(2.) The second is. Thankfulness for benefits and blessings received and enjoyed, with forgiveness of the old debts ; thanksgiving ere we beg more mercies. For this cause we speed not in our suits ; because we forget him, he forgets us.
3. The attenihatts of prayer.
(1.) First, Perseverance, called ' watching with prayer;' as we see our Lord teacheth us by the example of the importunate widow, and the unjust judge, thereby intimating for our comfort, how much more certainly, in the like case, we may assure ourselves to speed with him, who is the most just judge of the world, and goodness itself. So that he that will be sure to have this promise, 'Ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find,' made good unto him, he must make a trade of prayer, not for two or three times, and so have done, but ho must still ask, and so obtain. As he desires constancy in holding out in our suits, so he would have us ask constantly without fainting ; and as he will give conveniently in the best time, so he shews we shall still be set on work in begging, as his mercy shall be in giving.
(2.) The second is, diliyence in the means ; we tempt him, to ask for that we labour not for. As we pray, so our endeavours must second our devotion ; for to ask maintenance, and not put our hands to the work, it is as to knock at the door, and yet to pull the door unto us that it open not. In this case, if we pray for grace, and neglect the spring from whence it comes, how can we then speed ? It was a rule in the ancient time, 'Lay,
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thy hand on the plough, and then pray ;' no man in old time might pray without ploughing, nor plough without praying (a).
(3.) The third is, Expectation, imiting, perseverance in hope, until God hear us. The reason is, because the Lord, who hath promised the thing, hath not limited the time. In this we may see what patience brings forth, as the prophet's experience is, Ps. xl. 1 : ' I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me, and heard my cry;' and in another place he saith, ' It is good for man both to wait, and trust in the Lord,' ver. 4 ; so, Kev. iii. 10, he saith, 'because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation,' &c. This waiting doth interest us in him, when we are so earnest that we will not away till we speak with him ; as, when a man knows a party he desires to speak with to be in such a house, and that he will come forth, he waits at the door, and will not away till he speak with him, so, if we were earnest, and had faith and assurance that God would come, we would stand still at the door till he came, and not be gone and faint upon every light occasion. All of us fail in this, that we wait not constantly at the door of grace till we obtain. Gross sins indeed, these cause a man to faint, that he dare not look God in the face but with much ado ; but if we strive and labour to hold out, God accepts of the truth, though the measure be small, when we cannot do as we would. But if there be gross failings in this kind, that we fall into the old bias of our sins, and so leave knocking, or are quickly weary, we obtain not by and by, as though we might limit him the time. If, I say,- in this case, like the raven sent out of the ark, our prayers return no more, and we faint and sink comfortless in desolation, anguish, and sorrow of mind, let us not blame our Saviour, whose promise is firm and inviolable without change. If we would learn to mend our prayers and wait, we should hear more from him. All these are limitations on our part.
Secondly, The limitations on God's part.
In general, we must be wary that our misunderstanding of providence make us not to fail : first, all such things are excepted, as God cannot give unto our prayers without crossing some part of his revealed will, or a secret government and providence of his, which we would not willingly cross, if we knew it, but rather submit ourselves unto the same, as Christ did in his agony, 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,' Mat. xxvi. 39. I say then, God will so give, as may not cross himself in anything. There are some things God cannot grant, I speak with reverence, unless he forfeit his word. A man prays and says, ' Lord, forgive me my sins,' without a desire to leave them, or resolution of a new course of life, but goes on, swears and sins again ; God cannot in this case hear such a one, because it is against his word to hear sinners, so long as with delight and without remorse they love the sin. The prophet saith, ' If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,' Ps. Ixvi. 18. Therefore, seeing God cannot lie, repent, nor deny himself, such a one cannot be heard.