SERMON UPON SAMUEL 2 VII. 27. G9
serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind ; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.' A man up in the air seeth the spring as well as the river and its course ; we that stand by see the course, but not the spring. God understandeth whether we are inclined and encouraged, whether we are habitually inclined to God : Jer. v. 3, ' 0 Lord, are not thine eyes on the truth ? ' Kom. viii. 27, ' And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.' He knows a belch of the flesh from a groan of the spirit. He understandeth our desires as well as our words ; so whether we are encouraged by the grace of the new covenant and sense of our own qualification : 1 John iii. 20, 21, ' If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.'
[2.] With respect to God's acceptance. God granteth not our prayers till our hearts be fixedly bent towards him : Ps. x. 1 «", ' Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt prepare their heart ; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.' When God hath put it into their hearts to pray, and awakened their desires, then he will hear : Dan. x. 12, ' From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.' God hath accepted the heart without the tongue, but never accepted the tongue without the heart. Moses cried to God when he spake not one word, Exod. viii. 12, and God heard him.
2. With respect to us.
[1,] The part which the heart beareth in all human actions. It is fons actionum ad extra, and it is terminus actionum ad intra. In our actings towards God : Prov. iv. 23, ' Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life ; ' and in our receipts from God this is the thing that God aimeth at : Rom. vi. 17, ' Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.' Prayer is not a receiving duty, as hearing. In praying the heart begins ; in hearing it ends the duty.
[2.] With respect to our carriage in prayer. We do not conceive a prayer, but impose a prayer upon ourselves, if the tongue guide the heart rather than the heart the tongue ; like children that cast stones into the mine, but do not draw ore out of the mine : Acts ii. 26, ' There- fore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.'
Use 1. Information.
1. What need is there of recollection before we come to pray, that we may not force upon ourselves what chance offereth, but may have a prayer in our hearts before we have it on our tongues : Ps. xlv. 1, ' My heart is inditing a good matter ; I speak of the things which I have made touching the king ; my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer.' Usually we offer to God a dough-baked sacrifice. Only, that I may not grate upon a tender conscience, there is a habitual preparation and an actual preparation.
The habitual preparation lieth in a broken-hearted sense of our wants, radiated inclination or bent of heart towards God and iieavenly things, and in a confidence and liberty towards God.
70 SERMON UPON 2 SAMUEL VII. 27.
The actual preparation lieth in such a sense of our necessities as the present case doth deserve ; such a quickening of our desires after heavenly tilings as may fill us with life ; such a remembrance of the grace of God in Christ, and our own sincerity, that our hearts may not reproach us when dealing with God as a father..
Again, I distinguish that our requests are ordinary or extraordinary.
Ordinary, when we ask daily supplies of grace, having no particular strait, temptation, difficulty, or business of moment then in hand. Here the habitual preparation, with little or no actual preparation, serveth in our daily prayers for necessary blessings.
Extraordinary, as in some notable trial, difficult strait, conflict, temptation, or when we seek some special benefit, and upon eminent occasions ; then, as our necessities are greater, so our acts of prayer are more earnest : Ps. cix. 4, ' For my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer.' Our Lord Jesus Christ, ' being in an agony, prayed more earnestly,' iKrevearepov, Luke xxii. 44. And so it resolveth this case, What if I have not such a feeling of strong and earnest desire, or the overruling bent of the general inclination ? Yet keep not off from prayer. (1.) Good desires are to be asked of God. (2.) Such desires as you have must be expressed. (3.) Prayer is the usual way to quicken and increase them. (4.) Turning away from God is the means to kill them.
2. It informeth us what need we have of more help than our own, if we must find every prayer in our hearts which we utter with our tongues. Three things are necessary in prayer ; the human spirit or natural faculty, that I may by my understanding work on my will ; the new nature, faith, hope, and love, to believe in God, and set him before me, to incline me to God as my chief good, and to hope for benefit from him ; the divine Spirit to excite these graces : Jude 20, ' Praying in the Holy Ghost ; ' Kora. viii. 26, ' The Spirit itself also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groan- ings that cannot be uttered.' The Spirit works not on us as blocks, but as rational creatures ; nor does it blow on a dead coal.