fore he was an hundred years old, according to Gen. xii. 1-14. xv. 2. xxi. 5. Sometimes God gives upon our praying that which is better than what we desire. Abraham prayed that Ishmael, the son whom he had by his bondmaid, might live before God, as the promised seed; but the Lord promised him that which was better, namely, Isaac, a son of his proper wife, Gen. xvii. 18, 19. But sometimes God denies that which a person desires, and yet causes the soul to acquiesce in the denial, and to be satisfied with it, by affording her an abundant influence of grace. Paul "prayed t rice to be delivered from the buffetings of Satan ;" but it did not please the Lord to grant him his request, "but he said, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul acquiesced in this, and was satisfied, saying, "Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me," 2 Cor. xii. 7-10. It is necessary to confide that God will assuredly hear the person who prays believingly, either in one way, or another: therefore the apostle James saith, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him: but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering," &c. James i. 5, 6. "Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them," saith the Saviour, Mark xi. 24. The person who calls on the name of God hath indeed a sure foundation of trust in the power, wisdom and goodness of God, and in the merits, intercession and promise of Christ. Doth any one ask, How can I know that God heareth my prayer, when he doth not presently grant me my desire upon my petition? It is certain, that God hears our prayer, when we pray according to his will: This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us," saith the best beloved disciple of Jesus, 1 John v. 14. The Lord also sometimes assures his praying people by his spirit, that he hears them, and particularly, (a) when he affords them a ready and fice access to him; for he shows then that his ears are open to the prayer of faith; when it is otherwise," he covers himself with a cloud, that their prayer may not pass through," Lam. iii. 44. (b) When he gives the person who prays the spirit of prayer, so that he prays heartily, copiously, and with perseverance. This is an evidence, that he will hear our prayer; for the apostle teacheth us this, Rom. viii. 26, 27, (c) Sometimes the Lord shows the soul, that he is pleased with her prayer, he nods, as it were, to her, and grants her rest, peace, confidence, and an expectation that he will fulfill her desire, so that she must say with the

church, "I will look unto the Lord: I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me," Micha vii. 7. (d) But the soul becomes most clearly persuaded, that her petition is heard, when God secretly speaks and saith to the soul, Be of good cheer, “I will do this same thing also of which thou hast spoken." See Exod. xxxiii. 17. Isaiah xxxviii. 5.

5. According to the text, we must "make our request known to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." It is also proper, that he who requests and obtains aught of God, should cheerfully acknowledge it, and give him the honour of it. It is true, that as long as we have not obtained our request, or the evidence that we are heard, we cannot thank the Lord for it. The praying soul hath nevertheless sufficient cause to thank the Lord. She must praise the glory of the Lord: former benefits must be acknowledged; and her happiness, that she may draw near to him, may obtain the Spirit of prayer, and trust that she will be heard, must surely cause her to honour the Lord.

6. But shall we do this great work remissly and carelessly? no, it must be done with "intense earnestness." It was foretold of Christians, that they should be "earnest supplicants," Zeph. iii. 10. They are exceedingly desirous of the fulfilment of their request; and this renders them vehemently and perseveringly earnest to obtain it: "Continue instant in prayer," thus Paul admonisheth, Coll. iv. 2. And therefore their souls are actively intent with respect to God, to themselves, their request, faith and trust, and they also attend to the manner in which the Lord will conduct toward them, whether their prayer will be acceptable to him, or whether he will oppose them and so they watch to see what he will say unto them," Hab. ii. "Satan indeed stands at the right hand" of the person who prays, "when he stands before the Lord” with his petitions, "that he may resist him," and may suggest every discouragement to the soul See this, Zech. i. 1, 2. But the earnest supplicant will not become remiss on this account, but will call upon God with greater zeal, and with more vehemence, like his Saviour, "who, being in an agony, prayed more earnestly," Luke xxii. 44.

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7. This earnestness is nevertheless not a mere noise, neither is it effected by our power and might, but by the Spirit of the Lord," Zech. iv. 6. For “God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth," as Jesus saith, John iv. 24. And therefore we must pray to him with our spirits, and with the inmost emotions of our souls, and so also in truth and uprightness. We must draw near with a true heart, Heb. x. 22. But to

pray in spirit and in truth denotes also to pray without being confined by God to any place of prayer, as the church of the Old Tes tament was limited with her solemn prayers to Jerusalem. See John iv. 20-24.

8. Although we must pray with the spirit, nevertheless the body, which is the Lord's, must also be active in this work with such gestures, as manifest a becoming sense, and reverence for God, and express the praying posture of the soul. Whether in grievous distress we fall with our faces to the earth," like Joshua, Joshua vii. 6; or whether from reverence we "bow down and kneel," with the church, Psalm xcv. 6; or to manifest our confidence, and readiness to serve, we "stand," with Abraham, Gen. xviii. 22, 23. We must also "lift up our hands with our hearts unto heaven," as the church would do, Lam. iii. 41. And we must "lift up our eyes to heaven," with Jesus, John xvii. 1, or to testify our unworthiness, we must cast them down with the publican, Luke xviii. 13.

II. There is no work, for which we are less qualified, than praying in a suitable manner to the Lord. The apostles were conscious of this, and therefore said to their Master, "Lord teach us to pray. And he said unto them, After this manner pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name," &c. Matt. vi. 9-13. Luke xi. 1-4. Of which pattern of prayer we may say with propriety, that Christ gave it, that we might offer up our desires to God with the selfsame words; for he puts the words into our mouths. After the same manner the prophet saith to Israel, Hosea xiv. 2, 3, "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously," &c. But no person will admit that we ought always to make use of this pattern, and of no other, when we pray. We do not read that the apostles ever used this pattern word for word, when they prayed: we therefore conceive that the principle design of Jesus was to teach believers for what things, and in what manner they ought to pray. And this pattern is also a most perfect model of a well ordered prayer; for we have here, (1) A most suitable address to God. (2) Six petitions, the first three of which have an immediate reference to God, and the three last to ourselves. Or we may divide the six petitions into one petition for the chief end, to wit, the hallowing of the Father's name, and the five last petitions, as means for obtaining that chief end. Which means are either petitions for good things, to wit, spiritual in the second and third petition, and bodily in the fourth petition or petitions for deprecating evil, both that which is past, in the fifth petition, and that which is to come in the sixth pe VOL. II.

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tition. (3) And we have then in this prayer of the Lord the conclusion, designed to ascribe suitable praise to the Lord, and to move him by his own glory and praise, and to strengthen and confirm the trust of the true petitioner. This pattern is wonderfully sententious and concise, manifesting the unsearchable wisdom of the greatest Advocate with the Father. We need not however seek in the six petitions, and in the conclusion: following them certain prophecies of seven successive periods, and account for this by the wisdom of the Lord, as some do:* for we cannot produce either from this prayer, or from elsewhere any decisive proof of this, and therefore it doth not appear proper to denominate our own ungrounded inventions divine wisdom; and besides this, we may also see that those who judge thus are prejudiced in favour of those seven successive periods, for they do not consider the address to be prophetical, as they do the conclusion, because they should then have eight periods. If the prophetical sense of this prayer were wellgrounded, we should not then be able to use the several petitions at all times in their proper emphasis. If our method would permit, we should show that we could refer the conclusion of this prayer, as well, and with as much propriety, to the first period of the church, as the first petition is forced to that period, and we should find it thus with all the six petitions, which are applied to the other periods. For instance, when was it most proper to pray, Lead us not into temptation ? was it not in the time of the heathen persecutions, and of the antichristian seductions? This they nevertheless refer, not to the sixth, but to the foregoing petitions. They think that the forgiveness of sins under the New Testament is expressed by the word aphesis; but we have that word in the sixth petition. Ought they not then, according to that supposition, to refer this petition to the time before the death of Christ, when believers prayed, as they pretend, for aphesis? Observe, in this manner do men intangle themselves, when in order to appear wise, they exceed their proper measure by farsought inventions.

III. That we may at length conclude our explanation of prayer, we will inquire in the first place, "why it is necessary for Christians to pray?" Every one will acknowledge that Christians are bound to

By these our author understands the Cocceians, who expound many passages of scripture as prophecies, which are not considered as such by the generality of interpreters. They also divide the whole season of the New Testament church into seven periods, and endeavour in a very fanciful manner, to find them in many passages of scripture, in which there doth not appear to be the least probable hint of them.

pray, unless we will except the disciples of Van Hattem, who only give thanks, and do not pray, from their profane opinion concerning the Godhead, and the secret will of God, as the rule of our conduct. But those who understand the mystery suspect them with reason of denying the existence of a God, and of atheism, and consider them therefore as unfit and incapable of being instructed by natural and scriptural reasons. They who believe an infinite, simple, and su preme Spirit may be easily convinced, that prayer is necessary for Christians; for (a) " prayer is the chief part of thankfulness, which God requires of us." Christians are delivered by the Son of God with a great deliverance; it becomes them then to acknowledge it thankfully, which they do especially when they pray; for we thereby acknowledge our dependence on God, we contemplate and celebrate in a practical manner all his excellencies and perfections, and we engage that we will serve him, yea, prayer is a service, which we offer to God, in order to manifest our thankfulness; for the whole service of God is expressed by the phrase of "calling upon the name of the Lord," Gen. iv. 26. Joel ii. 32, Therefore "exalting the Lord as the God of his people, and worshipping before him, because he is holy," are joined together, Psalm xcix. 9. God also requires this of his delivered people, as the principal part of thankfulness, Psalm i. 14, 15, Philip. iv. 6. Rev. xv. 4. (b) "God will give his grace and his holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires ask them of him, and are thankful for them." The Lord knows the needs of his children, he hath purposed to supply them, and Christ hath purchased all things for them; but he hath appointed prayer to be a mean of obtaining our desires, and he will bestow nothing, except upon and through prayer. When God had promised great things to his people, and had assured them that he would do those things for them, he said that he would nevertheless "be inquired of that he might do those things." Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37. See also how David and Daniel prayed to God for what he had already promised, that he would certainly do it, 2 Sam. vii. 27. Dan. ix. 2, 3.

APPLICATION.

Although the Pelagians will allow that Christians ought to pray, and although they also pray after their manner, nevertheless they