then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I, if thou," &c. Though the lesson be never so good, yet if the instrument be out of tune there is no harmony, and harmonious prayer is very speeding, therefore,

It must be joint prayer. When the church prayed, Peter was delivered. It is true that their prayer was very urgent in itself, for, according to the original, it is, they continued in outstretched prayer: it was holding prayer, for they continued; it was seasonable, for it was the night before his appointed death: yet withal the church prayeth and Peter cometh. One string doth not make the harmony, and the word is, "If two or three of you shall make a symphony, it shall be done for you," Matt. xviii. 19. God who is overcome by none suffers himself to be overcome by prayer ;* but your prayer must be full of himself, pressing and a close leaguer; wherefore you that lie perdue, keep centinel, or to speak in scripture phrase, Isa. lxii. 6, 7, all you that are watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem, all the day and all the night continually cease not: ye that are mindful of the Lord keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he repair, and until he set up Jerusalem the praise of the Lord.

Will prayer do it? Will prayer raise God for the scattering of the enemies of the churches? I beseech you, in the name of God, let us consider where to lay the fault and the blame of much of that evil which is come upon the churches in these latter times. When the defeat was lately before Antwerp, there was fault laid on such a man, and such a man. When we consider the afflictions of Germany, we are ready to say, If such a king or country had stepped in, all this evil had been prevented, the Palatinate restored and peace settled; but may we not rather say, If our prayers had stepped in. This word telleth us that our prayers do awaken God, and when God is awakened, then the enemies are destroyed; we see then, in truth, where the fault lieth, our prayers have not come in full enough; wherefore the less we have prayed before, the more let us pray now; pray in your closets, pray in your families, pray in the assemblies, pray alone, pray in company, pray for all the churches, pray for Germany the first place of reformation, pray for Holland your hiding-place,

* Deus qui nullis contra se superari potest precibus superatur.-Hierom.

and in all your prayers forget not England, still pray for England. Take some motives:

You are unnatural if you pray not. It is reported of Croesus's son, that he was dumb, and seeing one about to kill his father, though he had been always dumb before, yet then he burst forth into this speech, What, will you kill Crosus? If you be in Christ, the church of Christ is more to you than many Croesuses; your grace doth not extinguish nature, but advance it; help, and not hinder. A gracious heart cannot be unnatural though it loveth to be supernatural. Again, It is the property of a good christian, and of true grace, to observe what work God is doing, and to help on that work: what God is doing in the world, and to help that on; what God is doing upon his own heart, and to help that on. O Lord, saith the soul, help me! I will help thee, I will put my shoulder unto thy work as thou art pleased to put thy hand to my duty. Now the great work which God is doing in these times is the pouring out of the seven vials, Rev. xvi.; and if you look into Rev. v. 8, you shall find that the saints' prayers are their vials: help forward, then, God's vials with your vial; vial doth call for vial.

Either good and deliverance will come unto the churches, or else it will not. If it do not, you If it do not, you had need pray that your hearts may be supported in all and settled. Prayer is a composing duty, and fully settling. If it do come, you had need pray that you may have the comfort of it when it cometh, or else that you may not envy at those that have prayed, for it is a hard thing for one that standeth idle not to envy at him that worketh.

You do not love the churches if you do not pray for them: "He that loveth Jerusalem, prayeth for the peace of Jerusalem." Do you love England; do you love Germany; do you love Holland; do you love the churches, and your friends? He that loveth Jerusalem prayeth for it, and if you do not pray for them, you have no love to them.

You cannot prosper if you do not pray; "They shall prosper that love thee." How love thee? In praying for thee. You cannot prosper if you pray not for the churches : will you not pray then?

Again, You are not God's servants, if you do not pray for his servants; you are not God's children, if you pray not for

his children; if you mark that of the psalmist, it is made an act of service, and a sign of a servant, to "pity the dust and stones of fallen Jerusalem." Saith he, "thy servants pity the dust thereof;" as if they were not servants that have no pity. I know you would not have your livery taken from you. All things of the like nature sympathize with one another; if you have the same nature with the saints, you shall, you will, you must sympathize with them in all conditions; you cannot but pray.

You cannot have a part in the prayers of the churches, unless you pray for the churches. Think upon this argument. Can you be contented to lose your share in all the prayers of the saints? An action there, is better than an action in the East India Company; their stock is great, if your stock go not in, you cannot have a part with them, and that is evil.

If you pray not for the churches, your own selfish prayers will be bootless. When a man shall pray much for his own family, his own name or estate, his own child that lieth a dying, and will not pray for the dying churches; this is a selfish duty. A carnal, selfish spirit, is very loathsome in what is spiritual; and what are you the better for your rich cabin, your warm cabin, your neat cabin, if your ship sink.

Consult with Neh. xiii. 1, 2; there you find it written, that "the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever." What was the reason? "Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water." He that will not meet with distressed Israel with such relief as he may, is an unfit man to have a name in a church of Christ, and it is unfit he should come into the house of God for ever. Wherefore as ever you desire to have a name in God's house, pray, pray, oh now pray; you may with this bread and water meet with Israel, meeting with them you do meet with Christ.

The price of the welfare, peace, and good of the churches is now rising; the time may come it may not be purchased or bought in by prayer.* I remember I have read of a man that brought the book of the sybils unto the emperor or king of the Romans, and desired a great price for those books.

* Fugientia sequimur.

The emperor refused. He goeth away, burneth half the books, doubled the price, and then cometh to the emperor, and offered him them at that rate. The emperor refuseth again. He went away, and burnt the half of those books which were left, and doubled the price: which the emperor considering, gave him the whole money which he desired. So now, it may be, you may have the welfare, the peace, the life of the churches for prayer; time may come, wherein though you add to your prayer your estates, to your estates your liberties, to your liberties all your welfares, and to your welfares your lives, yet you may go without it. Now, it may be had at this good rate, will you not take this good commodity whilst it is offered to you ?

It may be the business of the churches stayeth upon your prayer. If that midwife would come away, the woman would be delivered. Rev. vii. Four angels were sent out to punish the world; and after that a fifth angel is commissioned to go bid them hold their hand, until the servants of the living God are sealed in their foreheads. Angels' work must stay until they be sealed, saith Hezekiah. Isa. xxxvii. 3: "This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." So say I, brethren, it may be the Lord your God will hear the words of all Rabshakahs, whom the enemies of the church have employed to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words, which the Lord your God hath heard: wherefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that are left. God said to Moses, "Let me alone;" but to you otherwise, Why do you let me alone? I stay for you, if you pray earnestly I will come quickly.

I put you but this disjunction; either, O Jacob, thou hast thy brother Esau to meet withal, or else thou hast not: if not, what meaneth thy fears? if thou art to meet with rough Esau, then remember what one night's sweating in prayer did, how it first obtained the face of God, then of Esau. Gen. xxxii. 24; xxxiii. 10; Isa. liv. 26, 17; lviii. 14. The promise is made to you. Every promise is a new footstep for prayer, wherefore you that ever prayed, pray now; nay, you that never prayed, pray now; now is a praying time, and it is good pulling whilst God is coming, begging whilst God is giving. And hath God dealt out nothing to the churches

in these last times? Do but observe which way the wheel turneth in these latter days.

But why do you exhort us to pray? We are here purposely, and come to pray.

True, we are so, but we must pray at other times too. We are here this day to pray, that we may pray hereafter, that we may set wheels of prayer on going; prayer doth fit for prayer; but yet pray for the present. And so we are come to note:

Fifthly, When the people of the land go forth to war, the people of the Lord should go forth to prayer. When the ark removed, then said Moses, "Arise, O Lord," &c. Our prayers are to lead armies into the field. 1 Josh. xvii., see how the people led forth Joshua: "According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee; only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses." You know the prayer of Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and other worthies, to this purpose. Reasons of it, are these especially :

Every business is to be led forth by prayer. Prayer is a leading duty to all our duties; and the greater any business is, the more prayer is to be made. The business of war is a great business, almost miraculous. When I see an army, methinks I see a company of walking towns. It is a great matter, and will you not have so great a business led on by prayer.

But if a man have a business to do, which requireth haste, by attending to prayer he may lose his business.

For that purpose, consider but that one place in answer to this, Josh. v. 2. In the foregoing chapter the children of Israel went through Jordan, and came into their enemies' country; and in this verse the Lord said unto Joshua, "Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time," Josh. v. 2. Now upon their circumcision they were sore: verse 8, it is said, "They abode in their places in the camp till they were whole." Now being come through Jordan, and lying before Jericho, among all their enemies, the natives could not but hear that they were circumcised, and how sore they were; insomuch as the children of Israel might have objected and said, Oh, Lord, if we be circumcised, we shall hinder our designs, weaken our