and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance*^."]
3. Humble expectation —
[Here again the terms of our text afford us a correct idea of the duty of prayer. It is evident that when a person " asks," it is with some hope of receiving ; and when he " seeks," he has some prospect of finding; and if he "knock" at a door, it is with some expectation that it shall be opened to him. Now this, beyond every thing else, marks the true character of prayer. " In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee," says the Psalmist, "and will look up";" that is, I will look up in expectation of receiving an answer to my prayers. It is to the prayer of faith that the promise of an answer is given : " Whatsoever ye shall ask, believing, ye shall receive." Prayer destitute of this qualification is declared to be of no avail what- ever: the man that offers it " must not think of receiving any thing from the Lord"^." Hence the true and acceptable sup- pliant is distinguished as " looking unto God as a servant does to the hand of his master %" and as "waiting upon God for his salvation *^."]
The nature of prayer being explained from the text, we proceed to notice, II. Its importance —
[We cannot but observe throughout the whole text the inseparable connexion between the means and the end. It is thought by many that it is unnecessary to pray ; because God, being omniscient, stands in no need of information from us ; and being of his own nature inclined to mercy, he needs not our importunity to prevail upon him. But these objections betray an utter ignorance of the intent of prayer. Prayer is not intended to give information to God, but to impress our own minds with a sense of our dependence upon him, and to give him glory as the only fountain of all our benefits. Moreover, prayer, though often represented as pre- vaihng with God, is not designed to dispose him to any thing to which he was before averse ; but only to bring our souls to such a state as may prepare us for a worthy reception of those blessings which God has previously determined to be- stow. Though, therefore, prayer does not answer, nor is intended to answer, the ends which ignorant persons are ready to suppose, it does answer the most valuable ends ; which are intimately connected with the salvation of our souls.
But we will suppose that there were no connexion whatever
^ Epb. vi. 18. c Ps. V. 3. ^ Jam. i. 5—7.
e Ps. cxxiii. 2. f Ps. cxxx. 5, 6.