Gospel-worship, or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in general. And…

First, That we must pray with understanding. Secondly, We must give up our selves to prayer. Now in the close of the Exercise we had occasion to fall upon that Argument about the wandering of our thoughts in prayer, and by that we come to take Gods Name in vain, in stead of Sanctifying of his Name; God expects that we should have our thoughts, and wills, and affections, our whole souls acting upon him in the duty of Prayer, or else we do not pray to God as unto a God; vain thoughts in prayer do pick up the sacrifice like the birds that Abraham drove away from the Sacrifice, that they should not peck it. Wicked ⟨p. 284⟩lusts in mens hearts are like swine to take the meat and all to hale it in the dirt, so their prayers are filthy and dirty with their lusts; but those that are otherwise godly, yet by their vain thoughts the beauty and excellency of their prayers is taken away; as wine and beer that have the spirits of them gone, so the life and spirit of our duties are gone by our vain thoughts, and therefore vain thoughts do dead the heart very much. So saith David in the 119. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy Law: while our eyes look upon vanity, there will be no quickness in our hearts in any service that we tender up to God; now many of Gods people have experience of the evil of this, and they groan under the burden of this, and as I said the last time, if so be that the Lord should speak from heaven to them and ask them what they would have, they having already the assurance of his love in Christ, they would ask the deliverance from a vain spirit in the performance of holy duties, Bring no vain Oblations saith God in Isa. 1.13. Oh what vain oblations do we bring by the vanity of our thoughts in prayer! 'tis true, the best of all will have vain thoughts sometimes; but yet, as one compares the vain thoughts of men in prayer, like unto a Spaniel that goes out with a man, he walks perhaps but half a mile, but the Spaniel will be running up and down, this way and that way, and if all the space of ground which the Spaniel hath gone over should be measured, it may be while you are walking half a mile, the Spaniel fetching compasses here and there would be half a dozen miles; so our fancies are like a Spaniel which will have fetches about this way and that way, in a thousand vain thoughts;

First, That wee must pray with understanding. Secondly, Wee must give up our selves to prayer. Now in the close of the Exercise wee had occasion to fall upon that Argument about the wandring of our thoughts in prayer, and by that we come to take Gods Name in vaine, in stead of Sanctifying of his Name; God expects that wee should have our thoughts, and wills, and affections, our whol souls acting upon him in the duty of Prayer, or else wee doe not pray to God as unto a God; vaine thoughts in prayer doe pick up the sacrifice like the birds that Abraham drove away from the Sacrifice, that they should not peck it. Wicked