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First, I fhall begin with Prayer, confider'd as a religious Duty.

It may, perhaps at the firft Hearing, appear ftrange to fome, that Prayer fhould at all be accounted a Duty of Religion, that is to say, any Act of Piety towards God, to which Mankind fhould in Duty be obliged: For (fay they) all Acts of Religion, in the very Nature of them, ought to respect the Honour of God; whereas Prayer feems only to refpect our own Benefit, and little, if at all, God's Honour: When a Beggar asketh an Alms at your Door, doth he thereby mean to do you any Worship or Respect, or rather purely to ferve his own Needs? certainly the latter. It is true, to give Thanks for Benefits received (which is one part of Prayer, in the large Sense of the Word) is an Inftance of Refpect and Honour done to God; but Prayer ftrictly fo called, that is, the putting up Requefts to God for Mercies which we want, feems not to be fo, but only to refpect our felves. Thus perhaps it may be faid; but those that reafon at this rate feem not to have fufficiently confider'd this Matter. Though Prayer be put up for the obtaining Benefits for our felves, yet that doth not hinder but that it may be an Act of Religion properly fo called, and an Inftance of that Honour which we are bound to perform to God. And certainly we must think fo if we will ever believe God's own Declarations in this Vot. IV. Matter,

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Matter, or reflect on the Nature of Prayer it felf.

Firft, As for the Holy Scriptures, Prayer is always therein accounted an Act of God's Worship, and ftrictly enjoyned as fuch to all Mankind. In the 15th Pfalm, 13. ver, where God is declaring to his People how he will be ferved; Thinkeft thou (fays he) that I will eat Bulls Flefb, or drink the Blood of Goats? Offer unto God Thanksgivings, and Fay thy Vows unto the most High, and call apon me in the Day of Trouble. As therefore he that offereth unto God Thanksgivings is, in the fame Pfalm faid to Honour God, (be that offereth me Thanks be honoureth me;) fo he that calleth upon God honoureth him alfo. Nay, fo great a Part doth Prayer make of Religion, that the Whole of it is fometimes expreffed thereby, and to call upon God, to pray to God, and to feek God, is in the Scripture Language the fame thing as to walk religioufly before God; nay, it is fometimes put to exprefs and fignify the whole Condition that is required of us in order to Salvation. Thus Romans xii. 17. The fame Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord fhall be faved. And on the other Side the Character by which wicked Men, fuch as have no Senfe of Piety and Religion, are defcribed in Scripture, is, That they do not practife this Duty of Prayer, they do not call upon God, as you may fee, Pfalm liii. 4.

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I with this was feriously taken notice of by those that live in a general Neglect and Disuse 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 numbred among thofe that have · no Fear of God before their Eyes, but are workers of Wickednefs, as that Pfalm expreffeth it. no noigh

But in the Second Place, let us confider the Nature of Prayer it felf. 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 fhall 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 Governour of the World; it is the owning him to be the fovereign Lord of all his Creatures, and that he hath a Right to order and difpofe of them as he pleafeth: It is the acknowledging our Dependance 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 DZ 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 fpeaking' 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 Vertue, and ftamps Religion upon it, is the Acknowledgment it makes of our own Vilenefs and Impotence, and of God's Sóvereign Power and Goodnefs And in the Dependance 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 Anfwer from him.

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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 Dependance 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 yet not given, but only as defired and expected, that is all the Difference.

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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 should 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 our felves.

Secondly, There is fuppofed a Sense of God's Prefence, and Povidence, and Goodness, and a Belief that God doth see our Condition, and knows what we want, and hath alfo that Love and Kindnefs 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 those Bleffings we ftand in need of, difclaiming all Help in our felves, 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 Sense, and thofe 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 compleated.