trice' egg under the very wing of God, and make use of this his solemn ordinance, as an expedient to hatch their wicked designs. The fox, they say, wlien hard put to it, will, to save hhnsclf, fall in among the dogs, and hunt among them as one of the company. Thus the hypocrite, the better to conceal his wicked projects, will run among the saints, and make as loud a cry as the best of them all. It is the devil's old trick, and he hath learned it his instruments, to wrap up wicked plots in the gilded covers of God's ordinances. What plotting and counterplotting was there between Sechem the son of Hamor, and Simeon and Levi ! and the expedient which both used to accomplish their designs was an ordinance of God ; the one hopes, by submitting to it, to get possession of the whole estate of Jacob's family, — ' Shall not their substance be ours?' and the other persuades them to it, that when the}' were sore they might butcher them without resistance. Absalom, that he may the better play the traitor against his father, begs leave to pay his vow at Hebron. Jezebel sets her trap for Na- both ; and that he may the more siu-ely fall into her clutches, she croucheth and hiunbleth herself even before God in a fast. The demure Pharisees talked much of their fasting, but our Savioiu- was bold to tell them, it was to devour the widows' houses ; but they devour on earth those morsels, that will lie heavy on their stomachs in hell, to be digesting to eternity. Thus the hypocrite, like antichrist, sits in the temple of God, and there commits his execrable abo- minations, turning a house of prayer into a den of thieves. O, tremble at this great wickedness ! It gives a crimson tincture to a sin, when it is com- mitted under the disguise of religion. Secondly, When a person thinks by fasting and prayer to satisfy God for his sin, or merit any favour at his hands. This is wicked and abominable, and as contrary to the nature of prayer as buying is to begging. ' The poor useth entreaties,' Prov. xviii. 23. When Job resolves on prayer, he renounceth any plea taken from his own righteous- ness ; ' Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge,' chap. ix. 15. We cannot have the benefit of the throne of grace, till we quit our legal plea. Chi'ist indeed pleads as righteous, and therefore desires what he asks for us as just, because he hath paid for it ; but we pray as sinners, and therefore crave all as mercy ; yea, though we plead Christ's merit, because he is the greatest and freest gift of all others. Yet such is the pride of man's heart, that he had rather play the merchant, and exchange his duties for God's blessings, than be thought to receive them gratis. This was the temper of the carnal Jews ; they thought to pacify God for their sin, as Jacob his angry brother, with the droves and flocks of duties which they presented him with, and thought their services undervalued when they were not accepted for good payment ; hence their bold expostulation with the Lord, ' Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not ? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge ?' Isa. Iviii. 3 : such a high opinion they had of themselves. O, take heed of this ; pride turns an ordinance into an idol. God accepts our fasts and prayers, when used for humiliation, but abhors them when we bring them for our justification. The proud Pharisee thought of gaining heaven by his numerous fasts; while the poor publican got the prize by an humble confession of his sin, Luke xviii. 10. He that thinks of washing his face with muddy water, instead of making it clean, will leave it dirty. Truly our best tears are not over clean ; and can they make us clean that need themselves to be washed .' Holy Job durst not rely on his purity ; ' If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my hands ever so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment,' Job ix. 30 — 32.
Secondly, The end may be, though not intrinsically evil, yet evil from some irregularity ; as when we make that our ultimate end, which should only be our subordinate in the duty. The glory of God is to be the ultimate end, in every duty or worship, and all our common actions also, 1 Cor. x. 31 ; and he cer- tainly should be our utmost end, from whom we received oin- beginning ; ' all things are of him,' and therefore it is fit they should be to him; the river empties itself into the sea, from whence it flows. Now if we are to have so high an end in our lowest actions, so we ought in our highest : and such are acts of worship, in which we have innncdiatciy to do with God, and arc thence
WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION. 711