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Q. What is prayer?

A. A sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God in the name of Christ for what God hath promised, Prov. xv. 8; Jer. xxxi. 18, 19; Psalm xlii. 2-4; John, xiv. 13, 14; 1 John, v. 14.

Q. Doth not everybody pray?

A. No; the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts, Ps. xl. 4.

Q. What will become of them that do not pray?

Á. They do not worship God, and he will destroy them. "Pour out thy fury (said the prophet) upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not upon thy name," Ps. lxxix. 6; Jer.

x. 25.

Q. But seeing God knoweth what we want, why doth he not give us what we need without praying?

A. His counsel and wisdom leadeth him otherwise. "Thus saith the Lord, I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them," Ezek. xxxvi. 37.

Q. Why will God have us pray?

A. Because he would be acknowledged by thee that he is above thee, and therefore would have thee come to him as the mean come to the mighty. Thus Abraham came unto him, Gen. xviii. 27, 30. Q. Is there another reason why I should pray?

A. Yes; for by prayer thou acknowledgest that help is not in thine own power, 2 Chr. xx. 6, 12.

Q. What reason else have you why I should pray?

A. By prayer thou confessest that help is only in him, Ps. lxii. 1.

Q. What other reason have you?

A. By prayer thou confessest thou canst not live without his grace and mercy, Matt. xiv. 30; Heb. iv. 16.

Q. Are all that pray heard of the Lord? A. No. 64 They looked," that is, prayed, "but there was none to save them; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not," 2 Sam. xxii. 42. Q. To what doth God compare the prayers which he refuseth to answer?

A. He compareth them to the howling of a dog, Hos. vii. 14.

Q. Who be they whose prayers God will not

answer?

A. Theirs who think to be heard for their much speaking and vain repetition, Matt. vi. 7. Q. Is there any other whose prayer God refuseth?

A. Yes. "There are that ask and have not,

because what they ask they would spend upon their lusts," James, iv. 3.

Q. Is there any other whose prayer God refuseth?

A. Yes. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer," Psalm lxvi. 18. Q. Is the regarding of sin in our heart such a deadly hindrance to prayer?

A. "Son of man," saith God, "these men have set up their idols in their heart, and have put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face should I be inquired of at all by them? I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people," Ezek. xiv. 3, 8.

Q. Whose prayers be they that God will hear? A. The prayers of the poor and needy, Psalm xxxiv. 6; Isa. xli. 17.

Q. What do you mean by the poor?

A. Such as have poverty in spirit, Matt. v. 3.
Q. Who are they that are poor in spirit?

A. They that are sensible of the want and necessity of all those things of God that prepare a man to the kingdom of heaven.

Q. What things are they?

A. Faith, hope, love, joy, peace, a new heart, the Holy Ghost, sanctification, see James, ii. 5; 2 Thess. ii. 16; Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.

Q. What do you mean by the needy?

A. Those whose souls long, and cannot be satisfied without the enjoyment of these blessed things, Psalm lxiii. 1; cxix. 20.

Q. Will God hear the prayers of such?

A. Yes; for "he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with good things," Psalm cvii. 9.

Q. How shall I know that I am one of those to whom God will give these things?

A. If thou seest a beauty in them boyond the beauty of all other things, Psalm cx. 3.

Q. How else shall I know he heareth me? A. If thou desirest them for their beauty's sake, Psalm xc. 14, 17.

Q. How else should I know I shall have them? A. When thy groanings after them are beyond expression, Rom. viii. 26.

Q. How else should I know, and so be encouraged to pray?

A. When thou followest hard after God in all his ordinances for the obtaining of them, Isaiah, iv. 31; lxiv. 5.

Q. How else should I know?

A. When thou makest good use of that little thou hast already, Rev. iii. 8.

Q. Are here all the good signs that my prayers shall be heard?

A. No; there is one more, without which thou shalt never obtain.

Q. Pray what is that?

A. Thou must plead with God the name and merits of Jesus Christ, for whose sake only God giveth thee these things. If we ask anything in his name, he heareth us. "And whatsoever you ask the Father in my name," saith Christ, "I will do it," John, xiv. 13, 14.

Q. Doth God always answer presently? A. Sometimes he doth, and sometimes he doth not, Isa. xxx. 19; Dan. x. 12.

Q. Is not God's deferring a sign of his anger?
A. Sometimes it is not, and sometimes it is.
Q. When is it no sign of his anger?

of fleshly lusts, Gen. iv. 8; xii. 1–4; xxXİX. 7-9; Heb. xi. 24-27.

Q. But these men each of them denied them

A. When we have not wickedly departed from selves but of some things, did they? him by our sins, Luke, xviii. 7.

Q. When is it a sign of his anger?

A. When we have backslidden, when we have not repented some former miscarriages, Hos. v.

14, 15.

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Q. I am glad you have thus far granted my request. But you told me that there was another part of God's worship; pray repeat that again? A. It is self-denial.

Q. Now I remember it well; pray how do you prove that self-denial is called a part of God's worship?

A. It is said of Abraham, that when he went to offer up his son Isaac upon the altar for a burnt-offering, which was to him a very great part of self-denial, that he counted that act of his worshipping God.

Q. Will you be pleased to read the text? A. Yes. "And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship," &c. This now was when he was going to slay his son Isaac, Gen. xxii. 5.

Q. What is self-denial?

A. It is for a man to forsake his all for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Q. Will you prove this by a scripture or two? A. Yes. "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple," Luke, xiv. 33.

Q. Indeed this is a full place. Can you give me one more?

A. Yes. "What things were gain to me, those I count loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ," &c., Phil. iii. 7, 8.

Q. These two are indeed a sufficient answer to my question. But pray will you now give me some particular instances of the self-denial of them that have heretofore been the followers of

Christ?

A. Yes; Abel denied himself, to the losing of his blood; Abraham denied himself, to the losing of his country and his father's house; Moses denied himself of a crown and a kingdom, and of ease and tranquillity; Joseph denied himself

A. You see Abel lost all, his blood and all; Abraham lost his country to the hazard of his life; so did Moses, in leaving the crown and kingdom; and Joseph, in denying his mistress, Genesis, xii. 13; xxxix. 10-15; Hebrews, xi. 27.

Q. Will you discourse a little particularly of self-denial?

A. With all my heart.

Q. First, then, pray in what spirit must this self-denial be performed?

A. It must be done in the spirit of faith, of love, and of a sound mind; otherwise, if a man should sell all that he hath, and give to the poor, and his body to be burnt besides, it would profit him nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 1—3.

Q. Who are like to miscarry here?

A. They whose ends in self-denial are not according to the proposals of the gospel.

Q. Who are they?

A. They that suffer through strife and vainglory; or, thus, they who seek in their sufferings the praise of men more than the glory of Christ and profit of their neighbour.

Q. Who else are like to miscarry here?

A. They that have designs, like Ziba, to ingratiate themselves by their pretended self-denial into the affections of the godly, and to enrich themselves by this means, 2 Sam. xvi. 1—4.

Q. Are there any other like to miscarry here? A. Yes; they that by denying themselves think, with the pharisee, to make themselves stand more righteous in God's eyes than others, Luke, xviii. 11, 12.

Q. Who else are in danger of miscarrying here?

A. They who have fainted in their works, they whose self-denial hath at last been overcome by self-love, Gal. iii. 4; vi. 9.

Q. Shall I propound a few more questions ?
A. If you please.

Q. What, then, if a man promiseth to deny himself hereafter, and not now, is not this one step to this kind of worship?

A. No, by no means; for the reason why this man refuseth to deny himself now is, because his heart at present sticks closer to his lusts and the world than to God and Christ.

Q. Can you give me a scripture instance to make this out?

A. Yes; Esau never intended for ever to part with the blessing; he intended to have it hereafter; but God counted his not choosing of it at present a despising of it, and a preferring of his lusts before it; and therefore when he would, God would not, but reject both him and his tears, Gen. xxv. 30-34; Heb. xii. 14-16.

Q. How and if a man shall say thus, I am willing to deny myself in many things, though he cannot deny himself in all, is not this one step in this part of this worship of God?

A. No, in nowise; for this man doth just like Saul, he will slay a part, and will keep a part alive; the kingdom must be taken from him also, 1 Sam. xv.

Q. How if a man be willing to lose all but his life?

A. He that will save his life shall lose it, but he that will lose his life for my sake, saith Christ, shall save it unto life eternal, Matt. xvi. 25; John, xii. 25.

Q. How if a man has been willing to lose all that he hath, but is not now; will not God accept of his willingness in time past, though he be otherwise now?

A. No; for the true disciple must deny himself daily, take up his cross daily, and go after Jesus Christ, Luke, ix. 23.

Q. But how if a man carrieth it well outwardly, so that he doth not dishonour the gospel before men, may not this be counted self-denial?

A. No, if he be not right at heart; for though man looketh on the outward appearance, God looketh at the heart, 1 Sam. xvi. 7.

Q. But if I be afraid my heart may deceive me in this great work, if hard things come upon me hereafter, is there no way to find out whether it will deceive me then or no?

A. I will give you a few answers to this question, and will shew you, first, whose heart is like to deceive him in this work.

Q. Will you befriend me so much?

A. Yes. He that makes not daily conscience of self-denial is very unlike to abide a disciple for times to come, if difficult. Judas did not deny himself daily, and therefore fell when the temptation came, John, xii. 6.

Q. Will you give me another sign? A. Yes; he that indulgeth any one secret lust under a profession is not like to deny himself in all things for Christ.

Q. Who are they that indulge their lusts? A. They that make provision for them, either in apparel or diet, or otherwise, Rom. xiii. 12-14; Isa. iii. 16-21; Amos, vi. 3-6.

Q. Who else do so?

A. They that excuse their sins, and keep them disguised, that they may not be reprehended, as Saul did, &c., 1 Sam. xv. 18-22.

Q. Who else are they that indulge their lusts? A. They that heap up to themselves such teachers as favour their lusts, 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4; Isa. xxx. 10.

Q. Who else do indulge their sins?

A. They that choose rather to walk by the imperfect lives of professors than by the holy word of God; or thus, they that make the miscarriages of some good men an encouragement unto themselves to forbear to be exact in self-denial, these eat up the sins of God's people as men eat bread, Hos. iv. 7-9.

Q. Will you now shew me who are like to do this part of God worship acceptably?

A. Yes; he whose heart is set against sin as sin is like to deny himself acceptably, Romans, vii. 13, 14.

Q. Who else?

A. He that hath the sense and savour of forgiveness of sins upon his heart, 2 Corinthians,

v. 14.

Q. Who else is like to deny himself well? A. He that hath his affections set upon things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, Col. iii. 1-5.

Q. Who else is like to deny himself well for Christ?

A. He that seeth a greater treasure in selfdenial than in self-seeking, 2 Cor. xii. 9—11; Heb. xi. 24-26.

Q. Are there none other signs of one that is like to do this part of God's worship acceptably? A. Yes; he that takes up his cross daily, and makes Christ's doctrine his example, Luke, vi. 47, 48; John, xii. 25, 26.

Q. But how do you discover a man to be such an one?

A. He keepeth his heart with all diligence, he had rather die than sin; ill carriages of professors break his heart; nothing is so dear to him as the glory of Christ, Num. xi. 15; Prov. iv. 23; Acts, xx. 24; Phil. iii. 18.

Q. Pray, can you give me some motive to self-denial?

A. Yes; the Lord Jesus denied himself for thee. What sayest thou to that?

Q. Wherein did Christ deny himself for me? A. He left his heaven for thee; he denied for thy sake to have so much of this world as hath a fox or a bird, and he spilt his most precious blood for thee, John, vi. 38; Luke, ix. 58; 2 Cor. viii. 9; Rev. i. 5.

Q. Can you give another motive to self-denial?

A. Yes. "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?" Luke, viii. 36.

Q. But why doth God require self-denial of them that will be saved?

A. God doth not require self-denial as the means to obtain salvation, but hath laid it down as a proof of the truth of a man's affections to God and Christ.

Q. How is self-denial a proof of the truth of a man's affections to God?

A. In that for the sake of his service he leaveth all his enjoyments in this world. Thus he proved Abraham's affections, thus he proved Peter's affections, and thus he proved their affection that you read of in the gospel, Genesis, xxii. 12; Matt. iv. 18-22; Luke, ix. 57–63.

Q. What reason else can you produce why God requireth self-denial?

A. Self-denial is one of the distinguishing characters by which true Christians are manifested from the feigned ones; for those that are feigned flatter God with their mouth, but their hearts seek themselves; but the sincere, for the love that he hath to Christ, forsaketh all that he hath for his sake, Ps. lxxviii. 36, 37; Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32.

Q. Is there yet another reason why God requireth self-denial of them that profess his

name?

A. Yes; because by self-denial the power and goodness of the truths of God are made manifest to the incredulous world; for they cannot see but by the self-denial of God's people that there is such power, glory, goodness, and desirableness in God's truth as indeed there is, Daniel, iii. 16, 28; Phil. i. 12, 13.*

Q. Have you another reason why God requireth self-denial?

A. Yes; because self-denial prepareth a man,

though not for the pardon of his sin, yet for that "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" that is laid up only for them that deny all that they have for the Lord Jesus's name and cause in this world, 2 Cor. iv. 8-10,17;2 Thess. i. 5, 6.

Q. Before you conclude, will you give me a few instances of the severity of God's hand upon some professors that have not denied themselves when called thereto by him?

A. Yes, willingly. Lot's wife for but looking behind her towards Sodom, when God called her from it, was stricken from heaven, and turned into a pillar of salt; therefore remember Lot's wife, Gen. xix. 17, 26; Luke, xvii. 31, 32.

Q. Can you give me another instance?

A. Yes; Esau for not denying himself of one morsel of meat was denied a share in the blessing, and could never obtain it after, though he sought it carefully with tears, Genesis, xxv. 32-34; Heb. xii. 14, 15.

Q. Have you at hand another instance?

A. Yes; Judas, for not denying himself lost Christ, his soul, and heaven; and is continued the great object of God's wrath among all damned souls, John, xii. 5, 6; Luke, xxii. 3-6; Matthew, xxvi. 14-16; Acts, i. 25.

Q. Will you give me one more instance, and so conclude?

A. Yes; Ananias and Sapphira his wife did, for the want of self-denial, pull upon themselves such wrath of God, that he slew them while they stood in the midst before the apostles, Acts, v.

1-15.

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THE CONCLUSION.

Before I wind up this discourse, I would lay down these few things for you to consider of and meditate upon.

1. Consider, that seeing every one by nature are accounted sinners, it is no matter whether thy actual sins be little or great, few or many, thy sinful nature hath already lain thee under the curse of the law.

2. Consider, that therefore thou hast already ground for humiliation, sins to repent of, wrath to fly from, or a soul to be damned.

3. Consider, that time stays not for thee, and also, that as time goes, sin increaseth; so that at last, the end of thy time and the completing of thy sin are like to come upon thee in one mo

ment.

4. Bring thy last day often to thy bedside, and ask thy heart, if this morning thou wast to die, if thou be ready to die or no.

5. Know it is a sad thing to lie a dying, and to be afraid to die; to lie a dying, and not to know whither thou art going; to lie a dying, and not to know whether good angels or bad must conduct thee out of this miserable world.

6. Be often remembering what a blessed thing it is to be saved, to go to heaven, to be made like angels, and to dwell with God and Christ to all eternity.

7. Consider how sweet the thought of salvation will be to thee when thou seest thyself in heaven, whilst others are roaring in hell.

The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit.

1

THE DOCTRINE

OF

THE LAW AND GRACE UNFOLDED.

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