[3.] The ceasing of the daily sacrifice was accounted to be a great part of the misery occasioned by the abomination of desolation: Dan. ix. 27, ' And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the ci'osummation, and that deter- mined, shall be poured upon the desolate.'
[4.] Now God trusts love, and would not particularly define the times of our duty and immediate converse with him, surely we should be more open-hearted and hberal to him. God expecteth much from a willing people : Ps. ex. 3. ' Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.' Our attendance upon God shoidd be rather more than less, since it is left to our choice.
[5.] God himself was angry with his people, and complaineth of
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their neglect of him : Jer. ii. 32, ' My people have forgotten me days without number.' Time out of mind, as we say in an English phrase, have I not heard from them. Now these considerations show this expression should not be too much straitened.
III. The reasons why constant and frequent prayer is our duty.
1. With respect to God, that we may acknowledge his being and sovereignty over us and all events that concern us and ours.
[1.] We acknowledge his being in prayer, for, ' He that cometh to God must believe that he is,' Heb. xi. 6. Men of all religions call upon that which they think to be God ; as in the storm, the pagan mariners ' cried every man unto his god,' Jonah i. 5. Men take their god to be their sure refuge in all their troubles, distractions, and fears. Now the people of God know him by experience to be the only true God that heareth prayer, therefore they own him as such : Ps. Ixv. 2, ' 0 thou that hearest prayer ! unto thee shall all flesh come.' Now this owning of God must not be done in a few rare and disused prayers, but in a constancy of prayer, that we may often call to mind his being and attributes. It is a sin not only to deny God, but to for- get him : Ps. ix. 17, ' The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.' We are apt to forget God, who is an invisible being, though we have all things from him, and he be neces- sary to us continually ; therefore we must often remember him, and present ourselves before him, and inure ourselves to a reverence of his majesty. God complaineth, Jer. ii. 32, ' My people have forgotten me days without number.'
[2.] We acknowledge his supreme providence by taking all out of his hands, and so are kept more humble and in a constant dependence. We do not enjoy our mercies by chance or by good fortune, but by the gift of his providence. That we may not be forgetful of this, God will have us pray often, yea, thus solemnly take our daily bread out of his hands : Mat. vi. 11, ' Give us this day our daily bread.' The bread you eat is not your own, but God's ; you intrench upon his prerogative when you use it without asking his leave.
2. With respect to the nature of prayer. It is the converse of a loving soul with God, the nearest familiarity which a soul dwelling in flesh can have with him. Now acts of friendship and communion must not be rare and unfrequent, but constant and often, therefore called an acquainting ourselves with God: Job xxii. 21, 'Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.' Acquaintance implieth fre- quent commerce and intercourse. Men that often visit one another, and meet together are acquainted. Prayer is a giving God a visit : Isa. xxvi. 16, 'Lord, in trouble have they visited thee.' The keeping up of this acquaintance is necessary both to our present comfort and future acceptance.
[1.] For our present comfort, it giveth you boldness to come to God in all your necessities and straits, if you daily wait upon him. Fre- quency of converse begets familiarity, and familiarity begets confidence. When God and you grow strange, you cannot come with that freedom to ask his help as those that familiarly converse with him do : Eph. iii. 12, 'In whom we have boldness, and access with confidence, by the faith of him.' A child is not afraid to go to his father, nor a man
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unto his friend, to pour out his complaint into his bosom ; nor a servant of daily attendance to open his suit to his master ; they ' know his name,' Ps. ix. 10, and are acquainted with him.
[2.] For our future acceptance : Lukexxi. 36, 'Watch 3'e, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,' viz., at his coming. They that are constant in prayer make up their accounts with God daily, and so may with the better confidence attend his coming. When you have been frequently with him, frequently entertained by him and accepted with him, had your prayers heard and desires granted, it is a great encouragement in the hour of death, when you are to leave the world, and come immediately before him. On the other side, for men to appear before a God whom they never knew nor heartily loved, and with whom they were never acquainted as to any intimate communion and converse, this is a sad case. Alas ! at the best it is to an unknown friend, but indeed it is to a certain enemy. They never had experience of his kindness which they would own, nor interest in his love, and now are forced into his presence against their will. Alas ! how soon will the time come when men would fain set about prayer, but it is too late. They have then neither leisure nor skill to pray ; and the prayers they then make are not the fruits of faith and love, but of despair and horror. They cry, Lord, Lord ; but Christ saith, ' I know ye not ; ye are workers of iniquity.' But on the other side, they are fitted for everlasting communion with God who are acquainted with him already ; and when they come to be translated, they do but change place, not company. Heaven is an access to God, and the throne of grace is the porch of heaven. We begin the heavenly life here by these frequent converses with God, and our access to him now.