(2.) God hath ordered the deliverances and mercies of his church to be birthed out by the cries and prayers of his people. When, therefore, mercies are come to the birth, it is a special season, and singular encouragement to prayer. Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37. " I the *' Lord plant that that was destroyed, I have spoken it, and I will " do it : Thus saith the Lord God, Yet for this will I be enquired *^ of by the house of Israel to do it for them." So again, in Jer. xxix. 11, 12. "I know the thoughts that I think towards you, '' saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil ; to give you ^' an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall <' go and pray unto me ; and I will hearken unto you.'' In both these places, you see God will have prayer to assist the birth of mer- cy, and never is any mercy so sweet, as when prayer comes be- twixt our dangers and deliverances, our wants and supplies. Hence it was that Hezekiah sent that seasonable message to the prophet Isaiah, 2 Kings xix. 3. " Lift up a cry for the remnant that is left, *« for the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength ^' to bring forth." If ever men ^vill strive with God to purpose in prayer, it is when they perceive the greatest mercies are at the birth, and prayer is the midwife to bring it forth.
(3.) When God hath begun a work of mercy, it gives singular encouragement to prayer, because that time is the time of finding a proper and acceptable season ; as it is Psal. xxxii. 6. " For this *' shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou *' mayest be found ;" or in a time of finding. Courtiers, who have great requests to make to kings, do carefully observe their ynolissima Jandi Um'pora^ as they call them ; their convenient seasons when they find the king most propense, and inclinable to acts of grace. That which is in motion, is the more easily moved. God is now in the way of mercy, his goodness is moving spontaneously towards us ; and if ever prayer be like to speed and prevail, now is the time. And in the last place,
(4.) Manifold and weighty are the reasons and motives, that should fully engage the most fervent desires and prayers of all the
saints to see the full deliverance of Zion ; and to pass over Jordan to behold that goodly mountain, and Lebanon, I mean those six glorious mercies and privileges before-mentioned.
First, The saints' love to Christ makes it above measure desire- able to them ; nothing is more dear and precious to a Christian, than the glory and interest of Christ, and answerable to the strength of their love, is the fervour of their desires. It is said, Psal. cii. 16. " When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his « glory ."^
Whilst the church groans under Antichrist, the gloiy of Jesus Christ is darkened and much eclipsed in the world. It hath been the chief part of the saints sufferings, to see his ordinances polluted, and the rights of heaven invaded by the usurpations of men ; this is it that hath cost them more sorrow of heart, than their personal sufferings have done. But to see the accomplish- ment of that prophecy. Rev. xi. 19. what will it be but as life from the dead ? <^ And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and *•' there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament,'^ &c. As it was an exceeding joy to the godly in Israel, when good Josiah came to the crown, to see tl^e temple opened, which had been neglected in the days of his predecessors, Manasseh and Ammon, in whose reigns the book of the law had lain in the rubbish, but now the worship of God was restored ; so it cannot but ravish a gracious heart with singular delight and joy, to see the pure, pri- jnitive worship of God restored to its first purity and glory. And the more any man is sanctified, the more he is inflamed with de- sires after it, becai^s^ the glory of Christ is so much interested and concerned therein,
Secondly^ Their Ipve to the church, of which they are members, makes this greatly desirable. Moses was a man who excelled in love to the church, witness that transcendent rapture of his, Exod. xxxii. 32. but though he be scarcely imitable therein, yet every real Christian doth, in his right frame, prefer Jerusalem to his chief joy, I'sal. pxxxvii. 5, 6. and^ accordingly, their love to Zion is evidenced iu thei^r prayers for, and desires of its prosperity, Isa. Ixii. 1. <« For Zion'*s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Je- *' rusalem's sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go <* forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that " burneth.'' So again, Psal. cxxii. 8. For my brethren, my " companions' sake, I will now say. Peace be within thee.'' For when the church shall be delivered from the Antichi'istian yoke, and settled in peace and purity, great will its increase be. Her children shall say again in her ears, the place is too strait, give room that we may dwell. She will look fortli as the morning an4 her glory he fresh in her.
Thirdly^ The pity and compassion the saints have for the poor, miserable, perishing world, cannot but make this, a desirable thing in their eyes. For whilst the gospel is restrained in its full liberty, or the ordinances corrupted by the mixture of human inventions and traditions; it is not to be expected that the church should be much enlarged by an addition of converts.
The kingdom of our Lord Jesus is for the present confined within strait and narrow limits, and it is just matter of sorrow to consider how small a part of the habitable world is in subjection to him : So many millions bowing down to idols, the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty, Psal. Ixxiv. 20. The sight of precious souls perishing for v/ant of the word, made the bowels of the compassionate Redeemer to yearn >vithin him, Matth. ix. 36. and the same consideration and occasion cannot but affect and melt every soul in which is the Spirit of Christ : proportionably to the compassions men have for the miseries of the perishing world, will their desires be for the enlarging and perfecting of the gospel- privileges and mercies.