Duty it self when we find the daily fruit and advantage of them especially in the preservation of our Souls in an holy humble watchfull frame Innumerable are the Advantages Benefits and Effects of Prayer which are commonly spoken unto Growth in Grace and Consolation is the substance of them Where there is continuance in Prayer there will be Spiritual Growth in some proportion For men to be Earnest in Prayer and Thriftless in Grace is a certain Indication of prevalent corruptions and want of being Spiritually Minded in Prayer it self If a man eats his daily food let him eat never so much or so often if he be not nourished by it his Body is under the Power of prevalent distempers And so is his Spiritual Constitution who thriveth not in the use of the food of the New Creature But that which I fix upon with respect unto the present enquiry is the Frame that it preserves the soul in It will keep it humble and upon a diligent watch as unto it's dispositions and actings He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prayes This none can do who doth not with diligence keep his heart unto the things he hath prayed about To pray earnestly and live carelesly is to proclaim that a man is not Spiritually minded in his prayer Hereby then we shall know what is the Spring of those spiritual Thoughts which our minds are exercised withall in our supplications If they are influenced unto a constant daily watch for the preservation of that frame of Spirit those dispositions and Inclinations unto spiritual things which we pray for they are from an internal Spring of Grace If there be generally an unsuitableness in our minds unto what we seem to contend for in our Prayers the Gift may be in exercise but the Grace is wanting If a man be every day on the Exchange and there talketh diligently and earnestly about Merchandize and the Affairs of Trade but when he comes home thinks no more of them because indeed he hath nothing to do no interest in them he may be a very poor man notwithstanding his pretences And he may be spiritually very poor who is on occasions fervent in prayer if when he retires unto himself he is not carefull and diligent about the matter of it 4. When Spiritual Affections and due preparation of heart unto the Duty do excite and animate the Gift of Prayer and not the Gift make impressions on the Affections then are we Spiritually Minded therein Gifts are Servants not Rulers in the Mind are bestowed on us to be serviceable unto Grace not to lead it but to follow it and to be ready with their Assistance on its exercise For the most part where they lead all they are all alone This is the natural order of these things Grace habitually inclineth and disposeth the heart unto this Duty Providence and Rule gives the occasions for its excercise Sence of Duty calls for preparation Grace coming into actual exercise Gifts come in with their Assistance If they lead all all is out of order It may be otherwise sometimes A Person indispos'd and lifeless ingaging into Prayer in a way of Obedience upon conviction of Duty may in and by the Gift have his Affections excited and Graces engaged unto its proper Work It may be so I say but let men take heed how they trust unto this Order and Method For where it is so there may be little or nothing of the Exercise of true Grace in all their fervour and Commotion of Affections But when the genuine Actings of Faith Love holy Reverence and gracious Desires do stir up the Gift unto its Exercise calling in its assistance unto the expression of themselves then are the Heart and Mind in their proper Order 5. It is so when other Duties of Religion are equally regarded and attended unto with Prayer it self He all whose Religion lyes in Prayer and Hearing hath none at all God hath an equal respect unto all other Duties and so must we have also So is it expressed as unto the Instance of Alms Acts 10.31 And James placeth all Religion herein because there is none without it Jam. 1.27 I shall not value his Prayers at all be he never so earnest and frequent in them who gives not Alms according to his Ability And this in an especial manner is required of us who are Ministers that we be not like an hand set up in cross Wayes directing others which way to go but staying behind it self This digression about the Rise and Spring of Spiritual Thoughts in Prayer I judged not unnecessary in such a time and season wherein we ought to be very jealous lest Gifts impose themselves in the room of Grace and be careful that they are employed only unto their proper End which is to be serviceable unto Grace in its Exercise and not otherwise 3. There is another Occasion of Thoughts of spiritual things when they do not spring from a living Principle within and so are no evidence of being spiritually minded And this is the Discourse of others They that fear the Lord will be speaking one to another of the things wherein his Glory is concerned Mal. 3.16 To declare the Righteousness the Glory of God is the Delight of his Saints Psal. 145. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Great is the Lord and greatly to be Praised and his Greatness is unsearchable One Generation shall praise thy Works to another and shall declare thy mighty Works I will speak of the Glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous Works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible Acts and I will declare thy Greatness They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great Goodness and shall sing of thy Righteousness The Lord is gracious and full of Compassion slow to Anger and of great Mercy And accordingly there are some who are ready on all occasions to be speaking or making mention of things Divine Spiritual and Holy and it is to be wished that there were more of them All the flagitious sins that the World is filled withall are not a greater evidence of the Degeneracy of Christian Religion than this is that it is grown unusual yea a shame or scorn for men to speak together of the things of God It was not so when Religion was in its primitive Power and Glory nor is it so with them who really fear God and are sensible of their Duty Some I say there are who embrace all occasions of Spiritual Communication Those with whom they do converse if they are not Profligate if they have any spiritual Light cannot but so far comply with what they say as to think of the things spoken which are spiritual Oft times the Track and Course of mens thoughts lye so out of the way are so contrary unto such things that they seem strange unto them they give them no Entertainment You do but cross their way with such Discourses whereon they stand still a little and
they stand in need of it so as that they cannot live without it but they have delight in it and to keep them from it is all one as to keep them from their daily food and refreshment Now we can have no delight in any thing but what we have found some Sweetness Rest and Complacency in Without any such Experience we may do or use any thing but cannot do it with delight And it ariseth 1. From the approach that is made unto God therein It is in its own Nature an Access unto God on a Throne of Grace Ephes. 2.18 Heb. 10.19 20. And when this Access is Animated by the Actings of Grace the Soul hath a Spiritual Experience of a nearness in that Approach Now God is the Fountain and Center of all Spiritual Refreshment Rest and Complacency And in such an Access unto him there is a refreshing Taste of them Communicated unto the Soul Psal. 36.7 8 9. How excellent is thy Loving kindness O God! therefore the children of men put their Trust under the shadow of thy Wings They shall be abundantly satisfied with the Fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them Drink of the River of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of Life in thy Light we shall see Light God is proposed in the Excellency of his Loving Kindness which is comprehensive of his Goodness Grace and Mercy And so is he also as the Spring of Life and Light all Spiritual Powers and Joyes Those that believe are described by their Trust under the shadow of his Wings In his Worship the Fatnesse of his House they make their Approaches unto him And the Fruit hereof is that he makes them to Drink of the River of his Pleasures the satisfying refreshing Streams of his Grace and Goodness they approach unto him as unto the Fountain of Life so as to Drink of that Fountain in renewed Communications of Life and Grace and in the Light of God the Light of his Countenance to see Light in satisfying Joy In these things doth consist and from them doth arise that Spiritual Complacency which the Souls of Believers do find in their Duties 2. From the due Exercise of Faith Love and Delight the Graces wherein the Life of the new Creature doth principally consist There is a suitableness unto our Natural Constitution and a secret Complacency of our Natures in the proper Actings of Life Natural for its own Preservation and Encrease There is so in our Spiritual Constitution in the proper Actings of the Powers of our Spiritual Life unto its Preservation and Encrease These Graces in their due Exercise do Compose and Refresh the mind as those which are Perfective of its State which quell and cast out whatever troubles it Thence a blessed Satisfaction and Complacency befalls the Soul Herein he that believeth hath the witness in himself Besides Faith and Love are never really Acted on Christ but they prepare and make meet the Soul to receive Communications of Love and Grace from him which it never faileth of although it be not always sensible thereof 3. From the Testimony of Conscience bearing witness unto our sincerity both in Aims Ends and Performances of the Duty Hence a gracious Repose of Mind and great Satisfactoriness doth ensue If we have no Experience of these things it is evident that we walk at Random in the best of our Duties For they are among the principal things that we do or ought to Pray for And if we have not Experience of the Effects of our Prayers in our Hearts we neither have advantage by them nor give Glory unto God in them But yet here as in most other Spiritual things one of the worst of Vices is ready to impose it self in the room and place of the best of our Graces And this is Self-pleasing in the Performance of the Duty This instead of a Grace steeped in Humility as all true Grace is is a vile effect of Spiritual Pride or the offering of a Sacrifice unto our own Net and Drag It is a glorying in the Flesh for whatever of Self any doth glory in it is but Flesh. When men have had enlargements in their Expressions and especially when they apprehend that others are satisfied or affected therewith they are apt to have a secret Self-pleasing in what they have done which before they are aware turns into Pride and a noxious Elation of mind The same may befall men in their most Secret Duties performed outwardly by the Aid of Spiritual Gifts But this is most remote from and contrary unto that Spiritual Complacency in Duty which we speak of which yet it will pretend unto untill it be diligently Examined The Language of this Spiritual Complacency is I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness of thine only Psal. 71.16 That of Spiritual Pride is God I thank thee that I have done thus and thus as it was expressed by the Pharisee That is in God alone this is in Self That draws forth the Savour of all Graces this immediately covereth and buries them all if there be any in the Sâ—ul That fills the Soul eminently with Humility and Self-abasement this with a lifting up of the mind and Proud Self-conceit That casts out all Remembrance of what we have done our selves retaining only a sence of what we have received from God of the impressions of his Love and Grace This blots out all Remembrance of what we have freely received from God and retains only what we have done our selves Wherever it is there is no due sence either of the Greatness or Goodness of God Some it may be will say that if it be so they for their parts are cut off They have no experience of any such Spiritual rest and complacency in God in or after their Prayers At the best they begin them with tears and end them in sorrow and sometimes they know not what is become of them but fear that God is not glorified by them nor their own souls bettered I answer 1. There is great Spiritual Refreshment in that Godly sorrow which is at work in our Prayers Where the Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication he causeth Mourning and in that Mourning there is Joy 2. The secret Encouragement which we receive by praying to adhere unto God constantly in Prayer ariseth from some experience of this Holy Complacency though we have not a sensible evidence of it 3. Perhaps some of them who make this complaint if they would awaken and consider will find that their souls at least sometimes have been thus refreshed and brought unto an holy Rest in God 4. Then shall you know the Lord if you follow on to know him Abide in seeking after this Complacency and satisfaction in God and you shall attain it 3. It is a sure Evidence that our Thoughts of Spiritual things in our Supplications are from an internal Spring of Grace and are not meerly occasioned by the
all the actings of our souls in Spiritual Judgment as well as natural Affection and I do not understand how a man can be a sincere Believer unto whom sin is not the greatest Burden and sorrow Wherefore in the first place it belongs unto the true Notion of Heaven that it is a State wherein we shall be eternally freed from sin and all the concernments of it but only the exaltation of the Glory of Gods Grace in Christ by the pardon of it He that truely hates sin and abhorrs it whose principal Desire and Design of Life is to be freed from it so far as it is possible who walks in self Abasement through a sence of his many Disappointments when he hoped it should act in him no more cannot as I judge but frequently betake himself for Refreshment unto Thoughts of that state wherein he shall be freed from it and triumph over it unto eternity This is a Notion of Heaven that is easily apprehended and fixed on the Mind which we may dwell upon unto the great advantage and satisfaction of our Souls Frequent Thoughts and Meditations of Heaven under this notion do argue a man to be Spiritually minded For it is a convincing Evidence that sin is a Burden unto him that he longs to be delivered from it and all its consequents that no Thoughts are more welcome unto him than those of that state wherein sin shall be no more And although men are troubled about their sins and would desirously be freed from them so far as they perplex their Minds and make their Consciences uneasie yet if they are not much in the prospect of this Relief if they find not Refreshment in it I fear their trouble is not such as it ought to be Wherefore when men can so wrangle and wrestle with their Convictions of sin and yet take up the best of their Relief in hopes that it will be better with them at some times or other in this world without longing Desires after that state wherein sin shall be no more they can give no evidence that they are Spiritually minded It is quite otherwise with sincere Believers in the exercise of this Duty The considerations of the Grace and Love of God of the Blood of Christ of the Purity and Holiness of that good Spirit that dwelleth in them of the Light Grace and Mercy which they have attained through the Promises of the Gospel are those which make the Remainders of sin most grievous and burdensom unto them This is that which even breaks their hearts and makes some of them go mourning all the day long namely that any thing of that which alone God hates should be found in them or be remaining with them It is in this condition an Evidence that they are Spiritually minded if together with watchful endeavours for the universal mortification of sin and utter excision of it both root and branch they constantly adde these Thoughts of that blessed State wherein they shall be absolutely and eternally freed from all sin with Refreshment Delight and Complacency These things belong unto our Direction for the fixing of our Thoughts and Meditations on things above This the meanest and weakest person who hath the least spark of Sincerity and Grace is capable of apprehending and able to practise And it is that which the sense they have of the evil of sin will put them on every day if they shut not their eyes against the Light of the Refreshment that is in it Let them who cannot arise in their minds unto fixed and stable Thoughts of any other notion of these Invisible things dwell on this consideration of them wherein they will find no small Spiritual Advantage and Refreshment unto their Souls 2. As unto the Positive Part of this glorious future State the Thoughts and apprehensions of men are very various And that we may know as well what to avoid as what to embrace we shall a little reflect on some of them 1. Many are able to entertain no rational Conceptions about a future state of Blessedness and Glory no notions wherein either Faith or Reason is concerned Imagination they have of something that is great and glorious but what it is they know not No wonder if such Persons have no delight in no use of Thoughts of Heaven When their Imaginations have fluctuated up and down in all uncertainties for a while they are swallowed up in nothing Glorious and therefore desirable they take it for granted that it must be But nothing can be so unto them but what is suitable unto their present Dispositions Inclinations and Principles And hereof there is nothing in the true Spiritual Glory of Heaven or in the eternal enjoyment of God These things are not suited unto the Wills of their minds and of the flesh and therefore they cannot rise up unto any constant desires of them Hence to please themselves they begin to imagine what is not But whereas what is truely Heaven pleaseth them not and what doth please them is not Heaven nor there to be found they seldom or never endeavour in good earnest to exercise their Thoughts about it It were well if Darkness and Ignorance of the true nature of the future State and eternal Glory did not exceedingly prejudice Believers themselves as unto their Delight in them and Meditations about them They have nothing fixed or stated in their Minds which they can betake themselves unto in their Thoughts when they would contemplate about them And by the way whatever doth divert the minds of men from the power and life of Spiritual Worship as do all pompous Solemnities in the performance of it doth greatly hinder them as unto right Conceptions of our future state There was a Promise of Eternal Life given unto the Saints under the Old Testament But whereas they were obliged unto a Worship that was carnal and outwardly pompous they never had clear and distinct Apprehensions of the future state of Glory For Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel Wherefore although no man living can see or find out the infinite Riches of Eternal Glory yet is it the Duty of all to be acquainted with the Nature of it in general so as that they may have fixed Thoughts of it Love unto it earnest Desires after it all under its own true and proper Notion 2. So great a Part of Mankind as the Mahumetans unto whom God hath given all the principal and most desirable parts of the World to inhabit and possess do conceive the state of future Blessedness to consist in the full satisfaction of their sensual Lusts and Pleasures An Evidence this is that the Religion which they profess hath no power or Efficacy on their Minds to change them from the Love of Sin or placing their Happiness in fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh. It doth not at all enlighten their Minds to discern a Beauty in Spiritual things nor excite their Affections unto the Love of them nor free the Soul
Wilderness where no Refreshment is to be obtained To make a Pretence of Coming unto God and not with Expectation of receiving good and great things from him is to despise God himself to overthrow the nature of the Duty and deprive our own Souls of all Benefit thereby And want hereof is that which renders the worship of the most useless and fruitless unto themselves VVe are alwayes to come unto God as unto an Eternal Spring of Goodness Grace and Mercy of all that our Souls do stand in need of of all we can desire in order unto our Everlasting Blessedness and all these things as unto Believers may be reduced unto the two Heads before mentioned First They come for a Communication of a Sense of his Love in Jesus Christ. Hence doth all our Peace Consolation and Joy all our Encouragement to do and suffer according to the VVill of God all our Supportments under our Sufferings solely depend In these things do our Souls live and without them we are of all Men the most miserable It is the Holy Spirit who is the immediate efficient Cause of all these things in us He sheds abroad the Love of God in our Hearts Rom. 5.5 He witnesseth our Adoption unto us Chap. 8.15 16. And thereby an Intrest in the Love of the Father in God as he is Love But the Outward Way and means whereby he communicates these things unto us and effects them in us is by the Dispensation of the Gospel or the Preaching of it ordinarily He doth the same work also in Prayer oft-times in other Holy Administrations For this end for a Participation of this Grace of these Mercies do Believers come unto God by them They use them as meanes to draw Water from the Wells of Salvation and to receive in that Spiritual Sense of Divine Love which God by them will communicate So Christ by his VVord knocks at the Door of the Heart if it be opened by Faith he cometh in and Suppeth with men giving them a gracious Refreshment by the Testimony of his own Love and the Love of the Father Rev. 3.20 Joh. 14.23 This Believers look for in and this they do in various measures receive by the Ordinances of Divine VVorship And although some through their Fears and Temptations are not sensible hereof yet do they secretly receive these blessed gracious Supplies whereby their Souls are held in Life without which they would pine away and perish So he dealeth with them Cant. 4.5 6. These are the Gardens and Galleries of Christ wherein he gives us of his Love Cant. 7.12 Those who are humble and sincere know how often their Souls have been refreshed in them and how long sometimes the Impressions they have received of Divine Grace and Love have continued with them unto their unspeakable Consolation They remember what they have received in the Opening and Application of the exceeding great and pretious Promises that are given unto them whereby they are gradually more and more made Partakers of the Divine Nature how many a time they have received Light in Darkness Refreshment under Despondencies Relief in their Conflicts with dangers and temptations in and by them For this Cause do Affections that are Spiritually renewed cleave unto them VVho can but love and delight in that which he hath found by experience to be the way and means of Communicating unto him the most invaluable Mercy the most inestimable Benefit whereof in this Life he can be made partaker He who hath found an hidden Treasure although he should at once take away the whole of it yet will esteem the place where he found it But if it be of that nature that no more can be found or taken of it at once but what is sufficient for the present Occasion yet is so full and boundless as that whenever he comes again to seek for it he shall be sure to obtain present Supply he will alwayes value it and constantly apply himself unto it And such is the Treasure of Grace and divine Love that is in the Ordinances of divine VVorship If we are Strangers unto these things if we have never received Efficatious Intimations of Divine Love unto our Souls in and by the Duties of Divine Worship we cannot love them and delight in them as we ought VVhat do men come to hear the VVord of God for What do they pray for VVhat do they expect to receive from him Do they come unto God as the Eternal Fountain of Living Waters as the God of all Grace Peace and Consolation Or do they come unto his VVorship without any Design as unto a dry and empty shew Do they fight uncertainly with these things as men beating the Air or do they think they bring something unto God but receive nothing from him that the best of their Business is to please him in doing what he commands but to receive any thing from him they expect not nor do ever examine themselves whether they have done so or no It is not for Persons who walk in such wayes ever to attain a due Delight in the Ordinances of Divine Worship Believers have other Designs herein and among the rest this in the First place that they may be a fresh made Partakers of Refreshing Comforting Pledges of the Love of God in Christ and thereby of their Adoption of the Pardon of their Sins and acceptance of their Persons According as they meet with these things in the Duties of Holy Worship publick or private so will they love value and adhere unto them Some Men are full of other Thoughts and Affections so as that these things are not their principal Design or Desire or are contented with that measure of them which they suppose themselves to have attained or at least are not sensible of the need they stand in to have fresh Communications of them made unto their Souls supposing that they can do well enough without a renewed Sense of Divine Love every Day some are so Ignorant of what they ought to design to look after in the Duties of Gospel Worship as that it is impossible they should have any real Design in them Many of the better sort of Professors are too negligent in this matter They do not long and pant in the Inward man after renewed Pledges of the Love of God They do not consider how much need they have of them that they may be encouraged and strengthened unto all other Duties of Obedience they do not prepare their Minds for their Reception of them nor come with Expectation of their Communication unto them they do not rightly fix their Faith on this Truth namely that these Holy Administrations and Duties are appointed of God in the first place as the wayes and meanes of conveying his Love and a Sense of it unto our Souls From hence springs all that Luke-warmness Coldness and Indifferency in and unto the Duties of holy Worship that are growing among us For if Men have lost the Principal Design of Faith
Obstruction unto Fruitfulness Thrnkfulness and Consolation when we are negligent in our Meditation about the Benefits that we receive by the Word and the Advantages which we have thereby For whil'st it is so with us we can neither value the Grace of God in granting us this Inestimable Priviledge nor perform any Duty with respect unto it in a right manner This renders it an especial Object of our Affections as Spiritually renewed That Secret Love unto and Heavenly Delight in the Statutes and Testimonies of God which David expresseth Psal 119. arose from the Spiritual Benefit and Advantage which he received by them as he constantly declares And the sole Reason on the other hand why men grow so careless negligent and cold in their Attendance unto the Preaching of the Word is because they have no Experience of any Spiritual Benefit or Advantage by it They have been brought unto it by one means or another mostly by conviction of their Duty Their Minds have been variously affected with it unto a Joy in the hearing of it and readiness unto sundry Duties Of Obedience But after a while when a sense of those Temporary Impressions is worn off finding no real Spiritual Benefit by it they loose all delight in it and become very indifferent as unto its Enjoyment The Frame which such Persons at length arrive unto is described Mal. 1.13 and 3.14 And none can give any greater Evidence of the Decay of all manner of Grace in them or of their being destitute of all Saving-Grace than when they apostatize from some degree of Zeal for and Delight in the Dispensation of the Word of God with such a cursed Indifferency as many are overtaken withal It cannot be otherwise For seeing this is a way and means of the Exercise of all Grace it will not be neglected but where there is a Decay of all Grace however Men may please themselves with other Pretences And when they are thus ensnared every foolish Prejudice every Provocation every wanton Opinion and Imagination will confirm them in and increase their gradual Backsliding And as it is with Believers as unto the hearing of the Word in general so it is as unto the Degrees of Advantage which they find by it VVhen Men have enjoyed the Dispensation of the Word in a peculiar manner Spiritual and Effectual if they can be content to forego it for that which is more cold and lifeless provided it possesseth the same time and outward Form with the other it is no great Evidence that their Souls do prosper It is therefore those alone who having a sense of the Efficacy of the Word on their Souls and Consciences unto all the holy Ends of it who cleave unto it with Spiritual Love and Delight They continually remember what holy Impressions it hath made on them what Engagements it hath brought their Souls into what encouragements unto Faith and Obedience it hath furnished them withal and long after renewed Sense of its Enjoyments When we do not find in our selves this Foundation of Spiritual delight in the Dispensation of the Gospel we can have no great Evidence that our Affections are renewed So also it is in the Duties of Prayer and Meditation VVhen the Soul of a Believer hath had Experience of the Communion which it hath had with God in them or either of them of the Spiritual Refreshment which it hath had from them of the Benefits and Mercies which are obtained by them in recovery from Temptations Snares Despondencies in Victory over Sin and Sathan in Spiritual Impressions working it unto an holy watchful Frame which hath abode with it in other VVayes and Occasions with the like Advantages wherewith fervent and Effectual Prayer and sincere Heavenly Meditation are accompanied it cannot but have Love unto them and Delight in them But if indeed we have no Experience of these things if we find not these Advantages in and by these Duties they cannot but be a Burden unto us nor do serve unto any other End but to satisfie Convictions He who had the benefit of a serene and wholsome Air in a recovery from many Diseases and Distempers with the Preservation of his Health so obtained will love it and prize it and so will he these Duties who hath been Partaker of any of these Saving Mercies and Priviledges wherewith they are accompanied Some have been delivered from the worst of Temptations and the nearest Approach of their Prevalency as to destroy themselves by a sudden Remembrance of the Frame of their Souls and the Intimations of Gods Love in such or such a Prayer at such a time Some have had the same Deliverance from Temptations unto Sin when they have been carried away under the Power of their Corruptions and all Circumstances have concurr'd under the Apprehensions of it a Sudden Thought of such a Prayer or Meditation with the Engagement they made of themselves therein unto God hath caused all the weapons of Sin to fall out of its hands and all the Beauties of its Allurements to disappear When others have been under the Power of such Dispondencies and Disconsolations as that no present tenders of Relief can approach unto them they have been suddenly raised and refreshed by the Remembrance of the intimate Love and Kindness between Christ and their Souls that hath evidenced it self in former Duties Multitudes in Feares Distresses and Temptations have found Relief unto their Spirits and Encouragement unto their Faith in the Remembrance of the Returnes they have had unto former Supplications in the like Distresses These are Grounds of Spiritual Delight in these Duties Heartless Lifeless wordy Prayer the Fruit of Convictions and Gifts or of Custom and outward Occasions however multiplyed and whatever Devotion they seem to be accompanied withal will never ingage Spiritual Affections unto them When these things are absent when the Soul hath not Experience of them Prayer is but a lifeless Form a dead Carcase which it would be a torment unto a Soul Spiritually alive to be tied unto There may be a Season indeed when God will seem to hide himself from Believers in their Prayers so as they shall neither find that Life in themselves which they have done formerly nor be sensible of any gracious Communications from him but this is done only for a time and principally to stir them up unto that Fervency and Preseverance in Prayer as may recover them into their former or a better Estate than yet they have attained unto The like may be said concerning all other Duties of Religion or Ordinances of Divine Worship Fourthly Believers whose Affections are Spiritually renewed do delight greatly in the duties of Divine Worship because they are the great instituted way whereby they may give Glory unto God This is the first and principal End of all Duties of Religion as they respect divine Appointment namely to ascribe and give unto God the Glory that is his due For in them all Acknowledgement is made of all the glorious Excellencies