is to be;rscceptabíy performed. 283 of his worfh "ippers, ,.nd needeth to be in- S E x Mt. formed by their much fpeaking, or that X. he is únattentive and indolent, and that his ""J compaflions mull be moved, or his atten- tion engaged by a clamorous importunity, as the indigent and diftreffed, by prefenting their petitions to mén, intend to lay before them afiaing circumftances, otherwife un- known, or by working on the tendernefs of their nature, induce them to do fuch favours as could not otherwife be expe&ed. But there are notions we ought not to entertain con- cerning the fupreme Being, to whom every circumftance in our condition is thoroughly 'known, and whofe goodnefs is not à fudden emotion of pity, but a Beady uniform bene- volence, direáed in its exercife by the molt perfe& Wifdom. What need is there, then, of much fpeak- ing to Almighty God ? The moft acceptable addreffes to him, omnifcient, perfectly righ- teous, good, and holy, are the offerings of pure reafonable and pious delires ; words are only neceffary, as in publick worfhip, for the inftrutign and edification of men ; in pri- vate prayers, they are no farther ufeful, than as they may have a tendency to fix the at, tendon of our minds ; they are only appen- dages or circurnitances of the prayer, not its
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