we should own with Abraham*, that we are but duft and afbes; and with Jacob', that we are not worthy of the leaft of all the mercies, and of all the truth which God has fhewed unto us. Confeffion of fin, both of our nature and of our lives, is a very proper and neceffary part of this work. This has been the practice of the faints in all ages; as of David, which appears from his own words"; I acknowledge my fin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not bid: I said, I will confess my tranfgreffions unto the Lord, and thou forgaveft the iniquity of my fin. So Daniel, when he fet his face unto the Lord God, to feek by prayer and fupplications, made confeffion both of his own and of the fins of others; I prayed unto the Lord my God, fays he", and made my confeffion, and faid, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep bis commandments. We have finned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgments; neither have we bearkened unto thy fervants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. And the apostle John, for the encouragement of believers in this part of the duty of prayer, fays, If we confess our fins, be, that is, God, is just and faithful to forgive us our fins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: Not that confeffion of fin is either the procuring cause, or means, or condition of pardon and cleanfing, which are both owing to the blood of Chrift; in juftice and faithfulness to which, and him that shed it, God forgives the fins of his people, and cleanses them from them; but the design of the apoftle is to fhew that fin is in the faints, and is committed by them, and that confeffion of fin is right and acceptable in the fight of God; and, to animate and encourage them to it, he takes notice of the juf tice and faithfulness of God in pardoning and cleanfing his people, through the blood of Chrift, which, as he had a little before obferved, cleanseth from all fin. Nay, we are not only to make confeffion of fin in prayer, but to pray for the pardon and forgiveness of it. Chrift directed his difciples to this part of their duty, when he bid them pray after this manner; Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. This has been the conftant practice of the faints, as of Mofes ; O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go amongst us, and pardon our iniquity and our fin, and take us for thine inheritance. Of David'; For thy name's fake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. Yea, he fays to the Lord', For this, fhall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou A mayeft be found. And of Daniel', O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, bearken and do, defer not, for thine own fake, O my God; for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. Now it ought to be obferved, that very frequently when the faints pray, either for the forgiveness of their own, or others fins, their meaning is, that God would, in a providential way, deliver them out of present diftrefs, remove his afflicting hand, which lies heavy on them, or avert such judgments which feem to hang over their heads, and very much threaten them; which, when he does, is an indication of his having pardoned them. We are to understand many petitions of Mofes ", Job", Solomon*, and others, in this fense: Befides, when believers now pray for the pardon of fin, their meaning is not that the blood of Christ should be shed again for the remiffion of their fins; or that any new act of pardon should arise in God's mind, and be paffed by him; but that they might have the sense, the manifestation, and application of pardoning grace to their fouls. We are not to imagine, that as often as the faints fin, repent, confess their fins, and pray for the forgiveness of them, that God makes and paffes new acts of pardon; for he has, by one eternal and compleat act of grace, in the view of his Son's blood and facrifice, freely and fully forgiven all the trespasses of his chosen ones, all their fins, past, prefent, and to come; but whereas they daily fin against God, grieve his Spirit, and wound their own consciences, they have need of the fresh sprinklings of the blood of Jefus, and of renewed manifeftations of pardon to their fouls; and it is both their duty and interest to attend the throne of grace on this account. Another part and branch of prayer lies in putting up petitions to God for good things, temporal and spiritual mercies, the bleffings of nature and of grace. As we ought to live in a dependance on divine providence, so we fhould daily pray for the common fuftenance of our bodies, the comfort, fupport, and preservation of our lives; as our Lord has taught us, faying, Give us this day our daily bread. Our requests in this way ought, indeed, to be frequent, but not large; we should not feek great things for ourselves. Agur's prayer is a proper copy for us to follow: Two things, fays he to the Lord, bave I required of thee, deny me them not before I die; Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, left I be full and deny thee, and fay, Who is the Lord? Or left I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. The fpiritual blessings we should ask for, are fuch as God has laid up in the covenant of grace, which is ordered in all things and fure, Chrift has procured by his blood, the gospel is a revelation of, and the Spirit of God makes interceffion for in our own hearts, according to the will of God; for these things we should pray in faith, nothing wavering; for this is the confidence that we have in him, that is, God, that if we ask any thing according to his will, be beareth us; and if we know that be bear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we deftred of bim. When we pray for special mercies, fpiritual bleffings, fuch as converting grace for unconverted friends and relations, we ought to pray in fubmiffion to the fecret will of God. Thanksgiving for mercies received, is another thing which we should not be forgetful of at the throne of grace; In every thing, by prayer and fupplication, with thanksgiving, fays the apostle', let your requests be made known to God. As we have always mercies to pray for, fo likewife to return thanks for; it becomes us to continue in prayer, for conftant fupplies from heaven, and to watch in the fame with thanksgiving, that is, to wait for the bleffings we have been praying for; and when we have received them, to watch for a proper opportunity, and make use of it, to offer the facrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. When this part is neglected, it is highly resented by the Lord; as appears from the case of the ten lepers *, when one of them faw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on bis face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan; upon which our Lord fays, Were there not ten cleanfed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God fave this Stranger. Before we conclude the exercife of this duty, it is proper to deprecate fuch evils from us, which are either upon us, or we know we are liable to, or may befal us; fuch as the temptations of Satan, the fnares of the world, the diftreffes of life, public calamities, &c. This was in part practised by Daniel: O Lord, fays he, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerufalem, thy holy mountain; because for our fins, and for the iniquities of our Fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. And this is intimated by Chrift to his disciples, in that excellent directory of prayer he gave them, part of which was this; Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil'. Dan. ix. 16. b Phil. iv. 6. a James i. 6. 1 John v. 14, 15. Luke xvii. 15-18. At At the close of this work of prayer, it is neceffary to make use of doxologies, or afcriptions of glory to God; as we begin with God, we should end with him; as in the entrance on this duty, we afcribe greatness to him, so at the conclufion of it we should ascribe glory to him. Such an ascription of glory to God, we find, was used by Chrift at the end of the prayer he taught his difciples, in this manner: Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. By the apostle Paul in this form; Unto bim, that is, God, be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. And in ano ther place thus '; Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wife God, be bonour and glory, for ever and ever. By the apostle Jude in these words; Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to prefent you faultless before the prefence of his glory, with exceeding joy; to the only wife God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. And by the apostle John after this manner; Unto him that hath loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood, and bath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. These, and fuch like ascriptions of glory to God, Father, Son, and Spirit, are necessary at the finishing of our fupplications, fince the mercies and bleffings we have been either petitioning, or returning thanks for, come from him; befides, they serve to shew forth the praises of God, and to exprefs our fenfe of gratitude to him, our dependance upon him, and our expectation of receiving good things from him. The whole of this exercise of prayer should be concluded with pronouncing the word Amen; as a testification of our hearty affent to what we have expressed, and of our fincere defires and wishes, that what we have been praying for might be accomplished, and of our full and firm perfuafion and affured belief that God is able, willing, and faithful to perform all that he has promised, and give whatsoever we have been asking of him, according to his will. But I proceed, 3. To confider the feveral forts and kinds of prayer, or the various diftri. butions into which it may be made, or the different views in which it may be confidered. Prayer may be confidered either as mental or vocal. Mental prayer is what is only conceived in the mind; it confifts of fecret ejaculations in the heart, which are not expreffed with an audible and articulate voice. Such was the prayer of Hannah, of whom it is faid "; that as fhe continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah fhe spake in her heart, only ber lips moved; but her voice was not heard, therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. Vocal prayer is that which, being conceived and formed in the heart, is expreffed by the tongue, in words, with an audible and articulate voice, so as to be heard and understood. This the prophet intends, when he says ", Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord, fay unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; fo will we render the calves of our lips. Again, Prayer may be confidered either as private or public. Private prayer is that which is either performed in the family, by the head or master of it, the reft joining with him in it, or by a society of Christians in a private house, or by a single person in fecret and alone; concerning which Chrift gives these directions and instructions: When thou prayeft, fays he, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray tanding in the fynagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be feen of men; verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayeft, enter into thy clofet; and when thou haft but thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in fecret, and thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee openly. Public prayer is what is used in the house of God, which is therefore called ", an house of prayer; where the people of God meet together, and, with the other parts of divine, public, and focial worship, perform this. The first Chriftians, in the early days of the gospel, are commended, among other things, for their continuing stedfaftly in prayers, that is, in public prayers, they conftantly met where prayer was wont to be made; and God was pleased to give a fignal teftimony of his approbation of this their practice; for, at a certain time, they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were affembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghoft, and they spake the word of God with boldness'. Once more: Prayer may be confidered either as extraordinary or ordinary. Extraordinary prayer is that which is made ufe of on particular and special occafions; as that exercife of prayer, which was kept by the church on account of Peter's being in prifon. The divine hiftorian fays, that Peter was kept in prifon; but prayer was made without ceafing of the church unto God for bim; which inftance of extraordinary prayer was followed with an extraordinary event; for whilft they were praying, an angel was difpatched from heaven, and loofed Peter from his bonds, who came to the place where the church was affembled, before they had broke up their exercise. Such also were the prayers of the |