Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 5.djvu/85

Rh worth asking, is not worth having, and then it is worth nothing. Seek, and ye shall find, and then you do not lose your labour; God is himself found of those that seek him, and if we find him we have enough. "Knock, and it shall be opened; the door of mercy and grace shall no longer be shut against you as enemies and intruders, but opened to you as friends and children. It will be asked, who is at the door? If you be able to say, a friend, and have the ticket of the promise ready to produce in the hand of faith, doubt not of admission. If the door be not opened at the first knock, continue instant in prayer; it is an affront to a friend to knock at his door, and then go away; though he tarry, yet wait."

2. It is repeated, v. 8. It is to the same purpose, yet with some addition. (1.) It is made to extend to all that pray aright; "Not only you my disciples shall receive what you pray for, but every one that asketh, receiveth, whether Jew or Gentile, young or old, rich or poor, high or low, master or servant, learned or unlearned, they are all alike welcome to the throne of grace, if they come in faith; for God is no Respecter of persons. (2.) It is made so as to amount to a grant, in words of the present tense, which is more than a promise for the future. Every one that asketh, not only shall receive, but receiveth; by faith, applying and appropriating the promise, we are actually interested and invested in the good promised; so sure and inviolable are the promises of God, that they do, in effect, give present possession; an active believer enters immediately, and makes the blessings promised his own. What we have in hope, according to the promise, is as sure, and should be as sweet, as what we have in hand. God hath spoken in his holiness, and then Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; (Ps. 108. 7, 8.) it is all mine own, if I can but make it so by believing it so. Conditional grants become absolute upon the performance of the condition; so here, he that asketh, receiveth. Christ hereby puts his fiat to the petition; and he having all power, that is enough.

3. It is illustrated, by a similitude taken from earthly parents, and their innate readiness to give their children what they ask. Christ appeals to his hearers, What man is there of you, though never so morose and ill-humoured, ''whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? v''. 9, 10. Whence he infers, (v. 11.) If ye then being evil, yet grant your children's requests, much more will your heavenly Father give you the good things you ask. Now this is of use,

(1.) To direct our prayers and expectations. [1.] We must come to God, as children to a Father in heaven, with reverence and confidence. How naturally does the child in want or distress run to the father with its complaints; My head, my head; thus should the new nature send us to God for supports and supplies. [2.] We must come to him for good things, for those he gives to them that ask him; which teaches us to refer ourselves to him: we know not what is good for ourselves, (Eccl. 6. 12.) but he knows what is good for us, we must therefore leave it with him; Father, thy will be done. The child is here supposed to ask bread, that is necessary, and a fish, that is wholesome; but if the child should foolishly ask for a stone, or a serpent, for unripe fruit to eat, or a sharp knife to play with, the father, though kind, is so wise as to deny him. We often ask that of God which would do us hurt if we had it; he knows it, and therefore does not give it us. Denials in love are better than grants in anger; we had been undone ere this, if we had had all we desired; this is admirably well expressed by a heathen, Juvenal, Sat. 10.

Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quid Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris, Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt dii. Carior est illis homo, quam sibi: nos animorum Impulsu, et caecâ magnâque cupidine ducti, Conjugium petimus, partumque uxoris; at illis Notum est, qui pueri, qualisque futura sit uxor.

Intrust thy fortune to the pow'rs above. Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant What their unerring wisdom sees thee want: In goodness, as in greatness, they excel; Ah, that we lov'd ourselves but half so well! We, blindly by our headstrong passions led, Seek a companion, and desire to wed; Then wish for heirs: but to the gods alone Our future offspring, and our wives, are known.

(2.) To encourage our prayers and expectations. We may hope that we shall not be denied and disappointed: we shall not have a stone for bread, to break our teeth, (though we have a hard crust to employ our teeth,) nor a serpent for a fish, to sting us; we have reason indeed to fear it, because we deserve it, but God will be better to us than the desert of our sins. The world often gives stones for bread, and serpents for fish, but God never does; nay, we shall be heard and answered, for children are by their parents. [1.] God has put into the hearts of parents a compassionate inclination to succour and supply their children, according to their need. Even they that have had little conscience of duty, yet have done it, as it were by instinct. No law was ever thought necessary to oblige parents to maintain their legitimate children, nor, in Solomon's time, their illegitimate ones. [2.] He has assumed the relation of a Father to us, and owns us for his children; that from the readiness we find in ourselves to relieve our children, we may be encouraged to apply ourselves to him for relief. What love and tenderness fathers have, are from him; not from nature, but from the God of nature; and therefore they must needs be infinitely greater in himself. He compares his concern for his people to that of a father for his children, (Ps. 103. 13.) nay, to that of a mother, which is usually more tender, Isa. 66. 13.—49. 14, 15. But here it is supposed, that his love, and tenderness, and goodness, far excel that of any earthly parent; and therefore it is argued with a much more, and it is grounded upon this undoubted truth, that God is a better Father, infinitely better than any earthly parents are; his thoughts are above theirs. Our earthly fathers have taken care of us; we have taken care of our children; much more will God take care of his; for they are evil, originally so; the degenerate seed of fallen Adam; they have lost much of the good nature that belonged to humanity, and among other corruptions, have that of crossness and unkindness in them; yet they give good things to their children, and they know how to give, suitably and seasonably; much more will God, for he takes up when they forsake, Ps. 27. 10. And, First, God is more knowing; parents are often foolishly fond, but God is wise, infinitely so; he knows what we need, what we desire, and what is fit for us. Secondly, God is more kind. If all the compassions of all the tender fathers in the world were crowded into the bowels of one, yet compared with the tender mercies of our God, they would be but as a candle to the sun, or a drop to the ocean. God is more rich, and more ready, to his children, than the fathers of our flesh can be; for he is the Father of our spirits, an ever-loving, ever-living Father: the bowels of fathers yearn even towards undutiful children, towards prodigals, as David's toward Absalom, and will not all this serve to silence unbelief?

12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye