Thirdly, God's readiness to grant, as well as their liberty to ask, speaks them the special favourites of God, The heart of God is so propense, and ready to grant the desires of believers, that it is but ask and have, Matth. vii. 7. The door of grace is opened by the key of prayer. That is a favourite indeed, to whom the king gives a blank to insert what request he will : " If ye abide in me, " and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it " shall be done unto you," John xv. 7. O blessed liberty of the sons of God ! David did but say, " Lord, turn the counsel of " Ahithophel into foolishness," and it was done as soon as asked, 2 Sam. xv. 31. Joshua did but say, " Thou sun stand still in " Gibeon," and a miraculous stop was presently put to its swift motion in the heavens; nay, which is wonderful to consider, a prayer, yet unborn, I mean conceived in the heart, and not yet uttered by the lips of believers, is often anticipated by the propen- siveness of free grace, Isa. lxv. 24. " And it shall come to pass, " that before they call I will answer, and whilst they are yet " speaking I will hear." The prayers of others are rejected as an abomination, Prov. xv. 8. God casts them back into their faces, Mai. ii. 3. But free grace signs the petitions of the saints more
264 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEItM. XVII.
readily than they are presented ; we have not that freedom to ask that God hath to give : it is true, the answer of a believer's pray- ers may be a long time suspended from his sense and knowledge ; but every prayer, according to the will of God, is presently grant- ed in heaven, though, for wise and holy ends, they may be held in a doubtful suspense about them upon earth.
Fourthly, The free discoveries of the secrets of God's heart to believers, speak them to be his special favourites : men open not the counsels and secrets of then* own hearts to enemies or strangers but to their most inward and intimate friends : " The secret of the " Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his " covenant," Psal. xxv. 14. When God was about to destroy So- dom, he would do nothing in that work of judgment until he 4iad acquainted Abraham his friend, with his purpose therein, Gen. xviii. 17. " And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that " thing which I do ? For I know him," fyc. So when a king was to be elected for Israel, and the person whom God had chosen was yet unknown to the people, God, as it were, whispered that secret unto Samuel the day before, 1 Sam. ix. 15. " Now the Lord had " told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came :" according to the manner of princes with some special favourite.
Fifthly, The Lord's receiving every small thing that comes from them with grace and favour, when he rejects the greatest things offered by others, doth certainly bespeak believers the special fa- vourites of God. There was but one good word in a whole sen- tence from Sarah, and that very word is noted and commended by God, 1 Pet. iii. 6. " She called him Lord." There were but some small beginnings or buddings of grace in young Abijah, and the Lord took special notice thereof, 1 Kings xiv. 13. " Because " in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of " Israel, in the house of Jeroboam." Let this be an encourage- ment to young ones, in whom there are found any breathing de- sires after Christ ; God will not reject them if any sincerity be found in them ; a secret groan, uttered to God in sincerity, shall not be despised, Rom. viii. 26. The very bent of a believer's will, when he had no more to offer unto God, is an acceptable present, 2 Cor. viii. 11. The very intent and purpose that lie secretly in the heart of a believer, not yet executed, are accepted with him, 1 Kings viii. 18. " Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house " to my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart." Thus small things offered to God by believers find acceptance with him, whilst the greatest presents, even solemn assemblies, sabbaths, and prayers from others are rejected : " They are a trouble unto me ; " (saith God) I am weary to bear them," Isa. i. 14, 15. " Incense <; from Sheba, the sweet cane from a far country" are not accept-
SERM. XVII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 265
able, nor sacrifices sweet from other hands, Jer. vi. 20. From all which it appeal's beyond doubt, that the persons and duties of be- lievers are accepted in the special favour of God by Jesus Christ ; which was the second thing to be spoken to, and brings us to the third general, viz.
Thirdly, How Christ, the beloved, procures this benefit for be- lievers ? And this he doth four ways.
First, By the satisfaction of his blood, Rom. v. 10. " When we " were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his ** Son." No friendship without reconciliation, no reconciliation but by the blood of Christ : therefore the new and living way, by which believers come unto God with acceptance, is said to be con- secrated for us through the veil of Christ's flesh ; and hence be- lievers have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Je- sus, Heb. x. 19, 20.
Secondly, The favour of God is procured for believers, by their mystical union with\Christ, whereby they are made " members of his " body, of his flesh, and of his bones, Eph. v. 30. So that as Adam's posterity stood upon the same terms that he their natural head did, so believers, Christ's mystical members, stand in the favour of God, by the favour which Christ their spiritual head hath, John xvii. 33. " I in them, and thou in me, that they may " be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou " hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
Thirdly, Believers are brought into favour with God by Chrisfs becoming their altar, upon which their persons and duties are all of- fered up to God : The altar sanctifies the gift, Heb. xiii. 10. And this was typified by the legal rite mentioned Luke i. 9, 10. Christ is that golden altar from whence all the prayers of the saints as- cend to the throne of God, perfumed with the odours and incense of his merits, Rev. viii. 34. " And another angel came and stood " at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto " him much incense that he should offer it, with the prayers of " all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne ; " and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of " the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." And thus you see how the persons and duties of believers are brought into favour and acceptance with God by Jesus Christ The uses follow.