A44438:509
The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures
The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures by Ezekiel Hopkins ...The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures by Exekiel Hopkins ...
London: printed by H. Clark for J. Robinson, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Object. 1 First, God doth before-hand know all our Wants and Desires, and therefore what Necessity is there of Prayer?
Answ. To this I answer with St. Augustine; God, says he, doth require that we should pray to him, not so much to make known what our Will and Desire is, for that he cannot be ignorant of; but it is for the exercise of our Desires, and to draw forth our Affections towards those Things that we beg at his Hands, that thereby we may be made fit to receive what he is ready to give.
Object. 2 Secondly, Say some, It is in vain to pray, because all our Prayers cannot alter the course of God's Providence; we cannot by our most fervent Prayers change the method of God's Decrees; if he hath resolved from Eternity to bestow such a Mercy upon us, we shall receive it whether we pray or pray not; if he hath resolved we shall never partake of it, if we do pray, all our Prayers will be in vain.
Answ. I have long since Answered this Objection, and told you, That it is true, God's Providence is immutable. But the same Providence that orders the End to be obtained, hath likewise ordered the Means by which it must be obtained: As God hath decreed Blessings to us, so he hath decreed that they should be obtained by Prayer; and therefore we must pray that we may obtain those Blessings, for that is the Means God hath decreed for the obtaining of them.