he 'laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him,' Dan. vi. 1-1. When the spirit of a man is set about a work, he will do it to purpose : ' If thou slialt seek the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soul,' Deut. iv. 29 ; that is, fervently. This consists not in a violent agitation of the bodily spirits ; a man may put his body into a heat in duty, and the prayer be cold ; that is fervent prayer that flows from a wai-m heart and enkindled affections ; like an exhalation which is first set on fire in the cloud, and then breaks forth into thunder : ' My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned ; then spake I with my tongue, Lord, make me to know mine end,' Psa. xxxix. o, 4. Now as zeal is not one single affection, but the vehemency of all ; so fervency In prayer is when all the afTections act strongly and suitably to the several parts of prayer. In confession, when the soul melts into a holy shame and sorrow for the sins he spreads before the Lord, he feels a holy smart and pain within, and doth not act a tragical part with a comical heart ; Chrysostom saith, ' To paint tears is worse than to paint the face.' Here is true fervency, — ' I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise,' Psa. Iv. 2. There may be fire in the pan, when there is none in the piece ; a loud wind, but no rain with it. David made a noise with his voice and mourned in his spirit. So in petition, the soul is drawn out with strong desires of the grace it prays foi-, with breakings of heart, sometimes set out by the violence of thirst, which is more tormenting than that of hunger. As the hunted hart panteth after the cool waters, so did David's soul after God, Psa. xlii. L Fervency in prayer is sometimes repre- sented by the strainings of a wrestler, — Jacob is said to wrestle with the angel ; and of those that rmi in a race : Acts xxvi. 7, * Instantly serving God day and night,' — they exerted themselves: 'My soul breaketh for longing,' Psa. cxix. 20 ; as one that with straining breaks a vein.
But why must we thus pray in the spirit fervently ? First, From the com- mand,— ' Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy strength, with all thy might, and his word shall be in thy heart;' which imports the affectionate perform- ance of every duty. Sever the outward from the inward part of God's worship, and he owns it not, ' Who hath required this at your hand V saith God, Isa. i. 12; as if he had said. Did I ever command you to give a beast's heart in sacrifice, and keep back your own? Why dost thou pray at all? Wilt thou say, Because God commands it ? Then, why not fervently, which the connnand chiefly intends ? When you send for a book, would you be pleased with him that brings only the cover? And will God accept the skin for the sacrifice? The external part of the d\ity is but as the cup ; thy love, faith, and joy, are the wine he desires to taste ; without these, thou givest him but an empty cup : and what is this but to mock him ? Secondly, To comport with the name of God. The common description.of prayer is calling on the name of God. Now, as in prayer we call upon the name of God, so it must be with a worship suit- able to his name, else we pollute it : this is the chief meaning of the third com- mandment. In the first, God provides, that none besides himself be worshipped ; in the second, tliat he, the true God, be not served witli will-worship, but his own institutions ; and in the third, that he be not served vainly and negligently. There is no attribute in God but calls for this fervency in his worship.
First, He is a great and glorious God ; as such it becomes us to approach his presence with our aft'ections in their best aTray. Are yawning prayers fit for a great God's hearing ? . Darest thou speak to such a Majesty before thou art well awake, and hast such a sacrifice prepared as he will accept? ' Cursed be the deceiver that hath in his flock a male, and sacrificcth imto the Lord a corrupt thing : for I am a great King, saith tlie Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.' See here, anything less than the best we have, is a cor- rupt thing : he will accept a little, if it be the best; but he abhors that thou shouldst save the best for another. He that offers not the strength of his affec- tions, is a deceiver, because he robs him of his due, and he is a great God. When Jacob intended a present to the governor of the land, he bids his children take of the best of the fruit of the land in their vessels. The av/ful thoughts which God extorts from the very heathen by liis mighty works, reproach us, who live in the bosom of the church, and do injustice toliis holy name, by our spiritless manner of serving him. Secondly, He is the living God. Is a dead- hearted prayer a sacrifice suitable to a living (iod? How can thai be accepted
IN THK SPIRIT. 747