1 '''YiixTToplav fiaXKov 77 xap'i' iroiovcriv.' — Isocrates. - ' Non est sportula qua3 iiegotiatur.' — Martial.
2 Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes.
44 AN EXPOSITION. WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 5.
was the reason why the apostles (when Christ talked of forgiving our brother seven times in one day), cried out, Luke xvii. 5, ' Lord, in- crease our faith,' as not being able to believe so great a pardoning mercy either in themselves or God. And therefore, also, I suppose it is that God doth with such vehemency show everywhere that his heart hath other manner of dispositions than man's hatli : Lsa. Iv. 8, 9, ' My thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways ; as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts : ' I am not straitened in bowels, nor hardened, nor implacable, as men are ; as there is a vast space and distance between the earth and the firmament, so between your drop and my ocean. So Hosea xi. 9, ' I am God, and not man ; and therefore Ephraim shall not be de- stroyed ; ' that is, I have not such a narrow heart, such wrathful im- placable dispositions as men have. Well, then, consider, when God giveth, he will give like himself. Do not measure him by the wretched straitness of your own hearts, and confine God within the circle of the creatures. It is said of Araunah that he gave as a king to David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 23. Whatever God doth, he will do as a God, above the rate and measure of the creatures, something befitting the infiniteness and eternity of his own essence.
Obs. 12. From the same clause, upbraideth not, you may more particularly observe, that God doth not reproach his people with the frequency of their addresses to him for mercy, and is never weary doing them good. It is man's use to excuse himself by what he hath done already. They will recount their former favours to deny the present requests. Men's stock is soon spent ; they waste by giving, and therefore they soon grow weary. Yea, w^e are afraid to press a friend too much, lest, by frequent use, kindness be worn out. You know it is Solomon's advice, Prov. xxv. 17, ' Let thy foot be seldom in thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.' Thus it is with men ; either oat of penury or satiety, they are soon full of their friends. But oh ! what a difference there is between our earthly and our heavenly friend. The oftener we come to God, the welcomer ; and the more we ' acquaint ourselves with him,' the more ' good cometh to us,' Job xxii. 21. His gates arc always open, and he is still ready to receive us. We need not be afraid to urge God to the next act of love and kindness : 2 Cor. i. 10, ' Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.' One mercy is but a step to another, and if God hatJi, we may again trust that he luill. With men, renewed addresses and often visitings are but impudence, but with God they are confidence. God is 60 far from upbraiding us with what he hath done already, that his people make it their usual argument, ' He hath delivered me from the lion and the bear, therefore he shall from the uncircumcised Philistine,' 1 Sam. xvii. 37. Well, then : (1.) Whenever you receive mercy upon mercy, give the Lord tlie praise of his unwearied love. When God })romised to keep up honour upon honour, and ])rivilege upon privilege on David and his line, David saith, 2 Sam. vii. 19, ' And is this the manner of man, 0 Lord God ?' Would man do thus? Is this ac- cording to his use and custom, to grant request after request, and to let his grace run in the same eternal tenor of love and sweetness ?
Jas. I. 5.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 45
Should we go to man as often as we go to God, we should soon have a repulse, but we cannot weary infiniteness. (2.) If God be not weary of blessing you, be not you weaiy of serving him. Duty is the proper cor- relate of mercy. God is not weary of blessing, so be not you ' weary of well-doing,' Gal. vi. 9. Let not your zeal and heat be spent, as his bounty is not.
Ohs. 13. From that a7id it shall he given him. Due asking will prevail with God. God always satisfieth prayer, though he doth not always satisfy carnal desires : ' Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened to you,' Mat. vii. 7. If we do not receive at asking, let us go to seeking ; if not at seeking, let us go on to knocking. It is good to continue fervency till we have an answer. But you will say. Are these promises true ? The sons of Zebedee; they asked, and could not find, Mat. xx. 22. The foolish virgins, they knocked, and it was not opened to them. Mat. xxv. 8. So the church seeketh Christ : Cant iii. 1, 'By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth ; I sought him, and found him not.' How, then, can these words of Christ be made good? 1 shall answer by stating the general case. Prayers rightly qualified want not success ; that is, if they come from a holy heart, in a holy manner, to a holy purpose. I remember one prettily summeth up all the requisites of prayer thus, Si honum petant honi, bene, ad honum} These are the limitations: (1.) Concerning the person. God looketh after, not only the property of the prayer, but the propriety and interest of the person. Our apostle, chap. v. 16, ' The efiectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,' 8er]at<i ivepjov/xivT] — a prayer driven with much force and vehemency ; but it must be of a righteous person. The Jews propound it as a known rule, John ix. ol, ' God heareth not sinners.' It is so frequently inculcated in scripture, that they urge it as a proverb — An unclean person polluteth his own prayers. But of this hereafter. (2.) That which they ask must be good : 1 John v. 14, ' AVhatever we ask according to his will, he heareth us.' It must be according to his revealed will, that is obedience ; and with submis- sion to his secret will, that is patience — neither according to our own lusts, nor our own fancies. To ask according to our lusts is an im- plicit blasphemy, like Balaam's sacrifices, performed out of a hope to draw heaven into the confederacy of his cursed designs. And to make our fancy the highest rule is a presumptuous folly. God knoweth what is best for us. Like children, we desire a knife ; like a wise Father he giveth us bread. God always heareth his people when the request is good. But we must remember God must judge what is good, not we ourselves. There cannot be a greater judgment than always to have our own will granted. ^ (3.) We must ask in a right manner, with faith, as in the next verse ; with fervency, see chap. v. 16 ; with patience and constancy, waiting for God's time and leisure. God's discoveries of himself are not by-and-by to the creature. A sack stretched out con-