Mat. VI. 6-S.] exposition of the lord's prayer. 15
How will your own hearts reproach you then, that have neglected God, and lost such precious hours as you should have redeemed for communion with him ! Sins of omission argue as great a contempt of God's authority as sins of commission ; for the same law which forbids a sin, doth also require a duty from us.
And sins of omission argue as much hatred of God as sins of com- mission. If two should live in the same house, and never speak to one another, it would be taken for an argument of as great hatred as to fight one with another. So, when God is in us and round about us, and we never take time to confer with him, it argues much hatred and neglect of him.
And sins of omission are an argument of our unregeneracy, as much as sins of commission. A man which lives in a course of drunken- ness, filthiness, and adultery, you would judge him to be an unre- generate man, and that he hath such a spot upon him as is not the spot of God's children. So, to live in a constant neglect of God, is an argument of unregeneracy, as much as to live in a course of de- bauchery. The apostle, when he would describe the Ephesians by their imconveited state, describes it thus : Eph. ii. 12, ' That they lived without God in the world.' When God is not owned and called upon, and unless the restraints of men, the law of common education, and customs of nations call for it, they live without God. So Ps. xiv. 1 : ' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works ; there is none that doeth good, they are altogether become filthy.' Every unregene- rate man is that atheist. There is some difference among unregenerate men. Some are less in the excesses and gross outbreakings of their sins and folly. Some sin more, some less ; but they all are abominable on this account, because they do not seek after God. And the apostle makes use of that argument to convince all men to be in a state of sin: Kom. iii. 11, ' There is none that seeketh after God.' The heart may be as much hardened by omissions (yea, sometimes more), than by commissions. As an act of sin brings a brawniness and deadness upon the heart, so doth the omission of a necessary duty. Not only the breaking of a string puts the instrument out of tune, but its being neglected and not looked after. Certainly by experience we find none so tender, so holy, so humble, and heavenly, as they which are often with God. This makes the heart tender, which otherwise would grow hard, dead, and stupid.
2. It is not only an omission in general, but an omission of prayer, which is, first, a duty very natural to the saints. Prayer is a duty very natural and kindly to the new creature. As soon as Paul was converted, the first news we hear of him. Acts ix. 11, ' Behold, he prayeth.' As soon as we are new-born, there will be a crying out for relief in prayer. It is the character of the saints : Ps. xxiv. 6, 'This is the generation of them that seek thee,' a people much in calling upon God. And the prophet describes them by the work of prayer: Zeph. iii. 10, ' My supplicants'; and, Zech. xii. 10, 'I will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication.' Wherever there is a spirit of grace, it presently runneth out into prayer. Look, as a preacher is so called from the frequency of his work, so a Christian is one that calleth upon God. ' Every one that calleth on the name
16 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE [MaT. VI. 6-S.
of the Lord, shall be saved:' Kom. x. 13. In vain he is called a preacher that never preacheth, so he is in vain called a Christian that never prayeth. As things of an airy nature move upward, so the «aints are carried up to God by a kind of naturality, when they are gracious. God hath no tongue-tied or dumb children ; they are all crying, ' Abba, Father.' Then it is an omission of a duty which is of great importance as to our communion with God, which lieth in two things — fruition and familiarity ; in the enjoyment of God, and in being familiar and often with him. Fruition we have by faith, and famili- arity is carried on by prayer. There are two duties which are never out of season, hearing and prayer, both which are a holy dialogue betwixt God and the soul, until we come to vision, the sight of him in heaven. Our communion with God here is carried on by these two duties : we speak to God in prayer, God answereth us in the word ; God speaks to us in the word, and we return and echo back again to him in prayer. Therefore the new creature delighteth much in these two duties. Look, as we should be ' swift to hear,' James ix. 19, until we come to seeing, we should take all occasions, and be often in hearing. So in prayer we speak to God, and therefore should be redeeming time for this work. In the word God comes down to us, and in prayer we get up to God ; therefore, if you would be familiar and often with God, you must be much in prayer. This is of great importance. You know the very notion of prayer. It is a ' visiting ' of God : Isa. xxvi. 16, ' 0 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poiired out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.' Praying to God, and visiting of God, are equivalent expressions. Now it argueth very little friendship to God, when we will not so much as come at him. Can there be any familiarity, where there is so much distance and strangeness as never to give God a visit ?