In Prayer It Is Better

Atten. Pray Of What Disease Did Mr. Badman Die, For Now I Perceive We Are Come Up To His Death? Wise. I Cannot So Properly Say That He Died Of One Disease, For There Were Many That Had Consented, And Laid Their Heads Together To Bring Him To His End. He Was Dropsical, He Was Consumptive, He Was Surfeited, Was Gouty, And, As Some Say, He Had A Tang Of The Pox In His Bowels. Yet The Captain Of All These Men Of Death That Came Against Him To Take Him Away, Was The Consumption, For It Was That That Brought Him Down To The Grave.

Sincerity Is The Same In A Corner Alone, As It Is Before The Face Of The World. It Knows Not How To Wear Two Vizards, One For An Appearance Before Men, And Another For A Short Snatch In A Corner; But It Must Have God, And Be With Him In The Duty Of Prayer. It Is Not Lip-labour That It Doth Regard, For It Is The Heart That God Looks At, And That Which Sincerity Looks At, And That Which Prayer Comes From, If It Be That Prayer Which Is Accompanied With Sincerity.

What A Fool, Quoth He, Am I, Thus To Lie In A Stinking Dungeon, When I May As Well Walk At Liberty! I Have A Key In My Bosom, Called Promise, That Will, I Am Persuaded, Open Any Lock In Doubting Castle.

Then Said He, ’i Am Going To My Father’s; And Though With Great Difficulty I Am Got Hither, Yet Now I Do Not Repent Me Of All The Trouble I Have Been At To Arrive Where I Am. My Sword I Give To Him That Shall Succeed Me In My Pilgrimage, And My Courage And Skill To Him That Can Get It. My Marks And Scars I Carry With Me, To Be A Witness For Me That I Have Fought His Battles Who Now Will Be My Rewarder.’.... So He Passed Over, And All The Trumpets Sounded For Him On The Other Side.

Men, Even The Elect, Have Too Many Infirmities To Come To Christ Without Help From Heaven; Inviting Will Not Do.