2. Spiritual reverence of God : ' The heavens are his throne and dwelling-place,' Ps. ciii. 19. There his majesty and power shineth forth, there we behold his majesty, in that sublime and stately fabric. Earthly kings, that their majesty may appear the greater to their sub- jects, have their thrones exalted, and made of precious matter, with cunning and curious artifice. But what are these to that sublime and admirable fabric of the heavens ? The very sight of the heavens show how excellent God is. So that looking up to heaven noteth the raising the heart in the reverent consideration of God's majesty and excel- lency. We may come with hope ; we speak to our Father : but we must speak with reverence ; we speak to our Father in heaven. When ■we lift up our eyes, and look upon that stately fabric, the awe of God should fall upon us. We are poor worms crawling at God's footstool. By looking up to heaven we do most seriously set God before us. So when Solomon speaketh against the slightness of our addresses to God, he propoundeth this remedy, Eccles. v. 2, ' Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth.' There is a distance ; there God ap- peareth in his royalty. AVe tremble to come before the thrones of earthly princes ; they are but thy fellow clay : how far do the stars of heaven excel their richest jewels ! What is all their state to the pure matter of the heavens, to that blaze of light wherewith he is clothed '? Ps. civ. 2, ' Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.' What are the coaches of princes to the chariots of the clouds, and wings of the wind, and that majesty and state that God keepeth in the heavens ?
3. It noteth confidence in God, or a disclaiming of all sublunary confidence. The godly, in all their prayers and cries, look up unto the heavens, to note their confidence in God, and not in fleshly aids ; as Ps. cxxi. 1, ' I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help ; ' meaning, his relief and deliverance should come from God alone. A christian looketh round about him, and seeth no ground of help but in the tops of the hills. So Ps. cxxiii. 1, ' Unto thee 1 lift up mine eyes, 0 thou that dwellest in the heavens.' The thrones of princes are places slippery and unsafe ; but our supports are out of gunshot : Lam. iii. 41, ' Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.' We must not rest upon anything in the world. He that made tlie heavens can accomplish our desires. The constant course of the heavens noteth God's faithfulness. A man may foresee some natural events some hundred years before. The glorious fabric of the heavens is a monument of his power.
4. To show that their hearts are taken off from the world, and from
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carnal desires. Christ's eyes were to heaven; there his Father was : and christians Hft up their eyes to heaven, because they mainly * seek those things that are above,' where God's throne is, and ' where Christ is now sitting at his riglit hand,' Col. iii. 1. It is for beasts to grovel and look downward. Our home is above, in those upper regions ; there is our Christ, our pure and sweet com- 13anions. Their heart cannot be severed from their head. When we expect one, we turn our eyes that way ; as the wife looks towards the seas when she expects her husband's return. It doth them good to look towards these visible heavens, remembering that one day they shall have a place of rest there. God hath fixed his throne, and Christ hath removed his body out of the world, that we may look up- ward. These things from the gesture.
' And said.' — The word noteth a vocal expression of the prayer. Moses cried, Exod. xiv. 15, which noteth an inward fervency. There are no words mentioned, but Christ ' said ; ' that is, with an audible voice.
I shall from this word inquire — (1.) Why he prayed; (2.) Why he pronounced his prayers in the hearing of the apostles.
First, Why he prayed ; for it seems strange that Christ should be brought upon his knees, and that he, who was the express image of his Father's glory, should need the comfort of prayer, and that the heir of heaven, who hath the key of David, and openeth and no man shutteth, should stand knocking at the Father's door. I answer —
1. This was the agreement between God and him, that he was first to establish a right, and then to sue it out in court : Ps. ii. 8, ' Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.' This prayer is nothing else but Christ presenting his merits before the tribunal of God. In the whole transaction of man's salvation, God the Father would sus- tain the person of the ruler and governor of the world ; and Christ was to come and make his plea before him, to give an account of his work, and to sue out his own right, and the right of his members. Oh ! wonder at the business of our salvation, the love of God, the condescen- sion of Christ, when he took the quality of our surety upon him. He is to make a formal process, to plead his own merits and our interest ; for so he is less than the Father as mediator : ' My Father is greater than I.' Not only as man, but as mediator, Christ sustained a lesser place.