13 8 `dig 1004 fang farnifpZook. wayes Prayer maketh us Receptiveof. the bleffing : By Phyfacaldifpofition,(as appetite maketh our food fweet and effectual ; ) And by (h) Moral dif]iofition, as we are in the way where mercy corneal, and in the ufe of the means which God will biefs. What if you offer your Children money or what, elfe you fee beat, and bid them Ask. it faro, and thank, you after and one of themdoth fo, and the other faith, lily Father is not fo childifh, mutable or unloving, as to be Moved with my askingor thanking : Whatgood doth thisdo to him ? Will you not fay : No, but it is good for you to do your duty without which you arc unworthy of myOr, and it is not wifdom in me to encourage your dilobe- dience, nor to give you what you think not worth the asking. We cannot have Godsmercies againft his will : AndPrayer is one of his Conditions ; And what can be more reafonable than, Askand have ? He that valueth not mercy, will neither reli(h it well, nor ufe it well. There is a fweet and admirable cooperation between the bountiful Communications of God, and the Holy and Conftant defires of the foul. The Heavenly in- flux c_ ometh down on the foul and exciteth thofe de- fires, and defires arife and by receptive di/7iofition caul.; us more plenteoutly to receive that influx : even as the influxof the fun, and the fiery fpirits in the eye concurr to our fight. We are Receiving grace all the while that we aredefiring it. Therefore the con- ífant excitationofholy d fires by fervent Prayer, is the confiant way of our Reception and Heavenly Bene- dktion. (b)-Luke z. And
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