from accusing and condemning of you So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER WITH Exhortations thereunto ON 1 THESSAL v. 17. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER 1 THESS v. 17. Pray without ceasing THIS Text is one of those many Commands that the Apostle lays down in this Chapter being now almost at the end and close of his Epistle and not willing to omit the mentioning of Duties so necessary for their Practice he pours them out in short but weighty Exhortations the Connexion betwixt most of them is dark if there be any I shall not therefore vex the Words by tacking them either to the precedent or subsequent Verses by any forced Coherence but take them as they are in themselves in one entire Proposition and so they contain in them a Duty and that is Prayer and the manner also of performing of it and that is without ceasing and both of these do administer to us this plain Doctrin Doctrin That it is a Christians Duty to pray incessantly This is a plain and necessary Point and I intend to handle it in as plain and familiar a Method And there are two Things that I shall enquire into First What it is to Pray And then Secondly What it is to Pray without ceasing 1. What it is to Pray 1. I shall begin with the First What it is to Pray I Answer To Pray is by the Assistance and Help of the Holy Ghost in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ with Faith and Fervency to make an humble representation of our Desires unto God for those Things that are according to his Will with submission to his Pleasure and with reference to his Honour This is that holy Duty of Prayer in which of all that belong to Religion the Soul usually enjoys the most near and sweet Communion with God When we are oppressed with Guilt or overwhelmed with Fears and Griefs what sweeter Retreat than to betake our selves to our God and to our Father into whose Bosom we may unload all our Burdens It is the greatest solace of an afflicted Mind to lie prostrate before the Lord and melt it self down in holy Tears and in holy Affections at his Feet Hence it is said of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That after she had poured out her Soul before God her Countenance was no more sad And therefore this is not so much our Duty as our Privilege it is the Happiness of the glorious Angels in Heaven and of the Spirits of just Men made perfect that they are always near unto God in their Attendance upon him that they are Waiters about his Throne And Prayer gives to us the very same high Privilege and brings us into the Presence and before the Throne of the same God only with this difference they draw near to a Throne of Glory and we draw near to a Throne of Grace Let us now take a more particular View of this excellent Duty of Prayer according to the Description given of it 1. The efficient cause of Prayer is the Spirit First The efficient cause of Prayer is the Holy Ghost then we Pray when we breath out those Requests unto God that the Holy Ghost hath breathed unto us and therefore it is said Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered All Prayers that are not dictated by the Holy Ghost is but howling in God's esteem And though wicked Men in their Distresses may be very passionate and very vehement in their Requests yet they have no Promise that their Prayers shall prevail with God Sometimes indeed God doth hear them and out of his common Bounty and Goodness grants to them those temporal good Things that they crave he that hears the young Ravens when they cry he that hears the lowing of the Oxen sometimes also hears wicked Men under their Afflictions when they roar to him as wild Bulls in a Net as the Prophet expresseth it but yet such Prayers of wicked Men tho' they are answered yet they are never accepted God accepts no Petitions but such as are presented to him through the Intercession of Christ now Christ makes Intercession for none in Heaven but only for such in whose Hearts the Spirit makes Intercession here upon Earth their Prayers alone ascend up to God as sweet Incense being perfumed with that much Incense that Christ offers up with the Prayers of all the Saints God always hears and answers them either in the very Thing that they pray for or else in what oftentimes is far better when they ask that which will be to their own Hurt then he answers them graciously by denying them In James 16. the Apostle tells us there Jam. 5.16 That the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much This indeed may seem a needless Tautology to say an effectual Prayer availeth for it is but one and the same thing to avail and to be effectual but if we consult the Original we shall find the Words may be translated The in-wrought Prayer and possibly we may with more Congruity render it thus The Prayer of a righteous Man wrought in him that is to say by the Spirit of God such a Prayer availeth much Secondly As the efficient cause of our Prayers is the Holy Ghost 2. God is the Object of Prayer essentially and personally consider'd so the only Object of our Prayers is God for it is a representation of our Wants and Desires unto him Now God may be consider'd either essentially or personally and under both respects we may direct our Prayers unto him 1. All the Persons in the Trinity are to be prayed unto First If we consider the Persons of the glorious Trinity so they are all adorable with this Act of divine Worship None will deny but that we may direct our Prayers unto God the Father and that God the Son may be distinctly prayed unto we have an uncontroulable Instance in that of S. Stephen Acts 7.59 Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit yea Acts 7.59 and this Adoration is due not only to the Divine Nature of Christ which was from all Eternity the same in Being in Majesty and Glory with the Father but it is also due unto Christ as Mediator as God-Man and so his humane Nature is also joined in the participation of this high Honour through its union to the Divine Nature The very Angels in Heaven are commanded to adore him as God-Man as Mediator Heb. 1.6 Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in his first begotten into the World that is when he brought him into the World as Man he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Indeed we no
shall in Heaven become the Measure of our Reward and Happiness but in the very keeping of them while we are observing and obeying there is so great a Reward that we should have no cause to complain should God bestow no more upon us than to suffer us to obey his Law For 1. By working for Salvation we enjoy Communion with God First Herein we uphold Communion with God and Christ through the holy Spirit What is Communion but only a mutual Intercourse of Grace and Duty when Grace received reflects back again in the returns of Duty Then is Communion maintained between God and the Soul when we return Duty for Grace Now is this nothing to enjoy Fellowship and Communion with the great God of Heaven and Earth to be admitted to him to walk and converse familiarly with him and to enjoy him to see him who is invisible to lean upon him who is Almighty to enjoy him who is infinite Is all this nothing Will not the Souls of those who have by Experience tasted the sweetness of these Things cry out They are so excellent and transcendent that there is but one Thing more desirable and that is immediate Enjoyment What is Heaven it self but Communion with God at a nearer Hand Here it is by Faith there by Vision here by Ordinances there by immediate Influences here it is by Duty there by Union And therefore if the Consideration of a future Heaven be not cogent and prevailing with you behold here is a Heaven at present here is Happiness for your Work as well as for your Reward It was nobly spoken of Galleacius Carriciolus Cursed says he be that Man who preferreth the whole World before one hours Communion with Jesus Christ And certainly they who have once tasted the sweetness of this Communion will subscribe to that Anathema Secondly 2. Peace of Conscience an effect of working for Salvation There is usually great Peace and Tranquility of Conscience attends and accompanies this working for Salvation that fills the Soul with as great a Calm as the World had the first Morning of its Creation when there was no Wind or Tempest to discompose it Never is the Soul more at rest than when it is most at work I dare appeal to the Experience of the People of God in this Case Doth not your most solemn Feasts come in by your Obedience Doth ever Conscience look so friendly and pleasantly upon you as when it finds you active in the Ways of God It then wears not a Wrinckle or Frown upon its Face as Sin ruffles it so Duty smooths it out again and this causeth such Peace and Quietness in the inward Man as yields more satisfaction than all the noise and ruffling Gallantry and Jollity in the World can This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Consciences that in simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World So that if Men care not for the Enjoyment of God yet if they love the Enjoyment of themselves if they would avoid Discords and Civil Wars in their own Breasts this were enough to excite them to this pacifying Work that attones and reconciles Conscience unto themselves 3. In working for Salvation God gives in many Testimonies of his Favor Thirdly In this working for Salvation God gives in many evident Testimonies of his special favour and acceptation unto the Souls of his Servants Thou meetest him says the Prophet that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness Thou meetest him how not to contend with him as with Jacob not to slay him as thou didst Balaam but to embrace him to reveal and manifest thy self unto him If you have any comfortable Evidences that God is yours in a strict Bond of an everlasting and unalterable Covenant and that you are accepted of him in the well-beloved Examine how you attained to this Evidence Was it not through Obedience and Working This is the way whereby God manifests himself unto the Souls of his and should your comfortable Persuasions not come in thus by Obedience and Working They are but Enthusiastical and groundless Presumptions and not true and divine Assurance The Apostle in Pet. 2. exhorts us To make our Calling and Election sure But how is that to be done Why it is by giving diligence What is it Men desire and wish for next to Heaven Is it not Assurance of it Would you not have the Terrors and Torments of Conscience apprehending and pre-occupating your own Condemnation eased and removed Would you not have the unquiet tossings and fluctuations of your Minds because of the uncertainty of your future State and Condition setled and confirmed Why then be persuaded to Work believe it this Evidence is never received in any other way than in a way of Duty God will not hold his Light of Assurance to them who will not work the Works of Obedience 4. Obedience accompanied with Joy Fourthly Those that are diligent in working for Salvation many times have high Spring-tides of Joy Joy that is unspeakable and glorious that rusheth in upon the Soul and ravisheth it with a sweet and potent Delight while it is in ways of Obedience Now this tho' it be not ordinary with every Christian yet God sometimes vouchsafes it especially to the most laborious working Christians as a Cordial to revive and quicken them that they should not faint and grow weary in their Work He gives them many times such prelibations of future Glory such bright Glimpses of himself passing before them that they scarce know wherein their state differs from the state of the Glorified unless it be that it is shorter in the duration lasting not so long as theirs Well then should you be asked as they were in the Parable Why stand you here idle all the day long You could not return the same Answer as they did because no Man hath hired us for God hath hired you and that at no less a rate than all these great and glorious Things that have been propounded to you do amount unto A glorious Heaven a blessed Work that is accompanied with Communion with God Peace of Conscience Assurance of divine Favour and Joy in the Holy Ghost and if all this will not persuade you certainly you set a mighty price upon your own Sloth only let me say this beware that these Souls of yours that you will not part with to God for Salvation beware you do not sell them to the Devil for nothing Thirdly 3. There is an eternal Rest after working Consider your Incouragements after your Work is done there is an eternal Rest that waits you I have already consider'd Heaven as a Reward for working let us now consider it as a Rest after working And so the Apostle tells us there remains a Rest for the People of God And in Rev. 14. Heb. 4.9 we read Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works do
the sense of divine Comfort As it is in clear Water when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom but if you stir the Mud presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it So is it with the Children of God though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in in Heaven yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs they become dark so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations that so if it were possible he might drive them to Dispair he hated their Graces he envies their Comforts and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity and by such Suggestions as these are when he cannot hinder the Work of Grace he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort When therefore those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God and as Persons devoted to Destruction let them know such Fears proceed not from the Convictions of the Spirit of God who hath been a Spirit of Adoption but it proceeds from the Delusions of Satan for those that once receive the Spirit of Adoption never receive the Spirit of Bondage again to fear that is to fear with a slavish tormenting Fear Sixthly 6. We ought to fear God tho' we know him to be our God A reverential filial Fear of God may and ought to possess our Souls while the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Adoption is by the clearest Evidences actually witnessing our Son-ship to us Let Men boast what they will of their high Gospel-attainments yet certainly they have not the genuine Disposition of God's Children whose Love to him is not mingled with Fear and whose Fear of him is not encreased by their Love Love it is the Gage and Measure of all our Affections and according to the proportion of our Love to God such will be our Fear that is the more we love God the more we shall fear his Displeasure and the Loss of his Favour It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master Christ who was his only begotten Son and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God than any adopted Sons can possibly have yet the Scripture ascribes an holy awful reverential Fear of God even unto him Heb. 5.7 When he offered up Prayers with strong Cries and Tears and was heard in that he feared it may be render'd he was heard because of his godly Fear So in Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord speaking of Christ If therefore he feared God who was himself to be feared as God equal to him and his eternal Son how much more ought we to fear the great God who are as it were but Up-starts in the Family of Heaven we wretched and forlorn Out-casts that were but lately raked out of the Dunghil and by meer Pity taken up into the Bosom of God and nurtured as his Children And thus you see the Fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free Spirit of Adoption Fourthly 4. A Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing in God An awful Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing Indeed slavish Fear damps all true Joy Those that Fear and expect the Revengings of God cannot have any true Joy they may have a kind of mad Jollity that spends it self in Noise and Tumults that may roar out Songs of Mirth only to drown the loud Roarings of their own Consciences Such as these are like your new Liquor that works over into Foam and Froth when the bottom is thick and troubl'd So in this false Joy the Countenance runs over with Laughter when yet the Heart is brim full of the Wrath of God of such the wise Man speaks Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful But now a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy Rejoycing in him spiritual Joy is not of that flashy Nature but it is a sober and a severe Grace it is Joy mixed with Fear and because of the mixture of these two together the fear of God with joy in the Lord therefore we find these two are promiscuously ascribed each to other so in Isa 60.5 Their Hearts shall fear and be enlarged You know it is the property of Joy to extend and enlarge the Heart Fear contracts and draws it together but here Fear is said to dilate the Heart to denote to us that a Christians Fear is always conjoyned and mingled together with his Joy And so on the other Hand it is said Psal 2.11 Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Fear with Trembling is more proper and natural but because of the mixture of these two Graces in the Heart of a Christian therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it Rejoyce with Trembling for great Joys as well as great Fears cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the Heart As it was with the two Women whom the Angels assured of Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28.8 Mat. 28.8 They departed from the Sepulchre with Fear and great Joy So is it with those Christians who by the Eye of Faith looking upon the Death and into the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ are assured that he is risen for their Justification cannot but have their Hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful Joy Even a Christians strong Praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling Voice so that godly Fear is no Impediment to a holy and a severe Rejoycing in God as our Saviour Fifthly 5. Godly fear lays no check on our freedom and boldness with God Godly Fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God God hath established a Throne of Grace whereon he sets and unto which he invites his People to approach with a becoming Confidence Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace As that Emperor counted his Clemency disparaged when any delivered a Petition to him with a shaking Hand as though he doubted of his Favour so God loves when we make our Addresses to him that we should do it with full assurance of Faith nothing doubting of acceptance with him and of an Answer