2. In prayer with others. If either God direct their tongues to speak to our case, or in general requests suited to the necessity of all christians, we must find it in our hearts, or else we are under a distemper. Prayer is nothing else but the language of faith, love, and hope ; of faith, a believing of God's being and bounty, that he is will- ing and able to succour us ; of love, which directeth us to the prime fountain of all the good we have and would have, and to the end, the glory of God, and regulateth all our choices by it, and to those means which conduce to the enjoying of God ; and of hope, which is a desirous expectation of the promised blessing. If we have a holy fervour, a confidence in the power and goodness of God, a sense of need, and hope in his mercy, we cannot but find it in our hearts. Prayer is the language of an upright heart feeling its own wants, and craving a supply of God. Prayer is a work of the inner man, not lifting up the voice, but the heart to God ; it is the yearning of the Spirit : Kom, viii. 26, * The Spirit itself maketh intercession in us, arevajfj.oL<i akaXriTOi^, with groanings that cannot be uttered.' Hannah ' spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard,' 1 Sam. i. 13. The cry of the lips doth not pierce the clouds : Eccles. V. 2, * Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God.' Have a care of raw, tumultuary, undigested thoughts. A man should beforehand meditate on his wants and the necessities of others, that he may be affected with them. Certainly prayer must be gone about with reverence. Some rush upon prayer profanely, others carelessly. (1.) Some profanely ; they go from their pots to prayer. They let loose their hearts, eat and drink without fear and sobriety, profane their mouths with light and unfruitful speech, and yet presently call to prayer, as if every frame of spirit were fit for this work. (2.) Others carelessly ; prayer is gone about with little or no reverence at all ; some talking, some trifling, some working, some toying till the very instant of prayer, yea, till he that prayeth in the name of the rest be upon his knees, and hath begun the prayer, which is offered up" to God in all their names ; as if they had their hearts at command in a moment. Oh ! how can they come before God with that confidence, reverence, humility, and fervency that is required in holy prayer, when they come reeking hot from their worldly occasions ? Then for the matter of these prayers. There are certain common blessings which we and others continually stand in need of, and for which we are continually to pray ; as the increase of faith, patience, meekness, love, and the like. Do you desire these things ? God will not reject the desires of an humble, contrite heart.
SEKMON UPON 2 SAMUEL VII. 27. 73
Many things we desire, and lawfully may desire, which are not matters of that moment that we should acquaint God with them, or seek to interest providence in them. We do not expect, nor is it need- ful to require, any special work of his for the performance of them ; it is not seemly so to do ; as in a lawful game, a man may desire to win rather than to lose, but it is not fit he should make a prayer for it.
Object. But if another pray, and I join with him, how do I find it in my heart ?
Ans. This is principally meant of personal secret prayer, when we uncover our own sore, confess the 'plague of our own heart,' 1 Kings viii. 38. Then the rule is, we must lit and proportion our words to our matter, and both matter and words to our minds and hearts.
SERMOI^ UPON PSALI L. 5.
Gather my saints together, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. — Ps. 1. 5.
This whole psalm settetli forth the erection of the gospel church, and the ordinances thereof. Though the gospel kingdom came not with observation, that is, with external pomp and glory, yet much of the majesty of the divine presence was discernible in it.
Clearly in the frame of the psalm you may observe a rejection of the legal worship, and an establishment of the christian service, and the spiritual oblations which belong thereunto. Yet the expressions do rather represent Christ as coming in the majesty of a judge than a lawgiver ; for three reasons, I suppose —
1. Because there was judgment exercised on the Jews for refusing to submit to Christ and enter into the gospel state.
2. Because in the prophetical writings the two comings of Christ are frequently mixed, his first coming in humility with his last com- ing in glory to judge the world.
3. Because those laws and ordinances which were given by Christ at the erection of the gospel kingdom will be the matter about which we shall be judged at the last and universal day of doom. For these, and other reasons, is Christ represented as a judge, summoning the world into his presence, that the actions of men, good or bad, may be examined ; that it may be known who have resisted and despised the Messias, and who have subjected themselves to him ; that the former may be punished, and the other rewarded. We shall all one day be brought into the judgment about the covenant we have made with God by sacrifice. So much is intimated in the context.