their beds as miserable as they can be, " howling" and whining like dogs, and perhaps wishing that they were dogs, or any thing, rather than rational and accountable beings a.]
But, whatever their prayers be, " they cry not
unto God with their heart " —
[View them in their public devotions ; they will confess themselves " miserable sinners," and implore mercy for Christ's sake at the hands of God, and desire grace from him " that they may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of his holy name :" but if they were afterwards told by their minister, that they were miserable and hell-deserving sinners ; that nothing but an application of the blood of Christ to their souls could ever save them ; and that, to evince the sincerity of their repentance, they must devote themselves unreservedly to God ; they would shew by their answers, that they neither believed, nor desired, any one of the things, which they had uttered before God.
Inquire, further, into their private prayers, and it will be found that they are not sincere in any petition that they offer. If, for instance, they were to pray that they might become true and faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus ; and Jesus were to tell them, as he did the Rich Youth in the Gospel, that they must first give up all that they possess in this world, before they can be brought to love him supremely and to serve him acceptably; would they reply to him, "Thy will be done?" Would they not rather plead for this or that possession, " O, spare it ; is it not a little one ? " and, when they found that the terms could not be lowered, would they not pray back again their prayers with ten-fold more earnestness than they at first uttered them ; yea, and forego all their hope in Christ, rather than sacrifice their worldly interests ?
Such are the prayers of the unregenerate, if they pray at all : but the greater part of them, except on very particular occasions, do not so much as preserve even an appearance of devotion b.]
We shall have a little clearer view of the worth- lessness of such prayers, if we,
II. Contrast them with those of the regenerate —
In every thing that is essential to prayer, the dif- ference may be seen. Particularly they differ in respect of,
a See this exemplified in David, Ps. xxxii. 3, 4. b Mark x. 21, 22. This shews with what lamentable propriety they speak of " saying their prayers."