aiul, through him, with all believers. O how many prayers against sin are lost, for want of well understanding this grand notion of the gospel ! A great cry is made by many of their sins to God, and victory over them pretended to be desired ; yet they live, and grow stronger every day ; — what is the reason ? Alas ! they stand not in a federal relation to God. Will a prince raise an array to fight for he knows not who ? Indeed, if his subjects or allies be in distress, he is ready to step in for their snccoiu- ; but strangers cannot expect he should do this for them. Ijcagues are made before any assistance is desired. God first promiseth to bring Israel under the bond of his covenant, Ezek. xx. 37, and then ver. 41, that he will accept them with their sweet savour. David knew that the carnal world is abandoned by God, to be trod under the foot of every lust ; therefore when he prays God would order his steps in his word, and let no iniquity have dominion over him, he desires it as a favour peculiar to those that were near and dear to him, — ' Look thou upon me, and be mer- ciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.' Psa. cxix. 132. Pray not only against the power of sin, but for the power of holiness. A wicked man may pray against his sins, not out of any inward enmity to them, or love to holiness, but because they are troublesome guests to his conscience. Ilis zeal is false, that seems hot against sin, but is cold to holiness. A city is rebellious that keeps its rightful prince out, though it receives not his enemy in : nay, the devil need not" fear, but at last he shall make that soul his gar- rison again, out of which for a while he seems shut, so long as it stands empty, and is not filled with grace. Matt. xii. 44, 45. What, indeed, should hinder Satan's re-entry into that house, which hath none in it to keep him out ?
CHAPTER LY.
HOW TO DEPRECATE THE EVIL OF SUFFERING.
The second object of deprecatory prayer is suffering. Sin brought suffering into the world. Sin is indeed the elder twin, but suffering stayed not long after it, for it took it by the heel, arresting Adam upon the very place where he committed his trespass, and ever since follows it as close as the shadow doth the body. It leaves not the saint till death parts him and his sin ; but pursues the wicked with their sins into the other world also. So that this dis- tribution of suffering into temporal and eternal shall suffice, because it com- prehends all the miseries which sin hath brought upon the sons of men. First, temporal sufferings, — how the Christian is "to deprecate and pray against them ; which I shall do two ways.
Section I. — First, Negatively. The Christian is not to pray for an inmiunity from all temporal sufterings ; there is no foundation for such a prayer in the promise ; and what God thinks not fit to promise, we must not be bold to ask. God had one Son without sin, but none in this life without sufi'ering. John writes himself, 'Your brother and companion in tribulation,' Rev. i. 9. He hath too high an opinion of himself, that would have God lead him dry-shod to heaven, while he sees the rest of his brethren march through thick and thin to the same place; or who thinks he needs not this thorn of sufl'cring, to keep him as well as others from wandering out of his way to glory. The rod is_ not more needful to children, than suHbring is to the saints while on earth. While thou art subject to sin, thou must submit to his disciplinary rod. Yaletudinarian bodies can as well do without food as physic ; and saints in this state may as well live without ordinances as sufferings. In a word, to pray a])solutely against all suffering, is to desire one of the greatest punishments on this side hell. When God said, ' I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom,' Hos. iv. 14, he meant them no good by sparing his rod. ^ If we count him an unwise father, who when he puts his child to school, desires the master not to whip him ; surely, much greater folly were it in thee to desire God to privilege thee from all suffering. Secondly, Affirmatively. Deprecate the vindictive justice and wrath of God in all temporal suflerings, Jer. x. 24 : ' O Lord, correct me, but in judgment ; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.' And chap. xvii. 17 : 'Be not a terror tmto me : thou art my hope in the day of evil.' He declines not suffering, but deprecates wrath; as if he had said, Let trouble come, but not with this message, to tell mc that thou art
72(3 WITH ALL rUAYER AND SUITLR'ATION.