Use 1. If God be so ready to hear his people, let ns not throw away our prayers as children shoot away their arrows ; but let us observe God's answer, what comes in upon every prayer. In every address you make to God, put the soul in a posture of expectation : Ps. v. 3, ' I will pray and look up ; ' and Ps. Ixxxv. 8, ' I will hear what God the Lord will speak ; for he will speak peace unto liis people.' See what Grod speaks when you have been praying and calling upon him. It argues a sliglit formal spirit when you do not observe what comes in upon your addresses. To quicken you to this, know —
1. If you observe not his answer, God loseth a great deal of honour and praise ; for it is said, Ps. 1, 15, ' Call upon me in time of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' Every answer of prayer makes for the glory of God; and Col. iv. 2, ' Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving,' You are not only to see how your hearts are carried out in prayer, but watch for God's answer, that you may gather matter of praise. We should not be so barren in gratulation as usually we are, if we were as ready to observe our experiences as to lay forth our necessities.
2. You lose many an argument of trust and confidence. Answers of prayer are an argument against atheism, which is so natural to us, and inbred in our hearts ; it persuades us that there is a gracious being : Ps, Ixv. 2, ' 0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.' We have called upon him, and found that there is a God, and against the natural unbelief which doubts of his truth in his promises : Ps. xviii. 30, ' The word of the Lord is a tried word ; he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.' Well, saith the soul, I will build upon it another time ; there is more than letters and syllables in it ; there is something that speaks God's heart. So Ps. cxvi. 2, ' The Lord hath heard my voice and my supplications : because he hath inclined his car unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.' Promises shall not lie by as a dead stock ; I will be pleading them.
3. It increaseth our love to God. When we see how mindful he is of us, and kind to ns in our necessities, it is a ver}^ taking thing.
VeR. 26.] SERMONS Ul'OX PSALM cxix. 253
Visits maintain friendsliip ; so when God is mindful of us, it maintains an intercourse bet\yeen God and us: Ps. cxvi. 1, 'I love the Lord, because he hath heard my supplications.' Therefore observe what comes in upon your prayers, especially when your hearts are earnestly carried out by the impulses of his grace.
Use 2. To admire the goodness of God to poor creatures, that he should be at leisure to attend our requests : ' I declared my ways, and he heard me.' When a poor soul, that is of no regard among men, shall come with conflicts and temptations, and the Lord presently hear him, it renders his grace truly admirable : Ps. xxxiv. G, ' This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.' He doth not say, this eminent prophet or this great king, but this poor man. Oh, that such contemptible persons as we should have such audience ! For great ones here in the world to let a poor man tell his tale at large, that would he counted great patience, much more if he finds relief in the ca.se. But beyond all this, observe the goodness of God. The more Ave declare our ways, the sooner doth he hear us ; he doth not turn away from us when we tell him plainly we cannot believe in him, or trust in him. Come to a man and tell him. You have made me great promises, but I cannot believe you speak truth — this will provoke him ; but when you come to the Lord and say, Lord, thou hast made a great many promises ; though we cannot trust as we should, yet we have declared our sins, conflicts, temptations, yet, Lord, pity our weakness.
Thirdhj, Here is his petition, ' Teach me thy statutes.'
First, I observe, David having been once heard of God expects to be heard in the like manner again. Here, ' Thou hast heard me ; ' and then comes with a new request, ' Teach me thy statutes.'
Doct. 1. Those that have sped wath God in one address, they will be dealing with God for more mercy ; for so doth David. The reason is —
1, Because God is where he was at first ; he is not weary by giving, nor doth waste by giving ; but what he hath done that he can do, and will do still. 1 AM is God's name ; not I ivas, or ivill he ; for ever remaining in the same constant tenor of goodness and power. His providence is still new and fresh every morning. God is but one, always like himself. He hath not so spent himself hut he can work again. Creatures have soon spent their allowance, but God cannot be exhausted. There is no decay of love oV power in him, no w-rinkle in the brow of eternity. There was, is, and will be a God.