274 CHAP. XVII. MATTH. vi. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. And when thou prayeft, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray Standing in the Synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of Verily I say unto you, they have : men. their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy clofet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in fecret, and thy Father which feeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into tempation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trefpaffes. T HE fecond religious duty adopted here by Chrift into his institution, and for the better performance of which he gives us fome directions, is that of prayer, and what he says of it is in ef fect as follows. "As oftentation ought by no means to be your " design in your alms-giving, so neither in your " prayers. When therefore ye pretend to offer up to God your private devotions, do it in such a manner, that they may indeed be private. Let no vile affection of being observ'd and talk'd of " for your piety, lead you to chuse such places for prayer, where ye may be feen or heard. For " thus the hypocrites do, who love to pray in the "streets, or any where else, as much in view as "poffible, that their religion may acquire them "credit and repute amongst men: And this, as it " is their chief design, is like to be all the reward " of fuch devotion. Do ye on the contrary, when U 2 66 ye ८८ ye address your selves to God in private prayer, " retire into your chambers, or your closets, shut " too your door, and contrive to be as fecret as 66 ८८ ye can, and use not artifices of any kind, which may by an affected chance discover to your fa"mily, or others, what ye are about. This will "beft answer both the nature and the ends of pri"vate prayer; and God, who observes you in the " most secret retirements, and hears the softeft "whispers of a genuine and fincere devotion, will " reward you for it openly hereafter. Be careful "alfo, when ye pray, to avoid a multiplicity of " useless words, and vain enlargements, and imper"tinent flourishes. Let your requests be few, " your expreffions grave, and short, and compre"henfive. Be not too minute and particular, ei"ther in what ye afk, or in your arguments for " obtaining it. The heathens indeed are full of "vain repetitions in this matter, verbose and trifling: "because they confider not that God is every "where, and at all times present; they address "themselves to him as if he were a finite being " like themselves, and wanted an exact information " of their cafe; or were apt to be fullen, and " needed abundance of arguments to move him; or might be prevail'd with, as men sometimes are, by pompous rhetoric, or by long and artful "orations. But this is a great mistake: Your "heavenly Father knows both before and better " than you your selves, what things ye have need " of; and is fufficiently inclined by his own dispo"sition to hear, when ye offer up your requests " with a fincere and decent modesty. After this " manner therefore pray ye, Our Father, &c. In explaining of this paragraph, I might and should have faid something of the obligation to prayer, as a duty required of Christians, although it be not here directly commanded, but only fuppofed posed and taken for granted in those words, When thou prayest. But because there is another whole paragraph on this subject, wherein perfeverance and importunity in prayer being required, our obligation to prayer it self, as a duty, is more direct and visible; I shall confine my thoughts here, I. To the confideration of the several forts or kinds of prayer. II. To enquire into the meaning of the two cautions given, (1.) Against oftentation; and, (2.) Against vain repetitions in prayer. III. To make some short observations upon that most excellent form of prayer, which our Lord has here drawn up for us; concluding with a paraphrafe of the prayer it felf. I. FIRST then, Let us confider the several kinds of prayer. For as to the nature of it, or what prayer is in general, it is so well understood, that it needs no description. The mere natural light of reason has taught the theory of prayer to all men in all ages, and the impulse of mere natural religion has forced even the lewdest and prophaneft of mankind into the practice of it, when they have been furprized by a fudden danger. We will proceed therefore, to enquire into the feveral forts of prayer, and they are these : (1.) MENTAL, wherein the defire and affections only, without words, dart up themselves devoutly to God, either by way of petition or praise. This is, indeed, wholly imperceptible, or ought to be made fo, to men; but highly pleasing to God, and may be practised whatever company we are in, or whatever business we are about. An example of this we have in our blessed Master, who tho' we read, indeed, of no prayer put up by him for the raifing of Lazarus, we must conclude did filently U 3 filently by himself pray for it; for when they had removed the grave-stone, he lift up his eyes, and said, * Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. (2.) Ejaculatory, which is a like short and fudden fally of the affections, but expressed in words, as that of our Saviour, in his thanksgiving just recited, Father, I thank thee: And at another time, the like; + In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast bid these things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes. And these ejaculations also, if used only upon proper occafions, and without affectation, and from a real inward principle of piety, are not only accepted of God as prayers or praises, but tend to make impreffions of feriousness upon the company before whom we utter them. (3.) There are public prayers, when at appointed times we meet with the neighbourhood at the house of God, the Church, to offer up in concert, by the mouth of the minifter, and along with him, our petitions and thankfgivings, not only on our own account, but for the community, of which we are members, civil and ecclefiaftical, and for the whole chriftian Church in general. This also is a duty, and of no small. confequence, as might be proved at large, if I had time; but I shall here only take notice of that one text, wherein the Apostle cautions us, that we should not forsake the assembling of our selves together, as the manner of some profane and careless Chriftians was then, and still is, to the scandal of their profeffion. (4.) There are family prayers, when we call those together, who are under our peculiar care, to put up their joint requests for fuch bleffings, spiritual and temporal, as are requifite for them as a family, and to praise God for the * John xi. 41. † Luke x. 21.. 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