stop their ears at his reproof and will not turn from their iniquity Ps 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Though now I be assured of my reconciliation and of Gods favour and love and that he hath attended to the voice of my prayer yet saith he if I should sin against him he would turn away my prayer and refuse to answer my desire God will not speak peace to his Saints if they return to folly Ps 85.8 Then and only then shall I not be ashamed and disappointed when I have respect unto all thy commandments Ps 119.6 As if the Psalmist had said however the swine of the world will come from the mire and in their filth draw nigh to thee yet I would not have the fore-head I would blush be ashamed and confounded to look up to thee unless I laboured to walk before thee in all well-pleasing taking heed to my steps and making thy law the rule of all my wayes It s disputed whether gross sins committed against knowledge and conscience be inconsistent wich grace so that when beleevers thus fall they fall away from the state of grace and justification Now though we dare not go alongst with them who stand for the affirmative yet we may safely affirm that such sins yea and every known and allowed sin whatever be the matter and object and though it were never so latent and hidden and so not scandalous do so far make a breach upon the blessed state of justification as that the priviledges and comforts thereof are suspended untill the sinner renew his repentance and forsake and be ashamed of the evil of his doings What did it profit the poor Prodigal that there was bread enough in his fathers house till he came to himself and arose and went to his father Luk 15.17 18. Believers ye are great heirs you have great priviledges and this is not the least you may ask what you will and it will be given you O! then be not so foolish as to sin away your own mercies But though these two be necessarily required and the success of prayer doth very much depend upon them yet they are remote and as it were indirect conditions and qualifications of prayer as belonging rather to the person then to the duty it self and being required rather in him who prayeth then in prayer it self as any cause part property or effect of it But now we come to speak of those requisits which have a more immediat influence upon and reference to this performance 3. Then if thou wouldst pray acceptably and successfully labour to maintain a praying frame and disposition in thy heart 3. Qualification and let not thy lusts or worldly cares deaden and extinguish that live-coal which must inflame thy sacrifice And thus some interpret the exhortation to pray alwayes and without ceasing Eph. 6.18 1 Thess 5.17 as if thereby were commended to us to keep our heart in a continual fitness and readiness to approach to God and present our requests to him and it is granted on all hands that that is implyed in the words though they hold out some more as shall appear Part 3. For how can he pray alwayes supposing that universal particle only to import all seasons and occasions who doth not constantly preserve this praying temper and disposition and who is not alwayes fit and in readiness to go about the duty may not a call and fit season triste with his unfitness and indisposition when the Instrument is out of tune the Musician cannot play or he will make bad melody You will say but Ah! how shall that little coal be kept in it being exposed to so many storms and blasts both from within and without Ans What we are to say Part 3. concerning the cure of deadness and wandring thoughts in prayer may be helpfull for removing and with-holding unfitness and indisposition to pray and now we would only commend these three preservatives of this good disposition and remedies of an evil one viz. 1. Exercise 2. Meditation 3. Watchfullness of which in the following requisite The fourth previous condition and it hath yet a more immediat and actual influence upon the duty then any of the former is preparation 4. Qualification the work is high and great it is difficult and of much concernment we have much lying at the stake and of our selves we are unable and ready to miscarry we had need then to (u) 1 Pet. 1.13 gird up the loins of our mind to call to our (x) Ps 103. soul and all that is within us to make ready for the work to bring in provision for it and to look about us but especially above us for assistance and supply and to improve that word Psa 10.17 and say Lord prepare my heart that thou mayest cause thine ear to hear We have to deal with him who is of (y) Job 37.22 terrible majesty and who must be (z) Levit. 10.3 sanctified in all them who draw nigh to him in any point of worship and therefore we would take (a) Eccl. 5.1 heed to our steps while we are approaching the throne The very pagan Priests before they did offer their material sacrifices to their idol-gods would make some kind of preparation by purging and (b) Hence the proverb accedere ad rem illotis manibus when we go about any husiness without due preparation washing their body especially their hands and feet and by abstinence from diverse kinds of meats and shall we dare to offer up spiritual sacrifices to the true God without pre-meditation And if we would be at some pains before hand to prepare our hearts the work would prove more 1. easie 2. sweet and 3. successfull Our (c) An heavy and slow stying bird Buzzard-like hearts cannot instantly get upon the wing and rise up from the world in which they are often so deeply plunged without more ado and fly up to heaven nay as it is harder to raise a great bell then to ring it after it is up and brought in motion So often it is more difficult to raise up the heart and to prepare it for spiritual duties then to perform them when it is brought to a heavenly frame and if we could alwayes maintain that heat we needed not be at the pains to blow at the coals for recovering of it But Ah! our stony hearts are no sooner removed from the fire but by degrees they return to the r native coldness and therefore whatever other means we make use of for preserving a praying disposition and for fitting and preparing our selves for that solemn work we would not suffer the heart to be too much cooled and deadned through (d) Constant and frequent exercise the first branch of preparation By doing we are fitted to do and to do better with greater facility dis-use and too long biding away from the place where fire from heaven useth to descend If the
clamours and accusations of the judge within and for the most part a little will do the turn some few outward performances without life and affection the popish opus operatum if the work be done no matter how it be done from what principle upon what motives and to what end Thus Paul before his conversion was a great zealot conscience did press him to do many things upon the matter good and he verily thought with that Ruler Luk. 18.21 that he had perfectly kept the whole law and lacked nothing Act. 22.3 Gal. 1.14 Though then he was as afterwards when his eyes were opened he professeth a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious 1 Tim. 1.13 O! but the Spirit enlargeth the heart and makes us with him Ps 119.6 have respect unto all Gods commandments he moveth to good and to all good without any reservation or limitation and enableth us to do and to do well and especially to look to the inward frame and carriage of the heart as knowing that to be the first thing the Lord asks for and mainly regardeth Prov. 23.6 c. 3. Albeit sometimes there may be a flash of impetuous violence and fervency as in him who riding post for a kingdom said (p) 2 King 10.16 come and see my zeal for the Lord yet (q) Natural motions to good are 1. rare and not usual 2. they are weak and 〈◊〉 faint 3. they are transient and quickly gone ordinarily and habitually and when such fits which are but evanishing flashes are past the stirrings and motions of an unrenewed heart are faint weak and remiss a little blast will blow them away how small a temptation did make that great zealot embrace Jeroboams calves and turn aside from the law of the Lord ver 31. A little trouble and difficulty loss hazard or danger will out-cry a natural conscience and either stop its mouth or prevail against its clamours thus Pilat though convinced of Christs innocency and desirous to set him at liberty will rather deliver him to be crucified then lose the peoples favour his conscience soon yielded to their importunity the warning of a natural conscience is transient and soon choaked like to Ephraim and Judah their goodness which was (r) Hos 6.4 as the morning cloud and the early dew which at the approaching of the Sun will quickly vanish and pass away O! but the Spirit enableth us to stand fast and be constant and immovable in the day of temptation being in nothing terrified by our adversaries and to obey the exhortation Phil. 4.1 Phil. 1.27 28. 1 Cor. 16.13 c. A proof whereof we have in that cloud of witnesses who under cruel mockings scourgings bonds c. obtained a good report Heb. 11. The Spirit fills the heart with (Å¿) Heb. 6.18 strong consolations as an antidot against strong temptations and by the power of his might out of weakness we are made strong Heb. 11.34 2 Cor. 12.9 Yea when the quickning presence of the Spirit is withdrawn yet his assisting and supporting presence continueth without change and alteration except in some extraordinary cases procured by our pride sloth c. in which there is as it were deliquium gratiae the new man is cast in a sownd and yet if a discerning Physician did feel his pulse he would find some motion the man is not quite dead his soul is in him the fountain of life is not yet altogether stopt the seed of God yet remaineth in him 1 Joh. 3.9 But during that fit of lethargy the old man rageth and tyranizeth improving that advantage to the utmost and like that dumb devil Mark 9.17.20 22. he often teareth the man and casteth him into the fire and the water to destroy him but the Lord at length pitieth him and as Christ there ver 25. rebuketh the foul spirit and restores the captive to his former liberty but for ordinary the Lord doth not with-draw the assisting yea and in some measure quickning yea even when he doth with-hold the comforting sealing and witnessing influence of his Spirit therefore the Saints stand when others do fall away their leaves are alwayes green and they being planted in God's orchard and from time to time watered by his hand they constantly bring forth fruit in all seasons whileas brambles seeming to blosom for a season shall quickly wither and decay Psa 1.3 4. What though the Saints be not alwayes alike enlarged in duty and have not the same quickning comforting and ravishing manifestations and influences Yet alwayes they have what is necessary to life and motion and they are still advancing and going forward towards their home and it is an evidence the sails were filled with a kindly wind when the Vessel without interruption though not alwayes equally is carried on till at length it arrive at the desired haven But the whirle-wind that bloweth from a naturall conscience though it may impetuously fill the sails and drive the Vessel by a confused motion yet it carrieth it not on towards the harbour but after much tossing too and fro the ship may be as far from the port as before that blast did come and so though it may trouble and molest yet it doth not help the passenger but he seldom meeteth with such a storm which usually ariseth from some extraordinary occasion and when it cometh it is quickly over and gone 4 The motions of a natural conscience are ill seated and placed as strangers they are admitted to the utter court but they are not taken in to the parlor they may have some room as common trash in the house but they are not like the jewels laid up in the cabin as weeds they may grow without the hedge but they are not taken in to the garden they fleet in the understanding and get a candle set down before them there and are attended by the practical judgment and the sentence of the conscience but though they come to the heart and stand at the door and knock yet they cannot get entrance the will and affections take up arms against them and hold them at the door and thus though they come from within yet in some respect they may bâ— called violent and unnatural the byass and inclination of the heart and will which is the great soveraign and sord of our microcosme is against them they are not unlike the faith of devils which maketh them tremble Jam. 2.19 For 1. as to their original and rise they do not proceed from a kindly principle but from slavish fear conviction and the challenges of conscience awakned by some outward rod or threatning c. As thus they come before they be sent for they rush in without the consent of the will Multitudâ—s are ready here to mistake and to esteem the light of conscience to be the choice and inclination of the will thinking that they love God and the beauty of holiness because the practical judgment doth dictate that God is the most lovely object and grace most
had put off her coat and couâ—d not put it on she had washen her feet and would not defile them therefore Christ withdrew his Spirit and departs and when she laying to heart and repenting of her folly sought him could not for a while find him she called but he gave her no answer Cant. 5.2 3 6. Thus also while the Spirit of God cryed to Israel and they would not hear and testified to them both by his servants the Prophets and by his motions and inward suggestions but they would not hearken nor obey he withdrew and gave them up to the lusts of their own heart since they would not follow his counsel and directions he left them to themselves and to follow their own counsels Psa 81.8.10 11 12 13. But secondly though the spouse be not so incivil and unmanerly as to hold Christ at the door yet if she do not welcom him and give him entertainment suitable to his worth and kindness his Spirit will not stay if thou dost not make ready and prepare the heart to receive him he will not stay in any other room if the affections be not enlarged and roused up to wait and attend him he doth not value the empty complements of the fancy and imagination if the will which is the mistris and supreme do not welcom him he regardeth not the attendance of the inferiour faculties if thou be in a spiritual lethargy when the Spirit cometh to visit thee if thou meet him with a dead and dull (c) See Sect. 2. heart if thou be fearless of his terrible majesty if thou keep not a due distance casting off that filial reverence and tender respect which is due to so great and compassionat a Lord he will depart and forsake thee res delicatula saith an ancient est Spiritus Dei ita nos tractat sicut tractatur the Spirit of God is tender and sensible of all the affronts and injuries we offâ—r to him and will deal with us accordingly if we dishonour him he will afflict us and lay us low he will go away and then our (d) If the glory departed with the Ark which was but a symbol of Gods presence 1 Sam. 4 21. far rather when the Lord himself departs glory departs if we do not welcom the Spirit with the whole heart and entertain him with suitable and enlarged affections he valueth not our empty profession and vain oblations Luke-warm Laodiceans will be spued ous of his mouth Rev. 3.16 these who would not (e) Ps 81.10 open their mouth wide to receive his comforts shall have their heart filled with his terrours and shut that it shall not receive his influences But thirdly though there be not a total deadness or laziness though there be some life activity and diligence yet if there be a decay of love and zeal if we do not so cherish and entertain the motions of the Spirit as formerly this may grieve and quench the Spirit if love wax cold and if there be a decay of respect and affection that will bring on some sort of distance between married persons and will hinder friends from conversing so frequently and familiarly together and for this the Lord threatneth not only to remove the presence of his Spirit but also the candelestick and outward ordinances which were the means of conveyance of the Spirit from Ephesus Rev. 2.4 5. because thou hast left thy first love c. As the Spirit may thus be quenched negatively and by omission So 2. positively and by commission as 1. when we prostitute and subject the gifts of the Spirit his work and interest to our selfish and carnal ends desiring a name and taking up a porfession of godliness that with (f) Act. 8.9.19 Simon Magus we may seem some body when we make piety a cloak to cover our pride covetousness c. or use it as a stirâ—op whereby we ascend to some high place and station in the world c. 2. When we have low and undervaluing thoughts of the gifts and graces of the Spirit though they have some room in our estimation and affection yet if we prefer other things unto them not prizing them according to their worth and excellency nor regarding as we ought the condescension and kindness of the giver we dishonour and grieve the Spirit and he may justly take away those love-tokens thus when we will not lose our favour with man our moyen and interest with the creature our name place and possessions for his truth ordinances c. yea when we so far undervalue these precious things as to be ashamed of them before men when not only fear but also shame will make us dissemble our profession and conceal our graces duties c. may we not be afraid lest as the (g) Luk. 9.26 Son will be ashamed of such when he cometh in his glory So the Spirit when he cometh to manifest himself in the ordinances of life But 3. when not only his gifts and graces his love and his kindness are undervalued but also his commands and authority are despised his motions and sweet insinuations are choaked and opposed while as the contrary suggestions of Sathan the enemy are entertained cherished and cheerfully obeyed must not the Spirit be much displeased and highly provok't with such an indignity would an earthly King endure such an affront nay what friend is he who seeing thee but slight his counsel entreaty and request while thou didst welcom his enemy and gratifie him in what he desired could digest such a disparagement and indignity And 4. so much of illumination which is the work of the Spirit light knowledge and conscience is choaked and opposed by the sinner whatever be the particular transgression so far the Spirit is dishonoured and disparaged and provok't to depart and withdraw nay in every formal disobedience viz. when the command and counsel of God is known there is much not only of contempt but also of rebellion and what will provoke if that do not And thus albeit for distinctions sake we did put a difference between sins some of them being more directly against the Spirit his work and office that being as it were their object yet there is no known sin which may not be said to be against the Spirit of God and his work And thus we come to the second sort of provocation whereby the Spirit is not so directly opposed and quenched his peculiar office and work not being the matter and object of such sins albeit it be (h) The work of the Spirit is thus opposed quasi in obliquo indirectly and as a concurring circumstance but not in recto quasi objectum opposed and choaked by the sinner and here we have a large field if we would come to particulars but the (i) Gal. 5.19 works of the flesh are manifest and their opposition and contrariety to the Spirit of grace and holiness is no less evident Gal. 5.16 If we (k)