z Chap.' I, Of Prayer andThanksgiving. C0111.1 4. Our Prayer muft not be abfurd, oratiofine racione, Prayer withou t reafon. As accedere Deum pro pacefinepace : pro rentiffione peccatorum cum retention, as Terjx ian faith, to come toGod for peace without peace, to pray forforgiven?fs, andbe far fromforgiving our felves. Our Saviour fets us a rule topray, forgive us, as we for give others; how can we fay to God forgive me, and to our Brother pay me? Prov. at. 13. whofo ftoppethhis Ears at the cry of thepoor, he (hall alto cry himfelf, and than not be heard, as the Wife man fpeaks. If there be a receiving there mull be a Mark ar. af. giving. When you pray ( faith our Saviour) forgive, if ye have ought againft any, that your Father alfo which is in Heaven may forgive you your trefpaffes. And thus our Prayers fhall be reafonable, otherwife Prayer without Charity, is as they call it, the Prayer of Cain, who offered facrifice to God and murthered his Brother. Judith7. 3o. 5. It muft not be the Bethuliant Prayer. Help mutt come within five days, Luker 3. r. or elfe farewell Prayer. This iscontrary to our Saviours rule, who taught men to pray, and not to faint ; and to the Apoftles, Pray without ceafing. Yet it is not r.Theaf.5.17. meant, that we fhould ever bepraying, and doing nothing elfe, as theEuchita drea- ad k. p obara mcd, or that God ispleated with many words, or battology for 'ton in fermene sr. multo fed diuturn°effetuu, not in many words but with long affection, as Saint As- Luck.[t, gufdtne. Nor is it our Saviours meaning in the parable of him that went to his Friend for Loaves, that. he knocked at the door continually, but interpolarimever and anon till he was heard ; son continua interpellatione, fed interpolatione, our Prayer muft be renewed often. For in this frequency and continuance in Prayer there are Aug. he, two extreams to be avoided. al quodt. 0s1t I. Firft that which Saint Alit tells us, was in the Euchites; as before, who Beam. never left or difcontinued Prayer, but neglectedall other dutiesof Religion which was condemned by the Church as an Herefie. L;I.C.sa 2. The other is that which Ifidore mentioneth of fome, that hold, that men were only to pray in the night, and tofpend the day in other affairs. Thefe are likeour. noblua Owlsthat never cry but in the night. The practife of many amongus is like theirs, that.pray not but when they are in their Beds, if then; both thefe muft be . avoided, andwe muft walk in the middle way. There may be a defect alto in the manner of praying, when it is not qualified fix Numb. % /.6. as we have above fpecified. Alto our thanks may be in this two ways defective a. When a manhath benefits and flighteth them ; now ourSoul is driedaway, we z Hing.5.a5. can fee nothing but this Manna. It was the Yews fault to murmur unthankfully. a. Or our thanks may be formali cold, and carelefs, :efts magi, quam fenfa, of cow*, and not from a true fenfe and feeling : fuch facrifice to their own net. Hab. t. r 6. Naaman received abenefit, and he would be thankful), for when-oneTalent was ask- ed he would give two. Now becaufe Prayer is the means to obtain all other Graces, it cannot properly be laid to have means to obtain it. Yet are there divers helps to it. a. There is no greater help or fpur to Prayer, than the confideration of our own wants, andimperfections, by taking a view of our Souls, and frequent exams. ning our own Hearts, whereby we come to fee the evils we are molt inclinable to, and the good things we want. This knowledge and fenfeof his own wants made David thirft after God, and pour out his Soul before him, Pfal. 42.11274, 5. a. Another help is the remembrance of Gods benefits to us. King David was fo well verfed in this Duty that there is not a benefit he received, or that we may, but that there is a Pfalm for it, Pfat. 40. 3. He had Rillcanticum novum for beneftciumnu- vans, when he wants any fingulas'benefit, then he reckons up the letter, which Saint Aquiline calls, colligere fragmenta, the gathering up the fragments, and theft great . Sowasthefor and as the the leafi merc when he had no thankul for the hennh takesupold benefits and makes of them a new Song, as Pfal. 38. and 70. and rather . than fail, he remembersto God and gives thanks for his wonderful forming in his Mothers Womb, Pfal. lag. and fometimes enlargeth himfelf to thofe benefits that are common to all the World, as Pfat.8a9. too. Yea to the very wild Affesquench. ing their thirft in the W ildernefs. j. Ano-
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