Use 3. To exhort us to pray without ceasing, Consider —
1. The throne of grace, which God hath erected in the midst of his people, standeth always upon. God doth not keep terms and days of audience. The high priest was not to be too familiar with God to come to him, but once in a year ; but we may come every day : Heb. iv. 16, ' Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help ia time of need.' Let us then be often with God.
2. God's compassions and mercies never fail. There is an inexhausted treasure and stock of grace: James i. 5, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.' Compare this with Prov. xxv. 17, ' Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.' You may come too seldom, but you can never come too often to God.
3. We owe this respect to God, that we must not go about his service by fits, but constantly. As the Queen of Sheba pronounced of Solomon's servants, 1 Kings x. 8, ' Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom ; ' much more may it be said of the servants of God, Prov. viii. 34, ' Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.' It is a blessed thing to be much with God.
4. We never want occasions of praying, either for ourselves or for the church of God. Therefore we ought always to live in the sense of our own emptiness, and in the faith of God's fulness and willingness to supply our wants ; always sensible of our need to pray, and always confident of God's readiness to answer and pray accordingly.
5. Love will not suffer us to keep long out of God's company. They that delight in one another must have their frequent meetings and frequent interviews. An instance of this we have in Jonathan and David : 1 Sam. xviii. 1, ' The soul of Jonathan was knit with the
604 SERMON UPON I THESSALONIANS V. 17.
soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, and therefore he could not be long without his friend David. If we have a love to God, we cannot keep long out of God's company, but will be with him pouring out our hearts to him. Consider these things, that you may quicken yourselves to this duty of ' praying without ceasing.'
END OF VOLUME XVII.
-•RINTED BV BAl-LANTYNE AND COMIANV EUIKBURUH AND LONDON
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