Aversion to prayer. now living numberless witnesses, of great truth and piety, to the contrary. It never was indeed the form, or the want of it, that made true prayer, but the grace of God in Christ Jesus, flowing through the words that were used, from or to the heart. And if all these gracious persons, divesting themselves of narrow prejudices, were asked, How and by what means they prayed; they would probably answer to a man, that it was by faith in Christ Jesus, and by the good Spirit of their God. If both sides, then, are thus in debt to grace for the very life and being of all their prayers, and are thus alike free to confess it; how should the kind meekness and forbearance of their dear Lord glow in their bosom towards each other, and cause them to love one another gladly, because he hath made no difference in his love to them? Surely this would be much better than to wrangle about a mode or no mode of prayer, in either of which, just as God blesses, there may be much true prayer or no prayer at all. It is the spirit of faith which carries on the real business; not the form or the gesture, the lip or the tongue. Having ventured thus far to walk upon ground, which party and prejudice have made very tender; it may be expedient for my soul to consider the subject of prayer in a view more appropriately interesting and necessary to its welfare. My Saviour commands me to watch, as well as to pray; and his apostle exhorts me to be sober and watch unto prayer. My flesh is prone to be intoxicated with the mystic cup of Babylon, withthe love of this present evil world, and therefore is unruly and unsteady. From hence arise all my dulness and distractions of mind in the things Careless prayer. of God; my coldness and weariness in prayer, my feebleness in duties, and my faintness in praise. I need to be sober, for I have a great concern before me: I ought to watch, for my enemies are subtle and mighty. They watch, if I do not, and are always ready to take advantages to hinder, whenever I am careless to get forward. I have an open door, and many adversaries. If I do not watch unto prayer, the world will get between me and my duty: If I do not watch in prayer, Satan will do his utmost to prevent my sweet or continued approach unto God: If I do not watch after prayer, pride, presumption, security, or negligence, will find a way into my heart. O Lord, if I were fully and constantly aware of my true situation, how could I think to do less than always to pray and not to faint? My fallen heart is ever ready to take up with the mere performance of duty. How often have I prayed for spiritual mercies; and not considered afterwards whether God hath granted them, or not? For increase of faith, wisdom, holiness, and other graces, I have asked with earnestness at the time, and then soon have forgotten what I asked for, or neglected to mark the event. Hence all the lowness of my attainments in divine things, and my overborne subjection to things. earthly. And when I have requested temporal blessings; how little have I considered the hand of God in granting, or the wisdom of God in refusing them! How often have I sought the good for its own sake, instead of seeking it for God's glory and my spiritual welfare, and thereby was ready to turn it, if granted, into an evil! How little use have I made of temporal benefits, when they have been given me, and Prayer of ejaculation. sometimes given unexpectedly too, that I might notice God's providence; and how ready hath my corrupt nature been to take and apply them all to itself! Surely, I am as much the monument of God's patience, as of his love. It is a matter always to be had in remembrance, that prayer should be followed up with thanksgiving. I ought to be thankful, if what I have prayed for is received; and I should be thankful also, if what I have prayed for is restrained. God is better to me than I am to myself; and he only keeps back any thing from his children, either because it is not good for them at all, or not good in the time and for the purpose for which they desired it. The words of a very ancient poet, rightly turned, may express, in this case, the sentiment of every Christian: The good we need, great King, bestow, But, if for ill we blindly cry, In mercy, Lord, that suit deny. The practice of many saints under the Old Testament was to pray thrice in a day. According to opportunity, I cannot pray too often, either in the closet, the family, or the church. There are indeed stated times for these; but one kind prayers may be used at all times, and in every circumstance of life. The prayers of ejaculation, or of darting up the heart towards God (like that in Nehem. ii. 4.) in short and pathetic sentences, have a wonderful effect in them, and tend very much to keep up the soul's communion with God, and the life of holiness, in common things. Many such may be taken from the Psalms in particular. They show a sweet and healthful inclination of the soul, more perhaps than laboured expressions, Singing praises. or long continuance of address, which may sometimes fall into idle repetitions, or be unattended with suitable affections and fervency. O how delightfully will these aspirations often pass towards heaven from the heart! How warmly stir up the affections, and raise the mind! How strongly check the inordinate care of earthly things! Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be always acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer! CHAP. XX. ON SINGING PRAISES TO GOD. THE first of all earthly singers gave this as an inspired rule; Sing ye praises with understanding. Without spiritual understanding, we can only make a noise. Unless we know how deeply we are indebted to God, and have the sweet sense of his goodness in our souls; we may please ourselves with a tune, but we yield no music to him. Some of old chanted to the sound of the viol, and invented to themselves instruments of music; but, at the same time, they were among those, who were at ease in Zion, who put far away the evil day, and to whom woe was denounced. God never instituted varieties of music in his service, however, like other carnal circumstances, he might bear with it under the Jewish economy; but only trumpets and rams' horns to usher in the seasons and solemnities. It is spiritual harmony which is the delight of heaven, and not outward Proper singing. jingle and sound; and therefore if we are not spiritual, we can have no true notion of this delight, nor make melody in our hearts to the Lord. The thrills of music, and the divine joys of the soul, are very different things. Worldly men have had the first, and thought them from hea❤ ven: But they continued no longer than the sound; while the peace of gracious praise is full, sublime, and abiding. We must indeed be real Christians before any of us can say with the apostle, I will pray with the SPIRIT, and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing with the SPIRIT, and I will sing with the understanding also. I cannot but shake my head, when I hear an officer of the church calling upon the people, "to sing to the praise and glory of God;" and immediately half a dozen merry men, in a high place, shall take up the matter, and most loudly chant it away to the praise and glory of themselves. The tune perhaps shall be too difficult for the greater part of the congregation, who have no leisure to study crotchets and quavers; and so the most delightful of all public worship shall be wrested from them, and the praises of God taken out of their mouths. It is no matter whence this custom arose; in itself it is neither holy, decent, nor useful, and therefore ought to be banished entirely from the churches of God. When Christians sing all together in some easy tune accommodated to the words of their praise, and not likely to take off their attention from sense to sound; then, experience shows, they sing most lustily (as the Psalmist expresses it), and with the best good courage. The symphony |