THe first Step is laid hold on by the Memory, which begins this spiritual as­cent, by putting the Soul in mind to look up to the Maje­sty of him that stands above the Ladder, to remember, that though the place we chuse for our Devotion be never [Page 8] so solitary, yet we are not alone; that God hears what we say, sees what we do; that the whole Trinity is present, as visible to thy eyes of Faith, as grosser Objects are to the outward senses. For there is God the Fa­ther, the Fountain of good Thoughts, ready to assist through his power and to keep us from distraction in our Prayers; there is God the Son, the eternal Truth, prepared to direct us by his Wisdom, and to deliver us from errour and delusion; there is God the Holy Ghost, the Source and Spring of di­vine Love, able to enflame the Will with fervent Af­fections, and keep us from [Page 9] damps of coldness and inde­votion. And when we have thus put our selves into the presence of God with an aw­ful Reverence and Adoration of him as present, we have then mounted the first step and degree of this Ladder.

[Page 10] THe second step or act of the Soul, is, To look to the directing of the Inten­tion, to fix it entirely upon God, and take it off from all earthly things: For as the least Grain and Atom of dust offends the eye, so this In­tention admits of no mix­ture, no vanity of being seen or heard at your Prayers, no curiosity of thinking to climb up by this Ladder into the secrets of God, no spiritual Pride, in reflecting upon your self as more devout than others; for as it must be sincere, so it must be hum­ble, directed to the Glory of God alone; which in this ascent of your Soul, must [Page 11] be always in your eye, as the Centre in which all the lines of Prayer must meet. But then this Intention of the Supplicant must be accom­panied with some Offering too: For it was Gods Com­mand to his People, that none should come into his presence with empty hands. Being therefore come into his presence, deal generously and freely with him, offer him the thing which he most desires, even thy heart, with all the thoughts and affecti­ons of it, to be disposed by him, not only during the time of Prayer, but for all thy life. For this Offering of thy Heart to God, if it makes way for thy Prayer, [Page 12] and breaks through those Clouds which thy sins have interposed between God and thee.

[Page 13] AFter this Offering, the next step is by raising the Understanding, and the awakening of our Faith to a due consideration of that which you are about. Be­ing therefore retired into thine Oratory, make these few Questions to thine own Soul, and engage thy self to an answer: O my Soul, Wherefore art thou retired into this place? What is thy Design? What thy Pre­tension? Where is thy God whom thou comest to Treat with? Is he present? Doth he hear thee? Or is he merci­ful? Will he help thee? What is thy business thou art to negotiate? Is it the saving [Page 14] of thy Soul, or the satisfying of thine earthly Desires? What words wilt thou use to move thy God to hear thee? What humble gestures? What profound reverence? Answer thy self briefly to every one of these Interrogatories, as thy own Conscience dictates to thee: For by this discourse made with thy self, thou shalt be the better prepared to discourse with God.

But to make this preparati­on the more compleat, the quality of the Persons enga­ged in this Treaty, is neces­sarily to be weighed. Con­sider therefore first with my self, who thou art that ma­kest thy approaches to speak with God: That thou art [Page 15] but dust and ashes; Abraham himself was no more. Con­sider again the motives that may drive thee to this duty; Thy sins many, thy strength little, thy self nothing, thy dangers great; thy case the same with the Disciples in the Storm, when they cried out, Master, save us, or else we perish: For he that really lays these three things to heart:

• 1. The extreme necessity that he is in.
• 2. The small possibility of help either from himself, or any other Creature.
• 3. The high importance of that which he is about, that it is as much as his Soul is worth, will never dare to [Page 16] come coldly and carelesly to a work of that concernment.

Having thus far reflected on your own condition, you are in the next place to raise the Prospect from your self, to the Person you pray to, to consider, that he is no less than God, who clothed him­self with light, as with a Garment. A God infinitely wise, from whom nothing can be hid, infinitely power­ful to whom nothing is im­possible; infinitely good, ready to shed, and diffuse, and impart his goodness to his Creatures; that therefore though his Majesty may ter­rifie thee, yet his Mercy may invite thee; especially if you consider God as he is in [Page 17] Christ, reconciling you un­to himself: For as the one may strike a reverence into you, so the other will infuse a confidence, without which our weak Prayers will never have strength enough to reach the Throne of Grace.

[Page 18] THe Understanding be­ing awakened with these Considerations, the fourth act of the Soul in re­lation to Prayer, is, to rouze the Affection, which is seated in the Will: This being so necessary an Ingredient in your Prayer that is it but a cold Offering without it. The understanding may pro­vide for you this Spiritual food, but it is the Will that must taste, and swallow, and digest it into nourishment; the one may make you wise, but the other must make you holy. The Prophet tells you, that the Seraphins in God's presence, with two of their wings cover their face, and [Page 19] with two other their feet, leaving only their breast open, which is the seat of Love. When therefore you present your selves in the sight of God, be sure you so far imitate these Seraphins, that though your eyes be vaile (you cannot look into his Glory) you cannot know him as you would, your Breast, the seat of your Af­fections, be open to receive and emit those beams of di­vine love, which only can kindle devotion to the height and unite your Soul to God by a most intimate Union. But alas! you will say, those blessed Spirits that are in such a nearness to God, may well be all fire and love, but [Page 20] you at such a distance can­not find the effects of it; the wood lies upon the Altar, but you want fire to kindle it; all that you can do, is to search in the ashes for some small spark to blow at: But know you not (saith Siracides) how great a fire a small spark may kindle? The same Spi­rit of God that moved up­on the Waters till it had produced the World, moves upon thy heart, foments and cherisheth the least spark of the love of God which it finds there, and makes it flame out into a servent prayer. David found this by experience, where he saith of himself, while I was thus musing, my heart kindled with­in [Page 21] me, and I spake with my Tongue.

The Devotion of the heart (saith St. Bernard) is the Tongue of the Soul, without this it is silent and shut up; but actuated and heated with Love, it poures it self forth in Supplications, and Pray­ers, and Discourses with God; sometimes Praising him for the Infinite Blessings received from him, some­times Praying to him for those which we yet want. This is that conversing of the Soul with God, which Gre­gory Nyssen speaks of, as a Son Conversing with his Father, or a Friend with a Friend, into whose bosom he may pour forth with confidence [Page 20] [...] [Page 21] [...] [Page 22] all the Secrets of his Soul as a Favourite with his Prince, or a betrothed Virgin with her Lover. What the result of these discourses is, what words are spoken, what se­crets discovered, what de­lights enjoyed, may easier be felt than spoken of: When the Soul being lifted up by the wings of Prayer, and rarified into a flame by Love, reacheth the very Bosom of God. But though every devout Soul mounts not to this pitch, this top of the Ladder, let none be dis­maied at it: For God knows whereof you are made, he sees the body of flesh which you bear about you, and the Plummets which it [Page 23] hangs upon your Soul, and therefore when you cannot rise high enough to him, he comes down to you; for so you find in this Vision, there were descending as well as ascending Angels. We do not read that St. Paul was of­ten rapt into the third Hea­ven: Notwithstanding his Raptures, the Angel of Sa­tan that buffeted him, made him remember that he was still upon the Earth: For one foot of the Compass will un­avoidably be fixed there, when the other moves in the circumference of divine con­templation. Iacob himself was but at the bottom, at the foot of the ladder, when his Soul was at the highest, and saw God at the top of it.

THere is no clearer glass to see the ex­cellencies of Pray­er in, than that very Prayer which our Savi­our thought fit to teach his Disciples. Where the first entrance presents you with that unvaluable Priviledge, to call God your Father; that therefore you come not to treat with him as a Slave with his Master, or a Vassal with his Prince, but as a [Page 26] Son with your Father: God infusing into you by Prayer that Spirit of Adoption by which you cry to him, Abba Father. This being (saith St. Chrysostome) the highest excellency of the Creature to treat familiarly as a Son with his Creator. A Dig­nity that raiseth us poor Worms of the Earth to a kind of equality with the Angels themselves; for though in Nature they are above us, yet this duty makes us equal: For Quid potest inveniri sanctius iis qui cum Deo commercium habent? Saith the same Father; What can be more holy than he who is admitted to treat fa­miliarly with God? Moses [Page 27] by talking with God, had such a brightness shed upon his face, that they who look­ed upon him were dazled with it: For if they who have the ear of Princes, as Favourites, having freedom of access, and opportunity at all times of presenting their Petitions, cannot want the splendor of Worldly things, which consequently will follow them; much less can the beams of an higher glory be wanting unto them, who live as if they were al­ways in the presence of God, talking with God by Prayer, and God with them by holy Inspirations. What can they want who are admitted to this Privacy? And it is your [Page 18] fault if you are not. For there are neither doors nor locks, nor any greater Fa­vourite to keep you out. He that gives you leave to call him Father, cannot exclude his Son, that cries, Father, I have sinned.

THe second Excellency of Prayer, is, That it is a means by which the name of God is hallowed, both by us and in us: We pray that his Name may be Sanctified, and we Sanctifie his Name by praying so: Our Tongues, but much more our Lives, being made Instruments to glorifie him, God is glorified by our believing in him, by our knowing him, by our ado­ring [Page 30] him, and in Prayer we do all this: By Prayer we bring to light those graces and gifts of God which he hath hid for us in his eternal Predestination, as we may see Joh. 17. 5. in that Prayer of Christ to his Eternal Father: And now, O Father, glorifie thou me with thy own self, with the glory which I had with thee be­fore the World was. From whence the School infers, That Prayer is the principal means ordered by providence for the execution of what God hath decreed on our be­half. God had decreed the Incarnation of his Son for the saving of the World; he had promised, and could not va­ry from it: Yet this kept not [Page 31] Moses from his Petition, Send him whom thou wilt send; nor the Prophet from praying, O that thou wouldest bow the Heavens, and come down! The Father had decreed to give his Son, being Incarnate, the Nations for his inheritance, but the execution of this Decree was to be by Pray­er; the Son of God himself was to pay for it, for, Postu­la, & Dabo; Ask of me, and I Psal. 2. 8. will give them thee. If there­fore the Decree of your Pre­destination be yet dark to you, and you would willing­ly know whether your name be written in the Book of Life, there is no way of ob­taining this, but humble Prayer: Do but pray fer­vently, [Page 32] that God would glo­rifie himself in thee, by ma­king thee a Vessel for his Honour, and thou shalt find so much vertue in this Prayer as shall quiet thy thoughts, and take away thy scruples.

[Page 35] THe next Dignity of Prayer is, that it is the effectual means of enstating the Kingdom of God in us, not only the Kingdom of Grace, in this World, which in the Apostles Character is Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy the Holy Ghost; but the Kingdom of Glory in the next, to which Prayer not only gives us the Title, but puts us in a kind of Pos­session, by affording us a taste at least, and an earnest of that Glory. The first time that we find it written that our Saviour prayed, we find in the very next words, three passages of wonder where­of Luke in 21, 22. the first was, that the [Page 34] Heavens were opened; the next, that the Holy Ghost descended on him as a Dove; the third, that there was a Voice that came from Hea­ven, which said, Thou art my Beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. And wherefore this, but to shew us the admirable effects of Prayer? First, that it is the Key to open Heaven to us; next, that it hath that attractive power, as to draw down the Spirit of God upon us; and Lastly, that it puts us into the quality of Sons, and of such Sons in whom he is well-pleased. After this, when he went up into a Moun­tain Luke 9. 28. to pray; What followed upon this? The Evangelist tells us, That as he was praying, Mat. 17. [...]. [Page 35] his face did shine as the Sun, and his Garment was white as Mark ix. 3. the Light: So white (saith St. Mark) that no Fuller on earth could white them. And though it is not said that this Transfiguration of our Sa­viour, was absolutely and fully the Kingdom of Hea­ven come down to him, yet we find there was so much of the Glory of it, as Peter Mark ix. 5. in his Amazement took to be Heaven, and desired to fix his Tabernacle there, and to go no higher. You see here the strange effects of Prayer, it draws down one Kingdom to you, and lifts you up to another. It bows down to you the King­dom of Grace, and draws [Page 36] you up to the Kingdom of Glory.

[Page 37] THE fourth Excellency of Prayer goes hand in hand with the former; for where Gods Kingdom comes, there must be a perfect sub­mission to his Will, which cannot be more effectually done than by the means of that Homage which we do to God in Prayer. For by Prayer we not only obtain, but exercise that Obedience which is better than Sacri­fice; we strip and divest our selves of our own Will, and give our selves entire­ly up to the Will of God, whom we pray unto. And from hence it is, that the Fathers say of fervent Pray­er, that it makes us live in [Page 38] the flesh, as if we were out of it, that it dis-intangles and unlooseth the Soul from the Ties and Fetters of the body, and equals us unto the An­gels: For as they stand in the presence of God ready to execute his Commands, with­out either delay or weariness; so Prayer puts us into the like posture with those Angels, and quickens us unto the O­bedience of doing the Will of God in earth, as it is done in Heaven.

But that you may not think that all the treasure and riches of Prayer are on­ly in things invisible, there is a fifth Excellency in Prayer, in that it procures for us our daily bread, which as it [Page 39] hath reference to our body in such things as concern our nourishment; so it reacheth besides to the spiritual Re­fection of our Souls: For by Prayer (saith St. Bernard) we are stored with three sorts of bread; the bread of Truth, for the Understanding; the bread of Divine Love and Charity, for the Will; and in the last place, that grosser and more earthly bread fitted for the sustaining of our weaker nature. These be the three Loaves which Christ in his Parable encourageth us to ask for, and never to give o­ver our importunity, till we obtain them; for obtain them we shall, and our Pray­ers, if fervent, cannot be de­nied.

[Page 40] Imagine therefore (saith Climacus) that you say Pray­er is a Queen, seated on her Throne, calling out to you in the words of our Saviour, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you that refreshing as shall lighten your weight, and ease your weariness: For with­out me the burthen of the Law is heavy, but with me it is light; without me the exercise of Re­pentance is bitter, but with me it is sweet; without me the Cross is insupportable to be born, but with me the Crown of Thorns shall be as easie as a Crown of Roses.

Christ is the Bread of Life, but the means to make this Bread nourish you, is [Page 41] Prayer: By Prayer you re­ceive Christ into your me­mory, and ruminate upon him in your Meditations: By Prayer your Affections tastes and relisheth this Bread, and your love incor­porates it. Whatever there­fore your necessities are, fly to Prayer: If this spiritual Bread be wanting, and you hunger and thirst after it, pray and you shall be satis­fied. Or if the food of your Body fails you, and poverty lays hold upon you as an armed man; fall to your Prayers again, and be sure that he who hears the young Ravens when they call upon him, will much more hear you who have the honour, [Page 42] not only to be his Creatures, but his Sons.

Thus far the Excellency of Prayer is in opening Hea­ven to us, from whence all Blessings come: We are now to look upon it as the Key that shuts up Hell, and keeps all evil from us, which is of three sorts:

• 1. Evil of Sin.
• 2. Evil of Temptation, that leads to sin.
• 3. Evil of Punishment for sin.

Against these three, Prayer is the Remedy, and first a­gainst sin already contract­ed: For how came the Pub­lican justified, but by a short and humble Prayer? What moved and softned the heart [Page 43] of the Father of the Prodi­gal Son to such a tenderness? Was it not his Prayer, Fa­ther, I have sinned against Hea­ven, and against thee? The Debt of Ten thousand Ta­lents, which the Servant ow­ed the King, was no slight ordinary sum, yet a few Words of Prayer had vertue enough to cancel that great Debt. And because there is a condition required, of par­doning the Trespasses done against us, if we look for par­don of our Trespasses against God, Prayer helps you in the fulfilling of this condition too; and though your hearts be as hard as Iron, Prayer is of the nature of Fire, and is able to soften that Iron, [Page 44] and melt you into that com­passion toward your enemies, as to pray for them with the same earnestness as you do for your selves.

But then when our past sins are pardoned, where shall we find a Remedy against future Temptations? Our Saviour tells you where, when he saith to his Disci­ples, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, If the fire of Lust begin to kindle in your hearts, Pray­er can extinguish that fire. Or if a whole Sea of worldly Afflictions breaks in upon you, Prayer can set a Bank to that Sea. If you are com­passed about with Enemies, Temptations on all sides, [Page 45] and are ready to be swallow­ed up by them, remember that Moses's Prayer prevailed more against Amalek, than Ioshuah's Arms.

And then again in the close, as Prayer hath the na­ture of a Charm, to keep Temptations from you; so when by Humane Weakness and the Arts of the Tempter, you are led into them, Pray­er is as the thread to bring you out of this Labyrinth: Or when you have unwarily taken in the poison of sin, Prayer is the Antidote a­gainst the venom of it, it doth not only remove the guilt, but the evil of Pu­nishment which is due to it, [Page 46] whether it be in this Life, or in the next. And of this David was very sensible, when he cryes out in a kind of Extasie of Thankfulness, Blessed be God which hath not Psal. lxvl. 13. cast out my Prayer, nor turned his Mercy from me: Intima­ting by this (as St. Austin un­derstands the words) that there is a kind of Contract or Bargain made between Prayer on Man's part, and Mercy on God's: That where Prayer led the way, Mercy should always follow.

BY this which hath been said, may be inferred the necessity of Prayer, Mat. xvil. both in respect of your spiri­tual Life, which it preserves: And in regard of spiritual Enemies, which otherwise would destroy you: For as the Body without the Soul is dead, loathsome, and overspread with Worms; so fares it with the Soul (saith [Page 48] Chrysostome) that doth not use to pray, and consequently hath no spiritual Life in it. For as soon as the Breath of Prayer fails, the Soul putri­fies, and the Worm of Con­science gnaws upon it. Daniel therefore chose rather to ha­zard Dan. 6. his life, than to omit his exercise of Prayer thrice a day, as being willing that his Body should suffer, rather than his Soul. Would you know further, how precious Prayer is, devout Men will tell you, That Prayer pierc­eth the Clouds, reacheth the Heavens, rejoyceth the An­gels, appeaseth God, obtains whatsoever it sues for.

HAving considered the glorious Fruits, and admirable Ef­ficacy of Prayer, we are to look about, and to discover what Enemies we are like to meet with, to op­pose and hinder us in the ex­ercise of this Heavenly Du­ty: For Prayer is in its own nature a kind of Wrestling and Striving for a Victory, which presupposeth an op­position: And rather than it shall be wanting, God him­self will enter into the Lists, [Page 52] as he did with Iacob, in that Gen. xxxii. 24. famous Wrestling, when to shew the power of Prayer, he that was invincible, was content to be overcome by him, who had no other wea­pons but Tears and Prayers. Hos. xii. 4. When therefore you find your selves afflicted, make use of our Saviour's Parable, Arise, though it be at Mid­night, Luke xi. 5. repair speedily to the Gates of your true Friend, God himself; (for you have no Friend like him) though you find the doors shut, and your Friend asleep, begin your Battery, and give not over knocking, with im­portunate Cries and Pray­ers, till he open to you; as Iacob would not let the [Page 53] Angel go, till he had blessed him.

AS Prayer therefore is a Wrestling with God, we look not upon this op­position as an hindrance, but as an advantage to Devoti­on. The true Enemies of Prayer exercise a more dan­gerous Hostility, where the Van is led by those damned Spirits, who being fallen from Heaven themselves, endeavour the more envi­ously to obstruct the ways that may lead us thither; and because nothing condu­ceth more to this than Prayer, they order all their Temptations to this end chiefly, either to divert us [Page 55] from it, or disturb us in it: If they tempt us to excess in Meats and Drinks, their aim is not only to make us guilty of Intemperance, but by it to render us the more unfit for Prayer: Or if they prompt us to Anger and Im­patience, their design ter­minates not in that sin, but rather makes use of it to a further end, that the mind being thus disquieted, may not be able easily to compose and settle it self to Prayer. For the effecting this, they make daily use of the humors of the body, the distempers of the mind, the weakness and weariness of the flesh, the injuries and oppressions of the Time, the cares and [Page 56] distractions of the World. Of these they make their Engines to assault us, and weave their Nets to entan­gle us. And as S. Bernard observed by his own experi­ence, they are never more earnest to disturb us, than when they see us most earnest in this duty. As it was said therefore of the Chri­stians, That that Religion could not but be very good, which Nero persecuted; so we may very well conceive of Prayer, that it must needs be some divine and heavenly thing which the Devil with all his Engines so violently opposeth. And the truth is, he hath so much the more reason to set himself against [Page 57] it, for nothing is more de­structive, nothing more ter­rible to him, than a Soul armed with Prayer; for he trembles at the sight of it, saith St. Chrysostom. When St. Paul therefore, having first shewn us what Enemies we were to deal with, that we were to wrestle with Prin­cipalities, with Powers, with the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, with spiritual wickedness in High places; when (I say) after this fearful Muster-Roll, he adviseth us to arm our selves with the whole Armor of God, with the Breast-plate of Righte­ousness, Ephes. vi. 12. the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, the Sword of the Spirit; he adds [Page 58] in the last place, Pray always, with all manner of Prayer and 18. Supplication in the Spirit; as if all the rest were nothing without Prayer. And this the Apostles themselves found to be true, who being Matth. xvii. 16. not able to cure the Luna­tick, and to drive the evil Spirit out of him, our Savi­our shewed them wherein they failed, by telling them, That this kind is not cast out 21. but by Prayer and Fasting. For though they might have so much Faith as to remove Mountains, yet without pray­er that Faith could not re­move the Devil. For this only is that perfume whose smoke will make him fly as far as did that unclean Spi­rit Tob. viii. 3. [Page 59] whom Tobias his perfume did drive away.

But there is an Hostility more dangerous than this, because being more inward and domestick, it makes the heart the seat of the War, and opposeth Prayer in the proper place and bed of the conception of it, which the Devil immediately and di­rectly cannot do. Of these inward and intestine Ene­mies to Prayer, St. Bernard reckons up four kinds; For there are our past sins to wound us, our present cares to distract us, our distemper­ed Passions to disorder us, and a whole swarm of loose and floating imaginations to mo­lest us. And of these In­gredients [Page 60] is that cloud made up, which the Prophet Iere­miah Lam. iii. 44. complains of, That God was covered with a Cloud, that our Prayer could not pass through to him. For as gross Vapors ascend from the Earth, and being in the upper Region of the Air, condescend into Clouds, hin­der us from seeing of the Sun, and enjoying the heat and splendor of it: So (saith St. Gregory) out of our earth­ly hearts arise those several Vapours, which being join­ed and cast into a Cloud, beats back our Prayers, and intercepts the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness from shining on us. St. Austin likens a Soul in this conditi­on [Page 61] to a man that is unhap­pily married; for as he ha­ving spent the day in mana­ging his affairs abroad, trem­bles at the very thought of coming home at night, be­ing sure to meet with no­thing but bitterness and dis­quiet there: So the troubled Sinner being haunted with these ill Guests, entertains his Thoughts contentedly enough with objects abroad, but trembles to call them home, and fix them upon Prayer. But there is no remedy, home we must come, and sweeten as well as we can the Discontents we find there: Though the mind be clouded and troubled, this must not make us cast aside [Page 62] our Prayers, but cry out the more earnestly, as David did, Save me, O God, from the great Waters that are come even into my Soul; Deliver me from mine enemies, for they are too mighty for me: Cast out these Temptations that come about me like Bees, quiet my thoughts, compose my mind, so that I may not fear to look home, or find that to be a torment to me, which was made to be my com­fort.

But to consider these Ene­mies of Prayer apart, we shall find in the first rank of them our unrepented sins: When our Conscience stands up against us, and cries out to us, First make peace with [Page 63] me, or else never think to make peace with God. For he accepts of no unclean, no unwashed Sacrifice; and if Repentance usher not in, Prayer will never find ad­mittance. Holy David deep­ly apprehended the Conse­quence of this: If (saith he) I incline my heart unto wicked­ness, God will not hear me: For what an impudence were it to expect pardon for those sins which I am yet so far pleased with, as I am not re­solved to leave; or to look for Mercy, when that Lust is not yet cool'd with which I have offended? Bring therefore Isa. i. 13. no more vain Oblations, your Incense is an Abomination to me, saith God to that people of [Page 64] his, who honoured him with their lips, when their hearts were far from him: Your ap­pointed Feasts my Soul hates; 14. they are a trouble to me, I am weary to bear them: When you spread forth your hands, I will 15. hide mine eyes from you; yea, though you make many Prayers, I will not hear. Would you know why? The very next words will satisfie you: Your hands are full of blood; you have not washed them in the waters of Repentance, you are yet in your sins, there­fore you are not heard.

But what is to be done then in this case? God tells you by his Prophet, Wash you, make you clean, put away your evil do­ings 16. from before mine eyes, cease [Page 65] to do evil: And when you have done this, Come, saith the Lord, and let us reason to­gether: 18. As if he should say, You are now qualified for a Conference with God, your Prayers will be seasonable; and for your sins which hi­therto have hindered you: Do but confess, and resolve to leave them, Though they be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like Crimson, they shall be white us Wool.

The Enemies of Devoti­on in the second Rank, are our Passions, which though they are not in their own nature sins, yet quickly slide into them, and being prone to be irregular, are like cross [Page 66] winds to hinder us, unless we can allay and temper them. For unmortified pas­sions at the time of Prayer, is like loud musick at a meeting of Friends, which suffers them not to hear one the other. When God appear'd in the flaming Bush to Moses, on purpose to be seen by him, yet he would not suffer him to make any near approach to him, till he had put off his shoes, which signifies Exod. xxxiii. 20. something more than is in the Letter, and relates ra­ther to the heart, than to the feet: As if he should say to thee, Here I am, even I thy God; but come not near me, till thou hast put off thine earthly Affections, till thou hast devest­ed [Page 67] thy self of whatsoever is dis­pleasing in my sight; if not, take heed: No man can see me, and live: that is, saith St. Gre­gory. None can see me spiri­tually, that lives carnally.

It was an high expression of him who was so great an Admirer of Euripides, that he was wont to say, That if he were sure there were any sense in death, he could be content to die, only that he might see Eu­ripides: But then to see God, who would not mortifie him­self? Say therefore with that earnestness as St. Austin did, Moriar ut te videam.

[Page 69] THE third Assault that is made upon the Soul, is by the Cares of this Life, which like so many Thorns, are ready to choak the seeds of Grace as soon as they are sown. For overmuch soli­citude and anxiety of Mind in worldly things, casts such an heap of Earth upon our Dan. vi. Prayers, as will not suffer them to ascend, taking up the Mind, and all the Facul­ties of it, and hardly admit­ting so much as a Thought of Heaven. But as they say of Thorns, That they may do well in an Hedg, but ill in a Garden; so is it with these Cares, which being kept within their bounds; [Page 70] and measures, hurt not the Soul; but if we admit them among our Prayers, they cor­rupt the very nature of them, and turn them into Sin. When thou art therefore set­ting thy self to thy Devoti­ons, imagine that thou hear­est thy Saviour calling to thee, as he did to Martha, Why art thou so careful? why art thou troubled about many things? One thing is only needful, the saving of thy Soul: Since therefore Luke x. 41. thou art come to treat about it, dismiss whatsoever may disturb thee, lay aside, thy Cares as Mary did; place thy self at my feet, hear me in my Word, that I may hear thee in thy Prayer.

[Page 72] BUt the Conflict is not yet done; when these for­mer Enemies are overcome, there may be a swarm left of busie, vain, impertinent thoughts, of which we may complain as David did, that they have compassed us a­bout like Bees: For the Ima­gination being naturally un­quiet and tumultuous, inter­poseth it self many times without asking leave of us, casting thoughts in our way, and forcing the Understand­ing to reflect upon them. And these she either fetch­eth from Objects without, from something that we have either seen, or heard, or done; or if it fail of new [Page 73] plies from thence, it present­ly busies it self within, in forming of various Images, Figures and Forms, which like so many Atoms, cast­ing themselves into several Schemes, trouble and vex the Soul in the midst of her Devotions; not unlike the Birds, which would have hin­dered Abraham in his Sacri­fice: Gen. XV. 11. And happy it were if we could as easily chase away these thoughts from us, as Abraham drove away those Birds: But their pertinacy is such, that when you drive them out of one Form, they assume another; and are so importunately troublesome, as makes many think it a thing impossible to be freed [Page 74] from them. Cassianus con­fesseth of himself, that he was brought very near to a dispairing of it, till open­ing himself to a devout man of more experience (himself being then but young) he was brought off by this Similitude: Should you ask (saith he) one that could neither swim himself, nor e­ver saw others swim, Whe­ther he thought it possible that the heavy body of a Man could spread it self upon the water without sinking; Would not he answer per­emptorily, That it was not possible? But let the same man see once with what ease the Swimmer keeps his head above the water, Would he [Page 75] not as suddenly change his mind upon the sight of this Experiment, and apply him­self to practise it? You say it is impossible, but you do not try whether it be so or no. For either holy Men have deceived us, or some of them, by the Grace of God assisting them, have at­tained such a degree of Power over themselves, as the Centurion in the Gos­pel Matth. viii. 9. had over his Souldiers, they could have given the Law, not only to their out­ward senses, as Iob did to his eyes, that they should not so much as look on Vanity, but to their more inward Fa­culties, they could command their Appetite to love or [Page 76] hate, their rational Faculty to meditate, their imagina­tive to think on this, or not to think on that: For the same St. Paul, who humbled himself so low as to say, that of himself he could do no­thing, could say too, with­out arrogancy, That he could do all things; but then it was in Christ that strength­ned him: All things in Christ, nothing of himself. The Centurion whom we spake of, that had his Soul­diers so absolutely at his Command, confesseth inge­nuously, that he himself ex­ercised his Authority under another. For in all powers subordinate, the way to be obeyed, is to obey: Nor can [Page 77] these Imaginations be possi­bly subdued to Reason, till Reason be subdued to Faith. Submit thy self therefore to God, O my Soul, and there will follow a glorious Victo­ry. But you must strive for it; for this unruly swarm of thoughts hurt none but those that yield to them. When they buz about thee like Flies in a hot day, drown their noise with the louder cry of thy Prayers. And as Spiders cannot easily weave their Nets in a High Wind, so nei­ther shall whole Armies of vain Imaginations be able to ensuare thee, as long as thy earnest Prayers, like a vehe­ment wind shall blow against them.

Of Preparation to Prayer, and the Helps that con­duce to it.

THough Prayer may well be reckoned amongst those gifts which are not of Earthly race, but rather im­mediate Emanations from the Father of Lights; yet this doth not exclude the pre­paring and disposing our selves for the receiving this Gift from Heaven, accord­ing to that Counsel of the Son of Sirach, Before thou prayest, prepare thy self, and be Eccles. xvlli. 22. not as one that tempts the Lord, [Page 80] For what is it to tempt God, but to come into his pre­sence with less regard than you would into the presence of some earthly Prince? What is it to tempt him, but to try experiments with him, whether he will hear you upon any terms, though you neither prepare your self, nor order the manner, nor dis­pose the matter which you petition for. But be not de­ceived, Heaven is not gained at so cheap a rate: Qua­lem ie paraveris Deo (saith St. Bernard) talis apparebit tibi Deus; If you slight God so far as to come carelesly into his presence, without consi­deration of what you come about, be sure he will slight [Page 81] you as much, and regard your Prayers as little. David, Lam. iii. 44. who was a great Master in this heavenly Art of Prayer, tells us, that God hears the desires of the humble, he hearkens to the prepara­tion of the heart; he hears your desires before they are molded and formed into Prayers, and he listens to the very preparations of those desires, he cherisheth them, he goes along with them, he leaves them not, till you can say as that Di­vine Prophet did, My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. For as the Knife must be sharpened before you cut with it, and the Lute tuned before you begin the Mu­sick; [Page 82] so there is something to be done, some tuning of the heart required, before your Prayers can yield that Musick which God listens after. It is an excellent Rule which Eusebius Emissenus gives, Quantum Tu apposueris ad diligentiam, tantum Deus addit ad Gratiam: The more care you take in fitting your self to your Devotions, the more Grace he gives. Elias 1 Kings xviii. was to prepare the Sacrifice; though the Fire was to come from Heaven which did consume it. To come therefore unprepared before him, is an Argument, (say the Fathers) that we do not esteem God, we do not set such a Rate upon him as we [Page 83] ought to do: For if the Vir­gins, before they were brought into the presence of Ahasuerus, were to be purified first with Esther ii. 12. sweet Oyls and Odours, what an impudence were it for a foul unwashed Soul to press into the presence of God himself?

But then if you would know more punctually wherein this Preparation consists, your spiritual Guide will tell you: There are some Rules more remote, some more immediate; of the re­mote, the main is a watchful­ness over the whole course of your life: For if the Devil or­der his Temptations with a de­sign in chief to blast and cor­rupt your Prayers, your care [Page 84] must be the greater to coun­termine him in this design; and to live so (as far as hu­mane frailty will give way) as not to be at any time un­qualified, or unfit to pray. To compass this, there will be a need first of temperance in Diet; for the body once heavy with Excess and Sur­feits, hangs plummets on the nobler part, and weighs the Soul down with it. This being done, there will be use of setting a guard upon your Senses, and stopping the Avenues so far as nothing may from without be admit­ted to divert you, as Elias is 1 Kings XIX. 13. observ'd to have wrap'd his Face in a Mantle, when he prepared himself to speak [Page 85] with God. To this must be added, the frequent reading of Books, especially the Book of Psalms, where the Spirit of Devotion breaths with such a vigor as is able to kindle a fire in the coldest breast, to stir up and excite the drousiest Soul, which be­ing thus awaked and heated, may be more easily prepared to break forth in fervent Prayer.

But then if we come to the more immediate Disposi­tions and Qualifications of Prayer, we shall be pointed to them by our Saviour, who gives this main Rule of private Prayer, When thou prayest, enter into thy Closet, Matth. vi. 6. and when thou hast shut the [Page 86] door, pray to the Father which is in secret: Wherein you are not only directed to the place of Prayer, you are to chuse a place private and retired; but further, (as the Fathers observe) you are put in mind of a more inner Re­tirement, the Closet of your breast, for there you must enter too, and shut that door by some setled Resolution, to admit no thoughts that may disturb you; for other­wise there may be noise and tumult in that inward Clo­set, when there is Quiet and Silence in the other. But then this is not all; but as the place must be secret, the door shut, so the room must be furnished: For as our Sa­viour [Page 87] would not eat the Pass­over in an unfurnished room, Mark XIV. 15. but sent Peter and Iohn first to prepare it, so there is a Furniture necessary for this little Chappel of ours, the Heart. There must be Faith to prepare the Materials, and there must be Love to kindle the Sacrifice. But then after all this, Remember that there is no Preparative more effectual to Prayer, than Prayer it self. For as the Sun in its approaches to us, is ushered in by its own beams, and begins the dawn­ing; so in our approaches to God, Prayer must make way for Prayer. For though the severe Judges of the Areopage would admit of no Civili­ties [Page 88] of Preface to be used by them that pleaded before them, yet God deals not so harshly with us, when we plead before him, but is con­tent to let himself down to be wrought upon by the Rhetorick of a devout Soul. This David knew well, who so frequently makes use of it: Sometimes with all low­liness, suing for admittance; O let my Prayer enter into Thy Psalm lxxxvili. l. Cxli. 2, presence. Let it be set forth in Thy sight as the Incense: Let the lifting up of mine hands be as an evening Sacrifice. Hear xxviii. 2. the voice of my humble Petiti­ons, when I cry unto Thee, when I hold up my hands towards the Mercy-Seat of Thy Holy Tem­ple. Sometimes after a more [Page 89] passionate way: How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? xiii. 1, 2. For ever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? How long shall I seek counsel in my Soul, and so vexed in my heart? Hear me, O God; make haste to hear me: Think no scorn of xxviii. 1. me; for if Thou makest as if Thou hearest not, I shall become like them that go down into the Pit. With these, or such as these, the devout Soul sum­mons God to a Parley, pleads for Admittance, opens the Windows of Heaven, quali­fies her self to receive Grace, and works God to a readiness in giving it.

Of the Reverence and Ado­ration that is to be used in Prayer.

AMong all the Du­ties that relate to Prayer, whether of Preparation to it, or of Deportment in it, there is none of more prime Concernment, than to con­sider that when we pray, we do place or set our selves in the immediate presence of God, whose eyes, though they are at all times over us; yet then we must imagine them more particularly and earnestly fixed upon us. And [Page 92] as from this Consideration flows all the care and solici­tude of fitting our selves by the former preparatives, so besides, it suggests to us with what reverence we should present our selves before so infinite a Majesty; not only because God expects it from us, (though this were enough to oblige: For if I am your Mal. i. 6. Father, where is mine honour? If I am your Master, where is my fear? The words of him that looks for Reverence) but be­cause our Prayers are then only effectual when they are presented with acts of Ado­ration: For so saith Siracides, The Prayer of him that hum­bleth Ecclus. xxxv. 17. himself goes through the Clouds, and ceaseth not till it [Page 93] come near, and will not depart till the most High have respect thereunto: Nor doth the Son of God himself disdain to be a President to us in this, whose prayers upon the Cross being offered with strong cries and tears, were heard (as St. Paul saith) Propter Reverentiam; importing, as Aquinas ob­serves, Heb. v. 7. not so much the Re­verence due to his own Per­son, but rather the Reve­rence which he did in his own Person to God the Father. But because the Reverence which was done there, was only the act of his Mind (for his Body being then nail'd unto the Cross, was not in a Capacity of per­forming outward Adorati­on) [Page 94] he gave us before that pattern in the Garden; where St. Luke saith, that he kneeled; St. Matthew, that he fell on his Luke xxii. 41. Matth. xxvi. 39. face, when he prayed.

Having shewn this of the Son of God Incarnate; of whom it is said, Let all the Heb. i. 6. Angels of God Worship him: It were much to descend to tell you of the four Beasts, or Rev. v. 8. 14. the twenty four Elders that fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever: But then if this lowly Reverence was done by them who were in such a nearness to God, when they offered up to him the Prayers of the Saints, what posture can be low enough for us miserable men, whose Prayers those [Page 95] are, and who in comparison of those heavenly Spirits are viler than the Worms we tread upon?

That Adoration therefore is necessary, none will deny, that either know the Ex­cellency of God, or their own baseness. But because this may be done either by the mind alone, or by the Body alone, or by both con­joyned, which makes the compleat Adoration, let us inform our selves, first what the inward act of it is: For, as our Saviour taught the Woman of Samaria, God who is himself a Spirit, must be John iv. 24. worshipped in Spirit; for the most profound outward Re­verence, if not accompanied [Page 96] with this, is but a Body without a Soul, a Pharisai­cal Ceremony, or an Adora­tion of Complement, of which God sadly complains, when he saith of his people, That they drew near to him Isa xxix. 13. with their lips, but their heart was far from him. The in­ward Adoration therefore is Matth. xv. 8. the humbling of our spirit to God in regard of the ex­cellency that is in him, sub­mitting our very Soul, with all the powers and faculties of it to his Divine Dispo­sal, as being the necessary Homage of the Creature, due to the Greatness and Majesty of the Creator. The exercise of this Adoration consists in several acts, part­ly [Page 97] of the Understanding, partly of the Will: For first there is an act of Reverence required before you begin your Devotions, in an hum­ble Recognition of your un­worthiness; of which the Patriarch Abraham hath left you so excellent a pattern, Gen. xviii. 29. 30. when being about to beseech God that he would spare So­dom, he doth not only ac­knowledg himself to be dust and ashes, but upon every return of speaking to God in that Cause, he doth it with that fear and reverence as to ask leave, and to deprecate his anger before he spake: O let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak.

[Page 99] THis humble Recogni­tion being made of your own vileness, there is a second way of spiritual Ado­ration, when the Soul hum­bled by this Reflex upon it self, changeth the Object, and raiseth a further Reve­rence by the consideration of the Excellencies and several perfections that are in God; sometimes crying out in such Ejaculations as these: O most excellent God, I adore Thee for Thine Infinite Wisdom, I reve­rence Thee for Thine Incompre­hensible Goodness, I glorifie Thee for Thine Immense Charity. Sometimes again by a pro­found silence, making a ta­cite acknowledgment that all [Page 100] that can be said by thee is nothing: For not only the tongues of men, but of An­gels, must fail in the expres­sion of his Glory.

Besides, there is a Reve­rence to be used to God in the Stile or Titles which you give to him; and these you may vary, according to the variety of the matter of your petitions, wherein the Psalms of David are admirable, and afford you no less than forty several ways of Compellation of him, some relating to his Power, as when he calls him by the names of, The King of Heaven, the King of Glory, The God of my Strength, The God that doth Wonders; (the very stile striking a kind [Page 101] of fear and reverence into the Soul.) Others again re­lating to his Goodness: My Saviour, My God, My Might, My Hope, My Refuge in the time of trouble: Which though they run in a stile of Confi­dence, yet are not without reverence too: But then (as Gerson observes) the stile that is best fitted for all persons on all occasions to use, is the compellation of Father, which our Saviour first taught his Disciples to make use of in that excellent Prayer never to be disus'd, nor laid aside by us. Before the time of Grace published to the World, we do not find this Title in the prayers of Holy Men, either Patriarchs or Prophets: But [Page 102] after the Son of God, by ta­king our Nature upon him, became our Brother, then was the boldness given to call God our Father; given even to sinners conditionally, that they use it with that reverence as the converted Prodigal did, who though he had the confidence to call him Father, yet he had the humi­lity withal, to confess that he was not worthy to be called his Son, and therefore his Petition reached no higher, than to be made one of his hired Servants.

[Page 104] BUT as in a Watch, though there must be Wheels within, yet there must be a hand without too, or else the inward Motion of the Wheels is useless; so though the principal of all spiritual Motion is within, yet the Virtue of it must have a time to work outward too, or else our Adoration is not com­pleat: For as the Nature of Man is not comprised singly either in Soul or Body, but in both conjoyned; so the Adoration due to God, who made both, is to flow from both: And if the Soul be God's inward Chancel, the Body must be the Temple that includes it: For know you [Page 105] not (saith St. Paul) that your 1 Cor. VI. 19, 20. body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you: Your own it is not; For you are brought with a price, therefore glorifie God in your Body, as well as Spirit, for both are his. We are not therefore to think, the Reverence of the Body to be an useless or an unprofi­table Ceremony: For besides this Argument of St. Pauls for the necessity of it, St. Au­stin observes, that this out­ward Adoration of the Body is a notable help to the more inward acts of the Spirit, and adds much to the earnestness and fervour of it. For the stretching forth of the hands, the bowing of the knees, the beating of the breasts, the [Page 106] prostrating and casting down the Body, with the like Gestures of Humiliation, are not therefore used to disco­ver to God what is within the heart, or to move him the more, but to move thy self, and by these exterior acts, as by a vigorous blow­ing, to continue and increase that invisible fire of Devo­tion that burns within. But then as these outward acts are not always absolutely necessary; for you may many times be inwardly moved to pray, when outward gesture cannot either easily or conve­niently be used; as Manasses praying in his Fetters, Eze­kiel in his Bed, Susanna in a Throng of People; [Page 107] so neither can I say, that any one particular gesture of the Body in Prayer is so prescri­bed in Scripture, either by way of Precept or Example, as to oblige to that gesture only. For in the exercise of Prayer, we find several postures of Holy Men. Be­fore the Law Abraham is said to have fallen on his face; Gen. xvii. 3. under the Law, Moses did the like. Among the Pro­phets, Deut. ix. 18. Elias fell on the earth, bowing his face between his 1 Kings xviii. 42. knees; Solomon stood before the Altar, with his hands 1 Kings viii. 22. spread forth toward Hea­ven; Saint Stephen kneel'd, Acts vii. 60. & 20. 36. when he pray'd for his Ene­mies; Saint Peter, when he raised Doroas; our Saviour Matth. xxvi. 30. [Page 108] himself in his Agony in the Garden, not only kneel'd but prostrated himself, as hath already been mentio­ned.

The acts of outward Ado­ration being of this diversi­ty: St. Austin's Rule is, that in private Prayer (for in pub­lick we are to conform our selves to the Commands and Customs of the Church wherein we live, rather than to the bent and inclination of our own Wills) we are so to compose and order the outward man, as may be of most advantage to the rai­sing and continuing of the inward Devotion of the mind. Of all these outward Gestures, Prostration is the [Page 109] lowest act of bodily Reve­rence that can be used, when the Supplicant casting him­self upon the earth, acknow­ledges by that act, that he doth but cast dust to dust, that he is more vile than the least grain of that earth he lies upon; and this posture best becomes us in times of great Affliction, and ever to be then lowest, when our necessities are at the highest. But though this casting of the body upon the ground, hath been the practice of many Devout Men, especi­ally of those in the first Ages of Christianity, who after a more strict way wor­shipping God in Desarts and solitary places; yet because [Page 110] they found by experience (as Cassian tells us) that the con­tinuance of their posture long might incline to ease, and provoke to drousiness, they us'd it rather upon some short Ejaculatory Prayers, than in their larger and more conti­nued Devotions, casting them­selves often down with some short and vehement breath­ings of the Soul; but rising again so suddenly, that some of them have been observed to have prostrated them­selves in this manner an hun­dred times in the day, and as often in the night. But this we must leave to be imi­tated by those whose Devo­tion is of an higher strain than ordinary, and which [Page 111] these latter times are hardly capable of.

But the more ordinary and more convenient for all per­sons, is Genuflection: Though we may have some excuse not to cast our whole body down, shall we not cast our knees down at least? Hath God said, That every knee Isa. xiv. 23. shall bow to him, and shall any of us think to be dispenc'd with? Our Saviour kneeled, who knew no sin; and is the posture too low for us, that are nothing else but sin? Whether Elephants have no joints in their knees, and therefore cannot bend them, I will not enquire: But sure the Christian, that hath not this excuse, is a stranger [Page 112] Creature to be wondered at, if he become once so spa­ring of his trouble, or so over-familiar with his God, as not to bend his knees in solemn Prayer unto him.

But then you will say, Where is there Command for this? No Gesture of the body can be other than a Ceremony, which being in its own Nature a thing indifferent, may either be used, or laid aside.

But first, Though it be a Ceremony, every Ceremony is not of that indifferency, especially such which the very Law of Nature dictates to all Nations in all Ages, to fall down and kneel in the Veneration of their God, whether true or false: But [Page 113] then, lest this inward Prin­ciple should apply and cast it self upon a wrong Object, God hath expresly given his Precept too: For every knee (saith he) shall bow to me: And what terms can there be of higher command than these?

But yet because Affirma­tive Precepts, though they bind always in the Habit, cannot be said always to bind in the Act, this cannot be pres­sed so indispensably, as that neither sickness nor weak­ness, nor any other accident, can be a bar to it: For where necessity intervenes, the ben­ded knees of the heart may well excuse the Body.

[Page 114] There is therefore one po­sture more that we find hath been used in Prayer, which though it may hear ill, being practised by the Pharisees, who, as our Saviour de­scribes them, loved to pray standing, not only in their Synagogues, but in the cor­ners of their Streets; yet this Mark vi. 5 is not enough utterly to ex­clude it from our Devoti­ons: For not only the proud Pharisee, but the humble Publican stood at his Prayers, Luke xviii. 13. although with this note of difference: He stood, but it was afar off, in the lowest place of the Temple, as thinking himself unworthy to come higher: His body stood upright, but his eyes [Page 115] were cast downward to the Earth. But not to stop either upon these Particulars, or upon the Custom of the Iews in general, (for it was their Custom to pray standing) we find in the best times, the Christians had their sea­sons to make use of it: For besides that, as between Ea­ster and Whitsontide (to ex­press their Exultation for the Resurrection of their Savi­our, and their Expectation of the Descent of the Holy Ghost) they were not seen to kneel openly in their publick Service of God: So, many times in their private Devotions, (especi­ally when they continued them long upon their knees) [Page 116] they relieved themselves with that change of Posture. But to avoid all necessary Scru­ples in cases of this nature, the result of all is this:

1. That Adoration is an act of Religious Worship, exhibited to God in Recog­nition of his Supreme Do­minion.

2. That as in Man the heart is first framed, so the heart must be first offered as a spiritual Sacrifice of in­ward Reverence.

3. That the outward A­doration by Prostration, or kneeling, is not so much a Ceremony, as a part or [Page 117] duty in Divine Worship, not to be omitted, but either in case of necessity, or when we find some o­ther posture upon some oc­casion really to be of more advantage to us in our De­votion.

4. That this Duty of ex­ternal Reverence doth not then necessarily oblige, when the Soul being suddenly and inwardly moved to lift it self up by Prayer, the out­ward man is as it were sur­prized in some other posture: as walking, standing, sit­ting, or lying down; in which case, God will rather look to the inward Motions and Raptures of the Mind, [Page 118] than to the outward Form and Composure of the Body.

Someother, though more minute, yet usual Circum­stances of Adoration, are summed up by Bonaventure; as the uncovering of the head (as it relates to Men) the posture of either looking up to Heaven, with the con­fidence of Saint Stephen, or fastened down to the Earth, with the humility of the Publican: The hands lifted 2 Chron. vi. 13. and stretched out, a Gesture which God honoured with that famous Miracle: Thus Exod. xvii. 11. as long as Moses in this man­ner held up his hands, the Israelites prevailed; but when he let them down, his Ene­mies [Page 119] prevailed. But the choice of these must be regulated by the former Rule of Saint Au­stin, and so far made use of, as they shall conduce most to every particular Man's Devo­tion.

I.

MOrning and Evening Prayer are instead of that Morning and Evening-Sacrifice which God enjoin­ed to be daily offered in the Temple.

II.

They are out-goings of the Morning and Evening which David speaks of, The out-go­ings of the Morning and Even­ing shall praise thee.

III.

They are to every devout [Page 126] Soul, like that Pillar which guided Israel through the Wilderness, as a Cloud by day to shadow them, and as a Fire by night to comfort them.

IV.

By Morning Prayer thou openest the windows of thy Soul to the Sun of Righte­ousness, and by Evening Pray­er thou shuttest them against the danger of the night.

V.

In your Morning Devoti­ons you are to say within your self, What shall I do this day which God hath gi­ven me? How shall I employ it? In the Evening, What have I done this day? How have I spent it?