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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	death_n	great_a	1,642	5	3.2072	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09999	The saints daily exercise A treatise concerning the whole dutie of prayer. Delivered in fiue sermons vpon I Thess. 5.17. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670.	1629 (1629)	STC 20251; ESTC S105990	87,396	182

him but your selues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those arguments that you vse are not so much to perswade him to be ●…e you as to perswade your hearts to more faith to more loue to more obedience to more humilitie and thankfulnesse and that indeed is the reason why prayer prevailes with God not that the verie sending vp is that that prevailes with him but because a faithfull and a spirituall prayer puts the heart in a better disposition so that a man is now made readie to receiue a blessing at Gods hands that before hee vvas not So that when you thinke you draw God to you with your arguments in truth you draw your selues neerer to him as when a man in a ship pluckes a rocke it seemeth as as if he plucked the rocke neerer to the shippe when as the shippe is plucked neerer the rocke so I say wee draw our selues neerer to the Lord and when wee draw neerer to the Lord in prayer and there is a spirituall disposition wrought in our hearts by the exercise of this dutie then indeede the Lord drawes neere to vs to send vs helpe and to grant our requests that wee put vp to him and therefore that you should marke by the way that any prayer as it hath a higher pitch of holinesse in affection and as it hath stronger arguments in it so it is a better prayer not because this prayer shall prevayle with God more or that the excellencie of this prayer should moove him but because this pitch of holie affection and strength of argument workes vpon your hearts for the strength of arguments mooues your vnderstanding and the holinesse of affection puts your will in a frame and so disposeth your hearts and fits you as the 〈◊〉 we spake of before is 〈◊〉 when the Physition is willing to giue the thing hee desired But the last obiection which indeed is more then all the rest is this A man is ready to say we see there are many men that doe not call vpon God and yet enioy many mercies it may be a man can say with himselfe when he did not vse to pray hee had health and sleepe and protection Againe on the other side he hath prayed for such and such things and yet they haue not bin granted so this obiection hath two parts that a man hath obtained blessings without prayer and againe he hath prayed and yet hath not obtained the blessings he sought for at the Lords hands For answer to the first that men doe obtaine many blessings that doe not pray as how many young men are there and old men too that haue health and wealth and peace and libertie and abundance of all things and yet eyther they 〈◊〉 not to God or if they doe yet not in a holy and spirituall manner and therefore this obiection had need to be answered and therfore I answer brieflie First though they haue these blessings yet they haue them 〈◊〉 they haue no promise of them they cannot build vpon them whereas they are sure mercies to the righteous man he can build vpon these blessings for hee hath a father to goe too whose loue he knowes and hee hath sure promises to build on the other though he hath them yet he is in a slipperie place when hee inioyes them it is an accidentall thing he hath them from the hand of an enemie and he knowes not how long he shall enioy them But I answer again which is the chiefe answer to this obiection that there is a great deale of difference betweene hauing blessings through the providence of God and betweene hauing them from the mercie of God and by vertue of his promise and out of his loue to vs in Christ Iesus A naturall man may haue many blessings of God so God said that he made Ieroboam a King he gaue him a Kingdome and many such passages we shall find when men come vniustly to them as he did to the Kingdome yet God saith he did it that is it was by his providence and yet he hath them not in mercie for if thou hast these blessings health and sleepe and successe in the enterprises from day to day and yet thy hart tells thee within that thou hast not sought them at the Lords hands as thou oughtest I say to such a man and marke it it were better for him that he should want them for certainely when hee hath them in this manner he hath them without a blessing yea he hath them with a curse and so were better be without them as it had been better for Ab●b to haue been without his vineyard and as it had beene better for 〈◊〉 to haue gone without his reward that hee had of N●●man the 〈◊〉 for you know hee had the ●…eprosie with it it had beene better for the children of Israel to haue gone without their 〈◊〉 for you know the curse that followed death wet along with them so when a man shal haue peace and prosperiti●… and abundance of all things without seeking them at the Lords hand●… from day to day I say he were better to haue wanted them for there goes death together with them It is said plainely that case 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 that is to say this very prosperitie this ●…riuing notwithstanding a neglecting of prayer and of holy duties I say it carries death along with it as the obtaining of the vineyard brought death to Achab the getting of the Kingdome was the destruction of I●…roboam and therefore men haue little cause to comfort themselues with this that they enioy many blessings and neuer pray for them But to answer this point more fully I say many blessings are bestowed vpon men not for their owne sakes but for the Churches sake A man may haue strength of bodie hee may haue great gifts of mind he may haue great successe i●… vsing those gifts he may bring great enterprizes to passe so that you may truely say the hand of God is with him all this may bee done not for his sake but for the sake of the Church and glory of God some other way that hee might doe some service as you see it is plaine lie said of Cyrus Isa. 45. 4. speaking there of Cyrus saith the Lord there For 〈◊〉 my seruants sake and for Israel mine elect sake I haue called thee by name and haue giue 〈◊〉 thee this great power and all this great successe although then thy selfe haue not knowne me Marke Cyrus was a most prosperous man Gods hand was mightie with him and yet all this was not for his owne sake but for the Churches sake so you may thinke it is when men prosper many times it is not for their owne sakes but to fulfill some other end of Gods providence and therefore marke this and keepe it for a rule if thou prosper in thy enterprizes if thou inioy wealth and peace aboundance of all things and know that thou doest not seek to God

holy man but an hypocrite goes betweene both hee would doe something at it but hee will not doe it throughlie And therefore if thou finde thou hast●…●…ubbered over this dutie from day to day that thou performest it in a negligent manner and perfunctorilie know that it is an hypocriticall performance and therefore when wee spend so much time in exhorting you to a constant course in this dutie still remember that you must performe it in such a manner that it may haue heate and life in it that it may be acceptable to God and do good to your own hearts to bring them to a more holie frame of grace and to a better temper then it may bee you found them in when you went about the dutie And if you obiect now I but it will cost vs much time to doe this Indeed one common cause amongst the rest that keeps vs off from the through performance of this dutie is this but to speake to that in a word remember this that the time that is spent in calling vpon God hinders you not in your businesse though it seem to hinder you and though it takes so much from the heape yet indeed it increaseth the heape as it is said of tithes and offerings bring them in and thinke not that because you ●…en the heape that you are poorer men no saith the Lord it will increase your store I will open the windowes of heauen and you shall haue so much the more for it so it is true in this case In other things you see it well enough You know the ba●…ting of the horse hinders not the iourney and the oyling of the wheele and the whetting of the sithe though there bee a stop in the work for a time yet as our 〈◊〉 saying is a whet is no let and the doing of this is no impediment Secondly put the case it were yet is it not the greater businesse what is it that you g●… by all your labours and trauailes if it bee riches it comes not into any comparison with grace and holinesse with that riches wherewith prayer makes you rich But say it bee some●… 〈◊〉 noble then that as learning and knowledge yet what is that to the renewing of Gods image in vs were it not better to spend time to get grace to make vs rich to God to make vs to get strength in the inward man to passe through all varieties of afflictions in getting that which is the chiefest excellencie of all others for is not that the best excellencie When Adam was in Paradise the having of Gods Image you know it excelled all other excellencies in the world and so it doth still and the more you pray the more you get of this image for a man of much praier is alwaies a man of much grace it much increaseth those spirituall gifts which are better then al the outward things you can get by your imploiment and diligence in them therefore I say though it doe spend you much time yet know as Christ said to Mary he that praies much though he be a great looser in other things yet he chooseth the better part Last of all consider this when thou commest to offer sacrifice to God wouldest thou offer that which cost thee nothing if thy continuing in prayer and spending much time in it should cost thee some disadvantage in thy affairs and should loose thee that which another gaines that thou gettest not so much knowledge as another man doth thou doest not so much in thy trade in thy businesse thou doest not set things in order as thou mightest haue done yet know this that it is great wisedome to make our service to God costlie to vs you know Dauids choise Shall I offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing and therfore he would needes giue the worth to 〈◊〉 the lebusue for that which he bought and therefore since it is to a good master that sees what you doe that knowes what it costeth and what losse you are at and withall that is willing and able to recompence it why should you shorten this businesse and post it over because of other occasions and other businesse that you haue to doe Oh but a man will say further I am willing to doe it but I am vnfit for it and it may be the longer I striue the more vnfit I grow To this I answer first in generall if thou doe it as well as thou canst though thou do it not so well as thou wouldest in this case God accepts the will for the deed when a man puts his strength to it when there is no indiligence in him when there is no lazinesse for in that case he will not accept the will for the deed but when a man doth his vtmost as those that would haue giuen more and could not their will was accepted for the deed in 2. Cor. 8. 12. I say when thou doest what thou canst when thou sparest no labour to get thy heart vpon the wing to raise and quicken it and to inlarge it in this dutie there God accepts it But againe I adde further there is an vnskilfulnesse in going about this dutie many times when we are not fit we thinke to make our selues fitter by spending time in thoughts and meditations before which I denie not but they may be profitable but yet this I will propound to you that the best way to fit our selues to this duty when we finde an indisposition vnto it is not to stay till we haue prepared our selues by meditation but to fall presently vpon the dutie I will giue you the reason of it because though a preparation is required for the performance of eues rie spirituall dutie yet the remote preparation is that which is intended and meant when we say we must prepare for if we speake of that which is immediate the very doing of the dutie is the first preparation to it For example if a man were to runne a race if he were to doe any bodily exercise there must be strength of bodie hee must be fed well that he may haue abilitie but the vse of the very exercise it selfe the very particular act that is of the same kind with the exercise is the best to fit him for it so in this duty of prayer it is true to be strong in the inward man to haue much knowledge to haue much grace makes a man able and fit for the dutie but if you speake of the immediate preparation for it I say the best way to prepare vs is the very dutie it selfe as all actions of the same kinde increase the habits so prayer makes vs fit for prayer and that is a rule the way to godlinesse is in the compasse of godlinesse it selfe that is the way to grow in any grace is the exercise of that grace It is a point that Luther pressed and hee pressed it out of his owne experience

and this reason he vseth in this case saith he when a man goes about to fit himselfe by working on his owne thoughts now he goes about to overcome himselfe by his owne strength and to contend with Sathan alone but when a man feeleth an indisposition and goes to God by prayer rests on God to fit him he takes Gods strength to oppose the indisposition and deadnes of his flesh the temptations of Sathan that hinder him and resists him Therefore you shall find this to be the best way to fit your selues for prayer namely to performe the duty If you seeke to expedite and devolue your selues out of your vnfitnes by the working of your own thoughts commonly you involue your selues farther into those labyrinths and are caught more and more But this I speake by the way concerning matters of vnfitnes The maine answer to this obiection is that which I gaue you before that if a man doe what hee can and do it faithfully and in sinceritie that indisposition shall not hinder him but still remember it must be done it is not an excuse to vs at any time nor ought to be that wee should omit the duty wholy vnder pretence of an vnfitnes Thirdly a man is ready to say againe but I find many difficulties how shall I doe to remove them The best way hereunto is the very naming of the difficulties to you that you may know them and make account of them therefore you must consider this in generall that indeede it is not an easie thing to call vpon God constantly our misprision of the dutie our reckoning of it that it is a more facile and easie thing then it is makes vs more to slight it and causeth vs not to goe about it with that intention which otherwise we would but consider a little what it is The dutie is very spirituall and our hearts are carnall and it is no easie thing to bring spirituall duties and carnall hearts together Besides our natures are very backward to come into the Lords presence partly by reason of his great glory by reasō of his M ty who dwels in light 〈◊〉 and our weake eyes are apt to be dazled with it and partly out of an accustomednes we are not vsed to it and therefore wee are ready to flye from him as beasts that are wilde and are not tamed to our hands are ready to fly from vs so backward is our nature to come into his presence Again the variety of occasions hinders vs euery thing keepes vs back if a mans heart be cheerfull it is apt to delight in other things if a mans heart be sad on the other side if it bee a slight sadnes men are ready to driue it away with company and with sports and with doing other things and if the sadnesse be great we are swallowed vp with anguish of spirit and then any thing is easier then to pray as you may see by Iudas it was easier for him to dispatch himselfe then to goe and call vpon God so it is with men when they haue excessiue griefe when their an guish of heart is exceeding great so that whether a man hath a cheerefull disposition or a sad whether the sadnes bee great or small still you shall finde a difficultie If we be idle haue nothing to doe our hearts will be possest with vaine thoughts and if we bee full of businesse that distracts vs also and indisposeth vs on the other side so still there are impediments But there is one great impediment among the rest and most common which is worldly cares and worldly-mindednes worldly cares hinder spirituall prayer and spirituall conference and the holy performance almost of euery duty and therefore if you finde a difficultie in it looke narrowly if that be not the cause Againe another great cause of this difficultie in prayer of such backwardnesse to it of such indisposition to it is because we doe not well consider the nature of God we want faith in his power and in his prouidence we doe not consider that he hath that disposing hand which he hath in euery thing that belongs to vs in health in sicknesse in pouertie in riches in good successe and ill successe for if we did see the prouidence of God and acknowledge it more we should be ready to call vpon him but this want of faith in his providence that the Lord is not seene in his greatnesse and in his mightie power this causeth men to be backward to seeke him but very forward to seeke to the creatures When we haue any thing to doe of any consequence we are ready to post from this man to that man and from this meanes to that meanes but very backward and negligent to goe to God in prayer to haue the thing brought to passe that wee desire and this ariseth from want of faith and from ignorance of God and our not consideration of him Besides Sathan hinders vs exceedingly in this duty for he knowes of what moment it is and of what consequence and therefore he doth as the Aramites did hee fights not against small nor great but against the King he knowes it is this duty which quickens euery grace it is the greatest enemy which he hath and if he can keepe vs from prayer hee hath the vpper hand of vs hee hath wrested the weapon out of our hands hee hath disarmed vs as it were and then he may do what he will with vs. Likewise the sins we commit especially grosse sinnes they are a great hinderance to this duty and keepe from the spirituall and cheerefull performance of it for sinne wounds the conscience it disioynteth and dismembers the soule and a disioynted member you know is vnfit to doe any businesse yea when the sinne is healed and forgiven yet there is a sorenesse left in the heart though some assurance of pardon should follow vpon the commission of a great sin so that that is another impediment I must not stand to reckon vp many we shall find enough by continuall experience Onely this vse we must make of it that if the impediments bee so many and the difficulties that keepe vs from a constant course in prayer and from the performance of it to purpose so great then we must put on a resolution to breake through all and lay it as an inviolable law vpon our selues that we will not alter Let vs thinke with our selues that the thing is difficult and will cost all the care and all the intention that may be yea when thou hast ouercome the difficulties at one time it may be the next day thou shalt meet with nevv conflicts new distempers new affections new strength of lust●… a new dis position of mind will be on them and therefore he that will bee constant in this duty must put on a strong resolution as it was the saying of a holy man one of the holiest men that

readinesse to heare thee if thou finde they bee sincere and heartie mingled with holie desires and not with carnall and corrupt affections then let the baite lie still that is continue to praie and to vvaite and the Lord vvill come in due time But this is not all though that bee one thing when thou art not heard consider if thou hast not praied amisse it is a common fault amongst vs when we succeede not in anie thing we attribute it to many other things but not to our remisnesse and carelesnesse in seeking to God if a man want sleepe if he finde sicknesse and weaknesse and distemper of body he thinkes that he hath eaten amisse and considers not whether he hath prayed amisse if a man haue miscarried in his businesse he begins to thinke whether hee haue not beene improvident whether he hath not dealt foolishly whether hee hath not omitted such and such meanes as hee might haue vsed hee neuer thinkes whether he haue prayed amisse and that indeede is the cause of our miscarrying and not commonly the thing which we attribute it vnto for though God be not the immediat cause you know hee is the great cause There is no ill that he hath notdone and that which moues him is alway grace and sinne that which moues him to doe vs good is our obedience to him that which moues him on the contrary is neglect on our part But to answere further suppose thy prayers bee right yet thou must consider this that when thou thinkest thou art not heard thou art oft times deceiued and therefore you must rectifie that misconceit As for example sometimes when we would haue the thing in one fashion God bestowes the same thing vpon vs in another and therefore thou maist be deceiued in that it may be a 〈◊〉 prayes earnestly that he may haue a strong ●…dy to do God service withall it may be that sicknesse of body makes him doe him better service because it keepes him in more awe it weanes him more from the world and makes him more heauenly minded you know the case of Paul hee would faine haue had that lust taken away that is spoken of 2 Cor. 12. 9. and why surely the thing hee would haue had was to haue his heart in a holy and right frame of grace now though Paul had it not that way that hee looked for it yet he had it another way the Lord increased in him the grace of humility by it hee saw his owne weaknesse and the power of Christ the more and when this was discovered vnto him hee was content It is all one whether a man bee preserved from the blow of an enemie or haue a helmet given him to keepe it off it may be a man prayes for money and for estate if God provide meate and drinke and cloathes immediately in stead of this is it not all one It may be another would haue a greater degree of conveniencie for his dwelling house and many other things if God giue him a body able to endure that which is more course all is one as if hee were provided for more delicately it is all one whether a phisitian quench the thirst of his patient by giving him beere and drinke that is comfortable vnto him or by giving him barberries or somewhat else that will doe the thing as well It is all one whether the Lord keepe an enemie from doing vs hurt 〈◊〉 ●…at hee giues vs a strong helmet a buckler to keepe off the iniury from wounding of vs●… I might giue you more instances though the Lord give thee not the thing in the verie manner that thou vvouldest haue it yet hee vvill doe it in another manner Secondlie as wee are deceived in the manner so we are deceiued in the meanes oft-times in seeking to God When a man praies he pitcheth vpon such a particular meanes and thinkes verily that this is the way or none it may bee the Lord will finde out another way that thou diddest neuer dreame of Paul prayed to haue a prosperous iourney to Rome hee little thought that when he was bound at Ierusalem and posted vp and downe from one prison to another God was now sending him to Rome yet he sent him and sent him verie safe with a great companie attending vpon him he sent him it may bee in a better manner then hee himselfe would haue gone and yet it was by such a meanes as hee could neuer dreame of also you know 〈◊〉 the A●…rian he had pitched vpon a particular meanes he thought the Prophet would haue surely come forth and haue laied his hands vpon him but to goe and wash in 〈◊〉 he thought his labour al lost and the request which hee made to the Prophet to no purpose for it was a thing that hee never thought of it was a weake and poore meanes that hee made no account of yet that was the meanes that God ●…ded so I say wee o●…t deceiue our selues ●…itch vpon such particular wayes and when these faile vs and when wee haue prayed that these meanes might be vsed and God doth not vse them we thinke presently we are deceived Ioseph thought verily Pharaohs steward should haue beene the meanes to bring the promise to passe and after that Pharaohs butler he vsed as a meanes hee desired him to remember him yet all this was not the meanes but another which he never thought of which was a dreame of Pharaohs the like was in the ●…se of Mordecai deliverance came a strange way a way that Mordecai never imagined Abraham thought verily that Ismael had beene the sonne of the promise but God tells him he was deceived Isaac was the sonne in whom hee would make good the promise So the Israelites thought that Moses should haue delivered them that it should haue beene presently true that the yoake of bondage should haue presently beene taken off from them but we see God went another way to worke he sent Moses away into a farre Countrey and the bondage was exceedingly increased vpon them So that they thought they were further off now then ever they were before but in truth they were nearer for the increase of the bondage increased Pharaohs sinne and made him ripe for destruction againe it increased the peoples humility it made them to pray harder and to cry more servently to God for deliverance and so it made them more fit for it and at the last Moses was more fitted to be a deliverer after hee was so long trained vp and was so much humbled so that when God seemes to goe a cleane contrary way yet it is the next way to bring it to passe 〈◊〉 it is a common thing with vs we pitch vpon a certaine particular meanes we thing such a man must doe it or such a course must doe it when the Lord intends nothing lesse And the reason often is because if we should haue deliverance many times by such meanes by such men