into which we have thereby brought ourselves, begging His pardon, imploring the grace of His Holy Spirit; and in the sincerity and uprightness of our hearts resolving to be wholly His, and to serve Him in newness of life all our days.

And the truth is, every one of these is virtually a petition to Him. Whether we heartily acknowledge what He is, or adore Him, or praise Him, or give Him thanks, or confess our unworthiness, or profess our dependence on Him, or promise fidelity to Him, they all bespeak His grace and favour towards us, and move Him to bestow His mercy

upon us.

This is a short explication of the nature of Prayer; which will be something better understood, by what follows concerning the necessity of it; though when I have said all that I can, I am sensible it will be defective. For Prayer is so sublime a thing, that the noblest wits have acknowledged, we stand in need " of the Father to enlighten, of His first-begotten Word to teach, and of the Spirit to operate in

us" (as Origen's words are) " that we may be able to think and speak worthily in so great an argument."

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CHAPTER II.

OF THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER.

E shall be the more strongly moved to study this high and excellent duty, and to labour to perform it aright, when we are made sensible it is so indispensable a part of a godly life, that we cannot so much as pretend to the profession of Christianity, if we do not practice it. Of which there is this general demonstration, which cannot be gainsaid.

That which is founded in our nature, and to which we are bound by virtue of our being creatures; to that, every Christian is indispensably tied: it being the intention of the coming of our Lord Christ not to loosen those obligations we have upon us, as men; but to strengthen them, and bind them harder upon us; to heighten all natural duties, and to make us more deeply sensible of the laws that are written in our very being.

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Now such a one is this of Prayer; which doth not stand upon a mere positive command, as Baptism, and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper do. That is, it is not our duty merely, because our Lord by His authority hath made it so, but He hath made it so because we are made to it (as I may speak) and formed by God to acknowledge Him in this manner. For it is as natural a thing to pray, as it is to believe there is a God; and to be persuaded that we were made by Him, and not by ourselves.

Hence it is, that you shall not find in the whole law of Moses, any precept for prayer; of which, what reason can we give but this, that it was so sufficiently known to be a duty by the common light of nature, that there needed no instruction about it; nor can I observe hitherto any command in the gospel of Christ, barely for Prayer; but only for the manner of Prayer? As, inthe place first mentioned, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and pray to thy Father which is in secret:" and in other places, "Watch and

义

pray-Pray continually;-Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit;-Pray in the Holy Ghost-Pray always, and not faint;Pray in the name of the Lord Jesus." All which supposes the duty of Prayer; and only direct how it is to be performed.

For the further clearing of which general observation, let these following particulars be considered.

I. That it is natural to every living sensible creature, to look back to its beginning; and to own its dependence upon that, from whence it derives its being. Thus we see the young ones of all sorts of animals open their mouths, and wait, as it were, for provision from the old ones, while they remain weak and tender; running also to them for shelter and protection, while they are unable to defend themselves. Upon which score, Prayer is as necessary for us, and as natural to us, as it is natural to an infant to cry for its mother's breast, or something else equivalent thereunto, that may satisfy its craving desires. Because it is an acknowledgment and owning