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is only as "a broken cistern, that can hold no water:" and they set before us all the great and precious promises of our reconciled God, who has engaged to "work all his works in us," and to " perfect that which concerneth us." After being made to feel, in ten thousand instances, the weakness of human nature, we are made at last to "have our strength in the Lord alone"," and to be willing that "his strength should be perfected in our weakness"."]

2. More firm in its actings

[Our faith, when tried, is apt to waver. Peter, when the waves began to rise, brought on himself this just rebuke, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" And Sarah too" laughed" through unbelief, when, at her advanced age, she was taught to expect a progeny, and to become a mother of nations. Yes, and Abraham himself, through the weakness of his faith, repeatedly desired Sarah to deny her relation to him, lest an acknowledgment of it should lead to his ruin. Thus we all find it, when we come into heavy trials. But by seeing in the Scriptures what God has done for his people in every age, and what he has engaged to do for them even to the end of the world, we learn, at last, to trust our God in all possible circumstances, and to be "strong in faith, giving glory to God."]

3. More uniform in its operations—

[Faith ought not to consist in acts, so much as to be one continued habit of the mind. The believer should live upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as a branch upon the vine. Whether winds or frosts menace its existence, the branch still cleaves to the stock, and derives from it the sap which is necessary to its preservation: and so must the believer cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ; and say with the Apostle, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me"." In himself he must " be dead," if I may so speak; and "his life must be hid with Christ in God:" it is by having "Christ as his life," that he will insure his future" appearance with Christ in glory."]

APPLICATION

1. Study then, my brethren, the blessed word of God

["Search the Scriptures," says our blessed Lord; "for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they that

m Eph. vi. 10. P Gal. ii. 20.

n 2 Cor. xii. 9.

q Col. iii. 3, 4.

• Rom. iv. 20.

testify of me." Yes, "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," and of the whole Scriptures. It is in them that you will behold his whole character portrayed; and by them will you have his whole work carried on and perfected within yout. Study them, then, with prayer. Nothing will be gained from them without prayer. From human compositions, you may acquire all that they contain by the mere force of intellectual exertion: but the Scriptures are "a sealed book," till God himself shall open them to your minds. But, if God shine upon his word, and enable you to comprehend the truths contained in it, you will derive from thence such views of Christ, as shall change you into the Divine image, and "fill you with all the fulness of God"." "As new-born babes, then, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby x."]

2. Apply to yourselves every thing that is the proper object of faith

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[All the glory of heaven is unfolded in the Scriptures to the believing soul. Make the Scriptures, then, a ladder, whereby to ascend to heaven. Go thither, and there "behold Him that is invisible." There get a sight of his covenant: there see your own name written in the Lamb's book of life." There survey the throne prepared for you, with the crown of glory, and the golden harp already tuned for your touch. Survey it all as yours-your property, your portion, your inheritance. Rise thus upon the wings of faith, and all that is here on earth will vanish from before your eyes, or become like a mere speck in the unbounded regions of space. This is the proper office of faith; and this is the privilege of the believing soul, even to have "your conversation in heaven";" and to occupy "your seat there with Christa," almost as you will do when you shall be personally dwelling in the realms of bliss. Verily, it is no mean thing to be a Christian. If you believe in Christ, "all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's"."]

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MMCCCCLXIX.

ANSWERS TO PRAYER.

1 John v. 14, 15. This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

PRAYER is universally acknowledged to be a service proper for sinful men to perform; yet few have any just idea of its efficacy. If a man were to speak of having received an answer to his prayers, he would be considered as an enthusiast, who was deceiving his own soul. Yet it is clear that we are taught to expect answers from Almighty God, and that too even in relation to the specific petitions which we have presented before him. The words which we have just read abundantly attest this, and naturally lead me to shew,

I. The confidence which a believer may enjoy in drawing nigh to God

He may possess a confidence,

1. Respecting the acceptance of his prayers in general

[God has been pleased to make himself known to us under this very character, "A God that heareth prayer "." And in the most explicit terms has he assured us, that " no man shall seek his face in vain":" Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." In truth, if this hope were not held out to us, it would be in vain to approach our God at all. Thus far, therefore, the world at large will admit the efficacy of prayer: they will acknowledge that some good will proceed from it; though their idea is, that the benefit will accrue rather from the meritoriousness of the act of prayer, than from any attention paid to the prayer itself. But we must go further, and assert, that the believer is warranted to enjoy a confidence also,]

2. Respecting specific answers to each particular petition

a Ps. lxv. 2.

b Isai. xlv. 19.

c Matt. vii. 7, 8.

[This is plainly declared in the passage before us, and therefore it may certainly be expected. But here it will be proper to mark the different limitations with which the subject must be understood. If these be not carefully noted, I grant that much error may prevail in relation to it; but if these be kept in view, we may take to ourselves all the comfort which this subject is calculated to convey.

First, then, the text itself limits our petitions, and supposes them to be in accordance with the will of God: "If we ask any thing according to his will." It were absurd to imagine that we could, by any request of ours, prevail on the Deity to do any thing which was contrary to his will. This limit, therefore, must be admitted of course. Besides, our prayers must be offered in the name of Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator; nor is there any access to God for us, except through him. Hence he himself, in order to the acceptance of our prayers, requires that they be offered in his name. They must also be offered up in faith. A man that doubts and "wavers in his petitions must not expect to receive any thing from the Lord." Our Lord therefore declares this to be essential; "Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." And peculiarly strong is his declaration in another place, where he says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Our prayers, too, must be presented with a pure and holy end; not for the gratification of any unhallowed feeling of our own, but with a view to the honour of our God1.

Moreover as proper limits must be assigned to our prayers, so a proper latitude must be conceded to God for his answers to them. He is not bound in relation to the time when he shall answer them, or the manner in which he shall answer them. He may suffer us to wait long before he answers us; that so we may feel the deeper need of his mercy, and be better prepared to receive it, and be led more devoutly to praise him. when he has answered. In answering us, too, it must be left to him to grant what, in his infinite wisdom, he may judge most conducive to our welfare." He heard his dear Son always;" yet he did not take the bitter cup out of his hands; but enabled him to drink it', and for his sake took it out of the hands of a dying world. He did not extract the thorn from the flesh of his servant Paul; but he made use of it, to prevent the risings of pride, which would have been an infinitely sorer plague; and enabled him to rejoice and glory in it, as the means of honouring more abundantly his Lord and Saviour

d John xiv. 13, 14. f Matt. xxi. 22.

i Matt. xxvi. 39.

and xvi. 23, 26.

g Mark xi. 24.

e Jam. i. 5-7. h Jam. iv. 3.

Jesus Christk. Even to an angel he refused the specific request; but "answered him with good and comfortable words," which were eventually a more suitable and substantial blessing1.

Take these limitations, then, with respect to our prayers, and these exceptions respecting God's answers to them; and then we need not fear to entertain the confidence described in our text: we may not only be sure that God hears us, but we either have, or shall have, the petitions that we desired of him."

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And now you will readily see,

II. The encouragement which this affords him to abound in that duty

What is there that man can need at the hands of God? Whatever it may be, he is at liberty to ask it and may be confident, that, in answer to his petitions, it shall be granted to him. Needest thou, believer,

1. The forgiveness of thy sins?

[Call them to remembrance from thine earliest infancy, and spread them all before him: fear not, either on account of their number or malignity; but go with confidence to thy God, in the name of Jesus; and "he will blot them out as a morning cloud," and "cast them all behind him, into the very depths of the seam."]

2. A supply of grace, to sanctify thy soul?

[Look not at the inveteracy of thy lusts, as though they were too great to be subdued; but look rather at the extent of God's gracious promises; and expect that he will enable you to "cleanse yourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God"." Restrain not prayer before him; and he will transform you into "his perfect image, even from glory to glory," "by the mighty working of his Spirit, who raised Christ himself from the dead "" -]

3. All the glory and blessedness of heaven?

["Be not straitened in yourselves, my brethren; for ye are not straitened in God." He himself says to you, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it ":" and therefore spread before him your every want, assured that, as he is able, so also

k 2 Cor. xii. 9.

m Isai. xliv. 22. Mic. vii. 19.
• 2 Cor. iii. 18. Eph. i. 19, 20.

1 Zech. i. 12, 13. n 2 Cor. vii. 1.

P Ps. lxxxi. 10.

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