_86 SINS AND SORROWS SPREAD BEFORE GOD. trouble, unless God makes them instruments of relief. And there . are some troubles in whichcreatures cannot be our helpers, but our help must come only from God, and that in a more imme- diate way. Whatsoever be our distress, whether it arise from past guilt, and the torments of an anxious and troubled consci- ence ; or whether if arise from the working, of in-dwelling sin, the strength of temptation, or the violence of temporal afflictions, still God is able and willing to give relief, Call upon me, saith the Lord, In theday of trouble, Iwill deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifyme; Ps. l: 15. And he bathnever said to the-seed ofJacob, seek ye my face invain ; Is. xlv. 19. IV, The fourth general head of discourse which I proposed, is to shew, How a saint, near the mercy-seat, pleads with God for relief. Holy Job tells us in this text, that if he was got near to the seat of God, he would fill his mouth with arguments. Not as though he would inform God of the necessity, or the justice of his cause beyond what he knew before ; no, this is impossible : He that teachethman all things, shall he not know 2 Ps. xciv. 9. 10. He who orders all the circumstances of our lives, and every stroke of his own rod, can he be unacquainted withany thing that relates to our sorrows ? Nor can we use arguments with God to awaken his ear, or move his compassion, as though he hadneg- lected us, or forgotten our distress ; for all things are for ever naked andopen before the eyes of him, with whom we have to do; Heb. iv. 13. The Shepherd of Israel cannot slumber nor does his mercy want our awakenings. But in this sort of expressions, the great God condescends to talk, and to transact affairswith us, and permits us to treat him in a way suited to Our weakness ; He would have us plead and argue with him, that we may show how deep a sense we have of our own wants, and how entirely wedepend on his mercy. Since we cannot converse with him in a way equal to his own majesty and godhead, he stoops to talkwith us in such a way as is most agreeable to our state, and most easy to our apprehension He - speaks such language as we can understand, and invites us to humble conferencewith him in the same way. Come, says God tohis people, by Isaiah his prophet, Come now, and let us reason together; Is. to 18. , And he often, in holy scripture, represents himself as moved and influencedby the prayers and pleadings of his afflicted saints ; and he has ordained, before-hand, that the day when he prepares their hearts to pray, shall be the day when his ear shall hear the desire of: thehumble, and shall be the season of their deliverance; Ps. x. 17. If you enquire, how a christian pleads with his God, and whence does he borrow his arguments ? I answer, that accord.
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