first, ver. 16. 'Thy pound hath gained five,' saith another, ver. 18. Mark, not I have gained, but thy pound hath gained ten and five. Tliey do not applaud tliemselves, but ascribe both principal aiul increase to God ; thy talent hath gained : that is, tliy gifts and grace, through thy assistance and blessing, have gained thus much more. Only he that did least comes in with a bag and tells his lord what lie hath done : ' Behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin.' Least doers are great boasters.
CHAPTER VI.
TWO PROPEUTIES OF FAITH : IT IS PRAYERFUL, AND UNIFORM IN ITS ACTING.
Secondly, True faith is prayerful ; pi-ayer, it is the child of faith ; and as the child bears his father's name upon him, so doth prayer the name of faith : what is it known by but by 'the prayer of faith?' James v. 15. Prayer, it is the very natural breath of faith ; supplication and thanksgiving, the two parts of prayer ; by these, as the body by the double motion of the lungs, doth the Christian suck in mercy from God, and breathe back again that mercy in praise to God ; but wdthout faith he could do neither ; he could not by suppli- cation draw mercy from God ; for ' he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,' Heb. xi. 6. Neither could he return praises to God without faith. David's lieart must be fixed before he can sing and give thanks, Psa. Ivi. Thanksgiving is an act of self-denial, and it is faith alone that will shew us the waj' out of our own doors ; aiid as the creature cannot pray, I mean acceptably, withovit faith, so with faith he cannot but pray. The new creature (like our infants in their natural birth) comes crying into the world : and therefore Christ tells it for great news to Ananias of Saul, a new-born believer, ' Behold, he pra3's I ' But is that so strange, that one brought up at the foot of Gamaliel, and so precise a Pharisee as he was, should be found u^Jon his knees at prayer ? Truly no, it was that his sect gloried in, their fasting and praying ; and therefore, he being strict in this way, was no doubt acquainted with this work as to the exterior part of it ; but he never had the spirit of prayer till he now had the spirit of grace, whereby he believed on Jesus Christ. And therefore, if you will try 3-our faith, it must not be by bare praying, but by some peculiar characters which faith imprints prayer withal.
Now there are three acts by which faith discovers itself in reference to this duty of praj'er. First, It puts forth such an exciting act, whereby it stii"s up the Christian to pray. Secondly, An assisting act in prayer. Thirdly, A sup- porting act after prayer.
Section I. — First, Faith puts forth an exciting act, whereby it provokes the Christian, and sti'ongly ])resseth him to pray. And this it doth. First, By disco- vering to the creature its own beggary and want, as also the fulness that is to be had from God in Christ for his supply ; both which faith useth as power- ful motives to quicken the soul to pray. As the lepers said to one another, ' Why sit we here until we die ? if we say we will enter into the city, there is famine to slay us : come, let us fall into the host of the Syrians, ' 2 Kings vii. 3, 4 ; thus faith rouseth the soul up to prayer. If thou stayest at thy own door, O my soul, thou art sure to starve and die. What seest thou in thyself but hunger and famine? no bread there ; no money to buy any in thy own purse: up, therefore, haste thee to thy God, and thy soul shall live. O are you pressed with this inward feeling of your own wants ? press to the throne of grace as the only way left for your suj)ply ; you may hope it is faith that sends you ; faith is the principle of our new life. ' I live,' saith Paul, ' by the faith of the Son of God,' Gal. ii. 20. This life, being weak, is craving and crying for nourishment, and that as naturally as the new-born babe doth for the inilk ; if, therefore, you find this inward sense prompting and provoking of you to cry to God, it shews this principle of life (faith I mean) is in thee.
Olijccf. But may not an unbeliever pray in the sense of his wants, and be inwardly pinched with them, which may make him pray very feelingly? — ^ns. We must distinguish of wants : they are either spiritual or carnal. It cannot be denied but an unbeliever may be very sensible of outward carnal wants, and knock loud at heaven's gate for a supjjly. AVe find them ' howling
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450 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH