Thus we may know, that God will answer prayers, without immediate vifions or revelations; or without any fuch impreffions, as intimate to us our present acceptance *. may I will only add, that the prayers of a good man may, in many cafes, be rationally expected to avail for others; inafmuch as, when God grants fuch requests, he grants them, because the things petitioned for, are wife, and proper, and rational in themselves, (without which circumftances, he will never grant any requeft) and because of his great love to piety, which he rewards, honors, and incourages, by thus gratifying the pious man, and regarding the interceffions of the virtuous and holy ". As I have laid before you the folution, allow me to conclude with fome corollaries. Corol. I. The objections of the Sceptics are not infuperable; and particularly it is rational to pray to an infinitely wife, good, and unchangeable God; inafmuch as prayer transforms us "O Jupiter, King, give us good things, whether 66 we afk for them, or no; and drive away evil things, even though we should pray for them." 66 He also very much recommended a form of prayer, made ufe of by the Lacedæmonians," in which they pe"titioned the Gods to give them all good things, as long "as they continued virtuous." See Dr. Calamy's life of Mr. How, 8vo, p. 22. mentions us into his moral image ", and plants, or cherishes, fuch a frame of foul, as, according to the wife fcheme of providence, he will vouchfafe to bleffe. Corol. II. If God would bestow all other bleffings upon us, without our praying for them, it would be an unfpeakable detriment to us; if we thereby loft that pious and humble, refigned and obedient temper, that sense of God and religion, and of the ftrength of our obligations to virtue or holineffe, which are acquired and promoted by frequent prayer. Corol. III. Prayer is a duty of natural, as well as of reveled religion *. It is true, it is only an inftrumental duty, and has the nature of a mean to an end; that is, to improve us in the love of virtue and goodneffe. But whoever would attain any end, muft make use of the neceffary means. Food is not life itself; it is only one of the means of life; but it ought not therefore to be w The change is in us, and not in God; and Simplicius (in his notes upon Epictetus, c. 38.) very juftly mentions it as an idle phanfy, to fuppofe," that the "Gods are drawn afide by gifts, and oblations, from "their own judgment of things. On the other hand, "he fais, that repentance, fupplications, and prayers, " and the like, ought to draw us nearer to God, not "God nearer to us. As, in a fhip, by fastening a ca"ble to a firm rock, we intend not to draw the rock "to the fhip, but the fhip to the rock." Mr. Wollafton (in his Religion of nature delineated, p. 120, &c.) has proved prayer to be a duty of natural religion, from other confiderations, particularly from the relation, in which we ftand to the first being, and from the reafon and truth of things. be neglected. On the contrary, it deferves to be esteemed, and made use of, for that very reason, viz. because it is one of the proper means to that important end. They do not feem to me, either to have confidered the matter thoroughly, or to have fo much regard for virtue, as they ought to have, who neglect prayer, and plead that they have no occafion to make ufe of it. Corol. IV. It is not words but thoughts, that are principally to be regarded in our prayers. For God and man regard the wishes and defires of y Vir bonus, omne forum quem fpectat, & omne tribunal, HOR. lib. I. ep. 16. Thus Juvenal, Satyr. 6. fpeaks of the fuperftitious Egyptian. Illius lacrymæ, mentitaque munera præftant, And thus alfo Perfius rallies the prayers and wifhes of wicked and hypocritical men, Haud cuivis promptum eft murmurque, humilefque fufurros Tollere de templo; & aperto vivere voto. Mens bona, fama, fides, hæc clare & ut audiat hofpes: Illa fibi introrfum, & fub lingua immurmurat, O fi Ebullit of the heart, as the only genuine and fincere prayer. I own, that an addreffing God with our wishes is the common notion of prayer; but I am satisfied, that God regards the habitual bent and inclination of the foul, (whether Que virtue, or covetoufneffe, ambition or voluptuoufneffe) more than tranfient petitions, though they should be, for the time, fincere; and confequently much more than the most elegant forms, or the moft devout expreffions, that are not accompanied with internal defires. Our thoughts are our prayers, which God can understand as well without words, as with them, and according to our habitual difpofition may we expect to be treated both here and hereafter. Ebullit patrui præclarum funus! &, O fi Corol Hercule! pupillumve utinam, quem proximus hæres y But, inasmuch as a decent and agreeable performance of this great duty fhews an higher reverence and regard for God and divine things,-does more promote the practical influence, and reprefents religion as more amiable to mankind in general; I would recommend the noble hints, which Mr. Wollaston has given in his Religion of nature delineated, p. 120, &c.—and the excellent forms, which are annexed to the Plane account of the nature and end of the facrament of the Lord's Supper; — to all fuch as are defirous of affiftance in performing this duty, with honor and decency, eafe and elegance. For there may be as much of the true spirit of prayer, and certainly will be leffe confufion, where there is the most clear method, and moft juft and happy manner of expreffion. Cerol. V. How vain muft it be to pray, whileft men are devoted to vice? When you make many prayers, I will hide mine eyes from you. -Your hands are full of blood, Ifa. i. 15. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not bear me, Pfal. lxviii. 18. The Lord is far from the wicked, but he beareth the prayer of the upright, Prov. xv. 28. He that turneth away his car from bearing the law, his prayer shall be abomination, Prov. xxviii. 9. The (moft coftly) facrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; but the prayer of the upright is his delight, Prov. xv. 8. Now we know that God beareth not finers, but if any man be a worfhiper of God, and doeth his will, him he beareth, John ix. 31. Nay, perfons guilty of notorious wickedneffe have been fometimes fo ftruck with the prodigious z Homer Il. a. l. 218. Όσκε θεοῖς ἐπιπέθηται, μάλα τ ̓ ἔκλυον αυτό. He who obeys the Gods, the Gods will hear. "The Athenians, in a war with the Lacedæmonians, "having received many defeats both by fea and land, fent a meffage to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, to ask "the reason why they, who had erected fo many tem"ples to the Gods, and decorated them in a most costly "manner; who had inftituted fo many feftivals with "great pomp and ceremonies; who, in fhort, had "flain fo many hecatombs at their altars, were not fo "fuccefsful as the Lacedæmonians, who fell much short "of |