119. 2. Use For terrour to the wicked that God whom they hate shall be their judge p. 190. 3. Use To learne in all calamities to looke up unto God p. 191. 2. Doct. Sinne and disobedience against the Law of God is that which brings downe punishments and judgements upon a Nation Church or People ibid. Use 1. To discover the weaknesse of our Land in what a poore condition it is by reason of sinne p. 193. 2. To shew who be the greatest Traytors to a Kingdome p. 194. 3. To teach all of us to set hand and heart Prayers and tears a worke against sinne p. 195. Especially it concernes those that are in places of Authority p. 197. 3. Doct. The Lord often times brings fearfull and unavoydable judgements and punishments upon his owne professing people p. 200. Foure signes of Judgement a comming 1. When the Ministers of God with one voyce foretell judgements to come p. 202. 2. When sinnes of all sorts doe abound ib. 3. When the Divell and wicked men cast in bones of dissention p. 203. 4. When all mens hearts begin to faile p. 204 Three Directions what is to be done in such times 1. Let us shake off the love of all things here below p. 206. 2. Let us lay our heads upon the block and be willing that God should doe what he will with us p. 208. 3. Let us pray and cry mightily to God before we dye even all the time we have to live for mercy peace and truth ibid. The Church of England like the ship of Jonah p. 209. The Authors Admonition to the People ib. p. 210. c. More then ordinary Faith requisite for these times of danger p. 211. 212. c. A DISCOURSE OF the nature of prevalent Prayer together with some helps against discouragements in Prayer LAMENT 3. VER 57. Thou drewest neare in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not THis Book of the Lamentations doth plainely shew what miseries and distresses sinne is the cause of Now this people of the Jewes because of their Idolatries their contempt of Gods Ordinances their slighting and misusing the Prophets c. Their Cities were taken the Temple burned their liberties confiscated themselves banished out of their countrey and deprived of the ordinances of their God and the signes of his presence before they were rebellious but now they sought God a long time they prayed but God would not heare In so much that many poore soules amongst them were discouraged and almost ready to despaire That had not the Lord put in some incklings of hope they had utterly fainted Now whilst these poore soules were praying and crying and groaning and now ready to give over for discouragement that God will not hear them presently the Lord flings in comfort and beckens to their hearts not to be discouraged but to pray on and feare not Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not the words containe in them three properties of effectuall prayer First the unsatiablenesse of it till it bee heard Secondly the sensiblenesse of it whether it be heard or noe Thirdly the supplies it hath from dangers and discouragements that it is in First the unsatiablenesse of it All the praiers of this people though they had beene of many yeares yet they counted them as the prayers of one day in the day that I called upon thee They account all their thousands of supplications and prayers as one suite never had they done their prayers till God did heare them Secondly the sensiblenesse of it where by it is able to know whether God doe heare it or no Thou drewest neere in the day that I called upon thee Thirdly the supplyes it hath against dangers and discouragements God slings in comfort into their hearts giving them incklings of hope to support them agaynst their discouragements thou saidst feare not from the first of these observe That an effectuall prayer is an unsatiable prayer A man that prayes effectually sets down this in himself as his first conclusion never to cease nor to give over praying till he speed This is the first and prime thing that a godly heart lookes at as David in his prayers He begins in this manner Heare my crie O God attend unto my prayer Psal 61. 1. So Give eare unto my prayer O God and hide not thy selfe from my supplications Psal 55. 1. Hear my voyce O God in my prayer Psal 64. 1. As if he should say Lord now I come to call upon thee now that I come to thee to begge these and these graces that my soule wants I beseech thee to heare me for I am resolved never to give over my suit never to give thee rest but for to continue my prayers and supplications till thou give a gratious answer to my soul and heare me This is the first and prime thing that the soule looks after it being the very end of prayer to be heard it is not with prayer as with Oratory the end of oratory is not to perswade but to speake perswasively for a man may use all the perswasions that may be and use all the perswasive arguments that the wit of man can invent and speake as cuttingly as perswasively as may be and yet the heart may be so intractable as not to be perswaded it is not so with prayer The end of prayer is to prevaile with God Beloved there is difference between the end and office of prayer the office of prayer is to pray the end of prayer is to prevaile There is many a man that doth the office of prayer and yet never gets the end of prayer A man hath never gotten the end of his prayers till he hath gotten that he prayed for It is not with prayer as with a Physician that may give the best physick under heaven and yet the Patient may die under his hands and therefore one gives counsell that a Physician never meddle with a desperate man But if the soule be an effectuall suitor with God it can never faile of its suite because it is an unsatiable Suitor that never leaves his prayer till it terminates the end of it I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill Selah Jerom translates it for ever Psal 3. 4. never doth a child of God pray but he prayeth so as that his praier and Gods eare may be joyned together I cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard me This also sheweth how the Prophet cried and praied namely so as his crying and Gods hearing were coupled together But some may object How can a Object man be unsatiable in his praiers til he speed must a man be alwaies a praying God calls men to other duties of his worshippe and of his owne particular calling after morning I must have done till noone after noone I must have done till night whether God heare me or no must I be alwaies a praying till I speed
against earthlines and worldlines and art earthly and worldly still thou hast praied against security and deadnes of heart and lukewarmenesse in Gods service and art lukewarm dead hearted and secure still to what end are all thy praiers when thou enjoyest not the end of thy praiers to what end is plowing of thy ground if it be not fallow when thy plowing is done to what end is the worke of thy servant if thy businesse be not done and dispatched when all is done As good never pray as pray to no end as good that thou never hadst begun to pray as to cease and to give over thy praiers before thou hast obtained the grace thou prayest for The prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. that is the praiers of a wicked man that continues in his wickednesse when his praiers are done his praiers are an abomination to the Lord but the praiers of the upright though he were before he praied never so wicked yet if it be the praier of an upright and godly man when his praiers are done that his praiers rid him of his sin and make him an upright man his praiers are Gods delight Beloved many pray against distrust in Gods providence Infidelity in Gods promises Impatiency under Gods corrections c. and yet have never the more trust and affiance in God never the more patience under the hand of God all these praiers are endlesse Secondly thy praiers are fruitlesse to what purpose is a beggers begging of an almes if he be gone before the almes be bestowed his begging is fruitlesse so all thy praiers are lost if thou art gone from the Throne of grace before grace is given thee for if such a praier be endlesse then is it also fruitlesse it will never do thee any good what is a fruitlesse tree good for but to be cut down what is a fruitlesse Vine good for but to be burned So all thy praiers are lost all thy beginnings of grace are lost we know saith the man that was borne blind John 9. that God heareth not sinners we know it Why may some say how do you know that God heares not sinners why we know it by ezperience by examples A drunkard prayeth to God to cure him of his drunkennes yet he doth not leave his ill company all the world may see that God hears not the drunkards praier because he cures him not but lets him go on in his sin and so for all other sins seest thou a man goe on in his sinnes thou mayest see that God heareth not his praiers if a man should be sicke on his death bed and send for the Physicians and Apothecaries in the Country and send for his Father Mother and for all his friends to come to him to minister to him yet I know he is not cured by them so long as I see his deadly disease remaines upon him so if I see a mans pride hypocrisie security deadnesse of heart his lust anger c. lie upon him notwithstanding all his praiers I know God heares not his praiers he prayes to be cleansed from his sinnes and to be purged from his lust and to be redeemed from his vaine conversation if now God let his sinnes continue in him and lets him goe on in them we see plainely God heares not him O what a pittifull and miserable case are such men in that pray and pray and yet all their praiers are endlesse and fruitlesse is not that man in a pittifull case that all physick all cost and charges is lost upon him when his eating and drinking his sleeping and winding and turning from this side to that side do him no good do we not say of him that he is dead man so if a mans praiers and supplications to God be endlesse and fruitlesse that man must needs be a dead and a damned man so long as he goeth on in that case Now we come to the second part of the Text the sensiblenesse of the godly soule whether it speed or no the soule that praies aright that praies unsatiably it is able to say the Lord doth heare me the Lord doth grant me the thing that I praied to him for Thus saith Jonah I cried unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardst my voice Jonah 2. 2. How could Jonah say God heard his voice if he had not known it therefore he knew it But against this some may object How can this be how can the soule Objeâ—â—â— know that God heares it we have no Angels nor voices from Heaven now to tell men as the Angel told Cornelius that his praiers were accepted and come up before God or to say as Christ to the woman in the Gospell Be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee I know God heares me with his All-hearing eare and therefore I have a good beliefe in God but how shall I know that God heares my praiers in mercy so as to grant that I pray for There be fixe wayes to know whether Answ the soule shall speed in prayer yea or no. The first is the having of a Spirit of further and further praying When God gives the soule a further and further ability to pray when God opens a way for the soule to the Throne of grace and gives him a free accesse to the gate of mercy and a spirit to hold out in prayer It is a signe that God meanes to hear it When a Petitioner hath accesse to the King and presents his Petition If the King imbolden him in his speech and let him speak all that he would speak it is a signe that the King meanes to grant that man his petition because otherwise the King would never have endured to have heard him so long but would have commanded him to be gone So it is with the soule at the Throne of grace if it come with a petition and prayer to God if God dispatch the soule out of his presence so that the soul hath no heart to pray nor to continue its suite but praies deadly and dully and is glad when he hath said his prayers and hath done it is a fearefull signe that God never means to heare that mans prayers but if thou praiest and praiest and hast not done in thy praiers but God by casting in a spirit of prayer and zeale and fervency in prayer imboldens thy heart in its petitions it is a signe that God will heare thee and grant thee thy prayers Blessed be God saith the Prophet that hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me How could the Prophet say that the Lord did not turne away his mercy from him How because he turned not away his prayer from him Many Expositors expound it of not turning away his prayer from his heart as if he should say Lord thou continuest my heart to pray thou hast not taken away my
William Fenner Rector of Rochford B D sometimes fellow of Pembrooke Hall Aetatis 45 Aº 1649. W Hollar fec John Stafford excudit THE SACRIFICE OF THE FAITHFULL OR A TREATISE shewing the nature property and efficacy of Zealous Prayer together with some Motives to Prayer and Helps against discouragements in Prayer To which is added seven profitable Sermons 1. The misery of the Creature by the sinne of man on Rom. 8. 22. 2. The Christians imitation of Christ on 1 Ioh. 2. 6. 3. The enmity of the wicked to the light of the Gospel on John 3. 20 4. Gods impartiality on Esay 42. 24. 5. The great Dignity of the Saints on Heb. 11. 28. 6. The time of Gods grace is limited on Gen. 6. 3. 7. A Sermon for spirituall Mortification on Col. 3. 5. By William Fenner Minister of the Gospel Fellow of Pembrok Hall in Cambridge and Lecturer of Rochford in Essex LONDON Printed for John Stafford and are to be sold at his House over against Brides Church in Fleet-Street 1649. To the Christian Reader HAving been informed upon very good grounds that the former Sermons of Mr William Fenner have found good acceptance both in regard of the worthinesse of the Author and also in regard of the usefulnesse of the Sermons I could not but give my approbation to these ensuing Sermons of the same Authour and desire that they may find the like acceptance with all Godly wise Christians and that they may become profitable to the Church of God Imprimatur EDM. CALAMY The CONTENTS of the first Treatise on Lament 3. 5. 7. THE opening of the words in which are three properties of effectuall Prayer pag. 1. 1. The unsatiablenesse of it till it be heard 2. The sensiblenesse of it whether it be heard or no. 3. The supply it hath against danger and discouragement p. 2. 1. Doct An effectuall prayer is an unsatiable prayer p. 3. Quest Must a man alwayes pray Ans A man must give over the act of prayer for other duties but he must never give over the suit of Prayer p. 5. Rules to know whether our Prayers be unsatiable or no. 1. It is an earnest begging Prayer p. 6. 2. It is constant Prayer p. 8. A godly mans Prayer is not out of his heart till the grace he prayed for be in p. 9. 3. It is a Prayer that is ever a beginning ib. 4. It is a proceeding Prayer it windes up the heart higher and higher ibid. 5. It is a Prayer that purifieth the heart p. 10. It is more and more fervent p. 11. And more and more frequent p. 12. It will take time from lawfull recreations and from the lawfull duties of our calling p. 13. And it will add◠humiliation and fasting to Prayer p. 14. Use To condemne those who pray for grace and yet sit downe before grace is obtained p. 15. Such Prayers are 1. Endlesse p. 16. 2. Fruitlesse p. 17. 2. Doct A godly soule is sensible of Gods hearing or not hearing his Prayer p. 19. Quest How can the soule know whether it speed in Prayer or no Answ 1. When God gives a soule further and further ability to pray it is a signe that God heares it p. 20. But if the soule have no heart to continue its suit it is a signe that God never meanes to heare that mans Prayer p. 21. 2. The preparednesse of the heart to Prayer is a signe that God means to heare p. 21. 3. Gods gracious looke is a signe that he will heare for sometimes God answers his people by a cast of his countenance p. 22. 4. The conscience of a man will answer him whether God heares his Prayer or no. p. 26. But a mans conscience may be misinformed p. 27. A wicked man may have a truce though no true peace in his conscience p. 28. 5. The getting of the grace that a man prayes for is a signe that God heares his Prayer p. 29. But God may give many temporall blessings and common graces yet not inlove but in wrath ibid. 6. If a man have Faith giuen him to beleive it is a signe that God heares him p. 30. Good works are good signes of Faith but they are but rotten grounds of Faith p. 31. Object Every Promise runs with a condition ibid. Ans 1. The Promise is the ground of Faith and the way to get the Condition p. 32. 2. Faith is the enabling cause to keep the Condition p. 33. Two things doe much hurt in Prayer 1. Groundlesse incouragement 2. Needlesse discouragement p. 36. 3. Doct. God would not have any Christian soule to be discouraged in Prayer p. 39. A definition of discouragement ibid. 4. Reasons 1. Because discouragement hinders the soule in prayer p. 42. 2. Discouragement takes away the strength of the soule in Prayer p. 43. 3. If we have fearfull apprehensions of our sins so as to thinke they will never be forgiven we can never pray aright p. 45. 4. If we have any secret despaire we can never pray to purpose p. 46. There is a double desperation 1. Of infirmity which draws the soul from God 2. Of extremity which puts life into a mans Prayers and endeavours p. 47. A man never prayes well till he feeles himselfe undone p. 49. We should take heed of discouragements for 1. Discouragements breed melancholinesse in the soule p. 53. 2. They breed hard thoughts of God p. 54. 3. They will cause a man to thinke that God hates him p. 56. 4. They will bring a man to despaire p. 57. Ministers should not preach the pure Law without the Gospel p. 58. Secret discouragements in the heart 1. They take away the Spirit in the use of the meanes p. 62. 2. They drive us from the use of means p. 63. 3. They make a man continually to pore on his sins so as he shall never be able to get out of them p. 64. 4. They breed nothing but sorrow p. 66. 5. They leave the soule in a maze that it knows not whether to turne it selfe p. 67. 6. They whisper into a man a sentence of Death and an impossibility of escaping p. 68. The conclusion of the whole p. 69. The Contents of that Sermon R O M. 8. 22. Every creature hath a three-fold goodnesse in it 1. A goodnesse of end p. 70. 2. A goodnesse of nature p. 71. 3. A goodnesse of use ibid. There be foure evils under which every Creature groaneth p. 73. 1. The continuall labour that the creature is put unto ibid. 2. The creature sometimes partakes of the plagues of the ungodly ib. 3. The Creature hath an instinctive fellow-feeleing of mans wretchednesse p. 74. 4. Because they are rent and torne from their proper Masters ibid. Doct. Every Creature groaneth under the slavery of sinne p. 75. Not only under the slavery of sinfull men but so far as they minister to the flesh of the Saints they groane under them ibid. Object Did ever any man heare any unreasonable creature groane under sin
then I should doe nothing else but pray how then are we to continue our praiers till God heare us and give the grace that we pray for to this I answer A man must give over the words and Answ times of prayer for other duties but a man must not give over the suite of prayer A poore begger comes to a housekeepers gate and begs but none heares him now he being a poore man hath something else to doe and therefore he sits downe or stands and knits or patches and then he begs or knocks and then to his work again though he do not alwaies continue knocking or begging yet he alwaies continues his suite O that my suite might be granted me or that I might have an almes here so when the soul is begging of any grace though it doth not alwaies continue the words of praier yet it alwaies continues the suite of praier David he would dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Psal 23. 6. A wicked man it may be will turne into Gods house and say a prayer c. but the Prophet would and so all godly men must dwell there for ever his soule lyeth alwaies at the throne of grace begging for grace A wicked man he prayeth as the cock croweth the cocke crowes and ceaseth and crowes again and ceaseth again and thinkes not of crowing til he crowes again so a wicked man praies and ceaseth prayes and ceaseth againe his minde is never busied to thinke whether his prayers speede or no he thinkes it is good Religion for him to pray and therefore he takes that for granted that his praiers speede though in very deed God never heares his praiers nor no more respects it then he respects the lowing of Oxen or the gruntling of hoggs he is found in his prayers as the wilde Asse in her months Jer. 2. The wilde Asse in â—egard of her swiftnesse cannot be taken but in her months she hath a sleepy month and all that while she is so sleepy and dumpish that any man may take her in her months you shall finde her so a wicked man hath his prayer monthes his praier fits it may be in the morning or in the evening or day of his affliction and misery you shall have him at his prayers at his prayer fits then you shall finde him at it but otherwise his mind is about other matters But the childe of God what ever he ailes he goes with his petition presently to the throne of grace and there he never removes till he hath it granted him as here we see the prayers of the Church consisting of many yeares yet are counted but one suite try therefore and examin whether thy praiers be unsatiable praiers yea or no and for helpe herein take these markes first if thy prayers be unsatiable praiers then it is a begging praier thou praiest as if thou hadst never praied before as if thou hadst never begun to pray and thou never thinkest that thou hast done any thing till thou hast done the deede As a hâ—ngrie man eates as if he had never eate before so the unsatiable soule praies as if he had never prayed before till he hath obtained that he hath praied for but a wicked man he praies not thus Iob speaking of carnal professors Iob 27. 10. Will he call upon God at all times seest thou a wicked man go to a good duty go to praier do you think that he wil hold out alwaies he will nâ—ver do it for a wicked man he reasons with himself I have called upon God thus thus long I hope I need not pray any more for this thing so he gives over But a godly man he will be alwaies calling upon God Beloved there is a beginning to an action and a beginning of an action thou never beginnest to lift up a weight till thou stirrest it from ground indeede thou mayst begin towards the action by pulling at it by reaching at it but thou never beginnest the lifting up of the weight til thou stir it from its place thou mayst give a pull at prayer and â—ugge at a grace but thou hast not so much as begun that duty till thou seest God begin to hear thee till thou seest the grace a coming therefore the Prophet David when he prayed and had not that he prayed for his prayers returned into his owne bosome Psal 35. 13. there to lie to be a continuall suite unto God A wicked man praies and he leaves his praier behind him in his pew or in his hal or chamber but a godly man praies and his prayer is in his heart his praier is not out til the grace be in Secondly an unsatiable prayer it is evermore a proceeding prayer you would think that these are two contraries and one opposite to the other but they are not only they are two severall things as it is ever a beginning praier because in his own thoughts he reckons or thinkes that he hath nothing till he speedes so the soule that is unsatiable in praier he proceedes he gets neere to God he gaines somthing he windes up his heart higher or somthing or other he gets As a child that seeth the mother have an apple in her hand and it would faine have it it will come and pull at the mothers hand for it now she lets go one finger and yet she holds it and then he pulls againe and then she lets goe another finger and yet she keepes it and then the child pulls againe and will never leave pulling and crying till it hath got it from his mother So a child of God seeing all graces to be in God he drawes neere to the throne of grace begging for it by his earnest faithful praiers he opens the hands of God to him God dealing as parents to their children holds them off for a while not that he is unwilling to give but to make them more earnest with God to draw them the neerer to himselfe a wicked man praies and his praiers tumble downe upon him againe and his heart is as dead as ever it was before as sensuall as ever as carnall and earthly as ever as hard as impenitent and secure as ever A godly man when he praies though he have not gotten the thing totall that he desired yet he is neerer God then he was before his heart growes every day better then other by his praiers he obtaines still something as the Prophet Hoseah speakes of knowledge Hos 6. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord so I may say of praier of al other good duties then we pray if we proceed on-wards in praier A man may know and know and yet never know the Lord till he goe on in knowledge so a man may pray and pray yet if he goe not on-wards in his praiers his praiers are nothing A godly man praies as a builder builds now a builder he first layeth a foundation and because he cannot finish in
one day he comes the second day and findes the frame standing that he made the first day and then he adds a second dayes worke and then he comes a third day and findes his two former dayes worke standing then he proceeds to a third dayes worke and makes walls to it and so he goes on till his building be finished So prayer it is the building of the soule till it reach up to heaven therefore a godly heart praies and reacheth higher higher in praier till at last his prayers reach up to God It is a signe of a wicked man to pray and to let his prayers fall downe againe upon him And here I appeale to the consciences of wicked men if it be not so with them they pray and pray but their hearts are as dead and deceitfull as proud and vaine as ignorant blockish and rebellious as if they had never praied Thirdly it is more and more a fervent praier if a little praier will not serve the turne if he speeds not to day then he will pray more earnestly to morrow and if that will not serve the turne he will adde more As a man in winding up of a bucket if two or three windings will not fetch it up he will winde it up higher and higher till it comes up for if he should onely winde up once or twise and no more but hold it just at the same pin the bucket would never come up So if a man praies and praies and windes not up his heart higher but holds it just at the same pegge it was praies in the same fashion he did grace will never come up Marke then how thou prayest examine thy heart dost thou pray to day as yesterday with no more zeal nor feeling affection nor sencible desire thou praiest not unsatiably No thou restrainest thy praying from growing an excellent discription of an hypocrite Iob 14. 4. though falsly applied to Job Thou restrainest prayer before God in some translations it is Thou keepest thy prayers from growing thou restrainest thy praiers as a dwarffe is restrained from growing so thou restrainest thy praiers from being more and more earnest and effectuall and fervent unsatiable praier is growing in zeale and affection Fourthly it is a more and more frequent praier so that if twice a day will not serve the turne he will pray three times a day Psal 55. 17. and if that will not prevaile he will pray seven times a day Psal 119. 164. and when that is not enough he will be even ever a praying hardly broken off day or night Psal 88. 1. he cares not how often he praies it may be that thou hast been a suitor for strength and grace against corruptions and hast put up many praiers to the same purpose If now thou stickest at any praiers thy praiers are not unsatiable an unsatiable soul never resteth though it have made ten thousand praiers till it have gotten the grace it is so with other things and therefore we neede not wonder at it when a man doth his worke one day he will do it another and so on as long as he lives till his worke be done so must we doe for heaven and for grace Fifthly it is ever more and more a backt praier if ordinary praiers will not serve the turne a godly heart will cut off time from his recreations and pleasures though in themselves lawfull Beloved it may be with thy soule in its wraâ—tlings and strivings for grace and power against corruptions that ordinary praiers will not satisfie it but it will be necessary to give over even lawfull delights and give that time to praier so a man will doe for the world if he have a businesse of importance that will bring him in gaine he will be content to part with his delights and recreations and pleasures to follow after it so a man must doe for his soule and if that be not enough then lay aside the duties of thy calling to take time from that If a man have two houses on fire both together the one his mansion dwelling house the other some backe roome or stable if he can he will save both but if he see that by spending his time on quenching the fire on the stable that his great mansion house will burne downe he will then neglect the other and let it burne if it will and imploy himselfe about his house So when the soule is in misery under the want of grace that it cannot live under but must perish eternally if it have it not then the soule being better then the body rather then that the soule miscarry we will neglect the body sometime And if this will not serve abstaine from meate and drinke fast it out thus the people of God are faine to doe many times their lust and corruptions being even as the devill himselfe which cannot be cast out but by praier and fasting there is an excellent place Joel 2. 12. Therefore now turne unto the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning rent your hearts c. Therefore now now your sinnes are so divelish now your sinnes are so deepely rooted in your soules now your corruptions are come to be such plague soares within you doe you not thinke that your ordinary repentance and ordinary praiers and humiliations will serve the turne but now backe them with fasting and mourning Here now thou mayst examine thy soule whether it have praied effectually unsatiably yea or no hath it ever a begging praier that thou praiest as if thou hadst never praied before is it evermore a proceeding praier that thou doest every day draw neerer to God then other is it more and more a backt praier a fervent and frequent praier hast thou taken from thy recreations from thy calling to give to it yea from thy belly and backe and used all meanes for a prevailing with God then are thy praiers effectuall and unsatiable This then condemnes the praiers of most Use men in the world they pray and pray for grace and their praiers come to an end and cease before they have it the angrie fretchard praies for patience and meeknesse and yet sets downe without it the covetous worldling praies to be weaned from the world and his praiers are done before he is so so the lukewarmeling deadhearted and vaine-thoughted professor praies for better thoughts for more zeale and yet comes to his be it so before he have it and so every wicked man praies and he is come to his Amen before the grace is given let all such men know that such praiers first they are endlesse secondly they are fruitlesse First they are endlesse The Philosopher said that that for which a thing is that is the end of the thing now praier is for the speeding with God and therefore he whose praiers speed not with God his praiers are endlesse thou hast praied against thy pride but art as proude still thou hast praied against thy choler and art as teachy still thou hast praied
1. as if he should say those that are in Christ God doth not condemne them they have not that condemnation nay their owne conscience doth not condemn them so that that man whom any condemnation either from God or from his owne conscience condemnes that man is not in Christ being not in Christ he can never be heard Indeede a mans conscience may be misinformed by Satan under a temptation as you may see in the verse before my text Thou hast heard my voyce stop not thine eare from my cry Here the Church being examined their consciences told them they were heard in their praâ—ers but being under a temptation their consciences were afraide that God heard not So many a poore soule examine it and it cannot deny but that these and these tokens of grace and fruites of Gods Spirit are in it yet their consciences are afraide that the Lord will not give them these and these other graces that they want that the Lord will not heare them for such and such blessings I meane not neither a truce of conscience for there may be a truce of conscience in wicked men A truce may be betweene mortall enemies but no peace but amongst freinds Wicked mens consciences are like the Lion 1. Kings 13. who when he had killed the Prophet stood by the Corps and by the Asse and did not eate the body nor teare the Asse so a wicked mans conscience it is as the divells band-dogge or roaring Lion till it hath slaine the sinner it stands stone-still and seemes neither to meddle or make with him but lies as seared or dead in him I meane not this conscience But when God hath sprinkled the conscience with the bloud of Christ and made the conscience pure this is a signe that God heares his praier I meane not the stammering of conscience when it is dazelled or overwhelmed but when it speaks down right as it meanes A godly mans conscience sometimes may judge otherwise then the thing is But examine what thy conscience tells thee in sober sadnesse deliberately convincingly and then know that the Lord tels thee If thy conscience saies peremptorily that thy heart and waies are rotten and unsound then know that the Lord tells thee so and that the Lord sayeth so to thy soule Fifthly the getting of that grace that a man prayes for is a signe that God heares his praiers But this is not a true signe alwaies but with distinction When the grace given and the good will of God the giver cannot be severed then it is a true signe But when the gift and the good will of the giver may be severed then it is not a true signe Thou maiest pray unto God and God may give thee many temporall blessings and many common graces of his Spirit God may give thee good parts a good memory he may give thee a good measure of knowledge and understanding even in divers things he may give thee some kinde of humility chastity civility thou maiest be of a loving and flexible disposition so he may give thee a good estate in the world houses lands wife and children c. God may give thee all these and yet hate thee and never heare one praier thou makest thou maist pray for a thousand blessings and have them and yet never be heard so long as the good will of the giver is severed from them all outward blessings and common graces may be severed from Gods good pleasure to a man Therefore in temporall blessings or in common graces if thou wouldst know whether God heare thee or no know whether God hath given thee a sanctified use of them or no. If God hath given thee many common graces or temporall blessings and a heart to use them to his Glory then every blessing thou hast there is not a droppe of drinke nor a bit of bread that thou hast but it is a signe of Gods everlasting love to thee Why because this and the good will of the giver can never be severed But on the contrary if a man have not a sanctified use of that he hath then it is the greatest severity of God and the most eminent plague and curse of God upon the soule to give it for a mans parts may be his bâ—ne his civility may be his curse and meanes of the finall hardnesse and impenitencie of his heart Sixthly faith if a man have faith given him to beleive it is a signe that God heares him be it to thee saith Christ to the man in the Gospell according to thy faith so goe thou to God and be it to thee as thou beleevest Dost thou pray for grace according as thou beleevest so shalt thou receive I have no signe that God will heare me Object I have so many corruptions of my heart against me and so many threatnings of Gods frownes against me I have no signe that God will heare me Wouldst thou have a signe An evill and Answ an adulterous generation seeketh a signe this is a tempting faith to seeke for signes to believe Thomas said Christ Joh. 20. 29. because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seene and yet believe That man that believes bacause he feels griefe in his heart teares in his eyes groans in his spirit because he prayes long and earnestly and sweats in his praier or mourns in his humiliation I suspect his humiliation his teares his griefe his praiers and all that he hath Why these are good signes of faith but rotten grounds of faith the Word and promise of God must be thy ground But against this the soul may object That every Promise runnes with a Condition Object and therefore if I have not the condition how can I beleeve the promise God hath promised Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied There is a Promise of filling but it is with a condition of hungering Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God c. If I have not the Condition annexed to the Promise how dare or how can I believe the Promise The Condition is not the way to get the Answ Promise the Promise is the ground of faith and the way to get the condition because the promise is the Motive cause that moves the soule to get the condition Now the Mover must be before the Moved then if beliefe of the Promise move thy soule to get the condition of the promise then beliefe of the promise must be before that the soule can keepe the condition of the promise Saul made a promise to David 1 Sam. 18. that he should be his sonne in law in one of his two daughters upon condition that he should give him an hundred foreskins of the Philistims Now David did first believe the promise and thereby he was allured to fight valiantly to keepe the condition to get a hundred fore-skins of the Philistims So Psal 116.
Hosea 12. 3. Thou canst never prevaile with God by thy prayers unlesse thou puttest forth all thy strength in praier If Jacob had reasoned I am but dust and ashes how can I strive with God I am sinfull and evill how can I contend with my Maker and so have beene discouraged in his wrastling he could not have used all his strength with God and so had never prevailed with God No Jacob he gathers all the arguments that he could make he gathers together all the promises he could finde in Gods Book or that he could heare off he displaies all the wants that he could shew he petitions all the graces that he could name he used all his strength and by his strength he had power with God If thy confession of thy sins be strengthlesse if thy petitions and thankesgiving for grace be strengthlesse if thou use not all thy strength in prayer thou canst never prevaile nor have any power with God For how can that man prevaile and have power with God that hath no power with himselfe Thirdly thou canst never pray and have a fearefull apprehension of evill in prayer thou canst not It is good to have a deepe apprehension of thy sinnes apprehend them to be as many hells as thou canst thou canst never apprehend them deeply enough but if thou hast a fearefull apprehension of them thou canst never pray When the Apostle would exhort the Philipians to continue in one Spirit and in one minde fighting together through the faith of the Gospell he exhorts them that in nothing they feare Phil. 1. 27 28. For if a man be terrified with his adversary with the power of his adversary and feares he shall never be able to withstand him but must fall before him through his subtilty that he can never be wary enough for him Alas he can never strive with hope and courage against him So beloved if we have a fearefull and discouraged kinde of apprehension of evill we can never pray so as to prevaile Apprehend thy sinnes to be as hellish and as damnable as thou canst Feele even the fire of hell in every one of them but take heed of a fearefull apprehension of them so to apprehend the evill of them as to thinke with thy selfe that because thou art guilty of these and these sinnes that thou shalt never get in with God again God will never be reconciled to thee these will eate out thine heart in prayer Fourthly we can never pray if we have any secret dispaire that there is any difficulty too hard for us to grapple withall or to get through in our prayers Howsoever a man prayes yet if he have any spice of these feares in him to thinke now I have taken a great deale of paines but am never the better I have prayed and prayed but have got no good I may goe on and doe thus and thus but shall never prevaile or speed all my labours all my prayers and indeavours will be lost this takes away the very spirit and life of a mans prayers Judas after he had betrayed the Lord Jesus he was discouraged from ever praying for mercy Why because he thought it was impossible for him to get it I have betrayed innocent blood saith he Matth. 27. as if he should say I shall never out-wrastle this sinne this sinne is my death I have brought the blood of the Sonne of God on me I shall never claw off this sinne now Judas thus despayring we never read one letter of any prayer that he made to God to get out of it no he thought it too hard for him to get mercy Despaire drives a man from that he did hope for because now he thinkes there is an impossibility in getting of it Beloved mistake me not there is a double desperation First there is a desperation of infidelity and that deads and drawes the soule from God Secondly there is a desperation of extremity And if ever you meane to come to God and to get any grace from God you must come with desperation of extremity desperation puts life into a mans prayers and indeavours As a Souldier when he seeth nothing but to kill or be killed that he sees his state desperate why this will compell a very coward to fight this will make a coward fight as if he would kill the Devill saith the Proverb it will make him fight like a spirit he will be afraid of nothing Take a Souldier that fights desperately for his life with a kill or be killed he feares nothing neither Pike nor Sword nor Gun why he fights for his life Therefore one notes that sometimes it is the nearest way to victory to be desperate in attempts and in fight Therefore when William the Conquerour came first into England at Hasting he sent back his Ships againe that so the Souldiers might have no hope of saving themselves by flying back And so at Battle at one encounter a little Army of the English slew a great Army of the French Why they grew desperate So could men pray desperately could they pray with a pray or be damned beg with a begge or be damned seeke to God for grace that you want with a speed or be damned then would their prayers be more earnest and powerfull to get grace O did men pray thus they would pray otherwise then they doe Men pray but they pray deadly coldly and lazily as if they had no need of prayer or as if they had no need of the grace they pray for they pray for grace but get it not they pray for zeale but have it not for repentance and holinesse but obtaine it not Beloved either get zeale and holinesse or else there is no mercy either get grace and repentance or else there is no mercy for thee Pray then when thou prayest for grace with a speede or be damned say unto thy soule either we must speede and get grace Soule or else we must goe to hell If men would pray thus with a speede or be damned we should never see nor God should never heare so many cold and dead praiers as now we pray Despaire makes a man a Munke saith the Papist but this despayre makes a man a good Christian I say never doth a man pray indeede till he feels himselfe in extremity hopeles and desperate in regard of himselfe so that he seeth no remedie at all but get Christ get grace or be damned for ever Get power and strength over these corruptions otherwise they will destroy and damne thee this would make a man pray for life Men pray coldly and faintly why because though they see they have no grace no zeale no holines no repentance no evidence of Christ yet they hope to be saved notwithstanding O beloved the divell hath blinded these men to the intent they may be damned But if men would pray desperate praiers with a pray or be damned seeke with a finde or be damned men would then pray other praiers then they doe Such
praiers did David pray Psal 130. 1. Out of the deepe places have I called unto thee O Lord Lord heare my prayer as if he should say Lord I am even in the depth of miserie plunged over head and eares so that now I sinke and perish if thou helpe not Lord hear my praier This desperation a Christian must have this quickens up his Spirits and puts life into him but take heede of the desperation of Infidelity Saint Austen saith it is the murtherer of the soule the spice of it will eate out the heart of a man and kill the strength of all his endeavours I should now come to apply this doctrine but I feare me there be many amongst us that never come so farre towards heaven as to know what these discouragements meane This is lamentable It is true discouragements are hideous cases in praier and a man may perish and goe to hell that hath them but yet they are some-what profitable signes that a man doth at the least looke a little towards God or else he could not know what they are But there are abundance that never have attained so farre in religion as to understand what they meane but goe on in drinking whoring carding and dicing hating and malicing fretting and chasing mocking coveting swearing and blaspheming in security in hardnes of heart and impenitencie they are more carefull for their doggs for their potts and for their tables and for their shops then they are of their soules And which is enough to astonish any that is godly these men scarce finde any discouragements in praier O they have a good courage to pray at all times O say they God forbid that any man should be discouraged in praier I thanke God I have a good hope in God God hath given me a good heart of grace to call upon him and I make no question but that God heares me God would never bid us to pray if he did not meane to heare us Beloved these men that are so bold in the goodnes of their hearts to call upon God they never as yet praied in all their lives all the praiers of the wicked are indeede no praiers Daniel confessing the sinnes of wicked Judah saith though all this evill be come upon us yet made we not our prayer to turne from our wicked wayes Dan. 9. 13. all the time of those seventy yeares Daniel saith they never made praier to God yet they fasted every yeare and praied every day twise every day at the least which would amount in that time to 50000 and 100 prayers how then could Daniel say they never made one praier I answer and pray marke it because they never did quite turne from their evill waies Though thou makest never so many praiers though thou boastest of the goodnesse of thy condition and snatchest at the Promises of God yet if thou turnest not from thine iniquities thou never as yet mad'st any praier by the Judgement of God himselfe Paul made many thousand praiers before his conversion he could not have beene a Pharise else but they were never accounted praiers to him therefore as soon as ever he was converted behold saith God he prayeth Acts 9. A wicked man a carnall Christian though he have the righteousnesse of Saint Paul before his conversion of living blamlesse unreproveable in respect of the outward righteousnesse of the Law yet he can never make an acceptable prayer till he be truely converted his praiers are no better then howling of dogs or lowing of Oxen yea the Lord abhorrs them O what poore incouragements canst thou have seeing the Lord never tallies downe any of thy prayers wicked men are like ulysses who wept more for the death of his dogge then of his wife so wicked men weepe and mourne for the losse of their corne and their cattle hawkes and houndes cardes and dice but never for the losse of their praiers So long as thou continuest in thy prophanesse and impenitency thou losest all thy praiers there is not one of them that God tallies downe or reckons for a praier Here we might have a great deale of matter if time would suffer me But it will not onely let me tell you I speake onely to those whose hearts God hath awakened out of their sinnes but who are oft discouraged take heede of these discouragements For first they will drive thee to melancholy Beloved there are a great many melancholy men in the world and this is the cause of it men are contented to be converted by halves because they are discouraged in the worke If thou suffer thy selfe to be discouraged it will eate up thy spirit and thou wilt be like a silly dove without a heart Prov. 7. 11. A dove is a melancholy creature that hath no heart to any thing so Ephraim hath no heart to call upon God no heart to returne unto God and this is the cause that men and women goe whineing and mourning under the burden of sin and are not able to come out because of discouragements all the policie of hell is lesse then this policy of the divell in driving men to despair or discouragements this doth more hurt then al the rest of hel besides Secondly if you doe not take heede of them they will bring you to speake against God I have prayed but the Lord will not heare me I have called and the Lord will not answer but hath turned away his eares from me Now thou speakest against God Num. 21. 4 5. The soule of the people was much discouraged and the people spake against God and against Moses saying Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wildernesse for here is neither bread nor water and our soule loatheth this light bread So beloved if we suffer our soules to be discouraged we shall soone come to murmure against God wherefore hath he brought me up to this strictnes and precisenesse when I was a drunkard a worldling when I followed the lust of my flesh and liberty then I enjoyed onnions garlicke and the flesh-pots of Egypt pleasures and delights for my soule then I had a good hope in God and a good perswasion that my soul should goe to heaven and then Preachers told me that if I would give over such and such sinnes and looke after Heaven a little more and doe such and such things O then I should come to a Land flowing with milke and honey then I should not misse of glory and salvation But alas I see nothing but Gyants and Anakims I am in a wildernesse now now I see a man may have a great deal of repentance and yet be a cast-away A man may have a great deal of faith yet be but a reprobate A man may give over a great many sins and yet perish in hell now I see a man may live civilly and well and have do a great many good things and yet be damned when he hath done all A man may even goe to Heaven Gates
and yet the gates be shut against him and he turned into hell Alas my poore soule is in a wildernesse now I know not which way to goe I am ready to lose my selfe I see nothing here now but huge Gyants the sonnes of Anack strong corruptions inclining and forcing me to evill most fearefull and violent suggestions and temptations of the Devill ready to thrust me into the gulfe of wickednesse and despaire And now the soule begins to thinke that it is good for it to returne again into Egypt to fall to its old courses againe for certainly God lookes for no such matter he requires no such strictnesse and precisenesse And so it falls a whining and repining at the Word and Ministers of God that have call'd men to it and laid it upon them and hath no heart now to do thus and thus any longer And thus it falls into discouragements because of the way and into a thousand quandaries whether it may not goe back againe or no. And all these murmurings and repinings are because men suffer themselves to be discouraged Thirdly discouragements will cause thee to thinke that God hates thee When the soule like Baals Priests hath been crying from morning to noone ten twenty thirty yeeres it may be and yet hath no answer now it will begin to thinke if God did love me then he would grant me my petitions Then hereupon comes into a mans secret thoughts and feares that God hardly loves his soule So was it with Israel when they were discouraged they said because the Lord hated us therefore he brought us out of the Land of Egypt Deut. 1. 27. Because that they were discouraged and because that their Brethren that went for spies had disheartned them therefore they were apt to say the Lord hated them Beloved it is a miserable thing when the soule calls the love of God into question Consider that as thou canst not have a friend if thou beest suspitious and jealous of his love to thee So thou canst never have the love of God settled on thy heart so long as thou art jealous of his love to thee Fourthly If thou root them not out it is to be feared that they will bring thee to despaire Mâ—lancholy thoughts and feares and discouragements drive the soule to despaire For when the soule sees it selfe still disappointed of its hopes at the last it grows hopelesse If it have waited one day and the next day too if it have praied this weeke this month this yeare and yet still it seeth it selfe held off and disappointed it will at last grow hopelesse Take heed therefore I beseech you of all needlesse discouragements to fear be ause that thou findest not that that thou wishedst or prayedst for to day or to morrow in thine own time that therefore thou shalt never get it that now thou shouldest for ever despaire of the grace and love of God and thinke that now God will never heare thee that thou shalt never get grace and power over thy corruptions Men thinke that the preaching of the Word of God brings men to despaire the preaching of such strict points and the urging such precise doctrines makes men despaire men are loth to be at the paines to root out their discouragements It is rather a cold or dead preaching of the Word that is the cause of this for when the soule is instructed by holinesse humbled by holinesse converted by holinesse at the last when it comes to be thorowly awakened when it sees that this and this is required in a true conversion of the soule to God that herein true repentance must declare and demonstrate it selfe by these and these fruits or else it is but false and rotten Why now the soul must needs be brought to despaire because it seeth that though it have been thus and thus humbled though it have praied fasted and mourned in this and this manner yet it sees it hath not a soundnesse of grace There is such a grace in it such a worke and such a fruit of Gods Spirit in it that yet he could never finde in himselfe this makes the soule to despaire Indeed Preachers may be too blame if they speake and preach onely the terrours and condemnations of the Law without the promises of the Gospel for these should be so tempered that every poore broken soule may see mercy and redemption for him upon his sound and unfeined repentance and humiliation But if men doe despaire they may thanke themselves for it their owne sinnes for it their owne discouragements for it because they suffer these to continue in them Cain his heart grew sad his countenance fell he was wroth and disquiâ—ted in his minde and heavily discouraged why Gen. 4. Sin lay at the dore what dore the dore of his conscience rapping and beating upon his heart Beloved when the soule lets sinne lie at the dore drunkenesse pride and worldlinesse security hardnes and deadnes of heart lie at the dore when a man lets his ne gligent and fruitlesse hearing of the word lie at the dore when a man lets his vaine and dead praying his temporizing and fashionary serving of God lie at the dore of conscience to tell him that all his hearing of the word of God profits him nothing that his praiers are dead and vaine that his mourning fasting and all his humiliation is counterfeâ—t and rotten and that he hath no soundnesse of grace in him but that for all this he may fall into hell when sinne lyeth thus at the dore thus rapping at the conscience it is no wonder if the soule fall into desperation Cain let his sinne lie at the dore there it lay rapping and beating and told him that his carelesenesse and negligent sacrificing to God was not accepted and therefore no marvell if Cain be so cast down in his countenance and that he fall to despaire O beloved when sinne lieth bouncing and beating at the dore of thy heart when thy sinne whatsoever it is search thy heart and finde it out lies knocking and rapping at the dore of thy conscience day by day and month by month and thou art content to let it lie and art unwilling to use meanes to remove it and art loth to take the paines to get the bloud of Christ to wash thy soule from it or the Spirit of Christ to cleanse thee from it then thy soule will despaire either in this world or in the world to come But let us take heede then that our conscience condemne us not in any thing or course that we allow in our selves for if that doe then much more will God who is greater then our consciences and knowes all things The Apostle hath an excellent Phrase Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. As if he should say there is not one condemnation there is none in Heaven God doth not condemne them there is none in earth their owne heart and conscience doth not condemne them
he that is in Christ Jesus that walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit there is none no not one condemnation to him none neither in Heaven nor in earth no word no commandement no threatning condemnes him But if thy conscience condemne thee and tell thee thou lettest sin lie at the dore rapping at thy conscience day after day and month after month telling thee that yet thou art without Christ that yet thou never hadst any true faith in the Lord Jesus that yet thou hast not truely repented and turned from thy sinnes this will at last drive thy soule into heavie discouragements if not into finall despaire O beloved religion and piety and the power of godlinesse goe downe the winde every where What is the reason of it but because of these discouragements that men live and go in Men pray and pray and their prayers profit them not men run up and downe and come to the Church and heare the Word and receive the Sacraments and use the meanes of grace but to no end they are unprofitable to them they remaine in their sinnes still the ordinances of God bring them not out of their lusts and corruptions hereby they disgrace and discredit the ordinances of God in the eyes and account of the men of the world making them thinke as if there were no more power nor force in the Ordinances of God then these men manifest There is no life in many Christians mens spirits are discouraged these secret discouragements in their hearts take away their spirits in the use of the meanes that though they use the meanes yet it drives them to despaire of reaping good or profit by them Beloved I could here tell you enough to make your hearts ake to heare it First all your complaints they are hut winde Job 6. 26. doe you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are as winde Jobs friends taking Job to be a man of despaire they accounted all his words but as winde Doest thou nestle any discouragement in thy heart thou maist complaine of sinne as much as thou canst yet all thy complainings are but as winde thou maist cry out against thy corruptions with weeping and teares and pray and fight against them and yet all thy weeping mourning and praying is but as the winde thou maiest beg grace thou maist seeke after God thou maist heare the Word receive the Sacraments and yet all will be to thee as wind all will vanish be unprofitable not regarded Secondly discouragements drive us from the use of the meanes If ever we meane to come out of our sinnes if ever we meane to get grace and faith and assurance and zeale we must constantly use the meanes 1 Sam. 27. 1. David saith there is nothing better for me then that I should speedily escape into the Land of the Philistims and Saul shall despaire of me to seeke me any more David thought in himselfe if I can make him out of hope of finding me certainely he will give over seeking of me So when the soule hath any secret despaire of finding the Lord that soule will quickly be drawne from seeking of the Lord in the use of the meanes What ever you doe then O be not discouraged lest you be driven from the use of the meanes if you be driven from the use of the meanes woe is to you you will never finde God then Be not driven from praier nor driven from holy conference nor driven from the Word nor driven from the Sacrament nor from meditation nor from the diligent and strict examination of thy selfe of thy heart and of all thy waies for these are the waies of finding the Lord. If you nourish any thoughts and feares of despaire in you if you be discouraged you will be driven from the use of the meanes which is a lamentable thing therefore be not discouraged Thirdly discouragements will make you stand poaring on your former courses thus I should have done and that I should have done woe is me that I did it not it will make a man stand poaring on his sinnes but never able to get out of them So it was like to be with them in the Ship with Paul Acts 27. 20. In the tempest at Sea they were utterly discouraged from any hope of safety now indeed Paul told them what they should have done if they had been wise Sirs you should have hearkned to me and not have loosed ver 21. as if he had said you should have done thus and thus but now doe not stand poaring too much on that you should have hearkned to me and not have launched forth c. but that cannot be holpen now therefore I exhort you to be of good cheare c. So beloved when the soule is discouraged upon these thoughts I should have prayed better I should have heard the Word of God better and with more profit I should have repented better I should have performed this and that religious and good dutie better but ah wretch that I am I have sinned thus and thus it is alwaies looking on this sinne and that sinne this imperfection and that failing when now I say the soule is discouraged it will be alwaies poaring upon sinne but it will never come out of its sinne alwaies poaring upon its deadnesse and unprofitablenesse but never able to come out of it O beloved be of good cheare and be not discouraged it is true you should have prayed better you should have heard the Word of God better heretofore you should have been more carefull and circumspect of your wayes then you were but now you cannot helpe it these things and times are gone and cannot be recalled such a one hath been a drunkard a swearer a worldling c. but he cannot helpe it now True he might have helped it and because he did not his heart shall bleed for it if he belong to God but doe not stand poaring too much upon it but consider now what you have to doe now you are to humble your selfe now you are to strive with God in all manner of prayer for more grace and more power of obedience and assurance and be not discouraged Fourthly if the soule be discouraged it will breed nothing but sorrow What is the reason that many Christians are alwaies weeping and mourning and sighing and sobbing from day to day all their life time and will not be comforted because of these discouragements 1 Thes 4. 13. Sorrow not saith the Apostle as those that have no hope as if he had said sorrow if you will but do not sorrow as they that have no hope How is that it is a sorrow with nothing but sorrow from which they have no hope of inlargement or freedome O then my brethren suppose you have dead hearts suppose you want zeale you want assurance suppose it be so yet labour to attaine these graces sorrow and spare not weepe and mourne and powre out whole buckets of
intreaties can â—â—ke off Oh how often have Gods Ministers intreated you and beseeched you to give over your sinnes and yet you will not how often have they besought you to be zealous and meeke and holy and you will not thou art tichie and revengefull in speeches how often hast thou beene sought to leave it thou art proude and stout-hearted how oft hast thou beene sought for to be humble thou art carnall and worldly how often hast thou beene besought to be spirituall and heavenly Thou hast no assurance of Christ in thy soule how oft hast thou beene besought for to get him Ministers beseech thee every Sabboth Ministers intreate thee every weeke They breake their braines and breake their sleepe and spend their lungs and all to invent and speake acceptable words to prevaile with your soules with heart-cutting intreaties they beseech you if notwithstanding all this you will not be intreated to part with your sinnes rhen it is evident you hate reformation If we did not hate a thing we would doe it though we were never besought to doe it if thou didst not hate a reformation of thy sinnes thou wouldest have beene reformed without these beseeches but if beseeches and intreaties cannot woe thee thou hatest it indeed that is hatred indeede which beseeches cannot reconcile The Lord Jesus sent his Ministers in his Name we are Gods Embassadours in Christ his stead we pray you to be reconciled to God We have besought you by the bloud of Christ we have intreated you by the Bowells of Gods mercies to become new men we beseech you in the Bowells of the Lord Jesus Christ to give over your sinnes We beseech you as you love your soules give over your sinnes we beseech you as you are men as you know what is what give over your sinnes we beseech you let the drunkard give over his drunkennesse the swearer his oathes and blasphemies the Idolater his Idolatry and wilworship let the idle talker give over his fruitlesse communication the covetous person give over his covetousnesse the secure Christian and lukewarme professor and deadhearted server of God come out of his security and dead-heartednesse c. I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul present your bodies a living sacrifice holy c. Rom. 12. 1. Sacrifice your tongues unto God we beseech you and speake holy conference sacrifice your hearts we beseech you and use holy meditations sacrifice your hares unto God and suffer not idle language to be spoken in your hearing we beseech you doe this yea by all the mercies of Christ we beseech you as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ his stead and will you not yet Certainly you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot reconcile you we have besought you that there be no disorders in any of your families and yet there are we have besought you that there be no losse of time in your meetings that there be no roote of bitternesse in your hearts and yet there is we have besought you to mende your repentance and to better your obedience and to repent of your rotten formality and to come out of your sandy and quagmire bottomes and not to content your selves with this beggarly form of religion onely but as ever you love your soules and would be loved to get the power of grace and a thousand more things have we besought you Is it done no God knowes all the beseeches and intreaties under heaven have not yet done it Now therefore you must needs stand convinced in your consciences that you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot bring you to it They must needs be sayd to hate one another when neither money nor price nor any thing can make freinds That is inveterate cankerous hatred which can never be out-bought which can never be hired to cease I make no question but that the Damosels Master at the first did hate that his Maide should be possessed with a divell but when he saw that it brought him in great gaine he tooke off his hatred he would then be content that the divell might have stayed in his house so he might have gained by it and therefore we reade that he was angry at the Apostle for dispossesing the divell out of her Act. 16. 19. It must be a greivous hatred that profit cannot mollifie Brethren you know that God offereth you pardon of your sinnes he offers you mercy he offers you a Kingdome if you will come out of your sinnes If thou wouldest rather lose father mother wife and children houses and lands goods and livings rather then shake hands with such a one as thou art fallen out with I am sure thou hatest him with a witnesse and if thou wouldest rather hazard thy owne mercy hazard the love and favour of God hazard the Kingdome of heaven lot Christ goe and mercy goe and heaven goe â—â—ther then let thy sinnes gâ—â— surely thou hatest to be reformed I will give you a kingdome saith God if you will be new men I will give thee a Kingdome if thou will take up Christ his Croffe and be plâ—â—â— I will give thee a Kingdome if thou wilâ— walke precisely and circumspectly But you will not though you might have a kingdome for it Repent faith Christ for the kingdome of heaven is at hand Math. 3. 2. Repent and here is a Kingdome aâ— hand for thee Downe with thine old luâ—t thou knowest what I meane and here is a Kingdome at hand for thee Repent of your formall repentance repent of your fashionary prayers repent of your overly performances of holy duties and behold here is a Kingdome for you Wilt thou hazard the very Kingdome of grace and of glory rather then thou wilt steppe out of thy old wont thou hatest repentance if a Kingdome cannot hire thee to love it They must be sayd to hate one another whom all the dearest love in the world can never â—nite and soder together Love is able to burst all the hatred in the world if the divell be not in it love is more forcible then hatred and therefore that hatred is most cankerous that love cannot overcome What is so pleasing or delightfull to the â—lesh of a man but love may command it the love of God hath given thee the bloud of his owne Sonne if thou wilt part with thy corruptions thou mayest have it That is hatred indeed which the bloud of thy owne Saviour cannot disswade thee from The Apostle Peter thought he had used an excellent argument to perswade men to holinesse when he setteth forth the love of God to us 1 Pet. 18. 19. For asmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled and without spotte What doth Christ give his bloud to thee to redeeme thee from thy vaine conversation hath
I believed and therefore did I speake He beleeved Gods promise and then he spake with condition So we believe saith the Apostle and therefore doe we speake First the soule beleeves and then every action of a Christian wherin it moves to the keeping of the condition springs from this root nay beloved a man cannot keep any condition in the Bible without faith he must believe Secondly faith is the inabling cause to keep the condition Dost thou thinke to get weeping mourning and humiliation for thy sinnes and then thereby to get the promise to thy selfe then thou goest in thy owne strength and then in Gods account thou dost just nothing John 15. 5. Without me ye can doe nothing saith Christ therefore first lay hold on me beleeve in me abide in me What! doe you first think to pray to mourne to lament and bewaile your sinnes to do this and that in turning your selves and sanctifying of your selves Indeed you may fumble about these things but you can never do any of them in deed and to the purpose without me ye can doe nothing I had fainted saith the Prophet unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27. 13. where we may see three things First the Promise that he should see the goodnesse of the Lord otherwise he could not have beleeved Secondly the Condition if he doe not fâ—iâ—â— Thirdly the method the Prophet went by First he beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord. As if he had said if he had not first laid hold on the Promise if I had not beleeved to have seen the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the living I had fainted Beloved it is true that the keeping of the Condition is before the fruition of the Promise but not before beleeving the Promise because the doing of the Condition is effected by beleeving the Promise This is the cause that many fumble about grace but never get it they are ever repenting but never repent ever learning but never learne the knowledge of the truth everlasting ever striving but never get power over their corruptions c. because they fumble about it in their own strength and take it not in the right method Let the soule come with faith in Christ and believe it shall speed and have grace and power from Christ his grace and from Christs power and then it shall speed Christ hath promised John 16. that whatsoever we aske the Father in his name he will give it us Christ beloved is an excellent Surety Indeed our credit is crackt in Heaven we may thinke to goe and fetch this and that grace in our owne names and misse of it as the servant may goe to the Merchant for wares in his owne name but the Merchant will not deliver them to him in his own name unlesse he come in his Masters name and bring a ticket from him and then when the servant sheweth his Masters ticket the Merchant will deliver him what wares he asketh for in his Masters name So when a soule goeth to the Throne of grace with a ticket from Christ if he can say Lord it is for the honour of Christ I come for grace and holinesse and strength against my corruptions Lord here is a ticket from Christ most certainly he shall speed But men must take heed that they foyst not the name of Christ that they foyst not a ticket to say that Christ sent them when it is their own selfe-love and their owne lust that sends them it is not enough to pray and at the end to say through Christ our Lord Amen No for this may be a meere foysting of the Name of Christ But canst thou pray and shew that Christ sent thee and say as the servant I come from my Master and he sent me Lord it is for Christ that I come it is not to satisfie my owne lust nor to ease and deliver me from the galls of my conscience nor to free me from hell but for Christ Lord I begge grace and holinesse that I may have power to glorifie Christ It is for the honour of my Lord Christ that I come When the soul comes thus in Christs name beleeving it shall speed then his prayer shall prevaile Whatsoever saith Christ ye shall aske the Father in my Name he will give it you We come now to the third and last part of our Text to wit the supplies they had against danger and discouragements The Lord upheld their hearts from being dismayed in prayer thou saidst feare not There be two things that do much hurt in prayer First groundlesse incouragements Secondly needlesse discouragements First I say groundlesse incouragements and these the wicked are most subject to especially who because they pray heare the Word and performe many duties of religion therefore they incourage themselves in the goodnesse of their estates judgeing themselves happy though notwithstanding they go on and continue in the hardnesse of their hearts and rebellions against God We have abundance of sayings amongst us that if they were examined would prove false and unsound As that the vipers die when they bring forth their young for say they the young eate out the old ones bowels that beares shape all their young by licking of them that the Swanne singeth sweetest at her death that the Adamant stone is softned by Goats blood c. These things are not so as may be shewn out of ancient Writers So beloved there are abundance of sayings that goe up and down amongst men concerning Divinity which if they were examined will prove to be rotten sayings as he that made them will save them It is not so saith the Prophet Esal 27. 11. He that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will not pitty them It is commonly beleeved if men come to Church heare the Word and call upon God that then presently they are good Christians Beloved it is not so Matth. 7. 21. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Men are ready when they can but call Lord have mercy on me O sweet Saviour pitty me most mercifull Lord Jesus have compassion on me if they can pray in their families and pray at Church c. to think now all is well with them and Christ cannot but save them and give them the Kingdome of Heaven but our Saviour puts a not upon it and saith not every one that saith Lord Lord it is not a Lord a Lording of Christ with the tongne onely it is not a taking up of an outward profession of Christ only that is sufficient for a man that shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven no saith Christ but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven But of this by the by Secondly there are needlesse discouragements which doe much hurt in prayer Needlesse discouragements doe much hurt to many a poore soule that hath forcible wouldings and
wracked desires after grace and holinesse and yet is held by discouragements yea many a Christian heart lieth a long time under it wrastling and striving under its wants and yet kept out from grace and from growing in grace because of discouragements yea the best and strongest of Gods Saints have been kept off and have hung much on discouragements Feare not saith God to Abraham Genes 15. 1. So feare not Joshua saith God to Joshua Josh 1. 9. Intimating that both Abraham and Joshua were afraid of discouragements they were afraid that many evils would befall them that they should meet with many rubs and difficulties that would be too hard for them therefore the Lord calls to them feare not be not dismayed nor discouraged Thou saidst feare not Hence observe That God would not have any Christian Doct. â— soule to be discouraged in praier Thou saidst feare not For our clearer proceeding herein first let me shew you what discouragement is and secondly how it comes to be dangerous and hurtfull in praier What is discouragement Quest Answ It is a base dismayment of spirit below or beneath the strength that is in a man vnder the apprehension of some evill as if it were too hard for him to grapple with it There be foure things in this diffinition First I say it is a base dismayment of spirit and so I call it to distinguish it for there is an humble dismayment which a Christian is commanded A man is bound to be dismayed for his sinnes Isay 32. 11. Tremble ye carelesse women that are at ease be troubled ye carelesse ones these carelesse ones went on in their sinnes and feared not God calls to them and bids them to be dismayed But the dismayment and the discouragement I speake of it is a base dismayment of spirit which is either when he is dismayed that ought not or he is dismayed at that whereat he ought not to feare where no cause of feare is As Vitello his man thought his Master had got skill in Optickes he riding along upon the high way spying a mans shape thought it was some Spirit and thereupon he sickened and died So many a poor soul looking in the perfect Law of God and seeing his owne uglinesse and filthynesse he is discouraged and thinkes himselfe undone his heart waxeth cold within him and he begins to feare that he is but a dead and damned man Secondly it is downe beneath the strength that is in a man that man is properly said to be discouraged not that he hath no strength at all in him nor no courage at all for such a one is an infeebled man not a man discouraged but a discouraged man is a man put besides the courage that is in him when a man hath strength enough to grapple with the evill before him but through dismayment of spirit he cannot put it forth Have not I commanded thee saith God to Joshua Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismaied Josh 9. God had given Joshua strength enough whereby he was inabled to observe and do according to all that Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded him God had now doubled his Spirit upon him yet he commands him be not afraid neither dismayed as if he had said Joshua if thou beest dismayed and discouraged though thou hast strength and power to go through the businesse that I have called thee unto yet thou wilt not be able to use it nor to put it forth if thou beest discouraged Thirdly it is at the apprehension of some evill I say not at the sight of some evill for a man may be dismayed at the apparition of good as Mary when she saw nothing but a good Angell Luke 1. 29. she saw nothing but a glorious Angel neverthelesse she was afraid and discouraged Why because she had a secret apprehension of some evill either of some evill proceeded in the salutation or some unworthinesse in her selfe to receive such a gracious salutation it cannot be the apprehension of any good that discourageth a man but the apprehension of some evill Fourthly not of every evill neither for if the evill be but small courage will stand it out but it is of such an evill as he feares he is not able to grapple withall If the evill before him be inferiour to him he scornes it as the barking of a toothlesse Dog If it be but an evill equall to his strength then he makes a tush at it because he knowes or thinkes himselfe able to encounter with it But if it be an evill above his strength then his spirit melts and droops before him See this in Saul 1 Sam. 17. 11. and his people When they saw the Champion of the Philistims comming against them when they saw him so hugely and mervelously armed and heard him speake such bigge words they thought they were not able to stand and to encounter with him and therfore saith the Text when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistim they were dismayed and greatly afraid Thus you see what discouragement is such discouragements the Lord would not have our hearts to be in when we pray unto him For first God cannot give care to that man that is out of heart in his prayers Thou canst never pray if thou beest dismaied in prayer When the soul begins to feare and reason O I am so unworthy that God will not looke at me I am so sinfull so blockish so dead and dull to all good that God will never regard me thou canst never pray Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved If thou dost not believe that God will heare thee if thou dost not beleeve that thou shalt prevaile that God will deliver thee out of these corruptions and that lust that thou praiest against that God will give thee this grace or that grace if thou dost not beleeve that God will owne thee if thou hast these doubtfull discouragements O he will not grant me I shall never get this or that how canst thou call on him thou mayest call so and so but never canst thou call to any purpose if thou dost not beleeve in him A begger though he be never so well able to begge yet if when he comes to the House-keepers dore he be perswaded that he shall not speed that let him beg as long as he will he shall get nothing this blunts his begging and makes him give over his suite without any great importunity So it is impossible that ever a soule should hold out and pray that is discouraged in prayer Secondly thou canst not pray unlesse thou use all thy strength in prayer If thou be discouraged thou canst not use thy strength A discouraged man his strength melts into feare and whatsoever strength he hath he cannot put it forth How came Jacob to prevaile and to have power with God Why he used all his strength with God and so prevailed