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 teacheth man all things, shall he not know?_ Ps. xciv. 9. 10. He who orders all the circumstances of our lives, and every stroke of his own rod, can he be unacquainted with any thing that relates to our sorrows? Nor can we use arguments with God to awaken his ear, or move his compassion, as though he had neglected us, or forgotten our distress; for _all things are_ for ever _naked and open_ 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 affairs with 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 shew how deep a sense we have of our own wants, and how entirely we depend on his mercy. Since we cannot converse with him in a way equal to his own majesty and godhead, he stoops to talk with 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 conference with him in the same way. _Come_, says God to his people, by Isaiah his prophet, _Come now, and let us reason together_; Is. i. 18. And he often, in holy scripture, represents himself as moved and influenced by 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 the humble_, 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 according to the various sorrows and difficulties which attend him, so various may his pleadings be for the removal of them. There is not a circumstance which belongs to his affliction, but he may draw some argument from it to plead for mercy; there is not one attribute of the divine nature, but he may use it with holy skill, and thereby plead for grace; there is not one relation in which God stands to his people, nor one promise of his covenant, but may at some time or other, afford an argument in prayer. But the strongest and sweetest argument that a christian knows, is the name and mediation of Jesus Christ his Lord. It is for the sake of Christ, who has purchased all the blessings of the covenant, that a saint hopes to receive them; and for the sake of Christ, he pleads that God would bestow them.