crees against his promises. The article tells us, the elect are taken out of mankind; this we allow; but the spurious. predestinarian holds, that Christians are elected out of Christians; which doctrine is to be found neither in the Scrip'ture nor in the article; though we apprehend, less than this will not come up to the wishes of the Calvinists. They preach to us, that the unknown decrees of God, and the use they make of them, are necessary to be admitted by all true Christians; warning us, that we are under strong temptation not to admit them, because they humble our pride; and is there not enough to do it without them? and wishing that all may perish who do not admit them. But how then does it happen, that neither St. Peter nor any of the Apostles ever published this doc'rine as a foundation for Christians to build upon? When the new converts on the day of Pentecost asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles what they should do, he does not bid them believe the allsufficient doctrine of predestination for the remission of sins; but commands them to "repent and be baptized, every one of them, for the remission of sins, and they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

:

St. Paul, having a knowledge of the secret decrees of God by revelation, argues from them to reconcile the Jews to the election of heathens; but never makes them articles of faith, or principles of action and from the great stress laid upon them in these latter days, a snake in the grass is to be feared; and he that knows the history of predestination must have discovered, that this doctrine hath been and is the strong hold of schism: therefore I take St. Peter's old doctrine rather than this new; and I would advise all Christians to do the same. If it should be said, that baptism is not now what it was in St. Peter's time, what is it but to tells us, that we have lost the promises of God, and have now no Church? This will be a pleasant hearing to the Roman Catholics, who have been telling us the same thing eyer since the Reformation.

SERMON II.

The Necessity and Advantages of Prayer: with a Method of praying always.

LUKE Xviii. 1.

MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY,

THE man who does not pray, does not live;

he may walk about, and seem to be alive, but he does not live, in the christian sense of the word; for as the natural breath is a proof that the body is alive, so the breath of prayer is a proof that religion is alive in the heart. When the body ceases to breathe perceptibly, in that case its life becomes doubtful, and it may be actually dead: even so that faith, which does not breathe in prayer to God, may be dead past recovery; at least, there may be great danger

1

that

that it will never come to a state of life and godliness. Many considerations naturally arise from this likeness between breath and prayer ; for, is it easy to breathe? it must also be easy to pray. If the body be alive and well, it breathes of itself, without pain or difficulty; and prayer will in like manner be a thing of course, if faith be alive in the heart. Is it necessary to breathe? so necessary, that life cannot long continue without it? It is equally necessary to pray; for the spiritual life of the soul cannot possibly be preserved without it. There is something always at hand, which will never fail to destroy it; of this our Saviour gave notice on a certain occasion to his disciples: pray, said he, that ye enter not into temptation. Temptation would destroy us all: and, if we enter into it, we shall, without God's grace, fall under it. It was this, that first brought death into the world; and is now the great danger of man. The first evil did not arise from man's own nature, but from the suggestion of the devil; who first taught man to disobey his Maker, and which it is ever at hand to teach the same lesson at this hour: and his manner of teaching is different from what it was at first; he taught evil to our first parents by a speech from without; he now teaches from

within us: he gets into our hearts and affections, and worketh in the children of disobedience; it is therefore a petition in the Lord's Prayer, that our heavenly Father would not lead us into temptation. This is one of the reasons why we ought to pray: if we would know them all, we must find them in the Lord's Prayer: because the petitions of it shew us what are the duties, the wants, and the dangers of man. They shew us, why we ought to pray; why we must pray; and what will certainly happen to us if we do not pray. They direct us to the first object of our thoughts; even to the great God that made us; the Father of our being, the Author of our faculties. He is the great object of our worship; and the man who is made by him, and does not worship him, differs in nothing from a beast, but in his ingratitude; the basest of all sins, and such as beasts are seldom guilty of: for the ox knoweth his owner, and the afs his master's crib. Even the dog is mindful of him that feedeth him. What must the man be then, who makes no return of worship to God, who feedeth the creation? Can any man consider the greatness of his kingdom, without raising his voice, and lifting up his heart, to promote the glory and honour of it? Every christian

soul

soul is a subject of that kingdom, which is over all; and when he knows what it is, the Lord's Prayer teaches him to pray, that it may

prevail in himself and in all the world: that the will of God may be the rule of man; and

may be done by men on earth, as we are sure it is done with readiness and delight by the angels of heaven. What a divine privilege is it, that the subjects of this great King are permitted to speak to him! how much more, that they are invited and encouraged to it? and what shame and infamy to them if they do not speak to him! they that will not pray must have their portion with those beings, whose curse it is, that they cannot pray. With those that pray God is present and if God be not with them, we know who will be so; and that they who live without God must die without him; and there is no more certain sign that they live without him, than that of their keeping up no intercourse with him by prayer. Hear the testimony of an illiterate savage on this subject, who had only the feeble rays of tradition for his guide.

Some English soldiers, (as I heard once from an officer who had been amongst them), were quartered on a settlement in Africa, where the climate was hot and unwholesome: they had no clergyman, and they attended no place of worship.