under thy mighty hand 4, and say that the Lord is righteous c. Wherefore should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his fins? No; we will bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have finned against him ". (10.) We must give to God the glory of his patience and long-fuffering towards us, and his willingness to be reconciled. O the riches of the patience and forbearance of God! how long-suffering is he to us-ward, not will. ing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance i Thou hast not dealt with us according to our fin, nor rewarded us after our iniquities *, but thou waitest to be gracious to us'. Sentence against our evil works has not been executed fpeedily m, but thou haft given us fpace to repent, and make our peace with thee"; and callest even backfliding children to return to thee, and haft promifed to heal their backflidings; and therefore, behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God 。. Surely the long-fuffering of our Lord is falvation ; and if the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he would not at this time have fhowed us fuch things as these ". And O that this goodness of God might lead us to repentance! forthough we have trefpaffed against our God, yet now there is hope in Ifrael concerning this thing". Thou haft faid it, and haft confirmed it with an oath, that thou haft no pleasure in the death of finners, but rather that we fhould turn and livet: Therefore will we rend our hearts, and not our garments, and turn to the Lord our God; for he is gracious and merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness. Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him ? V (11.) We must humbly profess our forrow and shame for fin, and humbly engage ourselves in the frength of divine grace, that we will be better, and do better for the future. Lord, we repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand w; to which thou haft exalted thy Son Chrift Jefus, to give repentance and remiffion of fins *. We have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now our eyes fee thee; wherefore we abhor ourfelves, and repent in dust and afhes; therefore will we be like the doves of the valleys, every one mourning for his iniquities z. a, O that our heads were waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, that we might weep day and night for our tranfgreffions and might in fuch a manner fow in thofe tears as that at last we may reap in joy; may now go forth weeping, bearing precious feed, and may in due time come again with rejoicing, bringing in our fheaves with us b. Our iniquities are gone over our heads as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for us c; but weary and heavy laden under this burden we come to Chrift, who has promised that in him we shall find reft to our fouls". O that knowing every man the plague of his own heart, we may look unto him whom we have pierced and may mourn, and be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for a firft-born f. That we may forrow after a godly fort, with that forrow which worketh repentance unto falvation, not to be repented of; and that we may remember, and be confounded, and never open our mouth any more, becaufe of our fhame, when thou art pacified towards us". Joel ii. 13, 14. y Job xlii. 5, 6. w Mat. ii. 2. ≈ Ezek. vii. 16. c xxxviii. 4, b Pfalm cxxvi. 5, 6. x A&ts v. 31. a Jer. ix. 1. d Mat. xxviii. g 2 Cor. vii. 10. And, O that we may bring forth fruits meet for re-pentance i! and may never return again to foily ; for what have we to do any more with idols? tin thalk not have dominion over us, for we are not under the law, but under gracem. We have gone aftray like loft fheep; feek thy fervants, for we do not forget thy commandments ". CHAP. III. Of the third part of PRAYER, which is Petition and Sup plication for the good Things which we stand in need of. H AVING opened the wounds of fin, both the guilt of it, and the power of it, and its remainders in us, we must next feek unto God for the remedy, for healing and help, for from him alone it is to be expected, and he will for this be enquired of by us. And now we must affect our hearts with a deep fenfe of the need we have of thofe mercies which we pray for, that we are undone, for ever undone without them; and with a high esteem and value for them, that we are happy, we are made for ever, if we obtain them; that we may, like Jacob, wrestle with him in prayer, as for our lives, and the lives of our fouls. But we must not think in our prayers to prefcribe to him, or by our importunity to move him. He knows us better than we know ourfelves, and knows what he will dop. But thus we open our wants and our defires, and then refer ourselves to his wifdon and goodness; and hereby we give honour to him as our protector and i Mat iii. 8. m Rom. vi. 14. k Pilm lxxxv. 8. n Pfalm cxix. ult. / Hol. xiv. 8: a Ezek. xxxvi. 37. ↑ John vi. 6. benefactor, and take the way which he himself hath appointed, of fetching in mercy from him, and by faith plead his promife with him, and if we are fincere herein, we are, through his grace, qualified according to the tenor of the new-covenant, to receive his favours, and are to be affured that we do, and shall receive them 9. And now, Lord, what wait we for? Truly our hope_ is even in thee; deliver us from all our tranfgreffions, that we may no more be the reproach of the foolish. Lord, all our defire is before thee, and our groaning is not hid from thee; even the groanings which cannot be uttered: for he that fearcheth the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit . We do not think that we fhall be heard for our much fpeaking; for our Father knows what things we have ced of before we afk him; but our mafter hath told ts, that whatsoever we ask the Father in his name, he will give it us. And he hath faid, Afk, and ye fhall receive, that your joy may be full ×. And 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 we defired of him. 1. We must earnestly pray for the pardon and forgiveaefs of all our fins. Lord, we come to thee, as the poor publican that ftood afar off, and would not fo much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but fmote upon his breast: and we pray his prayer, God, be merciful to us finners. The God of infinite mercy, be merciful to us. O wafh us throughly from our iniquity, and cleanse us from our fin, for we acknowledge our tranfgreffions, and our fin is ever before us. O purge us with hyffop Mark xi. 24. z Kor. viii. 26, 27. * v. 14, 15. r Pfalm xxxix. vii 8. s xxxviii. 9. v Mat. ix. 7, 8. w John xxvi. 23, 24. Luke xviii. 13. 2 Palm li. 2, 3, 7. and we shall be clean, wash us and we shall be whiter than fnow; hide thy face from our fins, and blot out our iniquities. Be thou merciful to our unrighteoufnefs, and our fins and our iniquities do thou remember no more a. O forgive us that great debt b. Let us be juftified freely by thy grace, through the redemption that is in Jefus, from all thofe things fron which we could not be juftified by the law of Mofes. O let not not our iniquity be our ruine; but let the Lord take away our fin, that we may not die f, not die eternally; that we may not be hurt of the fecond death 8. Blot out as a cloud our tranfgreffions, and as a thick cloud our fins; for we return unto thee, because thou haft redeemed us h Enter not into judgment with thy fervants, O Lord, for in thy fight fhall no flesh living be justified. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; heal our backflidings, and love us freely, and let thine anger be turned away from us; for in thee the fatherlefs findeth mercy *. Though our fins have been as fcarlet, let them be as white as fnow, and though they have been red like crimfon, let them be as wool, that being willing and obedient, we may eat the good of the land '. but We will fay unto God, Do not condemn us m, deliver us from going down to the pit, for thou haft found the ranfom ". For the encouraging four faith, and the exciting of our fervency in this petition for the pardon of fin we may pleat with God, (1.) The infinite goodness of his nature, his readiness to forgive fin, and his glorying in it. b Mat. xviii. 32. |