enemies and surely he judged himself to be still the same and that he was not changed for the worse which without doubt gave him humble Boldness and Confidence of success and consequently was the cause of the Earnestness and Strength of his Desire that God would be pleased at that time to do that favour for him O Lord my God if I have done this that is it may be something his Enemies might accuse him of or his Conscience bid him to enquire into or more particularly if he had done that to them which they did to him viz. persecuted them and endeavoured and contrived to do them mischief causlesly If I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me viz. his Friends or who had done him no hurt Yea I have delivered him who without cause is mine Enemy Then let the Enemy persecute my Soul yea let him tread my Life down in the Earth and lay mine Honour in the Dust If David had been conscious to himself of the like Injustice or of any other Sin approved that he had been was and would be so for the future he would not have had the Confidence to have desired this of God And so in many places where he prays to God for some Favour he professeth himself God's servant Psalm 86. Verse 4. Rejoyce the Soul of thy Servant Verse 11. He prays to God to teach him his way and he would walk in his Truth That which was truly God's Way and was truly right and to be done And Verse 12. he professes he would praise God and glorifie his Name which were Signs and Branches of his Goodness And then Verse 16. he prays O turn unto thy Servant and save the Son of thine Handmaid Psal 119. Verse 94. I am thine save me for I have sought thy Precepts He had endeavoured and desired to obey God and he had given himself up to him I am thine or God had especially design'd him to serve him in the Kingdome therefore he was bolder to pray God would save him or deliver him from the Evils he was in danger of And Psalm 143. Verse 12. Of thy Mercy cut off mine Enemies and destroy all them that afflict my Soul Suppose them so to continue as long as they had life and were able and not to repent for I am thy Servant And this is the best sort of Vows when a Man not only upon Condition that God will give him any certain thing he craves expresly wills and obligeth himself to do this or that particular good Work or abstain from this or that Fault or bad Action but before-hand he gives up himself entirely to God and vows and promises he will be his servant universally and more particularly it may be too where he thinks he may do the most good or where he hath been the most faulty And as for his Desires and Requests he refers them to the Divine Righteousness and Wisdom He makes no bargain with God only those Duties which can only be done upon Condition of God's bestowing his requested Favours may be promised and professed by him conditionally As for example to thank and praise God particularly for any Favour conferred which cannot be if it be never received SECT VI. IV. A Fourth Ingredient in Prayer is Thanksgiving that is an actual loving of God for his Benefits already received And this contributes to the strengthning and invigorating of our Prayers and Desires too It is as the rest before a necessary Sign according to the degree of its vigour and frequency of the same degree of Goodness in us For if we love God for his Benefits we shall naturally desire to please him and to seek to know what doth so and that we cannot be ignorant is by doing his Will or by keeping his Commands with Care to be universally holy good and righteous in the grand Instance of universal Benevolence and consequently Self-denial and all the Branches thereof I say according to the degree of its Vigour and Frequency For it 's no wonder to see one who loves God for his Benefits but seldom now and then only for one Fit in a Prayer never thinking of it afterwards or in mean and low degree one who loves God less and less often than many other Objects I say it is no wonder to see such a Person to sin and offend as often as these Objects are his Temptations But if we loved God vigorously and more than any other Objects and so frequently that it became an habitual Temper of our Souls it would most certainly produce in us the Effect of universal Holiness And so far forth as we find it in intensness and constancy in our selves so far is it a sign thereof and gives us reason consequently to think our selves acceptable to God and that it may be the more reasonable and just for him to bestow the good things we ask I do not think that Love to God for his Benefits conferred upon ones self or Thankfulness is a principal Virtue but an excellent instrumental one it is It is not an Instance of formal Goodness or Virtue but it is a very frequent means thereof and therefore a sign But to love God for himself as a part or rather infinitely the most considerable thing in the whole Universe and therefore above all things and with reference to the whole this is indeed the noblest Instance of our Holiness The free and generous Acknowledgment and Resentment of God our Benefactor of the Divine Favours already received is one good Use Effect or Improvement of them which hath a further one still viz. it causeth us to please God by keeping his Commands and becoming universally holy and good as I have before instanced and being a very probable sign of this iâ— gives us a just Faith and Confidence and heightens our Prayers and Desires from God Ingratitude that is a Neglect or Contempt of God's Favours already bestowed we may be sure can give us no Encouragement but it is a sign of a dull sensual selfish or wicked Mind and so at least of defect oâ— Goodness Again actual Love to God for Favours received impresseth upon our Minds the Memory of his past Goodness and consequently gives us reason to argue he may be good to us again supposing we see no Circumstances to alter the Case in those things
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
his Plow or Harrow or in his Shop may surely upon these Occasions do thus as easily if they had mind as Swear and Curse at their Cattle or Fellow-Servants or Masters or Chapmen or Customers It is a very good and laudable Custom which Men generally have when they mention any considerable Benefit or good thing received to say God be thanked when any Fault of their own to say God forgive theâ— when any Calamity or Evil which they fâ—â— or fear to say God have Mercy on them Aâ— these are ejaculatory Prayers But then â—â— they are Customary so they should be Heaâ—â— and Men should have a care to live as they Sâ— These and many other Ejaculatory Prayeâ— may be oftner used in our Thoughts thaâ— spoken for fear of seeming Affectation whiâ— may offend SECT IV. III. A Third Way how Praying keeps â— good and makes us better is â—â— being an Occasion of Imitation â— God And this by the Means of Suggestioâ— and bringing God and his excellent Perfectâ—ons and Attributes to our Minds and by tâ—â— Exercise of our Admiration Honour Reverence of him as one powerful wise holy and righteous of our Love to him as oâ— good to us good to all his Creatures Goodness it self For all these Affections in us tâ— any Person dispose us effectually to Imitation of all we can in him in general but especially to that which we more particularly admire and love The serious and frequent admiring therefore and loving particularly in God his Holiness and Righteousness will dispose us to an imitation of him therein The reason why we do not see Men's Prayers do them this way any great good though I think they rarely perform them so badly but they would be worse if they did not perform them at all is because they perform their Prayers so seldom or so superficially coldly or heartlesly Sometimes they pray only with their Lips when their Hearts are far from what they do they are cold and dull not at all warmed or touched The very loving God for his Benefits only in particular to us will dispose us to Imitation if we do but attend to or remember that to imitate him will certainly please him which Love disposeth us unto And that our Love and Thankfulness to God for his Benefits in our Prayers may more certainly have this excellent Effect of Imitation of him and consequently being holy it will be very good when we have acknowledged God's Favours to ask our selves seriously what we shall return him again how we shall please him and then to answer our selves by being like himself in all manner of Righteousness and Holiness and hating all manner of Sin and Iniquity We see also by Experience that we imitate those with whom we much and frequently converse and have a great Opinion of we do as they do we entertain our selves with the same Thoughts Affections Actions And so it is with Minds who frequently and heartily converse with God that is have him the Object of their Thoughts and Affections in Prayer and have an honourable Opinion of him as who hath not they generally are more like him I am sure at least are much disposed thereto Experience also teacheth us that Men who think of God are much according to their Notions of him as they think of him and apprehend him And therefore if they look upon God as a powerful arbitrary angerful Being so he be not so to themselves and they be but secure they themselves are apt to be so too and oft-times actually are so They contrariwise who worship God principally for and take notice of his Universal Goodness and Love as his principal and only absolute Perfection and dearly love and admire him as Omniscient and Omnipotent Love who though he can do what he list doth always what is best These I say are apt to be of a universally generously benign Temper to all not arbitrary partial but good to every one as is best for the general good or for the Publick Again Our Prayers by Converse with spiritual and great Objects spiritualizing and widening our Minds do make us more capable of apprehending and imitating of God's Perfections especially his Holiness or Universal Righteousness SECT V. IV. A Fourth Way how our Prayers do make us good and better and preserve us in Goodness is more particularly by bringing to our Minds the Condition of our Petitions being granted We cannot pray for or desire any thing of God with any Hopes of Success but upon the Condition of our being good the degrees of our Faith and Hope are to answer the degrees of our Goodness And this way is proper to that part of Prayer called Petition We all of us naturally know and believe that God is holy and just and that he governs all the World for its greatest good and that it is for its greatest good and therefore one of his Laws or Rules to reward the good and to punish the bad and that one proper way of Punishment which God may use is to take away the good things that wicked Men have already or to cross their desires that they should not prosper or succeed in what they would have and if we believe this we can have no Hopes of Success or that our Petitions should be granted so far as we know our selves to be wicked and if we have no Hopes to speed without repentance and reformation either we shall never give ouâ—selves the trouble to ask at all or if oâ— necessity or choice put us upon Asking oâ— Consciences will also put us upon Reformation of what we have known to be amiâ— in our selves and sometimes if we be iâ— a great fright of what we never knew â— suspected before Hence it comes to pass that wicked men whose Consciences fly iâ— their Faces or are apt to whisper something which they would not hear of or amend when they want any thing though they know not how to come by it without Gods immediate Help as Health Strength Freedom from Poverty Prison Pain Sickness Death yet are so loth to betake themselves to their Prayers They will use any Means though never so improbable and difficult and run and shift from one thing to another and employ and busie their Invention or Endeavour and hope this and t'other thing will effect what they would have rather than apply themselves to God when that hearty Prayers is so facile and likely a way to obtain what they would have and is a Means which being used with all other will make them more successful I know sometimes Conscience may be very forgetful dull partial erroneous through want of Sincerity and Strength in Goodness and Men may be very consident in their Petitions too when really they are at the same time very bad and that even in their very Prayers they are performing and therefore that the Prayers of such persons do neither suppose nor make them good but yet for the most part it is otherwise Especially when mens
of their Desert from God as to challenge him with Injustice for neglecting them But God tells them plainly that the external Parts of his Worship of Praying Weeping Fasting Looking sorrowfully and sordidly were not the things that he had chosen to procure them any Favour from him but it was reforming themselves and leaving all the above-named Iniquities being in all Instances and Expressions Universally Charitable to their Neighbour not oppressing or tyrannizing being tender-hearted compassionate c. It was these and such like should cause their Light to break forth as the Morning and their Health spring forth speedily that is should make them a joyous and happy People And Verse 9. expresly Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am If thou take away from the midst of thee the Yoke that is Oppression the putting forth of the Finger that is Derision and Contempt it may be of thy poor unhappy Neighbour and speaking Vanity that is Lying or Fraud For by Vanity the Hebrew ordinarily expresseth Falshood c If thou reform and mend thy wicked Ways then mayst thou hope for and expect according to God's own Promise when it shall seem fit to him and that it will often dâ— that thy Prayers shall be heard otherwiâ—e thy Prayers and Confidence too are but Presumption and Impudence It is true these last places of the Prophet Isaiah and such like prove that which I have before mentioned viz. That Mens Consciences may sometimes so forget themselves be so partial and erroneous that they may pray boldly and confidently when they may rather expect the Taunt there and their Prayers to be thrown into their Faces that is their Prayers to be hated and contemn'd by God and themselves to be punished for their Hypocrisie and that therefore all Prayers do not always in all things necessarily suppose or make Men good But then they inform Men too which is the End why I have brought them that if Men hope to be heard by God and to have their Prayers granted they must be good and not live in the practice of known Sin or through Hypocrisie or Insincerity Laziness or Prevalency of some Lust above their Duty wilfully be ignorant whether they live in any Sin or no or slatter themselves in general they do not And those Men who know thus much by natural Conscience Reason the Scriptures and often attend to it which are most Men in some Degree or other though not all if they betake themselves to pray to God for the removal of any Evil or the granting of them any good will first be apt to reslect upon their Lives and Actions and promise unto God Amendment and Reformation of what they know to be bad in themselves and to beg his Pardon that they may with Hopes of Success pray to him and effectually obtain their Desires and to do this often and constantly surely will be an excellent Means for the preserving Men from all Sin nay to make them more sincerely vigorously constantly and universally better SECT VI. THe Fifth Way how our Praying may V. make us better and preserve us in Goodness is by Remuneration or Reward that is God Almighty may immediately or mediately reward our Prayers even in general being such as they should be God may reward our dutiful Acknowledgment of his infinite Perfections and our being affected with them accordingly our Admiration Honour Love Thankfulness Address to him humble Dependence upon him exercised in our Prayers with the greatest Blessings he can bestow upon us and that is with Increase Growth Strength in Holiness and Goodness When we pray unto him depend upon him humbly and in Resolution of Obedience and well-doing which also are Signs of our Acknowledgments of his Perfections even for any other good things besides Goodness as for Wisdom Instruction Deliverance from bodily Dangers Plenty good Success in worldly Affairs a peaceable and comfortable Life c. Then it may seem good to God sometimes to reward this Exercise of our Goodness or of those things which are such proper Means thereof with better things than what we ask and with them too eveâ— this principal one of all of preserving aâ— strengthning our Souls in Holiness in genâ—ral and in particular Virtues and Graces But much more still have we reason tâ— think that God will bestow this incompâ—rable Blessing upon us when we humblâ— sincerely and importunately beseech it â— his hands above all other things Whâ— we pray to him with our whole Hearts thâ— he would but make us sincerely and generously good holy Lovers of himself and â— all Persons to do all things out of an Unâ—versal Charity and Love never to gratifâ— any inordinate or immoderate Appetite anâ— as for other things we plainly are indiffereâ— to them but only so far forth as they maâ— be Instruments hereof of our being or doing good This is a Petition that argueâ— and acts a Temper of Mind than which nothing in Heaven and Earth is so acceptable unto God and therefore to encourage iâ— and our Desires and Endeavours after it especially if they be frequent and long it is the most likely thing that God will heat our Prayers grant our Desires make out Endeavours in some Measure and Time or other successful We have heard before the blind Man's Opinion and the common Opinion of Mankind That if any Man be a Worshipper of God God heareth him â—nd in this surely rather than any other â—hing Our Saviour to encourage our Addresses to God such as they ought to be hath exâ—resly promised Success when it seems sit to God and it doth so sometimes or else there is no 〈◊〉 at all 〈◊〉 and it shall be given â—â— seek and you shall 〈◊〉 knock and it shall â—e opened unto you for every one that asketh â—s he ought receâ—â—eth when it seems fit to God and that is very often and he that â—eketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall â—e opened Which our Saviour illustrateth â—y a Similitude of earthly Parents who â—ive to their Children upon their asking â—ecessary or convenient things how much more will God who is infinitely wiser and â—etter to us and loves us all more with a Love of Benevolence than our earthly Parents can do give them unto us What Man is there c. Matt. 7. to Verse 12. The â—ame we have in St. Luke Chap. 11. Verse 13. Where it is How much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him In David's Psalms are many places to this purpose Psalm 145. Verse 18 19. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him in Truth He will fulfil the Desires of them that fear him he also will hear their Cry and will save them Nothing more ordinary than for the Apostles in their Epistles to pray for their Disciples and Believers thâ— were their Charge that they might increâ— and be strengthned in Holiness and Gâ—ness
1. The First is the truth of them We are to take care that that which is capable thereof be true All things that are the sense or matter of our Prayers besides that which is the proper matter of Petition or Desire may be false or true The matter or objects of our desire indeed cannot because they are all of them as so considered simple not complex things in such manner as Propositions are in which only there is that truth I now mean For Example In acknowledgment of the Divine Perfections we must have a care that what we acknowledge to be in God be really a pure perfection and implies necessarily no imperfection or defect in the least and therefore that it is really in him Thus when we make an acknowledgment of God's absolute Power and Sovereignty of doing whatsoever he willeth and pleaseth we must have a care of thinking he can by his own intrinsick Power or that it is in his Nature to determine himself contrary to the Laws of Righteousness or Universal Goodness which is all one As for Instance That he can or that there is any capacity in his most perfect Nature to will all his Creatures to be miserable and to make them for that purpose nay or to will any number of them nay any one of them absolutely and ultimately to be so nay or the least evil to any of them without any further respect to any other good but only that he pleaseth himself therein this is contrary to Reason and express Revelation It is true there is no superiour cause to God's Will or his active Power that makes him to be good or restrains him from making any of his Creatures unhappy or miserable we should be mistaken again if we thought so but we neither ought nor can conceive if we attend to the Nature of God and Perfection that it is possible ever for him to will absolutely and ultimately the least evil or misery of his Creatures his Will can never be so disposed it is not in his Nature to will so cannot please him That which I conceive the best disposed men mean confusedly and are not offended with when they acknowledge God's Soveraignty so unlimitedly as that he can do what he will with his innocent Creatures and either immediately though such or mediately first contriving a necessity of sinning throw them into Hell if he pleaseth is that there is no superiour cause to his own Will why he doth not so which is true not that it is possible for him ever so to will or to be pleased therewith That even the due Relations of our Actions to their Objects or their Justice or Righteousness is something and therefore made by God or dependent upon his Will for all things must have his Will or active Power to be the Cause But then we cannot conceive his Nature such as ever to have willed contrary or not to have willed these Relations not to have willed that which is just and right There have been both of the most prophane and of the greatest Religionists but mistaken who have I think entertained these false and most mischievous Opinions concerning God So on another hand in the acknowledgment of the Divine Goodness men may have a conceit and acknowledge that God is so good that he will make all men happy and therefore pass over all their sins though never so great and heinous numerous and many that he will not punish them neither here nor hereafter and this though they do not repent and their minds and natures are not changed at all or very slightly They say they are sinners but God they hope will forgive them for God is merciful as they use to express it This is a very mischievous falshood and implies him even not to be Universally good to all his Creation not to do the greatest good to it for he cannot be so unless he restrain sometimes wickedness and sinful mischievous Purposes and Resolutions of Will and put a difference as to Happiness between the Righteous and the Wicked sometime and in some measure or other according as seems best to his infinite Wisdom This also is contrary to Reason and the express revealed Will of God So again Those who may acknowledge the Divine Tenderness and peculiar Love to them and to some certain others that he will not see any sin in them and will not punish them in the least for it but that they are peculiarly destined to an unconceivable Glory and Felicity in another World notwithstanding they live in their Sins and are no better than others and are very well content so to do and be who say further that God hath provided and found out a way to excuse them from actual obedience to his Laws and from punishment in case of constant failure without any amendment that they indeed have very corrupt hearts but God for Christ's sake will pardon all These persons make God and Christ the worst Patrons of sin the most unrighteous the most partial to bear with and pardon it in a few whom he pleaseth but to punish it in all the rest with the greatest severity Nothing more repugnant to Reason and Scripture in Rom. 2. In Confession in like manner we must have the like care and as near as we can say nothing but what we know to be certainly true Wherefore we must have a care that we do not confess that we deserve punishment in such things which are not sins nor that we are guilty in those things which really are sins when we are not Nor on the contrary perhaps excuse our selves or think our selves innocent or good when we are bad think those things no sins nay very good actions which are bad ones That which may often be in those which are done with pretended or some little real zeal confusedly for the glory of God mixed with much more or other undue selfish ends and unlawful appetites Nor must we acquit slatter connive at our selves and think our selves not guilty of any sins and it may be thank God for it too when we are being either ignorant and forgetful of our selves or wilfully vainly conceited The greatest part of the World are very presumptuous and conceited generally of their own innocency though they may sometimes in words only or very slightly say they are sinners insomuch that if you should enquire of them what they have been or how they have lived they 'l tell you that no man can say any harm by them and they know nothing amiss they thank God by themselves they hardly know one sin by themselves or one bad action to confess or they must study upon it or be put in mind of something or other whence they conclude themselves very innocent and take it for granted and act accordingly as if it really were so and God knew as little by them as they do by themselves when perhaps they have rarely done any good action and they have little good in them If they should
unregarded and not taken notice of by themselves being alas oft-times very ignorant inept careless or partial examiners of themselves Men may thank God that they are not guilty of some sins when they are not knowing their own hearts which is a very difficult thing and that they have some graces as sincere Zeal Humility c. when they have not but instead thereof or at least mixed therewith Wrath Pride Vain-glory or in general that they have greater degrees of holiness than they truly have as the Pharisee did They may thank God for owning their Cause by Success in War or Law when he doth not but only chastiseth it may be or correcteth another They may also apply general or particular Promises made to other good men to themselves and thank God for them that he hath made such Promises to them when they do not appertain to them And lastly In the particular deduction and recital of our Cases or Conditions or the reasons and grounds of our Hopes we must observe the same still not aggravate nor extenuate more than is true As a man may propose to God in his Prayers the great machination and malice of his Enemies their insulting over him the dishonour of God himself by them if he be not delivered by him when little of this may be true most of it being only conceited so out of Pride to render himself more considerable or to shew that he can or will deal with them all or out of Wrath or it is more feared than real many other Instances of these Particulars might be given SECT II. II. THe Second due Qualification of the Sense of our Prayers is that the things be Just And this respects only that part of Prayer called Petition When we desire that God should give or grant any positive or privative good thing to us let us be as sure as we can that it is just he should grant it to us Justice is a property of an action and that which we immediately desire in Prayer is God's granting any thing to us And here we are especially to use Divine Revelation or God's Word rightly interpreted and our own best Reason to know what is Just Thus for Example we must not pray to God that he would grant us any thing which may gratifie our Revenge Envy Ambition Covetousness Wrath Vain-glory or any other Lust as sometimes the ruine or destruction or hurt of our Enemies indeed because ours Prosperity for our selves and ours and success in an unjust or wicked Undertaking great Riches Relations Employments Parts and Gifts without taking any notice of serving God or doing good therewith but only that we might be superiour to others or acquire Name or Reputation or be able to advance and propagate certain Opinions and Usages because ours and abolish or remove others because contrary to ours in which case our Request is not that God would grant these things to be done because good for the World and pleasing therefore to himself but indeed to gratifie us only and that in hurtful mischievous and therefore unlawful desires This oft-times lies at the bottom and is the only cause And though we may sometimes slightly or it may be confidently judge the things beneficial to the World to others as well as our selves and acceptable to God yet 't is the gratification of those unlawful desires may make us to judge so Sometimes indeed and most ordinarily perhaps there is a mixture St. James tells his fellow Christians that some of them asked and received not because they asked amiss to consume it upon their lusts or pleasures those viz. of pride and sensuality James 4. Verse 3. The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21. Verse 27. We shall often hear of Fastings and Prayers of contrary and diverse Parties for Victory and Success in any Affairs and Thanksgivings too when both cannot be just In such Cases it is a very good Petition that God would favour or prosper the just Cause And yet this may not always seem good to God neither but we ought to refer it to him as all other Petitions Thus Sects and Parties in Religion pray with a great earnestness and confidence for the Conversion or Extirpation of each other when it is sure but one of those Prayers can be just If when we Petition God for any thing we be careless and negligent whether it be just or no and yet perhaps very confident and bold too in asking we greatly dishonour God For hereby we beget an Opinion in our selves and others and such a suitable behaviour that God is more fond of us and our concerns than of what is just and right that is in effect that he loves us in particular better than all the World besides as if he must needs do what we desire him whether it be right or wrong But if we do attend to and examine with as much care as we ought before we pray whether what we pray be just and fit for God to give and do without any prejudice from self-love conclude it may be so and yet should be mistaken this is only a defect of our knowledge the ill consequence of which is soon amended by referring all our Petitions to the unerring Wisdom of God of which hereafter But we may through undue self-love so flatter our selves and think our selves so acceptable and dear to God that we may conceit it cannot but be just for him to do what especially we with great earnestness and zeal as if he were the inspirer of it and put it into our hearts when it is it may be our own Pride or other self-self-love Petition him to do More modesty better becomes us whereby we may have a true and due judgment of our selves And when we have that and do with good reason think our selves so far good only as we really are and consequently in the favour of God yet we are to be so modest too as to remember that we can but very rarely certainly tell in particulars with all their circumstances what is absolutely best for the World and consequently what is just for him to do He who is All-comprehending in his knowledge always certainly knows and to him therefore we refer the Justice and consequently the granting of our desires The confidence of some persons in their Prayers proceeding from Ignorance and Pride when their tempers have been heated especially how blameable how hateful and contemptible The wiser sort of Heathens had so good an opinion of their Deities and consequently of their Duty towards them that they would be sure to ask nothing from them but what was just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar Py. Od. 3. We Mortals ought to desire from the Gods those things which are fitting and just minding the present of what condition we no◠are SECT III. III. THe Third due Qualification of the Sense of our Prayers is That they be in the first place