Lord shall please to give you an answer to the secret desires of your souls in a corner. It hath been the custom of the people of God, to look after their prayers, to see what success they have had, to observe what entertainment they have found in heaven : Ps. v. 3, * My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.' In the words you may observe two things : first, David's posture in prayer ; secondly, his practice after prayer. First, His posture in prayer, * I will direct my prayer unto thee.' Secondly, His practice after prayer, ' And I will look up.' The prophet, in these words, makes use of two military words. First, he would not only pray, but marshal up his prayers, he would put them in battle-array; so much the Hebrew word gnarach imports. Secondly, when he had done this, then he would be as a spy upon his watch-tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day or no ; and so much the Hebrew word tsaphah imports. When David had set his prayers, his petitions, in rank and file, in good array, then he was resolved he would look abroad, he would look about him, to see at what door God would send in an answer of prayer. He is either a fool or a madman, he is either very weak or very wicked, that prays and prays, but never looks after his prayers ; that shoots many an arrow towards heaven, but never minds where his arrows alight : Ps. Ixxxv. 8, ' I will hear what God the Lord will speak ; for he will speak peace imto his people, and to his saints.' If David would have God to hearken to his prayers, he must then hearken to what God will speak ; and upon this point it seems he was fully resolved. The prophet's prayer you have in the seven first verses of this psalm, and his gracious reso- lution you have in the eighth verse, ' I will hear what God the Lord will speak.' As if be had said, ' Certainly it will not be long before the Lord will give me a gracious answer, a seasonable and a suitable return to my present prayers :' Ps. cxxx. 1, 2, 5, 6, ' Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord : Lord, hear my voice, let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning.' Those that watch abroad in dangerous times and tedious weather look frequently after peep of day. How doth the weary sentinel, that is wet with the rain of heaven or with the dew of the night, wait and watch, look and long, for the morning light. Now this was the frame and temper of David's spirit when he came off from praying ; he falls a- waiting for a gracious answer. Shall the hus- bandman wait for the precious fruits of the earth, and shall the mer- chantman wait for the return of his ships, and shall the wife wait for the return of her husband, that is gone a long journey? James v. 7, 8, and shall not a Christian wait for the return of his prayers ? Noah patiently waited for the return of the dove to the ark with an olive- branch in his mouth, so must you patiently wait for the return of your prayers. When children shoot their arrows, they never mind where they fall ; but when prudent archers shoot their arrows up into the air, they stand and watch where they fall. You must deal by your prayers as prudent archers do by their arrows : Hab. ii. 1, ' I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what
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he will say unto me.' The prophet, in the former chapter, having been very earnest in his expostulations, and very fervent in his supplications, he gets now upon his watch-tower, to see what becomes of his prayers. He stands as a sentinel, and watches as vigilantly and as carefully as a spy, a scout, earnestly longing to hear and see the event, the issue, and success of his prayers. That Christian that in prayer hath one eye upon a divine precept, and another upon a gracious promise, that Chris- tian will be sure to look after his prayers. He that prays and waits, and Avaits and prays, shall be sure to speed ; he shall never fail of rich returns, Ps. xl. 1-4. He tliat can want as well as wait, and he that can be contented that God is glorified, though he be not gratified; he that dares not antedate God's promises, but patiently wait for the accomplishment of them, he may be confident that he shall have seasonable and suitable answers to all those pmyers that he hath posted away to heaven. Though God seldom comes at our time, yet he never fails to come at his own time : ' He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry,' Heb. x. 37. The mercies of God are not styled the swift, but the ' sure mercies of David.' He that makes as much conscience to look after his prayers as to pray, he shall shortly clap his hands for joy, and cry out with that blessed martyr, ' He is come, Austin, he is come, he is come.'* Certainly there is little worth in that man's heart, or in that man's prayers, who keeps up a trade of prayer, but never looks what becomes of his prayers. When you are in your closets, marshal your prayers ; see that every prayer keeps his place and ground ; and when you come out of your closets, then look up for an answer ; only take heed that you be not too hasty and hot with God. Though mercy in the pi-omise be yours, yet the time of giving it out is the Lord's ; and therefore you must wait as well as pray.
And thus much by way of counsel and advice, for the better carrying on of closet prayer.
I have now but one thing more to do before I shut up this discourse, and that is, to lay down some means, rules, or directions that may be of use to help you on in a faithful and conscientious discharge of this great duty, viz. closet-prayer. And therefore thus,
(1.) First, As ever you would give up yourselves to private prayer. Take heed of an idle and slothful spirit. If Adam, in the state of innocency, must work and dress the garden, and if, after his fall, when he was monarch of all the world, he must yet labour, why should any be idle or slothful ? Idleness is a sin against the law of creation. God creating man to labour, the idle person violates this law of creation ; for by his idleness he casts off the authority of his Creator, who made him for labour. Idleness is a contradiction to the principles of our creation.* Man in innocency should have been freed from weariness, but not from employment; he was to dress the garden by divine appointment : 'And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it,' Gen. ii. 15. All weariness in labour, and all vexing, tiring, and tormenting labour, came in by the fall : ' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,' Gen. iii. 19. The bread of idle- ness is neither sweet nor sure : ' An idle person shall suffer hunger,'