chap. 30. An expo/ition upon the Took of Jo B. Vert. 20 and audible to God, as what we fpeake ; Therefore when lob faith, Thou doe/f not heart; His meaning is , thou doeft not an- fwer, nor give me in the mercy, the reliefe, for which I cry unto thee. Thus 7eb cryed to God and was not heard, and fo have manyothers. But force may fay, how can we reconcile this to the tendernes and mercifulnesofGod, whofe'verynature is goodnes, and who is molt free and ready to doe good ? Againe, how can we recon- tile this to thofe many promifes of God in Scripture concerning the hearing ofprayer. Hath henot fayd, Callupon me, and I mill deliver ; feeke andyouJballfinde, aske and it /hall be given, knccke and itJñallbe openeduntoyou; how are thefe promifèstrue, ifwe (as lob here) cryuntoGod, and hedoth not heart us ? I anfwer, The Lordmakes good his word ofpromife,and ads according to his own nature , which is infinitely good, yet this doth notalwayes appeare fo to us ; the prayer offaith is alwayes heard and anfwered , but the anfwer and goodnes of God to us in it, is not alwayesreportedand difcovered to us. God cet rain - ly heeres what we fpeake,but we many times doenot hcare what he fpeakes, though he fpeake peace to us. God alwayes heares the prayer offaith and anfwersit, but we doe not alwayes heare what the anfwer is. It is Paidexprefsly (r 7011.5,14, 15 ) And this is the confidence that wee have in him, that ifwe aske any thing according to his srill,be heareth eu. And if we knew that he heart us whatfoever we asks, we know that we have the petitions that we deft-red of him. 'Tis a holy fcrïptural confidence that God will time us when we pray,and therefore every believer may be con- fident that he is heard. God makes force deferrs, thougb,proper- ly, he makes no delays, much leffe gives any flat denyalls to the prayer of faith. There is a wide difference between the deferring of an anfwer,and the delayingofit,much more between that and the deniall ofit; that is a delay ofhelpe when helpe comesnot in due time and feafon, or when it comestoo lare.God never faileth to give helpe in the tuoft needful feafon,though he often deferres to give it at our feafon. In the mount he will be feene, (Gen.zz. 14 ) Thus God alwayes heareth the cry ofhis people, yet lob fayd :rue, when he complained, Icry unto thee, and thou doe not heare ,nee. Hence note; b z Firft,
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