172 A GUIDE TO PRAYER. At another time the Spirit works as the spirit of ,joy and thanksgiving; and the first words the lips utter, are the Ian- guage of gratitude and praise : I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that though the mysteries of the gospel are hidden from the wise andprudent, yet thou hast revealed them unto babes. Sometimes the soul is so inflamed with desire after such a particular grace, or mortification of some special sin, that almost from every part of prayer, from adoration, confession, thanksgiving, &c. it will fetch someargument for bestowing that mercy ; and in every turn insert, that special petition, enforcing it with new arguments and pleadings. Thus though the beautiful connexion of one sentence with another, and the smooth and easy transition from one part of prayer to another, be left much to ourselves ; yet the mere order of those materials, which theholy Spirit gives us while we pray, will be in some degree under his direction or influence. And if we may understand those wordsof Elihu, in a literal sense, Job xxxvii. 19. we have need of assistance in matter,, method, and every thing, when we speak to God ; and may well cry out, Lord, teach us what we should say to thee, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness; we need light and instruction from thee, to frame our speeches, and to put them in order. VI. The Spirit may be said to 'give some assistance also toward apt and proper expression in prayer. For he concurs in an ordinary way to the exercise of our natural and acquired faculties of knowledge, memory, vivacity of spirit, readiness of speech, and holy confidence, wherebywe express those thoughts whichhehath excited in us in a becoming manner. And this he loth also in preaching, and conferring upon the things of God, and this more eminently in the work of prayer ; so that herebya believer is able at sometimes to pour out his soul, before God, with a fulness of thought, and variety of expression, to the great comfort of his own soul,' and the edification of his fellow-wor- shippers. St. Paul speaks of this boldness and utterance, as a spiritual gift ; 1 Cor. i. 5. and 2 Cor. viii. 7. And he often prayed for this confidence and freedom of speech, this leappvo a in preaching ; Eph. vi. 19. Col. iv. 3, 4. And we also have reason' to ask it of God in prayer ; for it is as necessary also in that duty for carrying on the work of grace in our hearts, and the building up of the church, the body of Christ, for which all gifts are given. I might add also, that as the holy Spirit frequently, by secret hints, supplies us with the matter of prayer, heby that very means assists us toward expression ; for expression is but the clothing our thoughts or ideas in proper words. Now in this state, where the soul and body are so united, the most part of the ideas and conceptions of our mind are so joinedto words, that
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