the contrary when Men cater for the Flesh provide for it indulge carnal Distempers and feed them with that Diet which they affect These tempt themselves and seem willing to lie under their Bondage and to be glad of it 3. When a Man is a Sinner to his loss and hath Reasons of Nature to disswade him as well as Reasons of Grace not only Religion but his civil Interests would counsel him to do otherwise as he that brings a Blot upon his Name or Ruin upon his Estate by evil Courses when Men draw on Iniquity with a Cart-rope as the Expression is Isa. 5. 18. that is when it is not Pleasure but a very Toil and Burden and temporal Inconvenience to them to be sinful that industriously make it their business those that are holden with the Cords of their own Sins Prov. 5. 22. He speaks of such as did bring temporal Inconveniencies upon themselves as did consume their Flesh and their own Bodies these certainly are those that have cause to complain of their own Hearts not to put it on Satan but themselves II. Having opened the Nature of Temptations I come now to give the Reasons why this is so usual an Evil we encounter with in the World Temptation 1. God permits it for his own Glory to discover the Power the Freeness and Riches of his Grace that Men may be driven the more earnestly to sue out their Peace in the Name of Jesus Christ. Luther propounds this Reason Tho Man be prone to sin of himself of his own accord yet God suffers the Tempter to be in the World because Man is backward to seek Mercy and Grace by Christ and therefore God urgeth him with sore Temptations Certainly this Reason was given by him not amiss You know when Paul felt those Paroxisms and sad Counter-buffs in his own Spirit this makes him bless God for Jesus Christ. Rom. 7. 25. But thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord It makes him reflect upon the Grace of God in Christ. We keep off from the Throne of Grace till Temptations drive us thither As when the Sheep wander the Shepherd le ts loose his Dog upon them not to worry them but to bring them back to the Fold again so God lets loose Satan to drive us to himself 2. For the trial of that Grace which he hath wrought in us Grace doth better appear in Temptation than out of it The greatness of the Woman of Canaan's Faith would never have been discovered had it not been for Christ's Answer and Denial Mat. 15. 25 28. Then O Woman great is thy Faith The Glory of that Grace which God hath wrought in his People would not be discovered so much were it not for the great Trials he puts them upon Heb. 11. 17. By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac Before we go to Heaven we shall have our Trials and shall be tried in our dearest Comforts and choicest worldly Contentments and all to see what Faith we have and what Loyalty to God in the midst of these Trials A great Tempest discovereth the goodness of a Ship and skill of the Pilot and so these great Trials they discover the soundness of our Hearts and the fruit of that Grace which God hath wrought in us Gold is most tried in the Fire and discovered to be pure and perfect Stars that lie hid in the Day shine in the Night We have but dry Notions of the Comforts of Christianityâ— and make them matter of talk until we are put upon great Trials then is our belief and sense of them proved A gilded Potsherd may shine until it comes to scouring but then the Varnish and Paint is worn off The Valour and Worth of a Souldier is not known in times of Peace and when he is out of Action When we are put to some difficulty and straits then is Faith seen Now this is a very pleasing Spectacle to God to see them approve their Faith and Loyalty to his Majesty 3. Temptations as they serve to prove so also to humble us that we may never be proud of what we have or conceited of what we have not As Paul that he might not be exalted above measure he was buffeted with a Messenger of Satan 2 Cor. 12. 7. Poor Bladders we are soon blown up and swoln into Vanity and vain Conceits of our selves therefore had need be pricked that we may let out those swelling Winds A Ship that is loaden with precious Ware needs to be ballasted with Wood Stones or contemptible Stuff But why will God humble us by Temptations and such kind of Temptations as are solicitatious to Evil Answer Spiritual Evils need a Spiritual Cure Outward Afflictions they humble but not so much as Temptations do they are not so conducible to humble a gracious Heart as Temptations to Sin Why For then the Breach is made upon our Souls and the Assault is given to that which a gracious Man counts to be dear and therefore these are suffered to come upon us If any thing will humble a Child of God this will do it It may be he may bear up under losses tollerably but when his Peace comes to be assaulted and his Grace this will humble him to purpose Worldly Men they value their Estate by their outward Interest But a Child of God by his Peace of Conscience and his thriving in Grace O this wounds him to the Heart when in either of these he suffers loss This sets him a praying and groaning to God as Paul groans bitterly when he felt those gripes of Sin and those reluctances in his Heart O wretched Man c. Afflictions they conduce to humble and prove us Deut. 8. 16. And besides too the Lord loves to make the Cause of our Mischief to be the Means of our Cure This giveth us the sight of some Corruption we saw not before 4. God permits this Exercise to his People to conform us to Christ. We must pledg him in his own Cup it must go round He himself was tempted Heb. 2. 7. Christ hath felt the weight burden and trouble of Temptations and knows the danger of them Now the Disciple is not above his Lord nor the Scholar above his Master The Devil that did set upon Christ will not be afraid of us 5. By Temptations to Sin God mortiâ—â—eth Sin not only that Sin to which we are tempted but others that we may not be so heedless When we have smarted under Temptation we are not so indulgent to Corruption as before we do not let our Senses nor Affections run loose as David speaks that he got this by his Fall Psal. 51. 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know Wisdom O I shall be wiser and more circumspect for this all my Life When Men have smarted they grow more cautious and so by the over-ruling and good Hand of God our Sins do us service in our passage to Heaven as well as our Graces And God's Children may
And it is encouraging in this respect because he hath experimented this Duty he knows how soon human Strength is spent and put to it for he himself hath been wrestling with God in Prayer with all his Might His submitting to these Duties gave him Sympathy he knows the Heart of a praying Man when wrestling with God with all Earnestness therefore he helpeth us in these Agonies of Spirit Again his praying is an Encouragement against our Imperfections Christians when we are alone with God and our Hearts are heavy as a Log and Stone what a Comfort is it to think Christ himself prayed and that earnestly and was once alone wrestling with God in human Nature Matth. 14. 23. and when the Enemy came to attach him he was alone striving with God in Prayer he takes all occasions for Intercourse with God and if you have the Spirit you will do likewise 3. I might argue from God's end in pouring out the Holy-Ghost wherefore hath God poured out his Spirit Zech. 12. 11 12 13 14. I will pour out the Spirit of Grace and of Supplication c. He poureth out the Spirit that it may break out by this Vent the Spirit of Grace will presently run into Supplication the whole House of Israel shall mourn there 's the Church they have the Benefit of the pouring out of the Spirit and every Houshold hath benefit that he and his Family may mourn apart and every Person apart that we may go and mourn over our Case and Distempers before God and pour out our Hearts in a holy and affectionate manner This Argument I would have you to note that this was God's end in pouring out his Spirit for a double reason both to take off Excuses and to quicken Diligence Partly to take off Excuses because many say they have no Gifts no Readiness and Savouriness of Speech and how can they go alone and pray to God Certainly Men which have Necessities and a sense of them can speak of them in one Fashion or other to God but the Spirit is given to help Such is God's Condescention to the Saints that he hath not only provided an Advocate to present our Petitions in Court but a Notary to draw them up not only appointed Christ for help against our Guilt and unworthiness but likewise the Spirit to help us in Prayer When we are apt to excuse our selves by our Weakness and Insuffâ—ciency he hath poured out the Holy-Ghost that we may pray apart Partly to this end the more to awaken our Diligence That God's precious Gift be not bestowed upon us in vain to lie idle and unimployed he hath poured out the Spirit and therefore we should make use of it not only that we may attend to the Prayers of others and joyn with them but that we may make use of our own share of Gifts and Graces and open and unfold our own Case to God 4. That it is a necessary Duty I plead it from the Practice of the Saints who are a praying People O how often do we read in Scripture that they are alone with God pouring out their Souls in Complaints to him nothing so natural to them as Prayer they are called a Generation of them that seek God Psal. 24. 6. As light Bodies are moving upward so the Saints are looking upward to God and praying alone to him Daniel was three times a day with God and would not omit his hours of Prayer though his Life was in danger Dan. 6. 10. And David seven times a day do I praise thee Psal. 119. 164. And Cornelius 't is said that he prayed to God always Acts 10. 2. not only with his Family but alone in holy Soliloquies He was so frequent and diligent that he had gotten a Habit of Prayer he prayed always Well then if this be the Temper of God's People then to be altogether like them when we have no delight in these private Converses with God or neglect them it gives just cause of Suspition 5. Our private Necessities shew that is a necessary Duty which cannot be so feelingly spoken to and exprest by others as by our selves and it may be are not so fit to be divulged and communicated to others we cannot so well lay forth our Hearts with such largeness and Comfort in our own Concernments before others There 's the Plague of our own Hearts which every one must mourn over 1 Kings 8. 38. As we say no Nurse like the Mother so none so fit humbly with a broken Heart to set forth our own Wants before the Lord. There is some Thorn in the Flesh that we have cause to pray against again and again For this I sought the Lord thrice saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7 8. We should put Promises in suit and lay open our own Case before the Compassions of God It is a Help sometimes to joyn with others but at other times it would be a Hinderance we have peculiar Necessities of our own to commend to God therefore must be alone Secondly This Closet and Solitary Prayer as it is a necessary Duty so it is a profitable one 1. It conduceth much to Iâ—largement of Heart The more earnest Men are the more they desire to be alone free from Trouble and Distraction When a Man weeps and is in a mournful Posture he seeks Secreâ—y that he may indulge his Grief They were to mourn apart Zech. 12. and Ier. 13. 17. My Soul shall weep sore for your Pride in secret Places So here when a Man would deal most earnestly with God he should seek Retirement and be alone Christ in his Agonies went apart from his Disciples When he would pray more earnestly it is said He was withdrawn from them about a Stones cast Luke 22. 41 44. it is said He went apart Strong Affections are loth to be disturbed and diverted therefore seek Retirement And it is notable Iacob when he would wrestle with God it is said Gen. 32. 24. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the Day When he had a mind to deal with God in good earnest he sent away all his Company A Hypocrite he finds a greater flash of Gifts in his publick Duties when he prays with others and is the Mouth of others but is slight and superficial when alone with God if he feels any thing a little overly matter serves the turn But usually God's Children most affectionately pour out their Hearts before him in private where they do more particularly express their own Necessities there they find their Affections free to wrestle with God In publick we take in the Necessities of others but in private our own 2. As it makes way for Enlargement of Heart on our part so for secret Manifestations of Love on God's part Bernard hath a Saying The Churches Spouse is bashfull and will not be familiar and communicate his Loves before Company but alone The sweetest Experiences which God's Saints receive many times are
God gives us the Possession of them for he is the absolute Lord of all Things both in Heaven and in Earth and whatsoever is possessed by any Creature it is by his Indulgence for the primitive and original Right was in him Psal. 24. 1. The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof the World and they that dwell therein It is all God's we hold it in Fee from him for he is the great Landlord who hath leased out all these Blessings to the Sons of Men. The Earth is first the Lord's and then by a Grant he hath given it to Men to enjoy Psal. 115. 16. The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lord's but the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. He hath given it to Men partly by a general Grant and Leave given to enjoy and occupy it as the Place of our Service But that is not all he doth not only give the Earth in general to Men but he makes a particular Allotment the particular Designation of every Man's Portion of what he shall enjoy in tho World it is of God And so it is said Actâ— 17. 26. He hath determined the Bounds of their Habitation God hath not only appointed in general the Earth to be the Place of our Service for a while but he hath determined how much every one shall possess what shall fall to his Share These Things come not by Chance or by the Gift of others or by our own Industry but by the peculiar Designation of God's Providence However they come to us God must be owned in the Possession whether they come to us by Donation Purchase Labour or by Inheritance yet they are originally by God who by these means bestoweth them upon us If they come by Donation or the Gift of others the Hearts of Men are in God's hands and he it was that disposed them to be bountiful to us that appoiâ—ted them to be Instruments of his Providence to nourish us He that sends a Present he is the Giver not the Servant which brings it So though others be imployed as Instruments it is the Lord which made them able and willing to do us good If they come to us by Inheritance it is the Providence of God that a Man is born of rich Friends and not of Beggars Prov. 22. 2. The rich and poor meet together the Lord is the Maker of them all He that hath cast the World first into Hills and Valleys it was he that disposed of Men some into a high and some into a low Condition If they come to us by our own Labour and Purchase still God gave it to us Deut. 8. 14 18. Take heed that thine Heart be not lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee Power to get Wealth He doth not leave second Causes to their own Power and Force as if he were only an idle Spectator in the World No he gives the Skill and Industry to manage Affairs and success upon lawful Undertakings the Faculty and the use it is all from God Tho a Man hath never so many outward Advantages yet unless the Lord concur with his Blessing all would be to no purpose 2. As God gives us the Possession so he gives us a Right and Title to them There is a two-fold Right to these common Blessings a Providâ—ntial and a Covenant-Right Dominium Politicum fundatur in Providentia our Civil Right to things is sounded upon God's Providence But Dominium Evangelicum fundatur in Gratia our Gospel-Right to things is founded upon God's Grace 1. He gives the Providential Right and thus all wicked Men possess outward things and the Plenty they enjoy is as the Fruits and Gifts of God's common Bounty it is their Portion he hath given it to them Psal. 17. 14. Which have their Portion in this Life whatever falleth to their share in a fair way and in the course of God's Providence they are not Usurpers meerly for possessing but for abusing what they have They have not only a Civil Right by the Laws of Men to prevent the Incroachment of others but a Providential Right before God and are not simply responsible for Possession but for their ill Use and Administration 2. There 's a Covenant-Right to these Blessings so only Believers have a Right to Creature-Comforts by God's special Love and so That a little that a righteous Man hath is better than the Treasures of many wicked Psal. 37. 16. as the mean Fare of a poor Subject is better then the large Allowance of a condemned Traitor Every wicked Man is a Traitor to God and hath only an Allowance until he be destroyed But that little which a Man hath seasoned with God's Love is better than all the mighty Increase of wicked Men. Now this Covenant Right we have by Christ who is Heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. Christ hath the Original-Right to them and we by him come to have a Covenant-Right So it is said 1 Cor. 3. 23. Things present and things to come all are yours As things to come the Day of Judgment is theirs so things present is theirs by a new Title from him So it is said 1 Tim. 4. 5. Marriage Meats and Drinks and all Creatures are made for them that believe They that believe have only a Gospel-Right to them To draw it to the present thing we do not only beg a Possession of these things but a Right not only a Providential but a Covenant-Right that we may enjoy them as the Gifts of God's fatherly Love and Compassion to us that we may take our Bread out of Christ's Hands that we may look upon it as swimming to us in his Blood and all our Mercies as wrapt up in his Bowels and then they will be sweet and relish much better with a gracious Soul because he cannot only taste the Creature but the Love of God in the Creature 3. He gives the Continuance of our Blessings that we may keep what we have for unless the Lord do daily support us we cannot keep our Comforts for one day How soon can God blast them It 's at his pleasure to do what he will with you He gave Satan Power over Iob â—s Estate Chap. 1. 12. Behold all that he hath is in thy Power Our Life it is continued to us by the Indulgence of God and by his providential Influence and Supportation For as the Beams of the Sun are no longer continued in the Air than the Sun shineth or as the Waâ—er retains the Impress and Stamp no longer than the Seal is kept on it so when God takes off his providential Influence all vanisheth into nothing Thus he is said Heb. 1. 3. To uphold all things by the Word of his Power As a weighty thing is upheld in the Hand of a Man when he looseneth his Hand all falls to the Ground So it is said Iob 12. 10. In whose Hand is the Soul of every living Thing and the Breath of all
a Gardiner withholds his hand the Ground is soon grown over with Weeds Restrain Prayer and neglect God and noisom Lusts will abound Our Hearts are fill'd with Distempers when once we cease to be frequent with God in private It is said of Iob chap. 15. 4. Thou restrainest Prayer before God That Passage is notable Psal. 14. 4. They eat up my People as they eat Bread and call not upon the Lord. Omit secret Prayer and some great Sin will follow within a little while you will be given up to some evil Course or other Either brutish Lusts Oppression or Violence to hate the People of God to join in a Confederacy with them which cry up a Confederacy against God The less we converse with God in private the more is the Awe of God lessen'd But now a Man which is often with God dareth not offend him so freely as others do As they which are often with Princes and great Persons are better cloathed and more neat in their Apparel and Carriage So they which are often conversing with God grow more heavenly holy watchful than others are and when we are not with God not only all this is lost but a great many Evils to be found It is plainly seen by Mens Conversations how little they converse with God But now to avoid the Stroke of this Reproof what will Men do Either deny the Guilt or excuse themselves First Some will deny the Guilt They do call upon God and use private Prayer therefore think themselves to be free from this Reproof Yea but are you as often with God as you should be There are three sorts of Persons 1. Some there are that omit it totally cannot speak of redeeming any Time for this Work These are practical Atheists without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. They are Heathens and Pagans under a Christian Name and Profession We should pray without ceasing 1 Thess. 5. 17. that is take all praying Occasions Therefore they which pray not at all all the Week long God hears not from them surely come under the force of this Reproof 2. There are some which perform it seldom O how many Days and Weeks pass over their Heads and God never hears from them The Lord complains of it Ier. 2. 32. They have forgotten me Days without number It was Time out of mind since they were last with God 3. The most do not perform it so often as they should And therefore that I may speak with Evidence and Conviction I shall answer the Case what Rules may be given how often we should be with God and when we are said to neglect God 1. Every day something should be done in this kind Acts 10. 2. Corneliuâ— pray'd to God always every day he had his Times of Familiarity with God Daniel tho with the hazard of his Life would not omit praying three times a day Dan. 6. 10. And David speaks of Morning Evening and Noon Psal. 55. 17. Tho we cannot bind all Men absolutely to these Hours beause of the difference of Conditions Employments and Occasions yet thus much we may gather from hence That surely they which are most holy will be most frequent in this Work 2. Love will direct you They which love one another will not be strange one to another a Man cannot be long out of the Company of him whom he loveth Christ loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha Iohn 11. 5. and therefore his great Resort was to Bethany to Lazarus's House Surely they which love God will have frequent recourse to him In the Times of the Gospel God trusts Love we are not bound to such particular Rules as under the Law Why for Love is a liberal Grace and will put us upon frequent Visits and tell us when we should pray to God 3 The Spirit of God will direct you There are certain Times when God hath Business with you alone when he doth as it were speak to you as to the Prophet in another Case Ezek. 3. 22. Go forth into the Plain in the Desart and there I will talk with thee So get you to your Closets I have some Business to speak with you Thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart answered Thy Face Lord will I seek Psal. 27. 8. God invites you to Privacy and Retirement You are sent into your Closet to deal with God about the Things you heard from the Pulpit This is the actual Profit we get by a Sermon when we deal seriously with God about what we have heard When God sends for us as it were by his Spirit and invites us into his Presence by these Motions it is spiritual Clownishness to refuse to come to him 4. Your own inward and outward Necessities will put you in mind of it God hath not stated what Hours we shall eat and drink the Seasons and Quantity of it are left to our Choice God hath left many Wants upon us to bring us into his presence Sometimes we want Wisdom and Counsel in Darkness Iam. 1. 5. If any lack Wisdom let him ask of God which giveth to all Men liberally It is an Occasion to bring us to God God is the best Casuist to resolve our Doubts and guide us in our Way Sometimes we lack Strength to withstand Temptations the Throne of Grace was set up for a Time of Need Heb. 4. 16. when any Case is to be resolved and Comfort to be obtained We want Comfort Quickning Counsel and all to bring us to God So for outward Necessities too Certainly if a Man doth but observe the Temper of his own Heart he cannot neglect God but will find some occasion or other to bring him into his presence some Errand to bring him to the Throne of Grace We are daily to beg Pardon of Sin and daily to beg Supplies Now certainly when you do not observe these Things you neglect God Secondly Others to avoid it will excuse themselves Why they would pray to God in private but either they want Time or they want a convenient Place or want Parts and Abilities But the truth is they want a Heart and that 's the Cause of all and indeed when a Man hath no Heart to the Work then something is out of the way 1 Some plead they want Time Why if you have Time for other Things you should have a Time for God Shall we have a Season for all Things and not for the most necessary Work Hast thou time to eat drink sleep follow thy Trading how dost thou live else and no time to be saved no time to be familiar with God which is the greatest Business of all Get it from your Sleep and Food rather than be without this necessary Duty Jesus Christ who had no such Necessity as we have yet it is said Mark 1. 35. He arose a great while before day and went out and departed into a solitary Place and there prayed Therefore must God only be encroached upon the lean Kine devour the fat Sarah thrust out instead
audiamus What Lungs and Sides must we have if we be heard to speak to Heaven by the Noise and Sound In some there is a natural vehemency and fierceness of Speech which is rather stirr'd up by the heat and agitation of the bodily Spirits than any vehemency of Affection There is a Contention of Speech which is very natural to some and differeth much from that holy Fervor the Life and Power of Prayer which is accompanied with Reverence and Child-like Dependance upon God It is not the loud Noise of Words which is best heard in Heaven but the fervent affectionate Cries of the Saints are those of the Heart rather than of the Tongue Exod. 14. 17. it is said Moses cried to the Lord We do not read of the Words he uttered his Cry was with the Heart There is a crying with the Soul and with the Heart to God Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the Desire of the Humble It is the Desires God hears Psal. 39. 9. Lord all my Desire is before thee and my Groaning iâ— not hid from thee The Lord needs not the Tongue to be an Interpreter between him and the Hearts of his Children He that hears without Ears can interpret Prayers tho not uttered by the Tongue Our Desires are Cries in the Ears of the Lord of Hosts the vehemency of the Affections may sometimes cause the extention of the Voice but Alas without this it is but a tinkling Cymbal 5. Popish Repetition and loose shreds of Prayer often repeated as they have in their Liturgy over and over again their Gloria Patri so often repeated their Lord have Mercy and in their Prayer made to Jesus Sweet Iesus Blessed Iesus and going over the Ave Maria and this to be tumbled over upon their Beads and continuing Prayer by tale and by number Surely these are but vain Repetitions and this is that much-speaking which our Lord aims at Thus I have dispatched the abuses of Prayer Vse 2. To give you direction in Prayer how to carry your selves in this holy Duty towards God in a comely manner I shall give you Directions 1. About our Words In Prayer 2. About our Thoughts 3. About our Affections First about our Words there is a use of them in Prayer to excite and convey and give vent to Affection Hos. 14. 2. Take with you Words and turn to the Lord and say Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously Surely the Prophet doth not only prescribe that they should take Affections but take with them Words Words have an Interest in Prayer Now these may be considered either when we are alone or in Company 1. When we are alone Here take the advice of the Holy-Ghost Eccl. 5. 2. God is in Heaven and thou art upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few How few Few in Weight Conscience Reverence Few in Weight affecting rather to speak Matter than Words concisely and feelingly rather than with curiousness to express what you have to say to God Few in Conscience Superstition is a Bastard-Religion and is tyrannous and puts Men upon tedious Services and sometimes beyond their Strength therefore pray neither too short nor too long do it not meerly to lengthen out the Prayer or as counting it the better for being long the shortness and the length must be measured by the fervency of our Hearts our many necessities and as it tendeth to the inflaming our Zeal as it can get up the Heart let it still be subservient to that Few with Reverence and managed with that Gravity Awfulness and Seriousness as would become an Address to God As Abraham Gen. 18. 31. had been reasoning with God before therefore he saith Let not God be angry if I speak to him this once when he renewed the Suit Thus alone 2. In Company there our Words must be apt and orderly moving as much as may be not to God but to the Hearers managed with such Reverence and Seriousness as may suit with the Gravity of the Duty and not encrease but cure the Dulness of those with whom we join And what if we did in publick Duties choose out Words to reason with God as Iob saith Chap. 9. 14. Choose out my Words to reason with him If we did use Preparation and think a little before hand that we may go about the Duty with serious Advice and not with indigested Thoughts But this hath the smallest Interest in Prayer Secondly Our Thoughts That we may conceive aright of God in Prayer which is one of the greatest difficulties in the Duty 1. Of his Nature and Being 2. Of his Relation to us 3. Of his Attributes First Of the Nature and Being of God Every one that would come to God must fix this in his Mind That God is and that God is a Spirit And accordingly he must be worshipped as will suit with these two Notions Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that God is and then that God is a Spirit for it is said Ioh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth O then when ever you come to pray to God fix these two Thoughts let them be strong in your Heart God is I do not speak to an Idol but to the living God And God is a Spirit and therefore not so much pleased with plausibleness of Speech or tuneable cadency of Words as with a right Temper of Heart Alas when we come to pray we little think God is or what God is much of our Religion is performed to an unknown God and like the Samaritans We worship we know not what It is not Speculations about the Divine Nature or high strain'd Conceptions which doth fit us for Prayer the discoursing of these things with some Singularity or Terms removed from common Understanding this is not that which I press you to but such a sight of God as prompteth us to a reverent and serious worshipping of him Then we have right Notions of God in Prayer when we are affected as Moses was when God shew'd him his Back-parts and proclaimed his Name Exod. 34. He made haste bowed his Head and worshipped when our Worship suiteth with the Nature of God 't is Spiritual and Holy not Pompous and Theatrical Well then these two things must be deeply imprinted in our Minds that God is and that He is a Spirit And then is our Worship right For Instance 1. For the first Notion God's Being Then is our Worship right when it doth proclaim to all that shall observe us or we that observe our selves there is a great an infinite eternal Power which sits at the upper end of Causes and governeth all according to his own Pleasure Alas the Worship of many is flat Atheism they say in their Hearts either there is no God or believe there is no God Therefore do you worship him as becomes such a glorious Being Is his Mercy seen in your Faith and Confidence His Majesty in your
And all baptized Persons are baptized in the Name of the Son and Holy-Ghost as well as in the Name of the Father But usually Christian Worship is terminated upon God the Father as being chief in the Mystery of Redemption and so it is said Eph. 2. 18. Through him by one Spirit we have access to the Father We come to him through Christ as the meritorious Cause who hath procured Leave for us and by the Spirit as the efficient Cause who gives us an Heart to come and to the Father as the ultimate Object of Christian Worship Christ procureth us Leave to come and the Spirit gives us a Heart to come So that by the Spirit through Christ we have access to God So that now you may see what is meant by the Father Our Father But now let me distinguish again God is a Father to Mankind either 1. In a more general consideration and respect by Creation or 2. In a more special regard by Adoption First By Creation God is a Father At first he gave a Being to all Things but to Men and Angels he gave Reason Iohn 1. 4. And this Life was the Light of Man Other Things had Life but Man had such a Life as was Light and so by his original Constitution he became to be the Son of God To establish the Relation of a Father there must be a Communication of Life and Likeness A Painter that makes an Image or Picture like himself he is not the Father of it for tho there be Likeness yet no Life The Sun in propriety of Speech is not the Father of Frogs and putrid Creatures which are quickned by its heat tho there be Life yet there is no Likeness We keep this Relation for univocal Generations and rational Creatures Thus by Creation the Angels are said to be the Sons of God Iob 38. 7. When he was laying the Foundations of the Earth the Sons of God shouted for Ioy that is the Angels And thus Adam also was called the Son of God Luke 3. ult Thus by our first Creation and with respect to that all Men are the Sons of God Children of God And mark it in respect of God's continual concurrence to our Being tho we have deformed our selves and are not the same that we were when we were first created yet still in regard of some sorry Remains of God's Image and the Light of Reason all are Sons of God and God in a general Sence is a Father to us Yea more a Father than our natural Parents are For our Parents they concur to our Being but instrumentally God originally We had our Being under God from our Parents He hath the greatest hand and stroke in forming us in the Belly and making us to be what we are Which appeareth by this Parents they know not what the Child will be Male or Female beautiful or deformed they cannot tell the Number of Bones Muscles Veines Arteries and cannot restore any of these in case they should be lost and spoil'd So that he that framed us in the Womb and wonderfully fashioned us in the secret Parts he is our Father Psal. 139. 14. As the Writing is rather the Work of the Pen-man than of the Pen so we are rather the Workmanship of God than of our Parents They are but Instruments God is the Author and Fountain of that Life and Being which we still have And again consider The better Part of Man is of his immediate Creation and in this respect he is called the Father of Spirits Heb. 12. 19. They do not run in the Channel of carnal Generation or fleshly Descent but they are immediatly created by God And it is said Eccles. 12. 7. The Spirit returneth to God which gave it Well then you see how in a general Sence and with what good reason God may be called Our Father Those which we call Fathers they are but subordinate Instruments the most we have from them is our Corruption our being depraved but our Substance and the Frame and Fashion of it our Being and all that 's good in it that 's from the Lord. Now this is some Advantage in Prayer to look upon God as our Father by virtue of Creation that we can come to him as the Work of his Hands and beseech him that he will not destroy us and suffer us to perish Isa. 64. 8. But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay and thou our Potter and we are all the Work of thine Hand There is a general Mercy that God hath for all his Creatures and therefore as he gave us rational Souls and fashioned us in the Womb we may come to him and say Lord thou art our Potter and we thy Clay do us good forsake us not What Advantage have we in Prayer from this common Interest or general Respect of God's being a Father by virtue of Creation 1. This common Relation binds us to pray to him All things which God hath made by a secret Instinct they are carried to God for their Supply Psal. 145. 15. The Eyes of all Things look up to thee In their way they pray to him and moan to him for their Supplies even very Beasts young Ravens and Fowls of the Air. But much more is this Man's Duty as we have Reason and can clearly own the first Cause And therefore upon these natural Grounds the Apostle reasons with them why they should seek after God Acts 14. 17. 2. As this common Relation binds us to pray so it draweth common Benefits after it Mat. 6. 25 26. Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Raiment Behold the Fowls of the Air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into Barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Christ saith where God hath given a Life he will give Food and where he gives a Body he will give Raiment according to his good pleasure He doth not cast off the Care of any living Creature he hath made as long as he will preserve it for his Glory Beasts have their Food and Provision much more Men which are capable of knowing and enjoying God 3. It giveth us Confidence in the Power of God He which made us out of nothing is able to keep preserve and supply us when all things fail and in the midst of all Dangers Saints are able to make use of this common Relation And therefore it is said 1 Pet. 4. 19. That we should commit our Souls unto him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator The Apostle speaks of such Times when they carried their Lives in their hands from day to day They did not know how soon they should be haled before Tribunals and cast into Prisons Remember you have a Creator which made you out of nothing and he can keep and preserve Life when you have nothing Thus this common Relation is not to be forgotten as he gives us our outward Life and Being Psal. 124. 8. Our Help is in the Name of
but they are hidden among others Therefore Reprobates are called obiter by the by as others are called according to purpose and therefore they have the Benefit of the common Call and the common Offer The World stands for the Elects sake yet others have the Benefit of the World and worldly Things So the Word is preached for the Elects sake yet others have the Benefit of an external Call The Sun shines tho blind Men see it not The Rain falls upon Rocks and Mountains as well as fruitful Valleys So God may suffer these Exhortations to light upon wicked Men. And again as to them it is for their Conviction it is to bridle their Corruptions it is at least a means to civilize them and keep them from growing worse Therefore such kind of Doctrines and Persuasions restrain their Wickedness Therefore it stands well enough with the Wisdom of the Law-giver to call upon Men and invite them with Promises and Threatnings to Repentance Therefore now let me shew How doth God reduce and frame our Hearts to the Obedience of his Will The Ways God useth are of two sorts Moral and Real 1. God works morally so as to preserve Man's Nature and the Principles thereof therefore he works by sweet Inclination not with Violence So he comes with Blandishments and comfortable Words Hos. 2. 14. I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her So Gen. 9. 27. The Lord shall persuade Japhet and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem. By fair and kindly Words he draweth on Men to the liking of the Gospel He offereth no violence to our natural Principles but to our Corruptions God doth not make the Will to be no Will but to be a good Will He restoreth the Faculties to their right Use and Exercise He layeth forth the Beauty and Excellency of his Grace and a glorious Estate he sets before our Eyes and â—o out-bids Temptation and draweth our Hearts to himself And God not only doth work suitably to our general Nature as we are reasonable Creatures but suitably to the particular Frame of the Heart Some are of a stout and stubborn Temper and will not be subdued by milder Means and Motives therefore God breaks them with Fears and Terrors and with a Spirit of Conviction And others he draws them on by Love and by a gentle Application That God hath respect to Mens particular Tempers was figured in those extraordinary Ways of Appearance and Manifestation they are fitted according to the State of Men. To Moses that was a Shepherd and was acquainted with Bushes God appears in a Bush of Fire And to the Wise Men that were skill'd in the Motions of the heavenly Bodies he appears in a Star And to Peter that was a Fisherman he appears to him and shews his Power first in the Draught of Fishes So still these are Pledges of this kind of Dispensation that God will work suitably not only to our general Nature as Men but to our particular State and Temper Yea yet further to set on this moral Way of working there is a fit Subordination of the Circumstances of Providence God takes the wild Asses in their Month and he hath his Season wherein to surprize the Heâ—rts of Sinners Prov. 25. 11. A Word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver God comes in in a fit Season as when a Soul is humbled by some sudden Accident As one was converted by seeing a Man fall down dead suddenly by him God ordereth some Providences to work and awaken the Hearts of Men. Or else by some great Affliction Hos. 2. 14. I will bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her God finds many a Sinner in the Briars as Abraham found the Lamb. Stubborn Humors are then most broken Metal in the Furnace is capable of any Form God may suit and dispose us so that he may come in in a fit season to the Soul Or in Terrors of Conscience when the Heart is scourged with remorse for great Sins All this is God's moral Work 2. There is a real Work which goes along with this Persuasion there is an Almighty Power For bare Persuasion cannot make the Blind to see the Dead to live or open the Heart of Man that is so desperately and obstinately wicked until he puts his Fingers upon the Holes of the Lock until he begins to open the Heart Concerning this real Work observe it is secret yet thorow and prevailing so as the Effect doth follow when God will convert The exact Manner of God's drawing is unknown Austin calls it an inward hidden and unspeakable Power which God putteth forth together with the Word it is marvellous in our Eyes but he that knew how to creat Souls knows how to work upon them This Power it is like the Influences of the Heavens which so insinuate themselves with the Operation of second Causes that they cannot be seen so there is such a mighty Power working in us tho we cannot tell how to express it We cannot say there is no such Power because we do not know what it is And as this Power is secret so when this Power is put forth it is prevailing he works prevailingly so as the Effect must necessarily follow The Grace God gives to Men to convert them it is not a Power to be converted repent and believe if they will no but he gives Repentance he gives Faith and works so as the Effect shall succeed He works efficaciously and determinately so as to oppose all the Resistance of the Will and accomplish his Work That 's the first Branch Secondly When we are thus framed by Grace after Conversion God still concurreth and must help us to do his Will He doth not only give us the Habit of Grace but actual Help in the Work of Obedience Isa. 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our Works in us But why is it that still the Lord worketh in us both to will and to do unto the last and not only begins with us but still keeps Grace in his own hands so as we shall have our Supplies from Heaven from day to day There are several Reasons 1. Because it endeareth God to a gracious Soul The more Visits we have from God and the more he is mindful of us at every turn the more is God endeared to us In such a Duty there we met with Comfort and Enlargement because God was there that is noted and regarded so that the Lord is rendred the more precious The Experiment we have of God in every Duty doth the more make us prize his Grace As David Psal. 119. 93. I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me I shall never forget such a Sermon and such a Prayer because there I met with God So in Affliction Rom. 5. 3. Patience worketh Experience or in such a Conflict we had such a Support this endeareth God to the Soul As mutual Acts of
Solomon hath a Passage concerning Suretyship Prov. 11. 15. He that is Surety for a Stranger shall smart for it or as the Hebrew will bear it sore bruised or as it is in the Margin shall be bruised and sore-broken And the same word is used concerning Christ that was our Surety Isa. 53. 10. It pleased the Father to bruise him Christ is our Surety therefore he was bruised and broken he suffered what we should have suffered It is true there are some Circumstances of our Punishment which Christ suffered not as a great part of our Punishment in Hell there 's the Worm of Conscience and Dispair and the Eternity of Torments but this was not essential to the Punishment but did only arise from the Guilt and from the Weakness of the Party that is punished because we cannot work through it otherwise Christ paid the full Price which Divine Justice demanded and so made Satisfaction for us 3. Christ satisfying as our Surety all those which had an Interest in his Death they are set free from the Wrath of God they have a Release from this great Debt owed As when the Ram was taken Isaac was let go so when Christ was taken the Sinner is released and discharged Iob 33. 24. Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom Certainly God will not exact the Debt twice of the Surety and of the Principal Person our Surety having paid the Debt for us therefore we go free And therefore if our Consciences should pursue us at Law we may answer Christ was taken for us He was bruised for our Iniquities and he bore the Chastisement of our Peace 4. Christ hath not only satisfied for the Punishment but he hath procured Favour for us wherein he differeth from an ordinary and common Surety Christ does not only free us from Bonds but also hath brought us into Grace and Favour with the Creator Law-giver and Judg. There 's a double Notion of Christ's Death that of a Ransom for the delivery of a Captive and as a Merit and Price which was given for eternal Life The Death of Christ did not only dissolve the Obligation which lay upon us to suffer the Penalty for the Breach of the Law and so deliver us from the Wrath to come but it was a Price that was given to purchase Grace Favour and Heaven for us which is called Ephes. 1. 14. The purchased Possession Now why must our Surety instate us thus into Favour because Christ was such a Surety as did not only pay the Forfeiture but also the Principal that is he did not only make Satisfaction for the Trespass and Offence which is the Payment of the Forfeiture but also he established a Righteousness answerable to the Law which is the Payment of the Principal and of that original Debt which God first required of the Creature for there 's a Debt of Duty and Service which Christ performeth and establisheth as a Righteousness for us 5. From hence in his Name there is proclaimed Redemption to the Captives Freedom to poor Prisoners that were in Debt and weak and could not acquit themselves And therefore the Publication of the Gospel is compared to the Year of Iubilee Luke 4. 19. Christ came to preach the acceptable Year of the Lord. It relates to the Year of Iubilee wherein all Debts were cancelled it was a Year of general Releasement proclaimed by sound of Trumpet that every Man should return to his Inheritance and all Debts dissolved and done away Lev. 25. 9 10. So Jesus Christ saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the acceptable Year of the Lord that is to proclaim to poor Captives a Release of all Debts and all Bonds which are upon them 6. All those that come to God by Christ are interested in the Comfort of this Offer and Proclamation of Grace and may plead with God about their Discharge from this great and heavy Debt I put it mainly in that Notion those that come to God by Christ because you will find that 's the Description of those whom Christ means to save Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Who are those that come unto God by him Those that in Christ's Name do seriously and with Brokenness of Heart deal with him about a Release and a Discharge To come to God by him it is to come in his Name to plead his Propitiation or his Satifaction as the only meritorious Cause and the Promise of God in Christ to blot out our Offences as the only ground of Hope and as to our selves acknowledging the Debt that is in confessing our Sins and our desert of Punishment with a purpose to forsake them 1. There is required an Acknowledgment of the Debt God stands upon it that his Justice may be owned with a due sense according to the Tenor of the first Covenant For though the Satisfaction be made by another and that by a Surety of God's providing yet God will have the Creature know they are under so heavy a Debt that he will have them feel it in Brokenness of Heart not know it only in a general Conviction but confess our Sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins When we come with true Remorse and confess we have offended so just so holy so merciful a Father it must be grievous to us in the remembrance of it You must not only confess Sin as a Wrong but as a Debt Sin hath wronged God and it is also a Debt binding you over to a Punishment we could never indure nor make God any Satifaction for Therefore David when he would have God's Bond crossed and cancell'd see how he pleads Psal. 51. 2 3. O Lord blot out mine Offences for I acknowledg my Transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Blot it out for I acknowledg it that is I submit to thy instituted Course I submit to the Justice of the first Covenant 2. The Satisfaction of Christ must be pleaded also by a Sinner in the Court of Heaven in a believing manner that there may be an owning of the Surety All Parties that are interested in this Business must consent Now God and Christ they are agreed about the business of Salvation God hath agreed to take Satisfaction from Christ and Christ hath agreed to make this Satisfaction to God All the business now is about the Sinner's Consent or about his ready Acceptation of Jesus Christ and we never heartily indeed consent to this that Christ shall be our Surety and he the Person that must release and discharge this Debt until we look upon him by an Eye of Faith as one that tore the Bond and Hand-writing that was against us The Law is called the Hand-writing that was against us there 's the Bond which was to be put in suit now Col. 2. 14. He hath torn or blotted out the Hand-writing of
and our pardoning of others whether we respect the Persons that are interrested in this Action or the Sâ—bject Matter or Manner and way of doing or the Fruit and Issue of the Action First In the Persons pardoning what Proportion can there be between God and Men the Creator and the Creature God he is most free and bound to none of infinite Dignity and Perfection which can neither be increased or lessened by any Act of ours for him or against him but we live in perfect Dependance upon God's Pleasure are subject to his Command and bound to do his Will and therefore what is our forgiving our fellow Creatures made out of the same Dust animated by the same Soul and every way equal with us by Nature when they wrong us in our petty Interests what Proportion is there between this forgiving and God 's forgiving he that is of so infinite a Majesty his forgiving the Violations of his holy Law And 2ly To the subject Matter that which is forgiven there is no Proportion When we compare the Multitude or Magnitude the Greatness and the Number of Offences forgiven of the one side and the other we see there 's a mighty Disproportion we forgive Pence and God Talents we an hundred Pence he ten thousand Talents Mat. 18. So 3dly the manner of forgiving on God's part by discharging us freely and exacting a full Satisfaction from Christ therefore our forgiving can hold no Comparison with it which is an Act of Duty and Conformity to God's Law And 4thly As to the Fruit and Issue of the Action our Good and Evil doth not reach to God Though our forgiving of others be an Action of Profit to our selves yet no Fruit redounds to God And therefore there being no Proportion between finite and infinite there can be no such proportion between our forgiving and God 's forgiving as that this Act may be meritorious before God Thus it is not brought here as Merit as that which doth oblige and bind God meritoriously to forgive us 2. It is not a Patern or Rule We do not mean our forgiving should be a Patern of forgiving to God So as is taken indeed ver 10 Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven there it implies a Conformity to the Patern But when we say Forgive us as we forgive it doth not mean here a Patern or Rule We imitate God but God doth not imitate us in forgiving Offences And it would be ill with us if God should forgive us no better than we forgive one another God is matchless in all his Perfections there is no Work like his Psal. 86. 8. As God is matchless in other Things so in pardoning Mercy As the Heavens are above the Earth so are his Ways above our Ways and his Thoughts above our Thoughts Isa. 55. 9. And upon this very occasion the Lord will multiply to pardon As far as the Heavens c. This is the greatest Distance we can conceive The Heavens they are at such a vast distance from the Earth that the Stars tho they be great and glorious Luminaries yet they seem to be but like so many Spangles and Sparks This is the distance and disproportion which is made between God's Mercy and ours Hos. 11. 9. I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not Man If God should forgive but only as Man doth it would be ill for Ephraim if he had to do with revengeful Man God acteth according to the Infiniteness of his own Nature far above the Law and manner of all created Beings Therefore it is not put here as a Patern and Rule 3. It doth not import Priority of Order as if our Act had the precedency of God's or as if we did or could heartily forgive others before God hath shewed any Mercy to us No in all Acts of Love God is first his Mercy to us is the Cause of our Mercy to others As the Wall reflects and casts back the Heat upon the Stander-by when first warmed with the Beams of the Sun So when our Hearts are melted with a sense of God's Mercy his Love to us is the Cause of our Love and Kindness to others 1 Iohn 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us that is we love him and others for his sake For Love to God implies that why because he hath been first with us And then it is the Motive and Patern of it In that Parable Mat. 18. 32 33. God's forgiving is the Motive to our forgiving I forgave thee all thy Debt and shouldest not thou have compassion on thy Fellow-Servant In those that have true Pardon it causeth them to forgive others out of a sense of God's Mercy that is they are disposed and inclined to shew Mercy to others But in others that think themselves pardoned and have only a temporary Pardon and Reprieve such as is there spoken of it is a Motive which should prevail with them tho it doth not Nay it is the Patern of our Love to others Eph. 4. 32. Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you in that manner and according to that Example 4. It doth not import an exact Equality but some kind of Resemblance As it is a Note of Similitude not Equality either of Measure or Manner it only implieth that there is some correspondent Action something like done on our part So Luke 6. 36. Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful As notes the certainty of the Truth tho not the exact proportion there will be something answerable to God 2. But positively to shew what respect it hath 1. It is a Condition or moral Qualification which is found in Persons pardoned Mat. 6. 14. For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But ver 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses These two are inseparably conjoin'd God's pardoning of us and our pardoning of others The Grant of a Pardon that 's given out at the same time when this Disposition is wrought in us but the Sense of a Pardon that 's a thing subsequent to this Disposition And when we find this Disposition in us we come to understand how we are pardoned of God 2. It is an Evidence a Sign or Note of a pardoned Sinner when a Man's Heart is entender'd by the Lord's Grace and inclined to shew Mercy here 's his Evidence Mat. 5. 7. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy The Stamp or Impression shews that the Seal hath been there so this is an Evidence to us whereby we may make out our Title to the Lord's Mercy that we have received Mercy from the Lord. 3. It is a necessary Effect of God's pardoning Mercy shed abroad in our Hearts for Mercy begets Mercy as Heat doth Heat Titus 3. 2 3. Shew meekness to all Men for we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient c. There 's none
come in this he doth to prove them to see whether they will look only to outward likelyhood and probabilities or rest themselves upon God's Promise and Alsufficiency or else by Fulness and outward Prosperity to see if they will forget him I confess I do not remember where this is called a trial in Scripture unless there be somewhat in that place Deut. 8. 16. He fed thee with Manna in the Wilderness that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter End Possibly the trial there might lie in this because they had but from hand to mouth or because it was not that Meat which their Lusts craved but that which God saw fit for them But however though Prosperity be not called so yet certainly it is in it self a trial Prov. 30. 9. Give me not Riches lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Lust in us makes it to be a Temptation and the Godly have been often foiled by it and they need learn how to abound as well as how to be abased Phil. 4. 12. They need learn how to avoid the Snares of a prosperous Condition David it was a trial to him while he was wandring in the Wilderness he had such tenderness that his Heart smote him when he cut off the Lap of Saul's Garment while he was chased like a Partridg upon the Mountains wandring up and down from Forrest to Forrest But when he was walking at ease upon the Tarras of his Pallace in Ierusalem then he falls into Blood and Uncleanness And therefore his Estate was a trial and he lieth in it notwithstanding all his former tenderness of Heart until he was roused up by Nathan the Prophet And certainly as to the Wicked it is a very great Temptation judicially inflicted disposed of to them by God's Judgment they are plagued by worldly Felicity and it is part of their Curse that they shall be written in the Earth Jer. 17. 13. And suitable to this purpose God saith Ier. 6. 21. Behold I will lay stumbling-blocks before this People and the Fathers and the Sons together shall fall upon them How doth God lay stumbling-blocks If Men will find the Sin God may with justice enough find the Occasion he will give them some outward Condition that is a Snare to them As we may try a Servant whom we have just cause to suspect by laying something in the way that his filching Humor may be discovered without any breach of Justice so the Wicked that harden their Hearts against God God may give them their Hearts desire and worldly Happiness and so it may cause them to stumble 2. God trieth us also by withdrawing his Grace as in 2 Chron. 32. 31. God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his Heart It is needful sometimes that we should see our Weakness as well as our Strength and how unable we are to stand without Grace that we may be sensible whence we stand and which without Temptation could not so well be 3. God trys us by permitting the Temptations of Satan and his Instruments for surely these Things do not befal us without a Providence Job 12. 16. The Deceived and the Deceiver are his his Creatures and nothing can be done or suffered in this kind without God's Providence See it in Christ's Instance Mat. 4. 1. It is said He was led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil that is led by the Good and Holy Spirit to be tempted by the Evil Spirit So 2 Sam. 24. 1. compared with 1 Chron. 21. 1. God moved David and Satan provoked David to number the People that is God did let loose Satan upon David to accomplish the Righteous Ends of his Providence And many of those Arrows which are shot at us though they come immediatly from Satan's Bow yet they are taken out of God's Quiver God as a just Judg may give us up to Satan as his Minister and Executioner Well then this is one way of God's tempting permitting of Satan to tempt And as Satan so his Instruments God trys us by them Deut. 13. 1 2 3. If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams thou shalt not hearken unto him Why For the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soul God proveth When there are delusions abroad and Errors broached it is that the approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. 19. God letteth loose these Winds of Error and Delusion that the solid Grain may be distinguished from the light Chaff And that he may discover his own People and whether we have received Truths upon Evidence or taken them up only upon Hearsay All these ways may God be said to tempt Now concerning this take these Rules 1. God's tempting is not to inform himself but to discover his Creatures to themselves and others Not to inform himself for he knows our Thoughts afar off Psal. 139. 2. that is he knows not only the Conclusion and Event and management of things near but he knows the very remote preparation aforehand he knows what kind of Thoughts we will have and workings of Spirit As a Man that is up in the Air may see a River in its Rise and Fountain and Course and Fall of it seeth it all at once whereas another which stands by the Banks can only see the Water as it passeth by God seeth all things in their Fountain and Cause as well as in their Issue and Event he seeth all things together therefore it 's not for his own Information But the meaning is therefore doth God try us that what is known to him and yet unknown to our selves that that which lodgeth and lyeth hid in our Heart may be discovered to us That we may not be conceited of more than we have and that the evil which before lay hid and was unseen may be cured when it is discovered And on the other side that Grace may not lye sleeping in a dead and unactive Habit but be drawn out into act and view for his Glory and Praise 2. God's tempting is always good and for good his tempting is either in Mercy or in Judgment In Mercy and so when he tryeth the Graces of his People or when he means more especially to discover the failings of his People it is all Good When he tries the Graces of his People there is no doubt of that When God hath furnished a Man with Grace that he may without any Impeachment of his Goodness put him upon Trial and use Creatures for that end for which he hath fitted them as a Man which hath made and bought a thing may prove it and try the strength of it Or when the intent of the Dispensation is to try their Weakness that 's good also and for good as when a Man tries a leaky-Vessel with an intent to make
Authority over their Hearts yet he exerciseth a tyrannical Power though he cannot rule them yet he ceaseth not to assault them if it were but to vex and trouble them Briefly the Children of God have cause to pray Deliver us from Evil in regard of Satan because Satan hath a hand in their Persecutions and likewise a hand in their Temptations to Sin It is he that instigateth their Enemies to persecute them and it is he that inflameth their Lusts. 1. In stirring up their Enemies to persecute them All the Troubles of the Children of God they come originally from the Devil Luk. 22. 53. This is your Hour and the Power of Darkness We do not read that Satan did immediatly vex Christ and how was that Hour then said to be the Power of Darkness Why by setting his Instruments a-work to crucify him And as he dealt with the Head so with the Members Rev. 12. 12. The Devil hath great Wrath for he knoweth he hath but a short time When his Kingdom begins to totter and shake then he stirs up all his Wrath and inflames his Instruments as dying Beasts bite hardest So Rev. 16. 14. we read of the Spirits of Devils that go forth unto the Kings of the Earth to stir them up against the Saints If you could behold with you bodily Eyes this Evil Spirit hanging upon the Ears of great Men and buzzing into them and stirring them up and the common People and animating them against the Children of God you would more admire at the Wonders of God's Providence that you do subsist O how they are acted by this wrathful Spirit 2. By inflaming our Lusts and Corruptions So 1 Cor. 7. 5. lest Satan tempt you by your Incontinency sets Lusts a boiling either to vex the Saints or to insnare them It is possible he may sometimes prevail with God's own Children to draw them to some particular Act of gross Sin as 2 Sam. 11. 4. as when David defiled himself with Lust that thereby he may dishonour God for by this means the Name of God was blasphemed 2 Sam. 12. 14. Or that thereby he may disturb their Peace for this made David lie roaring Psal. 32. 3 4. his radical Moisture was even wasted and exhausted Or else to Spiritual Sins as Murmuring Repining against God distrust of Providence when under Crosses Or when they are in their Comforts to drive them to Carnal Complacency and neglect of Holy Things disuse of Communion with God Or to inordinate Passions or Spiritual Wickedness such as is not conversant about Carnal Passions or Fleshly Lusts but Spiritual Pride Error and Unbelief Certainly those that have any thing of experience of the Spiritual Life cannot be ignorant of Satan's Enterprizes Well then we had need go to God to deliver us from Evil For outward Evils for the Protection of his Providence for these God hath undertaken Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the Day of Trouble I will deliver thee Satan is in God's Chains he could not enter into the Herd of Swine without leave therefore certainly he cannot get among the Sheep of Christ's Fold It 's the saying of Tertullian If the Bristles of Swine be numbred the Hairs of our Head are numbred therefore you had need go to God Deliver us from Evil that Persecution may not rage over you that he may hedg you in by his Providence Iob. 1. 10. and that he would be as a Wall of Fire round about you As to inward Evils so we go to God for Wisdom and Strength for Satan assaults us both ways by Wiles and Darts when he comes in a way of Violence he comes with fiery Darts but when he doth lie in Ambush there he hath his Wiles to intice us with a seeming Good We 1. Beg Wisdom that you may espy the Wiles of Satan and may not be caught unawares for he is transformed into an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11. 14. Mark the Devil doth not care so much to ride his own Horses to act and draw wicked Men to Evil he hath them sure enough but he laboureth to imploy the Saints in his Work if he can to get one which belongs to God to do his Business therefore he changeth himself into an Angel of Light The Temptation is disguised with very plausible Pretences then a Child of God may be a Factor for Satan and an Instrument of the Devil For instance Would Peter have ever made a Motion for Satan if he had seen his Hand O no the Temptation was disguised to him when he perswaded his Master from suffering He covereth his foul Designs with plausible Pretences Carnal Counsel shall be pity and natural Affection Mat. 16. 22 23. Let not these things be Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee He said unto Peter Get thee behind me Satan Thou art an Offence unto me At another time the Disciples when their Master was slighted and contemned they thought certainly they should do as Elias did call for Fire from Heaven to consume them Luke 9. 54. Revenge will often go for Zeal for God Revenge or storming at Personal Affronts or Injuries done to our selves is looked upon as Zeal then the Disciples may not know what Spirit they are of Many times we are acted by the Devil when we think we are acted by the Spirit of God and that which seems to be Zeal is nothing but Revenge Therefore we had need go to God Lord deliver us from Evil we are poor unwary Creatures that we may not be insnared by fair Pretences and surprised by his Enterprises And thus we beg Wisdom 2. We pray for Strength to withstand his Darts that we may take the Armour of God and withstand the Evil One Ephes. 6. 13. Alas of our selves we cannot deliver our selves from the least Evil or stand out against the least Assault therefore it is God alone that must keep the Feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. Therefore we go to him that we may get his Covenant-strength that we may be strong in the power of his Might to conflict with Satan Well then in regard of the first Enemy of our Salvation the Devil we had need pray earnestly That we may not be prevailed over by his Arts 'T is God alone that can keep us 2 dly The World that 's another Evil which is as it were the Devil's Chess-Board we can hardly move backward or forward but he is ready to attach us and surprize us by one Creature or another and draw us into the Snare therefore it is said Gal. 1. 4. That Christ gave himself for us that he might deliver us from this present Evil World That 's one way of being delivered from Evil when we are delivered from an Evil World It concerns us and it is a great point of Religion to be kept unspotted from the World Jam. 1. 27. The whole World is full of Evils and Temptations and we cannot walk any where but we are likely to be defiled
the Mâ—n that feareth the Lord. It is the Lord's praise tâ—at his Servants are the only and blessed People in the World And this is a wonderful ground of Confidence Think surely God's Glory he will be chary and tender of he will provide for the Glory of his great Name There is nothing God stands upon more than upon the Glory of his Name nothing prevaileth with God more than that If God were a loser by your Comforts if he could not â—ave or bless thee without wrong done to himself we might be discouraged But when you can come and plead with him as Abigail It will be no grief of Heart unto my Lord to forgive thy Servant So it will be no loss to God if he shew Mercy and Pity to such poor Creatures as we are you then may pray more freely and boldly If thy Comforts were inconsistent with his Glory or were not so greatly exalted by it then it were another matter but all makes for the Glory of his Name If our Good and Happiness were only concerned in it there might be some Suspicion but the Glory of God is concerned which is more worth than all the World We are unworthy to be heard and accepted but God is worthy to be honoured It is for the Honour of God to choose base mean and contemptible Things and to shew forth the Riches Goodness Power and Treasure of his Glory Much of our Trouble and Distrust comes only from reflecting upon our own Good in the Mercies that we ask as if God were not concerned in them whereas the Lord is concerned as well as you As the Ivy wrapt about the Tree cannot be hurt except you do hurt to the Tree So the Lord hath twisted our Concernment about his own Honour and Glory Thus the Saints plead God's Glory as an Argument Jer. 14. 7. O Lord tho our Iniquitieâ— testify against us do thou it for thy Names sake They do not tell him what he shall do but do thou that which shall be for thy Glory So Ezek. 36. 22. Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O House of Israel but for mine holy Names sake So Isa. 48. 9. For my Names sake will I defer mine anger and for my Praise will I refrain for thee that I 〈…〉 4. The Duration For ever all Excellencies which are in God they are eternally in God God is an infinite simple independent Being the Cause of all things but caused by none therefore he was from Everlasting and will be to Everlasting Psal. 90. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God If there were a time when God was not then there was a time when nothing was and then there would never have been any thing unless nothing could make all things therefore God is eternally glorious for whatever is in God is originally in himself and absolutely without dependance on any other to everlasting How loosely do Honours sit upon Men Every Disease shakes them out of their Kingdom Power and Glory and within a little while the State Show and all the Command of Earthly Kings will fade away and come to nothing Governours and Government may dye Principalities grow old and infirm and sicken and dye as well as Princes Kingdoms expire like Kings and they like us Psal. 82. 6 7. I have said ye are Gods and all of you are Children of the most High But ye shall dye like Men. But thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal. 45. 6. His Kingdom and Power and Glory they are without beginning and without end Now this is also a ground of Confidence and Dependance upon God Earthly Kings when they perish their Favourites are counted Offenders 1 Kings 1. 21. When my Lord the King shall sleep with his Fathers that I and my Son Solomon shall be counted Offenders When other Governours are set up they and their Children will be found Offenders But our King lives for ever therefore this should encourage us to be oftner in attendance upon God performing it with all Diligence and Seriousness rather than court the Humours and Lusts of earthly Potentates who die like one of the People and leave us exposed to the rage and wrath of others that do succeed them But God is the same that ever he was to all those that ever called upon his Name God is where he was at first I AM is his Name there is no wrinkle upon the Brow of Eternity His Arm is not short that it cannot save or his Ear heavy that it cannot hear Isa. 59. 1. Whatever he hâ—th been to his People that have called upon him in former Ages he is the same still So Isa. 51. 9. Awake awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient days in the Generations of old Art thou not it that hath cut 〈◊〉 and woundâ—d the Dragon God hath done great things for his People he smote Rahab and kill'd the Dragon meaning Phaâ—aoh and God is the same God still his Kingdom Power and Glory are for ever and God will be your God too for evermore Look as this doth encrease the terror of the damned in Hell that they fall into the Hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. God lives for ever to see Vengeance executed upon his Enemies so it is a Comfort to have an interest in the living God that can and will keep you and bring you to Heaven where you shall be with him for evermore that will ever live to see his Friends rewarded Secondly It directeth and regulateth our Prayers 1. It directs us as to the Object of Prayer to whom should we pray but to him that is absolute and above controul To God and God alone not to Angels and Saints To whom should we go in our necessities but to him that hath Dominion over all things and Power to dispose of them for his own Glory Will you think it a boldness to go immediately to God It were so indeed if we had not a Mediator for a fallen Creature can never have the Impudence and wicked Men that have not got an Interest in Christ cannot expect Relief from God but it is no Impudence to come with a Mediator Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need 2. It directs us how to conceive of God in Prayer Right Thoughts of God in Prayer are very necessary and very difficult no one thing troubleth the Saints so much as this how to fix their thoughts in the apprehensions of God when they pray to him Now hereâ—s a direction how we should look upon God Look upon him as the eternal Being and first Cause to whom belong Kingdom Power and Glory We cannot see God's Essence and therefore we must conceive of him according to his Praises in the Word Now take