10 yee shall soone have a gracious answer to your prayers from the Lord and prosperity shall come like light after darknesse as the morning after a sad darke night of adversity yea the Almighty Job 29. 4. shall shine upon your Tabernacles as in former times Now therefore the same caveat which our Saviour gives for hearing let me Luke 8. 18. givee for praying Take heed how yee pray Vse 4 In the fourth place the consideration of the premisses may shew us what to thinke of the present condition of our Kingdome and how the Lord intends to deale with us If we looke upon the face of the Kingdome we cannot deny but the wickednesse of the Land is very great the sinnes great in themselves universally spread many wayes aggravated and people hardened by the refusall of grace offered in the meanes and so like the Israelites a stiffenecked people which is ground of feare But then withall it cannot be denied but that still we are the Lords flocke a true visible Church having the true Religion professed among us and that we have many of the true servants of God among us for whose sake we have cause to hope that the Lord will spare the Nation Againe we have indeed the forme of godlinesse among us and doe draw neare to God in praying hearing fasting and in the use of all the ordinances as if we were a most righteous Nation which is matter of comfort But withall there is a generall want of the power the soule and the life of godlinesse they pray and fast and yet their hands full of bloud they pray and yet grow worse and worse this is matter of feare Indeed our Ship is in jeopardy the winds and waves very strong upon it and some holy men though I hope not many not affected with it no more then Jonah in the storme the Amalekites are many and strong our enemies that are risen up against us are many and extreamly enraged which is matter of feare But then we know they are Gods enemies as well as ours and we have many holy men every where like Moses mediating and interceding for us as Moses for Israel like Abraham putting up prayer after prayer as he for sinfull Sodome and with Jacob wrastling day and night with the Lord for us which is ground of comfort So that like Nabuchadnezzars image we stand upon feete part of iron and part of clay staggering betweene hope and feare we doe not certainly know what the Lord will doe But for our comfort we finde that the prayers of Moses reversed the Lords sentence gone out then against stiffenecked Israel and we hope the like prayers may prevaile for sinfull England Vse 5 The fifth and last is a Use of exhortation which is three-fold 1. Part. 1. To all men whatsoever to stirre them up to a twofold duty First that by true repentance they would gather themselves to seeke the Lord that they would labour to get into such a condition that they might be able to doe some good to themselves and others by their prayers First the Kingdome is in danger and hath need of good mens prayers perhaps there may want five Gen. 18. Ezek. â—â— 30. of the Lords number perhaps there may want but a man to stand in the gap a few may turne the scale If not yet secondly thou shalt save thine owne soule at least thy prayer shall be with much comfort returned into thine owne bosome whereas if we doe not get into a praying condition What will yee doe in the day of destruction Psal 35. 13. whither will yee flie and with whom will yee leave your glory there Isa 10. 3. is no creature on earth to fly unto or in whose hands we can safely deposite any thing that is deare unto us now when we have no friends on earth to have God an enemy too to have our hearts shut up that we cannot pray and heaven also that we cannot prevaile surely this condition is wofull Now therefore we should labour for the Kingdomes sake and our owne to get into a praying condition But if you will not be perswaded to this yet secondly bee intreated at least thus farre by all loving and respectfull usage to give encouragement to holy men to be much in prayer for the Land the Persians were wont to give divine honour to the Sunne not so much because it was so glorious a creature but because an instrument of so much good to the world all creatures by its light influence being preserved and refreshed though we doe not deifie the publike instruments of good to Church or State yet good reason we should love and honour them and especially those that are the servants of the most high God who are a blessing in the middest of the earth they have power to doe great things as being the friends Act. 16. 2. Isa 19. 29 Isa 41. 8. Hos 12. 3. of God and having a prevailing power with God And therefore seeing their prayers like the prayers of Moses are so usefull to the Church of God good reason all should endeavour with Aaron and Hurr to keepe up their hearts and hands in prayer The second part of the exhortation is unto Gods owne servants earnestly to exhort them as Mordecai did Esther a Esth 4. 8. to 2. Part. goe to the King of heaven as hee to King Ahashuerosh and make petition and supplication before him for themselves and the kingdome So the Prophet Zephaniah b Zeph. 2. 3. finding little hope of prevailing in his exhortation to repentance in the two first Verses at the third Verse he addresseth himselfe to Gods owne people and exhorteth them to seeke the Lord that if they could not prevaile for the land that yet themselvs might be hid in the day of the Lords wrath as you can see further into the kingdomes danger then others by Prov. 22. 3. 2 Sam. 24. 16. an eye of faith seeing the sword stretched out over our Jerusalem ready to destroy it so also you are neere to the Lord and have more interest in him than Esther had with that Persian King you have the gift of prayer you have this powerfull engine to effect great things and shall there be a price in your hands and not an heart to Prov. 17. 16. Isa 62. 6 7. use it God forbid Therefore give mee leave to extend the Prophet Isays exhortation Isay 62. 6. 7. principally intended to the Lords watchmen unto all Gods people all yee that are mindfull of the Lord whether watchmen or people keepe not silence give the Lord no rest bee instant with him day and night for Ion. 1. 6. our Jerusalem and as the Shipmaster awakened Jonah checked him for his securitie when the ship was in danger and prest him to call upon the Lord for the common safetie so our ship being in the like danger let me exhort you to the same dutie and presse my exhortation with the same argument even earnestly to call upon God if so be that the Lord will thinke upon us that wee perish not and that you would entreat and plead with God for England as Moses here did for Israel The third part is to you my Lords and Gentlemen of the Parliament 3. Part. As the Lord hath raised you up above your brethren and as it were with Moses set you with him upon the Mount so my humble request unto you is that you will labour to bee holy as Moses was fit to come neare the Lord and to speake unto him And then like Moses to be deepely affected with your owne and Israels sinnes and earnestly to entreate and pleade with God for that people whom you represent As the Lord hath made you glorious creatures like Starres shining in your Orbes so withall he hath appointed that by your prayers and endeavours you should be in continuall motion night and day to communicate light and influence to the lower world The Lord hath raised you up above us as the Sunne the Clouds not to roule over our heads by Lordly preheminence but to refresh the dry earth below with fruitfull showers you have your praeesse propter prodesse as the Schoolemen speake God hath furnished you with abundance of this worlds goods as he hath filled the mothers breasts with milke not for her owne sake if shee keepes it up it is her owne hurt but to impart it to hungry babes that need it Unworthy great ones are like meteors when they are raised up though they carry a great luster yet are they ominous dismall signes of approaching evills they shine a while and vanish in a stinke of ignominie But great men should bee like the higher spheares as they guide the lower and sway them in their motions so should they imbrace and carry them in their bosomes and by their prayers and best endeavours seeke to procure the peoples good that they may worthily carry the name of patres patriae the fathers lovers and protectors of their country And so like Deborah the hearts of the people shall be towards the governours of Israel a Jud. 5. 9. they will love serve and honour you whiles you live and after death as your soules shall live in heaven so your names on earth and be had in everlasting remembrance b Psal 112. 6 FINIS
men for it Indeed this is enough to raise a suspition upon an opinion or practice and to cause a more strict scrutiny and enquiry into it yet this must not sway our judgement but without al regard of the persons for or against indifferently weigh the action judge not according to personall appearances Secondly there is a reall appearance which is the superficies the suprema facies or countenance of a thing Now error is somtimes cryed up in truths apparel and vice in vertues colour as Jacob was blest in Esaus garment b Gen. 27. 27. and sometimes truth is cried downe under an appearance of errour and if not vertue yet a thing in its nature indifferent under an appearance of evill as good Jehosaphat was made at and endangered in wicked Ahabs apparell c 2 Chro. 18. Now indeed a thing indifferent both in its nature and use though not intrinsecally evill yet because it lookes like a sinne and carries the face of evill it ought to be declined Abstaine from all appearance of evill d 1 Thes 5. 22. It is also true that things in their nature indifferent yet carrying an appearance of evill in respect of scandall should not by authority be imposed and so be made necessary in their use But in as much as the outward face and appearance is not alwayes sutable to the intrinsecall nature of things we are not to be swayed in our judgements by that But setting all appearances personall and reall aside we are to search into the nature of things and to examine them by the rule that so we may give each thing its true estimate and judge righteous judgement Now that we may rightly determine three things are required 1. A right rule to jude by 2. A right qualification of the persons judging 3. A right application of things to the rule The rule to try all opinions and practises by is the Word of God There are indeed divers subordinate rules as 1. The Lawes and legall Commandements of authority personall commandements they impose on us as they are men legall as Magistrates 1 Per. 2. 13. Acts 5. 29. and by these all persons that are under them are to be regulated in their practice so far as they may without disobeying God in his Word 2. The example of Gods people and custome of the Church of God is in some cases a rule to direct us and hath vim legis as Aquin. speaks B. Andr. 1 Cor. 11. 16. and therefore there being a controversie at Corinth whether women should be uncovered or men covered in the Congregation the Apostle seemes to referre them to the Churches custome as a rule in things of so low a nature and not determined in the Word and by it to conclude and determine for or against a thing accordingly A third rule is each mans conscience and to this the Apostle refers 1 Cor. 11. 13. the Corinthians Judge in your selves what is right Now conscience is so farre a rule that if we doe any thing against it we sinne and yet if we be guided by conscience and that erres and leads us from the rule of the Word we sinne too an erring conscience cannot excuse à toto though it doth à tanto though it doth extenuate yet not annihilate a sinne And here we may take notice of a two-fold mistake amongst men Sometimes a groundlesse fancie is taken for conscience and sometimes the bent of the heart and will men supposing conscience to be for or against a thing when indeed it is either a meere fancie without ground either of Scripture or reason or at least the heart and will by some engagements is bent and setled that way Now all these are but secondary rules and are to be regulated by the Word the Word of God is the primarie rule whereby as all opinions and practices are to be tried in as much as the truth of those and goodnesse of these consists in conformity thereunto so also all those secondary rules are to be regulated and tried by it as all weights and measures by the Kings Standard they being no further rules to us then they are agreeable thereunto therefore the Prophet Isaiah refers all to this rule to the law to the testimony Isa 8. 20. no light unlesse according to this rule this is the ballance of the Sanctuary the touch-stone to try all rules all opinions and practices by 2. For the qualification of the persons judging they must be transformed and renued in the spirit of their minds their understandings enlightned Rom. 12. 2. and their hearts sanctified or else they can never try and determine what is that good and acceptable will of the Lord. They 1 Cor. 10. 15. 1 Cor. 2. 15. must have gracious and spirituall hearts as well as cleare understandings as the Apostle sheweth And indeed every godly enlightned Christian though not of such intellectuall strength as to be able to judge of all theologicall truths yet is of such understanding that through the helpe of Gods Spirit he is able to judge of those fundamentall divine truths which are of absolute necessity by an actuall explicit faith to be beleeved unto salvation If the eye be dimme dusty or distempered it maketh not a true report of things to the understanding so if the person judging be not rightly disposed either through darknesse in the understanding or corruption in the heart he cannot judge righteous judgement There are two things that hinder right judging prejudice and passion 1. Prejudice the eye must be free from colours the palate must be insipide Intus existens prohibet alienum if the eye be inflamed it makes the whitest thing seeme red and if the palate be bitter it makes the sweetest thing tast so if a man be prepossest with an opinion he comes like a Jury-man resolved upon his verdict before he heares the cause The second thing is Passion troubled water never represents the true image of a thing facile credimus quod volumus vel quod timemus the heart hath so great an influence upon the understanding that we are apt to beleeve what we desire or what we feare and therefore it is said that a gift blinds the eyes of the wise a gift drawes the Exod. 23. 8. heart to the giver and affection works so upon the understanding that it puts out the very eye of judgement and makes even a wise man to thinke he sees that which indeed he doth not Now therefore as when a man would exactly view a thing he wipes his eyes that no dust or water may hinder sight so should it be our care to put away all passion and prejudice that we may judge rightly Thirdly there is required a right application of the thing to the rule 1. We must with care and study examine the opinion or practice in question examine it as Joseph did his brethren very strictly concerning its father that begot it its brethren and associates Gen.
it did de jure unchurch them and de facto had unchurched any other Nation whatsoever And during their continuance in that sinne they had forfeited their right lost the comfort and sense of that relation betweene God and them neither could others that were unacquainted with that absolute covenant looke upon them as Gods Church any longer Now as our Saviour yeelds that the Jewes though they had nothing of God in them and were none of his spiritually but Joh. 8. 37. 39. 41. the children of the Devill yet living under right ordinances they were members of the true visible Church the sonnes of Abraham and of God by externall sonship so also the Jewes confesse that if they were children of fornications i. e. members of an idolatrous Church they were broken off from God and none of his sons no not by externall adoption Indeed superstitious additions to the ordinances or an erroneous way and manner of using them are sins of an high nature and in a sense the taking of Gods name in vaine in hindering the ordinances from attaining their true and proper end namely the honouring of Christ and edification of his people at least in that degree as otherwise they might Yet as I conceive such superstitious additions and errours in the manner of using the ordinances cannot amount to a setting up of an Idol and so dissolve a Church Though the wife be a blasphemer and guilty of the grossest sinnes yet a wife still adultery onely breakes the marriage bond so only Idolatry breakes that bond of relation betweene God and a people When rebellious Israell had played the harlot and would not repent but continued obstinate in her Idolatry the Lord gave her a bill of divorcement Jer. 3. 8. and cast her away Use Now therefore it nearely concernes a people of all other sinnes to beware of Idolatry and idols b 1 Joh. 5. 21 As we have cause to be humbled for the Idolatry that hath beene committed in the Land lest it becomes ours by consent so for time to come with detestation to cast it utterly out of the Land c Isa 30. 22. Yea to remove all appearances of it a true Church like a modest woman should not endure a whorish dresse Yea and to remove all occasions of Idolatry though not formally so not gradus in re yet if it be gradus ad rem any occasion helpe or step to it put it farre away d Job 11. 14. and so keepe the Kingdome farre from an evill matter In the fourth place be pleased to take notice of the nature of Israels sinne and the judgement denounced against it First their sinne is obstinacy metaphorically set downe they are a stiffenecked people First By necke is meant the heart or will as Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart e 2 Chro. 36. 1â— which is all one as the neck of the Oxe beareth the yoke and so drawes in the Teame so should the heart beare the yoke of Christ and goe on in his wayes Secondly By stiffenesse or hardnesse of the heart is meant the settled strength of the will to goe on in sinne And when once it is so set First the heart becomes impenetrable like Pharaohs nothing can pierce it f Exod. 7. 23. either with feare of sinne before it is committed or with remorse for sinne when it is committed but is fearless and senslesse Isa 28. 15. Zep. 1. 12. Secondly the heart becomes also inflexible and unalterable like the Adamant stone g Zach. 7. 12. nothing can worke upon it or bring it into a better forme No washing can make this Blackmore white h Jer. 13. 23 Indeed first there is a naturall hardnesse which we bring with us into the world i Isa 48. 8. a child though it hath a tender body yet it hath a hard heart Secondly there are some remainders of this hardnesse in the hearts of the best even of Christs owne disciples k Mar. 6. 52. but this is partiall and but for a time But when this sinne comes to the height and is totall and finall the heart fully and unalterably set to doe evill a Eccles 8. 1. then it properly denominates a person or people obstinate and stiffenecked This hardnesse is partly habituall voluntarily procured and that First by long and frequent committing of sin b Neh. 9. 29. acts encrease habits and indispose the subject to receive contrary habits thus the heart becomes like the high way so hardned by the often passage of sinne that no seed will enter c Mat. 13. 4. Secondly by long standing out under the meanes of grace like the Tortoise which floats so long upon the water untill the Plin. beames of the Sunne have hardened its shell that it cannot sinke so living long in sinne under the Sun-shine of the Gospell the heart becomes so hardened that it cannot repent d Rom. â—5 This hardnesse is partly also penall and judiciall The Lord for their sinnes so many and so long continued in and for refusing of grace offered in the meanes in his just judgment gives men up to Satan and to their owne hearts lusts letting them loose upon them and so their hearts become fully obdurate This is the nature of their sinne but in what degree and how generally spread we cannot exactly determine Secondly the judgement denounced is set downe in a metaphoricall expression and implies that the Lord was ready by some severe judgement to consume that people his anger growne hot even to fury like an enraged Lyon ready to teare to peeces and consume From the sinne and punishment the doctrine which ariseth is this Doctr. 4 That obstinacy in great and grievous sinnes under effectuall meanes is usually the immediate forerunner of ruine it is a token that the Lords anger is hot against a Nation and ready to breake in upon it by some consuming judgement I desire to instance in an example or two In the 13. of Jeremiah Jer. 13. by a linnen girdle hid at the river Euphrates untill it was rotten Ver. 10. the Prophet shewes that the Lord would cast the State out of his sight untill it was consumed verse 10. Now because they presumed of safety that either through the wisedome of their State or at least that by their cunning each private person would make some shift for himselfe therefore he tels them that they should be like drunken men a Ver. 12 13. sottish and staggering to and fro in their resolutions not knowing what to pitch upon for their safety And because they presumed of their power b Vers 14. he tels them that they were to God but as a pot in the hand of the potter soone broken to pieces by him yea the Lord will cause them one to dash against another one to plunder and kill another And because they expected forraine helpe from Aegypt he tels them c Vers 16. that it should
respectiva good in reference to certain ends somtimes by accident they make the possessor worse and sometimes the deniall of an outward mercy makes way for a greater and so oftentimes it comes to passe that negando accipimus we receive a mercy in Gods deniall we may have the end of our prayer in the deniall of the forme Howsoever yet the prayers of Gods people are the proper remedy to save a stiffe-necked people that will not repent it is all that can be done for them For first it is the most effectuall meanes to appease the wrath of 1 Sam. 25. 24. 32. God and to stay him from destroying as Abigails humble entreaty prevailed with David Secondly it is certaine that if prayer like Noahs Dove be sent forth it shall never returne without an Olive branch either with tidings of an abatement of the generall deluge for the common good or at least it shall returne with much comfort and peace into your petitioner bosome Psal 35. 19. And thirdly as nothing without it can save such a stiffe-necked Nation so if any thing will doe it the prayers of Gods people will and therefore the effectuall prayers of Gods people should be procured in a time of danger as the Mariners did Jonahs Jon. 1. 6. in the storme and the Ninivites cried mightily when their City Jon. 3. 9. was in danger though but upon this ground Who knoweth what the Lord may doe Outward meanes indeed are not to be neglected as we must not idolize the meanes in trusting in them so neither tempt God in neglecting of them Sometimes indeed the Lord will doe the worke by his own immediate 2 Chro. 20. 17. hand then the people are to stand stil and see the salvation of God But ordinarily the arme of the Lord workes by the hand of Moses Isa 63. 12. all that is in our power must be done by us our Saviour told his Disciples that howsoever whiles he was personally present with them he did miraculously provide for their sustentation Luke 22. 36. and protection without scrip or sword and they found no want of these meanes yet after his ascension they must use ordinary meanes a scrip and a sword must be procured yea then a sword more necessary then a coat sell thy coat and buy a sword In saving Jon. 1. 6. vers 5. 13. the Ship in that tempest in the first of Jonah as they were praying and crying to the Deity for helpe so they spared neither cost nor paines to helpe themselves they rowed hard vers 5. and threw out their goods vers 15. And when enraged Esau came Hos 12. 4. Gen. 32. c. 34. 1. with an army against his brother Jacob and his family as Jacob wrastled with God by his teares and prayers so withall he used prudent and submissive endeavours for a pacification There must be a concurrence of three things to make prayer effectuall to save a Nation from ruine 1. The persons praying must be holy men such as Moses was for first such only can pray in a spirituall manner as having the spirituall gift of prayer culinary fire is in every house but the element of fire is so rare that it is a question whether there be any such thing existent or no so the naturall gift of prayer is very common that is such a praying faculty as a naturall man may acquire or have by naturall meanes as quicknesse of wit strength of memory elocution and exercise in the word and prayer But spirituall prayer the breathing up of holy and spirituall desires whether for outward or spirituall mercies yet alwayes for spirituall ends this fire comes from Heaven this spirituall gift of prayer comes from the Spirit of grace that doth disponere and excitare giving Zac. 12. 10. both the habit and the act of prayer the power to pray and actuates that power it brings into the soule the fuell of holy desires and enkindles them also and sets then a burning Secondly as holy men onely can pray in a spirituall manner so their prayers onely are prevalent for in a sense they are the prayers of Rom. 8. 27. Christ indited by his Spirit put up in his name and presented by his mediation so that when such men pray Christ in his members praies and prevailes 2. They must be such prayers as Moses his prayers were earnest Vers 10 11 12 13. strivings and wrastlings with God First from an heart touched with a deepe sense of our wants we should offer up prayers and supplications with strong cries and Heb. 5 7. Rom. 8. 26. teares as our Saviour did in the dayes of his flesh with sighs and groanes unutterable earnest ejaculations like darts shot up to Heaven out of an affectionate heart our spirits in their desires like Noahs Arke should rise the higher as the waters grow deeper and the flouds greater so we finde that Christ prayed the more earnestly when in that bitter agony formall cold prayers like Luke 22. 36. Caesars hartlesse Sacrifice will not profit us nor finde acceptance with God painted fire as it hath no heate so it is of no use it is an argument that we disesteeme and undervalue a mercy when we conceive such cold prayers to be fit meanes to procure it Secondly our prayers must be argumentative persuasive entreaties pressing the Lord with arguments we must plead with God and reason the matter with him by reverent expostulations the Lord is well pleased to be reasoned withall by such as are reformed Isa 1. 16. 17. and washed especially in his owne language indeed we can plead nothing that is in us to move the Lord to mercy but what is in his nature his Christ his promises we have many examples of this kinde of prayer in Scripture as it is acceptable to God so very prevalent with him as here we finde that Moses thus prayed and prevailed vers 14. Exod. 32. 14. Thirdly as Moses in his so we in our prayers should not only strive against the present outward judgement but especially against the power and guilt of sinne that cause the judgement so did Moses here as we see vers 31 32. he confesseth and bewaileth Ex. 32. 31 32. their sinne and cries unto the Lord for pardon of it that so the Nation might be every whit whole We ought not onely to Ioh. 7. 23. strive against the plague without but against the plague of the heart not onely against warres and contentions but against pride 1 King 8. 38. covetousnesse ambition and such other lusts of the heart from Iam. 4. 1. Prov. 13. 10. whence they come We should not onely as Chirurgions looke at the outward wound of the Kingdome and seeke the cure of that by outward applications but like the Physitian looke into the causes of these evils and labour to procure a remedy for those inward distempers whence the outward doe spring If we have not
the evils removed that provoke the wrath of God by a through reformation as well as the outward judgement if by true repentance peace be not made with God as well as an outward peace in the Kingdome surely though the outward evils be cut off yet like Sampsons haire they will grow againe if we cut off onely the branches the root will sprout againe Now therefore such prayers as Moses used by such men as Moses was and in such an order as Moses did are most effectuall means to save a sinfull Nation in time of the greatest danger Now the reasons why such prayers are so effectuall for the saving of a Kingdome in danger are three Reas 1 First because prayer deales with God and inclines him to favour and pitie a people now it is God that wounds and heales spoyles and saves he raiseth the storme and calmes it againe Hos 6. 1. judgements like the Centurions servants goe and come at his command and therefore if we be troubled and arrested by judgements for the debt of our sinnes it is proper to make our peace with God and agree with the Creditor no matter for the Sergeant if Dogges fly upon us it is most proper to speake to their Master to call them off who first set them on And howsoever prayer cannot change or cause God to alter his eternall unchangeable decree yet it causeth him to recall his present sentence that is gone out against a people mutat sententiam Greg. mor. l. 2. c. 24. non decretum saith Greg. And indeed Gods eternall decree takes in the meanes as well as the end so that according to Gods decree when his sentence of ruine is gone out against a Nation prayer and other meanes fall in to hinder execution and so his decree stands the present sentence onely fals as we see in the case of Hezechiah the Ninivites and the Israelites here in my text Reas 2 Secondly because prayer workes on mens owne hearts and makes them fit for and capable of a mercy and indeed for the Lord to bestow a mercy on a people before they are fit for it were to put new wine into old bottles the mercy is lost and the receiver Matth. 9. 17. hurt by it therefore the Lord is ready to bestow mercies and waits untill wee are ready to receive them God is as ready to give Isa 30. 18. mercies as a womans breasts to give milke he waits but for our drawing Now prayer draws the hearts of men nearer to God and so puts them into a posture fitter for mercies it drawes downe fitnesse from God it empties the heart of selfe and takes in more of God and when prayer brings a mercy from Heaven it fits a man in thankfulnesse by an holy use of it to send it backe thither againe as Hanna when by prayer she had obtained a sonne of the 1 Sam. 1. 28. Lord she gave him to the Lord againe Reas 3 Thirdly because prayer carries God along with the meanes and causeth him to cooperate howsoever secondary causes have their causality and efficiencie put into them by God with their formes in their first creation yet there must be a concurrence of the first cause to make them put forth their strength and actually to effect things and therefore second causes and means as the King 2 King 6. 26. of Israel told the woman cannot helpe if the Lord doe not concurre What can the pipe do if the spring deny it water The Lord doth sometime suspend the power of meanes sometimes enlarge it above its naturall pitch as it seemes good unto him if the Lord cooperate with the meanes how weake soever they shall doe the 1 Sam. 14. 6. Rom. 8. 31. Jud. 7. 20. worke The sword of Gedeon shall doe great things if the sword of the Lord goes with it Now prayer carries God into the Army and engageth him in a just warre to take his peoples part and to fight with them and for them as we shall shew anon And therefore when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were making fortifications and warlike preparations against their enemies the Prophet blames them for not looking up to God in the meanes and the Lord cals them to adde fasting and other spirituall fortifications to their outward to Isay 22. 11 12. make them effectuall Before I come to Application I desire to answer two questions 1. Whether the cries and prayers of wicked men can availe any thing either for themselves or others 2. How the prayers of some can be availeable for others especially being absent To which questions that I may give the more satisfying answer I desire to premise certaine distinctions 1. Crying is taken two wayes 1. Properly for the putting up of a petition or prayer 2. Improperly for the expression of the 1. Distinct creatures misery by the moane and cry that it makes Now indeed the cry and moane of the creature often moves the Lord in mercy to succour it as the cry and moane of the babe though it makes no formall request maketh the mothers bowels to yerne with compassion towards it and to succour it so the Lords mercy being over all his workes a Psal 145. 9 exceeding great and extended to all his creatures his mercy is drawne forth to succour them at the sight of their misery and thus he is said to heare the cry of the Ravens b Psal 147. 9 because he is moved to relieve this poore creature in its misery So Psal 78. c Psal 78. 34 35 36 37 38. when the wicked were in distresse and earnestly cryed to the Lord though their heart was not upright with him yet the Lord in mercy called backe his anger and destroyed them not Now the Lord did not this in answer to their prayers but as an act of mercy at the sight of their misery expressed by their cries The question then is touching wicked mens prayers and cryes properly taken Concerning them take another distinction Prayer may bee taken 1. Strictly for the putting up of a formall request or petition to God 2. Distinct 2. Largely for the exercise of prayer in its ordinary use Now the exercise of prayer by reason of many divine truths inserted in it as confessions of sinnes declarations of Gods nature and promises and pressed as arguments if not to move the Lord yet to move our owne hearts all which truths being reflected backe upon the soule may possibly through a concurrence of Gods spirit beget faith bring the soule into frame yea it may become unto the speaker and hearers a converting ordinance and so make a man capable of mercies and thus the prayers even of wicked men may be availeable to the speaker and hearer whether good or bad by way of causation But secondly for prayer properly and strictly taken for the putting up of desires to God by way of petition a wicked man hath no promise to ground his hope of prevailing upon