The Fifth Sermon

1 Thessalonians 5:17. Pray continually.

The next condition required in prayer is fervency. You know the place: 'The prayer of the righteous prevails much, if it be fervent' (James 5:16). The Lord requires this qualification in prayer because it puts the heart into a holy and spiritual disposition. For it is not simply the making of the request that God looks for at our hands, but such a working upon our hearts by prayer, such a bringing of them to a good frame of grace by that duty, that thereby we are more fitted to receive the mercy that before we were not. When a man is fervent in prayer, it sets all the wheels of the soul the right way — it puts the heart into a holy and spiritual disposition and temper. So that the Lord sees it now fit to bestow mercy upon such a man that before was unfit, by reason of his perverseness and stubbornness of heart, by reason of that unclean and unholy disposition that he saw in him. And therefore he will have prayer fervent — not so much because the very fervency of prayer itself is respected, but because by virtue of that fervency the soul is made better. When a man comes to God with a request, like the request of the patient to the physician — it may be the physician denies long when the patient asks things that are pleasant and agreeable to him, not because he is unwilling to give them, but because his body must be brought into another temper. He must take a vomit, or a purge, that perhaps is grievous to him, but this must be done before he is fit to receive such restoratives. So the Lord does with his servants: though he be willing to bestow such mercies on them, yet because they are not fitted, he requires continuance in prayer and fervency in it. Therefore we say: in prayer all the graces of God's Spirit are set to work, and the more fervent the prayer is, the more they are engaged, the more they are active, the more they are increased. And therefore the Lord is moved by this fervency to bestow a mercy on us that otherwise he would not do. But now all the question is, what this fervency is.

You shall find it usually expressed in the Scriptures by such metaphors as these: crying to the Lord, wrestling with the Lord, striving with him, and giving him no rest. In these two things are to be marked.

First, a man is said then to be fervent when he puts all his strength to prayer, when he is very earnest and persistent with the Lord, when he strives and contends with him. Though he finds many difficulties and impediments, yet he breaks through them all — this is to be fervent in prayer, to be persistent with the Lord. For example, when a man comes to pray and finds many discouragements, and finds himself guilty of many sins, and finds little holiness, and has but weak faith to his own sense, and finds much deadness of spirit — yet he continues steadfast nonetheless. And when likewise he does not only find these impediments in himself, but finds the Lord exceedingly slow to answer, either giving no answer, turning a deaf ear to him, or it may be giving a contrary answer as to the woman of Canaan.

As for example: when a man comes to pray for health, it may be his sickness increases upon him more. When he prays to overcome such a lust or temptation, it may be it is doubled upon him. When he prays for such a deliverance, it may be the oppression grows more and more, as it was upon the Israelites when they sought for deliverance — the oppression grew greater. Now to hold out notwithstanding this, and to continue in prayer, and to press God in it though he seems backward to the request — this is to be fervent in prayer.

Secondly, fervency is not only loud praying, but continual knocking — when a man is not only persistent with the Lord, but continues long and will not give over until he has got the blessing. You know, Jacob's fervency was seen in that he wrestled all night — he wrestled with the Lord. What was the reason that he wrestled? He would not let him go until he had got the blessing, until he had obtained the thing he sought for. So I say this earnestness and continuance in prayer, the breaking through all difficulties — this is to wrestle with the Lord. For all wrestling and striving, you know, supposes some opposition on the other part. Indeed, if there were no opposition, it were a small thing. But I say, when the Lord is most slow, when the thing is most improbable, when there is much difficulty and you know not how it should be brought to pass, yet you continue on and give the Lord no rest and will not give over — this is fervency in prayer, and this is a condition that the Lord requires. Only these two cautions must be remembered so that we mistake not this fervency.

First, remember: fervency, if it be right, it must be a fruit of faith. For there is a fervency that does not come from faith, but from a natural fear of want. When a creature is indeed pinched — like a swine that is pinched, which, you know, will cry exceeding loud not because it looks for help, but because it is pinched — so any creature or man naturally will use persistence when he lacks anything; he will be earnest in his requests. Such fervency the Lord does not regard, because there is no more than a mere expression of natural desires — there is no holiness in it, there is no fire of the Spirit. But when this is added to it — that there is not only a sense of the thing we want, but also a hope of mercy, a ground to believe that I shall have the thing granted, and out of this ground I am earnest and persistent — now earnestness is a fruit of faith. When Jesus Christ lived upon earth, when men came and cried earnestly to him and were exceeding persistent — some to be healed of their diseases, some to have devils cast out, etc. — we see his answer was still to them: 'Be it to you' — how? Not according to their persistence and fervency, but according to their faith. As if he should say, 'I heed not, I regard not all this clamor and earnestness, if they be only expressions of such wants, if they be only in the sense of such need and no more. But if they proceed from faith, and that faith sets you to work to call upon me — be it to you according to that.' For indeed these two things make up fervency in prayer: sense of need and hope of mercy. When a man has faith and hope to increase his fervency, and it arises from that ground as well as out of the other — not that I exclude the other, for it is a very great help, and that which puts sticks on the fire as it were to make our fervency the more — I say, from sense of our need when we consider seriously what want we have, and then add this hope and faith: when these two shall set you to work, this fervency is a fruit of faith. This is one caution that must be remembered.

Another caution is this: that your fervency be joined with sincerity. For a man may be fervent to obtain such and such blessings as he may beg at God's hands very earnestly. He may ask for credit, he may ask to have guidance in such a business, he may ask wisdom to bring such an enterprise to pass, he may ask for health and continuance of life. But to what end? If it be that he may bestow it upon his lusts, if it be that he may live more luxuriously, that he may be someone more in the world, that he may have outward conveniences such as his flesh desires — if this be all, here this fervency is not regarded. Not that these things are excluded, for the Lord gives us leave to seek our own comforts, and you may be earnest even for the comfort itself. But yet all these, if they are not capable of a further use — if that is not intended, but the abuse of them and an intent to use them another way — the Lord rejects it; it is not true fervency. And therefore Romans 12:11 is the exhortation of the Apostle: 'Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' When we many times are fervent in spirit serving ourselves, with such aims and ends of our own — as when a man desires able gifts, high gifts, to get glory and to get wealth to himself and not to serve his Master — this is to ask for the talent not for the Master's use but for his own use. Do you think the Lord will hear such prayers? Can you expect it at his hands? You shall see the contrary disposition in the saints: when they were earnest with the Lord for anything, they still expressed that to him and said, 'Lord, we desire not this for ourselves, but for your glory, that we may use it for some good purpose.' David, when he was earnest for life, when he was in sickness and doubted of his recovery — what argument does he use? 'Lord,' said he, 'shall you have glory from the grave?' As if he should say, 'If you give me life, I will give it back to you — I will improve it and husband it to your advantage, and not to my own.' And so Hannah, when she was earnest for a son, she made this promise to the Lord that he shall be for him and his advantage — she would dedicate him to his use and consecrate him to his service. So Jacob, when he was earnest with the Lord to give him food, drink, and clothing: 'Lord,' said he, 'if you do, I will give the tenth part back to you.' I say, when the heart is thus disposed in our fervency, in our persistence, when we ask anything at the Lord's hands and our conscience tells us within that if we had it we would bestow it upon the Lord, we would not abuse it, we would not spend it on our lusts, it should not be to serve ourselves but to serve the Lord — then our fervency is rightly ordered.

The next condition required is humility. As James 4 says, 'The Lord gives grace to the humble.' And 2 Chronicles 7:14: 'If my people humble themselves and call upon my name, then will I hear in heaven and grant their requests.' And throughout the Scriptures you see that is a condition that the Lord puts in everywhere. He has respect to the lowly estate. Isaiah 66:2: 'All these things have my hands made' — looking upon all the creatures, the whole frame of them; they are all good and I have respect to them. 'But,' said he, 'I regard not all these in comparison of a humble heart. To him will I look that is of a humble and contrite spirit.' When the Lord looks upon our prayers, if they come not from a broken heart, they lack that condition that he looks for. For he gives grace to the humble, because such a man is little in his own eyes and fit to be exalted, fit to receive a mercy at God's hands.

You know it is a rule that the Lord keeps: for those that are humble and low, such he exalts; those that exalt themselves he puts down. Now when a man is little in his own eyes, that smallness, that sense of his own unworthiness, is a prevailing argument with him. And therefore Genesis 32: Jacob uses that argument when he comes to put up that petition to be delivered from Esau. 'Lord, I am less than all your mercies' — that is, take any of your mercies and put them in one end of the balance and put me in the other, and I am less than it. Take the worth that is in me; it is not heavy enough for the least mercy. Now when he was thus humbled and little and vile in his own eyes, the Lord bestowed that mercy on him. He was now fit to receive it. For David, when the Lord sent him word by Nathan that he would build him a house forever, you see how he expressed himself. He went into the house of the Lord and sat before him and said, 'Lord, what am I, and what is my father's house?' As if he should say, 'I was taken out of the dust; I was one of the meanest men of Israel, a man of no account, of no worth, and yet you have had respect to me thus far — not only to make me king over your people, but to build my kingdom and my house, to make me a lasting house forever.' I say, this sense of our own unworthiness makes us more fit to receive the mercy, to be exalted by receiving such a request as we put up to the Lord, and therefore he regards the prayer of the humble.

Moreover, God gives grace to the humble — that is, he shows favor to them when they come and ask anything at his hands. Because a humble man will be ready to do whatever he will. It is an expression used of David in Acts 13: 'He will do whatever I will.' That may be said of every humble man — he is exceedingly pliable to the Lord's will, he is ready to do whatever he knows to be his pleasure, he resists him in nothing. Now when a man will do whatever God will, the Lord will be ready to do whatever he will. He will be ready to say to him, as he did to the woman of Canaan, 'O woman, be it to you as you will.' When a man on the other side resists the Lord — as every proud man does, says the text — the Lord resists him. 'The Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.' A resisting spirit causes the Lord to resist our prayers. And therefore it is that the Lord is ready to the humble man, because he yields to the Lord in all things. And when a man yields to the Lord — take that for a rule — in obeying God's commandments, God will yield to us in granting our petitions.

Besides, when the heart is humbled and broken and contrite, it is an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord, which wins it at his hands. He smells a sweet savor from such a sacrifice above all others. Yes, it is that which sets a high price upon every sacrifice that we offer. The best prayers, the best works that proceed not from a humble heart, he regards not. As Psalm 51: 'Lord,' said he, 'if you desired sacrifice, you would not regard it; but the sacrifices of a contrite and humble spirit — those you regard, and those sacrifices that proceed from it.' When we come to make a petition to the Lord (it was the manner in the old law not to come empty-handed), a proud person comes empty-handed, but a humble person comes with a sacrifice and the best sacrifice — because he sacrifices himself and his own will. That is, he empties himself of himself, he opens a door for the Lord to come and dwell in him, when a proud man shuts him out. Such a sacrifice the Lord is well pleased with, and such a sacrifice speaks for one, it makes way for his requests, and therefore the Lord hearkens to it.

Lastly, the Lord is ready to hear those that are humble, because whatever they receive, they take it as of grace and not as debt. Whereas a proud man — a man that has a good opinion of himself, a man that is lifted up in his own estimation — thinks it to be due. He thinks there is some correspondence between his works and the wages. You know what is said of the Pharisee: the publican went away justified rather than he. Why so? Because the publican thought himself worthy of nothing. And therefore Ezekiel 36:31: when the Lord promises those great mercies to his people, he requires this condition of them — that they should acknowledge themselves worthy to be destroyed. When a man has a sense of his own unworthiness and so comes to the Lord and asks it as of mere grace and mercy, that is a great motive to prevail with him. For he is very careful of that. You know in Deuteronomy 8:11 how wary the Lord was in giving this rule to them: 'Take heed, when you come into that good land, do not say with yourself, the Lord has done this for my own righteousness.' 'No,' said he, 'I have not done it for that, but for my covenant which I made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' — that is, for my own name's sake, for my mercy's sake, for the covenant that I confirmed with them (that is the covenant in Jesus Christ) — 'therefore I have done it, and not for your own righteousness.' So you see that this is a condition the Lord will have observed in our calling upon him: that our hearts be humbled, that a man be little and vile in his own eyes, that he come with a broken and contrite heart, pliable to him in all things, ready to obey him. When the heart is so disposed, he gives grace — that is, he shows favor, he is ready to grant our requests.

The next condition required in prayer is that we sanctify the Lord in our hearts. You know, when Nadab and Abihu drew near to him with a common fire (when they should have brought such fire as came from heaven, holy fire), the Lord destroyed them. And he gives this reason: 'For I will be sanctified by those that draw near to me.' When we come to call upon the Lord, we know then we come near to him. And in such drawing near, we must sanctify him in our hearts — that is, we must conceive him to be as he is, most holy. Now if the Lord be most holy, and if he that is unclean and impure and unholy shall come near him, he does not sanctify the Lord God — that is, he does not come to him as to a most holy God, but he looks upon him as if he were a common person. And therefore whenever they came to offer a sacrifice in the old law, they were first purified. If any man were unclean and should offer a sacrifice, he was to be cut off from his people. Therefore, to sanctify the Lord in our hearts is to come with holy hearts. As in 1 Timothy 2:8, it is the charge that the Apostle gives them: 'Lift up pure hearts and innocent hands, without wrath or doubting.'

You will say to me: what is this holiness that is required?

Beloved, it is nothing but a sequestering or separating of anything from a common use and appropriating it to God alone — that is holiness. You know whatever was holy to the Lord in the Temple or otherwise — whether it were holy vessels or holy men such as the priests — it was separated from all other uses and made particular to him and to his service. Now the heart of a man is holy when it is withdrawn from all things else and particular to the Lord alone. As a faithful wife is to her husband, whose affections are bestowed upon him and no other person else — so when the heart is to the Lord alone, when all the affections are intent upon him and bestowed upon him and upon none else, this is to have the heart holy to him. So that he who will have an eye upon credit, upon vain glory, upon wealth, upon his lusts, upon anything besides the Lord — to whom the heart is wedded, and who bestows any part of that affection upon it that should be wholly the Lord's — this man is an unholy man, his heart is not holy. For it is not sequestered from other things and consecrated to him alone — for that is to be holy.

And as the heart must be holy, so must the prayer be holy. When a man prays to the Lord with respect toward him and has an eye upon him and nothing else comes in to take away part of this prayer — if worldly and fleshly thoughts come in and set you to pray with mixed motives, these have a portion and interest in your prayers, they make your prayers common, they are not peculiar to the Lord, they are unholy. So that is the holiness in seeking the Lord: when we are joined and committed to him, when one takes this resolution to himself, 'I am the Lord's servant, and him will I serve. I am not the servant of man, nor of any creature. I am united to the Lord, and his will I be alone. I will withdraw my heart from all things else.' So likewise when a man prays, so that his soul is intent upon the Lord and upon nothing besides, when the whole stream of his affections is carried to him — this is to seek to him in holiness, this is to sanctify the Lord in our hearts.

And lastly, if there be any evil conscience (that phrase I find used in Hebrews 10) — that is, if there be an evil conscience, if a man is conscious to himself of any sin that is unrepented of — such a man cannot pray; that makes him unholy. If there be any sinful lust yet living in him that is unmortified in him, which is not washed away, such a man is unholy. Yes, my beloved, the saints themselves, when they sin against God (as you heard before), they are suspended from the covenant. Though they be within the covenant, yet they are suspended from receiving the benefit by it that otherwise they might have, until that sin be washed away. They are not holy. A priest, or one that was holy, if he touched any unclean thing, he remained unholy until he was washed — though otherwise he were holy in his habits, wholly dedicated to God's service. So it may be with those that are within the covenant. Though you be a holy man, yet if you touch pitch — that is, if your heart be polluted with any sin of one kind or other — as long as that remains, you are unholy. If you come now and seek to the Lord — you know what the judgment was in the old law: such a one was to be cut off from his people. And therefore you shall find this was the constant practice of the saints: when they sought the Lord for any special mercy, they began with taking pains with their own hearts, with humbling themselves for their own sins and the sins of the people. As we know, Daniel and Ezra and David in their prayers (I need not stand to give you instances) — and indeed so should we always, when we come with any request and petition to the Lord.

First, let a man examine his heart and his life diligently. Look back to all his former ways, consider and go through all the particulars. See if there be anything amiss, if there be any taint of uncleanness yet lying upon him that is not yet washed away, if there be any pollution, any defilement of flesh or spirit. And let him know that it is but labor lost, it is but a provoking of the Lord, to come as a man unprepared to draw near to him, unless he be cleansed.

But you will say: how shall we be cleansed from this sin?

You are cleansed by renewing your repentance and applying the blood of Christ. When a man humbles himself for his sin and enters into covenant with God not to return to it, when he makes his heart sincere and upright with the Lord in that particular.

And secondly, when he shall withal believe that it is forgiven through Christ, when he is cleansed in his blood to wash it away — though your sin be great, yet this will make you pure. Now you are washed, as it is in 1 Corinthians 6:9: 'Now you are washed, now you are sanctified, now you are justified.' Therefore let a man not be discouraged in this case. For I confess there is nothing that gives such a check to our prayers, that hinders us so much in that duty, as the conscience of sin — when a man remembers such and such a sin he has committed. Yet be not discouraged, for the blood of Jesus Christ is able to wash them away. Though a man's face be very foul, yet you know a basin of clean water will wash it clean and all the filth is gone. Now the blood of Christ is more effectual to cleanse your conscience and to purge it from dead works, to take away both the guilt of sin and likewise the power and stain of it. And therefore if you have any sin, labor to be washed from it, that you may then come to the Lord having your heart cleansed from an evil conscience and your body washed in pure water. As Hebrews 10:22: 'Let us draw near,' said the Apostle, 'in full assurance of faith' — but how? 'Having our hearts cleansed from an evil conscience.' As if he should say: otherwise your drawing near will be to no purpose — you shall but provoke the Lord in drawing near, unless you be thus cleansed and thus purified.

Yes, but you will say to me: if this be required, who shall be heard in his prayers? For who can say his heart is pure and his hands are innocent? And if this be required, that we must lift up holy and pure hearts or else we shall not be accepted — what comfort shall we have in calling upon the Lord at any time?

To this I answer: to have a pure heart is not to be free from sin and from daily failings (for so indeed none should have a pure heart). But purity of heart, holiness of heart, is to have our hearts cleansed from an evil conscience and to have our bodies washed with pure water. That is, to be purified before the Lord is nothing else but to have such a habitual disposition which makes a man ready to wash himself still, though he be still spotted with sin. So this is the disposition of a holy man who draws near to the Lord with a pure heart: though he be still spotted and polluted and defiled, yet he has a habitual disposition, he has a principle within, he has a new nature within, that is still working out that impurity and washing it away. Though still he is opposed and assaulted and tempted and sometimes overcome, yet still he resists it and fights against it. As the Israelites had a charge never to make peace with Amalek — such a disposition is in such a man. He never makes peace with any sin. Though he be led captive sometimes by it, yet he yields not to that captivity. This is to have a pure heart. Though his heart be defiled sometimes (as a vessel will be foul), yet he washes and rinses his heart. He never suffers it to continue muddy and unclean and in a filthy disposition, but he has a fountain, a spring of grace within, that will work out all impurity, as a spring works out mud. He that thus purifies himself still — though the fountain be muddy, though there be many injections, many temptations, many lusts and sins — yet if he is purifying himself, such that he will suffer no sin to mingle with his heart (as it were) to rest there and abide and dwell there and lie and continue there, such a man has a pure heart. We say that is pure which is full of itself and will have no foreign things mixed with it. Such a thing is pure, as pure oil is nothing else but oil. Now he that has a pure heart is not he who has simply nothing else mixed in — no sin, no dross mingled with his wine — but he who does not suffer it to rest there. But as oil and water, when you shake them together (you know when they are shaken together they mingle), yet the oil works itself out and purifies itself — it will not suffer itself to abide with the water. A man that is regenerate, a man that is born of God, has a seed remaining in him. Though he does sin, yet said the Apostle, he cannot sin — that is, he does not consent, he does not mingle with that sin, it has no rest in his heart, but he works it out. In a passion, when he is carried away (as it were), when he is transported, when he is not himself, there may be a mixture and the fountain and the spring may be made muddy. Yet let him come to himself — still he works it out. That is to have a pure heart. So that a man thus affected may come with boldness to the throne of grace and not be discouraged. What though your sins be many and very great and often repeated? Yet if you find in yourself such a disposition of purity and holiness, still to cleanse yourself — though you be still polluted and defiled — I can assure you, your heart is pure. You may go with confidence to the throne of grace.

But now you will say this to me (that may be objected): yes, but may not any unbeliever say as much? He sins against God and comes and asks mercy, he comes and cries for forgiveness and says he will sin no more. And yet he sins again the next day and adds drunkenness to thirst — that is, his sin and his repentance run in a circle, as drunkenness and thirst. How shall we distinguish then between this purifying disposition in the saints and those vanishing purposes that unbelievers may have, who never had experience of the work of grace, of that purity of heart that we speak of?

To this I answer briefly: you shall know the difference by this. The godly man, when he falls into sin and is defiled with it, he washes himself from day to day. You shall find always this: that he gets ground of the sin, of the lust that manifests itself in any actual transgression. Still it loses by it — it does not gather strength, but loses strength. In an unbeliever it is quite contrary: his sin still increases, and the lust grows stronger and stronger, it gets ground of him. And those good things that he has are more and more worn out, so they grow worse and worse from day to day. That is the property of an evil man, of unregenerate nature wherever it is — it is apt to grow worse and worse. The more falls they have, the more sin gets ground and the more they lose. But it is not so with a holy man: the more he falls, the more strength he gathers. He is the more holy by it, the more wary and watchful, and the more he is emptied of himself and draws nearer to the Lord and is the more inflamed with love to him. He is strengthened in faith and repentance and in every grace. So that here the rule does not hold true — that acts increase habits — but the contrary: acts lessen the habits. Which is a paradox in philosophy, but here it is so.

But if you ask how this can be — how acts could lessen rather than strengthen sinful habits in the godly man?

I say, in its own nature every act reinforces the habit, as well in the godly man as in the evil man. But it comes to pass by accident, as we say, because the grace in him is stirred up by those stumbles and slips and falls and weaknesses to which he is subject. I say, grace is stirred up in him more and more and receives more vigor and strength. As we say of true valor, it is increased more by opposition. So it comes to pass that the more the child of God falls into sin, the more grace is strengthened. Satan gets less ground. As Hezekiah — when he fell into pride, the pride of his heart was lessened more by it. When he showed his treasure to the ambassador of the king of Babylon, he did not know before the pride of his heart. That sin, that fall, manifested his corruption which he had not seen before. So that when the heart is sincere, when it is pure, when there is a right principle within, grace is set more to work to resist sin. So David, when he numbered the people — that made him more humble, and therefore the Lord showed him more mercy afterwards than ever he did before. He showed him where the Temple should be built and used him in that work, and never showed him such mercy and kindness before. (I cannot stand to express particulars.) So it is with all the saints: their hearts are never better, nor in more holy temper, nor more fearful to offend, and in a more gracious disposition, than after their falls. And therefore consider this, that you may not be deceived, that you may distinguish between this falling into sin and washing yourselves, and that relapse to which evil men are subject. And keep that for a rule: that wherever there is true grace, still it stirs itself more and more as it finds more resistance. Even as the wind and the water and the fire — you know, the water, when it finds a stop, it grows more forceful, and so the wind. Of the same nature is grace: where it finds a stop and finds resistance, it grows more strong and vigorous. The pagans had a little glimpse of this truth when they said of virtue that it grows more fresh and vigorous by being wounded. That is true of grace and holiness — the true virtue. The more it is opposed, the more it grows. Even as you see in debates among scholars and all kinds of contentions in law or anything else: the stronger the objection is, where there is ability in the party, it produces new thinking and new answers and puts them more to it. So these assaults and temptations, when there is truth of heart within, draw out more holiness to God and more strength. They multiply the graces of God within. So that the graces receive increase the more they are exercised and strengthened, and sinful lusts decrease. The mind is more emptied of them; the dross is more winnowed out and the heart is more cleansed from it. So much shall serve for this: that whoever will come to the Lord in prayer must sanctify him in his heart — that is, he must come with a holy and with a pure heart. We have shown what this holiness and purity is, wherein it consists, and likewise how the objection is answered that might deceive us. So much for that property.

I must add another — you shall find it Philippians 4:6. Whenever you come to make your requests to the Lord, this is another condition that he requires: to be thankful for the mercies you have already received. 'In all things,' said he, 'let your requests be made known to the Lord with thanksgiving.' As if he should say: take heed of this, that whenever you come to put up any petition to the Lord, you forget not the duty of thankfulness. But still, when you come to ask anything that you want, remember that you give thanks for that you have. Beloved, this condition must not be omitted. You see the Lord himself puts it in very carefully: 'Let your requests be made known with prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving.' There is much reason why our petitions and requests should be accompanied with thanksgiving to the Lord. For is it not reason that when you come to ask something for yourselves, you should also do that which is acceptable to God? Will a man serve himself altogether, coming merely to ask the thing he wants? This a man may do out of love to himself, out of respect to himself. But you must remember to do something that is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. And therefore you shall find in the old law they were commanded still to come with peace offerings — that is, offerings wherein they expressed thankfulness — whenever they had any special request to the Lord. You shall find that was the manner in Leviticus and other places: that such a man as came to request anything at the Lord's hands might not come empty-handed. And what should he bring with him? A peace offering. What was that? Thankfulness for that peace he had enjoyed. For peace is a general word comprehending all kinds of mercies. For what is our health but the peace of our bodily constitution within? What is our cheerfulness and joy but the peace of conscience within? All the comfort we have in our name and estate — it is peace in the particular. So I say, whenever you come with a petition, forget not to come with a peace offering — that is, forget not to come with thanksgiving to the Lord for that which you have received. Do something that is acceptable to him, as well as seek for that which is useful for yourself. Beloved, there is much reason for it. Because if a man is brooding on his wants still, if it fills his mind when he comes to call upon God, it will indispose him for the performance; it will produce murmuring and lowness and discontent; it will embitter his spirit. Whereas when a man remembers many mercies that he has received, when he makes a catalog of them and enumerates them, it sweetens his spirit, it makes him more gracious, it activates those graces that are in him, it draws him nearer to the Lord, it quickens him, it makes him more contented with the condition he is in. Whereas on the other side, forgetfulness of mercies — when a man is only intent upon his petition to have the thing done — leads him many times into that disposition we find in children: when they cannot have all that they would, they throw away what they have. So that is our fault many times: when we come and seek to the Lord for anything we need, we are so intent upon that that we forget all the mercies we have received, as if they were nothing. The Lord would not have it so, but will have us remember what we have received, that we may be content to want, that our hearts may be brought to patience and contentment under the cross and to lack what it shall please him for a time to deny us. As Job reasons — said he, 'I have received good from the Lord's hands' (that is his answer to his wife), 'and shall I not receive ill?' So if a good man is thankful for mercies, it will make him ready to do so. It will make him content with that present want, for he looks to that which he has had in hand. When a man says thus with himself: 'Thus and thus much good I have received at the Lord's hands — what though I lack such a thing? What though I am pressed with such an affliction and calamity? I will be content to bear it.' I say, the Lord looks for this. Complaining and murmuring against him is not a meek manner of asking things at his hands. But when a man so asks that withal he is content to be denied, if his good pleasure be so — thankfulness for mercy makes us ready to be so affected, to be willing to be denied, to be content to resign ourselves to the Lord. And therefore he will have thankfulness to go with it whenever we come to ask anything at his hands. And therefore observe: whenever you come to seek the Lord, be thankful for the mercies you have had — remember them. For it is a great means to prevail in our requests. Thankfulness is, as it were, the incense that perfumes your petitions, that makes them acceptable and effective with the Lord so much the sooner. Prayer goes up without incense when we offer up our petitions without thankfulness. Because that is a sacrifice — as you know it is called the fruit of our lips. And whenever you join thankfulness with your petitions, it is like a sacrifice mingled with it, that helps to prevail for you.

The next condition is — and it must not be forgotten among all the rest — that we come to the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ. This is a thing commonly known; you will say, who does not know that, except we come in the name of Christ, no petition can be acceptable? Beloved, I say to you in that case as the Apostle James speaks (James 4), where he gives this rule that we should say, 'If the Lord will, we will do such and such a thing tomorrow.' And when the answer would be ready: 'Who does not know this?' Said he, if you know the will of the Lord and do it not, your judgment shall be greater. So I say, if any do not practice this — and it is a thing we are exceeding ready to forget, or we are ready to do it in a formal way but to do it in good earnest as we ought to do it, we commonly come short — you know how great a sin it was in the old law to offer without a priest. In Leviticus 17 it is said there: if any man brought his sacrifice — though it were the best sacrifice and the choice one — yet said the text, if he did not bring it to the priest and to the altar, but laid his sacrifice elsewhere without a priest, such a man was guilty of blood and was to be cut off from his people. That is, he was to be cut off by the priest by excommunication and afterward by the civil magistrate. You know it was Uzziah's fault to offer incense when it was proper to the priest to do it. The same sin we commit when we come to the Lord and think, because we have repented and prayed fervently, because we think our hearts and spirits are in a good disposition, because we know no sin of which we are conscious — for this cause we think that we shall be heard. It is true the Lord requires these qualifications in the one who prays, but take heed of thinking to be heard for this. This is to offer without a priest. You must come thus to the Lord and say to him: 'Lord, I confess (notwithstanding all this) I am unworthy. I have nothing in me why you should regard me. It cannot be that either I or my prayer should be acceptable. But I beseech you, take them at the hands of Christ our High Priest — he that has entered within the veil, he that takes the prayers of the saints and mingles them with his incense.' When a man can truly do this with dependence upon Christ and come boldly in his name, that is to offer a sacrifice to him. And this we must carefully remember. And therefore we see an excellent expression of this in Leviticus 5, where this is made clear to you: that it is not any excellence in the person, not any fervency in the prayer, not any purity or holiness found in him, nothing that comes from man, that causes his prayer to be acceptable. But it is the priest. In that place from verse 6 to verse 11, you shall find there the law was that he that came to sacrifice must bring a sheep or a she-goat. But if he were not so rich as to do so, he was able enough to bring two little doves. If yet he were not able to do that, then said the text, he shall bring the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour (a very small thing). And said he, let him give this to the priest, and he shall make an atonement for him, and his sin shall be forgiven. From this I observe: it is not the goodness of the sacrifice, the price, nor the excellence of it. When they came with a thousand rams and so many sheep and bulls (as you read of many great sacrifices that were offered by the kings), yet the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, which was exceeding little, this prevailed fully as much. It shows evidently that it is not in the sacrifice, but the poorest and the meanest sacrifice will prevail with God as well as the richest and the greatest. What is the reason? For said he, it is the priest who must offer it — he makes it acceptable. So in this case, let the sacrifice be never so mean, yet if it is Christ who offers the sacrifice, if it is commended to the priest and he offers it, the Lord will accept it. You shall find that rule in Leviticus 5:11: 'He that brings a sacrifice' (this caution was given) 'must put no incense on it, neither oil.' But should the sacrifice be offered without incense? No. You shall find in Leviticus 16 that always the priest, when he entered into the Holy of Holies, burned incense, that the cloud of that incense might cover the mercy seat. The meaning is this: that when any man comes to offer a prayer to the Lord, he can put no incense to it. The priest only must put in incense — that is, Jesus Christ only must offer the sacrifice, wherein the Lord smells a savor of rest. For the Lord expresses himself in this manner as if he were disquieted for sin and can take no rest. Now when Jesus Christ offers a sacrifice, he smells a savor of rest, because it comes from him in whom he is well pleased. So I say, we must be careful that we remember we come in the name of Christ.

But every man does so — how shall we know it?

You shall know it by this: if you have boldness and confidence, that is an argument that you look not upon yourselves but upon Christ. When a man is so exceedingly timorous and doubting and fearful that he dares not come to the throne of grace — or if he does, yet he makes a great question whether he shall be heard or no — this is too much looking to himself. Here the high priest is forgotten. If you come in his name, there is enough to carry that out. It will produce boldness in you, it will produce confidence. If you come in the name of Christ and offer up your prayers through him, it will cause you, in every petition you put up, to think yourself so much indebted to Christ that you will be ready to say in your heart whenever any petition is granted, 'I may thank Jesus Christ for this.' When a man shall be so much put upon his account — so much indebted to the Lord Jesus for the sin that is pardoned and this petition that he has granted — his heart shall be more enlarged to thankfulness. When he is able to consider the benefit of redemption and is ready to say with himself, 'If Jesus Christ had not died, if I had not had such a high priest who has entered into the very heavens (as the Apostle says, Hebrews 9), making intercession for me, I had lost this benefit. I had never come to put up a prayer to the Lord, or if I had, it would not have been heard.'

But you will say to me: if we are heard for Christ's sake, then though a man be sinful, and though he have none of the preceding conditions, though he have not that holiness that is required — if the priest makes him acceptable, why may he not hope as well as the most holy man?

I answer briefly: though the priest gives all acceptance to the sacrifice and our prayers are accepted through him, yet that is not all. There are two things besides required: that the person who brings the sacrifice be clean (no impure person was to bring a sacrifice), and secondly, that the sacrifice be without blemish (he that has a male and brings a female is cursed). So this is required: that the person be righteous, and that the prayer be fervent, such as is prompted by the help of God's Spirit, that it may be a sacrifice fit for the Lord. But what we have from Christ is this: that though the person be so, and the prayer thus qualified and have those conditions in it, yet it is not acceptable without the priest. And therefore this should encourage you: when you consider the glorious God, his holiness, that great distance between him and you — and yourselves on the other side, how vile and sinful you are and unfit to come and put up your requests to him — now when you think of a Mediator, of a high priest who has entered into heaven, who is gone there and sits at the right hand of Majesty making intercession for you. When you consider there is one high priest who is able to prevail — not like the priests in the law, but one who is over the house of God, one who is the very Son, who has not entered through the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood. When out of this you shall receive confidence and come near him with boldness, this is to make use of Christ and to offer sacrifice in him. There is no more remaining now but this: when you have considered all the conditions mentioned and fitted your prayers accordingly, that you be confident and expect much. When you have prayed, you may say thus: 'Lord, I expect now the granting of them. You cannot now deny them. Lord, I will wait now.' And this is our fault: when we have prayed and the thing does not come immediately, we are ready to give over — we are not willing to wait. Beloved, that is one thing especially to be remembered: we must so value our prayers, we must set a price upon them and esteem them and think them of that worth that they will bring the thing to pass. If a man takes a salve or a medicine or an herb and uses it on a wound or a disease once or twice or three times, and if he sees it does no good, he will lay it aside and take another medicine. For said he, 'I have tried it and it will do me no good.' So a man does with his prayers: he says, 'I have sought to the Lord, I have prayed for this thing twice or three times and it is not granted me.' And therefore he is ready to lay it aside as if it were not effectual and to take another means. This neglect of prayer is not to know the force of the medicine. You must know therefore of what efficacy prayer is, and trust in it, and not give over (for it is effectual to bring the thing to pass) and not make haste. We must stay and wait. It was Abraham and Sarah who sought to the Lord for a son, but they made too much haste to give a son to Abraham by their own device, when they should have waited until the Lord had done it his own way. So Rebekah — there was a promise, and no doubt Jacob and she prayed for the fulfilling of that promise, but she made too much haste. She took a wrong way to get the blessing by deceit. This was not waiting, but a stepping out to another means, because they thought prayer and dependence upon God would not do it. So Saul would not wait upon God but would offer sacrifice — this was to make haste. And so it is when a man is discouraged. David, when the thing was not immediately granted, was ready to give over and falls to a desperate complaint, saying, 'One day I shall fall by the hands of Saul.' Take heed of this. And when we offer our prayers thus, learn to know what they are, learn to trust them, and to depend and wait upon God. Say certainly: 'I shall not be denied — the thing shall surely be granted.'

So much for this time and this text.