it rained not on the earth by the space of three yeers and six moneths And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit Samuel having terrified the people for their ingratitude 1. King 17. 18. by thunder and rain in harvest â— Sa. 12.18 was entreated by the people to pray to God on their behalf to withdraw that judgement from them which he did Yet a little neerer to our selves The people in the absence of Moses cause Aaron to make a golden Calf God is highly displeased with them and saith to Moses Ex. 32.10.11.14 Let me alone that I may consume them Moses besought the Lord for them and he was appeased In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen 19.19 and the countrey round about Let by prayer preserved Zoar. Jonah being sent by God denounceth destruction to the great city Ninive The king and the people betake themselves to prayer and repentance Jon 3.4 10 and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not In particular cases we finde Gen. 32 9. Jacob prayed for deliverance from the wrath of his brother Esau and had it 1. Sam. 1.11 Hannah from barrennesse of womb and the Lord heard her By prayer Jer. 40. Jeremiah was comforted in the dungeon and released Dan. 6.22 Daniel saved from the violence of the lyons Job was preserved upon the dunghil Luk. 23 42. The Thief found Paradise upon the Crosse Act. 12.5 And Peter was delivered from prison by the prayers of the Church If any wanted necessaries they prayed to God for them As Jacob for bread Gen. 28.20 and raiment If for wisdom to manage their calling as Solomon he begged 1. Kin. 3 9. and had it in large measure If they lay sick and desired health as Hezekiah 2. Kin. 20.6 upon his prayer to God he had not onely the sentence of death revoked but fifteen yeers added to his life In the new Testament we finde thâ— duty in great estimation Our Saviâ—â— to encourage us not that he had neâ—â— himself oft times used to pray and gave us a rule Luc 21 36 Pray alwayes So did the Apostle Paul 1. Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing And the Fathers and Doctours in the Primitive church gave prayer many encomioms stiling it the key of heaven and practised it oftner then any other religious duty Nay in those times as the best things may in time be corrupted some there were the Psalliam or Euchite that prayed so much that they which should hear of it saith Augustine would think it incredible and were therefore numbred among the Heretiques of that age Their errour grew upon the misunderstanding of those words of our Saviour and of the Apostle of praying alwayes and without ceasing which as the Fathers expound them was that men should allot some time daily for performing the duty of prayer But we wretched creatures a thing much to be lamented in these very times of heavy and bitter afflictions when heaven it self the elements and all creatures else seem to be sensible of them we I say do not so much as think of amendment of life nor seek we to God by prayer but in these extremities have recourse to the arm of flesh and rely upon our own strength and wisdoms them which God being neglected nothing is more vain and helplesse Nay being already stricken Jer 5 3. we have not grieved being almost consumed we have refused to receive correction We have made our faces harder then a rock we have refused to return And as it was in the prophet Esays time Isa 22.12 In that day a day like ours did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth And behold joy and gladnesse 13. slaying oxen and killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Insomuch as God may again take up that complaint which he did long since Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your children they received no correction And it 's no marveile we coming so short in this duty of prayer of those which have gone before us that all the elements conspire against us nor is it wonder if we feel daily the revenging hand of God which prayer only as it were tyes up in greater measure then they felt it Therefore are we much to be blamed for though we conceive that Godâ— judgements lye heavier upon us then upon any Nation of former ages yet we procrastinate and put off from us this wholsome remedy of prayer Our necessities are present why seek we not for present help Do we know whither we shall have time to pray while too morrow how dare we then promise so much to our selves The Parable of the foolish Virgins should teach us to take the present time for none ever escaped unpunished that neglected and let slip the time and opportunity of Gods mercy The Prophets counsell was Seek the Lord while he may be found Isa 35 6. call upon him while he is neer We are daily frighted with many fears and those not causelesse one plague one judgement suceeeds another nor are we free either within or without us from divine vengeance In these extremities what more present remedy or help can we finde then by calling upon God and casting our cares upon him Is any afflicted saith the Apostle Let him pray Jam. 5 13. If crosses dangers sicknesse warre famine pestilence tempestuous weather want or other calamity hang over our heads or befall us what is to be done Let us pray If the sence of our sinnes trouble us as well they may if the fear of eternall death the wages of sin afflict us Let us pray for prayer is the life and soul of the soul and so profitable a duty so necessary that the soul health life it self and all we have depend upon it Then why do we so much neglect it so little regard it why have we not recourse to God by daily and fervent prayers especially in these times when we have more need of his help and succour then ever before The Church is rent and torn the Kingdom distracted and even at the brink of ruine and destruction Can we behold these desolations with dry eyes without bleeding hearts shall we not deprecate Gods anger and imprecate his favour and become humble suppliants to him to pardon our great and manifold sins and to avert these his heavy judgements from us shall the heauens seem to mourn and shall not we shall we not If a man have lost all that he possessed and become blinde lame and infirme this man must either beg or starve and perish Certainly we have lost by our transgressions all the good we had and therewith all the gifts and graces of grace and nature what then remains but that like
beggers we cry at the gate of Gods mercy when all other remedies fail us prayer is onely left us If then we neglect the lifting up of our eyes our hearts our hands to God no marveile if he let loose the reynes of all calamities miseries and afflictions to rush in upon us For the neglect of this duty of prayer the kingdom mourns for neglect of prayer the true worship of God is lost for neglect of prayer we are become a scorn to our neighbours for neglect of prayer the wisdom of our wisemen doth perish Isa 19.14 and the understanding of prudent men is hid for neglect of prayer all vertue and goodnes hath forsaken the land and an inundation of wickednesse hath overflowen it and brought these heavy judgements into it But some may say Object what need these motives exhortations to prayer have we not prayed these seven yeers past have we not spent whole dayes together in this duty yet we finde no ease of our troubles no comfort in our afflictions but rather daily additions to them 'T is true Answ that in these great distractions of Church and common-wealth God hath â—in pleased as it were to hide himself from us and to neglect our prayers But this hath oft times befaln other states and Churches before us How often did David complain of this in his time as we may read in many of his Psalms How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever shall thy wrath burn like fire Psal 89.46 So Psalm 13.1.44.24 88.14 and diverse other places God by the prophets and other his Saints used this metaphore many times in their own cases as Job Job 13.24 Isa 57.17.54.8 Jer. 33 â— Eze. 39 23. Isa 64.7 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy So God by the Prophet as I hid me and was wroth And In a little wrath I hid my face from thee And in Jeremiah I have hid my face from this city And in the Prophet Ezekiel I hid my face from them And lastly Esay on the behalf of the people Thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us For it is the nature and condition of affliction to perswade those that are under it to think that God is absent from them But the reasons why God seems to be so and not to answer our prayers are these among others 1. It is for sinne committed and impenitency following that God seems to leave us 2. Because the prayers we make in the time when Gods judgements are upon us are not framed aright 3. Lastly God seems to the absent and not to hear and answer our prayers according to our expectation for our own good and for causes best known to himself 1. The whole currant of Scriptures may informe us that God never absents himself or hides his face from any person or nation but for sinne and impenitence Moses in his song setting forth the rebellions idolatry and other sinnes of the Jews saith Deu 32 19.20 When the Lord saw this he abhorred them c. And said I will hide my face from them c. So the prophet Zechariah to king Jeash 2. Chr. 24.20 and the people Why transgresse ye the commandments of the Lord that ye cannot prosper because ye have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you God by the wise man tells the wicked Because I have called and ye have refused Pro. 1.24.25 I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsells and would none of my reproof Pro. 1.27 c. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwinde when distresse and anguish cometh upon you 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me Isa 1.15 And God by Esay complaining of the the rebellion of Judah saith When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear you hands are blood So it is in Jeremiah When they fast Jer. 14.12 I will not hear their cry but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence God hides not his face from his friends It is sin and impenitence that is the cause of his absence Esa 64 7.59 2. Thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities saith Esay And your iniquities have separated between you and your God Eze. 39.23 and your sins have hid his face from you And God by the prophet Ezek saith Pro. 28.9 They trespassed against me therefore I hid my face from them He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law even his prayer shall be abomination Jer. 7.16 We may read that God forbad Jeremiah to pray for the impenitent Jews Pray not thou for this people saith he neither lift up cryes or prayer for them 〈◊〉 neither make intercession to me Jer. 7.16 for I wiâ—â— not hear thee The man that was cured of his blindnesse could thell the Jews We know that God heareth not sinners Joh. 9.31 meaning the unrepentant But if any man be so plunged in the security of sinne that he feel in himself no provocations to true repentance his best way to cure this evil is to consider and weigh with himself that he miserable creature hath to do with an eternall and immortall God that sees and hears all things before whom the Angels nor the heavens are clean Job 4 18.15.15 and that there 's no way to avoid his judgement unlesse he seriously repent and enquire carefully into his forepassed life and if he finde himself polluted with many sinnes he may conclude that there are infinite more in him which he cannot see but Gods alsearching eye doth discover and detest And therefore may reason thus with himself If the whole world should applaud my actions and veile my sinnes with the name of vertue yet can I not escape the just censure and judgement of God I must sooner or latter appear before that alseeing and hearing judge and render an accompt of all my evil words and works Why then blush I not why abstain I not from sinne why do I not endeavour with all care and diligence to amend my life Certainly if thus we would do unfeignedly without hypocrisie and call upon the holy Spirit to put us upon and assist us in that good work we should not fear but that our prayers would be heard so that we should never have cause to repent us of this repentance Another cause that God answers not our prayers II. is We pray not aright Saint James is plain for this Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amisse And we may erre and ask amisse both in the matter and the manner For the matter I. we may ask things not onely
unprofitable and hurtfull to us but such as neither stand with the glory of God nor the good of our own souls And in these cases no marvaile if God answer not our petitions We ought therefore to beg such things as are fit for God to give and for us to receive and these are first Spirituall and heavenly And secondly Corporall and temporall 1. The best of Spirituall good things is the Summum bonum the chief good Eternall blessednesse which indeed is the Epitomee of all good things and consists in the fruition of the beatificall vision of God in his glory and kingdom Psal 16.11 There are other spiritualls too that we may lawfully pray for as the knowledge of God of which our Saviour said This is life eternall Jo. 17.3 that they may know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent As also Faith Hope Charity and all other graces of the Holy Spirit These good things we may nay we ought to pray earnestly for 2. Corporall and temporall blessings are health of body deliverance from dangers for food and sustenance peaceable times and many other of this nature and these may be lawfully prayed for yet not without condition For whereas many times they do more harm being obtained then good they must therefore be prayed for with this limitation as farre as they shall conduce to Gods glory and our own salvation But surely we many times ask those things which stand in opposition to both these whereby it falls out that God will not hear us according to our will though he hear us for our good We are like little children many times that will even with tears beg of their fathers things which may do them harm as knives and the like yet their fathers in discretion will not grant them So God who loves us with greater affection then any father loves his children nay more then we love our selves in his divine wisdom consults what is best for our good and denies us those things which we foolishly ask to our own detriment and in his fatherly affection and mercy grants those things which he knows needfull and profitable for us See what Saint Bernard excellently said upon this subject Detriplici modo orois serm 5. in quadrages I beleeve saith he that the Petitions of the heart consists in three things nor do I see what a child of God ought to pray for besides Two of them are temporall the good things of body and soul the third is the blessednesse of life eternall Marveile not neither that I said corporall good things are to be prayed for of God because all corporall are his aswell as spirituall Therefore they are to be expected from him by prayer whereby we may be strengthned in his service Yet we are to pray oftner and more fervently for the wants of the soul that is to obtain Gods grace and the vertues of the soul no lesse are we to do for eternall life where both soul and body will be in perfect blisse Therefore in these three as they are petitions of the heart we are to beware of these things Superfluity in the first Impurity in the second and Pride in the third For many times Temporall things are desired for pleasure vertues and graces for ostentation and some perhaps seek not Eternall life in humility but in confidence of their merits Nor do I speak this but that when a man hath received grace it gives him confidence to pray but yet it becomes him not to place confidence in or by that grace to obtain that he prayes for These graces are so given onely to conferre this upon him to hope for greater things from that hand that bestowed the other Let therefore our prayer for Temporalls be restrained to necessaries Let that prayer which is made for the good of the soul be free from all inpurity and intent onely to the good pleasure of God and let that prayer which is made for Eternall life be in all humility presuming as is said onely upon Gods mercy 2. We may erre also in the manner of Praying many wayes which cause our prayers to become fruitlesse 1. We pray many times coldly and perfunctorily without attending to what we pray for Surely considering that all our safety happinesse and good depends only upon God and that we are to seek for it no where else and that were it not for Gods mercy and goodnesse we should perish for ever We should therefore as as often as we make our addresse to him by prayer cast our selves as it were out of our selves and lay aside all terrene cares and encumbrances which otherwise may hinder and trouble us in performance of that duty But if when we set our selves to Prayer or other Spirituall exercises we become Carnall and suffer evil and foolish thoughts to possesse our mindes suffering our selves to be carried away and our thoughts to wander up and down these prayers are in the sight of God but hypocrisie and abomintion nor can they receive any gracious answer from him for how can we conceive that God will hear us when we hear not our selves Would we have God mindefull of us when we are not mindefull of our selves nor minde that we Pray for And if we Pray thus carelessely is it not expedient that God should shake of this frigidity and extravancie from us by withholding his assistance Qui timide rogat docet senegari A cold and perfunctory Prayer deserves a negative answer 2. What if we Pray without Faith and confidence to be heard doubting of the divine promises so frequently made in Scripture Psal 50.15 Isa 58.9 as Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee And Thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am Mar. 11.24 And What things soever you desire when ye pray beleeve that ye receive them and ye shall have them When our Saviour was importuned by the father of the deaf and dumb childe whom the disciples could not cure Christ told him hearing him say If thou canst do any thing If thou canst beleeve all things are possible to him that beleeveth 9.22.23 That is there 's nothing but Christ can and will do for them that beleeve If I say we doubt of these and the like promises we deprive him of his glory and do what in us lies to detract from his mercy and truth and make God our enemy instead of hearing and granting our petitions Certainly if we beleeve men so often falsifying their words why beleeve we not but distrust God that cannot lie whose promises in Christ are Yea and Amen Heb. 6.18 2. Cor. 1.10 especially considering that his incomprehensible Power and mercy are joyned with his truth It 's the custom among men to confide in those that are willing and able to help us with what sace then can we distrust God so true in his promises so indulgent in