4. This trust must be pleaded in prayer.
[1.] Because prayer is one of the means by which God hath decreed to fulfil his promises ; and therefore we must obtain mercies in his own appointed way. God saith, I will do thus and thus for you : Ezek. xxxvi. 87, ' But I will be inquired after by the house of Israel for this very thing.' God will do it, but prayer must give a lift ; he will be sought to : Jer. xxix. 11, 12, 'I know the thougiits which I think to- wards you, saith the Lord ; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end,' that is, such an end as yourselves hope for and desire ; ' then shall ye call upon me, and go, and pray to me, and I will hearken unto you,' that is, you must address and set yourselves seriously to this work. When the promise is urged by the believer, it will be performed by God. So when Daniel understood by the books and writings of the prophets that the time was come wherein God had promised to deliver his people, then he falleth a-praying in a serious manner, Dan. ix. 3. When God hath a mind to work, then he sets the spirit of prayer awork, for he will have all things accomplished in his own way.
[2.] Because he hath put this office upon his people, that they are to be his remembrancers at the throne of grace : Isa. Ixii. 6, ' Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence ; ' it is in the margin, ' Ye that are the Loid's remembrancers,' whose office it is to be con- stantly minding God, and soliciting him in the behalf of his church. Public remembrancers are the officers of his church ; but every Chris- tian is a private remembrancer, to put God in mind of his promise. Not that God is subject to forgetfulness, as man is, who hath need of
VeR. 49.] SERMONS UPON psal:\i cxix. 25
such minders ; but he will be sought and solicited for the performance of his gracious promises. We have an advocate in heaven, but there arc remembrancers upon earth. We come as David here, ' Remember thy word unto thy servants, on Avhich thou hast caused us to hope.'
5, We are the more encouraged because God, that made the pro- mise, doth also give the faith ; for he pleadeth two things — the grant of the promise, and the gift of faith. Reasons : —
[1.] God woukl not deceive us. Would he raise a confidence to disappoint us ? In such a case we might say, as the prophet Jeremiah, chap. XX. 7, ' Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived ; ' the words seem to intrench upon the honour of God. In the general, I answer — They were spoken by the prophet in a passion. Others soften them by another rendering and interpretation, ' Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded ; ' that is, to undertake the prophetical office, of which I was nothing forward of myself, but averse thereunto, yet found it more troublesome than I expected. But put it with a supposition, ' If I be deceived, thou hast deceived me,' there is nothing inconve- nient. God had told him he would make him as a brazen wall ; God had raised a faith and hope in him to be borne out in his work. Now, if God hath specially excited your faith, it is not a foolish imagination or vain expectation, like as of them that dream ; it is God s word you build upon, and it is by a faith of God's operation ; he raiseth it in us.
[2.] The prayer of faith is the voice of the Spirit, and God heareth the voice of the Spirit alvv^ays, ' who maketh requests Kara ©eov, according to the will of God ; ' Rom., viii. 27, ' He that searcheth and trieth the hearts, knoweth what is a groan of the Spirit,' what is a fancy of our own, what is a confidence raised in us by the operation of his own Spirit. For there may be a mistaken faith, seemingly built upon the promises, whereas it is indeed built upon our own conceits. Now God is not bound to make that faith good. But when we can appeal to the searcher of hearts that it is a faith of his own working, surely we may have confidence.
Now how shall we know that it is a faith of God's raising ?
1. If the promise be not mistaken, and we do not presume of that absolutely which God only hath promised conditionally, and with the limitations of his own glory and our good, which are joined to all promises which concern the present life. In temporal things, God exerciseth his children with great uncertainties, because he seeth it meet to prove our submission in these things, for our happiness lieth not in them. Those things wherein our happiness doth consist, as re- mission of sins and eternal life, are sure enough, and that is encour- agement to a gracious heart: 2 Tim. iv. 18, ' God hath delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, and will deliver me from every evil work.' In the Old Testament, when God discovered less of heaven, he pro- mised more of earth ; but in the New Testament, where life and immortality are brought to light, we are told of many tribulations in our passage ; yea, the eminent saints of the Old Testament, that had a clearer view of things to come than others had, were more exposed to the calamities of the pi'esent life, because God thought the sight of happiness to come sufficient to countervail their troubles ; and if ho