I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also,…

Sincerity was that which Christ commended in Nathaniel, when he was under the fig-tree; Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. Probably this good man was pouring out of ⟨p. 7⟩his soul to God in Prayer under the figtree, and that in a sincere and unfeigned spirit before the Lord. The Prayer that hath this in it, as one of the principal ingredients, is the Prayer that God looks at. Thus, the Prayer of the Upright is his delight, Prov. 15. 8.

Sincerity was that which Christ commended in Nathaniel, when he was under the fig-tree; Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. Probably this good man was pouring out of ⟨p. 7⟩his soul to God in Prayer under the figtree, and that in a sincere and unfained spirit before the Lord. The Prayer that hath this in it, as one of the principal ingredients, is the Prayer that God looks at. Thus, the Prayer of the Upright is his delight, Prov. 15. 8.

And why must Sincerity be one of the essentials of Prayer which is accepted of God, but because sincerity carries the soul in all simplicity to open its heart to God, and to tell him the case plainly without equivocation; to condemn it self plainly without dissembling; to cry to God heartily without complementing. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, Jer. 31. 18. Sincerity is the same in a corner alone as it is before the face of all the world. It knows not how to wear two visors, one for an appearance before men, and another for a short snatch in a corner; but it must have God, and be with him in the duty of Prayer. It is not a liplabour ⟨image 6⟩