stands so much upon sincerity in prayer, seeing the lip of trnth is so prized even among men ; nature hath taught men to commend their words to others, by laying their hands on their breasts, as an assurance, that what they say is true, which the penitent Publican it is likely aimed at, Luke xviii. 13, he ' smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner !' thereby declaring whence his sorrowful confession came. That light which told the heathens that God must be worshipped, informed them also, this worship must come from the inward recesses of the heart. What care the gods for gold ? let us offer that which is more worth than all treasures, the heart and inward affections of it. Benzo, in his Historia Ngih Orbis, relates a strange custom of the natives there, — Indi occidentales dum sacra fuciunt, dimisso in guttur haci//o, vomitumcient, ut Idolo osiendant, nihil se in pectore mali occuUum gerere : — When worshipping their gods, they used, by putting a little stick down their throats, to provoke themselves to vomit, thereby shewing their idol, that they carried no secret evil within them. I should not have named this barbarous custom, but to shew how deeply this notion is engraven in the natiu-al conscience, that we must be sin- cere in the worship of God. Let it put us upon trial, whether we thus pray in the spirit, and whether we can find sincerity stamped on our fervency ; if the prayer be not fervent, it cannot be sincere : approve thyself here, and thou mayest, without presumption, reckon thyself a saint ; but how fervent soever thou art, without sincerit)', it matters not, for zeal without uprightness is of no service ; naj', no one will go to hell with more shame than the false-hearted zealot, who mounts up toward heaven in his fiery chariot, — a seeming zeal, but at last is found a devil in Samuel's mantle, and so is thrown down like lightning from heaven whither he would have been thought to be going. Be not loth to be seai-clied; there will need then no farther search to prove thee rmsoimd ; if God's officer be denied entrance, all is not right within.
CHAPTER VIII.
RULES FOR TRIAL OF THE SINCERITY OF OUR HEARTS IN PRAYER.
Section I. — First, What is thy care in performing this duty in secret? If thy heart be sincere, it will delight in privacy. A false heart calls others to witness his zeal for God. May be he is forward to put himself upon duty where he hath spectators to applaud him ; but either lie is wholly a stranger to secret pra3'er, or else he is cold in the performance ; he finds himself be- calmed, and now he wants the breath of others to fill his sails. Whereas a sin- cere Christian never finds more freedom of spirit, than in his ordinary addresses to God. Joseph, when he would give full vent to his passion, sought some secret place to weep, therefore he retired into his chamber. Gen. xliii. 30; so the sincere Christian goes to his closet, easeth his heart into the bosom of God, and lets his passions of sorrow for sin, and love to Christ, have their full scope, which in public prayer he restrains. Now speak. Christian, what is thy tem- per? Can thy closet witness for thee in this particular? It is the trick of a hypocrite to strain himself to the utmost in duty, when he hath spectators, and to be careless alone.
Secondly, Observe thyself in thy more public addresses to the throne of grace, in two particulars : first, when thou pray est before others, observe on what thou bestowest thy chief care and zeal, whether on the externals or intei'iials of prayer ; that which is exposed to the eye and ear of men, or that for the eye and ear of God ; the devout posture of thy body, or the inward devotion of thy soul ; the pomp of thy words, or the power of thy faith ; the agitation of thy bodily spirits in the vehemency of thy voice, or the fervency of thy spirit in heart-breaking affections. These inward workings are the very soul of prayer. It is faith, love, brokenness of heart for sin, and the inward affections exerted in prayer, that, like Elijah in his fiery chariot, mount up to God in the heavens, while the others, Avith the prophet's mantle, fall to the ground. The sincere soul dares not be rude in his outward posture; he is • careful of his v/ords, that they be grave and pertinent, neither would he pray them asleep who join with him, by a cold manner of delivering his prayer ; but still it is the inward disposition of his heart he principally looks to, knowing well, that it is possible to be warm in the duty, thereby benefiting others, and
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