Page:The rock of wisdom.djvu/31

 3 v. and the Lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man, for by this ye see that he gave the antediluvian world a space, and they did not do it, and then the lamp of grace was out and they did live a space, Luke 18 c. 3 v. there was a widow in that city and she had come unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary, and he would not tor a while, but afterwards said within himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me 1 will avenge her, least by her continued coming she weary we; and the Lord said hear what the unjust judge judgeth: this woman I compare to the church of God, and the judge that speaketh to her is compared to her opponent, that is an enemy to the church, he will not serve God himself, yet he will do many things for the church, this is to get a name among men, this is only for the body but will not save the soul, Luke 18 c. 9 v. and he spake this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others, oh what a mistake to their own soul! when seeing themselves shut out, now we see the need of prayer from a pure heart, for God is a spirit and seeks such to worship him in spirit and in truth, and here is a lesson of prayer, Mat. 6 c. 9 v. the manner we should pray, the duty of the creature to the creator, prayer to God is the duty of all men, we live and move and have our being in him, every good and perfect gift proceeds from him, man ought always to pray and not to faint, for we are so weak that we always need mercy we are so weak that we always need help, we are so empty that we always need supply, we are so exposed that we always need protection, how reasonable then is it that we should continue in prayer, but we greatly need direction in prayer, we know not how to pray as we ought, therefore Christ has been pleased to teach us in these words, which contain an excellent pattern for prayer, after this manner we are to pray, now as many persons constantly use this prayer, it way be very useful to explain it because it may be feared that some repeat these words without knowing the true meaning, which is formality at best, and some contradict every part of the prayer by their wicked lives, which is base hypocrisy, may we therefore be assisted by the good spirit rightly to understand it so that whenever we use it hereafter, we may offer up a