III. The parts of prayer, of which it consists; the apostle, in Phil. iv. 6. uses four words to express it by; and he also uses four words for it, with some little difference, in 1 Tim. ii. 1. Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. In prayer there should be a celebration of the divine perfections; an acknowledgment of our vileness and sinfulness; a confession of sin; a deprecation of all evil things, which our sins deserve; a petition for good things which are needed; it should always be accompanied with thanksgiving. At the close of this work it is proper to make use of doxologies or ascriptions of glory to God, of which we have many instances, either of which may be made use of, Matt. vi. 13. Eph. iii. 21. 1 Tim. i. 17. Jude verses 24, 25. Rev. i. 5, 6.

IV. The persons to be prayed for may be next considered. Not devils; for as God had not spared them, nor provided a Saviour for them. But men; yet only the living, not the dead; for after death the final state of men is inevitably fixed; we may pray for unconverted friends and relations, for all saints, of every country, of whatsoever denomination; for all sorts of men, for all in authority, for civil magistrates, that they may be terrors to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well. Nay, we are to pray for our enemies, Matt. v. 44. V. The manner in which prayer is to be performed is worthy of attention. It must be done with or in the Spirit; with the understanding; in faith; with fervency in Spirit; in sincerity; with submission to the will of God; and with assiduity and watchfulness.

VI. The time of prayer, with the continuance in it; and duration of it: it should be always; Praying always with all prayer, Eph. vi. 18. hence these exhortations; Continue in prayer; Pray without ceasing, Col. iv. 2. 1 Thess. v. 17. Not that men are to be always on their knees, and ever formally praying; but it is desirable to be always in praying

* There were some in the fourth century, called Eucheta and Massalians; who, neglecting all business, pretended to pray continually, ascribing their whole salvation to it, Aug. de Hæres. c. 57. & Danaus in ib.

frames, and the heart to be ready for it on all occasions; a day should not pass over without prayer.

VII. The encouragement to prayer, and the advantages arising from it. Saints may be encouraged to it. 1. From the concern which God, Father, Son, and Spirit have in it; which has been taken notice of already. 2. From the interest saints have in God, to whom they pray, they have encouragement to it; he is their Father by adopting grace. 3. From the call of God in providence, and by his Spirit, to it, and his delight in it, Psalm xxvii. 8. 4. Many promises are made to praying souls; as of deliverance from trouble &c. Psalm I, 15. and xci. 15. 5. The experience the people of God in all ages have had of answers of prayers, serves greatly to animate to this duty, Psalm xl. 1. 6. It is good for saints to draw nigh to God; a pleasant good, a profitable good. Of all the fruits which faith produces in christians, genuine prayer, is the prin cipal one.

OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

In which may be observed, a preface, petitions, and a conclusion, with a doxology.

1. A preface; Our Father which art in heaven; in which the object of prayer is described, by his relation to us, Our Father, and by the place of his habitation, which art in heaven. 1. By the relation he stands in to us Our Father; which may be understood of God, essentially considered or of God personally, the consideration of God as our Father, to command in us a reverence of God, to encourage us to use freedom with him to give us boldness at the throne of grace, to inspire us with sentiments of the tenderness of his heart, to fill us with gratitude for the many favours which he has bestowed and to teach us subjection to him, the Father of Spirits, in all things we ask Addressing him as our Father, instructs us to pray for others as well as for ourselves, even for all saints. 11. The object of prayer is described by the place of his habitation and residence;

which art in heaven. Not that God is limited, included, and circumscribed in any place, for he is every where, but as such is the weakness of our mind that we cannot conceive of him but as somewhere, in condescension thereunto he is represented as in the highest place, in the height of hea ven; such a view of him will lead us to some of the divine perfections, as the omniscience and omnipresence of God, and should draw off our minds from the ear th, to God in heaven.

II. The petitions in this prayer, are six, some make them seven; the first three respect the glory of God; the other our good, temporal and spiritual. The First petition is, Hallowed be thy name; which teaches to begin our prayer with the celebration of the name of God, and with a concern for his glory, hallowed is an old English word, now in little use, and is the same as sanctified. He is sanctified by himself when he makes a display of his perfections, as he does in all his works; in the works of creation, of providence and redemption, and particularly of his holiness and Justice, Psalm cxlv. 17. his name may be sanctified by others; by civil magistrates, when they act for the punishment of evil doers, by ministers of the word, when they speak according to the oracles of God, and by common saints, when they sanctify the name of the Lord, 1 Pet. ii. 14. in the exercise of faith, fear, and love. The Second petition is, Thy kingdom come; the Jews have a saying, that prayer, in which is no mention of the kingdom, that is, of God, is no prayer. It may be inquired, 1. Whose kingdom this is; by the connection of the petition with the preface, it seems to be the Father's kingdom; Our Father-thy kingdom come; but as the Father and the Son are one in nature and power, their kingdom is the same. 11. It may be further inquired, which of these kingdoms it is, the coming of which is to be prayed for, as future, the kingdom of providence, may be prayed for, But the gospel dispensation, often called the kingdom of God, and of heaven, may be meant, which when this petition was directed to, was not yet come, though near, but

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This is unknown to men, until

this kingdom will come in greater glory, and which is yet to come, and so to be prayed for, Rev. xix. 1-6. 2. Tim. iv. 1. The third petition; Thy will be done in earth as it is in hea ven. The will of God is either secret or revealed; the secret will of God is the rule of his own actions, in creation, providence, and grace, Eph. i. 11. it appears, either by phrophesies or by facts and events, with respect to every event it should be said, The will of the Lord be done, Acts xxi. 14. in imitation of Eli. Job, David, Hezekiah, and others. The revealed will of God is either what is made known in the gospel, or signified in the law. The rule of doing the will of God, as expressed in this petition, is, as it is done in heaven; meaning not the starry airy heavens, though the inhabitants of them do the will of God, in their way, in a perfect manner. But rather the third heavens are meant, the inhabitants of which are glorified saints, the spirits of just men made perfect, and are perfect in their obedience, and the holy angels, who may be chiefly designed; these readily, cheerfully, and voluntarily do the commandments of God, hearkening to the voice of his word, at once to fulfil it; The Fourth petition is, Give us this day our daily bread; by which is meant, either spiritual or corporal food: some understand it of spiritual food; as the word read, preached, and heard, but it seems best of all to understand it of corpo ral food, which sense the order of the prayer directs to; and which, if not intended, would be imperfect; since then there would be no petition in it for temporal mercies, which yet is necessary. Bread, with the Hebrews, includes all the neces saries and conveniencies of life; see Gen. iii. 19 and xxviii. 20. the epithets of it are, our bread and daily bread: ours, not by desert, for we are not worthy of the least mercy; ours, what we have in a lawful way, by inheritance from our parents, by legacies from our friends, by our own labour and industry, ours, and not another's. The manna of the Israelites might with great propriety be called their daily bread. The petition is, Give us our daily bread; which shews it is to be

prayed for, and to be expected as the gift of God, from whom every good gift comes; and it may be expected, because promised. The Fifth petition is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; by debt are meant sins, as appears from Luke xi. 4. where the same petition is. Forgive us our sins; this we are to pray for daily, since we are daily sinning, in thought, word, and deed. The reason or argument made use of to enforce this petition is, as we forgive our debtors; or, as Luke has it, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us; pecuniary debts are to be forgiven when the debtor is unable to pay and criminal debts or sins, and injuries committed by one christian against another, are to be forgiven, as Christ has forgiven them, this is an argument taken from God's own grace, in the hearts of his people, and as an evidence of it. Nor is it to be expected, that God should for. give us our sins without our forgiving the sins of others; nor can we put up such a petition without forgiving others. The sixth petition is, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, which some make to be a sixth and seventh; but they seem to be two parts and branches of the same. 1. Lead us not into temptation. There are various sorts of temptation, 1. Some are of God, as, by enjoining things hard, difficult, and trying; so God tempted Abraham, Gen. xxii 1-12. and sometimes by laying afflictions upon his people, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. but not by soliciting any to sin, James i. 13. 2. Others are more immediately from Satan himself; hence he is called the tempter, Matt. iv. 3. 1 Thess. iii. 5. 3. There are other temptations, which are from the world; some from the better things in it, as from riches, &c. Some temptations arise from what may be called the evil things of the world; as poverty. And afflictions of various sorts. 4. There are temptations from the flesh, from indwelling sin, from the corruption of nature, which of all are the worst and most powerful; Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed, James i. 14. Now in this petition, Lead us not into temptation, we pray to be kept from every occasion of sinning,