Ohs. 1. That a true prayer must be an earnest, fervent prayer. The ancient token of acceptance was firing the sacrifice. Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits. Prayer was figured by wrestling ; compare Gen. xxxii. 26 with Hosea xii. 4 ; certainly that is the way of prevailing. So it is resembled to his immodesty that would take no denial, Luke xi. 8 ; what we translate ' importunity' is in the original uvatBeiav, 'impudence.' It is said, Acts xxvi. 7, that the tribes served God instantly, eV eKreveia ; the word signifieth to the utmost of their strength. Under the law, the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they ascended. 1 Oh ! look to your affections ; get them fired by the Holy Ghost, that they may flame up towards God in devout and religious ascents. It is the usual token for good that you shall prevail with God as princes. Luther said, Utinam eodeni ardore orare possem — would to God I could always pray with a like ardour, for then I had always this answer, y?a< quod velis — be it unto thee as thou wilt. Oh ! be earnest and fervent, then, though you cannot be eloquent. There is language in groans, and sighs are articulate. The child is earnest for the dug when it cannot speak for it. Only beware that your earnestness doth not arise from fleshly lusts and concernments. The sacrifices and perfumes were not to be burned with strange fire. When your censers are fired, let not the coal be taken from the kitchen, but the altar. God hath undertaken to satisfy spiritual desires, but not fleshly lusts.
Obs. 2. From the word you may observe, that in prayer we must use much diligence to work our hearts to the duty ; so the word signi- fieth a prayer wrought and driven with much force and vehemency.
^ To this Solomon alludeth when he saith, 'Who is this that goeth in pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense ? ' Cant. iv. 6. The expression manifestly relateth to the smoke that went up out of the censers.
4(*4 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. V. 16.
It is said of tlic a]iostles, Acts i. 14, ' They continued in prayer and supplication ;' in the original, I'jaav irpoaKaprepovvre'i. The phrase signifieth such a perseverance as is kept up with much labour and force. It is no easy thing to pray, and to work a lazy dead heart into a necessary height of affections. The weights are always running downward, but they are wound up by force: Ps. xxv. 1, 'I lift my heart to thee.' When our affections are gotten up, it is hard to keep them up ; like Moses' hands, they soon flag and wax faint. A bird cannot stay in the air without a continual flight and motion of the wings ; neither can we persist in prayer without constant woi-k and labour : our faith is so weak, that we are hardly brought into God's presence ; and our love is so small, tiiat we are hardly kept thei-e : affections Hag, and then our thoughts are scattered ; weariness maketh way for wandering ; first our hearts are gone, and then our minds, so that we have need of much labour and diligence ; all acts of duty are drawn from us by an holy force.
Secondly, The qualification of the person, of a righteous 2)erson ; that is, not absolutely, as appeareth by Elias, the instance brought, who is said to be a man subject to like passions with us ; therefore, it is meant of a man righteous in Christ, justified by faith. Note hence : —
Ohs. That in prayer we should not only look after the qualification of the duty, but of the person. God first accepteth the person, and then the duty. So the apostle proveth the acceptance of Abel's person by God's testimony to his gifts, Heb. xi. 4 ; and the place to which he alludeth. Gen. iv. 4, plainly showeth that God's first respect was to Abel, and then to his offering. I have read of a jewel that being put into a dead man's mouth loseth all its virtue : prayer is such a jewel in a dead man's mouth ; it is of no force and efficacy : Prov. xxi. 27, ' The prayer of a wicked man is an abomination, mucli more when he otfereth it with an evil mind.' At the best, it is naught, if made with a devout aim ; but where there is a conjunction of an evil person and an evil aim, the Lord abhorreth it. Balaam came with seven rams and seven altars, and all would not do. They urge it as a proverb and knowTi principle, John ix. 31, ' The Lord will not hear sinners.' Well, then, when you come to pray, look to the interest of your persons : — (1.) Otherwise you will be in danger of a legal spirit, to hope to gratify God by your prayers and good meanings. There is not a surer sign of resting in duties than when you look altogether to the quality of the duty, and not to the quality of the person ; as if the person were to be accepted for the work's sake, and not the work for the person. This plainly revolveth you to the tenor of the old covenant, and maketh works the ground of your acceptance with God. (2.) You will be in danger of refusal ; God will have nothing to do with the wicked : Job viii. 20, he will not take sinners by the hand ; so the original and margin ;and God will ask what you have to do with him, ' What hast thou to do,' &c. Ps. 1. Look to your interest in Christ ; all hangeth upon that.