fwer, Thy face, Lord, will we feek. For fhould not a people feek unto their God? Whither fhall we go but to thee? Thou haft the words of eternal life $. 9. We must express the fenfe we have of our own meannefs, and unworthiness to draw near to God, and Speak to him. But will God in very deed dwell with man upon the earth, that God whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, with man that is a worm, and the fon of man which is a worm *? Who are we, O Lord God, and what is our Father's houfe, that thou haft brought us hitherto, to present ourfelves before the Lord; that we have through Chrift an access by one Spirit unto the Father w? And yet as if this had been a small thing in thy fight, thou haft fpoken concerning thy fervants for a great while to come; and is this the manner of men, O Lord God *. What is man that thou art thus mindful of him, and. the fon of man that thou vifiteft him, and doft thus magnify him? Ŏ let not the Lord be angry, if we that are but duft and afhes, take upon us to fpeak unto the Lord of glory z. We are not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy fervants; nor is it meet to take the children's bread, and caft it to fuch as we are: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their mafter's table and thou art rich in mercy to all that call upon thee . 10. We must humbly profefs the defire of our hearts torvards God, as our felicity and portion, and the fountain of life and all good to us. Whom have we in heaven but thee: and there is r Ifa. viii. 19. Job xxv. 6. b Pfalm viii. 4• Mat. xv. 26, 27. y s John vi. 68. t 2 Chron. vi. 18. x Eph. ii. 18. a Gen. xxxii. 10. none upon earth that we defire befides thee, or in comparison of theed: When our flesh and our heart fail, be thou the ftrength of our heart and our portion for ever; the portion of our inheritance in the other world, and of our cup in this, and then we will fay that the lines are fallen unto us in pleafant places, and that we have a goodly heritage . The defire of our fouls is to thy Name, and to the remembrance of thee; with our fouls have we desired thee in the night, and with our fpirits within us will we feek thee only f. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, fo panteth our foul after thee, O God; our foul thirfteth for God, for the living God, who will command his loving kindnefs in the day-time, and in the night his fong fhall be with us, and our prayer to the God of our life 8. O that we may come hungering and thirsting after righteoufnefs; for thou filleft the hungry with good things, but the rich thou fendeft empty away. O that our fouls may thirst for thee, and our flefl long for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, that we may fee thy power and thy glory, as we have feen thee in the fanctuary. Thy loving kindnefs is better than life; our fouls fhall be fatisfied with it as with marrow and fatnefs, and then our mouths with joyful lips fhall praife theek. con 11. We must likewise profess our believing hope and fidence in God, and his all-fufficiency, in his power, providence, and promife. In thee, O God, do we put our truft, let us never be afhamed1; yea, let none that wait on thee be afhamed m. Truly our fouls wait upon God; from him cometh our falvation; he only is our rock and our falvation; g d Pfalm lxxiii. 25, 25. Pfalm xlii. 1,2, 8. e xvi. 5. 6. f Ifa. xxvi. 8, 9: b Mat. v. 6. k Psal. lxiii 1, 2, 3, 5. 7 xxxi. 1. m xxv. 3. i Luke i. 53. lxii. 1, 2. in him is our glory, our ftrength, and our refuge, and from him is our expectation o. When refuge fails us, and none care for our fouls, we ery unto thee, O Lord; thou art our refuge, and our portion in the land of the living P. Some truft in chariots, and fome in horfes, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God 9. We will truft in thy mercy, O God, for ever and ever, and will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy faints r We have hoped in thy word; O remember thy word unto thy fervants, upon which thou haft caufed us to hope f 12 We must intreat God's favourable acceptance of us and our poor performances. There be many that fay, who will fhow us any good? but this we fay, Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and that fhall put gladness into our hearts, more than they have whofe corn and wine encreaseth t. We intreat thy favour with our whole heart, for in this we labour, that whether prefent or abfent we may be accepted of the Lord w. Hear our prayer, O Lord, give ear to our fupplications; in thy faithfulness anfwer us «. And be nigh unto us in all that which we call upon thee for y ; for thou never faidst to the feed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain Z' Thou that heareft the young ravens which cry a, be not filent to us, left if thou be filent to us, we be like them that go down to the pit b. Let our prayer be fet forth before thee as incenfe, and the lifting up of our hands be acceptable in thy fight as the evening facrifice . o Pfalm v. 6, 7. p cxlii. 4, 5. q xx. 7. lii. 8, s cx x. 4. 79. tiv. 6, 7. v cxix. 58. 9. w 2 Cor. v. 9. x cxliii. 1. y Deut. iv. 7. % Ifa.xlv. 9. ¡a Plalm cxlvii~9. b xxviii. 1. c cxli. 2. 13. We must beg for the powerful affistance and influence of the bleed Spirit of grace in our prayers. Lord, we know not how to pray for as we ought, but let thy Spirit help our infirmities, and make interceffion, for us d. O pour upon us the fpirit of grace and fupplication e; the Spirit of adoption, teaching us to cry Abba Father '; that we may find in our hearts to pray this prayer g. O fend out thy light and thy truth; let them lead us, let them guide us to thy holy hill and thy tabernacles; to God, our exceeding joy 1. O Lord, openthou our lips, and our mouth fhall show forth thy praise 1. 14. We must make the glory of God our highest end in all our prayers. This is that, which thou O Lord, haft said, that thou wilt be fanctified in them that come nigh unto thee, and before all the people thou wilt be glorified : we therefore worship before thee, O Lord, that we may glorify thy name'; and therefore we call upon thee that thou mayeft deliver us, and we may glorify thee m. For of thee, and through thee, and to thee are all things n: 15. We must profefs our entire reliance on the Lord Je fus Christ alone for acceptance with God, and come in his name. We do not present our fupplication before thee for our righteousness°; for we are before thee in our trefpaffes p and cannot ftand before thee because of them 9: but we make mention of Chrift's righteousness, even of his only, who is the Lord our righteoufnefs". We know that even fpiritual facrifices are acceptable to God, only thro' Chrift Jefus ; nor can we hope to k Lev. X. 13. e Zech. xii. 10. f Rom. viii. 15. Psalm xliii. 3. ¿li. 15. ml. 15. n Rom. xi. 36. 9 Pfalm lxxi. 36. o Dan. ix. 18. r Jer. xxiii. 6. receive any thing but what we ask of thee in his name, and therefore make us accepted in the beloved; that other angel who put much incenfe to the prayers of faints, and offers them up upon the golden altar before the throne w. We come in the name of the great High-priest, who is paffed into the heavens, Jefus the Son of God, who was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is therefore able to fave to the uttermoft all thofe that come to God by him, because he ever lives, making interceffion Y. Behold, O God, our fhield, and look upon the face of thine anointed 2; in whom thou haft by a voice from heaven declared thyfelf to be well pleased; Lord, be well pleafed with us in him 2. CHA P. II. Of the fecond part of PRAYER, which is Confeffion of Sin, Complaint of our felves, and humble Profeffions of Repentance. HAVING given glory to God, which is his due, we muft next take fhame to ourselves, which is our due, and humble ourfelves before him in the fenfe of our own finfulness and vilenefs; and herein alfo we muft give glory to him as our Judge, by whom we deferve to be condemned, and yet hope, through Chrift, to be acquitted and abfolved b. In this part of our work, 1. We must acknowledge the great reafon we have to lie very low before God, and to be ashamed of ourselves t John xvi. 23. Heb.iv. 14. vii. 25. b Joh. vii. 19. v Eph. i. 6. |