mission to the Will of God, are both fignified in the strongest Manner in the Prayer he then offered up to his heavenly Father: O my Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Matt. xxvi. 39. and he repeated it again, O my Father, if this Cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy Will be done. Ver. 42. Thefe Words are not to be taken feparately, as two distinct Petitions; but they are to be taken complexly, as making up one Prayer, in which he signified, that so dreadful were the Sufferings he was to undergo, in giving himself a Sacrifice for Sinners, and bearing their Iniquities, that the Sense of them ftruck his Soul with Amazement, so that he would have chosen to be freed from them, if the Glory of God and the Salvation of Mankind could have been equally promoted any other Way: But, fince he knew that it was the Father's Will, for the most important Purposes, that he should fuffer, be Submitted and resigned himself wholly unto bim, and defired that his Will should be done, whatever Sorrows and Agonies it might coft him.

Thus hath our Lord Jesus given us an Example of the most perfect Refignation to the Will of God, in the most difficult Instance that can be conceived; and there

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by hath taught us not to set up our own Self-Will, or our natural Defires and Inclinations, to be our Rule; but, even under the severest Trials we can possibly meet with, to yield up ourselves unto God, and to refolve our Will wholly into the Divine: Which is one of the noblest, and at the same Time most difficult, Exercises of a true and eminent Piety.

Fourthly, The last Thing I would observe, with Regard to the Example Christ hath left us of Piety towards God, is, that he was diligent in immediate Acts of Devotion, and in the Exercises of religious Worship, both public and private. It might be thought that he, who fet the Lord always before him, whose every Day might be called a Sabbath, wholly taken - up in Serving and Glorifying God, in holy Discourses, and in kind and beneficent Actions, did not need to retire apart for Converfing with the Deity. If ever any Person might be thought to be above the Use of Ordinances, it was he. The constant habitual Temper of his Mind was good and holy in the most perfect Degree, and therefore he needed not such Helps as we do to confirm pious Resolutions, and to excite and enlarge devout Affections in his Heart: But yet, that, in this as well as other Instances, he might be a perfect Pattern

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Pattern for us to imitate, we find by the Account given of him, that he was very affiduous in religious Exercises, and in observing all the Divine Institutions.

And, First, with Regard to the more private Exercises of Devotion, it appears that he himself practised, what he recommended to his Disciples, the Praying to his heavenly Father in fecret. Matt. vi. 6. Thus we are told that, after he had ordered his Disciples to go before him in a Ship to the other Side, when he had fent the Multitudes away, he went up into a Mountain apart to pray; and, when the Evening was come, he was there alone. Matt. xiv. 23, and em. ployed a great Part of the Night in Prayer and Meditation and Converfing with God: For it appeareth, from Ver. 25, that it was not till the fourth Watch of the Night that he came to his Disciples, walking upon the Sea. At another Time, when he had spent the Day in attending on public Worship in the Synagogue, in teaching the People and performing his beneficent Miracles; and when, in the Evening of that Day, the People came thronging about him, and brought great Numbers of diseased Persons to him, and be healed them all, which, one should think, must have been no small Fatigue; yet this did not hinder but that, next Morning, rising up a great

While before Day, he went out, and departed into a folitary Place, and there prayed. Mark i. 34. So, on another Occafion, after performing many miraculous Cures on Multitudes that came to him, we read, that he withdrew himself into the Wilderness and prayed. Luke v. 16. And, again, he went out into a Mountain to pray, and continued all Night in Prayer to God. Luke vi. 12. And, as he frequently retired for folitary fecret Prayer and Intercourse with God, fo he often prayed with and before his Disciples, who were his own proper Family and immediate Attendants. Thus we read, Luke ix. 18, that he was alone praying, and his Disciples were with him. He was alone, i. e. he was retired apart from the Multitude; but his Disciples were with him, when he prayed. The same Thing is signified, Luke xi. 1, where it is faid, that, as he was praying in a certain Place, when he had ceased, one of his Disciples faid unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, &c. On which Occafion he gave them excellent Directions, and very encouraging Promises to engage them to a perfevering Importunity and Earnestness in Prayer. Before bis Transfiguration, he took Peter, James, and John with him, and went up into a Mountain to pray. Luke ix. 28. And, in his Entrance on his last Sufferings, he offer

ed up an admirable Prayer before his Difciples, in which, with the most tender and affectionate Concern, he recommended them to his heavenly Father, and prayed for their Prefervation, for their Sanctification, and for their being Sharers in his beavenly Glory. Thus it appears how offiduous and fervent he was in that facred Exercise, both by himself alone, and with bis Disciples: And therefore those that allow themselves in the habitual Neglect of this Duty, in vain pretend to be Followers of the holy Jefus. If he was fo careful to render this Instance of religious Homage to his heavenly Father, should not we do so, who have so many Sins to bewail, so many Wants to be supplied, and who stand in such continual Need of the Influences and Aids of God's Grace and Spirit? His Prayers were accepted, on his own Account, as he was perfectly pure and holy, the only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth. And how encouraging is it to think that, in his prevailing Name, we are commanded to offer up our Prayers; and that, though they be mixed with many Infirmities, they shall be accepted through him, if offered up from fincere and upright Hearts! Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name (faith he) be will give it you. John xvi. 23.

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