which words, God is presented sitting in heaven as a temple, for their encourage- ment, I conceive, in such a desperate state of affairs, to direct their prayers thither for deliverance. And certainly this hath heen the engine that hath been instrumental, above any, to restore this poor nation again, and set it upon the foundation of that lawful government from which it had so dangerously departed.
Section VI. — Times of great expectation are times for extraordinary prayer. When the people of God have been big with expectation of great mercies ap- proaching, then have they been more abounding in prayer. As the cocks crow oftenest toward break of day, so the saints, the nearer they have apprehended the accomplishment of promises made to the church, the more urgent are they in prayer. When a woman is near her accouchment, then she desires her mid- wife to be at hand, ' The children are come to the birth,' said good Hezekiah, and then he desires the help of the prophet's prayer for the fair delivery of them : ' Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left,' Isa. xxxvii. 3, 4. When Daniel had learned that the happy period of the seventy years' captivity was now at hand, chap. ix. 2, then in an extraordinary manner he sets himself to pray and afflict his soul before the Lord. And we have reason to hope that spiritual Babylon (Rome, I mean,) is not longlived; it is high time, therefore, that the saints should fall more earnestly than ever to dig her grave by their prayers.
CHAPTER XLVn.
WHY EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER IS TO BE SUPERADDED TO ORDINARY,
But why is extraordinary prayer to be superadded by the Christian to his ordinary exercise of it? First, Li obedience to the command of God. He com- mands not only that we should ' pray always,' but ' with all prayer' also ; and ex- traordinary prayer is one kind amongst the rest; therefore let none of us say, Is it not enough to pray once or twice every day ? We must, upon some occasions, devote a whole day to this duty, even to the neglect of everything else. O what niggards would some be toward God, were they left free to devote what time they thought fit for his worship ! This cavil sounds like that of Judas, ' To what purpose is this waste ? for this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to tlie poor. But this he said, not that he loved the poor, but because he was a thief.' Truly, when I hear some carnal wretches cry out against this waste of time in praying and fasting, — how much might the improvement of that time, if laid out in their callings, have benefited their families ! — I am ready to think it is not because they have such care of their relations as they pretend, for they who grudge a day for prayer, can throw many away at the ale-house, or in idleness ; but they carry thievish hearts in their bosoms, which love to rob God of his due, and care not how little service they put him off with. Is he a loyal subject that pays the ordinary tribute to his prince, but if occasion of state requires a subsidy, this he rcfuseth, or doth it reluctantly? God's commands are none of them so grievous that any should need to grumble under them. Those yokes (duties and commands, I mean,) whose outsides seem most hard, have the softest lining within. What seems harder than suffering ? And yet when are saints more full of heaven's joy ? What duty more austere than this of fasting and afflicting our souls ? And yet in the breast of this lion, that scares sensual wretches, the Christian finds the sweetest honeycomb of inward com- forts. Temple work is sure to be well paid if well done : though it be never so little work in his house, God will not have it done gratis ; none shall kindle a fire on his altar for nought ; and therefore he takes it in great disdain at their hands who say, ' What profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?' Mai. iii. 14. Whereas the fault was not in the duty, but in themselves, that they got no more by it : as if a wicked servant should bring himself, by his riot and excess, to poverty, and then give out that a hard master hath undone him. Secondly, To comport with the providence of God, by a suitable return of duty to his actions and dis- pensations toward us. When God is extraordinary in his providence, he expects his people should be more than ordinary in seeking him ; what else means this scripture, — ' This will I do unto thee, O Israel ; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel?' Amos iv. 12. Here God alarms
WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION. 7QY