solemn act of divine worship, to intercept whicli is both his great ambition and endeavour : nay, he despairs not, if liis design takes, to make the Christian dishonour God most, where he expects his name should be above all sanctified. Indeed, those have the unhappy opportunity of casting the greatest indignities on God, who are admitted to stand nearest to him. Should he who hath the honour to set the crown on his prince's head, bring it in a filthy state, and so put it on ; or, instead of the king's own royal crown, bring some ridiculous one of straw, &c., what greater scorn could such an one possibly invent to throw upon his prince ! The attributes of God are his royal diadem, and it is no small honour that the great God puts upon the Christian, by admitting him, as it were, to set this crown on his head, which he doth, when in prayer he gives him the glory of his majesty and holiness, power and mercy, truth and faithfulness, &c., with such humble adoration, and holy ravishment of affection, as comport with his infinite perfections. But if our thoughts in prayer be not of God, or not suitable to God, and these his glorious excellences, we pollute his name, and mock him ; in a word, we pull off his ci'own, as much as in us lies, rather than set it on. Now, doth not thy heart tremble in thy bosom, to think thou shouldst be Satan's instrinnent to offer such an indignity as this unto thy God and King? Thou art, if a saint, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and prayer is the spiritual sacrifice, which, from the altar of a humble heart, thou art to offer : wilt thou now suffer Satan to sit in this temple of God, and exalt himself there by any vain, much less vile, thoughts above God himself, whom thou art worshipping? Suppose, while a prince is at dinner, a company of impudent ruffians should rush into the room, through the negligence of his servants, and they should throw the dishes this way and that way, would not these servants deserve a severe rebuke for not guarding the door? Ordinances of worship are God's table, — the sacrifices imder the law are called God's food. When the saint is praying, the King of heaven sits at his table. Cant. i. 12. The dishes served up are the graces of his Spirit in the saint; and now wandering thoughts come in, and turn the table, as it were, upside down ; they spill the spikenard which thou shouldst pour forth : how ill may thy God take it, that thou lookest no better to the door of thy heart !
Section II. — His spite is at thee. Christian. First, If he can get thee to sport with these, or sluggishly yield to them without making any vigorous resistance, that prayer, he knows, will neither do him hurt nor thee good. Dost thou think God will welcome that prayer to heaven which hath not thy heart to bear it company ? And how can thy heart go with it, when thou hast sent it another way? It were a vain thing to expect that ship should make a prosperous voyage, which is set adrift, to be carried whither every wave it meets will drive it, without any pilot to steer it to a certain haven, or such a one that hath no skill or care to hold the helm with a steady hand : such are the prayers that come from a roving heart. Will God hear thee when thou mockest him ? And if this be not to mock him, what is? Like children that give a knock at a door, and then run away to their play again ; thus thou raisest thy voice to God, and then art gone in thy roving thoughts to hold converse with the world, or worse. Is not this trifling with God ? Thus the holy man complains of himself, how injurious and unworthy of God his carriage was in prayer : I would have God, saith he, hear that prayer which I do not, when I put it up : I would have God's ear attentive to me when I neither mind God nor myself when I pray. Secondly, Satan disturbs thee in praying, that he may make thee weary of praying. Indeed he is not likely to miss his mark, if thou lettest these vermin go on to breed in thy heart; for these will rob thee of the sweetness of the duty ; and when the marrow is once out, thou wilt easily be persuaded to throw the bone away. He is in danger to forsake his meat, who hath los his relish of it. Prayer is a tedious work to him that hath no pleasure in performing of it : and weariness in it stands next door to weariness of it. Thirdly, Thou provokest the Spirit of God (that alone can carry you through the work) to withdraw his assistance. Who will help him that miiuls not what he does? You know what Joab said to David, when he indulged his inordinate passion for the loss of Absalom, — ' If thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night, and that will be worse with thee than all the evil that befell thee,' 2 Sam. xix. 7. Truly, either thou must speedily rouse thyself out of thy
(J4<G PRAYING ALWAYS, ETC.