means whereby he may obtain grace, and receive faith. ' Prayer is the soul's motion Godward,' says Baxter, ' and to say an unbeliever should not pray, is to say he should not turn to God, who yet saith to the wicked, Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Desire is the soul of prayer,' saith the same learned author, 'and who dares say to the wicked. Desire not faith, desire not Christ or God?' in his Right Method for Peace of Conscience, p. 63. It cannot, indeed, be denied, but that an unbeliever sins when he prays; but it is not his praying is his sin, but in his praying unbelievingly. And therefore he sins less in praying, than in neglecting to pray ; because when he prays, his sin lies but in the circumstance and manner ; but when he doth not pray, then he stands in a total defiance to the duty God hath commanded him to perform, and means God hath appointed him to use for obtaining grace. I must, therefore, poor soul, bid thee go on for all these bugbears, and neglect not this grand duty, which lies upon all the sons and daughters of men ; only go in the sense of thy own vileness, and take heed of carrying purposes of going on in sin with thee to the throne of grace ; this were a horrible wickedness indeed. As if a traitor should put on the livery which the prince's servants wear, for no other end but to gain more easy access to his person, that he might stab him with a dagger he hath under that cloak. Is it not enough to sin, but wouldst thou make God accessory to his own dishonour also ? By this bold enterprise thou dost what lies in thee to do it. Should this be thy temper, (which God forbid,) if I send thee to pray, it must be with Peter's counsel to Simon Magus, Acts viii. 22 : * Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.' But I suppose thee, to whom now I am directing my advice, to be of a far diflTerent complexion, one brought to some sense of thy deplored state, and so softened lay the word, that thou couldst be content to have Christ upon any terms : only thou art at a loss in thy own thoughts how such an impotent creature, yea, impudent sinner as thou hast been, should ever come to believe on him. So that it is not the love of any present sin in thy heart, but the fear of thy past sins in thy conscience that keeps thee from believing. Now for thee it is that I would gather the best encouragements I can out of the w^oi'd, and w'ith them strew thy way to the throne of grace. Go, poor soul, to prayer for faith ; I do not fear a chiding for sending such customers to God's door. He that sends us to call sinners home unto him, cannot be angry to hear thee call upon him. He is not so thronged with such suitors, as that he can find in his heart to send them away with a denial that come with this request in their mouths. Christ complains that sinners ' will not come imto him, that they may have life;' and dost think he will let any complain of him that they desire to come, and he is vmwilling they should ? Cheer up thy heart, poor creature, and knock boldly ; thou hast a friend in God's own bosom that will procure thy welcome. He that could, >VTthout any prayer made to him, give Christ for thee, will not be luiwilling, now thou so earnestly prayest, to give faith imto thee. What thou prayest God to give, he commands thee to do : ' This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 Johniii. 23. So that in pi-aying for faith, thou prayest that 'his will maybe done by thee :' yea, that part of his will which, above all, he desires should be done, called therefore with an emphasis, ' The work of God,' John vi. 29 : ' This is the work of God, that ye believe on him wliom he hath sent.' As if Christ had said. If ye do not this, ye do nothing for God : and surely Christ knew his Father's mind best. O how welcome must that prayer be to God which falls in with his chiefest design ! Joab found his request in the mouth of the woman of Tekoah to take as he would have it : how could it do otherwise, when he asked nothing but what the king liked better than himself did, or could ? And doth it not please God more, thinkest thou, how strong soever thy desires for faith are, that a poor humbled sinner should believe, than it can do to the creature himself.' Methinks, by this time, thou shouldst begin to promise thyself, poor soul, a happy return of this tliy adven- ture, which thou liast now sent to heaven. But for thy further encouragement know, that this grace which thou so wantest and makcst thy moan to God for, it is a principal part of Christ's purchase. That blood, which is the price of pardon, is the price of faith also, by which poor sinners may come to have the benefit of that pardon. As he hath bought off that wrath which man's sin had
460 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH.