Sometimes God is found in tliis diit}', and sometimes in tliat, on purpose to keep up the credit of all. Foiu'thly, Our requests for both must be spiced with thanksgiving : ' Let yoiir requests be made known with thanksgiving,' Phil. iv. 6; and, 1 Thess, v. 18, 'In everything give thanks.' Art thou praying for the love and favour of God ? Bless God thou art where it may be obtained, and not in hell, past hope or help. Is it health thou desirest ? Bless God for life ; ' It is the Lord's mercy we are not consumed.' No condition on earth can be so sad, in which there may not some mixture of mercy be found inter- woven. Utter darkness, without any mercy, is found in hell alone. Come not, therefore, to pray, till you know also what to praise God for. As God hath an open hand to give, so he hath an open eye to see who comes to his door, and to discei'n between the thankful beggar and the unthankful. Will God give more to him, on whom all is lost that he hath formerly bestowed ? Indeed, he doth good to the evil and unthankful, but it is not a gracious return of their prayers, but an act of his common providence, of which they will have little comfort when he brings the bounty of his providence in judgment against them, to aggravate their sins, and increase their torment.
CHAPTER LII.
A THREE-FOLD DISSIMILITUDE TO BE MADE IN OUR REQUESTS.
First, Temporal blessings are chiefly to be desired for the sake of spiritual. The traveller desires a horse, not for itself, so much as for the convenience of tlie journey he has to go. Thus the Christian, when praying for temporal things, should desire them as helps in his way and passage to heaven. I do not say it is unlawful to desire life, health, and other comforts of this life, for the suitableness that these have to our natural affections, and to supply our outward necessities ; but to desire them only for this, is low and base, it is the mere cry of the creature ; the ravens thus cry, and all the beasts of the field seek their meat of God ; that is, they desire the preservation of their lives, and make their moan when they want that which should support them : and these creatures, being made for no higher end than the enjoyment of these particular good things, observe the law of their creation. But thou art an intellectual being, and by thy immortal sovil, which is a spiritual substance, thou art as near akin to the angels in heaven, as thou art, by thy meaner bodily part, to the beasts ; yea, allied to God, thy Maker ; not only made by him, as they were, but for him. He is thy chief good, and therefore thou infinitely dishonourest him, if thy desires can be satisfied with anything short of him. Thus shouldst thou say, — O Lord, as all my gifts and services do not please thee, except with them I give thee myself; so none of these gifts of thy bounty can content me, except with them thou wilt bestow thyself on me. Now, this regular motion of the heart in praying for temporals is to be found only in those whose inward powers are set right by Divine grace. Man in his corrupt state is like Nebu- chadnezzar, he hath a beast's heart, that craves no more than the satisfaction of his sensual appetite ; but when renewed by grace, then his luiderstanding returns to him, by which he is enabled, in praying for temporals, to elevate his desires to a nobler end. Doth David pray that some farther time may be added to his temporal life ? It is not out of a fond love to this world, but to prepare himself the better for another : ' O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more !' Psa. xxxix. 13. Is he comforted with hopes of a longer stay here ? It is not this world's carnal pleasures that kindle this joy in his holy breast, but the advantage that thereby he shall have for pi-aising God in the land of the living : ' Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God,' Psa. xlii. 11. The saint hath as quick a sense to taste the sweetness of a temporal mercy as another ; but his heart being spiritual, and so acquainted with higher enjoyments, he desires that God would not put him off with these shells of blessings. O, how few thus pray for temporals ! Some pray for temporal mercies, which, if granted, would only serve to satisfy their lusts. ' Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts,' James iv. 3. One is sick, and prays for health, that he may be again at his pots or harlots ; another is childless, and he would have an heir, to uphold the pride and grandeur of his house, but not the increase
■WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPrLICATION. 719