But for thee, who professest the name of Christ,
do thou depart from all these things; do thou make conscience of
reading and practising; do thou follow after righteousness; do thou
make conscience of beginning the day with God. For he that begins it
not with him, will hardly end it with him; he that runs from God in
the morning, will hardly find him at the close of the day; nor will
he that begins with the world and the vanities thereof in the first
place, be very capable of walking with God all the day after. It is
he that finds God in his closet, that will carry the savor of him
into his house, his shop, and his more open conversation. When Moses
had been with God in the mount his face shone, he brought of that
glory into the camp. Exod. 34.
FORMAL PRAYER.
"Thy kingdom come; thy will be done." Wouldst thou have the kingdom
of God come indeed, and also his will to be done in earth as it is
in heaven? Nay, notwithstanding thou sayest, "Thy kingdom come," yet
would it not make thee ready to run mad, to hear the trumpet sound,
to see the dead arise, and thyself just now to go and appeal before
God, to reckon for all the deeds thou hast done in the body? Nay,
are not the very thoughts of it altogether displeasing to thee?
And if God's will should be done on earth as it is in heaven, must
it not be thy ruin? There is never a rebel against God in heaven;
and if he should so deal on earth, must he not whirl thee down to
hell? And so of the rest of the petitions.
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