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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08319	A treatise, maintaining that temporall blessings are to bee sought and asked with submission to the will of God Wherein is confuted the presumptious way of absolute praying for temporals, in the particulars, broached, and defended by Mr. Rice Boye, in a late pamphlet, intituled The importunate beggar. As also a discovery of the late dangerous errours of Mr. Iohn Traske, and most of his strange assertions. Both necessary to be knowne of all for the avoiding of the like errours, and continuing in the truth. By Edw: Norice.	Norris, Edward, 1584-1659.	1636 (1636)	STC 18646; ESTC S103140	33,983	192

are called See Christian Synagogue lib. 2. cap. 5. nor yet is it in our power to imitate his actions but in matters of morall obedience Vide Amesium in 1. Petri. cap. 2. ver 21. as in Patience Humility Meeknesse Love Submission to the will of his Father his example and patterne is proposed and recorded for our imitation and practise and of this nature is the point in question Which I therefore propose not indefinitely as to say that That which our Saviour Christ did in generall without limitation is to be done of us But what hee did in this matter of Praier being a Morall duty and so likewise the Apostles Which to say is a doctrine fit to bee spewed out of the Church as the Temporarie doth in his answer how beastly and blasphemous is it And for the ground of his speech that we are to live by rules and precepts and not by examples that being a Pillar of the Church of Rome it is even as vaine Exemphim Christi est praxis theologiae ibid. For are wee not commanded to follow the examples of Christ in those things as before hath been shewed Which generall commaund comprehends all particulars of that nature that they need not bee mentioned as the Temporarie foolishly requireth neither is this any Pillar especially a chiefe Pillar of the Church of Rome as hee speaketh to imitate our Saviour Christ and the holy Apostles in Morall duties and matters of obedience for then they would have better Pillars to support them than we know they have any It is well spoken for them but simply for himselfe who condemneth all the Churches of Christ as no Churches for not imitating those first patternes of the Apostles and their examples in those times as hee elsewhere alleageth Therefore herein I teach no Will-worship nor Idolatrous action nor any thing tending that way but what is warranted by Scripture and backt with reason Keck de locis commu pag. 281. See Perkins in Math. 6. pag. 328. Exempla enim nihil sunt aliud quàm generalis doctrinae regularum universalium specialia symbola Our Saviour himselfe confuteth the Pharisees and defendeth his Disciples partly by examples Mathew 12.3 St. Paul proveth and confirmeth the greatest Article of our faith by an example Rom. 4.22 23. The holy Scriptures oftentimes recommend unto us the examples of the Patriarcks the Prophets the Martyrs as patternes for our imitation to follow them Heb. 11. c. Therefore how rude is this man to reject the examples of Christ himselfe and the Apostles with such foule language as hee doth But hee hath somewhat to say against the Proofes 1. That Prayer of our Saviour he saith was extracted from him the horriblenesse of the punishment for mans sinne retaining for a time the whole humane mind untill his Divinitie raised him up againe after which hee spake after another manner as Matthew witnesseth alledging the testimony of a namelesse authour that it was Nequaquam justa precatio Christ knowing full well that hee must die c. Whereunto I answer that is certaine that our Lord did never any finfull action neither was hee subject with Moses to speake unadvisedly with his lips through distemper Psal 106.33 Nor was his Humanitie ever tainted or overcome with any sinfull perturbations Vide Melancthon De Passione Christs per Pezelium pag. 282. or impotent Passions as either to desire or to utter things unlawfull or evill that none might imitate therefore howsoever his agonie was very great Christi trepidationes non fuerunt similes nostris ibidem and the Humanity did that which was proper unto it seeke the diverting of an evill if it might be yet withall at the same instant hee doth advisedly and holily submit himselfe to his Fathers will therein without any reluctancie at all being one entire action How suspitiously and dangerously then doth the Temporarie handle this Praier as if it were some unadvised speech and fall of the Humanitie out of which the Divinitie recovered him againe For the defence wherof he would make one Evangelist to contradict another and citeth a namelesse Author saying that it was Nequaquam justa precatio a speech that had need be warily understood and all this to explode this example Or rather to be abhorred from imitiation and so to establish his errour But for the clearing of all this I thinke it fit to produce the judgement of a godly learned Author on the place speaking thus It is the collection of most Writers Attamen ut liberetur petit unde colligimus c. Yet hee desireth to bee freed Whence wee gather that it is lawfull for us to deprecate those evils that are approaching For if it be naturall to grieve for them then are not they to be condemned that desire to be freed from them But herein the moderation or correction that Christ doth use is diligently to bee marked when hee addeth Yet not my will but thine be done In which saying hee asketh that which hee teacheth us to aske Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven This therefore may be a rule to us of all our Praiers concerning things of this life wherein it is not certaine to us what the Lord would have to be done And such are too bold and confident as will undertake to prescribe unto him on whose sole pleasure we depend and all ours This being the reason why the Praiers of manie are not heard because they are bold not so properly to pray as with a kind of authority to command and to prescribe unto God what they will have to bee done for them Gaulther in Luke 22.42 Which one testimonie might be sufficient to end the Controversie were the Adversarie reasonable but hee hath more to say 2. That of Rom. 1.10 doth shew the desire St. Paul had to come to them but hee had no promise of God that hee should come to them and therefore it 's no marvell that hee puts in an If as any one must doe when hee asketh what God hath not promised c. To which I answer 1. That herein I cannot but marvell at the daring spirit of this man that in the former Proofe doth little better than taxe the LORD JESVS himselfe of some fall and fault in his conditionall Praier And here hee accuseth the holy Apostle for praying and that very often for such a thing as for which hee had no promise that hee should be heard Without ceasing alwaies ver 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no marvell saith hee though hee doubteth seeing hee had no promise c. For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin and where there is no promise at all there can be no faith Therefore those frequent praiers of St. Paul were offred up without faith and were sinfull Praiers by his opinion who elswhere affirmeth Page 15. that faith and doubting are so contrary that côdem instanti they cannot stand together

many other things as included which yeelds him much matter of discourse and so of evasion in a mist of many words All which was framed since the Sermon of purpose as I conceive to hide the shame of their opinion therefore hee printeth that before my arguments which should stand after them To the second instance hee answeres that those things which Saint Paul and the Martyrs suffered were blessings because persecution is a blessing not to bee prayed against c. pag. 23.36 67. To which I briefly reply that persecution in it selfe and it 's owne nature considered is no blessing but a mischiefe rather and misery an evill to be prayed against and the contrary much to bee desired as plainly appeares by Psal 74. wholly Psalm 122.6 1. Tim. 2.2 Actes 8.3 4. compared with Chap. 9.31 Therefore is the Temporarie pitifully out and takes * The adjunct for the subject one thing for another as because the persecuted are blessed that it is a blessed thing to suffer persecution for the name of Christ therefore persecution it selfe were a blessing As if because such as are slaundred reviled tortured racked and tormented for the sake of Christ are blessed therefore slaunders revilings racks tortures and torments are blessed things in themselves which if they be then are they not only not to be prayed against but to be prayed for and desired Thereupon is hee mistaken in the Martyrs For they were offered delivernace if they would have forsaken the truth that refused not deliverance because persecution is a blessing as hee affirmes but because the Conditions were not such as they could consent unto else had they persecuted themselves Howsoever to the poynt Seeing persecution brings the want of outward things and that be a state whereunto the Lord doth often call his people to pray absolutely against all outward wants and for outward benefits putting the fault upon impenitency or infidelitie if wee have them not how weake a practise is it for it is the same in this as in other states of affliction all are blessed to the faithfull Psal 94.12 neither hath hee any reason to single out this from other cases but that hee would make matters come in to his owne way without any ground of Scripture at all Else hee would have annexed some answer to the instance of Lazarus and the Story of Iob which are against him in his opinion directly therefore he slides by them As for the buffettings of St Paul 2 Cor. 12.7 by Sathan wherein his prayer in the particular was not granted * In private conference hee answered likewise that Saint Paul had no Warrant to pray against those temptations A crazy passage many wayes against the sixt Petition of the Lords Prayer being nothing else but Originall sinne which if hee had been delivered from then he should have had no need of Christ It is a marveilous thing that any man should dote upon such opinions or others admire him for them But to proceed The second Argument Argu ∣ ment 2 Such things as are ordinarily denied the best and most faithfull servants of God and accompany not their cōdition here cannot be absolutely prayed for or expected neither wil that procure them for that were to crosse his Providence But these matters are so as is rehearsed Therefore c. This appeares by two Testimonies 1. Of Saint Iames chap. 2.5 God hath chosen the poore in this world to bee rich in faith and heires of his Kingdome Rich in faith and yet outwardly poore the abundance of faith then helpes not their povertie 2. Of our Savior Math. 25.35 I was hungry and yee fed mee not thirstie and yee gave mee no drink naked and yee clothed mee not c. Whereby it appeares that some of the members of Christ shall bee poore and distressed wanting necessaries in all times to the end of the world neither are these taxed for want of faith at all nor yet doth the Lord faile of any of his promises to his servants much lesse by a continual course therefore are they denyed c. Explication When I say that outward things are ordinarily denied to the servants of God I intend such an administration in all ages and times towards some and that not a few of them so that it is no extraordinary matter nor limitted to some times and ages onely and this the instances prove For when Sr. Iames saith God hath chosen c. Non quod omnes sed quod plures pauperes quam divites hujusmundi elegerit Deus-Paraus in locum Hee meaneth that in his eternall counsell hee made choice of such more than of others not for their poverties sake but according to his pleasure not utterly excluding others but for the most part shewing and manifesting his Grace towards these in every age whom hee calleth Poore not because they have not affluence and abundance but as the Originall word importeth scarce things necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signif mendicus and more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pauper without help and supply from others which outs off the answer of the Temporarie holding those poore to be such as have all things convenient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Aristophanis Plutus act 2. scen 5. only Riches and Braverie excepted unlesse hee will grant a contradiction in his answer which is no strange matter with him and this is by an ordinary dispensation and course in all times and ages whence it is that I say that outward things accompanie not their condition here that is necessarilie but that they may often want them And this may serve also to confirme the second instance out of Math. 25. For if some of the most faithful members of Christ want not things necessary in every age how shall that be the triall of all the rest that did not relieve them His mystical interpretation of the place doth not overthrow this Collection from the literall sense which all acknowledge or the contrary in them that did seeing our Lord sets it downe and proclames it for a generall Triall at that great day Whereas therefore the Temporarie demands if this be granted that many of the Saints shall want necessaries what will follow I answer this will follow That Temporall necessaries do not necessarily accompanie the state of the faithfull in this life neither is it through want of faith or repentance that many of them have them not as hee affirmes but they may abound in faith and grace and excell them that have them CHRIST JESVS putting himselfe in their persons and in that verie condition and therupon that the promises of Temporall things are not so absolute without some conditions implyed else they should absolutely be performed to all the faithfull the Lord being most true in the performance of all his promises And that then the faithfull themselves are not in that peremptorie manner to require them in Praier and to expect them so as

that either the Lord must be unjust if they be not granted or they wanting in faith and grace that obtaine them not which is the point in controversie and then his opinion is verie unsound and his practise audacious and unwarrantable on the termes hee maintaines it How fearefull then is that Passage of his I use his owne language page 22. that if any say they have Repentance Faith and Love and misse of the very thing faithed in Praier they make God a deceiver because hee never gives the one without the other The third Argument Argu ∣ ment 3 That which did never put any certaine difference betweene one and another in outward things is not the absolute condition of those things for that cannot stand But Faith and Grace did never put any certaine difference between one and another in outward things Ergo is not the absolute condition of those things nor annexed unto them This appeares by two places First Eccles 9.2 All things come alike unto all and there is one event to him that feareth GOD and to him that feareth him not c. And no man knews love or hatred by all that is before him ver 1. Which would not be so if there were any certaine bettering of the outward estate by Faith and Grace Secondly Math. 5.45 Your heavenly Father maketh his Sun to rise on the evill on the good and sendeth Raine on the Iust and on the Vnjust So that the verie same dispensation in outward things belongs to one as to another and there is no difference Which providence doth interpret the promises concerning these things Explication When I say that Faith and Grace doe put no difference betweene one and another in outward things my meaning is according to my words no externall difference The internall I acknowledged in a Letter to him that a believer shall certainly better his outward estate by his Faith and an unbeliever infallibly hurt his outward estate and condition by his unbeliefe so that one may be knowne from another by their thriving or not thriving in the world that the Children Corne Cattle Ground and Possessions of the one shall be ever more prosperous than the other which was my Illustration in my Sermon For this is so contrarie to the Scriptures and all experience that it is a very shamefull thing to affirme it Yet if outward things were necessarily annexed to faith In regard of their fruition it must be so and such blamed for unbeliefe with whom it is otherwise which were to condemne the generation of the righteous Whereas then the Temporarie produceth divers promises out of the Scriptures of the olde Testament containing blessings belonging to the righteous and their seed and on the contrary many threatnings to the wicked in that kind hee should have done well withall to have answered those questions and resolved those Cases that troubled Iob and his friends the Prophet David and Ieremie about these matters the former uttering his complaint thus Wherefore doe the wicked live become old and are mightie in power Their seed is established in their sight and their off-spring before their eyes Their houses are safe from feare neither is the rod of God upon them c. Job 21.7 8. The other thus confessing My feet were almost gone my steps had welnigh slipt for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperitie of the wicked There are no bands in their death but their strength is firme they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men All the day long have I beene plagued and chastened every morning c. Psal 73.3 4. c. Ieremy in this manner expostulating with the Almighty Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deale very treacherously Thou hast planted them they have taken root they grow they beare fruit Jerem. 12.1.2 He should have resolved these cases and shewed how this could stand with the promises of outward blessings to the faithfull and the contrarie to the wicked and then hee had done something But this either through ignorance hee passeth over or else purposely because it made against him hee passeth by in silence Neither could hee say any thing to Iob or David if hee had beene with them according to his owne way in those cases but that there was a Plague in their hearts and they wanted Repentance Faith or Love else it had beene otherwise with them and so hee might have gone amongst Iob's miserable comforters of whom hee complaines Iob 16.2 But it is evident out of those testimonies and the like administration in all times that faith and grace doth not make or discover any certain difference betweene one and another in outward things to bee knowne by but that the most faithfull may be in deepe adversities while the wicked prosper and flourish Concerning then those temporall promises under the Law upon condition of obedience it is evident that they were part of the Pedagogie of the Jewes to traine them on and allure them to be obedient to the Law of God as also to lead them to the consideration of better things as the milke and honey the corne the wine and oyle of the land of Canaan also were Whereas now under the Gospell wee have a better Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 established upon better promises the spirituall blessings of the kingdome of Christ Hebr. 8.6 remission of sinnes peace of conscience the Holy Spirit with the graces thereof and the everlasting rest to come And for those temporall promises they may bee appendices to the Covenant in as much as Christ is made Heyre of all things So Calvin on Heb. 1.2 and so doe most properly belong unto the faithfull yet seeing none are perfectly obedient and the Lord doth direct and order all to the everlasting good of his people therefore neither under the Law heretofore nor now under the Gospell were those temporall benefites necessarily conferrd upon the just but their faith and patience were exercised and tryed with the want of them more or lesse according as it pleased the Lord to single out any of his servants as he hath done many thereunto and that without either breach of promise in God or want of faith and grace in his servants and people so that although the blessing doe belong truly to the faithfull and their seed according to the Scriptures yet the outward benefits themselves in particular are not ever so bestowed upon the beleevers as that thereby they may certainly be knowne and distinguished from others the Lord reserving that in his owne power to deale according to his holy pleasure and will with his owne having alwayes in store better things for them than he doth at any time deny them My Instances produced for the proofe of what I affirme the Temporary labours to put by with his Interpretations as of Eccles 9.2 All things come alike to all c.

and that the word If arising from thence doth stand betweene God and us as a cloud This is his arrogant censure of the Apostles prayers 2. I would demaund of him or any that hold with him whether Saint Paul had not as much ground of assurance and as certaine a promise for his comming to the Romanes as the Temporarie or any other have of any particular Temporall benefit they aske at the hands of God for the promises run onely in generall It is not said of anie particular person that hee shall have this or that particular Favour Benefit or Request but in generall onely and all this St. Paul had For as a Believer hee had the promises of those Temporall benefits that were necessarie for him as an Apostle hee had a speciall promise from Christ of assistance in Preaching the Cospel to the Gentiles of which the Romanes were part Act. 26.17 As an earnest Petitioner for this particular favour being more necessarie than any Temporall matter hee had as much and far more promise of audience than any Temporary believer hath of any Temporall benefit that he conceives to be good for him And yet had hee no promise for what hee asked What promise then hath the Temporary for all his Temporals whereof hee is so confident But what if the Apostle had a promise from God and a particular assurance of his comming to the Romanes for it is certaine that hee had a promise of comming to Rome Act. 23.11 and before that hee was assured of it Act. 19.21 And when hee wrote the Epistle hee was confident in it Rom. 15.24 Where then is the truth of the Temporarie in saying that hee prayed for that for which hee had no promise Which practise elsewhere hee calleth babling in two places Page 20. 57. Doth it not rather appeare herehence that in all our undertakings wee are to have dependance upon God and to wait upon his will resigning our selves to his good pleasure and therefore in our prayers either expresly or implicitly to desire as the Apostle doth by the will of God to doe this or that worke to have this or that benefit from him to make our journeys prosperous c. as the word importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As we say A good journey and not as the Temporary proudly teacheth Give me this and give me that for I know it is good for mee which kind of language wise Parents would not allow in their children Doubtlesse it argues not a little arrogancy in this man to quarrell so with the words of the Apostle desiring by the will of god to have a prosperous journey to the Romanes May hee not as well alter the third Petition and say not Thy will be done but Our wils bee done in our prayers for it tends unto it apace But he goes on further yet 3 That of Saint Iames Ye ought to say If the Lord will is intended onely against those vaine boasters who would peremptorily say We will goe to such a Citie c. seeing no man knowes that hee shall live a day but to reserre it to prayer for temporall necessaries is a grosse abuse seeing Saint Iames speakes of Saying and wee of Praying For answer whereunto I say that Saint Iames speakes not onely of saying neither is it the saying or not saying of those words simply So Calvin on the place that hee intendeth but the reproofe of the arrogant confidence and groundlesse securitie of such as if their lives and actions had been in their owne power and all at their owne disposing would without any acknowledgment of God or dependance upon his providence considently undertake all their actions neither in heart conceiving nor in words expressing any submission at all to the will of God or dependance on his providence Against both which evills doth the Apostle inveigh teaching men as wel in their hearts to acknowledge as by their tongues to confesse their relying wholly upon God and dependance upon on his will in all their designes purposes which thing hath such relation to Prayer as that the one cannot stand in truth without the other neither are they ever severed in practise for hee that doth truely acknowledge the soveraigntie of God in all things and his absolute power over him and his actions will also by earnest prayer seeke his grace and favour to dispose of him in mercy for the best considering his owne unworthinesse of any good My times are in thy hand Psal 31.15 And seeing the counsell and purpose of God is unknowne to us concerning our lives our estates and the event of all our doings such a one will with submission to the will of God offer up his requests concerning outward things as if it may stand with his pleasure to grant him this or that benefit or favour if it may tend to his glorie if it may further our everlasting good c. and so speake before men Of which practise what better patterne can wee have than that of Saint Paul who not onely offered his prayers in such cases and that more than of a secular nature with such a submissive If the Lord permit if God will c. if but used it often in his speeches and writings as appeares by Act. 18.21 1 Cor. 4.19 1 Cor. 16.7 Rom. 1.10 Phil. 2.19 24. and yet had a more speciall and particular promise in those cases than any man now can ordinarily have neither hath he ever till now that I have heard beene taxed for unbeliefe therein or praying without a promise much lesse babling proh scelus And heerein I wish the Temporary would take notice of his notable ignorance and rashnesse together who in grounding his opinion for absolute prayer hath reference onely to the revealed will of God excluding his secret counsell and purpose altogether For although it be true that the written Word of God doth containe in it a perfect discovery of good and evill to regulate our obedience and that therein is plainly declared what things are lawfull or unlawfull for the generall matter of them to bee asked at his hands yet for the determination of the particulars to whom how and in what manner those things shall bee done it is not revealed but reserved unto his secret counsell and purpose to bee ordered and disposed according to those glorious ends that hee hath ordained and appoynted Dan. 4.35 Psal 33.11 And this is that will So Tareus on the place which Saint Paul intendeth in the forenamed places and that St. Iames heere meaneth when hee requires that wee say If the Lord will For St Paul doubted not of the revealed will of God for the lawfulnesse of his desire to goe to Rome and Corinth but for the time the comfort of his journey and the good successe which were secrets therein he desires favour Neither doth Saint Iames question the lawfulnesse of travelling to Cities and Townes in mens lawfull trades for commerce and gaine as