wonders yet many carnall atheisticall spirits say this was an accidentall thing and the policie of such men brought it to passe they attribute all to naturall causes it is a sign of a wretched profane heart For if God ever magnified prayer he hath done it in these dayes There are 2 or 3 Scriptures that since the world began were never more magnified then by Gods working at this day One is in Exodus 13. In the thing wherein they dealt proudly God was above them Never since the world began was that more fulfilled A second is that in the 10. Psalme The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands If ever there were a fulfilling of that Scripture since the beginning of the world it is at this day A third is this in the text I said not to the seed of Jacob seek ye my face in vain God as I said hath raised a spirit of prayer among the seed of Jacob more then ever any in the world knew there was never the like spirit of prayer raised nor never the like things done for prayer And the Lord the rather honoured the ordinance of prayer now because men so dishonoured it before and persecuted it that the people of God could not meet and assemble to fast and pray but presently it was a conventicle and they were persecuted as factious people Because God saw this way despised he hath honoured it and the former and the latter mercies that we have received we are to attribute to the goodnesse of God by prayer they were obtained by prayer Let us still be incouraged to seek God for what we would have for God hath said it is not in vain to seek his face There are many of us now that can do little else if God have delivered you from sicknesse and other evils know that God hath delivered you to pray the lesse you can do otherwise the more you should do in prayer I have read of a heathen Numa Pompylius that he would never go about any thing but he would go to the temple and pray you that are instruments intrusted with our lives and liberties you had need to pray much go into your closets and sanctifie all your thoughts and resolutions by prayer that your help and assistance may not be in vain to us And all others had neeâ— to assist you in seeking God in prayer This incouragement we have that there is not any of us that seek God alone but we joyn with thousands why should our place be found empty why should not our prayers joyn with the rest We shall meet many prayers in heaven the prayers of our forefathers the prayers of those that are dead and gone that did not live to enjoy the fruit of their prayers yet when we pray for mercies our prayers meet with theirs in heaven therefore let us be incouraged to seek the Lord. And if mercies should come what a daunting would this be to our hearts that mercies are come but we have not sought them and if mercies come not conscience wil flie in our face that we have been sensuall carnall creatures it is for our neglect of seeking God that God hath denyed us the mercies that we expected And then it should be a use of rebuke to those that begin to seek God and continue not O wretch why hast thou left whether wilt thou go Is it in vain to seeve the Lord certainly thou wert never acquainted with God and his wayes thou wilt find it a dreadfull change when it shall appear that thou hast left God the fountain of living water and hast sought after vanity forsaken thine own mercy But the main of all should have been for the applying of it to the present occasion The Lord hath made good his word this day that he hath not said seek ye me in vain This day testifies it to be true that they are great things that prayer hath done I have heard many years ago by credible testimony that on this fifth of November when we had such a great mercy so many years ago that very day it was known that a great many godly people in the city kept it in fasting and prayer so as it was eminently known and delivered from hand to hand of them in the city at that time and you know what God did But what hath he done of late If our fathers should rise out of their graves and we should tell them that now the high commission that they were so troubled with is down that there shall be no more star-chamber that cutting off of ears is gone they would wonder how this should come to passe And whereas Parliaments were wont to be snapped in sunder that this Parliament is to continue by as firm an Act as any thing in the land is made by And for oppressours all the Courts and Bishops Chanceries they are down and gone God hath extirpated them they were first cast out of the house and now out of the kingdome And though an army did rise and seek to bring us into slavery yet God hath given us victory though some have suffered hardly and brought the adversaries very low to surrender their towns and castles and arms And here we are to rejoyce in God and to blesse him for all If many of our ancestours should rise and heare what we speak how we hold up our hands and blesse God with what hearts would they joyn in the praising of God and wonder that ever such things should be done Let not the grace of God be in vain as God hath not said to us seek my face in vain What use shall we make of it Let us give him reall praise and not onely come to repeat it and tell God of it but make his praise glorious put a glory on it and then we do it when we make a right use of his mercies when we receive not his mercies in vain What is it to make use of the memoriall we celebrate First the remembrance of these mercies must humble us that is a sweet humbling it is better to be melted by the beams of the Sunne then by the scorching of the fire You will say humbled for what There are three things that we have cause to be humbled for upon the consideration of the mercy of God towards us First the sinne of unbelief consider when we were straitned at any time when we heard ill news that our armies fled and came to danger how our spirits were down as if all were gone Let us check our hearts God rebuked us in a kindly manner we might have had a furious rebuke Secondly be humbled for all our murmuring and repining and discontent O we did not think that the warres would have held so long and O what taxations are upon us and all our estates are rent away And how many are there that had rather that all the good that God hath done for his people since these times should never have been done then
Psalm 105.3 not onely let the heart of them rejoyce that find the Lord that obtain that they seek but those that seek the Lord while they are seeking should rejoyce in seeking him Well because I would sain get to the application of the point I passe by other things and will onely take away that great objection and reasoning that is in the hearts of men against this point You tell us that the prayers of Gods people are not in vain and by Gods mercy now and then we have found some comfortable hearing from heaven but ordinarily we find it otherwise How many prayers have we put up to God and find not the issue we pray and pray and the enemies prevail though now and then God give us help Now for the taking away of all unbelieving reasonings against the point I will not go from the text at this time Therefore the first answer is this You say you have sought God and have not what you would have and therefore it is in vain though perhaps this that you now say is vain yet it makes not the text void Remember what hath been before heretofore you have sought God and that was not in vain remember the times of old let that for the present a little stay you It was that that stayed the Psalmist he began to reason as you do that he had sought God in vain Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore c. Psalm 7 8. here seems to be as much unbelief as is in your reasoning but mark what follows v. 10. And I said this is my death but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high O it is my sinne and weaknesse that I should reason thus I consider not what I do when I reason thus but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high vers 11. I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember the wonders of old v. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God Thou art the God that doest wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people v. 14. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the sons of Jacob Joseph v. 15. Mark at length he recovers himself with this though present things seem to go hard yet he remembred what God had done so do thou in this case In Isaiah you have a complaint of unbelieving hearts as if God had been sought in vain Isa 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord my judgement is passed over from my God Art thou one of the seed of Jacob hast sought God and sayest it is in vain God reasons the case and will confute their unbelief Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Even the youths shall faint be weary the young men shall utterly fall v. 28 29 30 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shal renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Hath not God done great things heretofore in 88. and in the powder plot and at other times and though we be in some streights remember what God did before This should appease your hearts what though thou have not present audience for the thing thou seekest yet think I deal with a God that hath an understanding that I cannot search God it may be lets the adversary prevail sometimes I cannot tell what glory God may get by it I cannot conceive how God can bring his own glory about when Israel flees before the Philistines But why sayest thou so O Jacob there is no searching of Gods understanding God sees further then thou canst see that thing that thou thinkest will make against his name may make for it therefore lay thine hand upon thine heart He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might God stayes till men have no might till they faint and are ready to sail and then he comes and helpes them That is the meaning of that Scripture in Luke where Christ saith God will avenge his elect that cry night and day to him though he tarry he will avenge them he will hear their prayers it is not in vain But it follows upon it notwithstanding when the Sonne of man comes shall he find faith on earrh I verily think that that want of faith hath reference to that very promise specially that God will hear his elect that cry but God may stay so long as that the very time when God shall come to perform it shall intend to do it it may be a time when their faith is overcome and fails in the promise that they begin to give over and think they have sought in vain And usually the time when God comes to fulfill his promise and to answer the prayers of his people it is that very time when they fail and are ready to sink Therefore that may be another argument it may be thou hast not believed this promise Thou sayest thou hast prayed and thou thinkest it is in vain hast thou believed this promise in the text hast thou relyed on it God hath not said to the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain The word of God shall be made good but how upon our faith it shall be made good to us upon our believing though we be never so godly and pray never so well yet if we will have the promises made good it must be upon believing If thou hast not laid the weight of thy soul on the promise thou hast no cause to say that God hath not made his word good it may be thou hast not faith learn to believe the word and then thou shalt have it fulfilled Thou wouldest have it made good and then thou wouldest believe it no thou must first believe the word and then expect that God should fulfill his promise Again God is a great God that we seek to and it is fit for us to wait and to wait long He is great we seek great things and we are poor mean vile wretches God hath his prerogative sometimes to answer presently sometimes not so Elias was a great praying man he is set for an example of prayer he prayes at one time for fire to come on the sacrifice and fire came down presently another time he prayed for rain and then he prayed 7. times and bowed his head between his knees and sent his servant and sent him again and again
a gracious heart therefore think not much that God stayes with a greater summe For as God deals with the wicked in the way of justice so he deals with godly men in a way of mercy He lets wicked men go on a great while he comes not to judgement for sin but stayes till all come together till a great summe of wrath and judgement come together So he deals with the saints he comes not with lesse mercies but he stayes till abundance come and when Gods time is come mercies will come to the full indeed Further it may be God hath so much mercy that thou hast not a vessell capable of it Onely know that heaven and earth and all are working for thee Is the plowing and the sowing of the husbandman and all the showers in vain because the corn is not in the barn we account it not so so we must not account our prayers in vain because the thing is not attained we pray for There are many other answers but the time is so much gone I come briefly to the application First if it be so that God saith not to the feed of Jacob seek my face in vain certainly there are great things for the Church that we may build on God is to do in these latter dayes Why because all the seed of Jacob ever since Jacobs time have been seeking God not onely for their own times but for the Church to the end of the world all their prayers are upon the fyle and must be answered one day O what a glorious harvest will it be blessed are they that shall live to partake of it We have a little but certainly there are glorious things for the Church because every prayer shall be answered Secondly you that are of the seed of Jacob know your honour though you be never so poore otherwise God hath given you that which makes you rich you have the key of heaven you may open the treasures in heaven and it shall never be in vain Gods people are such as are exceeding honourable in the eyes of God and in this regard that they have credit in heaven that they shall never seek God in vain Bathsheba saith to Solomon 1 King 2.20 I desire one petition of thee I pray thee say me not nay It is translated by some Ne confundas faciam confound not my face Indeed the denying of a petition it is a dishonour and a confounding of the face but God will not confound the faces of his people he never saith to them seek ye me in vain they are honourable ones Now as it is said of their father Jacob he prevailed as a prince with God so it may be said of the seed of Jacob they prevaile as Princes with God they can do great things with God it may be they cannot do other things that vain spirits can do but they can do much with God in prevailing O here see your priviledge and your riches all the prayers that you have made in your life time they are all trading in heaven they are not lost If a man have ventured a stock abroad to the Indies and do not hear of it in a great while he thinks it is lost and gone but if he hear certain news that all his stock is safe and in the place where he would have it and those that are there faithfully improve his stock he is revived by this it rejoyceth his spirit and he can say blessed be God I hope to be a rich man for all this I say to thee be of good comfort thy stock is not lost it is trading in heaven and every prayer that thou hast put up is there We should account our prayers as riches as adventures sent to heaven and not as children that shoot arrows and do not mind them And then learn this it is a great priviledge to have a praying friend a praying companion Many of you love friends that are delightfull of a cheerly nature and merry but are they praying ones praying friends are the speciall friends because prayer can prevail with God To have a friend in the Court that can obtain any petition we think it a priviledge to have one great friend in heaven is a great priviledge Many people when they lie on their sick beds they send to such and such to pray for them why do they not send to their companions that they did drink with and swear with to pray for them O they dare not Here is enough to convince any mans conscience who are the best men whatsoever they say Suppose thy condition were thus that thou diddest lie on thy death-bed and thy life did depend upon the prayers of foure or five men If God should speak thus from heaven thou art at the brink of destruction onely this favour thou shalt find thou shalt have leave to choose where thou wilt foure or five men to pray for thee and according as they pray so it shall be with thee thou hast liberty to choose through the world whom thou wilt I appeal would a drunkard choose foure or five drunkards or a swearer choose swearers or unclean ones that they most delighted in all their life time If all should depend upon it thou wouldest not choose such therefore thou art convinced in thy conscâ—ence thoâ— knowest that those are not precious in Gods eyes however thy lust have prevailed but that the other are better men that are gracious and have more credit in heaven Learn to prize praying friends that can prevail with God And let us set the crown upon prayers head in the mercies we have from God in publick mercies and private deliverances of friends attribute it not to second means to fortune and chance take heed of denying God his glory It is a sign of a carnall spirit when God hath glorified himself in answering the prayers of his people to attribute it to any other means As I remember I read of the Porphirian atheists that followed the atheisme of Porphirie they darkned the work of God in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt thorough the red sea They say that Moses had learned of the Egyptians and they were great Astronomers and Moses knew when it would be a low tyde and what constellations there would be at that time and that the tyde would prove low then more then ever in the age of man and Moses took the nick of time and lead them through the sea Thus atheists would darken the works of God and put them of to naturall causes So I find it related of the old Prophet in Jeroboams time Josephus hath it related of him he sent to Jeroboam to stretch out his hand he tells us that this was by accident he was wearied all the day long and now he had the Palsie and after it was restored again that which was done by prayer he would have it by naturall means Just thus it is when God hath so magnified his mercy to England and wrought such
that they should suffer in their outward estates Be rebuked for all your murmuring and repyning at such difficulties as you have met with in the great cause of God The third thing that this mercy should make us humbled for and look back to is that if ever there have risen this thought in any of our hearts that it had been better for me if I had never appeared so much I see how things are like to be the enemy prevails and is like to overrun all had it not been better that I had not ingaged my self so much that I had not appeared so much are they not wiser men that have kept themselves quiet and silent and done as little as they could nothing but what they have been forced to And when the Kings party come if they tax us they can do no more then force us If thou have such a thought pray to God to forgive that thought Let this that God hath done rebuke thee Art thou sorry for what thou hast done thou seest God will do it without thee If thou have been a publick instrument and hast done good and yet if in fear of successe thou hast repented God rebukes thee this day Then labour to love prayer as long as you live as David saith I will call upon God as long as ever I live Prayer casts the scals and hath the advantage First the other side they feared not to suffer much if they were overcome they think they have a head and they would be where he was and he would countenance them and make good their condition for them but this side if they had been overcome they had been men utterly undone what a mighty advantage was there one way more then another Then the Kings side if he had prevailed he had places of dignity to bestow if the Parliaments side prevail we are but where we were we do but maintain our own we cannot expect to raise our condition But how many broken Gentry expected to raise their condition on the other side As it is said concerning the Pope and the generall Counsell the Pope prevailed notwithstanding the generall Councell though that were above him why the Pope had Cardinallships and Deaneries to bestow but the Councell had none they had the advantage that way Again those that appeared on the one side how were they discouraged extraordinarily on the other side they were incouraged to the utmost On the one side how unfaithfull have they been on the other side they have kept to their principles because their principles are suitable to the flesh but there are many on this side that have not gracious principles and had a publick cause therefore they have been unfaithfull We have use of men that have not principles to act by but all the other go according to their own principles The one part acts that they may gratifie mens lusts now the generality of the world love it they know if the one partie prevail they shall have liberty and live lycensciously but if the other prevail they shall live under laws Now men would have their lusts therefore when they see on the one side they shall have their lusts and on the other side they shall be more curbed they strive hard for their lusts At the first I wondred that men should be so vile to fight to make themselves slaves but when I considered they shall have slaves under them and have their lusts and the other side be more curbed then I was satisfied and wondered that God should cast the scales the other way they having all the advantages in a carnall way more then the other Only here it is we have people that have prayed and this hath cast the scale Love prayer and praying people and joyn with them be on their side for God is with them and will not suffer them to pray in vain a praying Christian is a usefull Christian in the world Again make this use of all that hath been done Look how far thou thinkest the adversaries would have been hardned if they had prevailed against the cause of God be thou so much the more resolute in the cause of God If they had prevailed how would they have blasphemed and many thousands of Atheists would have been made more then there was before what a mighty offence and stumbling block would this have been Now since God hath turned it the other way justifie God and his cause settle your hearts in the love of God and his cause and settle your selves more strongly in the reformation in hand Further let us give him reall praise that we may not receive the grace of God in vain By this grace we hope that he hath given us our estates that we were afraid would have been rent from us we have the continuance of our liberties and of the Gospel Let our hearts be ingaged to God to give up our estates this day let us renew our ingagements to God in secret between God and our souls Lord thou mightest have taken away my estate by the spoylers it was near it and thou hast done it to other of my brethren and is mine continued that estate that should have been spent for their lusts I am resolved to spend it in thy service that hast preserved it and I account it a great mercy that I have an estate to honour thy name I feared I should not God expects that ever henceforward you make a more holy use of your estates then before And call your hearts to question what do I do with my estate for God what honour hath God from my estate more then before God expects more or else God may justly say in vain have I preserved this wretches estate there are many of my servants if I had preserved their estates they would have improved them in the towns and places they lived in and here is a wretch I have preserved his estate and he is more greedy and scrapes up for himself and all his thought is how to repair what he hath lost by taxations c. The Lord may repent of what he hath done and the curse of God may follow such a mans estate Take heed know that there is an ingagement after this time And so for the liberty of the Gospel God expects that you should prize the Gospel more then ever Lord we were afraid the Gospel would have been gone if thou hadst given us up into the hands of our enemies and our eyes should not have seen their teachers we should not have heard things that refresh our hearts shall we have the Gospel and hope that our posterity shall have it we hope that we shall never provoke thee as we have done heretofore to take it away A man that hath been in danger to loose his estate and hath recovered it will be carefull after Our slighting of the Gospel because we had it so ordinary might have caused God to take it from us and hath God restored it let us take heed