I wish this was seriously taken notice of by thofe that live in a general Neglect and Difufe of this Point of Piety. Whatever other laudable Qualities they have to recommend them, yet if they live without Praying, without calling upon GOD, they must be numbered among thofe that have no Fear of GOD before their Eyes, but are Workers of Wickednefs, as that Pfalm expreffeth it.

But in the Second Place, let us confider the Nature of Prayer itself. I grant that Prayer hath this peculiar to it, that it doth more directly and immediately, in its own Nature, refpect our Benefit, than any of the other Acts of Piety and Religion strictly fo called: But yet if we will seriously confider it, we shall find that, for all this, it doth as neceffarily refpect GOD, and is as great an Inftance of his Service as any of the others. For Prayer, if we will form true Notions of it, is a Payment of that Homage we owe to GOD as he is Creator and Governor of the World; it is the owning him to be the Sovereign Lord of all his Creatures, and that he hath a Right to order and difpofe of them as he pleaseth: It is the acknowledging our Dependence upon his Providence for all we have, and for all we are; actually profeffing, to his Honour, that in him we live, move, and have our Being, and that from him defcends every good and perfect Gift. Now furely, these are

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Actions

Actions that do directly refpect GOD, and are prime Inftances of that Honour and Service that we poor Creatures are able to pay him, even every whit as much as Fear, or Love, or Thanksgiving is.

There is more in Prayer than speaking to God, or representing our Defires to him, though that be all that is generally taken notice of in it; that which makes it a Virtue, and ftamps Religion upon it, is the Acknowledgment it makes of our own Vilenefs and Impotence, and of God's Sovereign Power and Goodnefs: And in the Dependence it profeffeth upon him, and him only, for the Supply of our Wants, and the obtaining whatever Good we do defire; in this, I fay, confifts the very Life and Soul of Prayer, and if we take away this, it has nothing valuable in it; nor indeed will it find any Acceptance with GOD, or Answer from him.

By this Account it appears, that Prayer and Thanksgivings do not fo much differ as one would imagine, they are both the Expreffions of our Dependence upon GOD, and making our Acknowledgments to him; only the one (that is Thanksgiving) looks backward, and confiders the Mercies or Benefits acknowledged, as already given; the other, (that is Prayer) looks forward, and confiders them as not yet given, but only as defired and expected, that is all the Difference.

To

To make this Notion of Prayer yet a little plainer, if I can: To every religious Prayer that we put up (if we put it up as we fhould do) there will go these Four Things.

First of all, There is fuppofed a Sense of our Wants, and a Defire of the Supply of them, but withal, a Conviction of our own Impotence and Inability to help ourfelves.

Secondly, There is fuppofed a Sense of GOD's Prefence, and Providence, and Goodnefs, and a Belief that GOD doth fee our Condition, and knows what we want, and hath also that Love and Kindness for his Creatures, that, upon Prayer, he will supply our Neceffities, and give us either what we pray for, or what is more convenient for us.

Upon these Confiderations there follows, in the Third Place, a looking up to God, a waiting upon him for thofe Bleffings we stand in need of, difclaiming all Help in ourfelves, and entirely depending on his Care and Kindness for the Supply of whatsoever we defire. Now, in the fourth and laft Place, when we come to form this Senfe, and those Defires, and this Dependence, into direct Addreffes to GOD, when we make Expreffion of them by actual Application to the Throne of his Grace, whether in Thought alone, or in Thought and Word too, then is our Prayer completed.

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This

This I take to be a true Account of this Duty of Prayer, which being admitted, we may from hence obferve, in the first Place, not only that Prayer hath an immediate Refpect to the Honour of GOD, as well as any of the other Duties of Piety, most properly fo called, and confequently is no fuch mean selfish Business as fome profane Wits are apt to account it; but alfo, that it is a Duty which we do fo indifpenfably owe to GOD, that we must be horribly injurious to him, as well as to ourselves, if we neglect it: Nay, we must first be supposed to be none of his Creatures, before we can be excused from it; for is not every Creature, in the very Nature of Creatureship, bound to renounce all Self-fufficiency, and to take all Opportunities to acknowledge to his Creator the Sovereignty he hath over him, and to express his Dependence upon him for every thing he hopes for? But what is this but the very Effence of Prayer, as we have described it? Nay, though we had no Advantage of our own to be promoted by Prayer, as being fure that GOD would fupply all our Neceffities without our asking him, yet even in this Cafe would Prayer be as neceffary a Duty as it is now, because it would for ever become us to pay our Homage to GOD, and to own him as the Author of all thofe Bleffings we expect from him; it will for ever be as reasonable, and as great an Inftance of Piety, to depend

upon

upon God for his Mercies to come, and to exprefs that Dependence, by Addrefs of Prayer to him, as it will be to acknowledge his Mercies paft, and to exprefs that Acknowledgment by Addrefs of Thanksgiving to him.

Secondly, From this Account we have given of Prayer, it appears not only that it is a Duty that we owe to GOD, but that it is a Duty we owe to him only, and that no Being in the World befides himself hath Right thereto.

For if Prayer be one of the principal Inftances of that Honour, and an Expreffion of that Dependence that we owe to the Creator and Governor of the World, (as we have seen it is) then certainly to be prayed unto is, and for ever will be, one of his incommunicable Peculiarities; one of the Rights and Prerogatives of his Sovereign Majefty, incompatible to any Creature. And confequently to invoke or pray to any Creature in a religious Way, though it be the highest Creature in Heaven, whether Angel or Saint, not excepting the blessed Virgin herself, muft needs be an Affront done to Gop, as giving that Honour to one of his Creatures that is only proper to Himself. How the Papifts will be able to justify their Practices in this Matter, either to GoD or the World, I know not; let them look to it. Their ordinary Distinctions, I fear, will not bring them off; but D 4 I have