Downame - BV209_D69_G6_1640_v1

i5á of the circumftancesof prayer: the effe& of that defire, and yet prayer goeth before the knowledge or feeling of either of both. CHAP. XXVI. of the circumfiances of prayer. ANd thus much of the fubf}antiall points of In- vocation: Now follow the accidentali, which 1. Of the are the circumf}ances of Perfon, Time, and Place. perfons: In which re- Prayer in regard of perfons is either publick or pri- fpe& it is vate. Publick invocation is the prayer ofa congre- publick or ation as ofa parifh or colledge. Of publick prayer pr. ivate. g ti , p P y Of publick we are to make fpeciall account: For if the prayer of prayer. force one man can avail fo much (as heretofore I have fhewed)what shall we think of publick, where the prayers of fo many afcend together unto the Lord: As the flame of one faggot -flick to the flame of the whole faggot or bundle, fo is the prayer of one man to the prayer of the whole congregation: for Fis unita e/I fortior, force united is fo much the fronger; and a threefold cable is hardly broken. Our Saviour Chrift hath bountifully promifed that where two or three he gathered together in his name, there is he in the middef of them, Matth. 13.2e). Yea, filch is the prefence of the Lord in publick affem-- blies , that thofe which have been excluded thence have thought themfelves banifh d from the pre- fence of God, and to be put away from his Lice. It was the punifhment of Cain; and fo he efteemed ir, Gen.4. For when the Lord had banilbed him from that earth which had received his brothers blood from his hand, v. i x. which was the place of the vifible Church, v.14. he faith, that by reafon of this pu- nithtnent