A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

First; What shall natural Men do? must they desist from Prayer? for they have no Right to it.

I answer; You may see here the miserable Condition of wicked Men, how much they are bound to pray, and yet what an Impossibility lieth upon them of praying aright. Certainly none should desist from this Duty of Prayer, because they cannot perform it aright; for tho we ⟨p. 95⟩have lost our Power and Fitness, yet there is no reason God should lose his Right, and his Power to our Obedience. There is an Obligation and Precept from God, as a Father by Creation, upon all Mankind; all which are reasonable Creatures, they are to own God as a Father in this way. I say, Prayer is an Homage we owe to God by natural Right; therefore no doubt wicked Men do sin, when they cease to pray. It is one of the Accusations brought against natural Men, and is an Aggravation of their Sin. Psal. 14. 1. They do not call upon God. Rom. 3. 10. it is applied to natural Men. This is the Misery they have subjected themselves to, that their Prayer is turned into Sin. As a natural Man must not omit Hearing, because it is a means to bring him to be acquainted with God, tho he cannot hear in Faith: So he must not omit Prayer, because it is one Means to bring us to own God as a Father by Adoption. A Man is not to turn the Back upon him, but call him Father, as well as he can. Jer. 3. 19. But I said, How shall I put thee among the Children, and give thee a pleasant Land, a goodly Heritage of the Hosts of Nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me My Father, and shalt not turn away from me. Better to own God any way, than not to own him at all, than not to enquire after him; to own him rationally, if not spiritually; to own him by Choice, if not out of Sense. If we cannot come and clear up our Title to this great Privilege by the Spirit of Adoption; yet any way, Thou shalt not turn away from me. We should not shut the Door upon our selves. It is required of a natural Man, being weary of his Sins, to fly to God in