(_e_) Seriously consider, that no good and perfect gifts are obtained or preserved except by _prayer_: for every good and perfect gift descendeth from God. James 1:17. Whatever thou seemest to possess without this, is but a lifeless shadow, a seed bearing no fruit, but withering away. For without prayer, no heavenly gift can descend into the heart of man. The reader is desired to peruse what is said on the subject of Prayer in the _Second_ Book of this Work. There are two things which thou must chiefly regard in thy prayers and application to the Lord: _first_, That the _Image of Satan be destroyed in thee_; as unbelief, pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, etc.; _secondly_, That the _Image of God be restored __ in thee_; in which are contained faith, love, hope, humility, patience, meekness, and the fear of the Lord. These two, that is, the destruction of the satanic, and the restoration of the divine image, are illustrated in the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer makes both _against_ thee, and _for_ thee. If the name of God alone is to be hallowed, then thy name must be debased and thy haughtiness be pulled down. If the kingdom of God shall come, then certainly the devil’s kingdom must be overthrown in thee. If thou desirest that the will of God should be done, then truly thine own must be renounced. These are the two parts into which any useful prayer-book or method of prayer may be fitly digested; an order which is clearly exhibited in the prayer of our Lord, so far as it respects those heavenly and eternal benefits and gifts which we are directed to seek. Nay, in the Lord’s Prayer, all the treasures both for soul and body, and all the things which we need both for this life and that which is to come, are summed up. And there is no question, but that the Father in heaven, according to his paternal compassion, will readily grant, what the Son of his love has so strongly commanded us to ask. BOOK II. Preface To The Second Book. As in nature, my dear Christian reader, the destruction of one thing is the production of another; even so is it in a true Christian life. The old, carnal man must be destroyed and pass away, that so the new spiritual man may be produced in his place. And as our carnal life is directly contrary to the holy life of Christ (which in the preceding Book is sufficiently declared); it is absolutely needful that we renounce this carnal life, before we can attain the spiritual life of Christ, or follow him in those steps which he has been pleased to leave us. Thus, for instance, thou must put an end to thy pride, before thou canst be truly humble; thou must cease from wrath, before thou canst possess the virtue of meekness. And this is the reason why the spiritual Christian’s life ought to proceed from true _repentance_. This is also the design and substance of the preceding Book, as plainly appears both from the order in which the chapters are arranged, and from the _Conclusion_ appended to the whole Book.