A 6L'inti TO PRAYER. expres.:ons of a person skilful in this duty ? How sweet a re- froshment have ye found under inward burdens of mind, or out- ward afllietíous, when in broken language you halc told them to your minister, and he Lath spread them before God, and that in such words as hath spokeyour whole sinkand your sorrows ! And you have experienced a sweet serenity and calm of spirits;_ you have risen up from your knees with your countenance no more sad: and have ye not wished for the same gift yourselves, that yemight be able upon all occasions thus to address the throne of grace, and pour out all your 'hearts in this manner before yo4r God ? But what a sad inconvenience is it to live in such a worfll as this, where we are liable daily to so many new troubles and temptations, amt'not be able to express then) to God in prayers unless we find them written in the words- of a form ! and how hard is it to find any form suited to all our new wants and new sorrows ! At other times what divine impressions of holiness have ye felt in public worship in the congregation, where this duty bath been performed with holy skill and fervency! and in that prayer you have received more solid edification than from the whole sermon. How dead have ye been to all sinful temptations, and how much devoted to God ! And do ye not long to be able to pray thus in your households and in your own clo:ct ? Would it not be a pleasure for men to be thus able to entertain their whole families daily ? And for christians thus to entertain one ano- ther, when they meet to pray to their common God and Father ? and to help one, another at this 'rate onward to the world of praise ? When the disciples had just been witnesses of the devotion of our Lord; Luke xi. 1. who spake as never Inca spaké, their hearts grew warm under the words of that bl essed Worshipper, and one 'of them, in the name -of the rest, cried out, Lord, teach us to pray tQo. - Thus a good attainment ofthis gift. is made a happy instru- ment. of sanctification as well as comfort, by the co-working flower of the bléssed`Spirit. But on the other hand, hath cot your painful experience sometimes taught you, that zeal and devotion bath been cooled, and almost quenched by the vain repetitions or weak and wandering thoughts of some fellew- chriatian that leads the worship? And at another time a well- framed- prayer of beautiful order and language Lath been ren- dered- disagreeable by some unhappy totes and gestures; so- that you have been ready to long for the conclusion, and have been weary of attendance. Who then would willingly remain igno- rant of such an attainment, which is so sweet and successful an instrument to advance religion in the powers and pleasures of it in their own hearts, and the hearts of all men that are round about them ?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=