consider her wayes and be wise Prov. 6.6 7 8. I might be large in the prosecution of this but these instances may suffice to be as so many glasses to shew us how diligent and active and industrious we should be in our particular Callings and that God would have us busily working in our several places and stations for him Secondly From our selves 1. We are ever best when we are at work our hearts are never in better frame to go to God in duties of our general Calling then when we have been most conscientially careful in being diligent in our particular Calling We can then go with comfort to pray when we have been at work and never are we fitter to offer up this spiritual sacrifice then when sloth hath not seized upon us in our particular Callings And hence it is that these are coupled together Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. 2. We shall be pronounced blessed if we be found well-doing when our Lord cometh Matth. 24.46 and it is that that we would all desire after to be partakers of that blessedness who would not be found so at that day 3. We are not yet in heaven but on earth and therefore must attend on our outward occasions and businesses that we are called to When we come in heaven we shall rest from all our works here and be wholly imployed in serving God and praising him Rev. 22.3 4. we shall do Angelical work Seraphical work but while we are here we must be doing in ordinary work and it is a good work because commanded of God 4. We need many things for the outward man which by diligence in our ordinary Callings through the blessing of God are brought in to us Prov. 10.4 22. we get our daily bread by the labour of our hearts and hands food and raiment and physick and all necessaries by the Lords mercy are given in to us this way The King himself is served by the field Eccles 5.9 Gods crowning the year with his goodness his steps dropping fatness make our labours successful and bring in all outward blessings to us and therefore diligence in our Callings is that that God approves and looks for from every one of us 5. We are commanded to labour six dayes in the week Exod. 20.9 except upon extraordinary occasion as upon a Fast or by sickness we be hindred or by some other occasion that justly exempts us and keeps us necessarily from it we may not look at it as a permission onely but as a strict command and that calls upon us to be about our business and be doing in our particular Callings 6. We have Gods example in the first Creation set before us to follow he did his work in six dayes and then rested Exod. 20.9 and so would by his example have us to work and to trace his steps So that not onely Earth and Sea and Stars but Heaven it self calls upon us to labour and work diligently in our Callings Thirdly From our outward occasions and imployments 1. They are such as that we cannot serve God comfortably neither in our Bodies nor in our Spirits except we labour and attend our particular Callings and we are bound to serve him and glorifie him in both 1 Cor. 6.20 and how shall this be except we follow our imployments Meat will not fall into our mouthes except we labour Clothing will not be rained down from heaven upon us except we work for it and without these we cannot serve God neither with outward or inward man 2. These imployments in our Callings are such as that we cannot live without them Bread is called The staff of life Isa 3.1 and Clothing is the health of life and neither of these in an ordinary way can be had without labour 3. These imployments in our particular Callings are such as that we cannot expect the blessing of the Lord upon us The blessing of the Lord maketh rich but it is when the hand is diligent Prov. 10.4 22. otherwise there is no blessing of wealth or increase promised 4. These imployments in our particular Callings do fit us to come to God in spiritual duties and fit us for his coming to us either by death or judgement Luke 12.42 43 44. and this is worth something It was the speech of a faithful Minister now with God to one that he found working hard in his Calling Let me be found so doing when my Lord cometh 5. These ordinary imployments keep us from many sins and from many temptations to sin preserve us from many assaults of the Enemy that Idleness will expose us to As we see in Davids example 2 Sam. 11. if he had gone forth to war at that time or had been doing any thing that was good he would not have faln into such snares and sins as he did which idleness exposed him to Satan and his own corruption would not have so prevailed as they then did when he gave himself to that floth that we there reade of A diligent hand prevents the tempters coming or at least hinders him from overcoming Working in our Calling will either keep the snare from being laid for us or keep our feet from being taken by it And have we not cause then to be diligent and faithfully busie in our Calling 6. These labours and imployments preserve us from falling into other dangers and evils for God hath promised that his Angels shall have charge over us to keep us in our wayes Psal 91.11 Let a man but keep himself in his Calling and Gods Angels shall keep him They are Gods host and so long as they are about him a strong host is about him so that neither plague nor sickness nor any other evil shall come near him v. 10. he is safely guarded that hath such a military guard about him he need not fear any danger that hath these fiery charets and horses round about him 2 Kin. 6. These armies will never sly but will stand by us and shield off all dangers and all enemies and have we not good cause then to be in our Callings Cautions about our Imployments in our particular Callings 1. WE must take heed that love of the World set us not on work to be busie in our Callings for that is straitly forbidden 1 Joh 2.15 and such are not true to God but are called Adulterers and Adulteresses and are the enemies of God Jam. 4.4 and the greatest enemies that are to themselves for thereby they plunge themselves into many snares and temptations and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction 1 Tim. 6.9 10. If the love of the world be the great wheel that sets all a going and puts our hands to labour in our Callings we shall never please God nor benefit our selves or others by what we do this way The World is both an Harlot and a Witch and if we lust after the beauty of this Harlot and suffer
must Jam. 1.17 Joh. 3.27 He can open these narrow bottles and enlarge these straitned hearts we cannot do it but he can Psal 119.32 2. To love the Lord when he gives us to enlarge our desires in prayer to him when these wheels are going then we shall strike right as a Clock does when we slack not in our way we shall come to our happy journeys end 3. To obey him Psal 119.32 chearfully speedily strongly constantly as is in running a race 4. To praise him for an enlarged heart in prayer for our selves or others for that hest hearts are apt to be too strait 1 Sam. 2.1 5. To pray without ceasing upon all occasions 1 Thess 5.17 for when we have done all we can we shall sooner cease suing then he granting 6. To admire and adore the Royalty of God that would do more if we could ask more A Kings Royalty is admired 7. To long for Heaven where we shall praise him with enlarged hearts for his large grants 2 Cor. 5.6 7. 8. To do more for others then they desire of us Verse 32. And he said Oh let not the Lord be angry and I will speak yet but this once c. DOCT. XXIX THat Believers when they pray to the Lord dare not be over-bold with him but modestly sue to him to grant what they desire of him I will speak yet but this once sayes Abraham He had made very bold with him in going from step to step till he came to the lowest step that he durst go and now in modesty he will go no further but leaves off suing any more he will ask for Ten but there he will make a stop Reasons 1. From the Believers 2. From their Desires 3. From the Lord that they have to do with First From the Believers 1. They know who God is and who themselves are and therefore dare not be over-bold with him He is a great God and they vile dust and ashes and how should they dare to press too much upon him Mean men dare not be too bold with their Superiours how then can we that are Believers that are infinitely below the Lord make too bold with him Mephibosheth was lowly before David when he looked at himself and all his fathers house to be but dead men and therefore thought he had no right to cry unto the King 2 Sam. 19.28 So Believers judge themselves and therefore cannot tell how to be too bold with him 2. They are men of ingenuity and modesty for faith ever keeps down the heart and makes it low and is opposed to pride Hab. 2.4 We see it in the Centurion how humble and modest he was and it was his faith that made him so Luke 7.7 8 9. and therefore dare not be over-bold with him Humble ingenuity dare not ask too much of men much less be too bold with the Lord. 3. Believers are wife and prudent men and therefore faith is called wisdome Luke 1.17 and they would not shew themselves wise if they should be over-bold with the Lord. Wise men will not be too bold with Princes much less they that are truly wise make too bold with the Lord. 4. They are such as think themselves unworthy of the least of his mercies Gen. 32.10 and therefore cannot tell how to be too bold with him 5. They are afraid that the Lord may be angry with them So the Text. And that makes them to be so humbly modest with him But of that more in the next Note 6. They are friends of God Jam. 2 23. and they though they may be bold with their friends yet will not be over-bold with them So here Secondly From their Desires and Prayers 1. They must be bounded within the compass of Gods will 1 Joh. 5.14 and if we should be over-bold with him we should go beyond those bounds and that Believers will not do 2. They must be humble desires Psal 10.17 and they would not be such if we should be over-bold with him 3. They must be serious and sincere desires not slight and formall and if so then we must not be too bold with him A serious Petitioner will ask modestly of men so they that are serious will be modest in their suits to the Lord Psal 17.1 4. They must be holy desires and holiness and over-much boldness will not stand together Jam. 4.8 the more holy any man is the more modest and humble he is 5. They must be earnest and fervent desires Jam. 5.16 and no man that is over-bold with man can be earnest in his suit much less he that is too bold with the Lord. 6. They must be inwrought desires Jam. 5.16 the heart must be in them lip-labour will not be accepted Jer. 12.2 Now they that are over-bold with the Lord cannot speak in their desires from the heart nor have any hope that such desires shall be accepted Thirdly From the Lord that we have to do with 1. He is a great God and a great King above all gods Psal 95.3 and it no way becomes the best of men to be over-bold with such a great One as he is but to be modest in our addresses to him 2. He is a good God Psal 136.1 and willing to give us that which is good for us Psa 84.11 and therefore it 's no way fit for us to take too much boldness upon us there 's no need of it 3. He is such a God as can be angry at our Prayers when we keep not within his bounds but make too bold with him Psal 80.4 4. He is very mereiful in granting to the utmost our lawful requests that we put up to him and why should we strain him and screw him up higher we would not do so with men how much less should we with the Lord Exod. 34.6 5. He is a God that respects the lowly Psal 138.6 and such modest suiters are lowly ones 6. He wants neither will nor power to give what is meet and therefore though we may be humbly bold with him yet it 's no way fit for us to press upon him or to be over-bold with him we would not do so to the best friend we have in the world Vse 1. for Information 1. We see the sweet ingenuity that is in true Believers who though they can be bold with the Lord in their Prayers that they put up to him yet they dare not press too far nor make too bold with him So it is with an ingenious man to his friend that he hath many kindnesses from he will not press him overmuch nor make too bold with him in his requests but knows how to give his desires a stop and to speak no more and so it is with Believers when they have asked and gotten much they dare not press upon such a friends kindness but will stop as Abraham here does and say I will speak yet but this once 2. We see that Believers are modest and humble ones they can be bold in their suits to the
to him that can give us what we ask of him and as often as we come with new suits to him He is a rich Prince and so full of royalty that he will give us our asking though we desire more then formerly Kings know how to rise in their grants as suppliants do in their suits so here 1 Pet. 3.12 2. We see what great encouragements we have to renew our suits and to ask more for God is willing to renew his grants as we do our suits and if we would have something more then we desired at first he is very willing to come off to us and to give us more Would any Prince on earth so do his Court would be full of suiters they would press in for audience and fill his doors and be much encouraged to come Oh how full of suiters should the Court of Heaven then be and what encouragement should they take to ask more and to come with new suits that have such a God to go to that will give more according as we ask and renew grants as we do our suits Psal 65.2 Jer. 33.3 3. We see how truly he is styled A God hearing prayer Psal 65.2 that does thus renew grants to his humble suppliants desires his ears are alwayes open to their desires Princes cannot alwayes attend the suits of their Subjects they have somewhat else to do but God though he be working other wayes creating work and providential work yet he hath an hearing ear to all our supplications and is not wearied out with our suits though renewed nor is his bounty spent though we ask more of him 4. We see what new songs of praise we should present him with for such renewed grants given in to us Renewed Mercies call for renewed thanksgivings and when God is willing to come off with more to us we should think it our duty to give more praise They that get much from a bountiful giver are abundant in thanks so should we to God Psal 71.14 15. the Angels and blessed Souls in glory that have received most are fullest of praises Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 5. We see what renewed obedience we should chearfully perform to him that renews his grants according to our suits New obedience as it is most acceptable so it is most suitable to come off with for new grants and new favours as it is that that God requires and prefers above sacrifice 1 Sam. 15.22 Jer. 7.22 23. so it is that that is meet to be given to the Lord. New bounties from men call for new service so do God's much more call for new obedience 6. We see what renewed love we should shew forth to him Princes binde their Subjects love to them by being bountiful to them in renewing their grants Oh what love then should we express to him that renews his grants and gives in more of his Royal bounty all is too little that we can do this way but if it were as full as the Sea is of water and the Sun of light and the Stars of influences we should freely give it all to him Mat. 22.37 Love as it makes us like to God who is Love it self 1 Joh. 4.8 so it is our duty to grow up in it more and more What do they in Heaven but praise and love and we should begin that here that is in its perfection there Vse 2. for Terrour to those that ask not and know not how to renew their Requests it is no wonder if these get nothing for how should they when they will not ask Jam. 4.2 Vse 3. for Humiliation to those of the Saints that are too slack in renewing their suits and asking more at the Lords hands they deprive themselves of many a fair blessing and dam up the flowings of their own praises God might have more glory from them and they more sweets from him could they ask more and renew their suits Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To be frequent in renewing our suits and asking still more and more as Abraham here did God is very ready to give more and to renew grants according as we make Requests to him Joh. 16.24 the more we ask in Christs Name the more we shall be sure to receive we may be straitned in asking but he cannot will not in giving 2. To sing new songs for all the renewed grants that he hath made to us If he hath come off liberally to us in granting more to us according to our suits let not us be sparing of his praises Every additional mercy calls on us to adde to our thanksgivings to him Every new mercy bespeaks for praise renewed from us A new Sute of Clothes becomes us and a new Set of Praise becomes us better Praise is comely Psal 147.1 but never more then when God gives in his answers to our Prayers and his new mercies with them 3. To imitate him in renewing grants to his poor ones and if they desire more let them have more Eph. 5.1 2. What pattern like him 4. To be Renewed in the spirit of our mindes and to be new creatures new men and women new favours call for this 2 Cor. 5.17 5. To renew our Covenant with the Lord as he renews his grants to us Nehem. 9.38 6. To long for heaven where we shall praise and love obey our God perfectly willingly chearfully constantly and after a new manner otherwise then we do now in a state of childhood Verse 29. And he spake to him yet again and said Peradventure there shall be forty found there and he said I will not do it for forties sake Doct. XVII THat Believers when God renews his grants to them do not cease asking but yet again follow him with their suits to obtain yet more favour from him Abraham here had his renewed grant That if there were but five and forty Righteous in the City it should not be destroyed for their sakes but he rests not there but still follows on to sue further That if there should be forty found the place might be spared for their sakes Believers like Beggars are not weary of asking but come again and again thither where their desires have been granted and where they have fared well and been kindly dealt with Courtiers that go to a gracious Prince and have their Renewed suits granted fear not to go again and again and to follow such a Prince with their suits for further favour So here Reasons 1. From the Lord. 2. From Believers 1. From the Lord. 1. He is Abundant in goodness Exod. 34.6 the whole Earth is full of it Psal 119.64 and this Believers know and that makes them incessant in their suing to him and after his renewed grants to follow him with suits again and again 2. He is a Sun Psal 84.11 Now the Sun is that that gives out and communicates of its light and heat and influences that it is full of So does God He is a full one and hath enough to supply us with and therefore we
as often as they will they shall be heard God will not be weary of them nor of their suits 5. They pray fervently and fervent prayers avail much Jam. 5.16 Earnest suiters are ever speeders with men much more with the Lord he cannot tell how to turn them off or to be weary of them that pray earnestly though frequently bringing suit after suit before him 6. They pray sincerely Psal 17.1 their heart goes with their lips and he takes pleasure in sincerity 1 Chron. 29.17 Even good men delight in uprightness how much more the Lord and therefore he cannot be weary of such Prayers but must needs grant them Thirdly From their Prayers 1. They are pure prayers so were Abrahams here so Job sayes My prayer is pure Job 16.17 2. They are pleasant Prayers Cant. 2.14 and how should the Lord then be weary of them He took pleasure in Abrahams frequent and renewed suits and therefore could not deny a grant to them 3. They are humble Prayers Abraham all along though bold in his suits yet was very humble and God takes it well to see us humble when we pray to him 4. They are zealous Prayers so were Abrahams here and this holy fire ever ascends and prevails when our Prayers are offered up with it 1 Kings 18.37 5. They are argumentative Prayers as Abrahams were and God is pleased when we argue the case with him in Prayer So did the woman of Canaan and got what she would 6. They are inwrought Prayers Jam. 5.16 such were Abrahams here he did not word it with God but what requests he made were inwrought and came from the heart and God was not weary of them Vse 1. for Information 1. We see what great encouragement we have to come with suit upon suit before the Lord for he is unwearied in granting the requests of his believing Suppliants how often soever they make their addresses to him Psal 65.2 So it is with them that come before gracious Princes when they finde them willing to grant what they sue for and are not wearied out with their Requests that they put up to them they will come again and again and venture upon their Clemency and bring suit upon suit and are encouraged to follow them with their supplications so it should be with us in our suits to a gracious God we cannot tire him out but he is unwearied in giving out grants to us 2. We see what cause we have not to be weary of well-doing Gal. 6.9 for if he be unwearied in granting our desires it were a shame for us to be weary of what he would have us do for him in such a way We are apt to be weary of any thing that is good and are soon tired out but Gods unweariedness in doing for us should make us blush when we are weary of that wherewith we may serve him or do good to others for his sake 3. We see how happy the state of the blessed Angels are that as they never yet trod a wry step but have been constant and unwearied in a way of obedience so they shall keep an unwearied course therein to all Eternity Psal 103.20 21. God hath been unwearied in his favour to them and they are unwearied in their duty to him and this is their height of Happiness 4. We see what longings we should have after that time when we shall be unwearied in our services and duties to him Here we are soon weary and tired out with what he calls for and tread many a wry step in what we do in way of duty to him but when we come in Heaven we shall never be weary more but shall praise and love and obey him to all Eternity This state we should long for and be weary of our weariness in our duties here 5. We see what our duty is to imitate and follow him in being unwearied in answering the desires of his poor ones that sue to us though they should come often to us and bring one Request after another to us if it be in the power of our hand we are to take pattern by the Lord himself and not to turn away our ears from their cries Prov. 3.27 28. 6. We see how unworthy we should count our selves of such a mercy as this is that God should be so unwearied in granting the Requests of his poor ones Who are we that we should bring suit upon suit before him and have all granted This should lay us low before him and we should judge our selves as Jacob did less then the least of all his mercies Gen. 32.10 7. We see what cause Believers have to exalt Grace that goes on in an unwearied course and way of granting what we sue unto him for Heaven and Earth Angels and Men may say Grace Grace for this What loud acclamations are made to Princes by their People when they make great Grants to them Oh what shoutings and loud acclamations then should we make for this great Grace of his towards us See for illustration of this Zech. 4.7 and Psal 149.6 8. We see what height of praise we shall come off with in another world for these large grants made to us here Here we do a little but we do but bungle at this duty of praise here we can cry like children for what we want but in Heaven we shall be men and perform our duty of praise to purpose There Songs will be in our mouthes and hearts and new Songs of praise Vse 2. for Terrour to Unbelievers They get nothing for all this bounty they are weary of praying and God is weary of them and will not hear them Psal 66.18 Joh. 9.30 Vse 3. for Humiliation to the Saints that do not so often put up their Requests as they might nor bring suit upon suit as Abraham here did they miss of many a grant which they might have made over to them for God is unwearied in granting what we ask of him Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To love the Lord that is so unwearied in giving out his grants to us What love would we not express to a man that should so do with us Oh! but God deserveth infinitely more 2. To be unwearied in our praises to him we can never do it enough nor long enough till the doors of Eternity be opened to us Psal 145.2 3. To follow him with suit upon suit we shall not lose our labour nor pray in vain This King is not he that can deny us any thing that we ask 4. To be followers of God in attending to all the just desires of friends or poor ones and not to be weary of doing them good Luke 6.30 we cannot follow a better pattern 5. To abound alwayes in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 according as he abounds in mercy to us in his frequent and renewed grants to us and his unweariedness in them 6. To be unwearied in every duty and service to him and men that he calls for from us
sins Vse 3. for Humiliation to those that too often give God cause to be angry with them as 2 Sam. 11.27 1 Kings 11.9 Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To get God reconciled 2. To pray for others that do provoke him 3. To bless God for Christ 4. To love Christ 5. To long for Heaven 6. To speak as Abraham does Verse 30. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there Doct. XXI THat Believers in every request that they make to God desire to get something more from God then formerly they have received Abraham desired before That if there were forty Righteous found in Sodom that the City might be spared and he had his desire in that given to him and now he prayes again he desires to get something more That if there be thirty found there the rest might be spared for their sakes Reasons 1. From the Lord. 2. From the Believers themselves 3. From the Prayers they put up to him First From the Lord. 1. He hath enough by him to give us more when we ask of him and therefore we may well desire to get something more from him He is a full one and can fulfill the desires of them that fear him Psal 145.19 and if he would not have us send the poor away empty from us when we have it by us Prov. 3.27 28. then we may well desire to get something more from such an one that hath enough by him to give to us 2. He is a bountiful one Rich unto all that call upon him Rom. 10.12 and therefore in every request that we put up to him we may desire something more from him Petitioners that sue to bountiful Princes may expect more from them when-ever they come before them So we when we come before the Lord he sends none empty away 3. He calls upon us to open our mouthes wide to enlarge our desires to ask much of him Psal 81.10 and therefore we may well desire to get something more of him as often as we come 4. He loves his people Deut. 33.3 Psal 146.8 and they that love others are willing to give more and more to them at their asking and therefore such as come to them may well desire to get something more of them then formerly they have had So may we of the Lord. 5. He gives to all liberally and upbraideth not when we ask in faith Jam. 5.6 and therefore in every request that we put up to him we may desire something more then formerly we have received of him 6. He Rewards bounty in us abundantly Luke 6.38 and therefore we may well desire to receive bountifully of him and to desire that we may have something more of him in every request that we put up to him Secondly From the Believers themselves 1. They are of a noble spirit themselves as Abraham Gen. 14.22 23 24. so Araunah 2 Sam. 24.23 and if they be so royal in giving then Believers may well look that God should be more Royall and desire more of him 2. They have large promises made to them Psal 81.10 Joh. 16.23 and having such promises they may desire when-ever they pray to him to get something more of him then formerly they have received 3. They are the desire of his eyes and the ravishment of his heart Cant. 2.14 4.9 and they that are such may in every request they make desire something more of him then formerly 4. They are his excellent ones Psal 16.3 and though they look at themselves as vile yet they are more precious and excellent in his eyes for that and may desire to get something more of him The more little we are in our own eyes the more esteem we are of in his 5. They are such as are purchased by his Sons Blood Acts 20.28 and what may they not desire in their requests of him 6. They are lovers of him Psal 69.36 and what may not they desire of him they may desire in all their requests to get something more of him then formerly Thirdly From their Prayers they put up 1. They are Odours Rev. 5.8 of a sweet savour to him through Christ 2. They are pure prayers Job 16.17 and offered up with holy hands and hearts Jam. 4.8 3. They are humble Prayers as Abrahams was here Luke 15.21 18.13 4. They are unfeigned desires and Prayers Psal 17.1 5. They are fervent Prayers Jam. 5.16 17. there 's fire in them 6. They are inwrought Prayers ibid. the heart is in them and being such Prayers no wonder if Believers in every request that they make desire to get something more then formerly they have had from the Lord. Vse 1. for Information 1. We see how in an holy wise bold Believers are with the Lord that desire something more in every request that they put up then formerly they have received It would be so with men and is so in our suits we make to God 2. We see that stinted Prayers enjoyned and no other then such to be used fall short of being Prayers of Faith for they ask for the same things and for no more then the Book sets down which have been asked a thousand times over not but that some requests may be the same if some new ones be put in with them for Christ said the same words sometimes in praying as well as in Preaching 3. We see that Faith looks at God as a bountiful and liberal giver Jam. 1.5 6. 4. We see that Believers think they can never receive enough from the Lord. 5. We see that the best of men are indigent men and stand in need of more and more supplies from the Lord. We are all of the craving hand here 6. We see what longings we should have here for the enjoyment of God in heaven where we shall be at the Well-head and never desiring more for here we are alwayes desiring more 7. We see what a full one God is that we make our requests unto Rom. 10.12 Joh. 1.16 8. We see the excellency of Believers above other men they have larger desires then others other men though they have not yet they ask not 9. We see that God hath never the less for all that we have of him for faith still desires more 10. We see that Believers though bountiful yet are covetous in an holy way they desire more Vse 2. for Terrour to those that have nothing and ask nothing Vse 3. for Humiliation to those that do not as Psal 81.10 Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To walk in the steps of Abrahams faith 2. To get something more in every Prayer 3. To long to be at the Fountain 4. To love him that is so full 5. To go often to him 6. To pray here with heart-prayers Verse 30. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there And he said I will not do it if I finde thirty there Doct. XXII THat what requests Believers put up to the Lord wherein they desire to get more from him he will give in to them they shall
workers and do evil with their lips though they move neither hand nor foot in the works that God calls them to labour in 1 Tim. 5.13 Idle persons are not idle in doing mischief but are busie in doing the Devils work but we must do Gods work and not the Devils except we would have the Devils wages rather then that blessed reward that God for Christs sake bestows upon us 3. We see that diligence in our particular Calling is that that God is well pleased with taking in the Cautions before spoken of Let Prayan usher in labour and labour with be very acceptable to God Abraham may go to his place and do what he hath to do when he hath been with God in Prayer It 's blessed work that we go about when Prayer hath begun the work the more we labour then the more smiles we have upon our labour from the God of heaven and when our Lord comes it will be happy for us to be found so doing yea if from obedience to God we are working faithfully we may with as much comfort die at that time as if we had been performing some dury in our general Calling Pray and work hear and work meditate in the Word and work do all so in the duties of our general Calling as that the duties of our particular Calling may be diligently attended to Calvin when full of bodily infirmities and pains would not intermit his labours because he would not be found idle when his Lord should come 4. We see what cause we have to be thankeful that God allows us and looks for it from us that we should labor in our particular Calling whereby we may get those things that are needful for the body for we cannot want these things for the outward man God is tender of our families comfort of our outward man would have us labour for that end and it is his mercy that he allows us to go about our ordinary imployment that we may have our necessary food and things convenient for the body Our bodies as they are part of Christs Purchase are dear to him and he would not have them want any thing that 's needful for them that we may with comfort serve him in our pilgrimage here and though they be but cottages of clay yet he would have them upholden though they be but the sheaths of our Souls as Daniel calls them Dan. 7.15 yet he would not have this sheath marred or mangled but kept in its beauty and comeliness and that it may be so he appoints us to labour that what may tend to the preservation of it may be brought in that the Soul and it while they are joyned together may glorifie God the more chearfully till death make a divorce betwixt them 5. We see that they that abide not in their Calling but step out of it are not safe but as Solomon sayes are in danger to be made a prey of Prov. 27.8 As a bird that wandreth from her nest so is the man that wandreth from his place A mans calling is his nest which while he keeps in he is safely protected in by God and his holy Angels but when he wanders from it Satan that subtile fowler will shoot at him and make a prey of him No safety like that that a man hath when he is in his Calling and no danger worse then that that he exposeth himself to when he steps out of it 6. We see that those Gentlemen that live without a Calling and minde nothing but their hawks and bounds and cards and dice and drunkenness and wanton dalliances are in an ill case and will be found so when the Lord comes God never intended that any mans recreation though lawful should be his occupation much less that his carnal Delights should be his Calling If they say They have enough and need not labour I say So had Adam in innocency being Lord of all the World yet then must labour Gen. 2.15 and after the fall though he had much land yet he was to labour more Gen. 3.19 Yea the second Adam Christ Jesus the Lord of heaven and earth would not live without a Calling Mark 6.3 and after he was in the Ministry how diligent was he Mat. 4.23 Acts 10.38 and are there any so great as he Let me say one word more It 's laid as a brand of Infamy upon those great ones to all generations that when others wrought hard they put not their necks to the work of their Lord Nehem. 3.5 Vse 2. for Terrour to idle drones that God calls to work 2 Thess 3.11 that work not at all or that slack their work how will they look him in the face who hath given to every man his work Mark 13.34 Vse 3. for Humiliation to those of the Saints that work too little in their particular Calling as some in London and elswhere that would go from place to place to hear Sermons and neglect their Callings I say as Christ said in another case The one ought to be done and the other should not be left undone Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To diligence in our particular callings Rom. 12.11 we shall be more with God if we work more 2. To be ashamed of our former sloth 3. To bear mens reproaches 4. To think sadly of that Mat. 25.30 5. To charge idle persons to work 2 Thess 3.11 Verse 33. And the Lord went his way after he had left communing with Abraham c. Doct. XXXII THat Believers in praying to God are very familiar with him and he with them When they pray and the Lord makes answer there is a sweet colloquy and communing betwixt them For opening of which let me shew 1. How Prayer may be said to be a communing with God and Gods answers a communing with us 2. What manner of communing it is 3. Why God will vouchsafe to be thus familiar with us and let us be so familiar with him 4. The Vses Q. 1. How does it appear that our Prayer is a communing with God and that his Answers are a communing with us Let me speak to the first first That our Prayer is a communing with God A. 1. In that when we pray we draw near to God they that commune together draw near first one to another So Abraham drew near to God in Prayer and so communed with God But of that I have fully spoken in the first Note 2. In that when we pray we come to a reconciled God for else we could not familiarly commune with him Can two walk together except they be agreed sayes the Prophet Amos 3.3 We could not be familiar with God nor he with us except we come to a reconciled God in Jesus Christ 3. In that when we pray we walk with God so Enoch Gen. 5.22 24. Prayer was one path that he walked with God in Now they that walk together do familiarly commune one with another so it is between God and us 4. In that when we pray we
him God humbleth himself when he beholds the things that are done in Heaven when he looks at what the Angels and blessed Souls do for him in praising and yielding obedience to him but when he beholds what is done upon Earth by such as we are and accepts our prayers and grants us what we petition for Oh how low does he stoop and how does he humble himself that we may commune with him and he vouchsafes thus to commune with us and to be so familiar with us we may well say Who is a God like our God Psal 113.5 6. to be sure what ever our failings be and how short soever we fall of humbling our selves before him he exceedingly humbleth himself and condescends and comes very low to us 6. It is a gracious communing when we pray we utter gracious words grace is in our lips and grace bubbles from the fountain of our hearts as we sing with grace in our hearts Col. 3.16 so when we pray we pray with grace from our hearts and hence it is that these two are coupled together Zech. 12.10 a spirit of grace and of supplication The same spirit that is a spirit of supplication is a spirit of grace in us But when the Lord hears us and grants our requests and that way communes with us Oh how gracious is he to us Exod. 22.27 There are gracious communings between man and man sometimes so as that they are in heaven together upon earth but there are no such gracious communings as is between the Lord and us when we pray and he grants 7. It is a glorious communing Oh the divine lustre that is in our faces sometimes when we have been at Prayer Oh the glorious beauty that is then seen in our very countenances look as it was with Christ himself so it was with us it is said of him Luk. 9.29 as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered there was great glory seen upon it so it is with us sometimes when we pray there is a kind of heavenly glory sparkles in our faces and when he grants our requests and communâ—s that way with us Oh how glorious is he in his grace and mercy to us how gloriously does he dispense himself to us it is a glorious communing he glorifies himself and puts glory upon us thereby Q. 3. Why will God be so familiar with us and suffer us to be so familiar with him A. First From the Lord. 1. He is Love 1 Joh. 4.8 and they that are most loving will be most familiar with them that they love Now God being originally primarily eminently transcendently essentially everlastingly love to his believing ones hence it is that he is so familiar with them as to commune in so friendly a way with them Love is ever the efficient procreant and conserving cause of familiarity between man and man and Gods love is that that makes him so familiar as to commune with us 2. He is abundant in goodness Exod. 34.6 and the more a man abounds in goodness the more familiar he will be to those that are dear to him he will commune with them and make himself very familiar with them and so it is with the Lord his abundant goodness makes him have sweet familiarity so as to commune with us though we be sinful dust and ashes 3. He is such an one as humbleth himself in an unparallel'd way Psal 113.5 6. and humble ones are very familiar with those they delight in Proud persons scorn to be familiar with their inferiours but humble ones will come low this way they will take their inferiours by the hand and talk commune familiarly with them how much more will God do it who does so humble himself that none may be compared to him therein 4. He is a Father in Christ Jesus to us and therefore will be familiar with us Fathers are familiar with their children will speak familiarly and commune with them and grant their desires so will the Lord familiarly commune with us and grant us our desires that we ask of him 1 Joh. 5.14 15. there 's no father on earth that will be so familiar with his children as he will be with us though there be such an infinite distance between him and us 5. He is an Husband to us Isa 54.5 and there 's no greater familiarity in the world then is between husband wife how much more then between the Lord and us he will vouchsafe to commune with us in giving in all we desire of him Esthers hushand which was a great Monarch so sweetly familiarly conversed with her that shee might have any thing that shee desired of him Esth 5.3 and what then may not we expect from the Lord that doth more familiarly commune thus with us then any husband in the world that is most dear to his spouse 6. He is our friend Cant. 5.19 and therefore is so sweetly familiar with us A friend will be very familiar so will the Lord be and give us all we sue unto him for Friendship carries familiarity ever along with it A friend is as dear as a mans own soul and lies next the soul and will be familiar whoever is not such a friend is the Lord he will be familiar with us and though he will be reserved to others and carry himself as a stranger to them yet he will be very familiar with his own But in the second place Why will he suffer us to be so familiar with him Ans 1. We are those that are a people near to him Psal 148.14 and though sometimes we were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Ephes 2.13 and will he not suffer us that are so nigh him to be familiar with him he will surely let us commune in a familiar and friendly way with him They that are near the King as they of the Council and Bed-chamber be they may speak familiarly to him and bring their Petitions before him so may we that are so nigh to the Lord. 2. We that are believers are they that finde favour in his eyes and to whom he holds out the golden scepter of his grace as that Kingd did to Esther Esth 5.2 and therefore may draw near and touch the top of the Scepter as she did and make our Petitions boldly and familiarly to him They that are in favour with a Prince may be familiar with him and He of his Princely grace will suffer them so to be how much more may we that are in favour with God who is infinitely above all the gracious Princes in the earth for grace and favour 3. We are they that he will admit to greatest and sweetest familiarity in another world that he will lay us in his everlasting arms and put us in his bosome no familiarity will be like that when we shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 and see his face and be transformed into his image 1 Joh. 3.2 Now God would give us a pledge