the grand importance of the approacluiig service. Tlioii art going to stand be- fore the great God, and tliat very near, in an extraordinary duty, wherein tliou wilt eitlier sanctity or profane Ids reverend name in a higli degree ; and ac- cordingly art to expect his love or wratii, in some elioice jjlessing or dreadfid curse, to l)e the issue and result of thy undertaking. Gird the loins of thy mind with some such awful apprehensions as these : as natural fear makes the spirits retire from the outward parts of the l)ody to the heart, so this holy fear of miscarrying, in so solenni a duty, woidd be a means to call thy thoughts from all exterior carnal objects, and tix them upon the duty in hand. ' In thy fear will I worshi]),' Psa. v. 7. As the sculpture is on the seal, so will the print on the wax be ; if the fear of God be deeply engraven on thy heart, there is no doidit but it will make a suitable impression on the duty thou per- formest. A few particulars I shall propound for thy thoughts in this prepa- ratory work.
CHAPTER XLIX.
EXAMINATION OF THE END WE PROPOUND IN THIS DUTY.
FiusT, Kxauune thy soul, and see what end thou propoundest to thyself in extraordinary praj'er. None but a child or a fool will run before he knows what is his errand. The end is that which a wise man looks to before he sets his hand to any work; and the more weighty the enterprise is, the nioi'e neces- sary this is. First, Consider, if the end thou propoundest be evil, the duty cannot be good, because thy heart is not sincere in it. The sincerity of the heart discovers itself in the end it aims at in a duty, not in the external per- formance of it. The thief and the honest traveller may be found riding in the same road ; and they have different aims therein. Thus the saint and hypo- crite join in the same dut)', shoot as it were in the same bow, but their eye takes not the same aim, and therefore their arrows meet not in the same point. The prayers of the one are rejected as abominable, and the other graciously ac- cepted. Who were more seemingly devout than the captive Jews, tliat kept up a fast for seventy years together? Yet God gave them but little thanks, because their end was not right, Zech. vii. 5 : ' When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even unto me V The faster a man rides, if he be in a wrong road, the farther he goes out of his way. Zeal is the best or worst thing in a duty ; if the end be right, it is excellent ; but if wrong, it is worthless ; and it is no easy thing to propound a right end. The eye must be set right in the head before it can look right. A false heart (and every carnal heart is such) cannot have a true end. Secondly, Consider, that yom- endeavour in the duty will bear propor- tion, and be commensurate to the end you propoimd therein. If yoiu" end be low, your endeavour will be no more than to reach that end ; as he that intends to build a little cottage, contents himself with ordinary stuff; but he that de- signs some stately palace, provides more precious materials : thus David was very particular in the materials he laid aside for the temple ; ' Ft>r the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God;' therefore he prepared with all his might, gold and silver, &c., 1 Chron. xxix. 1 — 3. The hypocrite's ends in a fast are low and base, — his credit with men, carnal profit, and the like; accordingly his endeavour is laid out on the external part of the duty, — a demure countenance, devout posture, and such expressions in prayer as may most take with those that hear him, and this is all he looks at ; but the gracious soul saith, with David, This palace which I build, this duty which I perform, is not for man,, but for the Lord (lod ; and therefore his chief care is to j)rovide min-e ])reciou3 materials, — a broken heart for sin in his confessions, faith and fervency in his ])etitions, love and thankfulness in his acknowledgments of mercies received. But when is an evil end propoinuled in tliis duty ? The end we pro])ound may be evil, either intrinsieall)', when the thing we aim at is evil in its own nature,, or else from some irregularity in ])lacing it too high or low in our aim. First, We shall name two ends that are intrinsically evil. First, When a person or a people shall fast and pray, to cover and more sleightly carry on any wicked eiiler|)rise. Tliis is a horrid evil, a monstrous abomination : yet such deep hy- pocrisy luith the heart of mail diiicovered, that it dare conic and lay its cocka-
■7]0 AVITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION.