prayer Communion with God is better then all things for which we have communion with him Prayer is better then any worldly thing we pray for This means is better then the end and God to whom we pray is better then any spirituall thing we pray for This object is better then any end It is the highest reward the very wages which the Saints look for in these duties to finde God in them Psal 65. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee Where were these approaches made The next words shew us where That he may dwell in thy Courts we shall be satisfied with the goodnesse of thy house even of thy holy Temple We shall be satisfied Is it any wonder to see a man delight in satisfying goodnesse What is it that any man desires but satisfaction What is heaven but satisfaction The reason why the world is so much desired is because it gives so little satisfaction Men still hope for further satisfaction And the reason why holy things are desired is because they give so much satisfaction The Saints never think they have enough of them because they ever finde enough in them In heaven and heavenly things satisfaction and appetite are perpetually interchangeable We shall be satisfied with the goodnesse of thy house even of thy holy Temple Unlesse carnall men finde satisfaction in their own houses they finde none in Gods Temple-comforts please them not unlesse they may have their fill of Kitchin-comforts And here 's the reason why carnall men and hypocrites who formally approach unto God in these duties are so soon weary of them for unles they receive some outward sensible it may be sensuall advantage some present pay unles they thrive in worldly things they thinke their labour lost and their time too To what purpose is this waste They know not what you mean by the goodnesse of Gods House they understand not this language Hence that cry Isa 58. 2. Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not What was it that troubled them What that God was not neer them No but because creature-comforts and successes were not neer them Prayer brought no money into their purses nor peace into their State Now the Saints are never weary of prayer and fasting though they pine and starve at them because they finde God in them in whom they are feasted with sweet wine and various dishes of delight when the world yeelds them not a cup of cold water or a bit of bread God alone is enough and all him they finde vvhen they finde nothing These heavenly Epicures feed fat and full on Christ and drinke large draughts of the wine of his consolation when they have no more in the creature then Dives had in hell not a drop of vvater to cool their tongues Thirdly If these duties be a drawing nigh to God I beseech you consider whether you intend them so or no. Doe you draw nigh to God when you pray and hear Have you been nigh to God this day We are in the exercise of the point we are speaking of It would be sad if any soul should be farre from God in that duty where the whole businesse is to draw nigh to God It is ill to be absent from God at any time but then worst vvhen vve seem to come into his presence It is possible to have God in our mouths and not at all in our thoughts to have God at our tongues end and our hearts at the vvorlds end A man may be as farre from God at a prayer as at a play As farre from God at a holy fast as at a drunken feast Thus the Lord charged his ancient people Isa 29. 13. This people draw neer me with their mouth and with their lips they doe honour me but have removed their heart far from me So the Prophet Jer. 12. 2. Lord thou art nigh in their mouth but thou art farre from their reins O that such might be awakened out of this sinfull sleep as Jacob out of his naturall and forced to cry out as he Surely God is in this place and we knew it not Gen. 28. 16. If it shall be asked How may vve draw nigh to God I vvould answer these three things about it 1. We must have a right vvay 2. We must have a right staff of strength 3. We must have the right steps to draw neer to God Your vvay your staffe your steps must be considered First If you would draw nigh to God look to your vvay and exercise faith about it The way is Jesus Christ I saith he am the way the truth and the life no man commeth unto the Father but by me Joh. 14. 6. There is no choice of waies to God if we misse one we have missed all The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God Heb. 7. 19. What is that better hope Christ the object hoped for is this hope our hope depends so much on him for the best things that he is our better hope by which with assurance we may draw nigh unto God That 's the Apostles encouragement Heb. 10. 19. Having therefore brethren boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us thorow the vail that is to say his flesh Let us draw neer with true hearts Secondly The staffe of â—â—rength by which vve draw nigh to God is the holy Ghost Edifie your selves in your most holy faith Jude v. 20. Praying in the holy Ghost so we translate others thus Praying by the holy Ghost that is by the power of the holy Ghost For Rom. 8. We know not what to pray as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercesâ—ion for us with groans that cannot be uttered As it is the office of Christ to intercede with God for us So it is the office of the holy Ghost to make those intercessions in us which vve put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad nos laborantes resertur quorum tamen vis omnis ab eâ— spiritu proficiscitur qui ficut nos penitus collapsos erexit ita etiam erectos regit ideoque diciâ—ur ipse vicissim onâ—â— attollere ex altera parte ne sub eo satiscamus Beza up to God All the prayers which prevail with God are formed vvrought and fashioned in our hearts by the Spirit of God There are no prayers in our hearts The prayers vvhich goe to God come from him The burden of prayer as well as that of sin is too heavy for us to bear Therefore it is said in the beginning of the verse The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities The Greek word signifies to help as a nurse helpeth the little childe upholding it by the arm or as a weak decrepid old man is upholden by his staff Or rather The Spirit helpeth together for so much the composition of the
fourty daies in the Mount And had he nothing of God upon him vvhen he came down Yes his face did shine And his story tels us that his vvhole life as a godly man and all his administrations to the people as a wise Magistrate did shine brighter then his face If you draw nigh to God as these duties import you doe raies of heavenly light vvill shine and shed themselves upon your counsels and resolves Every act vvill speak prayer and fasting Who can dwell neer a holy God and be unholy A just God and be unjust A pure God and be an unclean Adulterer A mercifull God and he a hard-hearted oppressour A faithfull God and be a false-hearted dissembler Doe these things look like the engravings of heaven Or doe these persons act as if they had acquaintance vvith God They that pray neer God work neer God Consider vvhat your projectings are vvhat your devisings vvhat your actings and by that you may finde vvhat your prayings have been vvhat your fastings vvhat your humblings Where vve read God in the one vve may be assured there hath been a dravving nigh to God in the other Many men doe but converse vvith man in prayer and therefore they are so like to man proud froward vain earthly carnal self-seeking O that it might once be testified in our lives that vve are a people vvho have prayed nigh the living God Secondly They vvho dravv nigh to God in these duties usually finde their hearts svveetly refreshed both in and after these duties Can a man vvho is cold come nigh the fire and not be vvarmed Can he that is in the dark come into the open Sun and not be enlightned God is the spring of comfort Surely your hearts vvill be comforted if you get nigh to him Can we come to a God vvhose name is the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. God hath ingrost all that commodity into his own hands it is not in the power of any creature high or low to give out comfort they can give riches honours and pleasures but they cannot give comfort you must trade to heaven for that commodity or else your vessel will return empty though you should trade at all the ports on earth I say then Can we come near this God of all comfort and yet finde no comfort to come with and carry away a dead spirit a dead look to be encompast with fear dismaidnes after we have encompassed his throne with prayers or with praises That woman 1 Sam. 1. 18. who was in bitternesse of spirit and in great anguish of soul under her affliction fals a praying and we may see she prayed and drew nigh to God in prayer for she went away and did eat and her countenance was no more sad She found so much refreshing in God that she could not be sorrowfull No sorrow can stand before the God of all consolation What is heaven but the presence of God And what we shall finde in the presence of God there the Psalmist tels us At thy right hand there are joyes and in thy presence there are pleasures for evermore As we shall have nothing but pleasures and joyes in heaven because we are in the presence of God so in a proportion as we get neerer and neerer God on earth we shall have more and more pleasures yea though we dwell in a land of sorrows and though fears encamp round about us drawing nigh to God will turn our water into wine our sorrows into joyes our fears into confidences and assurances for ever He will take off our sackcloth and gird us vvith gladnesse or make us glad while drest in sackcloth He will give us beauty for ashes or make us beautifull in our ashes I grant many a soul hath drawn nigh to God indeed in prayer hearing c. and yet comfort hath been farre off But vve must not argue against a generall truth from a particular temptation The position will stand though every experiment comes not up to it God is a free agent and vvorks electively He is not like the Sun which cannot suspend or diversifie its own operation Thirdly They who draw nigh to God in these duties will draw off from their duties There is a double conversion needfull for a Christian there is a conversion from sin and there is a conversion from duty not from the practice of it but from relying and trusting upon it A man may pray much and fast much and in stead of drawing nigh to God draw nigh to prayer his thoughts may be more upon his prayer then upon God to whom he praies And he may live more upon his cushion then upon Christ But when a man indeed draws nigh to God in prayer he forgets prayer and remembers God He loves to pray but is not in love vvith his prayers He goes forth in the strength of God and makes mention of his righteousnesse only He will not with the Pharisee make mention of his duties also or bring God a reckoning of his prayers and of his fastings I fast twice in the week c. He will not tell the Lord I fast once a moneth I keep extraordinary fasts too he forgets all this Fasts goe for nothing praiers go for nothing and tears go for nothing Christ is all he counts upon nothing but God himself Fourthly They who draw nigh to God in these duties draw off from their selves And they who are neerest God are furthest from self Self-love is the first â—nd most potent lust Self-deniall is the first and most â—otent grace It is an argument that men know little of God and taste lesse of him when they know and taste themselvs so much in all they do When we are asking God we should be denying our selves For he grants â—othing to us in mercy till we deny our selves When man first departed from God he went into himself â—nd as often as he comes to God he goes out of himself No man can be a self-seeker and a God-seeker too Hence it is that the Apostle spends the former part of the Chapter upon this argument even to draw the scattered Jews to whom he wrote off from themselves closing with the duty of this Text as the only expedient to effect it Draw nigh to God As if he had said one touch upon God will cure you of your selves For the clearing of vvhich I shall a little open the context vvhich vvith an eye to this place I forbare to speak of at the beginning The Apostle puts a Question at the first verse From whence come warrs and fightings among you He asks the Question not that he was unresolved but that they might be ashamed But what vvars means he Were those twelve Tribes scattered abroad by persecution as we read in the dedication of the Epistle rallying themselves into regiments and gathering into armies to fight one with another rather then into Churches to worship God together No the vvarre he means was metaphoricall The Roman
any of you Saints believers an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God This is an important dutie and of perpetuall use Suppose a man hath drawn nigh to God in that first conversion even he must draw nigh in daily conversion and get nearer God till he enjoy God fully Besides who is it that slips not fals not sometimes in his way and that sometimes doth not decline and fall back though he cannot being ever upheld by Christ fall away Let me remember such to draw nigh to God turning from those speciall sins by which they have departed from him Consider in what you have most declined from God since you draw nigh to him and let your return answer your departure He that hath departed by pride let him return by humilitie he that hath departed by unbelief let him return by faith he that hath departed by intemperance let him return by sobrietie he that hath departed by malice or envie let him return by love and charity he that hath departed by injustice let him return by doing right to all by restoring where he hath wrong'd and by shewing mercie to the poor And he that hath departed by self-seeking let him return by laying out himself for God his cause and people in all the concernments wherein he is engaged The Lord looks that upon such a day as this we should consider our selves in our with-drawings from him and so draw nigh unto him He is this day waiting for our comming home And as he waits for our personall so for our publike returnings Consider wherein the Nation hath withdrawne from God and let the Nation returne Samael bespeaks all the house of Israel 1 Sam. 7. 3. saying If ye doe return unto the Lord with all your hearts then put away the strange gods and there is one in speciall of which I warn you Put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth Why doth he say Put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth Was not Ashtaroth a strange god And might not that Idol have been wrapt up under the generall name of strange gods Yes Ashtaroth had been involved under that notion but because Ashtaroth was a notorious a famous Idol after which that people had gone a whoring from God therefore that Idol is named Put away your strange gods and be sure you put away Ashtaroth It is a like phrase with that 2 Sam. 22. 1. David spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul Why was not Saul one of his enemies Yes Saul was his chief enemy and therefore he gives praise not only for his deliverance from all his enemies but from such an enemy by name Saul was too bigg an enemy to goe under the generall name of his enemies Thus in the day of our humbling for nationall sins we must draw nigh to God from every sin but especially from our Ashtaroth from that evil wherein we have most dishonoured God Honourable and Beloved You have been pleased sometimes to send out your discovering Ordinances and in them to lay your hands as it were upon some speciall sins of the Nation charging us to confesse and bewail them before the Lord. You have instanced in the superstition and idolatries of the former times now draw the Land nearer God in holy worship you have instanced in the bloud of the Saints shed in the Marian and other persecutions draw nigh unto God in giving all countenance and support to the Saints be so farre from letting their bloud be shed or their bodies be wounded that if their names and reputations be wounded doe as that repenting Jaylour did the corporall wash those wounds and heal the bruises which the scourge of tongues hath made upon them We have heretofore been sensible that the Nation hath departed from God by laying heavy burdens upon the consciences of his people let it be your care we may return by withdrawing those and all other burthens This is the great duty of a Fast Isa 58. 6. This saith God is the Fast I have chosen to undoe the heavy burthen to let the oppressed goe free and to break every yoke Among all oppressions the oppression of conscience is the greatest Other great sins profaning of the Lords-day swearing drunkennesse have been called out by name and arraigned as our Nationall departures from God Let all draw nigh to God by an eminent practice of the contrary duties and graces Our drawing nigh to God in both these conversions namely from a sinfull state and from all sinfull acts are necessarily antecedaneous to our drawing nigh unto God in prayer and fasting for The prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord. How can such draw nigh to God in prayer The person must be accepted before the service can And if a godly man which is possible for a time and under a temptation regard iniquity in his heart David saith it of himself Psal 66. 18. the Lord will not hear his prayer So that there must be a drawing nigh to God by a double conversion a conversion from a sinfull state and a conversion from sinfull acts before we are fit to draw nigh to God in any holy dutie especially in extraordinary humblings of our souls before him And that such a drawing nigh to God is the proper intendment and scope of the Apostle in this place is clear from the words following which seem to interpret this For assoon as he had said Draw nigh to God he adds vers 9. Be afflicted and mourn and weep c. Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up v. 10. Here 's the busines of the text and the busines of the day The Point is That prayer and humbling of the soul is a drawing nigh to God Every ordinance brings us neer to God Levit. 10. 7. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me or in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In propinquiâ— meis my neighbours The Priests under the Ceremoniall worship had the speciall honour of that Title to be called Gods nigh ones He caused them to come neer unto him in holy services Numb 16. 9. Now all the Saints are A holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices â— Pet. 2. 5. they dwell so neer to God that they are all his neighbours But though they alwaies dwell neer God yet they doe not alwaies come neer to God to doe so is a speciall work of grace as to be so is their state of grace Heb. 11. 6. He that commeth to God must believe that God is that is he that praies must believe Prayer is a comming to and a meeting with God Amos 4. â—2 I will doe thus unto thee and because I will doe thus prepare to meet thy God O Israel This meeting may have a double sense it may have the sense of a challenge and the sense of a supplication
Of a challenge and so the Prophet doth as it were dare those people to whom he speaks in the Name of the Lord. The Lord will doe thus unto thee and seeing he will doe so prepare to meet thy God muster thy forces and gather all thy strength harden thy heart and set thy face against God see how thou canst make thy part good against him In that sense the word is used Luk. 14. 31. What King going to make warre against another King sitteth not down first and consideretâ— whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that commeth against him with twenty thousand To meet him is to fight with him to undertake him in the field So saith the Prophet God hath gathered his Army he is comming against you see now if you be able to fight a battell with him Dare you meet him in the field Thus it speaks a challenge It is likewise the language of an humble supplication so most interpret that place seeing the Lord will doe thus O Israel Prepare to meet thy God put on thy mourning weeds take up a lamentation get thy petition ready go forth upon thy knee and beseech him to spare thee So Abigail met David when he marched with a resolution to destroy Nabal and his Family the noble spirited woman came forth and met David what to doe Not to contend with him but to supplicate him 1 Sam. 25. 23 24. Praying is such a meeting with God When Saul prevailed in battell against the Philistinâ—s he had thoughts to prosecute his victorie and attempt them a second time Let us goe down saith he after the Philistines by night and spoyl them and let us not leave a man of them Let us rally again and rout them quite the people answer Doe whatsoever seems good unto thee renew the battell if thou pleasest Stay saith the Priest be not too hasty it is good to aske counsell and a blessing of God before we venture Then said the Priest let us draw neer hither unto God that is let us pray and by Vrim and Thummim enquire of the Lord what his minde is in this thing he expresses that dutie of advising with God under this notion of drawing neer unto God Hence it is that ordinances of worship are called the face or presence of God Cursed Cain complains in such a language Gen. 4. 14. Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth that is from the society of men and from thy face shall I be hid that is I shall not be admitted to offer sacrifice with hope of acceptance any more Hence it is said at the 16. verse that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord that is he went like a man excommunicated and banished from the Church of God and the meetings of his publike worship The worship of the Jews is called an appearing before God Exod. 23. 17. David breathes out his desires in the same expression When shall I come and appear before God Psal 42. 2. And in his song of thanksgiving his spirit rises to this strain 1 Chron. 16. 29. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name Bring an offering and come before him worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse And if so we see first that is a priviledge which most account a burthen Holy duties are lifted at as burthens and the carnall heart cries out What a wearinesse Mal. 1. 13. They are burdens indeed but upon no other true account then as honour is a burden When we pray we draw nigh to God Is it no honour to draw nigh to great Princes and to be admitted into the presence of a King Will any reckon this a wearinesse Were our hearts spiritualized every time we pray we would look upon our selves as admitted into the presence chamber of the King of Heaven and we should say as Jacob at Bethel of every place we pray in This is no other neither better nor worse then the house of God this is the gate of heaven Gen. 28. 17. Prayer is the true Jacobs ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reaching Heaven by which we ascend to God and God descends to us The Queen of Sheba counted it a high favour to stand before Solomon and she envied his servants whose attendance gave them that priviledge When the Apostle had said that circumcision which is outward in the flesh was nothing a Question is started in the next words What then is the advantage of the Jew And what is the profit of circumcision He answers Much every way chiefly Because to them were committed the Oracles of God The Jews kept the records they were Masters of those Rolls which God sent from heaven these occasion'd their frequent recourses to God and advisings with him this made them a people nigh to God this was the chief advantage of the Jew the profit of circumcision Christ saith Mat. 11. 27. that Capernaum was a City exalted upto heaven Why lifted up to heaven The Gospel was preached there which might have drawne them nigh to God this was their exaltation to heaven to be exalted to heaven is the greatest exaltation When that ambitions Monarch Isa 14. 13. would let out his spirit of pride to the utmost and shew the very head of that monster heresolves thus I will ascend to heaven I will exalt my throne above the starres of God Mortall man could not imagine higher then heaven Capernaum was exalted up to heaven she had more then any worldly honour by the enjoyment of that ordinance the preaching of the Gospel While God vouchsafeth any people such meetings as these he exalts them to heaven O take heed your hearts be not found groveling upon the earth take heed you doe not thinke it a hell a pain a vexation to be in God-approaching and man-exalting duties I know wearinesses will be upon the flesh there are weaknesses and distempers there but chide them away entertain them not number it among your choisest priviledges to converse with God Secondly Learne whence it is that the Saints so highly prize and delight in these duties The world wonders what they finde in them where the sweetnesse what the comfort is what secret golden mines they finde in these diggings when themselves finde nothing but burdensome stones and clay The reason is because the Saints draw nigh to God in these duties and they that draw nigh to God cannot but finde great treasures they that meet with God meet with all delights Davids soul was a thirst for God for the living God not for a Kingdome Psal 42. 2. And the one thing which he desired of the Lord was that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of his life It was good being there Why What because of any incomes from the world No this is it That I may behold the beauty of the Lord. If a soul gets a sight of God in prayer it hath enough in
Eagles kept these Doves low enough yet their gall Sunnatural appears in contentions with divisions from envyings and heart-burnings against one another brother is up against brother and Church against Church vvhile all vvere over-busie seeking themselves For are these things from the Gospel or from faith in it Are they from prayer or from drawing nigh to God in it Doth the seed of prayers and tears of faith and the Gospel bring forth such an harvest as this Are they procreative of vvars and fightings No surely The next vvords shew the root vvhence these spring Come they not hence even of your lusts that warre in your members The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Come they not of the pleasures which are in your members is not that their pedegree Lusts are called pleasures by a Metonymie of the adjunct or of the effect because a kinde of pleasure goes with them or flows from them From these pleasures saith he your vvarrs and fightings come your pleasures bring forth unpleasant fruit because these lusts please your selves you care not vvhom you displease so you may satisfie them He presses and upbraids them further vers 2. Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to haves and cannot obtain These killings vvere sutable to the wars and fightings of the first verse yet the Greek vvords to kill and to envy being very neer in sound Some to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occiditis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invidecis mollifie the sense conceive it should be read Ye envy and desire to have not ye kill and desire to have But vve may vvell keep to the letter of our translation For the Apostle speaks as high language of those unbloody wars Gal. 5. 15. If ye bite and devour one another Such contentions are called there man-eating therefore they may be called here man-slaying But vvhat got they by these victories What vvere the trophies of this vvar The text saith Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain Ye oppresse and vex others but ye cannot help your selves and obtain your own desires or as the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est obâ—â—nere quod volumâ—s emphasis bears get your wills The Apostle beats it upon them again Ye fight and warre yet ye have not because ye ask not These men vvere dealing so much for themselves that is for their lusts that they little regarded God they vvere thin in prayer vvhile their corruptions vvere thus thick Ye have not because ye ask not Not ask sure vve doe What do not vve pray he answers vers 3. home to the point I 'll grant ye pray Ye ask but ye receive not because ye aske amisse and so your prayers are ciphers they stand for nothing how many soever you may number them Sinfull prayers are no prayers I tell you your asking is no asking Why We hope vve pray for things lawfull vve pray to God not to an Idoll and vve pray in the Name of Christ Let it be that ye doe so though ye ask not amisse in your praiers in regard of matter object or medium yet ye ask amisse Where 's the fault Here it lies ye are not right in your ends and aims Ye seek your selves in your praiers Ye ask that ye may consume it upon your lusts you would have the blessings of God to bestow them upon your pleasures not to do his pleasure Your lusts pray rather then your graces ye are suckling your lusts while ye are praying ye make provision for the flesh while ye are in spirituall duties Look to this I beseech you for I am afraid most praiers miscarry upon this point How many ask that they may consume what they would receive upon their lusts upon pride and ambition upon vain-glory and the love of preeminence How many would thus lavish out the mercies of God It is possible for a man to pray not only for the things of this world to bestow them upon his lusts but he may pray even for the things of heaven to bestow them upon his lusts He may pray for the ordinances of God and bestow them upon his lusts He may pray for pure ordinances and bestow them upon filthy lusts yea I thinke 't is possible for a man to pray for grace and bestow that upon his lusts not that grace it self can be turned into lust but there is a depth of sinfulnesse in the heart of man which would put the best things to the worst uses However the Apostle is clear that good things may be put to very bad uses while he saith Ye ask that ye may consume it on your lusts He gives them a title fully significant of this in the 4th verse Ye adulterers and adulteresses he means not carnall adulterers and adulteresses but spirituall As if he had said while your hearts cleave to your worldly interests you commit adultery with the world and goe a whoring from Christ For as an adulterer and an adulteresse are made one flesh So a spirit prostituted to worldly concernments is made one with the world Such would make heaven bow to earth and God serve the designs of Satan So he must if he grant their askings who would consume what they aske upon their lusts Take heed of this saith the Apostle consider what ye doe know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God yes we know this very wel but we do not believe our own hearts can deceive us thus grosly that we who pray so often so earnestly so zealously for good things should yet be thought to pray all the while only to get in fewel and provision for our lusts or to keep Fasts that we might have somewhat to feast and fatten our corruptions Some possibly might say as Hazael to Elisha when that Prophet fore told what bloody work he would make when he had the power What are we dogs that we should doe such a thing What we pray for our lusts God forbid The Apostles next words seem to imply such thoughts v. 5. Doe ye thinke that the Scripture saith in vain the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy As if he had said you thinke I charge you too deeply and may perhaps call what I have said an aspersion at least a needlesse jealousie But alas can any man tell vvhat he vvould doe vvith mercies vvith riches vvith power if he had these Friends you know not your own hearts nor of vvhat spirit ye are But doe ye thinke God doth not know your hearts Or that he hath not the true measure of your spirits Doth the Scripture speak in vain that is vvithout cause that the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Where doth the Scripture speak this the Scripture speaks it no where syllabically in so many vvords Sound and clear collections and consequences from Scripture are the voice of Scripture Some thinke the Apostle alludes to that complaint Gen. 6. 5. God saw that the wickednesse of man was great upon
he make The Philistines make warre against me vvhy so they had done many times before Saul I hope vvas not a man unused to the vvars he vvas a valiant and brave souldier as any in the vvorld The bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty from the bloud of the slain from the fat of the mighty 2 Sam. 1. 22. and vvhat now afraid of a Philistine hear vvhat dreadfull vvords follow vvords vvhich shew he had reason to fear not only an armed Philistine but an unarmed childe or a man of straw The Philistines make warre against me and God is departed from me Some might say vvhat if God be departed from thee canst thou not get thy people to thee go muster thy armies double thy numbers fortifie thy cities vvill not all this make up the absence of a God It may be thou maist finde somewhat to supply his room ô no Saul could not do it for he had done all that as the text saith at the 4th ver of the Chapter The Philistines gathered themselves together and came and pitched in Sâ—â—nem and Saul also gathered all Israel together and pitched in Gilboa He had an Army but he had not a God and therefore he dares not engage vvith the Philistines Nothing can supply the steed of God When you open your chests and see treasure there yet if God be not there how poor are ye When you muster your armies and see number and valour there yet if God be not there how weak are ye When ye look upon your counsels and see vvisdom and vvell-grounded policies there yet if God be not there how successelesse must all be Fourthly Though you have done great things yet if God withdraw you shall do no more Man cannot act the same things without the same assistance We must have our daily strength as well as our daily bread from God And the reason vvhy man cannot alvvaies parallel his ovvn actions is because God doth not alvvaies parallel his ovvn assistances After Joshua and the people of Israel had conquered Jericho they fled and fell before the men of Ai a small City a petty Garison The reason vvas God vvas not vvith them as the text clearly implies Josh 7. 12. Samson had done vvonders he had destroyed the Philistines heaps upon heaps he had carried avvay the gates of a Citie upon his shoulders yet at last vvhen his locks vvere cut and his Dalilah said The Philistins are upon thee Samson he awoke out of his sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake my self but he wist not that the Lord was departed from him then strong Samson was weak bound presently by the Philistines and thrust to grinde in a mill I assure you Honourable Senatours though your Armies like mighty Samsons have done great things and have carried the gates of strong Cities yet in their next services they will be but like other men weak and uselesse if the Lord should depart from them Fifthly If the Lord draw nigh to you He will make all creatures draw nigh to you and stick to you or submit to you Creatures shall be glad of their company who enjoy communion with God We may apply to our selves that priviledge specializ'd to the Jews Zech. 8. 23. It shal come to passe that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you O let us come in let us be your associates what was the matter where lay the argument It was not in this you have gold and silver and power no but you have God Let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you Thus shall that nation be courted by the nations round about with whom the Lord is If the Lord be with us we also shall have ten men of the nations about us take hold of the skirt of an English-man and of a Scotch-man with whom we are so neerly joyned and say Let us dwell with you for we have heard that God is with you However we may rest in this assurance that if God draw neer to us men shall or we shall not need them neer us If God draw nigh to us either none shall or we need not fear who shall withdraw from us The Apostle found it so 2. Tim. 4. 16. At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthned me though the world withdraw though neerest friends though godly friends and brethren such were the Romanes to Paul withdraw yet if God stand with us we shall be able to withstand all gainsayers and when we have done all to stand if God be with us who can be against us Though many should attempt to be yet none can their very withdrawings and oppositions shall advantge us To close all take I beseech you two generall deductions from all that I have spoken You see persons converted from a state of sin are nigh to God and converted persons daily turning from the acts of sin are nigher to God such know how to draw nigh to God in every duty And God honours them with this stile his Nighones his Neighbours that 's their priviledge Psal 148. 14. He also exalteth the horne of his people the praise of all his Saints even of the children of Israel a people neer unto him And David of himself Psal 139. When I awake I am still with thee he was at Gods elbow before out of his bed when sleep had over-powred him he was not master of his own understanding and reason and therefore could not make it out But saith he when I awake when my senses are unlockt and my reason at liberty to serve my graces then I am still with thee As soon as I awake my first flight is to God before I am up or ready I make a step to Heaven and there I stay all the day long when I am once there I cannot out again quickly I am still with thee Now if such be nigh to God and still with him let them also be nigh to you let not Gods neer neighbours be wronged if you can helpe it 't is dangerous to wrong a man that is nigh the great men of the earth Kings and Princes he can soon go into the Kings bed-chamber and tell him of the wrong It is dangerous to injure Gods nigh ones they have an advantage of the world they have but a step to Heaven All the Saints on earth live within the verge of the Court of Heaven they are nigh to God and God is nigh to them If the world spit in the face of a Saint he can but turne about and have a kisse from Jesus Christ It is best to be a friend and a good neighbour to those of whom God saith These are my friends and neighbours Secondly See upon what termes this union is made how God and man embrace Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Man in drawing nigh to God must draw off from himself and from his sin but God in drawing nigh to man doth not draw off from himself or from his holinesse When cause and cause party and party are at difference there needs a drawing nigh on both sides if both have erred in parting both ought to part with and bewail their errours that there may be uniting but on which side soever truth and justice stands that side must stand The union must be made by the repentance of the one and by the acceptance of the other In such a case the Prophet is charged Ier. 16. 19. Let them returne unto thee but return not thou to them Let them returne to thee from their filthinesse and iniquity but returne not thou unto them by receding from or giving up the rule of holinesse and purity Prophet stand thy ground for thou standest upon Gods ground while thou art taking forth the precious from the vile That 's the duty laid upon him in the former words and to that he must stand Our present divisions are great parties are I know not how far from one another 't is high time so it is meet for us to judge to joint in and draw neer together Only remember to do it as God and man do it where right and justice are part not with them though that rich and desirable commodity Peace be offered as the price of them Your affairs being thus stated let them returne to you returne not to them To draw nigh upon other terms is to lay the foundation of an everlasting disunion if you put a new peece to an old garment the rent vvill be made vvorse the new vvine vvill quickly break the old bottles and all vvill he lost Very lasting agreements have been made between vvickednesse and vvickednesse between errour and errour but I never read of a lasting agreement between vvickednesse and justice truth and errour such Heterogeneals vvill not incorporate God draws nigh to none but those vvhom he findes holy or makes them so O that vve vvere taught of God this holy skill and heavenly art to draw nigh among our selves as he drawes nigh to us Heaven touches earth not dirty but refined earth God takes man by the hand but his hand yea his heart must be vvashed that 's the Law of this blessed interview as we learn from the later part of the verse Wash your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded FINIS Erratum Page 8. line 16 for draw read drew