Consuming upon Lust When the House is like a Hold of Rebels where the Crew of God's Werst Enemies find the Best welcome And from Morning till Night nothing like Holy Religion or so much as any Good Order to be seen among them Good God! What a Prepanation is here to Prayer What Kin is such Wild doing to the Pious Worshippingâ— And well may such Family-Members shark away from the daily Prayers and be ashamed to hold up their Heads before the Lord at Prayer Times when they use him so basely at all other Times I cannot wonder that Men who lead such Disorderly Lives they can but seldom come Home Sober to their Houses if they meet any Temptation by the way that they are so little Friends to Prayers and can neither â—kill of nor away with such kind of Exercises And where all the Sâ—rings are so much out of Tune what Musick are they like to make in the Consort Nay when those whom God hath Joyned together Divideâ— themselves asunder and the Husband and Wife â—ly upon one another like Infernal Furies Or can only sometimes Hit it off as Lascivious Brutes No wonder if by such Living allowed the Prayers be Hindred 1 Pet. 1.7 Yea worse yet when Whoredom takes away the Heart and strange Fires with their Sulphurous Stench prevail over all the Love of God and all the right worthy Affection to Men Their Prayers then if they do make any carry so ill a Savour Noisome to Heaven and Earth that God Abhors them and the World cries Let them amend their Lives or what signify their Prayers And after all that I have said for the Family-Supplication I must tell you That this will be in Vain without Family Reformation Nor will it do you any good to have some Prayers in your Houses Observed when the very Walls of your Houses cry out against you for the Wickedness there Harboured But an Upright Heart and a Godly Life next the Blood of Christ has the most powerful Oratory to prevail with Heaven and will speak Better for you than all the Words of Prayer and all the Importunity of Lord Lord For you may read of those whom he said he would not Hear though they made many Prayers Isaiah 1.15 But you shall find such as never fail to speed in any Requests 1 John 3.22 Whatever we Ask we Receive of Him because we keep his Commandments and do those things that are Pleasing in his sight This Care and Conscience to Please the Lord will give you such a Recommendation with him that you shall never find the Repulse from him But indeed it is much about one whether you have Prayers or no Prayers if you can Reconcile the daily Praying with Ungodly Living and continue as Impenitent in your Sins as Constant in your Prayers O then Repent and Turn to the Lord as well as Call upon his Name And not only down upon your Knees but down with your Sins Cast the Cursed things out of your Houses and your Hearts that will not let the Lord Dwell with you nor look with Favour upon you but make his Holy things Pain and Grief to you His Presence to Dash you and his Worship to â—orment you Though I do not in this Life expect any Conversion without Imperfection or that you should so Turn to the Lord as to Turn all Sin out of your Soulâ— I do not look to find the Families or the Christians without Faults Yet I would have you to Bewall as much as you cannot Cure and not to Beg the Grace which you would not have not Pray against the Sins which you do not mean to Leave I would have your Lives free from open Scandalâ— before the World and your Hearts free from allowed Hypocrisy in the Sight of God And so to Keep your Hearts and Order your Lives that you may not lose all the Labour of your Prayers O Make not Prayers the Asylum to Shelter any Wickedness but the Battery to maul and break it to pieces That in the Name of the Lord you may Destroy it and by his Strength call'd in with your Prayers you may Surmount and get above it And with such Simplicity and Godly Sincerity carry towards the great Overseer of your Heart and Lives that you may be Bold in your God and Delight to come to him and still find the sweet Welcome with him And now having given you the Reasons for your Family Prayers and put to Confusion if not to Silence the Exceptions against them And produced those true Causes of the Neglect which are not for the Credit of any Prayerless Families to be mentioned And having shewed both how it should be Timed and also Managed O that I could Persuade and Prevail with all that knew themselves Faulty to Break the Ungodly Custom and to get over the Barricado's that so long have Stopt and Detain'd them Before the Lord come and stop their Breath and break in with his Fury upon them And when all that any have to Object is so frivolous that I should scarce have answer'd if I had not thought it more to Need than to Deserve the Answer O that you would fall from your Excuses to your Prayers and not stand alledging this and the t'other which you will not dare to mention when your Judge comes to Call you to Account or if you should you shall not then be Heard And should you suffer the deadly Enemy of Souls and of Prayers to Gagg and Muzzle you now you 'll be struck Speechless then For Conscience will tell you what you should have done and what you might have done And being so Self condemned it will be Vain then to Speak But you 'll depart from the Lord and go away with the Curse upon you for a most Silly as well as Ungodly Company that you would not come to Him nor have the Mercy because you would not so much as Ask it in the Time when it was to be obtained O prevent that Desperate Madness with which you will then fall Foul upon yourselves if still you Refuse to make your Advantage of the Price put into your Hands Prevent the dreadful Crying out too Late by Crying mightily to God while he gives you Leave and Opportunity for it yea when he gives you a Charge and Command to it O think it a Happy Word that God should say to every one of you as Agrippa did to Paul Acts 26.1 Thou art permitted to Speak for thy self Then Reckon and Resolve with yourselves we will not lose the Eternal Blessing for want of our Speaking We will Vse our Time and take the Liberty and with all our Souls be Thankful to the Blessed Giver Not flying for Shelter here only in some Dark and Perillous Daye or under such grievous Pressures that Extortâ— it from us But be Constant to it â—s to all the things that we have most Need of in the World Now you do not think a Meal or a Nap once in a Week or once
much Time and yet it is all one as when you had too little that is you find Occasion to Shift off the Work even at all Times And on the Lord's-Day when you cannot have the Business of the World in your Hands then you must have some Bauble in its stead and to Divert yourselves when the Sacred Time lies heavy upon you ye are ready to tun after Butter-Flies to catch hold of any Occasional thing to pluck you from Attendance upon the Lord and glad of any Company or Accident though never so Trifling and Sportive that will but Relieve you here and help to deceive the Work of the Day O see the old Deceiver in this and be not so Fool'd and Cheated out of those precious Hours that you have or might have if you would to Serve your God and to Secure the Salvation of your Souls Consider I beseech you How little a while it is till your Mouths will be Stopt and the Days of Request will be over the Times of Audience and all these Opportunities of Address to the Majesty of Heaven will be past and gone and all the fair advantageous Seasons of Calling upon the God of your Salvation will be quite at an End And you that now complain you have no Time shall ere long find Cause indeed for that Complaint that you have none No all your Time is slipt away and an unchangeable Eternity has swallowed you up Yet a little while and the Door will be Shut and no Hearing though you Cry never so hard Lord Lord Open to us Your Day of Grace will soon go out in an endless Night and your Season of Mercy the accepted Time is now even to Day But you know not what shall be on the Morrow You have no Assâ—â—â—ance but this Day shall be your Last And then are not you infinitely concerned as to Hear his Voice so let him hear Yours to Day According to his Call Isaiah 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Call upon him while he is near When our Lord says He comes as a Thief and his Day as a Snare and you know not the Day nor the Hour O do not stand complaining you want Time when you have it but use it while you have it and be in Care to Live as you would be Found And take his own Warning and Charge Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and Pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all Evils that are coming upon the World and to stand before the Son of Man And while you wait for his Coming wait much upon your Knees in your Prayers And then Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing 3. Some plead Insufficiency and would be excused from Family-Prayers for want of Ability They have not Heads and Memories Invention and Elocution Though they can make shift to say somewhat for themselves yet they should make nothing of it before others but to Pollute the Office Confound themselves and Offend the Company Therefore as good and better never meddle with it nor offer at it To this I answer If you have Sense and Reason Good Judgment and Voluble Tongues Skill and Readiness to speak well enough of other matters it is your Inexcusable Fault that you are no better provided here For some that have Parts and Boldness sufficient to speak to any Man yet when they should pay the Duty they owe to God all their Wit and Courage fails them and here they can say Nothing If it were to speak for their Bodies and the Concerns of the World they could find their Tongues and who more ready But when it is for the Soul and for Heaven they are at a Stand and Loss and here would have it pass for their good Manners to be Silent Now if such be your Case it speaks rather your Carelesness than your Weakness and that you do not so much want Skill as Will to the Work And then you are to use your Endeavours better to Fit and furnish your selves for it and beg of God to grant the Gift and the Spirit of Prayer that you may Discharge it in an acceptable manner and that you may not be readier to put forth yourselves in any Service else than in his who made you to Serve him and who best deserves all your Best And take head you forbear not to do it at all because you think you cannot do it with a Flourish or as well as the Best Aim not at Neathess and Finery but Plainness and Sincerity No matter how Plain if it be but Pertinent Do but Honestly and Devoutly as you can and Task not yourselves above what you find your Strength to be Yet use yourselves to it and by Practice you will still Learn to do it Better A great Zeal for it will be like Wings to early you through it And if you give your Minds to it you 'll find yourselves even beyond your Expectation enabled to go on with it Or though you are Infirm and Indisposed for it and not so Fervent upon it yet where there is no Keen Appetite in Sickness there must be some Eating or there can be no Living and then even in the Use of your Food you may find a better Stomach When Dullness is the hindrance a Serious Consideration may Warm and Rouze you into Zeal and Devotion And you will carry the best Prayer-Book in your own Breast when you well work upon your Hearts the lively Sense and Apprehension of your Sins and Wants your Maladies and Enemies your Temptations and Dangers the Corruption of your Nature and the Deceitfulness of your Hearts the Shortness of your Time here and the Eternity of your Abode elsewhere the Certainty of Death and the Dreadfulness of Judgment the Joys of Heaven and the Pains of Hell the Miseries of Others and the Mercies of God to You and Yours his Presence with you and his Inspection of you his Power over you and his Justice to give you what belongs to you the Necessity of a Saviour and the Fulness of his Satisfaction his All sufficiency and Inclination to do for you and the Usefulness and Prevalency of Prayer to help you to all that you can Need or Crave These and the like Thoughts set Home and duly pondered in your Minds will raise such a Stock and Supply at hand that you need not be to seek for the Materials of your Prayers But where your own Experience tells you That all this will not do God be thanked you have Variety of other helps in a readiness and you may provide yourselves with Choice of such Books ' of Devotion as you find most proper and agreeable to your Condition And if you do not only Read but Pray over those Forms provided to your Hands and Inform them with a Soul and bring a Spirit to the Book and put Life into the Dead Letter your poor Offering then shall be nevertheless Acceptable and Effectual for using the Words
your Duties to be found But in Him you may Find it And Coming to Him He has Promised to Give it Do as well as you can then And though it be very Short and Faulty still Yet Cheer up and Go on Sowing in Hope Because you have One to undertake your Cause and to set you Right And it is not for the Worth of your Prayers But for the Merits of your Saviour that God Accepts you in the Beloved of his Soul 3. That you may have more Comfort in the Holy Offices Join to your Prayers your Thanks and Praises Be not all in Confessing Begging Complaining and Crying out But observe all the Matter that you have for Thanksgiving And be as Ready to Acknowledge your Receits as to Crave Supply of your Wants If you complain of Burdens and Sorrows Do not make your Lives more Sad and Heavy than you Need by Depriving your selves of those Joys and Refrestments which your Heavenly Father not only Allows but commands you to take Do not Sullenly Hang your Harps upon the Willows when he bids you Take them down and Recreate your weary Troubled Spirits with this Heavenly Musick For Religion is not a Sowre and Melancholly thing If you do not make it so But it is the way of Peace and the well spring of Everlasting Consolation You may Serve the Lord with Gladness yea and you ought to Rejoice in him evermore Even when you find Tribulation in the world And in every thing to give thanks 1 Thes 5.18 Even in Losses and Crosses which the World counts the Worst things For it is Good to be Afflicted And will not you then Thank him that does you Good Though the By-Standers may take it to be nothing but Evil. When the Gloomy Cloud drops Fatness and the seeming Sharpness is his Real Kindness Not to let you Perish indeed for want of that which he knows to be the Preservative to keep you from it And if this Grieves you and that goes Cross with you and the t'other makes against you Yet still you have a Hundred things which call for Thankfulness from you For all that ever has been Enjoyed by you and all that yet Remains to you When you are out of the Deserved Hell and Receive at the Lord's Hands Still a great deal more Good than Evil and even Nothing to the Wages of your Sins O then let not every Disaster and Ailment Damp your Thanks and Praise Nor be Querulous and in the Dumps out of Humour and all on the Fret when every thing is not to your Minds Or when any Affliction is laid upon your Loyns As some will Whine and Clamour yea Rant and Ruffle as if they would fall out and Fight with Heaven And so spoill and hinder their Praring as well as their Thanksgiving When any Calamity lights upon them or any Damage and Injury is done them Which is not only Perverse Unmannerly Carriage towards the great Lord of all Who has the whole Authority as he pleases to Order us And still deals much Better than we might expect by us And such as have the Least Cause do often shew the most Impatience and of all the Various things for which they have to give Thanks they can scarce find in their hearts to be Thankful for any One as if all were still Below their Worth and Nothing Good enough for them But this Ingrateful Grumbling Temper also Destroys all the sweet Peace and Comfort of their Lives that harbour it And makes them as Uneasy to themselves as they are Rude and Troublesome to others Even ever out of Tune and Unacquainted with that Joyful and Pleasant thing to be Thankful Psal 147 1. And herein are put quite to Confusion by many poor Afflicted Creatures that can yet be Decent and Cheerful Even when they have almost nothing to be seen but Hardships and Brushes in the World O you know not what Sweetness you Lose For want of this Exercise This Spiritual Recreation To be Thankful to the Lord and Bless his Name When it is so Pleasant Psal 135.3 He said it who knew it by a Joyful Experience For who more Abounded in God's Praises than Himself And more call'd upon others to come into the Confort As you may sâ—e throughout the Psalms And many a Psalm which he Begins with Complainâ—ing He Ends with Thanksgiving And when you have such frequent Occasions of Thankfulness in the Mercies that Come so Thick upon all every day That I dare not undertake to Enumerate all which even the Poorest Receives Yet can you find none but the Jarring Strings of Greivances to Grate upon Not so much as this Blessed Advantageâ— of the sweet and happy Opportunities with God that you may all have even when you will Shall it not be Own'd to his Praise and your Comfort O will you not only Rob the Lord of his Glory but your Souls also of the Pleasure to Recount his Mercies and Bless him for them To Chew upon the Delicious Morsels and make you Relish the Favours of Heaven And not only find the Refreshing Tast of Blessings Received But Prepare you still for all further Blessings Desired O Sprinâ—â—e more of this Spice all over your Oblations And be not Niggards here to your own Dear Souls But let them have a larger Share in these Festival Entertainments of all the Blessed Inhabitants of Heaven Here play the Epicures And let your Souls Delight themselves in Fatness Yea let them be Satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness when your Mouths praise the Lord with Joyful Lips Psal 63.5 I am the more upon this Because I fear there is more Discontent than Thankfulness in most Families Though all if they would see it have more Cause to give Thanks than to make Complaints And that I might also take off the Prejudice that lies in so many Minds against a Serious Religion for the Sadness which they take to be in it As if they must take leave of all Joy when they turn over to this Way Which indeed would bring them into the Possession of Better Joys than ever they Tasted in their Lives Do not think then That I call you to a Doleful Business in Calling you to your Prayers When to all well-disposed Souls they are so full of Sweetness even in themselves And I also tell you How to make them yet Sweeten By Expatiaring moe in those Rich and Fragrant Fields of Thanksgiving and all the Joyful â—raises of God where you may Solace your selves even as often and as much as you please I would not holp to Saddâ—n your Lives but to make them indeed Easyâ—â— and full of the Best Comforts By Advising you to Pour out your Heavy Hearts and Cast all your Burden upon the Lord And then to Raise those Hearts up in the Admiration of his Love and the Celebration of his Praise To make Melody in your Hearts And sometimes also with your Moâ—ths In Psalmâ— and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing as well as Spraking the Praise
Fast to bring you to the God of your Lives On that they make you have too much to do with him whom your Souls Love But one that we do not Care for we are Strange to him and when he comes and Offers himself we can have Twenty Excuses to get away and Shift him off And so is God Served by the Prayerless Families He is not to their Mind and they do not care for his Company Even a Godly Man that does but bear his Image is an Eye-sore to them They have no Kindness for him and how then can such a Holy God be for their Turn When it is Likeness that breeds the Love and Love draws all to Union But where there is no manner of Suitableness there 's like to be small Dearness And then where the Friendship is Cold the Visits are but very Rare and Short and all but mere Formality nothing Hearty Now such is the Case between God and Wicked Men Who are Estranged from the Womb and not only Fallen from but Fallen out with him that Made them Full of Prejudice against him and Retaining no Favourable Opinion of him And so they are Shy towards him and Listless to come near him They think they have Better Friends and can bestow themselves more to their Content another way And therefore are quite off this Course Yea so Far gone from God and Combined in their Apostacy That they scarce so much as make any Mention of the Family-Duty unless it be in the way of Derision and Drollery as a Name of Scorn and Infamy To Ridicule the Tenderness of a Neighbour whose Pious Practice Upbraids their own Shameful Neglect Now is not this a Sad and Fearful Consideration that may strike you down and make you Tremble To think that your Strangeness to God arises from this Enmity and that therefore you are Prayerless because Enemies At Odds with your Glorious Maker and up in Rebellion against the King of Heaven And then O what do you mean to do Will you stand it out and Prepare for Battel and go try Strength with the Lord Almighty Are you for the Encounter And dare you Resist and Venture to Bear the Shock of his Indignation O Sottish Creatures How Unequal is the Combat For a poor frail Arm of Flesh to Fight with Tempest Lightning and Thunderbolts For Dry Stubble to Maintain its Own before a Consuming Fire This can never do your Business No Standing in his Sight when once he is Angry No Escaping his Hand when he comes to take Vengeance The Proudest must Stoop to him The Strongest will Sink under him It must be another way that you Prepare to Meet your God And that is To go and Cast your selves at his Feet and asswage his Wrath with your Prayers and Beg Pardon and Peace for his Son's Merits For you will sind Judgment without Mercy if you do not make your Peace in this Time of Mercy You will be Torn in pieces when there shall be none to Deliver if of the Offended Majesty himself you do not obtain Deliverance from this Cursed Enmity Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace Thereby Good shall come unto thee Job 22.21 Yea thou shalt make thy Prayer to him and he shall hear thee ver 27. That 's a Wonderful Indulgence for Enemies who lye all at his Mercy to be admitted to Parley That he will allow you to come and Speak for your selves Yea that he puts you upon this very Course And the Gracious God wronged and offended seeks first to have all Accommodated and Healed And will you not then take the Time and the Offer while you may have it Yea and when we pray you in Christ's stead to be Reconciled unto God If ever you will shew Wisdom to do you any Good shew it here and shew it Quickly Hasten to your Prayers and hold not your Peace till the Lord speak Peace And Cry maghtily that you may find a perfect Cure of the Antipathy So that from Abhorring of God you may come to Delight your selves in the Lord. 6. One other Cause near a-kin to this of withholding the Prayers is The Love of Sin When Wickedness is sweet in the Mouth and as u pleasant Morsel is Hid under the Tongue Job 20.12 Then Prayer is Unsavoury and Bitter and no acceptable Relish to be found in it Tho the Pious Soul uses to fall to it like an Epicure to his Feast Yet as men grow Foâ—d of their Sins They fall out of Conceit with their Prayers And if they do not Check themselves in the Wicked Course They shall find a Obeck at the Throne of Grace If you are Conscious of Iniquity Regarded in your Hearts and Allowed in your Practice Then going to the Lord in that Pickle you can expect small Welcome nor any Destrable Hearing When you go on in your Trespasses you 'll be Heartless to carry on your Prayers And where the Wickedness is become Delicious there the Prayer will grow Fulsome And how can you in earnest Pray against the things which you Love above all things That which makes thee Abash'd before the Lord will be apt to Keep thee out of his Presence When thy doing is so Inconsistent with thy Praying and thou knowest where is the Stop and what is the Matter That God Hides his Face from thee and will have nothing to do with thee till thou hast done with the provoking thing Then thou hangest back from the Galling Office and triest to Divert and Ease thy self another way And what Heart hast thou to Seek the Face of the Lord which his Word tells thee is Against them that do Evil Psal 34.16 Alas the Ungodly Wretch has got other Haunts than to the Throne of Grace And what should he do there who has no Purity of Heart nor any Holy Hands to Lift up The way of Frayer is utterly Cross to the Course of his Life And to Draw Nigh to the Holy Righteous Lord does nothing but Upbraid and Torment him He can have neither Boldness nor Comfort there But sinds himself Easier to Stay away And so he withholds Prayer as a Rub in his Passage that he may go on the more Clâ—ver and undisturbed in the pursuit of his Lusts I cannot much wonder that a Wicked Family should be a Prayerless Family Where their Heads and their Tongues run upon Vanity and Foolery Pomp and Pride Fashions and Dresses Dainties and Excesses the Pot and the Game Cursing and Swearing Corrupt Communication and Dissolute Conversation Raking and Tearing for the World or Brawling and Fighting among themselves Such a Life and Prayer agree like Fire and Water They are Rambling from God and Flying out against him And how then can they for Shame see one another's Faces before him Their Prayers would look but like a Jest and not only a piece of Formality but of Mockery O Sinner When thou turnest thy self loose to walk in the Ways of thy Heart and the Sight of thy Eyes When thou
Prayers only on the Lord's-Day at Night and then the Lord shall have no more of them for a Week They 'll not come near him till that Day Se'nnight again But do not make such Fearful Chasms and Interruptions I beseech you For every Day is the Lord's-Day and a Day of Audience and a Prayer-Day wherein your Heavenly Father Expects you And wherein you I am sure do full as much Need Him And count it as Strange and Unusual with you to Suspend your Prayers as your Meals Yea to have your Prayers at a Stand as to have your Breath stopt For Prayer is the very Breath of Religion without which it is suffocated and stifled and cannot be kept Alive in the Family or in the Soul Nor let the Lord only Hear of you at the Pinch and Extremity when nothing but mere Dread forces you upon it Lest you find the sad Disappointment of Beginning an Acquaintance then and seek in Vain because you would not seek Before But let Prayer be moe in Fashion with you and more Common among you Be Ready to it and Much in it Till you have made you a Frequented Easy Path to the Throne of Grace Let it be even as the Air that you Breathe in and as the Food that you Live on and as the very Pulse of your Souls Carried on even without Ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 i.e. Keep in a Constant Preparation for it and be Ready upon all Occasions to fall into the Actual Exercise of it That it may not be as a Predigious thing to you but an Every Day 's Business and Familiar even as your Eating and Drinking Now to Quicken you to such Frequency of Prayer Do but Consider with me Three Things That this is the Only Time for it That the Oftner you thus come to God you shall be the Welcomer And that your Prayer the more Frequent is the more Excellent 1. Consider That this is the Only Time The Time of Reaching out the Scepter to Invite the Petitioner The Finding-While to Obtain Mercy When Mercy 's Arms are Extended to Receive the Humbled Yielding Sinner But it is but a While and O how Short a While Even as Nothing to the Vast Infinite Duration in which you must take up For ever and ever Can you think much then of your Daily Prayers Or think more than Once a Day too much To Beg and Importune the God of Heaven to have Mercy upon your poor sinful Departing Souls to vouchsafe some Tokens of his Love unto you and to bestow the Riches of his Saving Grace upon you before you go hence and be no more Seen nor Heard among the Living Does the Lord allow you now to Ask Seek and Knock Does he by his Command Oblige you to it And by his Promise of the happy Success Encourage you in it And yet you are Careless and Listless to make your Benefit of it while Time serves you for it O that you would Open your Eyes and see the Gracious Day that yet shines upon you And so well understand your selves as to perceive That it is no hard Put upon you but a Singular Favour offer'd unto you When you are Solicited to make your Frequent Addresses to the Father of Mercies That you may find his Mercy to Eternal Life Find it in the Time of this Mortal Life O could the Damned Pray themselves out of Hell How Hard would they be at it How Incessantly upon it And if by thy Prayers Thou may'st keep thy self from ever Coming there O how well would all the Pains and Expence be laid out though thou shouldst waste thy Lungs and wear out thy Knees in Crying Day and Night to be Delivered from God's Wrath and Everlasting Damnation O will you then Know the Time of your Visitation And if you Know it Use it while you have it And let this be as the Goad to prick you forwards ever and anon to Renew your Prayers To be at them again and again and still Persist in them and never have done with them till your Life is Run out and all your Danger is over O Use your selves now to Cry in Time that at Last you may not Cry in Vain Now Follow your Prayers that then you may not Lose your Prayers For if you do not Begin them till just your Time is Ending even as good you had never begun them O how many that now might Pray and Would not may then find that though they would Pray they Cannot Yea though after a sort then they do Pray there will be none to Regard their Prayers According to that terrifying Denunciation Prov. 1.28 Then shall they Call to me but I will not Answer They shall Seek me Early but they shall not Find me But now you may Prevent the Killing Frustration And if you let the Lord often Hear of you in Your Day you are like to have a Comfortable Hearing with him in His Day And it is the Conscientious Course of your Constant Praying Every Day that will give you good Hopes of Solid and Everlasting Consolation in your Dying-Day And therefore now Give your selves to it and be Often in it that then you may Reap all the Sweet and Blessed Fruits of it 2. Let it Hearten you on to such Frequency of Communion with God That the Oftner you so come to Him the Welcomer you shall be with Him For he is not Weary of Hearing nor Impoverish'd with Granting as Men use to be Sick of Bold Lavish Petitioners and give them not only a Repulse but a Rebuke Upbraiding them with Want of Manners as much as any other Wants they complain of But the Opening of our Mouths Wide has the Promise of God's Filling them And the most Importunate Beggars are his biggest Favourites He is as our Church expresses it always more Ready to Hear than we to Pray And best pleased with those by whom his Gates are most Frequented And though we have something to say to him not only Daniel's Three times a Day but David's Seven times a Day yea though it should come up to the Seventy times Seven He would never be Tir'd with the Repeated Cries nor Frown upon the Endless asking But would Delight in you so Delighting your selves in the Lord and like the Better of you for shewing that Greatest of all Wisdom in coming still to Draw out of his Infinite Fulness with whom is not only the All-sufficient Ability to do for you whatever you can desire but as great an Inclination and Pleasure to do it And your Much-asking is not to make him the more Willing to Give but you the Fitter to Receive When you shew the mighty Value which you have for his Favours that you know how to Prize them and think no Waiting and Begging too much that you may Prevail and Speed at the last 3. Be not ashamed of coming so often not fall into dislike of your Prayers for being so Many When here the Oftener the Better and Prayer the more Frequent the
more of him That you may see his Power and his Glory so as you have seen him in the Sanctuary And may perceive still more of the Strengthening and Reviving which you have found upon this way till from such Glimpses you reach at last to the Fulness of this Heavenly Light 3. Remember what a Presence you are entring into when going to your Prayers and drawing nigh to God Though you are never out of his Sight yet then place yourselves as directly under his Eye and surrounded with the Glory of the Lord. As Daniel worshipped Before his God Chap. 6.10 So do it Heartily as to the Lord. Seek the Lord and Seek his Face Psalm 105.4 As if you were speaking to your Sovereign Face to Face Pour not out Words without minding the Majesty with whom you have to do Lest the Lord Capitulate with you as he did with those Zech. 7.5 Did ye at all do it to me Even to me You had some one else in your Eye and other Matters in your Mind And I that was in your Mouths was least Regarded in your Hearts O How Few indeed Draw Nigh to God even when they Seem to do it And how many Prayers are Lost by the way that never Reach to him Because alas They did not so much as Aim at him And even in the midst of all their Prayers God was not in all their Thoughts O take heed that your Prayers be not such Mock-Prayers Which have not God present with you for the Glorious Object to whom they are Presented But Look upon Him as just Before you and on every Side Round about you That your Prayer may be the Ascending of your Hearts and a Dealing and Conversing Immediately with him That you may not take so much Notice of any thing that strikes upon your Sense as of the Great God that Searches your Hearts and overlook all the Company to Lift up your Eyes to him that Dwelleth in the Heavens And as the Eyes of Servants Look to the Hand of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden to the Hand of her Mistress So let your Eyes Wait upon the Lord your God till he have Mercy upon you Psal 123.1 2. Yea Lift up your Hearts together with your Eyes for his Blessing and Direction his Assistance and Acceptance in that great Work you are upon And if in the Beginning of your Worship you do not always make such an Address with your Mouths yet never Forget to do it within your Hearts That you may find Him who is with you Present in such sweet and joyful Effects as shall be like a Beginning of Heaven to you 4. Though I must not Impose it yet I cannot chuse but much Approve and Recommend it That before your Solemn Prayers you would Read and Consider some Portion of the Holy Scriptures To Hear what God says unto you Before you Speak unto God For this is not only a Decent Preface but an Excellent Preparative to Prayer Thus to Gather in your Thoughts and Compose your Minds to Wait and Attend upon the Lord. And those Families that are much Concern'd in the World have the greater Need of this Means To Excite and Engage them to the Worship of God By Hearing of somewhat first from the Word of God He that turneth away his Ear from Hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be Abomination Prov. 28 9. Though I quote not that Text to prove it a Duty still to Use such Reading before our Praying when the Meaning is that an ill Practice will spoil even the best Prayers Yet we seem then to stand the Fairer for a desirable Hearing with the Lord When we are first Inquisitive and Attentive to Hear what he says to our Souls And you can hardly Read a Psalm or a Chapter with Deliberation and Serious Pausing upon it as all Holy Scripture ought to be Read but it will Suggest some Thoughts and Reflections that may prove of mighty Use and Advantage to Quicken and Promote your Prayers 5. I would not only advise but earnestly exhort you to a Profound Riverence in the Worship of God And such an Awful Carriage in his Presence as may shew you to Pray with Understanding and to Know Where you are and to Whom you Address For it is another thing to Negotiate with the God of Heaven than to go and speak to the Greatest Prince upon Earth And if the Glorious Powers Above throw down their Crowns and Shrink up themselves before his Throne O how can despicable Worms here ever Abase themselves Low enough at the Feet of such a Holy Incomprehensible Majesty And they that will Dare to play with this Consuming Fire may Dread to be made Dust and Ashes in the Saddest Acceptation His Name is not only Glorious but Fearful Deut. 28.58 This Glorious and Fearful Name The Lord thy God He makes not only the Earth and the Devils but even his holy Servants and the Pillars of Heaven Tremble So Great and Good a man as David was not asham'd to Confess Psal 119.120 My Flesh Trembles for Fear of Thee and I am Afraid of thy Judgments O the Madness then of Desperate Sinners that can make as Bold as their List with such a King of Unlimited Power and Glory The Lord Open their Eyes For they know not what they do But let the Biggest in the World learn to be Wiser As they are taught Psal 2.11 And Serve the Lord with Reverence and Godly Fear And let me apply that for thy Admonition proud Sinner Psal 114.7 Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord At the presence of the God of Jacob. For Alas What art thou but a Piece of Weak Vile Earth And thou may'st exceedingly Fear and Quake to think how Stiff and Stubborn thou hast been with the Almighty Majesty of Heaven And because nothing so Low abases us as the Sense of Sin The more therefore to Heighten that Sense Be more Free and Full in Confessing of your Sins and Impleading your selves And forbear not to tell even all the Worst For such Doleful Accents issue in Joyful Accounts The plentiful Showers produce fruitful Crops Psalm â—2 5 I said I will Confess my Transgressions to the Lord And thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin And though he Mourn'd in his Complaint and made a Noise Psalm 55.2 Yet he Comforted himself Psalm 6.8 The Lord has heard the Voice of my Weeping q. d. He gave more regard to the Groans and Tears than to the Words and Phrases Be not sparing then to Confess if you would have the Lord abundantly to Pardon Yet here not only your Prudence but Necessity must set Bounds For if you think you must Tell All you will never have done Do then what you can And like poor Debtors that use to pay some one Time and some another And then think you have done it to some purpose when you have but confest enough to Pierce your Hearts and to pull down your Souls But because many