them; nay, that it was not even his to give, but that God the Father would prepare it for them, and them only, whofe fuperior merits fhould entitle them to a participation of it.

Now, though these words were at that time addreffed folely to James and John, they may, I think, with the utmoft propriety be applied, and perhaps were at firft meant by our Saviour himself, as a warning to all mankind; a deferved cenfure on all the exorbitant defires, extravagant wifhes, and idle prayers, which men from time to time pour out before the Divine Being.

As prayer, therefore, has always been looked upon as the indispensable duty of every Chrif tian, it may not be improper in this place to endeavour to remove any errors which may have crept into the practice of fo important and folemn an office of our religion, and to lead men into a right method in the performance of it.

As man is a being too infufficient of himfelf to fupply his own wants, fo is he for the most part too ignorant even to know them; ever too folicitous for the attainment of those things which are moft ufelefs and infignificant; too indolent and remifs in the fearch of that on which his happinefs does more immediately depend. As a fervant, therefore, it is his duty to intreat his Mafter's favour and protection; as a creature, it is his intereft to addrefs his Creator. And herein the nature of those gifts which we require at the hands of God

is carefully to be confidered, left, if we afk amifs, we receive not.

We must be extremely cautious of requesting any thing unfit for God to grant, or for us to implore; for if we ferioufly reflect on the divine mercy, and on our own unworthiness, the proudest and the most selfish will be obliged to confefs, that we have most of us, though not as much as we defire, yet, as much perhaps as we really ftand in need of, and all of us infinitely more than even the beft can deferve. We fhould never, therefore, apply to God for any thing which we have not, without first thanking him for what we have. Of the ten cripples mentioned by the apostle, nine prayed, whilft the tenth praised God; and him, we are told, our Saviour regarded moft.

In regard to prayer and thanksgiving, which, though it is to be feared, are not, yet ought always to be infeparable, it may be affirmed, that not to acknowledge the enjoyments and privileges we have received, and hold of God, is in effect to deny that we receive them from him; and not to apply to him for what we ftand in need of, is to deny either our own indigence, or his power of removing it.

Were our fenfe of favours received equal to our wants, our prayers perhaps would be fewer, and our thanksgivings in much greater number; but poverty and neceffity is the common lot of all mankind, whilft gratitude and generofity are confined to the few.

When

When men remove from the busy scene of life, from the noife and bustle of the world, to retire into themfelves, to confult their own breafts, and addrefs themselves in prayer to the Supreme Being; when they kneel before their Maker, fhould not the thought of his prefence, of laying open our hearts to, and converfing with our great Creator, ftrike an awe upon the mind fufficient to banish every wicked, and every idle thought, and fit our tempers and difpofitions for fo folemn an occafion? But it is even then, perhaps, when the fecret defires of men, which had been long brooding in their minds, begin to fhew and form themselves into prayer; it is even then too often that they are moft unguarded and extravagant, and offend God the most, even in the very act of worshipping him.

Now in this great act of devotion there are feveral ways by which we may offend God, and prejudice ourselves; feveral methods, whofe effects duly confidered, may ferve to convince us, that because we afk amifs, we receive not. We may ask for what we do not want, for what we do not deferve, for what may be hurtful to ourselves, or pernicious to others.

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"As it afketh fome knowledge," fays the great Bacon, "to demand a queftion not impertinent, fo it requireth fome fenfe to make a wifh not abfurd." Now, what is faid of wishes, which are the fecret prayers of the mind, may very properly be applied to prayer itself.

Give us all good things unafked, and avert from us every evil one, though we beg for it, was a celebrated prayer of the ancients; and in reality, to ask for what we do not want, to point out every particular bleffing we would have beftowed on us, is an affront to that power to whom we offer up our prayers; we deny one of his attributes whilft we apply to him for the exertion of another; for what is it in effect but doubting his omniscience, not to fuppofe he is as well or much better acquainted with our neceffities than ourselves?

Nothing perhaps could more effectually conduce to our ruin, nothing would in all probability render us more perfectly miferable, than the fuccefs of all our vows, the completion of all our foolish and unreafonable defires; and it is hard to determine whether the goodnefs and mercy of the Almighty is moft vifible in beftowing on us that which we do not afk for, or denying us what we do.

But that the vanity of human defires, and the extravagancy of inconfiderate prayers, may appear the more evident to us, let us take a curfory view of the most frequent objects of them.

Riches and power are, it must be allowed, the favourite, the darling bleffings moft generally in the mouths, as well as in the hearts of the greatest part of mankind; and yet, who but God can determine; who but he can poffibly foreknow whether thofe riches will make us happy, or that power truly great? Nay, upon deliberation, are they not much.

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more likely to make us miferable? Our paffions, like the appetites of fick men, are generally bent and fixed on that which will be moft pernicious to us. The covetous man implores God by increasing his revenues, to add fuel to his avarice, and the prodigal wearies heaven with prayers, to grant him an opportunity of shortening his guilty days, and finking under the weight of fin and mifery.

When life is fo full of real unavoidable ills, is it not strange that men fhould, with fo much warmth and eagernefs, beg for mifery, and fue for ruin and deftruction; that they should thus fruftrate their own defigns by the very means they make use of to promote them?

But things are apt to dazzle at a distance, or to deceive us when nigh, through a falfe glass, which, when brought clofe and examined, lofe their form, and become a dead mafs without colour or beauty.

Riches are often but a kind of wandering fire, that leads us aftray into the paths of vice and folly; and power given to the weak, or to the wicked, is but as a fword in the hands of a madman, which for a while throws terror and deftruction round about, and then is pointed against the breast of him that wears it.

Again, if we turn our eyes towards the candidates for glory and empire among the great, what poor and unfatisfactory pleafures, what mean and trifling rewards does ambition beftow upon her votaries! Care encircles her crowns, and terror haunts her palaces; her feafts are poifoned with fear, and her triumphs A a 2 checked