FREQUENCY IN PRAYER NECESSARY. CONCERNING frequency in prayer, it is an act of zeal so ready and prepared for the spirit of a man, so easy and useful, so without objection, and so fitted for every man's affairs, his necessities and possibilities, that he that prays but seldom, cannot in any sense pretend to be a religious person. For in Scripture there is no other rule for the frequency of prayer given us, but by such words which signify we should do it" always," " pray continually:" and, " Men ought always to pray and not to faint." And then, men have so many necessities, that if we should esteem our needs to be the circumstances and positive determination of our times of prayer, we should be very far from admitting limitation of the former words, but they must mean, that we ought to pray frequently every day. For in danger and trouble, natural religion teaches us to pray; in a festival fortune, our prudence and our needs enforce us equally. For though we feel not a present smart, yet we are certain then is our biggest danger: and if we observe how the world treats her darlings, men of riches and honour, of prosperity and great success, we cannot but confess them to be the most miserable of all men, as being in the greatest danger of losing their biggest interest. For they are bigger than the iron hand of law, and they cannot be restrained with fear: the hand grasps a power of doing all that, which their evil heart can desire, and they cannot be restrained with disability to sin; they are flattered by all mean, and base, and undiligent persons, which are the greatest part of mankind; but few men dare reprove a potent sinner; he shall every day be flattered and seldom counselled and his great reflections and opinions of his condition make him impatient of reproof, and so he cannot be restrained with modesty: and therefore as the needs of the poor man, his rent-day, and the cries of his children, and the oppression he groans under, and his uneasy," ill-sleeping care," will make him run to his prayers, that in heaven a new decree may be passed every day for the provisions of his daily bread: so the greater needs of the rich, their temptations, and their dangers, the flattery and the vanity, the power and the pride, their business and evil estate of the whole world upon them, call upon them to be zealous in this instance, that they "pray often," that they "pray without ceasing ;" for there is great reason they should do so, and great security and advantage, if they do; for he that prays well and prays often, must needs be a good and a blessed man; and truly he that does not, deserves no pity for his misery. For when all the troubles and dangers of his condition may turn into his good, if he will but desire they should; when upon such easy terms he may be happy, for there is no more trouble in it than this, " Ask and ye shall receive;" that is all that is required: no more turnings and variety in their road; when, I say, at so cheap a rate, a poor man may be provided for, and a rich man may escape damnation, he that refuses to apply himself to this remedy, quickly, earnestly, zealously, and constantly, deserves the smart of his poverty, and the care of it, and the scorn, if he be poor; and if he be rich, it is fit he should (because he desires it) die by the evils of his proper danger. It was observed by Cassian, "The devil is more busy to disturb our prayers, than to hinder any thing else." For else it cannot be imagined, why we should be brought to pray so seldom; and to be so listless to them, and so 66 a trifling at them. No, the devil knows, upon what hard terms he stands with the praying man; he also knows, that it is a mighty emanation of God's infinite goodness and a strange desire of saving mankind, that he hath to so easy a duty promised such mighty blessings. This, because the devil knows it to be one of the greatest arts of the Divine mercy, he labours infinitely to supplant; and if he can but make men unwilling to pray, or to pray coldly, or to pray seldom, he secures his interest, and destroys the man's; and it is infinitely strange, that he can and doth prevail so much in this so unreasonable temptation. The mourning prophet complained,* "there was a cloud passed between heaven and the prayer of Judah ;' little thing, God knows ; it was a wall, which might have been blown down with a few hearty sighs, and a few penitential tears; or, if the prayers had ascended in a full and numerous body, themselves would have broken through that little partition; but so the devil prevails often; "opponit nubem," "he claps a cloud between:" some little objection; a stranger is come;" or, "my head aches;" or, "the church is too cold ;" or, "I have letters to write ;" or, "I am not disposed;" or, "it is not yet time;" or, "the time is past :" these, and such as these, are the clouds the devil claps between heaven and us; but these are such impotent objections, that they were as soon confuted as pretended, by all men that are not fools, or professed enemies of religion, but that they are clouds, which sometimes look like lions and bears, castles and walls of fire, armies and horses; and indeed are any thing that a man will fancy; and the smallest article of objection, managed and conducted by the devil's arts, and meeting with a retchless, careless, undevout spirit, is a lion in the way, and a deep river; it is impassable, and it is impregnable. The devil fits us with clouds, according as we can be abused; and if we love affairs of the world, he can contrive its circumstances so, that they shall cross our prayers; and so it is in every instance: and the best way to cure this evil is prayer; pray often, and pray zealously, and the Sun of Righteousness will scatter these clouds, and warm our hearts with his holy fires: but it is in this as in all acquired habits; the habit makes the action easy and pleasant; but this habit cannot be gotten without frequent actions : habits are the daughters of action; but then they nurse their mother, and produce daughters after her image, but far more beautiful and prosperous. in frequent prayer there is so much rest and pleasure, that as soon as ever it is perceived, the contrary temptation appears unreasonable; none are so unwilling to pray, as they that pray seldom; for they that do pray often, and with zeal, and passion, and desire, feel no trouble so great, as when they are forced to omit their holy offices and hours of prayers. It concerns the devil's interest to keep us from all the experience of the rewards of a frequent and holy prayer; and so long as you will not try and "taste how good and gracious the Lord is" to the praying man, so long you cannot see the evil of your coldness and lukewarm state; but if you would but try, though it be but for curiosity's sake, and inform yourselves in the vanity of things, and the truth of pretences, and the certainty of theological propositions, you should find yourselves taken in a golden snare, which will tie you to nothing but felicity, and safety, and holiness, and pleasure. But then the caution, which I intended to insert, is this; that fre * Lam. iii. 44. For quency in prayers, and that part of zeal which relates to it, is to be upon no account but of a holy spirit, a wise heart, and reasonable persuasion; for if it begin upon passion or fear, in imitation of others, or desires of reputation, honour, and fantastic principles, it will be unblessed and weary, unprosperous and without return of satisfaction; therefore, if it happen to begin upon a weak principle, be very curious to change the motive, and with all speed let it be turned into religion and the love of holy things: then, let it be as frequent as it can prudently, it cannot be amiss. ZEAL TO BE UNITED WITH CHARITY. THE first measure, by which our zeal may comply with our duty, and its actions become laudable, is charity to our neighbour. For since God receives all that glorification of himself, whereby we can serve and minister to his glory, reflected upon the foundation of his own goodness, and bounty, and mercy, and all the hallelujahs that are or ever shall be sung in heaven, are praises and thanksgivings; and that God himself does not receive glory from the acts of his justice, but then when his creatures will not rejoice in his goodness and mercy; it follows that we imitate this original excellency, and pursue God's own method; that is, glorify him in the way of mercy and bounty, charity and forgiveness, love and fair comp'iances: there is no greater charity in the world than to save a soul, nothing that pleases God better, nothing that can be in our hands greater or more noble, nothing that can be a more lasting and delightful honour, than that a perishing soul,-snatched from the flames of an intolerable hell, and borne to heaven upon the wings of piety and mercy by the ministry of angels, and the graces of the Holy Spirit,-shall to eternal ages bless God and bless thee; Him, for the author and finisher of salvation, and thee for the minister and charitable instrument: that bright star must needs look pleasantly upon thy face for ever, which was by thy hand placed there, and, had it not been for thy ministry, might have been a sooty coal in the regions of sorrow. Now, in order to this, God hath given us all some powers and ministries, by which we may by our charity promote this religion, and the great interest of souls; counsels and prayers, preaching and writing, passionate desires and fair examples going before others in the way of godliness, and bearing the torch before them, that they may see the way and walk in it. This is a charity, that is prepared more or less for every one; and, by the way, we should do well to consider, what we have done towards it. For as it will be a strange arrest at the day of judgment to Dives, that he fed high and suffered Lazarus to starve, and every garment, that lies by thee and perishes, while thy naked brother does so too for want of it, shall be a bill of indictment against thy unmerciful soul; so it will be in every instance: in what thou couldest profit thy brother and didst not, thou art accountable; and then tell over the times, in which thou hast prayed for the conversion of thy sinning brother; and compare the times together, and observe, whether thou hast not tempted him or betrayed him to sin, or encouraged him in it; or didst not hinder him, when E thou mightest, more frequently than thou hast, humbly, and passionately, and charitably, and zealously, have bowed thy head, and thy heart, and knees, to God, to redeem that poor soul from hell, whither thou seest him descend-. ing with as much indifferency as a stone into the bottom of the well. In this thing "it is a good thing to be zealous," and put forth all your strength, for you can never go too far. But then be careful, that this zeal of thy neighbour's amendment be only expressed in ways of charity, not of cruelty, or importune justice. "He that strikes the prince for justice,” as Solomon's expression is, "is a companion of murderers ;" and he that, out of zeal of religion, shall go to convert nations to his opinion by destroying Christians, whose faith is entire and summed up by the apostles, this man breaks the ground with a sword, and sows tares, and waters the ground with blood, and ministers to envy and cruelty, to errors and mistake, and there comes up nothing but poppies to please the eye and fancy, disputes and hypocrisy, new summaries of religion estimated by measures of anger, and accursed principles; and so much of the religion as is necessary to salvation, is laid aside, and that brought forth that serves an interest, not holiness; that fills the schools of a proud man, but not that which will fill heaven. Any zeal is proper for religion, but the zeal of the sword and the zeal of anger; this is "the bitterness of zeal;' ;"* and it is a certain temptation to every man against his duty: for if the sword turns preacher, and dictates propositions by empire instead of arguments, and engraves them in men's hearts with a poniard, that it shall be death to believe what I innocently and ignorantly am persuaded of, it must needs be unsafe to "try the spirits, to try all things," to make inquiry; and yet without this liberty, no man can justify himself before God and man, nor confidently say that his religion is best: since he cannot without a final danger make himself able to give a right sentence, and to follow that which he finds to be the best; this may ruin souls by making hypocrites, or careless and compliant against conscience or without it; but it does not save souls, though peradventure it should force them to a good opinion; this is inordination of zeal; for Christ, by reproving St Peter, drawing his sword, even in the cause of Christ, for his sacred, and yet injured person, (saith Theophylact)," teaches us not to use the sword though in the cause of God, or for God himself;" because he will secure his own interest, only let him be served as himself is pleased to command: and it is like Moses's passion, it throws the tables of the law out of our hands, and breaks them in pieces out of indignation to see them broken. We shall find in Scripture, that when the apostles began to preach the meekness of the Christian institution, salvations and promises, charity and humility, there was a zeal set up against them; the apostles were zealous for the gospel, the Jews were zealous for the law and see what different effects these two zeals did produce; the zeal of the law came to this, "they stirred up the city, they made tumults, they persecuted this way unto the death, they got letters from the high-priest, they kept Damascus with a garrison," they sent parties of soldiers to silence and to imprison the preachers, and thought they did God service, when they put the apostles to death, and they swore "neither to eat nor to drink, till they had killed Paul." It was an old trick of the Jewish zeal. They would not show the way to a Samaritan, * James iii. 14. nor give a cup of cold water but to a circumcised brother; that was their But the zeal of the apostles was this, they preached publicly and privately, they prayed for all men, they wept to God for the hardness of men's hearts, they "became all things to all men, that they might gain some," they travelled through deeps and deserts, they endured the heat of the Sirian star, and the violence of Euroclydon, winds and tempests, seas and prisons, mockings and scourgings, fastings and poverty, labour and watching, they endured every man and wronged no man, they would do any good thing and suffer any evil, if they had but hopes to prevail upon a soul; they persuaded men meekly, they entreated them humbly, they convinced them powerfully, they watched for their good, but meddled not with their interest; and this is the Christian zeal, the zeal of meekness, the zeal of charity, the zeal of patience. "In these it is good to be zealous.” THE EPICURE'S PROVERB. This is the epicure's “LET us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." proverb, begun upon a weak mistake, started by chance from the discourses of drink, and thought witty by the undiscerning company, and prevailed infinitely, because it struck their fancy luckily, and maintained the merry meeting; but as it happens commonly to such discourses, so this also, when it comes to be examined by the consultations of the morning, and the sober hours of the day, it seems the most witless, and the most unreasonable in the world. Sentenced persons have but little stomach to feast high. And there is also the same proportion of unreasonableness, that because men shall ❝ die to-morrow," and by the sentence and unalterable decree of God they are now descending to their graves, that therefore they should first destroy their reason, and then force dull time to run faster, that they may die sottish as beasts, and speedily as a fly but they thought there was no life after this; or if there were, it was without pleasure, and every soul thrust into a hole, and a dorter of a span's length allowed for his rest, and for his walk; and in the shades below no numbering of healths, no fat mullets, no oysters of Lucrinus, no Lesbian or Chian wines. Therefore now enjoy the delicacies of nature, and feel the descending wines distilled through the limbeck of thy tongue, and larynx, and suck the delicious juices of fishes, the marrow of the laborious ox, and the tender lard of Apulian swine, and the condited bellies of the scarus; but lose no time, for the sun drives hard, and the shadow is long, and "the days of mourning are at hand," but the number of the days of darkness and the grave cannot be told. : Thus they thought they discoursed wisely, and their wisdom was turned into folly; for all their arts of providence, and witty securities of pleasure, were nothing but unmanly prologues to death, fear, and folly, sensuality and beastly pleasures. But they are to be excused rather than we. They placed themselves in the order of beasts and birds, and esteemed their bodies nothing but receptacles of flesh and wine, larders and pantries; and their soul the fine instrument of pleasure and brisk perception of relishes |