us unspotted by the world, or the unclean ged of it; but the heart hereby is kept close to the God of heaven.

Concerning this mental ejaculatory prayer, let these directions be observed. 1. Let the heart frequently be sending up desires to God. All true desires are observed, are pleasing to him, and shall be satisfied; let these desires therefore be strong, and principally after the greatest, that is to say, spiritual blessings.

2. In all your civil employments, let your hearts ever and anon be thus engaged; this will make and keep you spiritual; it will hinder your estrangement from God, and your being ensnared by the unrighteous mammon.

3. Let every temptation at the very first be resisted by this kind of prayer: thus, "watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," Matt. xxvi. 41. O sigh and groan to the God of all grace, when you find Satan assaulting, and a sinful and deceitful heart ready to yield, that you may have "grace to help in time of need," Heb. iv.

4. Let this prayer begin and end every duty; sigh before for assistance, and sigh afterwards for acceptance, and that infirmities, through Christ Jesus, may be

passed by; and that you may obtain some spiritual advantage by every ordi

nance.

5. Begin and end every day with mental prayer. As soon as ever you awake, there are many watching for your first thoughts; Satan, and sin, and the world will have them, if your souls are not lifted up to the Lord. Let him be last likewise in your thoughts; this is the way to lie down in peace and safety, Psalm iv.

6. Especially upon the Sabbath-day, ejaculatory prayer should be abundant; you must not then think your own thoughts, nor find your own pleasures. Holy desires should issue forth continually. Sabbaths would be gainful seasons indeed, were they but thus improved.

7. Mix mental prayer and praise together. Let your souls, and all that is within you, bless the Lord upon any manifestation of his goodness, while you desire blessings from him.

And thus have I gone over the parts and kinds of prayer. Much work indeed I have told you of, but the more work the better; for the more grace is to be expected in order unto the performing of

what is required. I shall conclude with a very brief application in two words,

1. How sharply are they to be reproved, and how melancholy is their condition, who, instead of praying with all prayer, use no prayer, but live in the total neglect of this duty?

2. Let the disciples of Christ be persuaded to pray with all prayer. All prayer that God has appointed, he is ready to hear. In all prayer the name of Christ must be used, as it is only for his sake we can expect acceptance; and the promises of God, which are sure, exceeding great and precious, may be pleaded; and how glad may we be that the Lord has appointed so many successful ways of seeking him, wherein he has consulted the variety of our conditions and necessities! So much for the second doctrine.

SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT.

Prayer when rightly performed, is supplication in the Spirit. Indeed, all our worship of God, who is a spirit, "6 must

be in spirit and in truth," else it is in fact no worship. As the body without the spirit is dead, so duties without spirit are dead also.

In the handling of this point, I shall, first, open to you, What it is to pray in the spirit: secondly, Lay down the reasons of the doctrine: thirdly, Answer some cases of conscience about praying in the spirit: Lastly, Make application.

First, What it is to pray in the spirit. This, as I have already intimated, refers both to the spirit of him that prays, and also to the Spirit of God, who helps to pray..

(1.) This praying in the spirit refers unto the spirit of him that prays, and several things are here included.

1. To pray with our spirit, implies, to pray with understanding. "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also," 1 Cor. xiv. 15. We must not only understand the words that are spoken, but also, and that principally, the worth of those things which we petition for; we must likewise in some measure be acquainted with the all-sufficiency and faithfulness of that God whom we pray to, and with our own indigency that

are the petitioners. The Athenians had an altar dedicated "to the unknown God;" and they are said "ignorantly to worship him ;" and truly all their worship degenerated into superstition. We must know the Lord and ourselves, what his promises and our own needs are, else prayer will be of no account.

2. To pray with our spirit, implies to pray with judgment, discerning between things that differ. There is as vast a difference between sin and holiness, as there is between deformity and beauty: There is as vast a difference between the creature and the Creator, as there is between the broken cisterns that can hold no water," and "the fountain of living waters." "Be astonished, O ye heavens at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate, (saith the Lord.) for my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.' The e is as vast a difference between a state of grace and a state of wrath, as there is between heaven and hell. Now he that prays, must be apprehensive of all this; and a believing apprehension of it, will make him earnest for the loving kindness