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felves, fo neither can we uphold ourfelves therefore in all reafon we fhould have recourse to that being who hath made us, and therefore can uphold us. Tho we are weak, yet our maker is ftrong; he can do every thing, the doing of which doth not imply a contradiction. And moreover he is inclined to acts of mercy and compaffion; but we cannot expect that he will bestow mercies upon us, if we do not pray for them.

Prayer becomes us as we are creatures; and it becomes us alfo as we are finners. If we should say that we have no fin, we should deceive ourselves, and the truth would not be in us. There is not a just man upon earth, that doth good and finneth not. We have all of us, more or lefs, tranfgreffed the holy and righteous laws of God: and therefore it is fit that we fhould humble ourfelves before him, in a fenfe of our own vileness and unworthiness, confeffing our fins, and imploring the pardon and forgiveness of them. Sinˇnaturally tends to make God our enemy, and renders us obnoxious to his wrath. And if fo, it is impoffible that whilst we remain under the guilt of it, we fhould be the fuitable objects of his

favour,

favour. Therefore this fhould be one of the firft petitions that we offer up to God, that he would hide his face from our fins, and blot out all our iniquities. Pardon of fin is as it were the foundation of all other mercies, and qualifies and difpofes us for them.

Thus much shall fuffice for the proof from reason, that prayer is a duty incumbent upon all men. I will I will prove the fame,

2. From fcripture. And here it may be proper to premife, that the old tef tament abounds more with promises of mercy to fuch as perform this duty fincerely, than with exprefs precepts for the practice of it, The reafon of which may be this; that it being a natural duty, there needed not a pofitive command; but it was taken for granted that men would of themselves practife what was such a plain dictate of nature: only, the more to excite and encourage them to it, God was pleafed to give them affurance of his gracious acceptance thereof. Hence arife these expreffions in the Pfalms and Proverbs The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The righteous cry, and the Lord beareth, and

:

delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth: he will fulfil the defre of them that fear him, alfo be will bear their cry, and will fave them. The facrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord; but the prayer of the upright is his delight. In these and other texts of the like import, it is fuppofed that good men would pray, and therefore the duty itself is not commanded only for their comfort they are told, that their prayers fhall not be in vain, but shall meet with a gracious anfwer, and they themselves be treated in a very different manner from those who either pray not at all, or, if they do, pray hypocritically and infincerely.

However there are texts for prayer in the old teftament which are delivered in a way of precept, and are therefore more directly to our purpose. Pfalm L. 14, 15. God having fpoken with much contempt of the facrifices of beasts, in which the Jews placed fo much religion, demands from them the nobler facrifices of praife and prayer: Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the moft High and call upon me in the day of trouble. Pfalm XXVII. 14. Wait

on

on the Lord, and be of good courage, and be fhall ftrengthen thine heart: wait, I fay, on the Lord. Ifaiah LV. 6. Seek ye the Lord while be may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.

I will next produce fome texts out of the new teftament. And I will begin with that precept of our bleffed Saviour, Matt. VII. 7. Afk, and it fhall be given you; feek, and ye shall find; knock, and it fhall be opened unto you. Moreover, our Lord exhorts his difciples to watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation; Matt. XXVI. 41. And we read in the XVIIIth chapter of Luke, that he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. St. Paul, in the XIIth chapter of the epiftle to the Romans, exhorting to a great number of duties, amongst the reft recommends that of continuing inftant in prayer; Rom. XII. 12. The fame apostle urges the fame duty in his epiftle to the Ephefians, chap. VI. ver. 18. Praying always with all prayer and Supplication in the fpirit, and watching thereunto with all perfeverance. And again, in his epiftle to the Philippians, chap. IV. ver. 6. Be careful for nothing,

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but in every thing by prayer and fupplica tion with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And likewife in his epistle to the Coloffians, chap. IV. ver. 2. Continue in prayer, and watch in the fame with thanksgiving. And to the Theffalonians in the text, Pray without ceafing. St. James alfo exhorts to the practice of this duty, James I. James I. 5. If any of you lack wifdom, let him afk of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. And St. Peter inculcates the fame duty, 1Pet. IV. 7. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore fober, and watch unto prayer. Having proved that prayer is a duty incumbent upon all men; I proceed

now,

II. To answer objections against it.

1. It is objected, that prayer is needlefs, because God knows our wants beforehand, and can fupply them as well without our seeking as with it. Ianswer: it is very true, that God knows our wants; but what is there in that to take away the obligation to prayer? His knowledge of our wants, and our own fenfe of them, are two very different things: and I cannot fee why the former of these

fhould

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