3. We may know God hath accepted our prayer, when he makes the way easy and plain after prayer, by a gracious providence ; when the course of things begin to change, and we meet with comforts instead of former crosses, and find our hearts quieted and encouraged against what we most feared.
4. Likewise earnestness in praj^er is a sign God hears our prayers, as fire kindled fi-om heaven sheweth God accepts the sacrifice. The ground of prevailing by our prayer, is, that they are put up in a gracious name, and for persons in favom*, and dictated by God's own Spirit. They work in the strength of the blessed Trinity, not their own, gi'sdng God the glory of aU his excellencies.
It is God's direction ' to call upon him in trouble,' Ps. 1. 15, and it is his promise to deliver ; and then both his direction and promise that we shaU glorify him. When troubles stir up prayer, God's answer to them v;iU stir up praises. David when he saith, I shall praise God, presupposes God would deliver him, that he might have ground of praising his name. And he knew God would deliver him, because as from faith he had prayed for deliverance, so he knew it was the order of God's dealing, to revive after drooping, and refresh after fainting. God knows otherwise that our spirits would fail before him.
A thankful disposition is a special help in an afflicted condition, for thankfulness springs from love, and ' love rejoiceth in suffering,' Acts xv. 21. Thankfulness raises the soul higher than itself. It is trading with God, whereby, as we by him, so he gains by us. Therefore the saints used this as a motive to God, that he would grant their desires, because the living praise him, and not the dead, Isa. xxxviii. 19. If God expect praise from us, sure he will put us into a condition of praise.
Unthankfulness is a sin detestable both to God and men, and the less punishment it receives from human laws, the more it is punished inwardly by secret shame, and outwardly by public hatred, if once it prove notorious. "When God's arrests come forth for denying him his tribute, he chiefly eyes an unthankful heart, and hates all sin the worse, as there is more unthank- fulness in it. The neglect of kindness is taken most unkindly. Why should we load God with injuries, that loadcth us with his blessings ? "Who
THE soul's conflict. 257
would requite good with evil ? Such men's mercies will prove at last so many indictments against them.
Use. I beseech you therefore labour to be men of praises. If in any duty we may expect assistance, we may in this, that altogether concerns God's glory. The more we praise God, the more we shaU praise him. When God by gi-ace enlarges the will, he intends to give the deed. God's children, wherein their wills are conformable to God's will, are sure to have them fulfilled. In a fruitful ground, a man will sow his best seed. God intends his own glory in every mercy, and he that ' praises him, glorifies him,' Ps. 1. 23. WTien oui* wills therefore carry us to that which God wiUs above all, we may well expect he will satisfy oui- desires. The hving God is a living fountain, never drawn dry. He hath never done so much for us, but he can and will do more. If there be no end of our praises, there shall be no end of his goodness ; no way of thriving like to this. By this means we are sure never to be very miserable. How can he be dejected, that by a sweet communion with God sets himself in heaven ? nay, maketh his heart a kind of heaven, ' a temple, a holy of holies,' 2 Cor. vi. 16, wherein incense is ofiered unto God. It is the sweetest branch of our priestly oflice, to ofi'er up these daily sacrifices. It is not only the beginning, but a fiurther entrance of our heaven upon earth, and shall be one day oui* whole em- plo}Tnent for ever.
Praise is a just and due tribute for all God's blessings ; for what else especially do the best favours of God call for at our hands ? How do all creatures praise God, but by our mouths ? It is a debt always owing, and always paying ; and the more we pay, the more we shall owe. Upon the due discharge of this debt, the soul will find much peace. A thankful heart to God for his blessings, is the greatest blessing of all. Were it not for a few gracious souls, what honour should God have of the rest of the un- thankful world ? Which should stu- us up the more to be trumpets of God's praises in the midst of his enemies, because this, in some sort, hath a pre- rogative above om* praising God in heaven ; for there God hath no enemies to dishonom* him.
This is a duty that none can except against, because it is especially a work of the heart. All cannot shew their thankfulness in giving, or doing, great matters, but all may express the willingness of their hearts. All within tis may praise his holy name, Ps. ciii. 1, though we have little or nothing without us ; and that within us is the thing God chiefly requires. Our heart is the altar on which we offer this incense. God looks not to quantity, but to proportion. He accepts a mite where there is no more to be had.