beat thee from liis door ? Why then art thou no more thankful for his leave to wait there, though thou be not presently served ? Secondly, Consider who he is thou prayest to: is he not the great and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth ? And is not this a part of the obedience he expects at the hands of his poor creatures ? How long did Mordecai sit at the king's gate before he had what he waited for? Is it not time enough for the servant to be set at dinner, after he hath waited at his master's table ! Were it not unsufferable in the ser- vant to complain that his master sat too long, and required too much waiting at his hands ? This is the language of our hearts, when we are dissatisfied at staying God's time for a mere}'. Is he not a righteous, holy God ? Surely he doth thee no wrong to make thee pray long for a mercy thou deservest not Avhen it comes. Is he not wiser than thee, to know how to time his mercies? ' Shall the earth be forsaken for thee ? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?" Job xviii. 4. Wilt thou have God overthrow the course of his pro- vidence, to gratify thy impatient spirit? Surely thisiis to charge God foolishly with some error in his government. In a word, is he not a faithful God, though he comes not so soon to thy relief as thou wouldst have him? Where did he give thee leave to date his promises, and set the day of payment? No, he hath promised to answer his children's prayers, but he has coiicealed the time for the performance of his promise, on purpose to keep them in a waiting posture ; and therefore he breaks not his promise when he detains a mercy, but thou forgettest thy duty not to wait. God is not unfaithful, but thovi art faithless and unbelieving. Thirdly, Have not as good as thyself prayed as long as thou hast, before they have received an answer ; and yet have not thus behaved themselves ? Look into the generation of seekers, and thou wilt find that God hath exercised their patience as well as thine. Hast thou stood at God's door longer than many of thy brethren ? Remember Job, David, and Heman, how many troubles came over their heads ! Dismal afflictions did they endure before the day broke, and divine providence cleared up ? Shall God raise a causeway for thee to walk by thyself dry-shod, while these, and thou- sands besides, have taken many a weary step through the deep sloughs of affliction, before they came to a fair way ? When God led Israel about, and made it a journey of forty years fi-om Egypt to Canaan, it had been great pre- sumption for any one among them to have desired God to lead him a shorter way thither than all his brethren. David desired no more at God's hands, than to fare as his fellow-saints ; ' Be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name,' Psa. cxix. 132. Doth not Christ himself wait, and that long, even in heaven itself, for an answer to his prayers ? He hath been already above a thousand years there at prayer for his church, and against his enemies, and hath not as yet received the full of his desires ; but still is expecting, till the one be saved, and the other made his footstool. Who art thou that thou shouldst have so high an opinion of thyself, as to expect God should make all stay, and trade for time, whilst thou alone for ready money? Fourthly, Consider whether thou didst never make God wait on thee before his suit could be heard, though he begged not for his benefit, but thy own. Did God wait in thy carnal state upon thee, that he might at last be gracious to thee, and thinkest thou nuich of waiting now on him ?
Thirdly, Not persevering in prayer, proceeds often from unbelief. The crea- ture prays, and God is silent. Now, tliinks Satan, is my time come to do this person a mischief; and therefore he labours to persuade the creature, that there is no mercy to be expected from God. If, saith the tempter, God had meant to come, he would have been here before, therefore give over, and take some other course. Thus he dealt with our Saviour ; no enemy appeai-ed in the field for forty days, and then he appears. This is his way with the saints also ; he lets them alone until he thinks they are softened into a compliance by long standing upon duty, then he comes to parley with them, and takes them off from waiting upon God, by starting many fears and doubts in their thoughts concerning his power, mercy, and truth ; so that the Christian is put to a stand, and knows not whether he should pray or not ; or if he does, yet his heart is not in it ; he prays faintly, with a kind of despair, as the poor widow that made ready her last handful of meal with no other thoughts than of dying when she had eaten it. Unbelief is a soul-enfeebling sin ; it is to prayer, as the moth is to the
776 ^^^ SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS.