1. An humble confession of the meanness of our nature in its original: Our distance from God, as we are creatures: Our subjection to him, and our constant dependence on him. Thou, O Lord, art in heaven, but we on the earth; our being is but of yesterday, and our foundation is in the dust. What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man that thou shouldest visit him? Man, that is a worm, and the Son of man that is but a worm! It is in thee that we live, move, and have our being: Thou withholdest thy breath and we die.

2. A confession of our sins, both original, which belong to our nature; and actual, that have been found in the course of our lives. We should confess our sins under the sense of the guilt of them, as well as under the deep and mournful impressions of the power of sin in our hearts. We should confess the sins that we have been guilty of in thought, as well as the iniquities of our lips and of our lives. Our sins of omission and sins of commission; the sins of our childhood and of our riper years; sins against the law of God, and sins more particularly committed against the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes it is convenient and necessary to enter into a more particular detail of our various faults and follies. We should mourn before God because of our pride and vanity of mind, the violence of our passions, our earthly-mindedness and love of this world, our sensuality and indulgence of our flesh, our carnal security and unthankfulness under plentiful mercies, and our fretfulness and impatience, or sinful dejection in a time of trouble: Our neglect of duty and want of love to God, our unbelief and hardness of heart, our slothfulness and decay in religion, the dishonours we have brought to God, and all our miscarriages towards our fellow-creatures. And these And these may be aggravated on purpose to humble our souls yet more before God, by a reflection on their variety and their multitude. How often they have been repeated even before and since we knew God savingly; that we have committed them against much light; and that we have sinned against much love; and that after many rebukes of the word and providence, and many consolations from the gospel and Spirit of God. You find this part of prayer very plentifully insisted and enlarged upon, among those examples that are left us in the word of God. And with these confessions we must thus bewail and take shame to ourselves. We are ashamed, and blush to lift up our faces before thee our God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses grown up to the heavens. Behold we are vile, what shall we answer thee? We will lay our hands upon our mouth, and put our mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope.

3. A confession of our desert of punishment, and our unworthiness of mercy, arising from the sense that we have of all our aggravated sins, in such expressions as these: "We deserve, O Lord, to be for ever cast out of thy presence, and to be eternally cut off from all hope of mercy. We deserve to fall under the curse of that law which we have broken, and to be for ever banished from the blessings of that gospel which we have so long refused. We have sinned against so much mercy, that we are no longer worthy to be called thy children. We are utterly unworthy of any of those favours that are promised in thy word, and which thou hast given us encouragement to hope for. If thou contend with us for our transgressions, we are not able to answer thee, O Lord, nor to make excuse for one of a thousand; if thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, there is mercy and plenteous redemption.” 4. A confession or humble representation of our wants and sorrows of every kind.

The particulars of which will fall under the next head; but it is necessary that they should be spread before God, and poured out as it were in his presence; for God loves to hear us tell him, what a sense our souls have of our own particular necessities and troubles. He loves to hear us complain before him, when we are under any pressures from his hand, or when we stand in need of mercies of any kind.

SECTION IV.

OF PETITION.

THE fourth part of prayer consists in petition, which includes in it a desire of deliverance from evil, which is called deprecation, and a request of good things to be bestowed, which is sometimes called comprecation. And on both these accounts we must offer up our petitions to God for ourselves and our fellow-creatures.

The evils we pray to be delivered from, are of a temporal, spiritual, or eternal kind. "O Lord, take away the guilt of our sins by the atonement of thine own Son. Subdue the power of our iniquities by thy own Spirit. Deliver us from the natural darkness of our own minds, from the corruption of our hearts, and perverse tendencies of our appetites and passions. Free us from the temptations to which we are exposed, and thẻ daily snares that attend us. We are in constant danger whilst we are in this life, let the watchful eye of our God be upon us for our defence. Deliver us from thine everlasting wrath, and from that eternal punishment that is due to our sins in hell. Save us from the power of our enemies in this world, and from all the painful evils that we have justly exposed ourselves to by sinning against thee."....

The good we desire to be conferred upon us, is also of a temporal, spiritual, or eternal nature. As we pray for the pardon of all our iniquities for the sake of the great atonement, the death of our Redeemer, so we beg of God the justification of our persons through the righteousness of his own Son Jesus Christ, and our acceptance with God unto eternal life. We pray for the sanctification of our natures by his Holy Spirit, for his enlightening influences, to teach us the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, as well as to discover to us the evil of sin, and our danger by it. We pray for the consolation of the Spirit of God, and that he would not only work faith, and love, and every grace in our hearts, but give us bright and plentiful evidences of his own work, and of our own interest in the love of God. We say unto God, "O thou that hast the hearts of all men in thine hand, form our hearts according to thine own will, and according to the image of thine own Son: Be thou our light and our strength, make us run in the ways of holiness; and let all the means of grace be continued to us, and be made serviceable for the great end for which thou hast appointed them. Preserve thy gospel amongst us, and let all thy providences be sanctified. Let thy mercies draw us nearer to thyself, as with the cords of love; and let the several strokes of thine afflicting hand wean us from sin, mortify us to this world, and make us ready for a departure hence, whensoever thou pleasest to call us. Guide us by thy counsels, and secure us by thy grace, in all our travels through this dangerous wilderness, and at last give us a triumph over death, and a rich and abundant entrance into the kingdom of thy Son in glory. But since while we are here, we wear these bodies of flesh about us, and there are many

things necessary to support our lives, and to make them easy and comfortable; we entreat thou wouldst bestow these conveniences and refreshments upon us, so far as is consistent with thine own glory and the designs of thy grace. Let our health, our strength, and our peace be maintained, and let holiness to the Lord be inscribed upon them all, that whatsoever we receive from thine hands, may be improved to thine honour, and our own truest advantage; heal our diseases, and pardon our iniquities, that our souls may ever bless thee."

And as we are required to offer up petitions for ourselves, and make our own requests known to God, so we are commanded to make supplication for all saints; Ephes. vi. 18. and to offer up prayers and intercessions for all men; 1 Tim. ii. 1. And the word intercession is the common name for this part of our petitions. In general, we must pray for the church of Christ, for Zion lies near to the heart of God, and her name is written upon the palms of the hands of our Redeemer: And the welfare of Zion should be much upon our hearts; we ought ever to have the tenderest concern for the whole church of God in the world: His church he values above kingdoms and nations; and therefore if we distinguish degrees of fervency in prayer, we ought to plead more earnestly with God for his church, than for any nation or kingdom; that he would enlarge the borders of the dominion of Christ, that he would spread his gospel among the heathens, and make the name of Christ known and glorious from the rising of the sun to its going down: That he would call in the remainder of his ancient people the Jews, and that he would bring the fulness of the gentiles into his church: That he would pour down a more abundant measure of his own Spirit, to carry on his own work upon the earth. And we are to send up longing and earnest wishes to heaven, that the Spirit may descend and be diffused in plentiful degrees upon churches, upon ministers, upon families, and upon all the saints. We are to pray that God would deliver his church from the power of persecuting enemies; that he would restrain the wrath of man, and suffer not the wicked to triumph over the righteous. We are also in particular to request of God mercy for the nation to which we belong; that liberty and peace may be established and flourish in it; for governors that rule over us, in places of supreme authority or subordinate; that wisdom and faithfulness may be conferred upon them from heaven, to manage those affairs God hath intrusted them with on earth. We must pray for our friends, and those that are nearly related to us, that God would deliver them from all the evils they feel or fear, and bestow upon them all the good we wish for ourselves here or hereafter.

There is also another kind of petitions which is used frequently in the Old Testament, and that is imprecation, or a calling for vengeance and destruction upon enemies; but this is very seldom to be used under the gospel, which is a dispensation of love; and should never be employed against our personal enemies, but only against the enemies of Christ, and such as are irreconcileable to him. Christ has taught us in his life, and given us an example at his death, to forgive and pray for our personal enemies, for that is a noble singularity and glory of our religion.

Here let it be observed, that when we pray for those things which are absolutely necessary to the glory of God, or to our own salvation, we may use a more full and fervent importunity in prayer: We may say, "Lord, without the pardon of our sins we cannot rest satisfied; without the renovation of our natures by thy grace, our souls can never rest easy; without the hopes of heaven we can never be at peace, and in these respects will never let thee go till thou bless us. For Zion's sake we will not hold our

peace, and for the sake of thy Jerusalem, thy glory, thy church in the world, we will give thee no rest till thou hast made her the joy of the earth." But, on the other hand, when we plead with God for those mercies or comforts upon which our salvation or his own glory do not necessarily depend, we dare not use so absolute an importunity in prayer; but we must learn to limit our petitions in such language as this: "If it be consistent with thine eternal counsels, with the purposes of grace, and the great ends of thy glory, then bestow upon us such a blessing; if it may be for the true interest of our souls, and for thine honour in the world, then let this favour be granted to us; otherwise we would learn to resign ourselves to thy wiser determination, and say, Father, not our wills, but thine be done."

SECTION V.

OF PLEADING.

THE fifth part of prayer may be called pleading with God; which though it be not so distinct a part by itself, but rather belongs to the work of petition and request, yet it is so very large and diffusive, that it may well be separated by itself, and treated of distinctly. Pleading with God, or arguing our case with him in a fervent, yet humble manner, is one part of that importunity in prayer, which scripture so much recommends. This is what all the saints of old have practised; what Job resolves to engage in; Job xxiii. 4. If I could get nearer to God, I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. This is what the prophet Jeremy practises; Jer. xii. 1. Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments; wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? We are not to suppose that our arguments can have any real influence on God's own will, and persuade him contrary to what he was before inclined: But as he condescends to talk with us after the manner of men, so he admits us to talk with him in the same manner too, and encourages us to plead with him as though he were inwardly and really moved and prevailed upon by our importunities. So you find Moses is said to have prevailed upon God for the preservation of his people Israel, when he seemed resolved upon their destruction; Exodus xxxii. 7—14. In this work of pleading with God, arguments are almost infinite; but the chief of them may be reduced to these following heads:

1. We may plead with God from the greatness of our wants, our dangers, or our sorrows; whether they relate to the soul or the body, to this life or the life to come, to ourselves or those for whom we pray. We may draw arguments for deliverance from the particular kind of afflictions that we labour under. "My sorrows, O Lord, are such as overpress me, and endanger my dishonouring of thy name and thy gospel. My pains and my weaknesses hinder me from thy service, that I am rendered useless upon earth, and a cumberer of the ground: They have been already of so long continuance, that I fear my flesh will not be able to hold out, nor my spirit to bear up, if thine hand abide thus heavy upon me. If this sin be not subdued in me, or that temptation removed, I fear I shall be turned aside from the paths of religion, and let go my hope." Thus from the kind, degree, or duration of our difficulties, we may draw arguments for relief. 2. The several perfections of the nature of God, are another head of arguments in prayer. "For thy mercies sake, O Lord, save me; thy loving kindness is infinite, let

this infinite loving kindness be displayed in my salvation. Thou art wise, O Lord, and though mine enemies are crafty, thou canst disappoint their devices: And thou knowest how by thy wondrous counsels to turn my sorrows into joy. Thou canst find out a way for my relief, when all creatures stand afar off and say, that they see no way to help me. Thou art almighty and all-sufficient; thy power can suppress my adversaries at once, vanquish the tempter, break the powers of darkness to pieces, release me from the chains of my corruption, and bring me into glorious liberty. Thou art just and righteous, and wilt thou let the enemy oppress for ever? Thou art sovereign, and all things are at thy command: Thou canst say to pains and diseases, go, or come; speak therefore the sovereign word of healing, and my flesh and soul shall praise thee. Thou delightest in pardoning grace; it is the honour of our God to forgive; therefore let my iniquities be all cancelled, through the abundance of thy rich mercy.'

3. Another argument in pleading with God may be drawn from the several relations in which God stands unto men, particularly to his own people. "Lord, thou art my Creator, wilt thou not have a desire to the work of thine hands? Hast thou not made me and fashioned me, and wilt thou now destroy me? Thou art my Governor and my King; to whom should I fly for protection but to thee, when the enemies of thine honour and my soul beset me around? Art thou not my Father? and hast thou not called me one of thy children? and given me a name and a place among thy sons and thy daughters? Why should I look like one cast out of thy sight, or that belongs to the family of Satan? Are not the bowels of a father with thee, and tender compassions? Why should one of thy poor and weak helpless children be neglected or forgotten? Art thou not my God in covenant, and the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom that covenant is ratified? Under that relation I would plead with thee for all necessary mercies."

4. The various and particular promises of the covenant of grace, are another rank of arguments to use in prayer. Enlighten me, O Lord, and pardon me, and sanctify my soul; and bestow grace and glory upon me according to that word of thy promise on which thou hast caused me to hope. Remember thy word is past in heaven, it is recorded among the articles of thy sweet covenant, that I must receive light and love, and strength, and joy, and happiness? and art thou not a faithful God, to fulfil every one of those promises? What if heaven and earth must pass away? Yet thy covenant stands upon two immutable pillars, thy promise and thine oath; and now I have fled for refuge to lay hold on this hope, let me have strong consolation. Remember the covenant made with thy Son in the days of eternity, and let the mercies there promised to all his seed be bestowed upon me according to my various wants." This calling to remembrance the covenant of God, hath been often of great efficacy and prevalence in the prayers of "What

the ancient saints.

5. The name and honour of God in the world, is another powerful argument. wilt thou do for thy great name, if Israel be cut off or perish? Joshua vii. 9. If thy saints go down to the grave in multitudes, who shall praise thee in the land of the living? The dead cannot celebrate thee, nor make mention of thy name and honours, as I do this day." This was the pleading of Hezekiah; Isaiah xxxviii. 18. And David uses the same language; Psalm vi. 5. For thy name's sake, was a mighty argument in all the ancient times of the church.

6. Former experiences of ourselves and others, are another set of arguments to make use of in prayer. O Lord Jesus Christ in that prophetical psalm, Psalm xxii. 5. is