The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures

APPLICATION.

Use 1 First, Is God thus infinitely present every-where, and thus in and with all his Creatures, then what an Encouragement is here unto Prayer? Thou canst not say, Alas! I now pray, but how shall God hear? He is in Heaven above, and I am on Earth below, many Thousands of Miles distant from his presence: How then shall my weak Whisperings, that can scarce reach the Walls of mine own Closet, ever be able to reach his Ear? No, God's Essential Presence is with thee wheresoever thou art, as he is in Heaven it self; and God is all Ear, he can understand the silent Motions of thy Lips every-where, yea, he can understand the secret Motions of thy Heart. When Hannah prayed for her Son Samuel, Eli, the Priest of God, thought her Gesture did proceed from a distempered Head, and not from an holy Heart; but God was present with her Lips, and that Prayer which was thought by the Priest of God to be but a dumb show, yet to God himself it was powerful Rhetoric and as loud as Thunder in his Ears. The Scripture ⟨p. 453⟩generally intimates that all our Prayers shall be directed to God in Heaven. So Solomon prayed, 1 Kings 8.32. Then hear thou in Heaven, &c. And it is again expressed in the 30th Verse. So that most excellent Composure which Christ taught his Disciples in the beginning of it, Our Father, which art in Heaven, it gives our thoughts a Lift to Heaven. Now this doth not imply, that God doth no where hear our Prayers, but only in Heaven. But how then? Why is this Phrase used? For these two Reasons:

Ʋse 1 First, Is God thus infinitely present every-where, and thus in and with all his Creatures, then what an Encouragement is here unto Prayer? Thou canst not say, Alas! I now pray, but how shall God hear? He is in Heaven above, and I am on Earth below, many Thousands of Miles distant from his presence: How then shall my weak Whisperings, that can scarce reach the Walls of mine own Closet, ever be able to reach his Ear? No, God's Essential Presence is with thee wheresoever thou art, as he is in Heaven it self; and God is all Ear, he can understand the silent Motions of thy Lips every-where, yea, he can understand the secret Motions of thy Heart. When Hannah prayed for her Son Samuel, Eli, the Priest of God, thought her Gesture did proceed from a distempered Head, and not from an holy Heart; but God was present with her Lips, and that Prayer which was thought by the Priest of God to be but a dumb shew, yet to God himself it was powerful Rhetorick and as loud as Thunder in his Ears. The Scripture