SERM. III. Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Pfalm 1. 15. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon him, and he will fulfil the defire of them that fear him; he will hear their cry, and fave them. Pfalm cxlv. 18. God refifteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. James, iv. 6. The meek God will guide in judgment; and the meek will be teach his way. Pfalm xxv. 9. Do not our own minds approve of it as a juft and reasonable conftitution, that the fincere, the humble, and pious petitioner fhould obtain his requests, while the neglecter of God, the unthinking, the proud, and unfubmitting finner fhould be neglected, and continue to want what he will not humble himself to ask from the divine bounty? Nay, muft it not be owned, that we can difcern wife and just reasons why this should be an established law of the divine government? Is it not manifest, that fincerity, humility, and earnest desires after wisdom and virtue, are difpofitions previoufly neceffary, in the nature of things, to prepare our minds for receiving heavenly wifdom, and all the virtues which accom pany pany it? Is not a deep fense of our own ignorance, and earneft panting after the wifdom that comes from above, a fitter difpofition for attaining it, than a fond conceit of our own wifdom? Is not a consciousness of the manifold diforders of our hearts, a more proper fituation of mind for receiving that grace which must rectify them, than a vain and foolish imagination that all is right within already? Is not a forrowful fenfe of our great lofs, while we are void of those divine virtues which form the image of God in us, the most natural preparation for being beautified with them? If, then, this fincerity and humility, these ardent defires of fpiritual bleffings, and this deep fense of our imperfections, are naturally pre-requifite to our receiving these divine favours, is it fuppofable (where these previous qualifications are found in a juft degree, and withal a lively perfuafion that it is from God alone we can obtain these folid bleffings) that the human heart can avoid flying to him for them by the most ardent invocations and prayers? To fum up the whole argument: Since there is an inward impulfe prompting us to 0 4 pray; SER M. III. III. SERM. pray; fince there are frequent precepts of external revelation commanding us to pray; and fince it is the established law of the righteous government of God over the intelligent world, that fpiritual bleffings fhall be bestowed on those only who humble themselves to pray for them; we may infer, that Prayer is so far from implying any juft reflection upon the perfect wisdom and goodness of the great Governor of all things, that it is a juft compliance with that conftitution of things which he hath appointed, and an harmonizing (so to speak) with the wife order of his providence. Since Prayer is appointed by God to be the means of producing, preserving, and increafing in us the best and worthiest dispositions, to practise it is nothing else but a concurring with him in his great design of establishing the happiness of his creation, May God enable us all to do fo. Amen, SERMON IV. The former Subject continued. A MATT. xxvi. 41. Pray, that ye enter not into temptation. IV. FTER endeavouring very fhortly to SERM. explain the Nature of Prayer fimply confidered in itself, and to mark the principal inward acts of the mind exerted in it, from which the outward expreffions of devotion ought to flow, I proposed, Secondly, To vindicate Prayer from fome objections commonly urged against it, and accordingly proceeded to ftate and anfwer two plaufible objections drawn from the perfect knowledge and goodness of God, who needs no information of our wants, nor any entreaties to fupply them. In prose SERM. profecuting this branch of the fubject I now observe, IV. Thirdly, That it has been further urged, "That there is no juft ground of expecting 66 any immediate light or aid from heaven "in confequence of the moft fincere and "fervent Prayer; for, after the most ac"curate inquiry that can be made into the "workings of the human mind, there is "nothing to be perceived but what may be "the natural effect of proper motives and "arguments." In anfwer to this, let it be obferved, that, even fuppofing there is no good difpofition awakened in the human foul, where the proper confiderations and motives have not been laid before it; yet there may be good reafons for believing that there is fome fecret and undifcernible aid of Heaven concurring with thofe confiderations and motives; difplaying their whole importance and force to the mind ; fixing the attention of it to confider them; and laying it open to feel their whole power and influence. This at leaft muft be allowed, that the fame motives, laid before the minds of different perfons, do not produce the fame effects; in two per fons |