260 SIXTH SERMON that our lusts are abridged of their fuel, or that our nature is deprived of her necessaries, and for these things we pray. But till our troubles bring us to seek God more than ourselves, make us more sensible of his wrath than of our own wants ; more displeased at what offendshim, than at what pincheth and oppress - eth ourselves ; we cannot promise ourselves an an- swer of peace. The mariners cried, and the tempest continued still; Jonah was to be cast over ; so long as there was a fugitive from God in the ship, the storm would not cease. Never can we promise ourselves any comfortable fruit of our prayers, till the aim of them is spiritual, that God may be honoured, that his church may be cleansed and reformed, that our lives may be amended, that whatsoever forsakes God in us may be cast away. Till God's whole work be per- formed upon mount Sion and upon Jerusalem, we cannot promise ourselves that he will call in his com- mission and charge to take the spoil and the prey, Isa. x. 12. And therefore our greatest wisdom is to consider what God calls for, to make it our prayer and endeavour that his will and counsel may be ful- filled; the more we make God our end, the sooner we shall recover our peace again. 2. We learn that our performance of duty, doth depend much upon God's hearing and answering of prayer. Ephraim will have no more to do with idols, because God hath heard him. Prayer is the key of obedience, and the introduction unto duty. The principles of duties are, wisdom to know and order them ; will to desire and intend them ; strength to perform and persevere in the doing of them : and all these are the product of prayer. " If any want wis- dom, let him ask it of God," Jam. i. 5. so Solomon did, 1 Kings iii. 9. " And who am I, and what is
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