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freedom and sweetness ; as to a familiar friend we are wont to pour out our complaints into his bosom upon all occasions. Men are soon weary of their friends out of satiety or penury, their stock is soon spent, they waste by giving : Prov. xxv. 17, * Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.' But it is not so with our heavenly friend, the oftener we come to him, the welcomer. He bids us pray continually, 1 Thes. v. 17. Now though mere love should put us upon this commerce with God, yet — (2.) There is another advantage which accrueth to us. A man that hath been frequently entertained by God, and accepted with him, and had his prayers heard and granted, hath a great encouragement in the hour of death to go to him for help. It is a dreadful thing for a man to go out of the world who hath had no comfortable knowledge of God, no skill to pray to him, no encouragement to expect acceptance from him ; to appear before a God wliom they never heartily loved, nor ever were acquainted with as to any intimate communion. I leave it to consider what the condition of a man is who, in the greatest distress, must have recourse to an unknown friend, to whose favour he can pretend no merit and title ; or of whose kindness he hath never had experience ; yea, into whose presence he is forced against his will. Alas, how soon will the time come upon us, when those that despise prayer will betake them- selves to it when it is too late ; that will cry, Lord, Lord, when anguish and terror seize upon them ; when prayer that should be the fruit of faith, love, and hope, shall be only the product of despair and horror ! When we shall challenge acquaintance with Christ; but he shall say, ' I know ye not, ye are workers of iniquity.'
5. Prayer is required to preserve in us a sense of our duty, and to keep the heart in better frame. They had need be careful who come often into God's presence : 1 Peter i. 17, ' If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth every one according to his works, pass the time of your sojourning in godly fear ; ' and Lev. x. 3, ' I will be sanctified in all that draw nigh unto me.' So 2 Tim. ii. 22, ' Whosoever nameth the name of Christ, let him depart from iniquity.' We tliat so often draw nigh to God should be afraid to offend him ; as men are afraid to offend those upon whom they depend, and into whose presence they must often come ; or, as those who minister in the presence of princes must be seemly clad, and always appear in neat and comely apparel. Communion between God and us is interrupted by wilful sin : 1 Peter iii. 7, ' That your prayers be not hindered.' A christian is still to take heed that his access to God be not spoiled ; either broken off, or carried on carelessly and formally. God will stand at a distance from us, or the heart will stand at a distance from God ; God is pro- voked to withdraw by our disorderly walking ; or else the heart will grow shy of God ; as Adam hid himself when he had sinned. If we give way to pride, and passion, and lust, and worldly-mindedness, how shall we pray at night, and look God in the face Avith any confidence ? 1 John iii. 21. How wilt thou keep his favour, when thou hast grieved his Spirit ? who would distemper himself with drink that is to plead his cause in a case of life and death ? By constant prayer God layeth an obligation upon us to be strict and holy.
6. To en2;as:e our affections to heavenlv things. We wrestle with
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God to catch an heat ourselves. God needeth not importunity ; our heavenly Father knoweth what we have need of ; he is not moved with the charms of rhetoric, why then doth God require striving and arguini;:; in prayer ? Partly to increase our faith. Every argument which we use in prayer is a new ground of hope drawn forth in the view of con- science. Partly to engage our desires and affections. The more earnestly we beg anything of God, the more zealously we are engaged to seek after it ; for God will warn us of our duty by our own requests. We present our desires before God, and plead them with him. Now these desires are either pretended or real. If pretended, then our l^rayer is no prayer, but a mockery, and formal and customary devo- tion ; and God will not be mocked, it will cost us dear to personate and act a part in his presence, and to complain of burdens that Ave feel not, or express desires which we have not. If real, then they are actuated and animated by the apprehensions of his observing presence ; so that in speaking to God, we speak to ourselves ; our prayers are so many exhortations to the fear and love of God, and the forsaking of sin, and to seek the glory of God, and the peace and welfare of the church, or whatever the request be. Nay, not only an exhortation, but a kind of engagement, an implicit vow ; we bind ourselves to our duty by our requests. When we desire that his name may be hallowed, or his will be done, we are bound to do what in us lieth to glorify his name, to promote his kingdom, to subject ourselves to his will, honestly to seek our daily bread in our vocation and calling, and to take the appointed course to obtain the pardon of our sins, and strength against tempta- tions. It is not only a sermon preached to ourselves in God's hearing, but a solemn vow and engagement to use all the appointed means whereby we may obtain these blessings ; and if we falter we are the more criminal, because we neglect, or turn away from that which we profess to be our desire and happiness.