2. As they are tongue-tied through sin, and carnal liberty hath brought an indisposition upon them, 1 John iii. 20, 21. He that hath wronged another will not easily repair to him, and crave his help in straits.
3. Want of spiritual desire. Prayer is but the acting of desire ; as desire is more or less, so is our cry in prayer. He that asketh remission of his sins, but doth not thirst after it with an earnest and burning desire, doth but pray for it out of course, and not as it becometh a creature that hath a sense of God's anger against sin. He that asketh the mortification of sin, but doth not desire it out of true desire, flowing from the hatred of sin dwelling in him, doth but pray for form's sake. He that desireth the deliverance of the church, but doth not desire it out of a true love to the church, will never pray heartily and in good earnest for it : Isa. lxii. 1, ' For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace,' &c. A man whose soul truly loveth the interests of the church will be solicitous for it ; as Eli trembled for the ark of God, 1 Sam. iv. 13. So when at ease we ask temporal supplies for fashion's sake. God must have the name, though we eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel.
4. Want of reverence to God, and therefore they babble over words without sense and feeling ; they do not see him that is invisible : Eccles. v. 1, 2, ' Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools ; for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few.' Keep thy heart and affections when thou goest into God's presence ; a little outward lip-service is but the sacrifice of fools, an affront to the power and majesty of God : Mai. i. 8, ' Offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts.'
5. Want of faith : Mat. xi. 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' To the woman of Canaan,, that would take no denial, Christ saith, ' 0 woman, great is thy faith.' The blind man cried after the Son of David, as we run to a rich man that is charitably disposed for an alms. If we were persuaded that we should be the better for coming to God, we should not be so slight and careless in our approaches to him.
Use 2. To press you to this crying or holy vehemency in prayer.
VER. 145. j SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 41
The apostle biddeth us to ' continue instant in prayer,' irpoa-Kap- TepovvTes, continue with all your might in prayer : Col. iv. 12, a<ya)vi$/ji,€vo<?, ' Labouring fervently in prayer for you.' The word signifieth to be striving in a battle, and in an agony for them : it hath life in it. But what is it ?
1. When the heart worketh in prayer as before.
2. When you follow the suit, and will not give over praying : Luke xviii. 1, 'He spake a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;' Luke xi. 8, 8ia ttjv avaiheiav, ' Because of his importunity he will rise,' &c. The prophet telleth God plainly what he would do : Isa. lxii. 1, 'For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,' &c. So Jacob: Gen. xxxii. 26, ' I will not let thee go unless thou bless me.' Absque te non recedam.
3. When deaf to disappointments and discouragements from without, from within, from himself, from God himself: 1 Sam. xii. 23, ' God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you/ &c. ; notwithstanding the many objections in his heart, what 'God would do to a rebellious people. So Elijah when the heavens were as brass and the clouds as iron ; and blind Bartimeus : Mark x. 48, ' Many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.' When God seemeth to cast out prayer, to give no answer, or a contrary one. So Daniel when forbidden to pray : Dan. vi. 10, ' When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and prayed three times a day as afore-time ;' he doth not make one suit the less, or abate one jot of his zeal. To cleave to God when he seemeth to thrust us from him, Job xiii. 15, this is a holy obstinacy, very acceptable unto God. The woman of Canaan standeth fending and proving with Christ, till he giveth her satisfaction ; then ' be it unto thee as thou wilt.' When we turn discouragements into arguments and motives of believing, and draw nearer to Christ the more he seemeth to drive us from him. However God wrestle with such for a while, it is with a purpose to give faith the victory, and to yield us himself to do for us what our souls desire of him. You pray and God keepeth silence : ' He answered her not a word,' Mat. xv. 23. It is not said he heard not a word, but he answered her not a word ; these two differ. Christ often heareth when he doth not answer. His not answering is indeed an answer, and speaks this, Pray on, and continue your crying still ; the door is kept bolted that you may knock again. Afterwards a rebuke. First, he answereth not a word, then giveth an answer to the disciples, not to the woman, ' I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' and then ' It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.' But she turned the discouragement into an argument,' and she said, ' Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.'