and faith. It is curious to observe how often, without any apparent necessity, he repeats this promise to us. After saying, " He that coraeth to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst," he repeats no less than four times, " I will raise him up at the last day ;" and repeatedly also adds, " He shall have everlasting life ; he shall not die ; he shall live for everc." And whence is all this but to assure us, that, " Whatsoever we ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive d;" yea, that he will " give us, not to the half, but to the whole, of his kingdom e?"]
Let me add in conclusion,
1. A word of inquiry —
[What resemblance do we bear to Jacob in this particular? I ask not whether we have ever spent a whole night in prayer, but whether we have ever wrestled with God at all ; and whe- ther, on the contrary, our prayers have not for the most part been cold, formal, hypocritical ; and whether we have not by the very mode of offering our prayers rather mocked and insulted God, than presented to him any acceptable sacrifice ? Say whether there be not too much reason for that complaint, " There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to lay hold of Thee1?" Dear Brethren, I know nothing which so strongly marks our departure from God as this. To an earthly friend we can go, and tell our complaints, till we have even wearied him with them ; and in the prosecution of earthly things we can put forth all the energy of our minds : but when we go to God in prayer, we are straitened, and have scarcely a word to say ; and our thoughts rove to the very ends of the earth. The prophet Hosea well describes this : " They have not cried unto me with their heart. They return, but not to the Most High : they are like a deceitful bowg," which, when it promises to send the arrow to the mark, causes it to fall at our very feet. O let us not fancy that we are of the true Israel, whilst we so little resemble Him whose name we bear, and bear as a memorial of importunity in prayer. The character of the true Israel ever has been, and ever will continue to be, that they are " a people near unto their GodV]
2. A word of caution —
[On two points we are very liable to err; first, in relation to the fervour that we exercise in prayer ; and next, in relation to the confidence that we maintain. Many, because they are ardent in mind, and fluent in expression, imagine that they are offering to God a spiritual service ; when, in fact, their devotion
c John vi. 35 — 58. d Matt. xxi. 22. e Mark vi. 23.
f Isai. lxiv. 7. s Hos. vii. 14, 16. B Ps. cxlviii. 14.