CONFESSION. Acknowledgment of sins by Enumeration Original, in our inward man. in our outward man Actual, both against Law and Gospel. Aggravations of them in general, by multitude and greatness. in particular, the circumstances. Punishments of them external, in our bodies, friends, estates, and names, internal; in respect of blessings, natural and spiritual. eternal, of loss and pain.. -PETITION. SUPPLICATION FOR OURSELVES, Deprecation against the evil of sin. in respect of its guilt for pardon, and for the evidence of pardon. of its power. against the evil of temptation by our corrupt nature, the Devil, and the world. against the evil of punishment. Comprecation. For spiritual good in the sanctification of our nature, both inward and outward man. in the obedience of our lives, by the performance, continuance, and increase in the duties both of the Law and the Gospel. For temporal good, in the provision for us, and pro. tection of us, INTERCESSION FOR OTHERS. In general-the Catholic Church. In special-Ordinary for the nations uncalled, as Infidels, Jews, &c. the nations called-our own nation, allies. Occasional, in times of War, Famine, Pesti leńce, &c In particular-Ordinary for all relations, public or political. private or economical. friendship or enmity. neighbourhood. Occasional, for the afflicted in mind, body, or estate. Matt. xiv, 23. Peter's closet was the house top. Peter went up upon the house top to pray, about the sixth hour. Acts x, 9. Hezekiah's closet was turning his face towards the wall and praying unto the Lord. Isaiah xxxviii, 2. But there is a retiredness of heart and a self-recollection which is of greater importance, than any particular place of prayer. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as has already been shewn; let us then continually look for and solely depend on his aid, which alone can. enable us to give our whole hearts to this great work. Some have found it a happy means of assisting in gaining self-recollection, to have nothing to do but to pray."We must," says Bonnel, "shut all other businesses from our minds at that time, and say, I have nothing to do this half hour, but to wait on my God. For if we de termine ourselves no time, but are in haste to do some thing else, as soon as we have done our prayers, it is a great hazard if we are recollected at all during our worship." SECT. II. On the Being to be worshipped. It is evident that the Being whom all men are to worship, must be every where present, have all power, and know all things. Many prayers being offered up, at the same time, by many persous, and for different things, an assurance that he possesses these attributes is necessary, in order to our placing confidence in him, that he will answer all, and give to each that which is best in his particular situation. Hence the absurdity of praying to Saints and Angels, or through their mediation. But when to this power, presence, and knowledge, we can add the attributes of tenderness and love, we may then have the greatest confidence. And this is the case with the Christian. He considers God not only as the father of the human race, but as HIS FATHER in a more special relation. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Ps. ciii, 13. Jesus Christ delights to bring this relation before us. He tells us, pray to thy Father which is in secret. Christians have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father: they are reconciled to God by the death of his son. Private prayer is the Soul's approach in its retirements to this reconciled Father; to one who has been pleased to endear himself by so condescending and so kind a title. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, and in him he is ours also. Our Lord says to Mary, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father-first mine and then yours.-And how graciously, he encourages us to bring our wants before God-What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him. Matt. vii, 9, 10. In praying to God the Father, we do not exclude the Son and Holy Spirit from our worship. In some respects the Son and the Spirit bear this title of Father. Jesus Christ is the everlasting Father: (Isa. ix, 6.) and Christians are born of the Spirit. We may pray to Jesus Christ, (Acts vii, 59; 2 Cor. xii, 8, 9.) and to the Spirit, (Matt. xxviii, 9; 2 Cor. xiii, 14; 1sa. vi, 3, 9, compared with Acts xxviii, 25.) In worship ping them, we only worship the one God; yet the general way of approaching the Almighty in prayer, is to God the Father, through the mediation of the Son, and by the aid of the Spirit. How delightful is the relation subsisting between God and the Christian as father and child! The child receives every thing freely from paternal love; it does not come to the father as a purchaser, or as the merchant with an equivalent. When a desire for any good arises in the child's mind, it does not offer to buy it at a price, but simply expresses its feelings and asks it as a gift. In its earliest years the child cannot speak its wants plainly; yet even in infancy, they are made known by looks and cries, and the father understands these expressions of its wishes. As the child grows up, all that the father requires of it, is an affectionate and dutiful conduct, a reverence, and honour, and obedience, totally distinct from slavish fear, and which in effect only tends to promote its real happiness. It is under the influence of these feelings that we should come to God, and though we only learn to cry Abba, Father, by slow degress, let us persevere in faith and love, till we receive the full Spirit of adoption. In worshipping God we need not be anxious to comprehend the particulars of his nature except as he has revealed himself. Job xi, Beware of any fanciful representation, or figure of him. All such things only tend to degrade him in our minds, and to fill us with unsuitable ideas of his Majesty. They are also directly prohibited in the word of God. Deut. iv, 12-25; Isa. xl, 18-25. Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and ground of access to God the Father; and his Holy Spirit, the purchase of the blood of Christ, and sent by him to help our infirmities, our great Assistant. The view we should endeavour to have of God, is that which our Lord gives; God is a Spirit: and that which was revealed to Moses, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgressions, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Exod. xxxiv, 6, 7. Keep fast hold then of this view of the character of God; it is exactly suited to the wants of sinners. The consideration that the EYE OF GOD IS UPON US, that our heavenly Father is in secret, and there beholds us, should be continually on our minds as a motive for continual watchfulness, and a source of the greatest comfort. Thou God seest me, should be written on the walls of our closet; or, rather, deeply engraven on our hearts. Before an earthly superior we are careful and circumspect in all our expressions and actions: how careful then should we be when we approach unto one, who, though he is our Father, is yet the KING OF KINGS, and the LORD OF LORDS? "If an angel in all his heavenly brightness were to be with us, surely our hearts would feel awed by his glorious presence. How much more then should it affect us, and fill us with a holy fear, to think, 'I am with God; he is present in the room with me! that God is now about me, whose glory stains and sullies the beauty, and extinguishes the light of angels!'" Rush not hastily, then, into the presence of God. Pause for a few moments. Meditate on his character. Consider his goodness, he is our Father; consider his greatness, he is in heaven.. Recollect THE GLORIOUS MAJESTY OF THAT BEING WHOM YOU ADDRESS. He is in heaven, and we are upon earth. It is with reflections of this kind, that |