654 The Efficacy ofPrayer, Vo1.II. Secondly, I do not fee but if thiswere the true fenfe and meaning of thefewords of our Saviour, that tho' God zvill give theHoly Spirit to them that afk him , yet none but thofe who have the Spirit of God , can of e it of him, I fay, I do not fee but that it mutt neceflarily be granted, that fuch a promife as this amounts to nothing; becaufe accordingto this interpretationofit, the Benefit promifedwould befufnen- ded upon a condition, which no Man can perform, unlefs he be firft partaker of the Benefit ; which is, in plain Englifh, to promife,to beftow a thing upon a Man on this condition, that he firft have the thing which I promife to beftow upon him, which fignifies juft nothing, but is lufory and trifling y and confequently not to be imagined to be the meaning of a Divine promife. There cannot be a greater abfurdity in Divinity, than to put fuels a fenfe upon the promifes' of God, as does plainly evacuatethem, and make them ofnone effe&. This be far from us, as the Apoftle fays, uponanother occafion, Shall we make thepromifes ofGodofnone e#cal? Godforbid. And whereas it is commonly faid, that the meaning of our Saviour's promife here in the Text is this, that thofe who have the Spirit of God already, if they afk a greater meafure of it, he will not deny it to them ; tho' this be true in it felt, that God will not denygreater degreesof the Grace and Afiftance of his HolySpi- rit to them that beg it of him, and may bya juft parity of Reafon be inferred from this promife, or contained in it as part of the meaning of it, yet to make this the whole meaning ofit, feems to be a very forc'd and unreafonable limitation of thefe general words, wherein this promife is conceived ; for if we look back to the loth verfe, the words are as general as could well be devifed, Every one that alketh, re- ceiveth ; and every one that feeketh, findeth; and containing matter of favour and benefit, they ought in reafon to be enlarged and extended as far as maybe, but by no means to be reftrained without evident reafon. Now fo far is there frombeing any evident reafon for this , that there feems to me to be an invincible one to the contrary, why they fhould not be thus reftrained , and that is this. If this pro- mife of our Saviour's were thus to be limited, then all other promifes of the like nature, ought in like manner to be interpreted; which cannot be without manifeft violence, and felf-contradidion. I will inflame in two other promifes of the like nature and importance. The firft is Ezek. 36. 25, 26, 27. God there promifes to reclaim themfrom their Idolatry, by convincing them of their fin, and giving them Repentance, and his Holy Spirit to regenerate and fan&ifie them, Then will I fprinkle clean water uponyou, andye(hall be clean : from allyourfilthinefr; andfrom allyour idols will I cleanfeyou. A new heart afowill Igiveyou, and a newSpirit will Iput withinyou, and I willtake theflony heart outofyourfiefh, and1willgive you an heart of fefh. And I will put mySpirit withinyou, and cáufe you to walk in myfiatutes, andye fhall keep my judgments, and do them. Now that which I would argue from hence, is this; Thofe idolatrous7ews to whom God promifes that he will cleanfe them, and give them a new heart and a new Spirit, and put his Spi- rit into them, were as yet unregenerate, and4nfequently, as the obje&ion fuppo- feth, could not pray for thefe Bleflings, nor alle them of God in a right manner; and yet he fufpends theft Bieffings upon the condition of their praying for them, as is evident, ver. 37. Thus faith the Lord God, I willyet be enquiredof by the Houfe of Ifrael, to do it for them. From whence it is plain, that God would not beftow thefe Bleflìngs upon them, without their feeking to him for them. Now if theft Perfons, becaufe they were unregenerate, could not pray for thefe things, then thefe promifes fignified nothing ; which is by no means to be imagined ofthe promifes of God. So that it is clear, that the Spirit of God isherepromifed to the unregenerate, upon condition of their fuing to God for it; and if fo, there canbe no reafon to reftrain the promife in theText, which isofthe fame nature; and made upon the fame condition, to the regenerate only. The otherText I fhall mention, isJam. a. 5. Ifany ofyou lack wifdom, let him a/k ofGod, that givethto all men liberally, and upbraidetb not and it (hall begiven him. In which words, St.James, under the notionofwifdom (as. I told you be- fore) Both comprehend all the Fruits of the Spirit, which are the effeet of Rege- neration and San&ification. Now this promife being conceived in fogeneral terms, 5 cannot
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