Guest Blogger: On Matthew Henry's Method for Prayer

Although this blog has not been too active of late, we are still here and we still cherish the Huguenots, Puritans and Covenanters, and others who held or hold to experimental piety. Today's guest post comes from my son, Sam (age 13). 

I have been reading Matthew Henry's A Method For Prayer, originally published in 1712 (Christian Focus Publications, 2017). This book has been a real blessing to me.

Using the Lord's Prayer as a model, the following are a few points Henry believes should be part of each Christian's prayer:

• Address to God, Adoration of Him, with Suitable Acknowledgments, Professions, and Preparatory Requests - this speaks to how we honor Him, and hallow His name.
• Confession of Complaints of ourselves, and humble Professions of Repentance - here we ask God to forgive us our sins.
• Petition and Supplication for the good things. which we stand in need of - here we ask God for the things we need, such as our daily bread.
• Thanksgiving for the mercies we have received and the many Favours of his we are interested in and have, and hope for Benefit by - Thanksgiving is not just once a year, but every day we have reason to give thanks to God for his mercies which are daily.

I have benefited greatly from Henry's book. It's an amazing book that all Christians should read. This book truly has helped my prayer life, and I'm glad it is still in print today. It is a treasure which can be a blessing to many. 

Help Me To Be Thankful Always

A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High.” (Psalm 92.1)

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

(I Thessalonians 5.18)

“Is any merry, let him sing psalms.” (James 5.13b) 

What return shall I make to my ever-blessed Redeemer for all the favours he hath bestowed upon me? Help, I entreat you, help me to be thankful, and as you abound in prayer, abound in praises. I find my heart too backward to this divine exercise. I am ready enough to ask for mercies, but alas! how slow to return thanks! Indeed sometimes God touches me from above, and my heart, hard as it is, is melted down and quite overcome with the sense of his free grace in Christ Jesus towards me. But I want always to go on my way rejoicing; I want the heart of a seraphim;

 I want to sing as loud as they

Who shine above in endless day. 

I could almost say more than they, and why should I not return angelic thanks? But my heart is as yet unhumbled, I see not what I am, what I deserve, and therefore set not a due value on the divine mercies. Pray therefore, …, that I may receive my sight, that my eyes may be opened, and that seeing what God hath done for me, I may break out into songs of praise, and by such heart-transforming divine exercises be gradually trained up for eternal uninterrupted communion with that heavenly choir, who cease not chanting forth day and night hallelujahs to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever.

 – George Whitefield, Letter XXXIII (Jan. 25, 1738), George Whitefield’s Letters: For the Period 1734 to 1742, pp. 35-36 

The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God. We should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, but eat to God, and sleep to God, and work to God, and talk to God; do all to his glory and praise. 

– Richard Sibbes, “Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations,” in The Works of Richard Sibbes, Vol. 7, p. 185

Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio

Martin Luther, Preface to the Wittenberg Edition of Luther's Works, WA 34:

Moreover, I want to point out to you a correct way of studying theology, for I have had practice in that. If you keep to it, you will become so learned that you yourself could (if it were necessary) write books just as good as those of the fathers and councils, even as I (in God) dare to presume and boast, without arrogance and lying, that in the matter of writing books I do not stand much behind some of the fathers. Of my life I can by no means make the same boast. This is the way taught by holy King David (and doubtlessly used also by all the patriarchs and prophets) in the one hundred nineteenth Psalm. There you will find three rules, amply presented throughout the whole Psalm. They are Oratio [prayer], Meditatio [meditation], Tentatio ["Anfechtung," that is, affliction, confliction, temptation, experience, trial].

Firstly, you should know that the Holy Scriptures constitute a book which turns the wisdom of all other books into foolishness, because not one teaches about eternal life except this one alone. Therefore you should straightway despair of your reason and understanding. With them you will not attain eternal life, but, on the contrary, your presumptuousness will plunge you and others with you out of heaven (as happened to Lucifer) into the abyss of hell. But kneel down in your little room [Matt. 6:6] and pray to God with real humility and earnestness, that he through his dear Son may give you his Holy Spirit, who will enlighten you, lead you, and give you understanding.

Thus you see how David keeps praying in the above-mentioned Psalm, "Teach me, Lord, instruct me, lead me, show me," [Ps. 119:26] and many more words like these. Although he well knew and daily heard and read the text of Moses and other books besides, still he wants to lay hold of the real teacher of the Scriptures himself, so that he may not seize upon them pell-mell with his reason and become his own teacher. For such practice gives rise to factious spirits who allow themselves to nurture the delusion that the Scriptures are subject to them and can be easily grasped with their reason, as if they were Markolf or Aesop's Fables, for which no Holy Spirit and no prayers are needed.

Secondly, you should meditate, that is, not only in your heart, but also externally, by actually repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so that you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them. And take care that you do not grow weary or think that you have done enough when you have read, heard, and spoken them once or twice, and that you then have complete understanding. You will never be a particularly good theologian if you do that, for you will be like untimely fruit which falls to the ground before it is half ripe.

Thus you see in this same Psalm how David constantly boasts that he will talk, meditate, speak, sing, hear, read, by day and night always, about nothing except God's Word and commandments. For God will not give you his Spirit with the external Word; so take your cue from that. His command to write, preach, read, hear, sing, speak, etc., outwardly was not given in vain.

Thirdly, there is tentatio, Anfechtung. This is the touchstone which teaches you not only to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God's Word is, wisdom beyond all wisdom.

Thus you see how David, in the Psalm mentioned, complains so often about all kinds of enemies, arrogant princes or tyrants, false spirits and factions, whom he must tolerate because he meditates, that is, because he is occupied with God's Word (as has been said) in all manner of ways. For as soon as God's Word takes root and grows in you, the devil will harry you, and will make a real doctor of you, and by his assaults will teach you to see and love God's Word. I myself (if you will permit me, mere mouse-dirt, to be mingled with pepper) am deeply indebted to my papists that through the devil's raging they have beaten, oppressed, and distressed me so much. That is to say, they have made a fairly good theologian of me, which I would not have become otherwise. And I heartily grant them what they have won in return for making this of me, honor, victory, and triumph, for that's the way they wanted it.

There now, with that you have David's rules. If you study hard in accord with his example, then you will also sing and boast with him in the Psalm, "The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" [Ps. 119:72]. Also, "Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep thy precepts," etc. [Ps. 119:98-100]. And it will be your experience that the books of the fathers will taste stale and putrid to you in comparison. You will not only despise the books written by adversaries, but the longer you write and teach the less you will be pleased with yourself. When you have reached this point, then do not be afraid to hope that you have begun to become a real theologian, who can teach not only the young and imperfect Christians, but also the maturing and perfect ones. For indeed, Christ's church has all kinds of Christians in it who are young, old, weak, sick, healthy, strong, energetic, lazy, simple, wise, etc.

If, however, you feel and are inclined to think you have made it, flattering yourself with your own little books, teaching, or writing, because you have done it beautifully and preached excellently; if you are highly pleased when someone praises you in the presence of others; if you perhaps look for praise, and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it-if you are of that stripe, dear friend, then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears. Then do not spare any expense! Decorate them with golden bells, so that people will be able to hear you wherever you go, point their fingers at you, and say, "See, See! There goes that clever beast, who can write such exquisite books and preach so remarkably well." That very moment you will be blessed and blessed beyond measure in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, in that heaven where hellfire is ready for the devil and his angels. To sum up: Let us be proud and seek honor in the places where we can. But in this book the honor is God's alone, as it is said, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" [I Pet. 5:5]; to whom be glory, world without end, Amen.

A Prayer and Half A Prayer For Sanctification

Augustine, Confessions 8.7.17:

But now, the more ardently I loved those whose healthful affections I heard of, that they had resigned themselves wholly to Thee to be cured, the more did I abhor myself, when compared with them. For many of my years (some twelve) had now run out with me since my nineteenth, when, upon the reading of Cicero's Hortensius, I was stirred to an earnest love of wisdom; and still I was deferring to reject mere earthly felicity, and give myself to search out that, whereof not the finding only, but the very search, was to be preferred to the treasures and kingdoms of the world, though already found, and to the pleasures of the body, though spread around me at my will. But I wretched, most wretched, in the very commencement of my early youth, had begged chastity of Thee, and said, "Give me chastity and continency, only not yet." For I feared lest Thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than extinguished. And I had wandered through crooked ways in a sacrilegious superstition, not indeed assured thereof, but as preferring it to the others which I did not seek religiously, but opposed maliciously.

Elizabeth S. Rowe, Devout Exercises of the Heart, in Meditation and Soliloquy, Prayer and Praise XXV:

A Prayer for Speedy Sanctification

O Lord God, great and holy, all-sufficient and full of grace if thou shouldst bid me form a wish, and take whatsoever in heaven or in earth I had to ask it should not be the kingdoms of this world, nor the crowns of princes; no nor should it be the wreaths of martyrs nor the thrones of archangels; my request is to be made holy: this is my highest concern. Rectify the disorder sin has made in my soul, and renew thy image there; let me be satisfied with thy likeness. Thou hast encompassed my path with mercy in all other respects, and I am discontented with nothing but my own heart, because it is so unlike the image of thy holiness, and so unfit for thy immediate presence. 

Permit me to be importunate here, O blessed God, and grant me the importunity of my wishes; let me be favoured with a gracious and speedy answer, for I am dying while I am speaking; the very breath with which I am calling upon thee is carrying away part of my life! this tongue that is now invoking thee, must shortly be silent in the grave; these knees, that are bent to pay thee homage, and these hands that are now lifted to the most high God for mercy, must shortly be mouldering to their original dust: these eyes will soon be closed in death, which are now looking up to thy throne for a blessing. O prevent the flying hours with thy mercy, and let thy favour outstrip the hasty moments.

Thou art unchanged, while rolling ages pass along; but I am decaying with every breath I draw; my whole allotted time to prepare for heaven, is but a point compared with thy infinite duration. The shortness and vanity of my present being, and the importance of my eternal concerns, join together to demand my utmost solicitude, and give wings to my warmest wishes. -- Before I can utter all my present desires, the hasty opportunity perhaps is gone, the golden minute vanished, and the season of mercy has taken its everlasting flight.

O God of ages! hear me speedily and grant my request while I am yet speaking; my frail existence will admit of no delay; answer me according to the shortness of my duration, and the exigence of my circumstances. -- My business, of high importance as it is, yet is limited to the present now, the passing moment; for all the powers on earth cannot promise me the next. 

Let not my pressing importunity, therefore, offend thee; my happiness, my everlasting happiness, my whole being is concerned in my success: as much as the enjoyment of God himself is worth, is at stake.

Thou knowest, O Lord, what qualifications will fit me to behold thee; thou knowest in what I am defective; thou canst prepare my soul in an instant to enter into thy holy habitation. I breathe now, but the next moment may be death, let not that fatal moment come before I am prepared. -- The same creating voice that said, "Let there be light, and there was light," can in the same manner, purify and adorn my soul, and make me fit for thy own presence; and my soul longs to be thus purified and adorned. O Lord, delay not, for every moment's interval is a loss to me, and may be a loss unspeakable and irreparable. -- Thy delay cannot be the least advantage to thee; thy power and thy clemency are as full at this present instant as they will be the next, and my time as fleeting, and my wants as pressing.

Remember, O eternal God, my lost time is forever lost, and my wasted hours will never return, my neglected opportunities can never be recalled; to me they are gone forever, and cannot be improved; but thou canst change my sinful soul into holiness by a word, and set me now in the way to everlasting improvement.

O let not the Spirit of God restrain itself, but bless me according to the fulness of thy own being, according to the riches of thy grace in CHRIST JESUS, according to thy infinite, inconceivable love, manifested in that glorious gift of thy beloved Son, wherein the fulness of thy Godhead was contained; it is through his merit and mediation I humbly wait for all the unbounded blessings I want or ask for.

The Business of God's Day

Joseph Hall, "the first man in England to publish letters in English" (Frank Livingstone Huntley, Bishop Joseph Hall and Protestant Meditation in Seventeenth-Century England, p. 17), wrote a memorable letter to Edward Denny in which he described how he spent his days at Waltham Abbey, England, which is where began his famous 22-year project which was published as Contemplations on the Historical Passages of the Old and New Testaments. This letter is very much a model of how I personally wish to live my days to the Lord. In it he describes how "every day is a little life" and how therefore he practically lived out this maxim written earlier in Three Centuries of Meditations and Vowes, Divine and Morall (1606):

Each day is a new life, and an abridgment of the whole. I will so live, as if I counted every day my first, and my last; as if I began to live but then, and should live no more afterwards.

At the conclusion of this letter, he gives a brief summation of how he aimed to spend each Christian Sabbath, which I commend to the edification of our souls on this Lord's Day.

Joseph Hall, Ep. 2 Dec. 6, Epistles, in Six Decades (1608, 1611), Works, Vol. 6, pp. 282-283:

Such are my common days. But God's day calls for another respect. The same sun arises on this day, and enlightens it; yet, because that Sun of Righteousness arose upon it, and gave a new life unto the world in it, and drew the strength of God's moral precept unto it, therefore justly do we sing with the Psalmist, This is the day which the Lord hath made. Now I forget the world, and in a sort myself; and deal with my wonted thoughts, as great men use, who, at some times of their privacy, forbid the access of all suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, hearing, preaching, singing, good conference, are the business of this day; which I dare not bestow on any work or pleasure but heavenly. I hate superstition on the one side, and looseness on the other: but I find it hard to offend in too much devotion; easy, in profaneness. The whole week is sanctified by this day; and, according to my care of this, is my blessing on the rest.

I show your lordship what I would do, and what I ought: I commit my desires to the imitation of the weak; my actions to the censures of the wise and holy; my weaknesses, to the pardon and redress of my merciful God.

The Sum is Greater Than the Parts

John Wells, The Practical Sabbatarian, pp. 97-98 (spelling edited):

Thirdly, We must converse with the Saints of God on his holy day; then God's people must gather together, and pursue a joint interest. Public assemblies adorn the Sabbath. Grapes are best in clusters. There are many strings to the Lute, which is the sweetest Instrument. Flocks are most pleasant when gathered together in one company; and Armies most puissant [powerful], when kept in a body, their dissipation is both their route and ruin. Christ's sheep must flock together on Christ's holy day: [David] Pareus gives us four solid Reasons for it, which I shall mention for their substantial worth.

First, The Congregating of God's people (especially on the Lord's day) is the soder of unity; like many stones so artificially laid, that they appear all but one stone. Every Congregation is a little body, whereof Christ is the head: Unity is the strength and beauty of the Saints; nothing so preserves it, as frequent and holy Assemblings.

Secondly, It is the preservative of love. Many sticks put together kindle a flame, and make a blaze. Frequent visits multiply friendships. In Heaven, where all the glorified Saints meet together, how ardent is their love! Absence, and seldom associations beget strangeness, as between God and us, so between one another. To meet to worship the same God, is the best way to attain to the same heart; like the Primitive Saints, who were all of one company, and all of one mind, Acts 2.46.

Thirdly, God hath made his promises to the Assemblies of his Saints, Matt. 18.20; 2 Cor. 6.16. He will not neglect a weeping Hannah, who prays and sobs alone, 1 Sam. 1.13, but will give her not only a Child, but a Samuel: But yet God will create upon the Assemblies of his people a cloud, which was the sign of his presence, Isa. 4.5. And

Fourthly, The prayers of the faithful Congregation receive strength from their union. When all Nineveh entreated the Lord, and put on sack-cloth, God repents himself of that intended and threatened evil, and puts his Sword into the scabbard, though drawn by an open denunciation of Judgment, Jon. 2.7-10. Prayer is the souls battery of Heaven; and when these petitions are the common breathings of the whole Assembly, the force must needs be the stronger, and the answer must needs be the surer. Though a file of Soldiers cannot take the City, an Army may.

Heavenly Solitude

Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Vol. 2, p. 304:

As this [meditation] is a private and spiritual duty, so it is most convenient that thou retire to some private place: our spirits had need of every help, and to be freed from every hinderance in the work: and the quality of these circumstances, though to some they may seem small things, doth much conduce to our hinderance or our help. Christ himself thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of private duty, Matt. vi. 4, 6, 18. If in private prayer we must shut our door upon us, that our Father may hear us in secret, so is it also requisite in this meditation. How oft doth Christ himself depart to some mountain, or wilderness, or other solitary place! For occasional meditation I give thee not this advice, but for this daily set and solemn duty I advise that thou withdraw thyself from all society, yea, though it were the society of godly men, that thou mayst awhile enjoy the society of Christ: if a student cannot study in a crowd, who exercises only his invention and memory, much less when thou must exercise all the powers of thy soul, and that upon an object so far above nature: when thy eyes are filled with the persons and actions of men, and thine ears with their discourse, it is hard then to have thy thoughts and affections free for this duty. Though I would not persuade thee to Pythagoras's cave, nor to the hermit's wilderness, nor to the monk's cell; yet I would advise thee to frequent solitariness, that thou mayst sometimes confer with Christ, and with thyself, as well as with others. We are fled so far from the solitude of superstition, that we have cast off the solitude of contemplative devotion. Friends use to converse most familiarly in private, and to open their secrets and let out their affections most freely. Public converse is but common converse. Use, therefore, as Christ himself did, (Mark i. 35,) to depart sometimes into a solitary place, that thou mayst be wholly vacant for this great employment. See Matt. xiv. 23; Mark vi. 23; Luke ix. 18, 36; John vi. 15, 16. We seldom read of God's appearing, by himself, or his angels, to any of his prophets or saints in a throng, but frequently when they were alone.

Cotton Mather's Resolutions

Cotton Mather, Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1724, Vol. 1, pp. 3-5:

12 d. 1 m. [March [1681].]...Butt one special Action of this Day, was to make and write the following:

RESOLUTIONS AS TO MY WALK WITH GOD.

Lord! Thou that workest in mee to will, help mee to resolve.

I. As to my Thoughts.

1. To endeavour, that I will keep God, and Christ, and Heaven, much in my Thoughts.

2. In a special manner, to watch and pray, against lascivious Thoughts, ambitious Thoughts, and wandring Thoughts in the Times of Devotion.

II. As to my Words.

1. To bee not of many Words, and when I do speak, to do it with Deliberation.

2. To remember my obligations to use my Tongue as the Lord's, and not my own: and therefore, to promote savoury Discourse, if I can, wherever I come; and to discourse with such as come fairly in my way, about the Things of their everlasting Peace.

3. Never to answer any weighty Question, without lifting up my Heart unto God, in a Request, that Hee would help me to give a right Answer.

4. To speak Ill of no Man; except, on a good Ground, and for a good End.

5. Seldome to make a Visit, without contriving, what I may do for God, in that Visit.

III. As to my daily Course of Duties.

1. To pray at least thrice, for the most part every Day.

2. To meditate once a Day; in the Meditation proceeding after some such Method as this; that there shall bee two Parts of the work, doctrinal, and applicatory. The doctrinal to bee dispatched in an Answer to a Quaestion. The Applicatory to flow from thence into Examination, Expostulation, Resolution.

3. To make a Custome of propounding to myself, these three Questions, every Night before I sleep.
What hath been the Mercy of God unto mee, in the Day past?What hath been my carriage before God, in the Day past? And,
If I dy this Night is my immortal Spirit safe? 

4. To lead a Life of heavenly Ejaculations [short prayers to God].

5. To bee diligent in observing and recording of illustrious Providences.But in all, to bee continually going unto the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Physician, and Redeemer, of my Soul.Lord! Thou that workest in mee to do, help mee to perform.

Penned by, Cotton Mather; A feeble and worthless, yett (Lord! by this Grace!) desirous to approve himself, a sincere and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ. The Lord knowes, how miserably defective I have been, in the performing of what I have thus resolved. But my Defects, have been the matter of my continual Reflections and Abasements before Him. And, for the main, I have made in my Study, to bee abounding in these Works of the Lord. Yea, these Flights of my Soul, Essayes to glorify God, have been but the lower and lesser Flights of my Youth; which I hope, will ere long proceed unto a Mounting up with the Wings of Eagles.

Prayer Opens Doors

Thomas Cobbett, Gospel Incense: Or, A Practical Treatise on Prayer, pp. 12-13:

Wisdom's out-doors, even the ordinances, are opened by prayer. Outlawed Gentiles fare the better for that prayer: "Let thy way be known among the people, thy saving health among all the nations." "Pray the Lord of the harvest, that he would thrust out laborers into his harvest." Prayer helps people to a fruitful ministry, prayer helps to open the minister's mouth, opens a door of utterance, Col. 4:3. Pray that God would open my mouth. Prayer opens a door of faith, 1 Cor. 16:8, 9. The "mystery of salvation may be made known" by it, Eph. 6:19. The word may come to have an open and effectual passage into people's hearts by it. Hence that request, "Pray that the word may have a free course and be glorified," etc. The door of liberty, the church's liberties, may be opened to the prayer of the saints, as to Paul, upon his prayer, Acts xi. Those strong and secret doors of death may be opened by prayer. Hence the prophet's raising of the dead child by prayer. So Jonah by prayer had the belly of hell, the whales belly and jaws, opened to him, to let him out. By prayer the doors of the womb are opened, as in Hannah's case, and Rebecca's, and Elizabeth's. By prayer the doors of heaven are opened: "If I shut heaven, and my people pray," etc. "I will hear," etc. By prayer the "prison doors are opened," as to Peter, upon the church's prayer, Acts 12:5, 10. Secrets which otherwise are not to be opened, yet are to be unfolded by prayer, Dan. 2:18, 19. Then was the secret revealed, upon prayer for the mercies of heaven that way. As in other knocking there is a hand, there are fingers which make a noise and help open the door; so here there is a hand of faith which knocks, and that will open that large gate and door of mercy, and any of the lesser wickets depending: "O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Come into all my treasures of grace, and take even what thou desirest. Godly desires knock and make a noise in God's ears, and he opens to them: "He heareth the desire of the humble." They will come in where the Lord is: "Lord, all my desire is before thee." The saint's sighs make a noise at heaven's gates, and God comes forth to them: "For the sighing of the prisoners, I will arise, saith the Lord." "Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee;" room for the sighing of the prisoners, Lord; yea, their very tears too make a loud noise at this door, and they have their voice also in prayer: "Thou hast heard the voice of my weeping." No wonder, then, that effectual prayer consisting of all these, be indeed a knocking, and means of opening  of the gate and door of mercy in Jesus Christ.

Our Employment Lies In Heaven

John Eliot, in Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New England, Vol. 1, p. 535:

Behold, the ancient and excellent character of a true Christian; 'tis that which Peter calls 'holiness in all manner of conversation;' you shall not find a Christian out of the way of godly conversation. For, first, a seventh part of our time is all spent in heaven, when we are duly zealous for, and zealous on the Sabbath of God. Besides, God has written on the head of the Sabbath, REMEMBER, which looks both forwards and backwards, and thus a good part of the week will be spent in sabbatizing. Well, but for the rest of our time! Why, we shall have that spent in heaven, ere we have done. For, secondly, we have many days for both fasting and thanksgiving in our pilgrimage; and here are so many Sabbaths more. Moreover, thirdly, we have our lectures every week; and pious people won't miss them, if they can help it. Furthermore, fourthly, we have our private meetings, wherein we pray, and sing, and repeat sermons, and confer together about the things of God; and being now come thus far, we are in heaven almost every day. But a little farther, fifthly, we perform family-duties every day; we have our morning and evening sacrifices, wherein having read the Scriptures to our families, we call upon the name of God, and ever now and then carefully catechise those that are under our charge. Sixthly, we shall also have our daily devotions in our closets; wherein unto supplication before the Lord, we shall add some serious meditation upon his word: a David will be at this work no less than thrice a day. Seventhly, we have likewise many scores of ejaculations in a day; and these we have, like Nehemiah, in whatever place we come into. Eighthly we have our occasional thoughts and our occasional talks upon spiritual matters; and we have our occasional acts of charity, wherein we do like the inhabitants of heaven every day. Ninthly, in our callings, in our civil callings, we keep up heavenly frames; we buy and sell, and toil; yea, we eat and drink, with some eye both to the command and honour of God in all. Behold, I have not now left an inch of time to be carnal; it is all engrossed for heaven. And yet, lest here should not be enough, lastly, we have our spiritual warfare. We are always encountring the enemies of our souls, which continually raises our hearts unto our Helper and Leader in the heavens. Let no man say, ''Tis impossible to live at this rate;' for we have known some live thus; and others that have written of such a life have but spun a web out of their own blessed experiences. New-England has example of this life: though, alas! 'tis to be lamented that the distractions of the world, in too many professors, do beecloud the beauty of an heavenly conversation. In fine, our employment lies in heaven. In the morning, if we ask, 'Where am I to be to day?' our souls must answer, 'In heaven.' In the evening, if we ask, 'Where have I been to-day?' our souls may answer, 'In heaven.' If thou art a believer, thou art no stranger to heaven while thou livest; and when thou diest, heaven will be no strange place to thee; no, thou hast been there a thousand times before.

Not as Athenians, But as Christians

Henry Hurst, “How We May Inquire After News, Not as Athenians, But as Christians, For the Better Management of Our Prayers and Praises For the Church of God?” in Puritan Sermons, 1659-1689, Vol. 4, pp. 531-550:

…all the members of the church, are to inquire into what God is doing for or against his church, as they have in their present station opportunity to do so; as Nehemiah did, who inquired of them that came from Jerusalem, what condition that city and people of God were in. (Chap. i. 2.)
…
But none may inquire like Athenians…(2.) With curiosity to know what other men believe and do in religion, than serious purpose to know what they themselves should believe and do. 

….
First, then, a Christian ought to make inquiry into news that concerns the church, according to the advantage and capacity he hath, more fully to know both the good and welfare of the people of God, or to know the sorrows and dangers that lie upon the church.
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Jerusalem must not be forgotten; she must be prayed for. (Psalm cxxii. 6.)
 Such who know few but their Christian relations or neighbours, may know the sorrows, dangers, wants of these; and ought to pray for them, as they are members of the church; and consider [that] the like state other Christians are in, and must be prayed for, &c. We are to mourn with those that morn, and rejoice with those that rejoice: (Rom. xii. 15:) that we may better do this, we should inquire, the most we can, into the present state of the church. 

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Thirdly. [He] who inquires as a Christian, in order to manage prayer and praise, should, I think, inquire of those who can and will inform him best, most truly and sincerely, of any news he heareth.
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Fourthly. [He] who inquires as a Christian, must inquire with a compassionate affection to the suffering churches of Christ. – Or, feeling their wounds as living members feel the griefs and wounds of the body in what part soever, preparing to help the whole and bear his own part; as one who “prefers Jerusalem above his chief joy,” and can heartily rejoice in her prosperity; as one whose heart is wounded with the same sword that woundeth Jerusalem, and therefore bitterly bemoaneth and heartily prayeth for the bleeding church.
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Fifthly. When you inquire into the present news that concerns the church, that you may the better pray for the church, or praise God on behalf of the church, inquire into the sins of the church with an humble, mourning, and repentant heart.
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Sixthy. Would you as Christians inquire into the news of the present times, the better to manage prayer and praises for the church? Inquire, then, what are the effects of either good and welcome, or of sad and mournful, news upon such as are nearest concerned in both. – Do judgments awaken and frighten sinners in Zion from their sins? Do the punishments of their sins work them to deep humiliation, to public repenting and reforming? Or are they as sinful, secure, and as fearless as ever? What effect have God’s mercies upon his churches? Do his mercies prevail with them “not to conform to the present evil world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds?” (Rom. xii. 1, 2.)
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Eigthly, and lastly. Would you as Christians inquire, in order to the better management of your prayers and praises? Then, whatever news of moment you hear concerning the state of the churches of Christ, be sure, to your best knowledge, compare those news with these things are signs of approaching deliverances and fuller salvation from its own sins and self-created troubles, and from the furious rage of enemies. 

1. Compare the state of the church, and your news of it, with the divine providences over the church in like circumstances in times past. – Find out some instance parallel to your present case in the scriptures; and in prayer plead it with God for the like, nay, for greater, help. The various cases of the church recorded in scripture, are glasses in which we may see what troubles we must expect; and God’s providences to his people are exemplaries for us to conform our hope and confidence unto. We may read his deliverances, and in like cases say, “This is our God, as theirs; he will lead us, preserve, and deliver us, as them.” Hence it is [that] you do so often find the people of God concluding and expecting relief, because he did in like case hear prayer, and give his people matter of praise, in times past.

 2. Compare the news you hear with the expectations of the generality of the observant, praying, meditating, scripture-wise Christians. – Consider well what the body of these look for; whether good, or evil.
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4. Look to the promises made to the church for her deliverance, when you hear of or inquire after any great news among the states and kingdoms of the world, among which the churches of Christ sojourn, and among which the saints of God have and still do suffer. – It needs not a particular proof, that there are many express promises that the church shall be delivered; that there is a fixed time for the beginning, progress, and full accomplishment of these promises; that their accomplishment shall be gradual, and such as will clear itself; and though we cannot say when the full accomplishment [will take place] to a day or month or year, yet, by comparing transactions and occurrences with promises, we may without doubt discover somewhat of the promise made good to the church, for which we ought to praise the Lord; and all the rest of the promises shall be fulfilled, and for this we should earnestly pray to the Lord.

To Every Thing There Is A Season

Richard Sibbes, The Soul's Conflict With Itself, and Victory Over Itself By Faith, in Works, Vol. 1, p. 249:

Though in evil times we have cause to praise God, yet so we are, and such are our spirits, that affliction straitens our hearts. Therefore, the apostle thought it the fittest duty in affliction to pray. 'Is any afflicted? let him pray,' saith James; 'is any joyful? let him sing psalms,' James v. 13; shewing that the day of rejoicing is the fittest day of praising God. Every work of a Christian is beautiful in its own time. The graces of Christianity have their several offices at several seasons. In trouble, prayer is in its season. 'In the evil day call upon me,' saith God, Ps. xci. 15. In better times praises should appear and shew themselves. When God manifests his goodness to his, he gives them grace with it to manifest their thankfulness to him. Praising of God is then most comely, though never out of season, when God seems to call for it by renewing the sense of his mercies in some fresh favour towards us. If a bird will sing in the winter, much more in the spring. If the heart be prepared in the wintertime of adversity to prase God, how ready will it be when it is warmed with the glorious sunshine of his favour!

Our life is nothing but as it were a web woven with interminglings of wants and favours, crosses and blessings, standings and fallings, combat and victory, therefore there should be a perpetual intercourse of praying and praising in our hearts. There is always a ground of communion with God in one of these kinds, till we come to that condition wherein all wants shall be supplied, where indeed is only matter of praise.

Memento Mori

Charles Drelincourt, The Christian's Defence Against the Fears of Death, pp. 59-60:

And let the most learned Philosophers learn, That the soundest Philosophy is the Meditation of Death.

In short, Whatever be our Employment, Condition, or Age, let us lift up our Minds and Hands unto GOD, to speak to him in the Language of the Prophet David; Lord, let me know my end, and the number of my days, that I may know how long I am to live. Or of Moses, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom.

A Prayer and Meditation on our Mortality.

O My God and Heavenly Father, since 'tis thy Pleasure, that I should be mortal, and that my Body should return to the Dust; Grant me Grace to be always mindful of my frail Condition, the Variety of Seasons, the Unconstancy of the World, and Alterations I meet with, as Memento's of my last Change and Departure. Let my Infirmities and frequent Distempers be looked upon as so many Messengers sent to summon and warn me that I must shortly leave this Tabernacle. Let the Bed I rest on call to my mind, that when all the Business of my Life shall be finished, I must lie down and rest in a Bed of Dust. Let the Garments that I cast off at Night, the Sleep that benumbs my Senses, the Tombs of my Predecessors, Forefathers and Friends, refresh in me the Thoughts of my Departure to my last Home. Gracious GOD, give me Grace so often to look upon Death and the Grave, that I may be acquainted with them, and that they may not fright or terrify, but comfort me; for tho' I know I am born to die, I know also this, that Death shall introduce me into the Presence of my GOD, the only Author of Life and Happiness, to live for ever with Him in Bliss. Amen.

Heaven-Sent

The letters of David Brainerd, like those of Samuel Rutherford or Joseph Alleine, savor so sweetly of heaven that they seem sent from Immanuel's Land. Though his time in this vale of tears was short, he was conscious of the preciousness of time, possessing as he did a view of eternity, and made the most of the time given to him in order to answer his chief end, that is, to glorify God. And that was the view of time which he bequeathed to others. This is the counsel of one who tasted eternal bliss while on his earthly pilgrimage, and now sends word to us from heavenly places to be heavenly-minded.

Letter (II) to John Brainerd (Dec. 27, 1743):

I find nothing more conducive to a life of Christianity than a diligent, industrious, and faithful improvement of precious time.

Letter (III) to Israel Brainerd (Jan. 21, 1743/4):

Again, Be careful to make a good improvement of precious time. When you cease from labour, fill up your time in reading, meditation, and prayer: and while your hands are labouring, let your heart be employed, as much as possible, in divine thoughts.

Letter (IV) to a Special Friend (July 31, 1744):

Verily, no hours pass away with so much divine pleasure, as those that are spent in communing with God and our own hearts.

Letter (VI) to John Brainerd (Dec. 25, 1745):

My brother, "the time is short." Oh let us fill it up for God; let us "count the sufferings of this present time" as nothing, if we can but run our race, and finish our course with joy." Let us strive to live to God....I think I do not desire to live one minute for any thing that earth can afford. Oh that I could live for none but God, till my dying moment!

Letter (VII) to Israel Brainerd (Nov. 24, 1746):

Let me intreat you to keep eternity in view, and behave yourself as becomes one that must shortly "give an account of all things done in the body."

Letter (VIII) to Israel Brainerd (June 30, 1747):

It is from the sides of eternity I now address you....But let me tell you, my brother, eternity is another thing than we ordinarily take it to be in a healthful state. Oh how vast and boundless; how fixed and unalterable! Of what infinite importance is it, that we be prepared for eternity!

Letter (IX) to a Young Gentleman, a Candidate for the Ministry (Summer 1747):

How amazing it is that "the living who know that they must die," should notwithstanding put far away the evil day, in a season of health and prosperity; and live at such an awful distance from a familiarity with the grave, and the great concerns beyond it. Especially it may just fill us with surprise, that any whose minds have been divinely enlightened, to behold the important things of eternity as they are, I say, that such should live in this manner. And yet, Sir, how frequently is this the case. How rare are the instances of those who live and act, from day to day, as on the verge of eternity; striving to fill up all their remaining moments in the service and to the honour of the great Master. We insensibly triffle away time, while we seem to have enough of it; and are so strangely amused as in great measure to lose a sense of the holiness and blessed qualifications necessary to prepare us to be inhabitants of paradise. But oh, dear Sir, a dying bed, if we enjoy our reason clearly, will give another view of things.

Directions How to Live Well

William Perkins, et al., A Garden of Spiritual Flowers:

Directions How to Live Well

In the Morning awake with God; and before all other things, offer up unto him thy morning Sacrifice of Prayer: wherein remember, First, to give hearty thanks unto him for all his mercies bodily and spiritual; and namely, for thy late preservation: Secondly, make an humble Confession of thy sins, with earnest desire of pardon: Thirdly, ask such necessaries as are requisite for thy soul and body, with fervent request to be relieved in them: and namely, desire his blessing upon thy labours in thy calling in the day to come.

In what place soever thou art, let this persuasion abide in thine heart, that thou art before the living God: and let the remembrance hereof strike thine heart with awe & reverence, and make thee afraid to sin.

Make Conscience of idle, vain, unhonest, & ungodly thoughts: for these are the seeds and beginnings of actual sin in word and deed.

Have a special care to avoid those sins which thou findest thy Nature most prone unto; and eschew those provocations which were wont most to prevail against thee.

Follow with faithfulness and diligence thy lawful particular Calling in which thou art placed.

Think evermore thy present estate and condition to be the best estate for thee, whatsoever it be; because it is of the good providence of God.

Look well to thy carriage in company, that thou do no hurt by word or example; nor take any from others; but endeavour rather to do good.

Use civil honesty towards all men: good Conscience, and good Manners must go together.

If at any time against thy purpose thou be over-taken with any sin, lie not in it, but speedily recover thyself by repentance.

When any good motion or affection doth arise in thine heart, suffer it not to pass away, but feed it by reading, meditating, or praying.

Esteem of every present day, as of the day of thy death: and therefore live now, even as though thou wert now dying: and do those good duties every day, which thou wouldest do, if this were thy dying day.

At the end of the day, before thou lie down in thy Bed, call to mind how thou hast spent the day that is passed: thy misdoings repent, and praise God for assisting thee with his grace in the duties which thou hast performed.

Sleep not at night, before thou hast commended thyself by prayer into the hands of God: for thou knowest not whether (fallen asleep) thou shalt rise again alive.

Let prayer be the Key to open the Morning: and the Bar to shut in the Evening.

Walk as the Children of Light.

As the just live by Faith; so the just live the life of Faith. Now they live the life of Grace; one day they shall live the life of Glory.

A Prayer for Reformation of Life

Augustine, The Meditations of St. Augustine, pp. 9-11:

A Prayer for Reformation of Life

Inspire my soul, O Lord my God, with a holy desire of thee, my chief, my only good, that I may so earnestly desire as diligently to seek thee, so successfully seek as to be happy in finding thee; make me so sensible of that happiness in finding, as most passionately to love thee; so effectually to express that love, as to make some amends for my past wickedness, by hating and forsaking my former evil courses, and entering upon a conversation exemplarily pious for the time to come.

Give me, dear God, hearty repentance, an humble and contrite spirit; make my eyes a fountain of tears, and my hands liberal dispensers of alms, and unwearied instruments of good works. Thou art my King; reign absolute in my heart, subdue and expel thence all rebellious passions; quench all the impure burnings of fleshly lusts, and kindle in it the bright fire of thy love.

Thou art my Redeemer, beat down and drive out the spirit of pride, and impart to me, in much mercy, the treasure of thy own unexampled humility and wonderful condescension.

Thou art my Saviour, take from me the rage of anger; and arm, I beseech thee, with the shield of patience.

Thou art my Creator, root out from me all that rancour and malice whereby my nature is corrupted; and implant in me all that sweetness and gentleness of temper, which may render me a man made in thy own image, and after the likeness of thy own Divine goodness.

Thou [art] my most merciful and indulgent Father, O grant thy own child those best of gifts; a firm and right faith, a stedfast and well-grounded hope, and a never-failing charity.

O my director and governor, turn away from me, I beseech thee, vanity and filthiness of mind, a wandering heart, a scurrilous tongue, a proud look, a gluttonous belly; preserve me from the venom of slander and detraction, from the itch of curiosity, from the thirst of covetousness, ambition and vain-glory; from the deceits of hypocrisy, the secret poison of flattery; from contempt of the poor, and oppression of the helpless; from the canker of envy, the fever of avarice, and the pestilential disease of blasphemy and prophaneness.

Prune away my superfluity of naughtiness, and purge me from all manner of injustice, rashness, and obstinancy; from impatience, blindness of heart, and cruelty of disposition.

Incline me to obey that which is good, and to comply with wholesome advice; enable me to bridle my tongue, and to contain my hands from wrong and robbery. Suffer me not to insult the poor, to defame the innocent, to despise my inferiors, to treat my servants with severity and scorn, to fail in due affection towards my friends and relations, or in kindness and compassion towards my neighbors and acquaintance.

O my God, thou fountain of mercy, I beg thee, for the sake of the Son of thy love, dispose me to the love and practice of kindness and mercy; that I may have a tender fellow-feeling of my brethren's afflictions; and apply myself cheerfully to rectify their mistakes, to relieve their miseries, to supply their wants, to comfort their sorrows; to assist the oppressed, to right the injured, to sustain the needy, to cherish the dejected, to release them that are indebted to me, to pardon them that have offended me, to love them that hate me, to render good for evil, to despise none, but pay all due respect to every man. Give me grace to imitate those that live well, to avoid and beware of them that do ill; to follow all manner of virtue, and utterly abandon and detect all sort of vice; make me patient in adversity, and moderate in prosperity. Set a watch before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips: (Ps. cxli. 3) Wean my affections from things below, and let them be eager and fixed upon heaven and heavenly things.

Prayer for Comfort in Adversity

Johann Gerhard, Meditations on Divine Mercy, pp. 121-122:

Prayer For Comfort in Adversity and True Peace of Conscience

O KINDEST FATHER, God of all hope and comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3), grant to me life-giving comfort and true peace of conscience in all the difficulties of life. My heart is full of anxieties, but Your comforts are able to delight my soul (Psalm 94:19). All the comfort of the world is empty and futile. In You alone is strength and support for my soul. All sorts of misfortunes weigh heavy on me, but Your encouragement and comfort lighten the burden. Nothing in all creation can bring me down and sadden me so much that You cannot gladden me by Your Spirit of joy (Psalm 51:12). No adversities can so surround and capture me that my heart cannot be freed by Your grace. The heat of various afflictions harasses me, but the taste of Your sweetness brings me cool consolation. The tears stream from my eyes, but Your gracious hand wipes them away (Revelation 7:17). Just as You allowed Stephen, the first martyr, to see Your gracious face even as he was being stoned (Acts 7:56), so also You allow me, wretch that I am, the full enjoyment of Your comfort though I am surrounded by misfortune. Just as You sent a consoling angel to Your Son in the most bitter agony of death (Luke 22:43), so also You send me Your sustaining Spirit in my struggle. Without Your strength, I would break under the weight of the cross. Without Your help, I would be destroyed by the attack of numerous adversities.

Extinguish in me the love of the world and created things so the misfortunes of the world and the changeableness of created things will bring me no bitterness. Those who in their hearts cling to the world and created things will never be able to partake of true and undisturbed peace. All earthly things are subject to the continual variations of change. Those who do not cling with undue love to the things of this present life will not be tormented by overwhelming anxiety when these things are lost. Please, O God, cast out the love and desire of the world so that as You filled the widow's jar through the prophet Elijah, the soul forsaken of earthly comfort may be filled with the oil of joy (2 Kings 4:3; Psalm 45:7). All earthly things may be thrown into disorder, changed, and rolled back and forth, but You are the immovable rock and most solid stone of my soul. Can a beggarly and weak "thing" disturb the peace of the soul that I possess, that is sure and immovable in You (Psalm 73:25)? Can the waves of the world, even of its most turbulent seas, overthrow the rock of my heart (Psalm 18:2; 19;14), which I have firm in You, the highest and unchangeable good? Surely Your peace surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). That same peace also will overcome every attack of misfortune. I beg You with humble sighs for that inner peace.

AMEN.

MHCC 46: Preparation to Prayer

Matthew Henry on Psalm 5:

As meditation is the best preparative for prayer, so prayer is the best issue of meditation. Meditation and prayer should go together, Ps. xix. 14.

Daniel Featley, Ancilla Pietatis, or, The Hand-Maid to Private Devotion Being Instructions, Hymns, and Prayers, Containing the Duty of a Christian, pp. 10-11:

My heart is inditing of a good matter: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer, said the Kingly Prophet. And againe, My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned, then spake I with my tongue. If this sweet sing of Israel first pricked the notes in his heart before he began to sing them; If he who was inspired by the holy Ghost, framed his Prayers and Psalms of thanksgiving in his mind, before he delivered them by his tongue; ought not we, who are as far behind him in his gifts, as we are below him in condition much more meditate, before we utter any thing to the Lord? I speak not of pious ejaculations, which must needs be sudden, as their occasions are, and the motions of Gods Spirit within us; but of a set conceived prayer, wherein we ought not only well to ponder the matter, but even weigh (if we have time) every word in the ballance, that they be not found too light, and thereby our Prayers against sin, be turned into sin. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God. Seneca observing how bold men made with God, and what strange petitions they blushed not to prefer unto him, gave this sage advise, So deal with men as if God saw thee, and so speak with God as if men heard thee.

Rutherford's Christian Directions

Samuel Rutherford, Letter CLIX, in Letters of Samuel Rutherford, pp. 292-295:

To John Fleming, Bailie of Leith [Letter LXVIII.]

Worthy and Dearly Beloved in the Lord, -- Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I received your letter. I wish that I could satisfy your desire in drawing up, and framing for you, a Christian directory. But the learned have done it before me more judiciously than I can; especially Mr. [Daniel] Rogers, [Richard] Greenham and [William] Perkins. Notwithstanding, I shall show you what I would have been at myself; howbeit I came always short of my purpose.

1. That hours of the day, less or more time, for the word and prayer, be given to God; not sparing the twelfth hour, or mid-day, howbeit it should then be the shorter time.

2. In the midst of worldly employments, there should be some thoughts of sin, death, judgment, and eternity, with at least a word or two of ejaculatory prayer to God.

3. To beware of wandering of heart in private prayers.

4. Not to grudge, howbeit ye come from prayer without sense of joy. Down-casting, sense of guiltiness, and hunger, are often best for us.

5. That the Lord's-day, from morning to night, be spent always either in private or public worship.

6. That words be observed, wandering and idle thoughts be avoided, sudden anger and desire of revenge, even of such as persecute the truth, be guarded against; for we often mix our zeal with our wild-fire.

7. That known, discovered, and revealed sins, that are against the conscience, be eschewed, as most dangerous preparatives to hardness of heart.

8. That in dealing with men, faith and truth in covenants and trafficking be regarded, that we deal with all men in sincerity; that conscience be made of idle and lying words; and that our carriage be such, as that they who see it may speak honourably of our sweet Master and profession.
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There are some things, also, whereby I have been helped, as -- 1. I have been benefited by riding alone a long journey, in giving that time to prayer. 2. By abstinence, and giving days to God. 3. By praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten something for myself. 4. I have been really confirmed, in many particulars, that God heareth prayers; and, therefore, I used to pray for anything, of how little importance soever. 5. He enabled me to make no question, that this mocked way, which is nicknamed, is the only way to heaven.

A Prayer For All Times

Edward Dering, Godly Private Prayers for Householders to Meditate Upon, and to Say in Their Families (edited with slightly modernized English):

O Lord God Father of mercies and God of all consolation, without whom we have neither hope nor comfort, we poor wretches and miserable sinners beseech thee of thy fatherly goodness to look upon us, and so make us partakers of thy gracious goodness, that we may still increase in all goodness, so that evermore we may set forth thine honor and glory: let our conversation be such, that a great many beholding our good works, may glorify thee our heavenly Father: and so direct our ways, that we may hold forth the profession of thy Gospel as a lantern to lighten the steps of a great many, that they may turn to thee, and praise thy name in their visitation.

Thus (O Lord) we beseech thee to deal with us, that indeed we may be vessels of honor unto thee, now to set forth the praise of thy name, & after this transitory life, to behold thy Glory, who hast immortality alone, & dwellest in light which no man approacheth unto: remove far from us our sins & iniquities, that they may not separate between us and thee: blot out of us our offenses, and make our prayers righteous, that thou mayest favorably grant our requests: look upon us with thy favorable mercy, that thou mayest have pity upon us, and behold us in the righteousness of thy beloved son Christ Jesus, & that we may be presented faultless in thy sight: and thou accepting us as holy, we may find the grace evermore to set forth thine honor and glory, and to speak of thy praises in the midst of all thy people.

Let us love (O Lord) the things that are good, and hate the things that are evil: let us delight in all things that may please thee, and let us be grieved with whatsoever is displeasing in thy sight. And to the intent we may have true understanding & be able to discern between things, what is good or evil, we beseech thee let thy word dwell plentifully in us, which may guide our understandings so, that we may abound in all knowledge, and do according to that which righteous.

And in this estate of true Christianity, being instructed in mind, & ready in body to all holy obedience, we beseech thee make us to grow & increase from grace to grace, from faith to faith, until we come unto the fullness of age to be perfect members of the body of Christ, waiting for the blessed hope of thine elect, and sighing in spirit until the time that thy children shall be revealed.

In the mean season let us sigh with all those that have received the first fruits of thy Spirit, that these days of sin may cease, that Satan may be trodden down underfoot, that Antichrist may be revealed, yet to many thou...that be in ignorance, that the number of thine elect may be full, the body of thy Saints made perfect, all tears wiped from our eyes, even than when the Son shall appear again the second time to judge the quick and the dead, which time (O Lord) send quickly, according to thy good will, and teach us to pray with all thy Saints, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly: grant this (O Father) for thy Son's sake, in whose name we pray unto thee.

And although we be but earth and ashes, yet are bold to say unto thee, (the God of all Glory) even as he hath taught us. Our Father which art in Heaven, &c.