of him, wliich iievei' came from him ! Lay not your dead prayers by his side ; the lively prayer is his, the dead thine own. 'The living, the living, they shall praise him.' The glorious angels, who, for their zeal, are called sera])hini, and a flame of fire, these he chooseth to minister to him in heaven ; and the saints, who sojourn on earth, have their extraction from heaven, and have spirits raised and refined from the dnlness of their earthly constitution, he sets a])art for him- self as priests, to ofl'er up spiritual sacrifices unto him. The quicker any one is himself, the more offensive is a slow workman to him. How, then, can God, who is all life, brook thy lazy devotions? When he commanded the neck of an ass to be broken, and not ofti?red up unto him, was it because he was angry with the beast? No; it was his own Avorkmanship : but to teach us, how unpleasing a dull heart is to him in his service. Thirdly, He is a loving God, and love will be paid in no coin but its own. Give God love for love, or he accounts that you do not give him anything. ' If ye love me, keep my commandments,' John xiv. 15. And, ' If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be contemned,' Cant. viii. 7. So, if a man think to grve God anything in prayer, instead of his love and fervent affection, it will be con- temned, because it doth not correspond with the affections which God ex- presseth toward us : he draws out his heart with his purse, and gives himself with all his gifts to his people, therefore, he expects our hearts should come with all our services to him. It is no wonder to see the servant whose master is hard and cruel, have no heart to do his work ; but love in the master puts life into the servant ; and, therefore, God, who is incomparably the best master, disdains to be served as none but the worst among men are accustomed to be.
CHAPTER IV.
CONTAINS A THIRD REASON OF THE POINT.
Thirdly, Tlie promise is only made to fervent prayer. A still-born child is no heir, neither is a prayer that wants life heir to any promise. Fervency is to prayer, what fire was to the spices in the censer ; without this it cannot ascend as incense before God. Some have attempted a shorter way to the Indies by the north, but were ever frozen up in their way ; and so will all sluggish prayers be served. It were an easy voyage, indeed, to heaven, if such prayers might find the way thither ; but nev»r coiild he shew any of that good land's gold who prayed thus, though he were a saint. The righteous man, indeed, is declared heir, as to all other promises, so to this of having his prayer heard ; but he is not in a fit posture to enter into the possession of this promise, or claim ])resent benefit from it, while his heart remains cold in the duty. There is a qualifica- tion to the act of prayer as necessary as of the person praying,—' The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.' When God intends a mercy for his peo])le, he stirs up a spirit of prayer in them,' — ' I never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain !' that is, I never stirred them up to, and helped them in it, and then let them lose their labour. ' Then shall ye go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you : and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart,' Jer. xxix. 12, 13. Feeble desires, like weak pangs, go over, and bring not a mercy to the birth. As the full time grows nearer, so the s])irit of prayer grows stronger. ' Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him ? — I tell you that he will avenge them s])ecdily,' Luke xviii. 7. None in the house, perhaj)s, will stir for a little knock at the door, they think he is some idle beggar ; but if he raps thick and loud, then they go, yea, out of their beds. Luke xi. 8, ' 'i'hough he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise.'
First, This shews, there is little true praying to be found among us, because there are few that pray fervently. Let us sort men into their several ranks : First, The ignorant ; do these pray fervently ? Their hearts must needs be frozen up in the duty ; they dwell too far from tlie sun, to have any of this Divine heat in their devotions. Secondly, The profane person that is debauched with his filthy lusts, his heat runs out another way. Can the heart which is infiamed with lusts be other than cold in prayer? Hell-fire nnist be quciielKd before this from heaven can be kindled. Thirdly, The soul under the power of roving
748 ^^ '^^^^ SPIRIT.