2. We are encouraged in prayer, and so we find it in our hearts to pray, by several things —
[1.] God's merciful nature : 2 Sam. vii. 21, ' According to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things,' Ex mero motu. God fetcheth not his reasons from without, but from his own bowels. His own self-inclination to do good doth sufficiently provoke him to it. Now God is the same to others that he was to David. His readiness to hear and to forgive doth encourage poor creatures to come to him. The full breast desireth to be sucked, as much as the hungry child to suck : Ps. Ixv. 2, ' 0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.' God is ready to give audience, and doth wait for the coming of the humble supplicant, that mercy may be obtained in his own way.
[2.] His great love, showed to the world in Christ : Eph. iii. 12, ' In whom we have boldness, and access with confidence ; ' Heb. x. 19, ' Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.' God out of Christ is inaccessible, but in Christ propitious. Now in the days of the gospel God doth not keep state as in the Jewish times : Num. i. 53, ' The Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath against the congregation of the children of Israel ; ' Num. iv. 15, ' The sons of Kohath shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die ; ' and ver, 20, ' They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die ; ' the way to the sanctuary being not yet open. The people murmur at it : Num. xvii. 12, 13, ' The children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying. Behold we die, Ave perish, we all perish : whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die : shall we be consumed with dying ? ' It was a grievous thing to them. But now the throne of grace is always open ; God keepeth not terms of special days of audience ; God in Christ is near to us, and we are near unto God in and by him, which much increaseth our love and confidence, and giveth us more familiar thoughts of God, who seemed before to be at an inac- cessible distance. He hath taken the human nature unto himself. This should wonderfully reconcile the heart to God, and make our thoughts of him sweet and acceptable, when we come to pray to him. Christ will not be strange to his own flesh, as we are bidden, ' Not to hide ourselves from our own flesh,' Isa. Iviii. 7.
[3.] His bountiful providence. His former kindness to David is mentioned all along the chapter, both by the Lord himself and also by David. God, that hath been good, will be good ; for he wasteth not by giving, but is where he was : James i, 5, * If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him ; ' as the fountain remaineth as full as ever, though it overflow and sendeth forth its streams. God delighteth that former mercies should be improved to future trust : 2 Cor. i. 10, ' Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us ; ' and to prayer : Phil. iv. 6, ' In
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everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your re- quests be made known unto God.' Promises should not lie by us as a dead stock : Ps. cxvi. 2, ' Because he hath inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.' Deus promittendo et donando debet — Grod is a debtor both by his promises and by his gifts. He loveth to crown his own mercies, and to follow gift with gift ; for he is not weary of giving.
[4.] His promises. The promises to encourage prayer are very larg-e.
(1.) There are indefinite promises of audience : Ps. 1. 15, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee ; ' Job xxii. 27, ' Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.' So Isa. xlv. 19, ' I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain.' Now these are mighty encouragements, and show us that it is not labour in vain to seek God ; so that if there be not a command- ment in our way to stop our requests, we have all the engagements in the world to come and acquaint God with all our desires, griefs, fears, wants, requests. We may find in our hearts to be dealing with him upon these encouragements ; for what cannot God do ? and what will not prayer do with a good God, who is readily inclined to his people, and able to do what he pleaseth, and hath promised to do what we desire ?
(2.) There are promises of general universal concernment, that God will not only hear prayer, but do all that we desire of him. As John xiv. 14, 'If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it ; ' and Mat. xxi. 22, ' And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive;' Ps.xxxvii. 4,' Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart ; ' and many such expressions. Not that men have a lawless liberty allowed them to ask what they will, and God's power shall lackey after their vain fancies and appetites. No ; these large and universal offers admit of a limitation propounded in scripture, and that then when these universal particles are mentioned these limitations are to be regarded, that you may not make promises to yourselves, and set God a task by your self-conceitedness and vain fancies, and think him engaged beyond what he is pleased to bind him- self unto. But what are the limitations ?