God for mercy may not yet enter into his Eates For this reason Let us cry unto the Lord. And as we must thus imitate their behaviour in misery so the next is their Remedy which likewise muâ—â— be ours They cast their burthen upon the Lord knowing full well that he was able to help them being the Lord and as willing as able because their God In treating of which the utmost of my intent shall be to divide such shares of sorrow among you as that your very soules may be even cut asunder wâ—thin you being indeed your onely remedy in trouble and the onely way to appease your angry God for the broken and contrite heart he will not dispise And therefore let us sigh and weep and cry unto the Lord. As the cause of this Peoples misery was Famine so their case in regard of any Earthly succour that could be expected was helplesse and remedilesse For the Heavens were become as Brasse and the Earth as Iron unto them the Lord their God who comprehends all in his Fist had withheld from them the bottles of Heaven and stopped the spouts of Raine now being ready to dye with hunger they mingle their Bread with weeping seeking to relieve themselves by tears and groans And cry unto the Lord. Hence the Point is this Obs That godly sorrow and holy affliction is the best remedy in any sorrow and affliction whether it be from Men from Sathan or from God himselfe whether it be in Body Estate Name Mind or soule of a Man whether it be on particular Persons or on our Selves or on our Friends or those that are about us or on the whole Land as on Church or Common wealth This is the most soveraigne Remedy in all distresse and extremity whatsoever this inward godly griefe is a salve for every sore and a playster for every wound To Weep and Cry and poure out our Hearts before God is the course that this people here took and that which we must take in the like or any other ealamity and according to the measure of the affliction and as it is more publick or private so must be the measure of our lamentation To this there is a promise made in Isaiah Isa 61.1.2.3 That when our Hands cannot help our selves nor our Tongues prevaile with others yet then we may relieve our selves by our Prayers unto God for in that place the Lord undertaketh that Mourners shall be comforted And there is great cause why God should so deale with such kind of Persons For first He is full of pitty and compassion and therefore the Prophet Joel bids us Joel 2.13 Rent our Hearts and not our Garments that is bring inward sorrow that may crush and breake the Heart and then turne unto the Lord which if we doe we shall be sure of reliefe because the Lord is mercifull saith he and our God is ready to forgive When we see our Children weeping mourning and consessing their faults we cannot but have our bowels of compassion carning towards them what shall we then thinke of God He is our Father we are his Children and be is farre more mercifull then we can be for he hath no other bowels then the bowels of compassion and therefore when we Mourne in an holy manner certainly he will arise and have mercy upon us he cannot slay when he sees our Eyes full of Teares and our Hearts full of sorrow for the sighs and groanes of his people will not let him have rest in Heaven Secondly This godly mourning must needs be a speciall remedy in all manner of afflictions because it makes our Prayers very forcible it sets an edge upon our Petitions and makes us pray heartily servently and strongly When Jacob wept in his Prayer Hos 12 4. it was so effectuall that he prevayled When Gods people joyned together to poure forth buckets full of Teares drawne from the bottome of their Hearts before the Lord 1 Sam 7.6 they were marvellously helped for the great measure of their Teares made their supplication more servent And therefore when our Saviour was about the principall point of his Mediatorship then did he gather strength unto himselfe by this means He did offer up Prayers with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death Heb. 5.7 Thirdly This godly sorrow must needs be very effectuall because it is exceeding forcible against sin for when sorrow comes into the Heart sin goes out it will not lodge there unlesse it be cockered and much made of When every one laments his iniquity and mourns over Christ Jesus whom by his sinnes he hath pierced then there is a Fountaine opened to wash us all from our sins that have made a wicked separation betwixt us and our God And seeing then that this godly sorrow is a means to make God pitty us and to make us call earnestly upon him and to expell sin which might hinder us from prevayling with him it must needs follow That of all remedies in time of distresse this is the best and surest Since sorrow is our onely safery and the best and surest remedy in distresse Let us a little reflect upon our selves and miseries and apply this soveraigne Balme to all our wounds There are many afflictions abroad at Sea Ships taken Merchants spoyled goods seized Marriners imprisoned many at home in our Townes nay in our owne Families as losses erosses sicknesses diseases parting with friends discontents nay there are many things amisse in our owne Hearts and here is medicine for every one of our maladies Let us then get it and use it and all arguments and helps that may continue and increase it Thus the Ninevites when Jonah threatned distruction against their City within forty dayes they humbled and abased themselves and fell to mourning and used Fasting to help it forward and to further them to this remorse and griefe for their great and hainous transgressions they had grieved the Lord by their iniquities and therefore now they would grieve themselves with contrition for them and neglect no means to further them in the worke of humiliation Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. They Proclaime a Fast they put on Sackcloth from the greatest to the least they neither eat nor drinke they cry mightily unto God and every man turnes from his evill way and from the wickednesse that is in their hands And when God saw that they turned from their evill wayes than God repented of the evill that he said he would doe unto them and he did it not And since we of this Nation have seen and felt affliction and justly may feare danger to be neer us still let us betake our selves to this mourning if we refuse to doe it and shall continue to be hard-hearted suppose the devouring bloud-letting Sword should come againe into our Land suppose the Plague like a loaden spunge should come flying through our Townes and Countries sprinkling poyson wheresoever she comes suppose pale meager
that are his he corrects but for a time but his anger never asswageth towards the reprobate though for a long time he deferre And therefore grudge not to see the wicked flourish like a green Bay-tree for a time passe but by a little and upon your return his place will not be found for God holds not the wicked innocent But for you though you be afflicted here you shall be comforted hereafter for through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of Heaven This is the Kings high-way to happinesse and there is not a Saint in Heaven but hath led this way and beaten this path before us For Stones cannot be squared for Pallaceworke without the stroke of the Hammar and we must be content to endure the stroaks of Gods Hammar of afflictions that we may be polished and squared and made lively Stones fit to be layd in the Heavenly Jerusalem What matters it then to see Dives here flant it in Purple and fare deliciously every day when at last he must be tormented in flames while hunger-starved Lazarus though afflicted here yet his comfort is hereafter and is transported from the Porch of a Tyrant to the Bosome of Abraham Besides though God useth many wayes to bring us home unto him yet none more then affliction It was Hunger that drove the Prodigall home to his Father And surely nothing so opens the Eyes of the soule as misery and trouble O how correction opens those Eyes which prosperity kept shut O how often doth the paining of the Body work the saving of the Soule O how often doe missortunes like the Rungs in Jacobs Ladder serve to mount out soules up to Heaven Let God then wound us so he will but heale us let him strik our Bodies with sicknesse with sores with restraint so he will but with these wounds heale out Soules Let come what will come so it but chase us to God drive us home to his House end in Prayer and make us cry unto the Lord. 10. But still the afflicted soule goeth on and sayeth Though God tell us that he holds not the wicked iunocent and will not surely cleare them but ordains them for judgement and reserves them for correction yet we dayly see that they doe not onely flourish here in this world but goe to their graves in peace and are not to any outward appearance in trouble like other men Well saith God in the tenth or last place Say they doe yet will I meet with them in their Children and punish their sins in their posterity Visiting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children and upon their Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation they shall be sure to tast of the bitter Cup of Gods wrath here as their Fathers doe in Hell Thus if this name of God in these ten severall properties were but rightly understood and applyed were it but as oyntment poured out and spread upon our hearts there is nothing in distresse nothing in trouble nothing in misery could hinder us from crying to the Lord considering he is strong mereifull gracious abundant in goodnesse and truth and forgiving iniquity transgression and sin c. But without any further enlargement upon these proparties in their severall particulars I will onely clap them altogether and make Application and so hasten you again to the House of Mourning to cry unto the Lord. Is the Lord thus strong and mercifull and gracious c. then why should a Christian trouble himselfe at any thing that befals him here Hath he crafty enemies let him goe cry to the Lord for direction his wisedome is infinitely beyond their policy Hath he strong enemies let him goe cry to the Lord he is mightier and stronger then they all In a word hath he any outward affliction or inward corruption that doth annoy or trouble him let him goe cry to the Lord and have recourse to his God and there he shall find remedy for all nay whatsoever mans ease be if he hut seek the Lord he shall have help Psal 145.18.19 So sayes that Princely Prophet God is neer to all that call upon him yea to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desire of them that feare him he also will heare their cry and will save them And though their hearts be so oppressed that they can utter no words that 's no matter God will have respect to their very desires and surely their teares speak highest and their sighs cry loudest in the Ears of God Let us then groane for a broken heart and sigh and fob and weep and cry Cry unto the Lord. Thus having done with this peoples behaviour in the time of Famine and likewise with the Remedy they used they east their burthen upon the Lord as also with the Motives inducing them thereunto because he is able being the Lord and willing because their God Let us now close up all in our mourning garments and robing our soules with the inward sackcloth of sorrow not onely Pray but Weep nor Weep alone but Cry Cry unto the Lord. From whence the Point is this They who would not have God to shut his eares against their Prayers must be sure that they not onely Pray but Cry and that their Petitions proceed from a broken heart and an humble spirit For till the heart be even pulled in pieces by godly sorrow and rent in sunder with godly griefe sin and lust will not out and then there can be no acceptance looked for from God either of us or of our services The sacrifice of God saith David Psal 51.17 is a sorrowfull spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Mar. 7.35 And therefore did Christ groane in his Spirit when he Prayed for that poor man in the Gospel So did Hannah sigh and weep sore 1 Sam. 1.15 and poured out her soule before God And there is good reason to move us to labour thus to be inwardly touched for till we have a sense and feeling of our wants we may well speak but we can never Pray till the heart be pained with sin its impossible it should be fervent for the pardon of it He that hath no feeling of poverty cannot earnestly intreat for a supply of his necessities He that hath no feeling of his sicknesse can never be an instant suiter for the means of health So he that hath no feeling of his spirituall poverty can never covetously hunt after those true treasures which onely enrich his soule to all eternity And he that hath no sense of his sin-sick soule can never seek to that true Physitian who onely can apply Physicke to his bleeding heart and sin-sick burthened soule This serves for the reproofe of those that come with drowsie verball Prayers those that come with words of course to intreat God to pardon their sins and strengthen their Faith but never poure out their soules before God but onely spend a little breath and they
Moneths delivered to the Light if it prove fruitfull or usefull to thee or any other it will be an ample compensation to my poore Labours That great and good Physitian of our Soules Christ Jesus blesse it to thee is the humble request of his and in him Thy Servant Ellis Weycoe The Contents HOw the Church of England ever observed Fasts and Holy-dayes Fol. 3. The Prince or Governour may appoint a Fast Fol. 3. Princes or Governours are to be Obeyed in their Commands Fol. 3. Foure Cautions to be observed in keeping a Fast Fol. 4. How to keep every day holy-day Fol. 4. God is never angry but for sin Fol. 6. Sin is the cause of all misery Fol. 7. 8. 9. 10. Mourners marked and thereby preserved Fol. 12. Soules sorrow Fol. 16. Better to deale with God by Teares then Words Fol. 17. The Antiquity of Fasting Fol. 20. Foure Rules to be observed in Fasting Fol. 22. Who must give to the Poor how much in what manner and to whom they must give Fol. 28. Christs Schoole a Schoole for all sorts Fol. 31. The Kingdom of Christ admits of no distinction Fol. 36. The best place of Refuge to fly unto in time of warre or any Calamity Fol. 39. Five Rules to be observed in Gods publick worâ—â—iâ— and service Fol. 44. Three Rules that sit us for a right behaviour in Gods House Fol. 46. Three Rules to binde us to the good-behaviour before we come to Heare at the time of Hearing and after we have Heard the Word Fol. 47. Our Hearing of the Word must be accompanied with foure concurring Circumstances Fol. 54. Prayer the Art of Arts that adornes a Christian Fol. 56. Godly sorrow and affliction the best remedy in any sorrow and affliction Fol. 59. The greatest affliction which should touch our Hearts is the Churches affliction Fol. 66. We must never make an end of Mourning till God make an end of Afflicting Fol. 71. 72. No distresse whatsoever can hinder Gods people from praying Fol. 78. The Knowledge of Gods power and mercy is the onely cause of bringing Christians into his presence and of moving them to call upon him in their miseries Fol. 83. Men can never truely seek God by Prayer till they know understand and apply his Name Fol. 83. 84. We must not onely Pray but Cry Fol. 94. Good Suiters alwayes good Speeders Fol. 44. 95. Three Rules to be observed if we expect help from God in distresse Fol. 96. 97. Joel 1. Chap. 14. Verse Sanctifie a Fast call a solemne Assembly gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord. THe wisest Preacher of a mortall Man and of immortall memory that ever was or shall be inspired with the spirit of God saith That there is a time to Weep as well as to Laugh a time to Mourn as well as to Dance And surely seeing every Man and Woman under their own Vines and Figtrees have a long time satiated themselves with Laughing and Dancing or making merry with their Friends doubtlesse now these sad and cloudy times are the times that call for Weeping and Mourning for Baldnesse and girding with sackcloth For hath not God shot divers of his Arrows and have not some Bullers fallen from his Warning peeces which Arrows and Bullets poysoned with the Pestilence have not many years agoe hit and slain some People not onely in and about out Mother Cities but else-where in the spatious Countries Who perceiveth not how the destroying Angell hath of late unsheathed his Sword and brandished it over us of this Nation of England Who knows not how in respect of those unhappy differences amongst us Warr thundred in our trembling Countries lap the Sword devoured the Grace of England and became drunk with the Bloud of Natives Rovel 6.4 The red Horse with him that sate thereon to whom was given power to take Peace from the Earth and a great Sword still prancing and trampling in our streets both at Noon-day and at Midnight Now though the sinfull Sons and Daughters of men have and still doe lye neverthelesse sleeping in their sensualities yet the vigilant Watchmen of our English Israel our late Royall Kings in their severall Reignes and Governments observing Gods begun Jadgements and further threatned Punishments usually Proclaimed Easts in the times of common calamity And his Highnesse under whose protection and government we now live hath set a part many dayes of Humiliation appointing us a place of refuge or sacred Sanctuary to fly unto Prov. 18.10 that strong Tower that right Arke or little Zoar unto which the righteous run and are preserved even unto the House of the Lord our God carried thither with the feet of Prayer there with all fervency to Pray for the preventing and diverting of Gods further furious hand against us crying unto the Lord to spare this Land to spare this People to spare us from the Sword to spare us from the Famine and from all his sore Judgements which our sins most justly have deserved for which purpose the Trumpet hath been often blown in this our Sion the Fast Proclaimed and the Assembly gathered according to this of Joel Sanctifie a Fast call a solemne Assembly gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord. This Fountain might divide it selfe into severall Streames but waving unnecessary Fractions I shall confine my Discourse to these two Heads 1. A duty enjoyned Sactifie a Fast 2. A method or order prescribed for the solemne performance of it Call a solemne Assembly gather the Elders c. Duty enjoyned 1. The duty enjoyned A duty no lesse necessary then seasonable For as St. Augustine observes Before the fall there needed but one glorifying of God that was by giving of thanks But now since the fall by reason of our many backslidings there must be also Sacrificium tribulati cordis the Sacrifice of a troubled Spirit for the mortifying of this flesh of ours which by being too much pamperd by us hath been so rebellious against God I shall passe by the first the duty enjoyned or Fast proclaimed my meditations intending to fix upon nothing but that which shall afford sit matter for mourning though the Proclamation it self being alwayes occasioned either upon begun Judgements or threatned Punishments might give just cause to hoise up saile in a Sea of sorrows but delighting onely in that heart-breaking and yet wel pleasing pensivenesse and therefore hastening to that Ocean oâ— sorrow in the exit or end of the verse sighing sobbing crying I will but salute the Fast enjoyned and stay but a while to bewayle these miserable times into which we are fallen which being the last must needs be the worst wherein so many are carried away with the severall blasts of vain Doctrine from Gods true Religion to these follies and fancies whereby they doe not onely wound Christs mystieall
But perhaps some will say What needs all this adoe what needs this sad behaviour or solemne Assembly Doth not God sea the heart and if our bearts can but bleed in sorrow for sin What need our eyes weep our tongues lament our countenances be sad or our whole behaviour solemne Ans The reason is though I might give you severall yet being in hast take this one for all as the maine Because the Lord our God is Lord as well of Body as of Soule and as well of Soule as of Body And therefore in performing any service unto him he expects-both in his Service and Worship as in Prayer our Knees must be bended to him in signe of our humility our Eyes our Hands our Hearts and all must be listed up unto him in signe of our confidence So in lamenting our sins Let our Eyes weep our Breasts sigh our Tongues complain our whole Body faint and our Soule languish see Mary weeping Peter weeping and Jeremy never making an end of weeping for the sins of his people Besides these outward circumstanees doe most lively expresse our inward sorrows Down down then with all the signes and sales of Vanity and in true sorrow and humility humble your selves before God and cry unto the Lord saying praying Enter not O Lord into judgement with thy servants for in thy sight no flesh shall be justified Keep us O God from the cursed custome of sinning and from the direfull executioners of vengeance especially from the Sword Good Lord deliver us Call a solemne Assembly It was an ordinary custome in any common calamity to rent their garments put on sackcloth and mourne in ashes When the Israelites found want of the favour of God they put off their wonted Garments as in Genesis in Amos in Iob in Ionah may be found But not to stay at all upon the renting of garments and cloathing with sackeloth nor to dwell any longer upon sad behaviours heavy countenances or solemne Assemblies I le onely wish you observe how that the sorrow and sadnesse of spirit draws the Body and all the abiliments of the Body into the participation and manifestation of griefe and indeed how is it possible that our countenance should testifie gladnesse when our hearts are heavy And though I grant that it is not needfull now to use such shadows in the light of the Gospel which hath brought us greater liberty So that whensoever you reade or heare of Isay 22.12 Weeping Mourning Baldnesse or girding with Sackcloth repentance by these signes are but thereby noted out unto us for Repentance neither consists in sackcloth nor ashes nor in any externall thing but onely in the heart Those who doe in good earnest Repent and are displeased with themselves they hate their sins and are touched to the quick with such a sense and feeling of sorrow that they abhor and detest themselves and their life past and by these outward signes they give testimony of their inward sorrow so that humbling themselves before God they therewithall shew testimony of that displeasure they had conceived in themselves before men so that indeed the signes alone are nothing and the Ceremonies are indifferent neither have we any Commandement to put on sackcloth or to pluck off our haire but the occasion of this Discourse and naming of these Signes and Ceremonies is That I might the better prevaile with you all willingly and in good earnest to put the truth of these signes in practice namely to have an unsaigned displeasure with your selves that you have so displeased your God confesse your sins your rebellions your offences and that with a broken heart and sorrowfull soule with an intent to leade a new life and hereafter as resolutely to strive against sin as we have formerly served cheerfully under it for if we judge not our selves worthy of punishment we cannot come into favour with God And therefore as the poor Malefactor bows down his face and cloaths himselfe in vile and base rayment to move the heart of the Judge so ought we to run in all humility to Gods mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ with unfaigned testimonies of our inward Repentance for conversion begins at the heart So the Prophet Joel Rent your hearts and not your garments And therefore to leave the signes to passe by the ceremonies and close up all in our mourning weeds our heavy countenances sad behaviours and solemne assemblies let us be sure to cloath mourning minds and truely sorrowfull soules Augustine is said to weep a shower of teares Ambrose a flood of tears And I am sure Jeremy wisht for a Fountain of tears Certain it is that none of us can condole so much as we ought for our sins are many and Gods plagues are mighty and therefore a deluge of tears were little enough to bear the Ark of our sorrow for our sins I have thus far brought you sorrowing towards this deluge this sea this fountaine of sorrow let us still follow on with paces of lamentation and sorrowfull remembrances of our sins which have forced the Lord to his Armoury and to put on the garments of Vengeance against us And for that purpose I shall endeavour to robe your selves with mourning garments and cloath them with the inward sackcloth of sorrow that your hearts thus rent and torne to pieces with godly griefe you may cry more earnestly to the God of mercy to spare this Land and not adde to our afflictions least those that have evill will at our English Sion rejoyce and triumph at our present miseries Souls sorrow outward griefe The word Solemne shews that our outward sorrow should testifie our inward griefe so that that which went before was but the Signe we now come to the Truth For our part we pronounce not renting of cloaths onely without the putting on of other robes not so much wishing you to put on sackcloth as to put on Christ Indâ—iâ—e is the voyce of Scripture not Scindite Put on not Rent off the Originall being from that of St. Paul Put on the Lord Iesus Christ which will be the better performed if you please to acquaint your selves with this inward mourning not Scindite Vestimenta but Scindite Corda Rent not your cloathes but rent your hearts And it was not without much reason that Solomon gives councell To goe to the house of mourning Est enim illie benedictio there is performed that blessing which Christ promiseth Mat. 5.4 A blessing is promised no where to mirth but to Mourning our Saviour hath annexed this reward And surely the keeping under of the soule is much available to all religious and devout offices and I am sure there ought to be sorrow in every soul The whole course of our Saviours life was spent in solitary sorrow and doubtlesse the cause of his sufferings being in us our Sins we had need all the dayes of our Pilgrimage lament for our sins that brought upon our Iesus a burthen so heavy insomuch that not
Ieremy onely but all Man-kind may Write lamentations So that Non finire sed semper reservare lachrymas debemus We had need never make an end of mourning never end our sorrows for Sin intermit them we may but stilâ— let us keep our acquaintance with them That of Hierome 〈◊〉 confesse is true Detestandae sunt illae lachrymae quae non habeâ—â— modum Mourning without measure is a Hell upon Earth Yet again Detestandi sunt qui carent lachrymis they are to be detested that have no measure of this heavenly Manna but happy were we if we could for ever continue our mourning for Sinne and for the abominations of the Land God hath already given us the cup of his wrath to drink off and we have tasted deeply of the cup of his displeasure we have seen affliction in the rod of indignation this Land hath presented us with sad spactacles whole heaps of slain O how should the remembrance of our late sufferings set open again the Fountains and Floodgates of sorrow that rivers of tears might flow from our pensive hearts And if the Lord shall again be incensed by reason of our sins which are as many and great as ever what can we expect but having already begun to taste of the bitter cup of his wrath and displeasure he will force us the next time to drink it down to the dregs But since that groans and sorrow for Sin is the onely way to appease Gods wrath being far better to deale with him by tears then by words and seeing there is no sorrow to that of the soule though the eyes of the body should wax blind with weeping Let us shower down rivers of tears let us plentifully water our cheeks with tears and sigh and sob and weep and howle and cry unto the Lord to spare us from the Sword and let this our lamentation and mourning be coram not clam not onely privately but openly especially upon our Fast dayes or dayes of Humiliation for as solemnity expects it so antiquity prescribes it the Assembly called must be solemne Call a solemne Assembly Obj. But perhaps some will say God expects not this inward and outward sorrow in his service this heart-breaking and body-fainting our eyes weeping and our souls languishing for God wills that we shew our selves glad and cheerfull when we serve him Aaron was sad for the death of his Sonnes and Moses reprehending him because he had not eaten that day of the Sacriifice he told him Levit. 10.19.20 Quomodo potui comedere aut placere Deo in ceremoniis mente lugubri How could I eat or please God in the ceremonies with a mourufull mind and the text saith that Moses rested satisfied The Starrs being called by their Creator to give their light they are said to doe it Cum judicate with delight or cheerfully When we serve the Lord we are bidden to serve him with alacrity Mat. 6.17 When we fast the Word bids us Anoynt our heads that we seem not to men to fast Unge Caput tunm But the fast here enjoyned and the Assembly called must be solemne How stands this together the Scripture bids us both be merry and mourn in the Service of God Ans The answer may well be this That all our felicity consisting in sorrow for sinne we may very well be merry to see our selves sad Green Wood being put upon the Fire both weeps and burns a deep Valley is cleare on the one side and cloudy on the other and mans breast is sad in one part and joyfull in another 〈…〉 7. 〈…〉 St. Paul specifies two sorts of sorrow one which grows from God the other from the World that gives life this death And furely that soule that sorrows for his Sins gives glory unto God It was commanded in Leviticus that they should celebrate with great solemnity a day of expiation 〈◊〉 23.27 c. Et affligetis animas vestras and ye shall afflict your soules It seems not to sound well that men should make a great Feast with afflicting their soules but for Gods Friend no Feast ought to be accounted so great as to offer unto him a sorrowfull and a contrite heart for as there is nothing more sad then Sin so is there nothing so cheerfull as to bewayle it All our dishonest actions are but carnests layd down for griefe for Vice is ever an infallible forerunner of wretchednesse and all our unwarrantable aberrations end at last either in anguish or confusion for Sin on the best condition brings but sorrow with it and for Sinne without sorrow is provided Hell Then down to your Knees and desire of God that he would give you a tast of the sweetnesse of tears and your soules once tasting the sweetnesse of tears will not leave them for a world for tears are the delight of a penitent and there is no true joy but in sorrow for Sin So that all our felicity consisting in sorrow for our sins we may very well be merry to see our selves sad and if our sorrow cannot move men to godlinesse yet it is forcible to move God to mercy The broken heart for griefe of sinne and love of righteousnesse however the world despise it the Lord will not despise it yea it is the sacrifice of God acceptable to him in Christ Jesus Therefore saith one August Lachrymae sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood And Lachrymarum preces utiliores sunt quam sermonum The prayers of teares are far more profitable then those of words Saint Chrysostome sayes That our sins are set downe in the table-book of Gods memory but teares are the spunge which blot them out againe In a word those teares that slow from a broken heart are that salt brine that will eure your wounds cheere your souls ease your consciences and please your God they take away all raw humors and make us savoury meat for the Lord nay more they subdue the Invincible and binds the Omnipotent so St. Hierome Oratio Deum leuit lachryma cogit who would not then mourn for sin and grieve because they cannot grieve enough and be earnest with God in St. Augustins expression Domine da mihi gratiam lachrymarum Lord give me the grace of tears Then weep for your selves and weep for others weep for the sins of the times for the abominations of the Land and cry unto the Lord. The text I took up for your use of purpose in these sad times and God grant it may be as profitable unto you as I 'me sure its fit for these sorrowfull seasons and though I wish no end to your mourning yet having led you thus far sorrowing for your sins and the sins of the times let us look back a little upon the Fast enjoyned which having done I shall again take you by the hand and leade you into the house of mourning the place appointed the House of the Lord your God and so goe along by the banks of Babylon to
that hath meat to doe likewise Luke 3.11 Touching the second How much we must give and for this I find no certain direction any where set down but onely 2 Cor. 9.6 That we should give liberally Eccles 11.2 and give a portion to six and to seven Mat. 5 42 1 Cor. 16.2 and to give to him that askeâ—h and every man as God hath blessed him Touching the third To whom we must give Lusty rogues of either Sex onely excepted who either must work 2 Thes 3 10. or else let them not eat due Correction is more necessary to give to such if they ask then Bread Ecclesiasticus 12. Gal. 6 10. But these persons excepted the answer shall be Give to him that asketh Doe good to all but especially to those that be of the houshold of faith The Fatherlesse the Widdows the helplesse persons the Aged Halt and Blind and all that are in want or needfull are commended to your Charity Obj. But perhaps some will object and say Would you have us to give to all that aske we know that the poor neer us are so bad and wâ—cked and ill-condition'd that it is no Almes to give to them And as for wanderers the Statute prohibits it and besides being strangers to us we cannot tell whether it be Charity or no to give unto them Aâ—s These excuses of thine are no better then fig-leaves I tell thee thou must doe good to all and if any be so bad together with your Almes-giving give them admonition and exhort them to reforme And as for strange Beggars in whom indeed you may be deceived yet your Almes shall be no whit the lesse acceptable that you give them seeing they aske as Christs poor Members and in the name of poor and helplesse persons And he that gives to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall not lose a Prophets reward but they shall be sure to beare the burthen of their dissimulation whereby they invade the Inheritance of the poor to the robbing and despoyling them of a great part thereof Touching the fourth In what manner Almes ought to be given The answer is They must be given cheerfully and without all vain-glory and opinion of merit and onely of that which is our own and that in due season or due time First cheerfully For God loveth a cheerfull giver He that giveth grudgingly as it were out of constraint doth indeed the thing commanded but because he doth it not with an heart it is no more accepted of then Prayer made with the Lips when the Heart is away Secondly without Vain glory We must give not desiring to have our Charity taken notice of by others for so the Pharisees gave Almes to be seen and praysed of men of whom it was said That they had their reward Thirdly Without all opinion of Merit Almes must be given in humility we acknowledging this to be our duty as a Steward is bound in duty to give to every one his Portion for we are but Stewards under God of that which we have our Goods are a Portion committed to our trust to use according to his will as the Talents in the Patable Now God by whose allowance we have these Portions appointeth us to use them so as the poor may have comsort of them and thus in the persons of the poor we render unto God some part of his own again for Christ accepts it as done unto him Pourthly We must give of that which is our own onely not of what we have unjustly gotten for as is shewed in the Example of Zâ—cheus things unjustly gotten must first be restored and then Almes are to be given for in giving stolen goods or such as be gotten by oppression or deceit man maketh God a party in the theft or wrong which he hath committed when as indeed he is so far from this that he expostulateth with such for comming into his House saying Will you lye steale commit adultery and come and worship in this House c. The just God will not in the person of the poor accept of any thing unjustly gotten Fiftly and lastly We must give in due time or due season For the blessed man is like to a Tree Psal 1.3 that bringeth forth fruit in due season Gal. 6.10 And whilest we have time saith the Apostle let us doe good to all Some rely upon a last Will and Testament thinking to be accepted in their giving then when they must needs depart with all that they have To give when a man can keep his goods no longer is no better then to break off from any sin when he can no more commit it But for such as have neglocted this duty in their life let them humble themselves and rather then not at all give liberally at their Death and so happily as the Lord shall see the heart truely affected with penitency they may be accepted in their giving then Thus you see how Charity is a principall point of true Religion And if any shall alledge That their goods are their own and therefore see no reason like churlish Nabal to make that common which God hath given to their particular use I answer That thy goods doe indeed appertaine unto thee but upon condition that thou dealest one part thereof to the hungry and thirsty for thou art but a Steward and sure the hungry are defrauded of their right unlesse their wants be supplyed And this is one thing that sanctifieth the Fast Another thing is Prayer for Fasting is but the hand-maid of Prayer but of this when we come to the period of the Text Cry unto the Lord. Thus having upon second thoughts though contrary to the Rules of Art lookt a little back upon the duty enjoyned the first part of my Text. I now come to the second circumstance of the second part which I called The Method or Order prescribed of which the first being this Call a solemne Assembly The next is Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land Wherein is to be observed The generality of this Fast In the Verse fore-going the Text you see a command layd onely upon some private persons the Priests and the Ministers they are to howle and lament but private mournings is not sufficing for Publick Sorrows there must be an epidemicall lamentation by a solemne Assembly And this Assembly must not be thin vel duo vel nemo as the saying is a small Congregation to serve God but it must be populous and full made up of a multitude Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land Hence let this be the point Christs Schoole is a Schoole for all sorts not onely the Elders but all the Inhabitants Mat. 13.29.30 Let the tares saith our Saviour grow with the wheat it may be they may wither and dye ere Harvest the meaning is That it may be they may dye to sin Witnesse the Jayler who over night was scourging ere morning wishing
Acts 9.4 who ceased from going on in his persecuting course that he might heare Christ speaking unto him And thus the Word is able to make our soules Immortall for t is a great deceit to think to retaine our sins still and yet to heare the Word unto salvation And if so then what shall become of those men that set down their resolution to continue in theirsins for a season are resolved to trade in Drunkennesse Whoredom Covetousnesse c surely there can be no ground in such mens hearts for the Word of God to grow up to the saving of their soules the seed may happily be sown amongst them but it cannot possibly enter to doe them good Obj. But it may be objected That if the Word cannot profit any but such as put away all sin it cannot then profit any man that heareth seeing no man can so put away his sins as that his ground may be cleare Ans The Answer is this That every godly person doth cleere the ground of his heart from all sin so as that he is not pleased with any sin but he hates it and himselfe for committing it he strives against it and he is dayly grieved and poures forth his supplications for the pardon of it You may look for this at your leisures upon the first of Saint John the third and third and fifth and eighteenth and he that will not once put his helping hand to the removing of his sins that he may make roome for the Word of God to be grafted in him need never look for any comfortable event of his hearing but having thus shaken off all impediments all distracting objects and hearkning unto the Word without disturbance hearing as it were for our lives thus heare and your soules shall live Secondly VVe must prove all things and keep that which is good we must heate with judgement and hearken for our selves its ordinary with most men to heare for others and not for themselves but we must have a speciall care to look to that Doctrine which in particular concerns us to lay that up in our hearts and apply it effectually and this is a rule of singular thrift in godlinesse if we doe marke what sin in us the Lord reproveth or what comfort is especially fitted to our hearts or what direction doth chiefly concerne us and he hath an honest memory that will be sure to keep these things though he forget all the rest but he hath a wretched memory and heart too that forgets these things though he could repeat all the Sermon verbatim 3. After we have heard two things likewise must be done First we must by Meditation labour to make those things we have heard and which concerns us fast that they slip not out of our minds and we must take heed that neither the Devill steale away the good seed nor our own hearts through negligence lose it the VVord being let into the heart must setledly continue and not be broken off by the wild beasts of vain speeches and cogitations nor blowne out by the gusts of strong winds of Sathans temptations or of his Instruments that will immediately after we have heard the word be offering other objects for our minds to be taken up withall Psal 1.2 The blessed man doth not onely Reade but Meditates upon the Word David hid the word in his heart even as he that hath bought a Pearle of incomparable worth hideth it And as the Husbandman having cast his Seed into the ground harrowes it in so this Heavenly Plant of the word must be set into the understanding and affections it must enter into the heart as before is said like the Impe into the Stocke and being imbraced and closed about with love and affections it then thrives and grows and prospers David is a notable example for this how often doth he expresse his affections to the word in his 119. Psalme And Saint Paul professed Rom. 7.22 the Law to have been his delight as it is indeed oâ— every blessed man for the hearing of the word is not sufficient neither is it sufficient to keep those things we havâ— heard for an houre but it ought to be our delight and our dayly worke we should alwayes be thinking and ruminating of what we have heard till there be a sure impression of the word in our hearts Let then every one of us gage our soules and try and see whether we finde our selves to be such as to whom the word is thus powerfull to save our soules that we goe not on upon false grounds in our hopes about this unspeakable blessednesse Doth thy heart cleave before the word Preached through trembling and terrour in respect of thy sins and the sins of others Is it ingrafted in thee Doth it enter into thy understanding and is it closed about with a most earnest love and affection Doth it remaine with thee after the hearing of it by serious Meditation and doth it grow and is it vigorous in thy life over-topping all superfluous branches of sin then thou mayest truely comfort thy selfe it shall undoubtedly be thy salvation But if thine heart be hardened and not to be moved before the word if thy understanding be so blinded as that thou hast no apprehension of that which is taught if thy affections be so benummed as that thou art without all love unto it if thou give way to worldly and vaine discourses works or sports after thou hast heard insomuch that all departeth out of thy memory againe so soon as thou hast received it if all teaching be neglected and thou swimmest in the streame of thine owne corruptions then look not up to the joyes of Heaven for no part of them belongs unto thee for though Food being eaten is able to save the life and Apparell put on to keep the body warme and a Treasure possessed to enrich a man yet he that Feedeth not shall be Famisht with Hunger he that goeth Naked shall be pinched with Cold and he that hath wealth and will not use it is but a poor miserable man so he that maketh no better use of the word which is the onely satning Food of his Soule his Soule shall be hunger-starved and perish notwithstanding all his hearing And this is the case of most men in these times wherein sin and the neglect of Ordinances hath gotten such an head through a long continued custome that though the heardest Oke is cloven with wedges and the flintiest Stone made hollow with continuall dropping of water yet there is not one heart amongst many penetrated by the VVord and if there be any trembling sometime as it was with Felix when Paul Preached it is but for the present the word is not retained but flown from as it was by him so that there can be no growth of this Heavenly suckle in these mens lives but branches of sinne will be so luxuriant that the word will be farre over-topt by them and kept perpetually at under And therefore
Christ finding him Preaching to the People they hearkned unto him with that earnest and diligent attention that they had quite forgot to put in execution that which was given them in charge by the Pharisees And being demanded by them why did ye not bring him along with you they returned this Answer Never man spake like this man The glorious Doctor Saint Augustine before that he had unwinded himselfe out of the error of the Manichees he went on purpose to heare Saint Ambrose but not with any intention to give any credit to his Doctrine but onely to please his Eares with the Elegancy of his Phrase and being ravished with the sweetnesse of his expressions had his Heart taken as well as his Eare his attention supplyed the fault of his intention this was that putting of a Knife to the throat The Apostle Saint Paul goes a little further and calls Gods word not onely Cultrum but Gladium not a Knife but a Sword Take unto thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God that thy Soule be not distracted with the troublesome businesses of this world freeing it from all worldly cares and molestations The fourth is Audire cum conservatione to heare with a retention and to lay up the Word in our Hearts to locke it up in the closet of our Soules and so Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keep it The Physitian despaires of that Patients Stomacke that cannot keep its meat but throwes it up as soon as it receives it So he that hears a Sermon should retire himselfe into his Chamber and there imprint it in his memory Many take no pleasure in Flowers or care any further for them then to look upon them to smell at them and to have them in their Hands while they are sweet and fresh and lovely and then throw them by but the Bee drawes from them both honey and was So many heares Sermons for pleasure for delicacy of words for gravity of Sentences and for gracefulnesse in the delivery but this is but to make a Nosegay to smell at for a while and presently to cast it away but we must heare with retention we must seale it up in the coffers of our Remembrance For blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keep it And now having learnt how to behave our selves in the House of the Lord our God in his Publick Service and Worship and particularly how to comport our selves in the Hearing of the Word both to our Comfort and Profit We come now to the greatest and the most excellent service that God requires of us and that is Prayer which is that very Art of Arts that adornes a Christian And David saith That the holinesse of the Temple consisted in the Prayers which then had their force there And here you see That the Assembly gathered into the House of the Lord their exercise there is Sighing Sobbing Praying Crying Cry unto the Lord. And to this the Angels whet on our diligence and the Lord himselfe by Prayer permits us familiarly to poure out our hearts before him for Prayer is nothing else but an opening of our hearts in the presence of God and the best remedy we have to releeve our cares anguishes miseries oppressions and troubles is to lay them all up in his bosome Cast thy burthen upon the Lord saith David and he shall nourish thee And therefore whensoever we feele our selves deprived o◠Gods benefits towards us whensoever we finde a want or 〈◊〉 with holding of Gods wonted favour and mercy from us by reason of our sins whensoever the height of our sinnes brings downe the weight of Gods Judgement upon us whether it be by Plague Famine Warre or any other calamity let us run to this House and importune the God of glory and compassion for this is the onely businesse of this Fast and of this Solemne Meeting which brings us to the last Circumstance in the Method or Order And cry unto the Lord. Good cause had all this People to figh and weep and cry continually for their Land was russeted with a bloodlesse Famine And for us of this Land Lamen 2.1 c. How hath the Lord darkened the Daughter of Zion in his wrath and hath cast downe the beauty of Israel and remembred not his foot-stoole in the day of his wrath He hath cut off in his fierce wrath all the herne of Israel he hath drawne backe his right hand and a Fire was kindled in Jacob which devoured round about he hath bent his Bow like an Enemy his right kand was stretched out as an Adversary He hath despised in the indignation of his wrath the King and the Priest So that well may we take up a lamentation such as was not in the dayes of our Fathers for alas no lamentation can proportion our affliction so that a Deluge of Teares is little enough for the Ocean of our miseries Let then sorrow be our individuall companion with this we begun with this let us end nay never let us make an end of mourning for the abominations of this Land and let us all learne that last lesson of our Saviour to weep for our selves to weep for our sins And for this cause I shall still leade you on with paces of lamentation to the House of mourning where we are to cry unto the Lord. We will stay no longer to look upon the behaviour of this People whose teares did not onely runne downe like a River Day and Night but their very Hearts cryed unto the Lord They poured forth their Hearts like Water before the face of the Lord they lifted up their Hands towards him for the lives of their young Children that fainted for hunger in the Corners of all their Streets the services they brought unto the Lord were not onely Prayers but Teares they did not onely Pray but Cry And since we have so sinned and have been so punished doth it not now concern us and is it not now high time for us to betake our selves unto this Sanctuary of Prayer nay what manner of Prayers should we now send up to Heaven surely not such as most what we use to make such cold and frigid ones as if they were onely for fashion sake and as if there were an indifferency in us whether or no they found acceptation from the Lord and People that are in the fiery Furnace of affliction under the torrid Zone of Heauens indignation to be so luke-warme nay so very cold in their Devotions what doth this argue but either desperation that their praying is to no purpose or else mindlesnesse under the heavy hand of God whereas there is no better meanes for the removing of this Hand then Prayer For what sin doeth Prayer undoeth especially fervent Prayer Therefore the sins of our Nation being so great and loud as that the cry of them hath brought downe such horrible Vengeance upon us who can tell whether the cry of humble Prayer unto
Christianity when others troubles are theirs others losses theirs others reproaches theirs others sufferings theirs and when any distresses and straits of others are made theirs And they that thus lament for Sion shall be comforted with Sion God hath promised them singular consolation it is their Portion and they may confidently expect it But it may be demanded If Sorrow be our onely safely and best Remedy in misery and trouble How long must we continue our humiliation our sorrow our mourning our crying The Answer shall be this Never cease mourning till God cease afflicting never make an end of crying till God make an end of punishing never cease Humiliation till God give Consolation VVhen the Lord ministreth unto us occasion of Griefe let us never cease untill he againe revive our Hearts we must not begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh but having a good entrance we must goe on with our worke and bring it to perfection and if God give us an heart to mourne set to it and never give over till he set us free Hence the Point shall he this That we should never make an end of Mourning and Weeping till God make an end of afflicting and scourging For this Looke upon Ieremy and see him never making an end of Weeping Mine Eye saith he droppeth without stay and ceaseth not till the Lord looke downe and behold from Heaven Mine Eye breaketh my heart Lam. 3.49 c. And so he exhorteth the People Let teares runne downe like a River Day and Night take thee no rest neither let the Apple of thine Eye cease Arise Cry in the Night in the beginning of the Watches poure out thine Heare like Water before the Face of the Lord Lam. 2.18.19 But for Proofe enough If you will have Examples for this continued forrow and mourning Then first take theirs who are mentioned in Nehemiah Who Wept at the Hearing of the Law till they were bid to rejoyce Neh. 8 9. It was a notable commendation of that People that they would not leave off till they had warrant to leave off The next shall be Mordecai who when Queene Esther sent him Garments to Clothe him and would have his Sackcloth to be taken from him he would not receive them Esther 4.4 but humbled himselfe so long till he was assured of deliverance The third shall be Iacob Who would never let goe his hold Gen. 32.26 Hos 11.4 but still wrastled with the Angel and continued weeping and praying till he obtained a blessing The last shall be the Weman of Canaan who stuck so close to her businesse and was so importunate with Christ for her Daughter Matth. 15.22 c. and would never desist nor let her Suit fall till she had prevailed with our Saviour I might produce you a cloud of witnesses but these shall serve worldly helps the deeper distresses we be in the least comfort they will afford us so in Spirituall helps the greater extremities we be in the more comfort will they minister unto us when we are helplesse and hopelesse then Faith works wonders and never shewes forth it selfe so mightily and powerfully as when it workes alone Wealth Strength Friends and all other outward things and worldly comforts when miseries lye heavy upon us and we begin to cast an Eye to them expecting some reliefe and comfort from them will but deale with us as the High Priests did with Judas when all went well with him then they hug'd him and who but Judas they then made shew of all favour and friendship towards him but when in the horrour and anguish of his soule he makes his moane unto them Mat. 27.45 Crying out that be had sinned betraying Innocent bloud they then set him packing with a cutting and uncomfortable answer What is that to us And such cold comfort shall we receive from any Earthly props and supports whereon we rest and stay our Hearts when we have most need of them they will stand us least in stead So that we may truely say of them as Job did of his Friends Miserable comforters are ye all Job 16.2 But as for those that live by Faith in Christ Jesus they are underlayed with better props and supporters then the world can afford for when they have none other to deliver them they can deliver themselves by Prayers by tears by sighs by cryes and by calling upon Gods name out of the lowest Dungeon And if no distresse no breaking no crushing can hinder Gods People from Praying and Crying Then first This may serve to shew us the difference betwixt the wicked and the godly in times of outward or inward affliction when they drinke both of the same Cup and are plunged into the same miscries Cast a wicked man into a Dungeon and lay him full low where he can meet with no worldly help and what course will he take You shall see that either he will blaspheme God and bite his Tongue for madnesse Rev. 18.15 as they that are spoken of in the Revelations or else he will grow desperate and make away with himselfe as Judas Achitophel and other monsters have done But let a godly man be layd as fast and low in the same Dungeon and he will be full of joy when the other is full of desperate griefe and sing Psalmes and poure forth many Prayers and mighty Cryes in stead of the others imprecation and blasphemous speeches Take one example for all Peter and Judas had both dealt unfaithfully though in a farre different degree and manner with their Lord and Master and were both brought into great perplexity but Peter goes out confesseth his fault weeps bitterly and gaines exceedingly by it Iudas on the other side sorroweth desperately and speedily dispatcheth himselfe whereby doth manifestly appeare the different carriage of the Faithfull and of Insidels when they are both overbarthened with sorrowes and miseries Secondly Can no distresse no crushing nor breaking hinder Gods People from Praying and Crying This is for singular comfort unto the Children and servants of God that no crosse can befall them to hinder their Prayers or stop the passage of their cryes from the Eares of the Almighty but all shall quicken and inflame the spirit of Prayer in them surely the issue of their trouble must needs be good when it is watered with Teares and sanctified with requests if they can wait till their harvest come such a seed-time must needs bring them a plentifull and blessed crop of comfort And therefore if you have the holy Ghost in your Soules and Prayer in your Hearts if you have Teares in your Eyes and sighs in your Breasts then blesse God for so good an inside for it s your present help in trouble it s your meat in Famine your preservative in Plague your strength in Warre your help in Affliction and your comfort at all assayes therefore in all distresse fly unto God end in Prayer and cry unto the Lord. And no wonder if these people
speed accordingly for their cold Prayers bring but cold successe And this is true not onely of the wicked but even of the godly Psal 32.3.4.5 David roared and cryed but was never the better till he confessed his sin and was inwardly grieved for the same and then both sin and punishment were removed at once Therefore let us strive with the Lord in our Prayers and Supplications labouring for this fighing and crying this inward sorrow which is so needfull that doing as this people did in the time of Famine we may speed as they did in this time of our calamity For thus saith he that is high and excellent he that inhabiteth eternity Isa 57.15 whose name is the Holy one I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart And the longer we wayt and cry the greater measure of comfort we shall have and the longer it shall tarry with us And therefore since servency in Prayer is so requisite let us not onely Pray but Cry Cry unto the Lord. And for our comforts we shall find God as ready to heare as we are to cry and if we send up our Petitions unto him with sighs and groans he will send down speedy and comfortable help unto us and we shall be sure of good successe even above that we can ask or think As it is in the Lamentations Lamt 3.5 c. Thou hast heard my Voyce thou drewest neer in the day that I called upon thee Whether we desire the suppression of our enemies or subduing of our own corruptions or whatsoever else we shall be sure to speed well God will draw neer unto us by his mercifull presence and with gracious deliverance if we draw neer unto him in our miseries and afflictions So saith our Saviour Mat. 7.8 Whosoever asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Let us then knocke at Gods presence Chamber-doore and though we be never so mean never so contemptible we shall have no repulse For he will fulfill the desires of those that feare him he will also heare their cry their sins though never so many in number or grosse in nature cannot hinder Gods favour Witnesse the Israelites who lived many years without the true God 2 Chron. 13. yet whosoever returned in his misery and sought God he was found of him Another example of Gods goodnesse in this regard we have in Jonah who though for his Rebellion he was cast into the Sea yet God heard him out of the belly of the fish and set him upon the dry land again A third shall be that notorious Theefe who had spent all his life in the Devils service yet no sooner cryes Lord remember me Luke 22.42.43 but Christ not once casting him in the teeth with his sins gives him this good and quick and comfortable dispatch To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The last for this shall be Manasses who had been a most weefull and miserable sinner 2 Chron. 33. yet When he cryed to the Lord in his distresse he heard him set him free and restored him to his Kingdome Here then is comfort for every distressed soule let us but call upon the name of our God and then help and comfort is at hand for God is neer to all that call upon him in truth though it be not with such strength of Faith as we should yet if we seek him he will be found of us and he limits us not to time conditions or things but we may look for help at all times in all straits and in all things and when we have most need then we shall be sure of the best help But now if we would be certain of this comsort we must observe these three Rules Job 11.14 First We must put all wickednesse out of our hearts and out of our hands we must humble our selves and turn from our wicked wayes we must remove our sins and then God will remove our crosses James 4.8 So Saint James exhorts Purge your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded And this is it we must doe if we will have God to draw neer unto us for God will not dwell in an heart defiled with sin he will turn both eyes and ears from us if we continue in our evill wayes because that when our Tongues cry for mercy then our Sins cry for vengeance and though we cannot come to him without iniquity yet we may come to him without the love and liking of iniquity we may come with shame and sorrow for our iniquity and then our sins neither hinder our Prayers nor stop or keep back Gods favour from us Secondly We must seek God according to all his means as we find in the Canticles Cant. 3.1.2 c. Who when the Church had lost Christ that is the feeling of his love and the sense of that Communion which formerly she had with him she then useth all private and publick means and at length commeth to conserence with Gods servants which few will doe till they be driven to it of necessity and then having wayted a while she finds him whom her soule loveth The same must be our practice if one medicine will not serve the turn use another Pray Fast Meditate Confer and then at last the Lord will be found in mercy but as we are slack in using any of the means so shall we fayle in our comfortable expectation of favour from God Thirdly We must use the means diligently and in good earnest for if we have a base account of Gods mercies its just that we should goe without them James 5.16 The Prayer of the righteous avayleth much but upon this condition Psal 72.12 if it be fervent God delivereth the poor when he cryeth but if they would have hearing there must be crying God poures forth Floods of grace but upon whom The Prophet tells us Isay 44.3 Onely on the thirsty ground God filleth the hungry with good things but they must be hungry they must be such as feel themselves pincht and starved with spirituall famine Luke 1.53 Christ was sent to Preach the acceptable yeare but not to the mighty and States of the world To whom then even to Prisoners and Captives that is to such as could grieve and mourn for their Captivity Hence is it that a number reade and heare and pray and yet prevaile not because they doe it so drowsily and carelesly the Lord desers to help them because they are not fit for help because they doe not strive and wrastle in their Prayers Let us therefore use all the means with constancy and carefulnesse and then we shall obtain our hearts desire even above that we can ask or think for if we would not have God to shut his ears to our Prayers we must not
onely Pray but Cry Let us then having first washed our hearts and hands from unrepented sins goe unto the Lord and cry unto him to give us the assurance of eternall life and the joy of the holy Ghost and then come life or death it matters not much for though our name and liberty and riches and all be taken away from us yet we shall be setled in the assurance of an happy issue out of all our straits and difficulties for the Lord our God will maintain our cause against all those that strive with us and will stand on our part and fight against those that fight against us according to that of the Prophet Isaiah He watcheth over them night and day and waters them every moment and he will contend with them Isa 27.3 that contend against his people and so either free them from their oppressions and miseries or else which is best of all take them to himselfe where they shall be sure to have joy without sadnesse pleasure without paine wealth without want health without sicknesse life without death and a Kingdom without a change The consideration whereof me thinks should strike terrour into the hearts of those that are injurious unto the servants of God they may be bold where the hedge is low every Dwarfe will adventure to leape over there but let them know that God is a wall of fire about those that are his and he will maintain the right of his children and therfore it must needs at last goe ill with such as list up themselves against them Lam. 3.58 O Lord thou hast maintained the cause of my soule there is our stay Let us be sure we have a good cause and lay it before Gods judgement seat and then though we be overborne God will not be overborne but he will stand on our side even he that loves goodnesse and hates wickednesse and will be avenged on those that bend themselves and their endeavours to doe mischiefe unto his people Lam. 3.59 Again all our wrongs are known unto God O Lord thou hast seen my wrong nothing is done spoken or imagined against any of Gods Children but God takes knowledge of it there is not one practice slander or devise of cruell wolves against the sheep of Christ but God sees it and markes it and it belongs unto him to judge the cause of his servants Reuel 20.12 and to reward every one according to their works He must and will give them full pay and for that end keeps all upon just and due record so that as the works of the righteous shall stand for them so shall the works of the wicked he written in great Capitall Letters against them that all the world may take notice of them at the last day How may we then cheare up our hearts in all distresse for howsoever our Adversaries be busie and watchfull to plot and procure our hurt yet they cannot be so vigilent for our hurt as God is watchfull for our good and therefore we may be sure to have an happy issue out of all our troubles if so be we can but make our moan to God and wait patiently for his mercy And though God knows our griefes and oppressions before hand and purposeth to destroy our enemies yet would he have us to prefer our Bill of complaint and goe on in our suite against them and still cry unto the Lord. Neither is this to be restrained onely to corporall adversaries but it holds much more strongly for spirituall enemies Say a man be surcharged with sin and Sathan who play the Tyrants over him his soule being even scorched with the flames of Hell let him but bemoane his Case before the Lord and it will be a marvellovs ease unto him Therefore in all such extremities likewise let God be our refuge and Tower-Royall let us cast all our cares and sorrows upon him who is both able and willing to beare them and in due season will both free us from them and in the end make us gainers by them if we cry unto the Lord. To come to the close In the first of the Chronicles 1 Chron. 4.9.10 Jabez the son of Ashur is said to be more honourable then all his brethren the reason is because his Mother bare him in sorrow and his name is a name of sorrow and it is there said That Jabez called upon the God of Israel to be delivered from evill and the Lord saith the Text heard him and granted the thing that he asked And is the Lord so ready to hear and willing to grant how then comes it to passe that we who have been so severely scourged with the whip of Gods indignation after all these years of sufferings of punishments and of divisions amongst us the hand of the Lord should be stretched out still for though thanks be to God we are no way disquieted with any sound of war nor alarmes to Battell in our Nation yet the reformation of Religion which was one main thing intended at the beginning of our unhappy differences and as hopefully expected and prayed and sought for hath been hitherto so eclipsed as that whereas before there were different opinions amongst us as indeed there was never Church without the wrinkles of division so now men are grown to such variety of conceits about Gods service as that we have almost as many religions as men insomuch that we who should have all one God to our Father all one Church to our Mother all one Christ Jesus to our elder Brother are so far from unity amity and unanimity amongst our selves in respect of these woefull divisions as that opinions must either be suffered to take wall of Scripture and substance give way to circumstance which God sorbid or else as branches we cannot grow together nor as members agree together nor as brethren love and live together nor as Christs Sheep Feed and Fold together And what is the reason that after all this while we are not yet helped but Religion in stead of being reformed must still receive new and more wounds then before Surely the cause is this Because we have not so mourned as we ought in these our common calamities for the sins of the times and for the abominations of the Land because we have not sighed and groaned heartily for the sins that cleave to our soules otherwise God would have been as ready to heare as we to cry for good suiters are alwayes good speeders but it seems we have howled upon our Beds as the Lord himselfe complains in Hosea Hos 7.14 And though these rents in our Church be sufficient of themselves to open the floud-gates of sorrow and clothe all our dejected soules with the garments of heavinesse and liveries of mourning yet there are other miseries and troubles though not fit to stand in competition with these that lye so sadly upon us as might well fill our eyes with tears our breasts with sighs To name them were superfluous