have had dominion over us,a but from henceforth by thee only will we make mention of thy name.b We avouch the Lord, this day, to be our God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken to his voice, and give ourselves unto him, to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised, that we may be a holy people unto the Lord our God ;c and may be unto him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory.d O Lord, truly we are thy servants, we are thy servants, born in thy house, and thou hast loosed our bonds ;e we are bought with a price, and therefore we are not our own ;g but yield ourselves unto the Lord, and join ourselves to him in an everlasting covenant,h that shall never be forgotten.ż We are thine, save us, for we seek thy precepts : 'tis thine own, Lord, that we give thee, and that which cometh of thine hand./ 8. We must acknowledge it an unspeakable favour, and an inestimable privilege, that we are not only admitted, but invited and encouraged to draw nigh to God in prayer. Thou hast commanded us to pray always, with all prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, and to watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints,m to continue in prayer,n and in every thing, with prayer and supplication, to make our requests known to God.a Thou hast directed us to ask, and seek, and knock, and hath promised that we shall receive, we shall find, and it shall be opened to us.p Thou hast appointed us a great high-priest, in whose name we may come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need.q Thou hast assured us that while the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, the prayer of the upright is his delight :r and that he that offers praise glorifies thee,s and the sacrifice of thanksgiving shall a Psalm 44.4. b Isa. 26. 14. e Psalm 116. 16. c Deut. 26, 17, 18, 19, please the Lord better than that of an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.a Thou art he that hearest prayer, and therefore unto thee shall all flesh come.b Thou sayest, Seek ye my face, and our hearts answer, Thy face, Lord, will we seek.c For should not a people seek unto their God? Whither shall we go but to thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life.d 9. We must express the sense we have of our own meanness, and unworthiness to draw near to God, and speak to him. But will God in very deed dwell with man upon the earth,e that God whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain; with man, that is a worm, and the son of man which is a worm ?g Who are we, O Lord God, and what is our Father's house, that thou hast brought us hitherto, to present ourselves before the Lord; that we have through Christ an access by one Spirit unto the Father?h And yet as if this had been a small thing in thy sight, thou hast spoken concerning thy servants for a great while to come; and is this the manner of men, O Lord God.i What is man that thou art thus mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him, and dost thus magnify him?k O let not the Lord be angry, if we that are but dust and ashes, take upon us to speak unto the Lord of glory.! We are not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servants ;m nor is it meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to such as we are; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table :n and thou art rich in mercy to all that call upon thee.o 10. We must humbly profess the desire of our hearts towards God, as our felicity and portion, and the fountain of life and all good to us. a Psalm 69. 31. h 2 Sam. 7. 18, 19. b Ps. 65. 2.-27, 8. e 2 Chron. 6. 18, c Isa. 8. 19, g Job 25. 6. k Psalm 8. 4. Whom have we in heaven but thee; and there is none upon earth that we desire besides thee, or in comparison of thee a when our flesh and our heart fail, be thou the strength of our heart, and our portion forever; the por tion of our inheritance in the other world, and of our cup in this, and then we will say that the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, and that we have a goodly herit age.b The desire of our souls is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee; with our souls have we desired thee in the night, and with our spirits within us will we seek thee only.c As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth our soul after thee, O God; our soul thirsteth for God, for the living God, who will command his loving kindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with us, and our prayer to the God of our life.d O that we may come hungering and thirsting after righteousness ;e for thou fillest the hungry with good things, but the rich thou sendest empty away.g O that our souls may thirst for thee, and our flesh long for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, that we may see thy power and thy glory; as we have seen thee in the sanctuary. Thy loving kindness is better than life, our souls shall be satisfied with it as with marrow and fatness, and then our mouths with joyful lips shall praise thee.h 11. We must likewise profess our believing hope and confidence in God, and his all-sufficiency in his power, providence and promise. In thee, O God, do we put our trust, let us never be ashamed; yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.k Truly our souls wait upon God; from him cometh our salvation; he only is our rock and our salvation ;/ in him is our glory, our strength, and our refuge, and from him is our expectation.m When refuge fails us, and none care for our souls, we a Psal. 73 25.26. b Ps. 16. 5, 6. C cIsa. 26. 8, 9. g Luke 1.53. kPs, 25.3. cry unto thee, O Lord; thou art our refuge, and our portion in the land of the living.a Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. We will trust in thy mercy, O God, for ever and ever, and will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy saints.c We have hoped in thy word; O remember thy word unto thy servants upon which thou hast caused us to hope.d 12. We must intreat God's favourable acceptance of us and our poor performances. There be many that say, who will show us any good? but this we say, Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and that shall put gladness in our hearts, more than they have whose corn and wine encreaseth.e We intreat thy favour with our whole hearts,g for in this we labour, that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord.h Hear our prayer, O Lord, give ear to our supplications, in thy faithfulness answer us. And be nigh unto us in all that which we call upon thee for ;k for thou never saidst to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain./ Thou that hearest the young ravens which cry,m be not silent to us, lest if thou be silent to us, we be like them that go down to the pit.n Let our prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of our hands be acceptable in thy sight as the evening sacrifice.o 13. We must beg for the powerful assistance and influence of the blessed Spirit of grace in our prayers. Lord, we know not what to pray for as we ought, but let thy Spirit help our infirmities, and make intercession for us.p O pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication ;q the Spirit of adoption, teaching us to cry Abba Father ;r that we may find in our hearts to pray this prayer.s a Psal. 113.4, 5. d Psal, 119. 4, 79. h 2 Cor. 5, 9. Isa. 45.9. o Psal. 141. 2. Rom. 8. 15. b Ps. 20. 7. c Ps. 52. 8, 9. g Ps. 119. 58. O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead us, let them guide us to thy holy hill and thy tabernacles; to God, our exceeding joy.a O Lord, open thou our lips, and our mouth shall show forth thy praise.b 14. We must make the glory of God our highest end in all our prayers. This is that, which thou, O Lord, hast said, that thou wilt be sanctified in them that come nigh unto thee, and before all the people thou wilt be glorified :c we therefore worship before thee, O Lord, that we may glorify thy name ;d and therefore we call upon thee that thou mayest deliver us, and we may glorify thee.e For of thee, and through thee, and to thee are all things.g 15. We must profess our entire reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for acceptance with God, and come in his name. We do not present our supplication before thee for our righteousness;h for we are before thee in our trespasses,¿ and cannot stand before thee because of them :k but we make mention of Christ's righteousness, even of his only, who is the Lord our righteousness./ We know that even spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God, only through Christ Jesus ;m nor can we hope to receive any thing but what we ask of thee in his name,n and therefore make us accepted in the beloved,o that other angel who put much incense to the prayers of saints, and offers them up upon the golden altar before the throne.p We come in the name of the great High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is therefore able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him,g because he ever lives, making intercession.r a Psal. 43. 3. b Psal. 51. 15. c Lev. 10. 13. Rom. 11. 36. |