[3.] To the manner the end also belongeth, that the prayer be directed to his glory : James iv, 3, ' Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.'
III. I shall speak of God's answer, and the success of our prayers ; and there are several distinctions and considerations.
1, Sometimes God giveth an answer presently, at other times after some competent space of time ; as Cornelius at the time of prayer, Acts X. 3, and while the duty is a-doing, an angel was sent to him at the ninth hour to assure him his prayers were heard. The ninth hour was the usual time of piayer : Acts iii. 1, ' Now Peter and John went up to pray at the ninth hour.' So Daniel, chap. ix. 20, 21, ' And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin, yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to By swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.' The Lord is ready to answer the prayers of his servants in the very instant of praying. So Acts iv. 31, 'While they prayed they were filled with the Holy Ghost.' The cases were singular and extraordinary as to the token and manner of assurance ; but as to the substance of the blessing, it is the common practice of God's free grace : Isa. Iviii. 10, ' When they call, I will answer ; when they pray, I will say, Here am I ; ' Isa. Ixv. 24, ' While they are speak- ing, I will hear.' The company that was met to pray while Peter was in prison were heard at the time, Acts xii. 12, 13 ; God sent Peter to them.
2. Sometimes a good while after. The prayers are upon record in God's book : Mai. iii. 16, 'A book of remembrance was written before liim.' This God doth to exercise our faith, to believe what we see not. Nay, God will hear them, though they know not the way how nor time when : Micah vii. 7, ' Therefore I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.' And to try our
198 SEilMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. XXVIII.
patience ; for he saith, ' I will wait for the God of my salvation.' Though he doth not grant as soon as the prayer is made, yet we must believe what we see not, and wait for what we have not. Paul prayed thrice, 2 Cor. xii. 8. God taketh his own time for despatch. Abraham prayed for a child, but many years he goeth childless.
2dly. Consider the several ways how God giveth answer to his people's prayers.
1. Extraordinarily ; so in ancient time, as an angel was sent to Cor- nelius, to Daniel, to Abel by fire, Heb. xi. 4, to Abraham by vision, to Saul by oracle.
2. Ordinarily, and so several ways.
[1.] By granting the mercy prayed for ; as to Hannah : 1 Sam. i. 27, ' For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me the petition that
1 asked of him.' So to David : Ps. xxi, 2, ' Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withheld the requests of his lips.' So often to his people, when they have humbly sought to him, he giveth them the very blessing they ask.
[2.] By giving in spiritual manifestations of his grace to the soul, though he doth not give the particular mercy prayed for ; as when upon prayer he reviveth the soul of him that prayeth : Job xxxiii. 26, ' He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy ; ' Ps. cxxxviii. 3, * In the day when I cried unto thee, thou answeredst me, and didst strengthen me with strength in my soul.' Comfort is an answer; support is an answer: such an answer had Paul, when God told him his ' grace was sufficient for him,'
2 Cor. xii. 9 ; when the heart is quieted, though we do not know what God will do with our requests. Hannah, when she had prayed, her heart was no more sad, 1 Sam. i. 18.
[3.] Sometimes by way of commutation and exchange. So God doth answer the prayer though he doth not give the mercy prayed for, when he giveth another thing that is as good or better for the party that prayeth ; though not in kind, yet the same in weight and value. This commutation may be three ways —
(1.) In regard of the persons. David fasteth and prayeth, and humbleth his soul for his persecutors, Ps. xxxv. 13, but it returned into his own bosom, that is, it was converted to his own benefit. His fasting had no effect upon them, but his charity did not lose its reward. David prayeth for his first child by Bathsheba, but God giveth him Solomon instead thereof, 2 Sam. xii. 15. In that supposition, 'Noah, Daniel, and Job shall save their own souls,' Ezek. xiv. 18. They that wished peace to a house, ' if the house was not worthy, their peace re- turned to them,' Luke x. 5, 6. They should have the comfort of dis- charging their duty.