own house and family, thou wouldst not shew this zeal to shut the door upon them, or shriek out when they come in upon thee. The wife does not ci-y out when her husband or children come into the room, but thieves, from whom she looks for nothing but cruelty. It seems they are neither of thine acquaintance, nor art thou fond^of their company. Be not, therefore, over-troubled, for Satan, if he can but disquiet thy mind with false fears, hath one part of his errand done for which he sends them : these wicked thoughts are upon no other terms with thee than holy thoughts are in the wicked ; as those profit not them, because not entertained, so, for the same reason, they shall not hurt thee. Secondly, Know these are the necessary infirmities of thy imperfect state ; and so long as thou art faithful to resist and moui'ii for them, they rather move God's pity to thee than wrath against thee. It is one thing for a child employed by his father willingly or negligently to spoil the work he sets him about, and another when through natural weakness he fails in the exact doing of it. Should a master bid his servant give him a cup of wine, and he willingly threw both cup and wine on the groimd, he might expect his master's just displeasure ; but if through some unsteadiness he should, notwithstanding all his care, spill some of it in the bi'inging, an ingenuous master will rather pity him for the accident than be angry for the wine that is lost. And did God ever give his servants occasion to think him a hard master ? Hath he not promised that he will spare us as a father his child that serves him? From whence come all the apologies which he makes for his people's failings, if not from his merciful heart, interpreting them to proceed rather from their want of skill than will or desire ? ' Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?' Zech. iii. 2 : it is Christ's answer in the behalf of Joshua, whom Satan accuseth for his filthy garments. ' The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,' Matt. xxvi. 41, was his favourable glass for his disciples' drowsiness in prayer. Thirdly, Believers' prayers pass a refining before they come into God's hands. Did he indeed read them with their impertinences, and take our blotted copy out of our hand, we could not fear too much ; but they come under the Corrector's hand; our Lord Jesus hath the inspection of them, who sets right all our broken requests and misplaced petitions ; he washes out our blots with his blood ; through his mediation all that is coarse and heterogeneous in our prayers is separated from the pure ; what is of his own Spirit's breathing he presents, and what our fleshly part added he hides so that it shall not prejudice us or our prayers. This was the sweet gospel truth wrapped up in the priest's bearing the sins of their holy offerings, Exod. xxviii. 36. Fourthly, Though the presence of these be a great affliction to thee, yet God will make them of singular use. 1. To humble thee, and take all glorying from thee, that thou shalt not pride thyself in thy other assistances, which thou wouldst be prone to do if thy prayer had not this lame foot to humble thee. 2. To keep thee wakeful and circumspect in thy Christian course. By thy disturbance from these thou seest the Avar is not yet quite done : the Canaanite is yet in the land ; though not master of the field, yet skulking in his holes, out of which he cojnes like an adder in the path, that by these sudden surprises and nibbling at thy heel he may make thee fall backward, and so steal a victory unawares of thee whom he despairs to overcome in a pitched battle by sins more deliberate. And, truly, if he dare be so bold as to set upon thee when in communion with God, so nigh thy rock and castle, doth it not behove thee to look about, that he gets no greater advantage of thee when thou art at a farther distance from him in thy worldly employments? 3. God will make thee by these more merciful to, and less censorious of, thy brethren in greater failings. Fifthly, In thy faithful conflict with them, thou mayest promise thyself, at last, victory over them ; but expect this not to be done at once, nor hastily delivered into thy hands ; as God said of Israel's enemies. Therefore, maintain the fight ; faint not at their stubborn resistance : pray, and mourn that thou canst pray no better ; mourn and fight again ; fight and believe them down, though sometimes they get thee under their feet. God made a promise to Noah after the flood, in which he gave him a sovereignty over the creatures : ' The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth,' Gen. ix. 2. But we see many beasts are fierce, savage, and cruel to mankind ; yet thus it is fulfilled, none are so fieroe and unruly, l)ut by man's art and industry they have been, and still ai"e, taken and tamed, as the apostle hath it, James iii. 7. Thus God
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