unmortified corruptions Ephes 6.18 By it Crosses are prevented removed or sanctified yea all things are sanctified unto us and we are so kept and preserved that we fall not into temptation 1 Tim. 4.5 Mat. 26.41 Yea often times we obtain much more good then we desire or expect Solomon begged onely of the Lord an understanding heart and God gave him both riches and honour which he asked not 1 King 3.13 So able is the Lord to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think Ephes 3.20 So that of Prayer we may say it is a Key to open the door of Gods treasure house a present remedy for an oppressed mind a giver of strengh to the weak and an especial means to make a man fit to live knowingly fruitfully and serviceably to God in every state and condition Col. 1.9 10. What shall I say of it but as one saith well and truly It is Consolatio flentium cura dolentium sanitas aegrotoraem A Comfort for them that mourn the joy of the sorrowful and health for those that 〈…〉 force and efficacy what will 〈…〉 hath it not done It goes through the 〈◊〉 and ceaseth not until it come unto the Lord and if entreaties will not do it will with reverence be it spoken lay commands upon him Isa 45.11 Yea it doth as it were bind up the hands of the Lord and hinder him from executing his judgements overcoming him that overcometh all things Let me alone saith the Lord to Moses or suffer me that my wrath may wax hot against them to wit the Israelites that I may consume them Exod. 32.10 Abrahams prayer had saved Sodom from being destroyed had there been found ten righteous persons therein Gen. 18. Yea it is very observable that the Lord did not leave granting till Abraham left off petitioning By prayer Jacob was delivered from the wrath and fury of his Brother Esau Gen. 32.11 Jonah out of the Fishes belly Jonah 2.10 The three Children from the fiery Furnace Daniel from the Lions Den Dan. 3.6 Jonahs and Pauls Mariners from the danger of the Seas and Joseph and Paul and Silas and Peter and others out of Prison Act. 5.16 By Prayer Eliah stayed the Rain three years and six months and again obtained Rain so that the earth yeilded her fruit James 5.17 By Prayer Elisha had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and procured Bears to destroy the mocking Children 2 King 2. raised from death to life the Shunamites Son So Chap. 4. Had the eyes of his Servant opened so that he saw Mountains full of Horses and Chariots of fire round about him and smote the Syrians with blindness which came to take him Chap. 6. By Prayer Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still in the midst of Heaven until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies Josh 10.12 13. By Prayer Isaiah brought back the Sun ten degrees in the Dial of Ahaz 2 King 20 11. By Prayer David frustrated the wicked counsel of Achitophel and often put his enemies to flight 2 Sam. 15.31 and 16.23 and Psa 56.9 by Prayer Hezekiah was delivered from the King of Assyria and his health restored unto him again Isa 37. and 2 King 18. The Ninevites were delivered from the judgements threatned against them Jonah 2. Peter raised Tabitha and Paul Eutichus that had fallen down by sleeping Act. 9.40 and 20.10 The Centâ—rians Servant the Cananites Daughter and Lunatick persons were healed men blind received their sight the stammering and deaf were made to hear and speak Lepers were clensed and certain persons being dead were restored to life again So much availeth Prayer with the Lord if it be servent But to bring it a little more close as to the present visitation of the Lord See of what force and efficacy it hath been with the Lord to appease his wrath and stay the execution of his judgments When the Children of Israel fell a murmuring and had greatly provoked the Lord by their unbelief insomuch that the Lord threatned to smite them with Pestilence and disinherit them Moses falls a pleading and interceeding with the Lord for them Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word Numb 14.12 19 20. So that only those men who brought up the evil report upon the land dyed by the Plague before the Lord vers 37. So in the case of Korah Dathan and Abiram when the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying they killed the people of the Lord This so greatly incensed the Lord that he bad them go up from the congregation that he might consume them in a moment Hereupon the Text saies they fell upon their faces and Aaron according to the command of Moses takes his Censer and puts fire therein from off the Alter and put on Incense and made an attonement for the people for there was wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague was begun And Aaron stood between the dead and the living and the Plague was staid Numb 16 45 46 47. This sheweth how greatly the Prayers and actions of Gods Servants do prevail with him when they are faithful fervent and according to his will Jam. 5.16 1 John 5.14 and foreshewed also the power and efficacy of Christs meditation for poor sinners who is represented by the Angels standing at the Altar having a golden Censer and much Incense given unto him to offer it with the prayers of all Saints Rev. 8.3 For God heareth him always John 11.40 And he it is that makes intercession for the transgressors Isa 53.12 and is the attonement or propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.1 and for his sake God before whom the Pestilence goeth in wrath remembreth mercy Hab. 3.2 5. And as the blood of the Paschal Lamb figuring the blood of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 stayed the Angel which destroyed the Egyptians from touching the Israelites Exod. 12.23 Heb. 11.28 So the smoke of Aarons incense figuring the meditation of Christ Psa 141.2 Rev. 8.4 Stayed the Plague here from the Israelites which survived That as it is written of the Pestilence in Davids time The Lord repented him of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed the people It is enough stay now thy hand 2 Sam. 24.16 So in this verse the further efficacy and effect of faithful fervent prayer for the removal of this sore visitation of the Lord is clearly held forth in that Prayer of Solomon at the Temples dedication If there be in the Land Famine if there be Pestilence whatsoever Plague whatsoever Sickness there be what Prayer and Supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and
THE Best of Remedies FOR THE VVorst of Maladies OR Spiritual Receipts and Antidotes for the Preservation of a Plague-sick Sinfull Soul Wherein is shown Sin is the Cause and Repentance the Cure of the Pestilence Seasonably Published by a Lover of Peace and Truth and one that desireth that all would though the Lords hand seems to be withdrawn as to the late universally raging Pestilential Disease forsake those Provoking Sins which call for Vengeance and Judgements on the Sons of Men. R. A. LONDON Printed Anno 1667. THE CAUSES CURE OF THE Pestilence THe first Sin which I shall insist upon so highly provoking unto the Lord to send the destroying Pestilence among a people is the sin of Oppression When the Supream Powers and Authorities of a Nation do exercise a Usurpation or Oppession over the Bodies and Consciences of the people of God This was the sin of Pharoah who tyrannized not onely over the Bodies but over the Consciences also of the Children of Israel He sets Task-masters over them to afflict them with their burdens And the Egyptians made the Children of Israel to serve with rigour and made their lives bitter with hard bondage in Morter and in Brick and in all manner of service in the field all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigour By reason of which bondage the Children of Israel sighed and cryed and their cry came up unto God Exod. 1.11 13 14. comp with Chap. 2.23 So Chap. 3.7 The Lord said I have surely seen the afflictien of my people which are it Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows And in the 9th Verse Behold the cry of the Children of Israel is come up unto me and I have also seen the Oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them This was an oppression that Pharoah and his cruel Task-masters did exercise over their bodies The oppression that he exercised over their souls and consciences did evidently appear in this The Lord he called and commissionated Moses to go unto Pharoah and he with the Elders of Israel were to say unto him The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us and now let us go we beseech thee three days journey into the Wilderness that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God Exod. 3.18 This they often prest upon him And the reason wherefore they so much urged it is very observable in the 3d. Vers of the 5th Chap. Let us go we pray thee three days journey into the Desart and sacrifice unto the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with Pestilence or with the Sword That is Lest he slay us and destroy us with Pestilence and with the Sword as in Judges 8.21 Pharoah he hardens his heart and is disobedient unto the word of the Lord. And Pharoah said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go They be idle saith he therefore they cry saying Let us go and Sacrifice unto our God Exod. 5.2 8 17. But the Judgments of God pursuing him at the very heels and the greivous swarm of Flies coming into his house and into his servants houses and into all the Land of Egypt so that the Land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of Flies then he calls for Moses and Aaron that they might go and Sacrifice to God but where in the Land that is in his own Land the Land of Egypt But what said Moses It is not meet so to do for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God Lo shall we Sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us We will go three days journey into the Wilderness and Sacrifice unto the Lord our God as he shall command us It is not meet or it is not right so to do as being not so appointed of God who called into the Wilderness to Sacrifice Exod. 3.18 Shall we Sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians That is The Beasts which the Egyptians do worship and do abhor to kill or to see killed for Sacrifice And the Sentence twice repeated may imply two senses 1. Shall we Sacrifice to our God such things as the Egyptians Sacrifice that would be an abomination to the Lord Or 2. Shall we Sacrifice such things as God requireth that would be an abomination to the Egyptians The Scripture often calling the Gods and Services of the Heathens Abominations As Deut. 7.25 and 12.30 31. 2 King 23.13 Ezra 9.1 Isa 44.19 Now the principal Sacrifices of the Hebrews were Oxen and Sheep Gen. 15.9 And all Shepherds or Sheep-keepers were an abomination to the Egyptians Gen. 46.34 For the Egyptians abstained from Sheep and Sacrificed Goats By all which it is very evident that Pharoah denying the Israelites to Worship as God had appointed them did oppress them not only in their bodies but in their Consciences likewise which drew down the dreadful Judgments of God upon him and his Land among which this of the destroying Pestilence For proof whereof see Exod. 3.19 20. I am sure saith the Lord that the King of Egypt will not let you go no not by a mighty hand And what follows I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders c. So Exod 9.13 14 15. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews Let my people go that they may serve me for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart c. and especially in the 15. Vers For now will I stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with Pestilence and thou shalt be cut off from the Earth And in the 12. Chap. and 29. Vers See what a dreadful slaughter the Lord made accordingly in the Land of Egypt And it came to pass that at Mid-night the Lord smote all the first-born in the Land of Egypt from the first-born of Pharoah that sat on his Throne unto the first-born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon and all the first-born of Cattel and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a House where there was not one dead See further the severity of God in punishing this sin of Oppression Jer. 34.17 Therefore thus saith the Lord ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother and every man to his neighbour Behold I proclaim a liberty for you saith the Lord to the Sword to the Pestilence and to the Famine and I will make you to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the earth So highly displeasing it is unto the Lord for a people to be oppressed either in their civil or spiritual liberties and enjoyments according to that in Psa 12.5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him at safety from him that puffeth at him And
the Lords lawful Governours and Government whether Civil or Ecclestastical in Church or Commonwealth This was the sin of Corah Dathan and Abyram and their copartners mentioned in Num. 16. God had chosen Moses and Aaron to be the cheif Leaders and Governors of his people and placed the Government in their hands both as to the Civil and Religious administration thereof Korah and his companions gather themselves together against them and told them they took too much upon them seeing all the Congregation was holy every one of them and that the Lord was among them wherefore then should they lift up themselves above the Congregation of the Lord But see how highly incensing and provoking was this unto the Lord Separate your selves saith he to Moses and Aaron from among the congregation that I may consume them in a moment and now the Lord he will shew who are his and who are holy and a strange work will he do these men must not dye the common death of all men nor be visited after the visitation of all men but a new thing will the Lord make The earth must open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they must go down quick into the pit and so they did and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation Nor did the punishment of this Insurrection end here but the Lord causes a grievous Plague to break in upon the Congregation And Moses said to Aaron in the 46. verse Take a censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on Incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an attonement for them and why all this haste For there is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun And Aaron did so and stood between the dead and the living and the plague was staied Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred besides them that died in the matter of Corah So highly displeasing is it unto the Lord for persons to oppose his lawful Authority and Government which he hath put into the hands of his faithful Ministers and Servants Under which consideration undoubtedly must those Scriptures be comprehended that enjoyn subjection and obedience whether to the Lords Civil or Ecclesiastical Rulers and Governors Rom. 13.1 Tit. 3.1 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. 1 Thess 5.12 13. Heb. 13.7 17. O that this were seriously and timously considered and laid to heart by all such who flye in the face of Christ and carry themselves contemptuously against his lawful Governours and Government which he hath set in his Churches I mean the Churches of Christ making unjustifiable and dishonorable rents schisms and divisions in the body whereof they are members which should be as the seamless coat of Christ woven from top throughout Joh. 19.23 Of such who despise the Lords Government or Dominion I may say without wronging or injuring of them as Peter of some scandalous backsliding Professors in his time who were spots and blemishes in their feasts of Charity Presumptuous are they and self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities 2 Pet. 2.10 13. And while they promise themselves liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption vers 19. They despise Dominion The word it seems signifieth a removing of a thing from its place with some scorn and indignation They would remove the Lords Governors or Rulers over them with scorn and indignation And whereas they are said to despise dominion that is more then to despise their Rulers for they despise not only the Lords Governors but the Government it self And to speak evil of Dignities or to reproach Dignities is in the Original it see us to blaspheme Glories to speak reproachfully of Dominions which are placed in glory amongst men or which are set over them by the Lord in eminency power honour and authority Hence it is that lawful Magistrates ruling in the fear of the Lord are said to be Gods Psal 82.6 And the Lords Ministers and Messengers of Churches are said to be the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 And as stars in his right hand are the Angels of the seven Churches Rev. 1.20 All holding forth that Glory and Dignity which the Lord hath conferred upon them And for any persons to rise up as Korah and his complices did against Moses and Aaron though it be in a presumption of their own holiness Numb 16.3 Such are like to perish in the gainsaying of Core as Jude expresseth vers 11. of his Epistle It being very observable how the Psalmist does express this act of Korah's Insurrection or rising up against Moses and Aaron to be no less then an envying of them They envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked Psa 106.16 17 18. That example also of Miriam and Aarons speaking against Moses is not to pass without its due observation neither Numb 12.1 7 8 9 10. The Lord giving that testimony of Moses his servant that he was faithful in all his house Wherefore then saith he were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and Miriam became leprous as white as snow Let such therefore who are guilty in this matter consider how provoking a sin this is unto the Lord and whether they may not have a hand in pulling down this sore visitation among us 14. A Fourteenth Pestilential and highly provoking sin is the sin of Prophanation of Gods holy things and an Over-curious presumptuous speculation and prying unwarrantably into the Secrets of God This was the sin of the men of Ashdod for which the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon them visiting them with greivous plagues when they took the Ark and brought it into the house of Dagon the Temple of their Idol-god and set it by Dagon so sore was the hand of God on them that he smote them with Emrods and destroyed them and such a deadly destruction there was throughout all the City insomuch that the cry of the City went up to heaven 1 Sam. 5. The Ark was a Chest or Coffer which was made of Shittim or Cedar wood overlaid round about with gold whose cover called the Mercy-seat was also of pure gold on which was two glorious Cherubs of gold from whence God gave his oracle Numb 7.89 These Cherubims were placed at the the two ends of the Mercy-seat and they spread out their wings on high which covered over the Mercy-seat with their face one to another Exod. 37.1 2 6 7 8 9. In this were the two Tables of the Law or Testimony put written with the finger of God Exod. 25.16 21. Deut. 10.3 4 10. Between the Cherubims God was said to sit Psal 80.2 There will I meet with thee saith the Lord and
furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O King They served God and they knew that God was able and of power sufficient to protect them in the service of him Dan. 3.1 11 16 17. To this purpose when our dear Lord would encourage his Apostles and the subsequent Ministers of the Gospel to be faithful in the execution of his commands and the trust committed unto them He tells them that all power was committed unto him in Heaven and in Earth And therefore go teach all Nations and Baptise them c And teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you allway even unto the end of the World Mat. 28.18 19 20. As if he had said Do you faithfully and couragiously execute the Commission I have given you and be assured you shall never want my all-sufficient power and presence to support you I will make all the power I have in heaven and earth concurring in a way of serviceableness unto you O come let us sing unto the Lord saith the Psalmist let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation Shall we fear to serve that God who is the Rock of our Salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving c. Why For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods in his hand are the deep places of the earth the strength of the hills is his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry land If the Lord whom we serve is so great a God so great a King above all Gods above all Angels Princes and Potentates of the World and above all that is called God O then with what thankfulness and chearfulness of spirit should we come into his presence O come let us Worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Why for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands whom he makes to lye down in green Pastures and leadeth besides the still waters Psa 95.1 to 7. So in Psa 96.6 it is said Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary Where is the beauty of Gods face seen and his power and strength displayed as in his Sanctuary to wit his Tabernacle his Temple the Congregations and Assemblies of his Saints God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence by all them that are about him and why why who in Heaven can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord Psa 89.6 7. And therefore it is that the Lord hath spoken saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Lev. 10.3 When a fire went out from the Lord and destroyed Nadab and Abihu the Sons of Aaron for offering strange fire before the Lord Lev. 10.1 2 3. To which I suppose that place in the Hebrews hath a special reference where the Saints being exhorted to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear urges this as a strong motive thereunto for our God saith he is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. Thus you see how requisite it is to be acting Faith in the power and soveraignty of God when we draw nigh to him in the solemn duties of his Worship and service and what an encouragement it is to be fearing the Lord and serving of him in sincerity and truth with all our hearts considering what great things he hath done for us 1 Sam. 12.24 5. Act faith in the mighty power of God in times of suffering So the Apostle James speaking of the cruelties that were exercised against the Saints in those days how they had condemned and killed the just and they could not resist them He exhorts them to be patient to the coming of the Lord and why to the coming of the Lord Because when he comes he will come with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 When he comes hee 'l take to him his great power and reign Rev. 11.17 When he comes he will come with ten thousand of his Saints What to do To execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed c. Jude vers 14 15. When he comes he will come with fire and with his chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire Isa 66.15 When he comes he will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you Isa 35.4 And then the hand of the Lord the power of God shall be known towards his servants and his indignation towards his enemies Isa 66.14 So the Author to the Hebrews when he exhorts the Saints to a patient suffering and undergoing of the Cross of Christ what Argument does he use even this For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 The Apostle would have all the suffering Saints to be acting faith in a powerful Redeemer even in him who is mighty to save That will tread down the people in his anger and make them drunk in his fury and will bring down their strength to the earth Isa 63.6 So the Apostles when the Priests and Rulers of the people had laid hands on them and put them in hold for teaching the People and Preaching through Jesus the resurrection from the dead and had further threatned them for speaking any more in the name of Jesus and had let them go what Arguments in Prayer do they use Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said why did the Heathen rage and the people imagine vain things The Kings of the Earth stood up and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done And now Lord behold their threatnings Act. 4. Though they had to deal with great and potent Adversaries yet they well knew that God was above them and that their rage and fury was not so much against them as against the Lord Jehovah himself and against his Christ whom he had anointed to be the chief Priest and Prophet and King of his Church who could easily break them with his rod of Iron and dash them in peices like a Potters Vessel They knew that the Lord whom they served was able to deliver them as Daniel out of the Lions mouths So it is said of Moses and laid down as a singular act of Faith in him that he forsook Egypt and feared not the wrath of the King for
he endured as seeing him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 Now this was an act of Faith in the power of God He knew that though he might incur the wrath of an enraged King by refusing the honours and dignities of his Court yet his eye being fixt upon a most powerful invisible Lord God that was sufficient to uphold him under all the sufferings he might undergo for his sake And that this Lord was able to strike through Kings in the day of his wrath Psa 110.5 In which spirit of faith and confidence David brake forth when he said Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me Psa 138.7 So Paul that tried Apostle and courageous sufferer for Christ For which cause saith he I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have beleived and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day He acts faith in the ability and all-sufficiency of God to carry him through all difficulties and hardship for Christ 2 Tim 1.12 And upon this score it was he so much incouraged his Son Timothy in the faith as to a suffering state for Christ Be not therefore ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God as in the 8. vers of that Chap. Whether he meant Christ the power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 Or whether he would have him bear those afflictions patiently as God afforded him power and strength yet surely it cannot exclude but take in the exercise of his faith in the power of God in all his sufferings for Christ whose power will ever be manifested in weakness And therefore it is that we are exhorted to be looking up unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God at the right hand of Gods power For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Now this looking up unto Jesus is not only a looking up unto him as a pattern and example of patience in our sufferings and persecutions for his and the Gospels sake but we must look upon him also as made perfect by suffering who for the suffering of death is now crowned with glory and honor as him whom God hath highly exalted and set at the right hand of the throne of God where he must sit and reign till all his enemies be made his foot-stool or as the Apostle expresseth it Till he hath put all his enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15.25 Thus you see how necessary it is to be Acting faith as in the blood of Christ so in the power of God And that First In times of great difficulties and straights 2. In times of sore sicknesses and deaths 3. In times of great sinning 4. In times of serving and worshipping of God 5. In times of suffering for God Thirdly We are to Act Faith in the faithfulness of God Know therefore saith Moses that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations Deut. 7.9 The consideration whereof made the Psalmist break forth into this pious interrogation or expostulation rather Psal 89.8 O Lord God of Hosts who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee Consider then that this Faith in the faithfulness of God is to be acted upon several accounts First Upon the account of the unchangableness of Gods love and the immutability of the Covenant of Grace which he hath made with us in his Son and which he hath ratified and confirmed unto us in his most precious blood See the 89. Psalm speaking of David as a Type of Christ The Lord promiseth there That the enemy shall not exact upon him nor the son of wickedness afflict him And that he will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him But my faithfulness saith he and my mercies shall be with him Ver. 22 23 24. So in the 30 31 32 33 and 34. Vers of that Psalm If his Children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes But what follows Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips So David in the 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure Now that Gods love in Christ is unchangable as it is founded upon the immutability of the New-covenant of Grace appears 1. Because it is dearer then a Mothers love to her sweetest and most tender Babe Isa 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee 2. It is stronger then the Mountains Isa 54.10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 3. It is as constant as the courses of the Sun Moon and Sars of the Day and of the Night Jer. 31.35 36. Thus saith the Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his name If those ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever 4. It is as sure as God himself Psal 89.35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lye unto David His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful witness in heaven We give much credit to the word of an honest man much more when we have his oath for it This the Author to the Hebrews makes the ground or foundation of a Beleivers strong consolation Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
Your mother shall be sore confounded she that bare you shall be ashamed behold the hindermost of the Nations shall be a wilderness a dry land and a desert because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited but it shall be wholly desolate every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues So in Jer. 51.34 35. The Church complains there that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had devoured her and crushed her and made her an empty vessel and had swallowed her up like a Dragon and filled his belly with her delicates and cast her out What then is the Churches dreadful imprecation hereupon but that which was mentioned before The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon shall the inhabitants of Sion say and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea shall Jerusalem say Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee c. And Babylon shall become heaps a dwelling place for Dragons an astonishment a hissing without an inhabitant And in the 33. Verse The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor it is time to thresh her yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come So Rev. 18.4 God calls his people there to come out of Babylon and wherefore that ye be not partakers of her sins saith the voice from Heaven and that ye receive not of her Plagues So in the 8th Verse Therefore shall her Plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire for strong is the Lord who judgeth her And what was Babylons great sin They have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy said the Angel of the waters Rev. 16.6 So Rev. 17.6 And I saw said John in a Vision the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the earth Rev. 18.24 And what follows Allelujah salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand And again they said Allelujah and her smoke rose up for ever For the speedy execution of which righteous judgements of God upon this insatiable and blood-thirsty Whore it is that the souls under the Altar that have been slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held are said to cry with a loud voice saying How long Lord holy and true dost not thou judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth To which answer is made That they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow-Servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Rev. 6.9 10 11. That is slain by Antichrist and his Ministers who having Apostatized from the faith should arise in the Church of Christ soon after this and by their spiritual pride and tyranny oppress the Church and persecute and kill the Lords faithful Witnesses in like manner as the Gentiles the Jews and other false Christians had formerly done Rev. 11.7 and 12.15 17. Yet this is very observable as that which may minister matter of strong consolation to the Saints suffering under Antichrists bloody persecutions that there is the determinate time of Gods appointed Judgments and that however for a while the Lord defers his punishments yet he certainly hears the Prayers of his faithful servants and at last will be fully avenged on their Adversaries And though Antichrists rage and tyranny is very great yet it is limited according to the purpose and decree of God who hath determined the number of Martyrs which number being once accomplished not one drop of blood shall be more spilt by that man of sin that Son of perdition who Satan like worketh with all his power compelling men by Fines confiscation of Goods Imprisonments Banishments and the like to submit unto his ways and laws 2 Thes 2.3 9. and that under fair and glorious pretences too for the suppressing of Errors and Heresies for the beating down of sin for the working of men to conformity and uniformity and the bringing of them into obedience unto the Church which to do if the Ecclesiastical power is not sufficient the Magisterial power must be made use of But it is very evident that the Antichristian religion consisting for the most part in Will-worship and in humane traditions and inventions could never have subsisted to this day had it not been supported by an Arm of flesh when as our Lord Jesus with his Apostles and Disciples never sought to the Civil Magistrate or Powers of the World upon that accompt nor is the Kingdom of Christ to be erected and established in this way of humane force and power The weapons of our warfare saith the Apostle are not carnal 2 Cor. 10.4 It is the powers of the world that shall destroy the holy people Dan. 8.24 It is the Little Horn the Romish Antichrist that shall make War with the Saints and prevail against them until the Ancient of days come and that judgment be given to the Saints of the most high and that the time come that the Saints shall possess the Kingdom Dan. 7.21.22 It is he that shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the Saints of the most high c. Vntil the Judgment shall sit and then they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end Dan. 7.25 26. And in one day shall Babylons Plagues come death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Rev. 18.8 The severity of the Lord against this sin of bloodshed and cruelty that is exercised on the Saints of God is further set forth in that of the Prophet Amos Chap. 1. Vers 11. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof and why Because he did pursue his Brother with the Sword and did cast off all pity and his anger did tear perpetually and kept his wrath for ever For this also hath the Lord a controversie with the Land because by killing and stealing c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish Hosea 4.1 2 3. So in the Psal 94.5 6. They break in pieces thy people O Lord and afflict thine heritage they slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless yet they say the Lord shall not see And what then O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy self Lift up thy self thou Judge of
come near to you to Judgement and I will be a swift witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against False-swearers O that these things were seriously laid to heart by the prophane Cursers and Swearers and False-swearers and the Damme-creatures of our times O that they would consider how their cursed hellish hideous new-invented unheard of Diabolical oaths do now make the Land mourn and those that dwell therein to languish and how near the Lord is come unto them in the terribleness of his judgment Is it not very evident that the Lord for these things hath a controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land 7. The seventh Pestilential destroying sin is the sin of Adultery Fornication and such like corporal uncleanness See this in that 25. of Num. 1 6 7 8. verses When Israel abode in Shittim it is said the people began to commit Whoredome with the daughters of Moab And Zimri and Cosbi being taken in the very act of uncleanness Phinehas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest when he saw it he rose up from amongst the Congregation and took a Javelin in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the Tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly So the Plague was stayed thereupon from the Children of Israel yet those that died in the Plague as was mentioned before was no less then Twenty and four Thousand So in the 12. of Gen. 14 15 17. When Abraham came into Egypt with Sarai his wife a fair woman to look upon and she was no sooner beheld by the Egyptians and the Princes of Pharaoh but they commended her before Pharaoh and saith the Text the woman was taken into Pharaohs house that is she was taken away from Abraham into the Royal Seraglio or Palace to be fitted and prepared there according to the Custome of those Countries that the King might take her to Wife as Hest 2.9 In the mean time God provided for Abrahams entertainment and his Wives chastity together for Pharaoh entreated Abram well for her sake And in the 17. verse is is said The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his House with great Plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife What kind of plagues those were is uncertain but doubtless they served as well to hinder and obstruct the abusing of Sarai's body as to punish the King and his Domesticks and Courtiers trespass This great deliverance David celebrateth in Psal 105.14 When they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm But this is observable that if the Lord was so severe to punish this filthy sin of Adultery or Uncleanness when it was but designedly or intentionally committed and Pharaoh knew not that Sarai was Abrams wife with what severity may we think will he proceed against such who deliberately knowingly delightfully and impudently live in the perpetration and commission of it and when did this sin of Whoredom Adultery and Fornication ever walk upon down so brazen-faced with such an imperious worish forehead as in the men and women of our generation so unsatiable they are in their filthiness and uncleanness Upon which account may not the Lord say to this City of London yea to the Land and Nation in general as he did to Jerusalem in the Prophet Jeremy's time How shall I pardon thee for this thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods When I had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses They were as fed horses in the morning every one neighed after his neighbours wife Through lustfulness like wanton horses And mark what follows Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Go ye up upon her walls and destroy but make not a full end take away her battlements for they are not the Lords c. Jer. 5.7 8 9 10. And may we not think the Lord may justly have a controversie with the inhabitants of this Land as he had with the children of Israel in the Prophet Hosea's time And wherefore Because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land But by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish c. Hos 4.1 2 3. So that good Prophet Jeremy Mine heart saith he within me is broken because of the Prophets all my bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine hath overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness For the Land is full of Adulteries Jer. 23.9 10. And in Jer. 13.27 I have seen thine Adulteries and thy neighings the lewdness of thy Whoredoms c. What then Wo unto thee O Jerusalem This though it may have reference to their sin of Idolatry as before which may be called spiritual Adultery yet it cannot exclude that which is corporeal which God will severely punish For Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge as such who shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Heb. 13.4 and Eph. 5.5 Thus we see how highly provoking this sin of uncleaness is for the bringing down of National judgements even this of the Pestilence among a people 8. The Eighth Sin that provokes the Lord to send the Pestilence among a people is the sin of Infidelity distrust and murmuring against God notwithstanding the great and marvellous works which the Lord hath wrought for the salvation and deliverance of his people See to this purpose the 13 and 14. chapters of Numbers There were certain men the heads of the children of Israel who by the commandment of the Lord was sent to search and spie out the land of Canaan and being returned they made a rehearsal thereof to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation and brought an evil report upon the land which they had searched saying The land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature And there we saw the giants the sons of Anak which come of the giants and we were in our own sight as Grashoppers and so were we in their sight This evil report caused all the congregation to lift up their voyce and cry and to murmure against Moses and Aaron saying Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better
for us to return into Egypt and they said one to another Let us make a Captain let us return into Egypt But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneth which were of them that searched the land rent their cloaths and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying The land which we passed through to search it is an exceeding good land if the Lord delight in us then he will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey Only rebell not ye against the Lord neither fear ye the people of the land for they are bread for us Their defence is departed from them the Lord is with us fear them not this so greatly incensed the congregation that they badestone them with stones But see how highly provoking was this unto the Lord And the Lord said unto Moses How long will this people provoke me and how long will it be ere they beleive me for all the signs that I have shewed among them And mark what follows I will smite them with the Pestilence and dis-inherit them verse 12. I the Lord have said I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there they shall die And further it is said That the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the congregation to murmure against him by bringing up a slander upon the land even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died of the Plague before the Lord vers 35 36 37 of the 14. of Numb And the Lord renders the reason why their carkasses should fall in the Wilderness v. 22. Because all those men which have seen my glory saith he and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness have tempted me now these ten times and have not hearkned to my voyce surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it So greatly displeasing it is unto the Lord for a people who have seen the wonderful works of the Lord and his miraculous preservations to cherish a murmuring distrusting and unbeleiving spirit against the Lord not beleiving his promises nor relying on his mighty power and outstretched arm to defend them And therefore saith the Psalmist was the Lord wroth and a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel Because they beleived not in God and trusted not in his salvation Ps 78.21 22. So in Heb. 3.17 18 19. With whom was he grieved forty years was it not with them that had sinned whose carkasses fell in the wilderness And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that beleived not So we see that they could not enter in because of unbeleif For this cause it was that the Lords wrath was kindled against them so that he excluded them out of the good land Because they beleived not in God nor hearkned unto his voyce but murmured against him after they had seen his glory to wit his glorious works and the miracles that he did in Egypt and in the wilderness See Exod. 16.2 3. comp with Nehem. 9. from the 10th to the 18th verse O then that this might be seriously laid to heart by all such who having seen the wonderful outgoings and appearances of God in this latter age of the world and had a deep share in the glorious deliverances which God had wrought have yet through a heart of infidelity and distrust departed from God thereby brought up an evil report upon the good land even the good and honourable ways of the Lord shaking hands again with a carnal corrupt interest and longing after the flesh-pots the Onyons and Garlick of Egypt have turned again to the weak and beggarly elements or rudiments of the world whereunto they are as in Egyptian bandage again captivated and enslaved For I intend not here by this spirit of Infidelity and Unbeleif such carnal unbeleiving and regenerate persons to whom as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. the Gospel is hid and are lost and whose minds the God of this world hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ cannot shine into them but such rather who with open face having beheld as in a glass the glory of the Lord even the glory of his grace in the Gospel and the glory of his great and wonderful works in the world do yet through base fear and distrust of his power and promises suffer their hearts to depart and turn aside from the Lord. And this was the sin of Asa who when the Lord had delivered into his hand a huge host of the Ethiopians and Lubims because they relied on him did afterwards rely on the Kings of Syria and not on the Lord his God For which he received so sharp a rebuke from the Lord 2 Chron. 16.7 8 9. 9. The ninth Pestilential sin is the sin of Discontent accompanied also with a spirit of distrustfulness and unbeleif When a people will not be content with Gods allowance but will loath his blessings and his provisions and fall a lusting after evil things to satisfie their inordinate desires This was Israels provoking sin Numb 11.4 The multitude that was among them fell a lusting and they wept and said Who shall give us flesh to eat We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely the Cucumbers and the Melons and the Leeks and the Onyons and the Garlick but now our souls is dried away there is nothing at all besides this Manna before our eyes Though it was the corn of heaven and Angels food that they eat and such as did prefigure Christ himself his word and grace Joh. 6.31 32 33. and 1 Cor. 10.3 yet now they look upon it and count it but as a despicable thing and nothing noâ— would satisfie them but flesh and this to satisfie their lust And therefore it is said in the 78 Psalm and the 18th verse They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust yea they spake against God and said Can God furnish a table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed Can be give bread also Can be provide flesh for his people Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel c. Well nothing would satisfie their lusts but flesh and flesh they shall have with a witness till it come out at their very nostrils and was loathsom unto them so they did eat and were filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust but while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed The wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the
Lord smote the people with a very great plague And the name of that place was called Kibroch-hattanah that is the graves of lust because there they buried the people that lusted Hence it was that the Apostle treating of the bountiful dealings of God with the children of Israel said That with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness Now these things saith he were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted 1 Cor. 10.5 6. This is a sore evil an intestine evil a sickness indeed that gnaws and torments the very heart called therefore the Plague of Discontent which many of the people of God themselves as well as the men of the world are too too often infected with when not contenting our selves I say with the mercies and blessings which God affords us we fall a lusting after evil things as the Israelites hereafter flesh to satisfie their lusts loathing the heavenly Manna which God gave them And our desires oftentimes are so inordinate after them that like unto Rachel in the case of her barrenness though otherwise blest with many comfortable enjoyments we are crying out Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 I cannot live my life will be a burden unto me if I have not this or that I must have it whatever it cost me though I part with half of my estate nay with Herod it may be to the half of the Kingdom for his Herodias sake because she pleased him and to satisfie this lust Off must go John Baptists head Mark 6.22 23 24. Or like unto Haman who though he was so highly promoted in King Ahasuerus Court Yet saith he all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate Hest 5.13 Mordecai could not bow the knee nor do him that reverence as his proud ambitious heart panted after and this sowres all other his great advancements and enjoyments and now nothing will satisfie him less then his destruction and the total destruction of all the Jews Hest 3.9 So violent are persons set upon the satisfying of their lusts oftentimes though it be to their own hurt This was the sin of the Israelites they could not content themselves that God was their King and that he should reign over them but they must have a King to reign over them like unto other Nations rejecting the Lord and his Government who himself had saved them out of all their adversities and tribulations 1 Sam. 8.5 6 7. and chap. 10.19 And how great this wickedness of theirs was in the fight of the Lord the signal testimonies of his displeasure did evidently declare it 1 Sam. 12.17 So is it not just with God when a people falls a loathing of the heavenly Manna of Gods Word and where hath the Gospel been more powerfully preached and more obstinately contemned then in England that the Lord should send a famine in the Land if not a famine of bread and a thirst for water yet a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord Amos 8.11 O that this was seriously laid to heart and fruitfully applyed both by Professors as by the propbane persons of this Nation So dangerous and destructive a thing it is to cherish a carnal dissatisfied and discontented spirit against the Lord. 10. A tenth Pestilential and God-provoking Sin is the sin of Pride and Ambition and a trusting in an Arme of flesh not relying on the mighty power and faithfulness of God This was Davids sin in of numbring the people which was followed with a sore Prstilence among them See the second of Samuel 24. Chap. comp with 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan he provoked David to number the people that he might know how many valiant men there were in Israel that could draw the sword And questionless Davids heart was lifted up hereby when Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto him there being in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand And what should move David to such a thing but a proud ambitious desire to know the strength and number of his men of war accompanied with a distrustfulness of the mighty power of God and his All-sufficient arme which had so often saved and delivered him out of the hands of Saul and from the hand of all his enemies As in the 18th Psal wherein he praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous deliverances For this Davids heart smote him acknowledging that he had sinned greatly in what he had done and prayeth that the Lord would take away his iniquity for he had done very foolishly Yet the Lord would shew his justice make all the world to see and know that he will not indulge sin no not in his dearest Servants and most beloved Saints but if they sin they must expect to suffer and smart for it As Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And therefore he puts David upon his choise of three things whether the Famine the Sword or Pestilence he would make choise of and this did put him into a great streight but he chose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men for that the mercies of the Lord are great So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba Seventy thousand men And when the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem ready to destroy it it is said the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed the people It is enough stay now thy hand This also was Edoms sin Jer. 49.16 17 18. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee the pride of thine heart O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock That holdest the height of the hill though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee down from thence saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation every one that goeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss all at the plagues thereof As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour Cities thereof saith the Lord No man shall abide there neither shall a Son of Man dwell in it This was King Asa's sin before mentioned in the 2 Chron. 16.7 8 and 9. vers so sharply reproved and punished by the Lord. For this was a dreadful wo denouned against the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Isa 30.1 2 3. Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that they may adde sin to sin That walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow
will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat between the two cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony verse 22. Now this Mercy-seat on which God did thus sit between the wings of the Cherubims was a figure of Christ by whom our transgressions of the law are forgiven and covered who is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 And therefore called the Propitiatory Rom. 3.15 To this glorious seat where Gods presence with his Church was manifested the Throne of God is answerable in the Christian Church in the presence of which Throne his people are and serve him day and night in his Temple Rev. 7.15 17.8.3.21.3 5. Now this Ark being thus a type or figure of Christ and of his Church and of his glorious presence with the same it s no wonder if the Lord shall so severely punish the prophanation of it when men shall set it in the Temple of Dagon Surely if the Ark stand there Dagon must fall yea and it shall fall before the Ark of the Lord which is called the Ark of his strength Psal 132.8 And when the Ark set forward then Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee God cannot endure to have his holy things prophaned that the abomination of desolation shall stand in his holy place that men shall set their thresholds by Gods thresholds and their posts by Gods posts by defiling his holy name with their abominations Wherefore saith the Lord I have consumed them in mine anger No surely the place of the soles of his feet where he will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever and his holy name he will not suffer to be defiled but he will beautifie the place of his sanctuary and make the place of his feet glorious Isa 60.13 comp with Ezek. 43.7 8. Let men take heed then of offering strange fire before the Lord which he commandeth them not lest there comes out fire from the Lord and devoureth them as in the case of Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron who for this cause died before the Lord. And what said Moses to Aaron thereupon This is that that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified Lev. 10.1 2 3. So likewise when men will be presumptuously and unwarrantably prying into the secrets of God see how severely the Lord hath punished this evil as in the case of the men of Beth-shemesh said whom the Lord sorely smote because they looked into the Ark of the Lord even he smote of the people Fifty thousand and threescore and ten men and the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter And the men of Beth-shemeth said Who is able to stand before the holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6.19 20. So dangerous a thing it is to be over-curiously presumptuous in looking into the Areana Dei the secret and hidden things of God which he hath not revealed Therefore it was that the Lord had commanded that Aaron and his sons even they and not others should take down the covering vail and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it And thus do unto them saith the Lord that they may live and not die when they approach unto the most holy things Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered lest they dye Numb 4.19 20. See also Levit. 8.35 So exact was the Lord for the keeping of his charge It is sad to consider how wise some men have seemed to be above that which is written calculating persons and things and times for the meridian of their own brain like those lying Prophets which the Lord sent not nor spake unto wherefore he complained that they prophesied unto the people a false vision and divination even a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart Jer. 14.14 So in Ezek. 13.6 7 8 9. They have seen vanity and lying divination and they made others to hope that they would confirm the word See now the severe punishment of the Lord against such Behold I am against you saith the Lord God and mine hand shall be upon the Prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel neither shall they enter into the land of Israel But setting aside such gross lying Prophets it is sad to think how many professing the fear and knowledge of God have been over-curiously prying into Gods secret counsels and the hidden purposes of his minde limiting and prescribing the holy one of Israel advancing and extolling the idle phantasies and enthusiasmes of their own brains more then the declarative mind and will of God contained in the Scriptures of truth But whatever may be mens pretensions to high inward unscriptural revelations of God let us not be believing every such spirit but trying the spirits whether they are of God or no and for this reason Because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 And what saith Peter We have also a more sure word of prophesie more sure then the voice which they heard to come from Heaven when they were in the Holy Mount whereunto ye do well saith he that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the Day dawn and the Day-star arise in your hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 Ever remembring that in Deut. 29.29 That secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever 15. The fifteenth and last thing that I shall briefly speak of as a Pestilential destroying sin is that of Adding or Diminishing from the Word of God for which the Lord Jesus hath threatned such dreadful plagues and punishments For I testifie saith he unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophesie of this Book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this Prophesie What solloweth then God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this book That man may be said to add that shall mix other things besides what the Lord Jesus hath revealed by his Angel He addeth that adjoyneth a lye For whatsoever is patched to the Scriptures of mens inventions that it might be accounted as divinely revealed or the pure Oracles of God is a lye Such are the Papal unwritten traditions or other writings of men whatsoever which are made with them of like Authority with the written word of God and which added
it a sin so abhorring unto the Lord does the wrath of the Lord come upon the Children of disobedience because of it Has the Lord denounced so many woes against it and threatned to smite with his plagues and punishments for it O then beware of Covetousness and being greedy of gain lest thou be a troubler of thine house Prov. 15.27 6. So for the Sin of Cursing and Swearing and False-swearing Is it that because of Swearing the Land mourns and the Lord had a Controversie with the Land because of it And that the Curser shall be cloathed with his Cursing as with a Garment and it shall come into his bowels like water and the Curse shall enter into the house of the False-swearer O then beware that thou art not found in these sins lest these dreadful Judgments of God fall upon thee 7. So for the seventh Pestilential destroying Sin namely the sin of Adultery Fornication and such like corporeal filthiness and uncleanness Did the Lord so severely punish the sin of Zimbri and Cosby who were taken in the act of uncleanness that no less then twenty four thousand died in the plague And did the Lord plague Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife Then beware thou beastly Adulterer thou filthy Fornicator and unclean Liver lest the like severity of God take hold of thee Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jud. 7. 8. So for the Sin of Infidelity Distrust and Murmuring against God the eighth provoking Pestilential sin Did those men that brought up an evil report upon the good Land distrusting God for all the Signs that he had shewed among them dye by the plague before the Lord And did the Carcasses of those who murmured against the Lord fall in the Wilderness so that that they could not see the promised Land O then take heed how thou cherish a murmuring distrusting and unbeleiving heart against God Take heed of rasing up an evil report upon the good land thereby weakening the hands and discouraging the hearts of those who would be found walking in the beautiful paths of the Lord and be faithful in their generation 9. So for the Sin of Discontent loathing Gods blessings and his provisions and lusting after evil things to satisfie their inordinate desires the ninth provoking Pestilential sin Did the Lord smite the people with a very great Plague for this very evil Then take we heed that we lust not after evil things as they also lusted 10. So for the Sin of Pride Ambition and Vain-glory trusting in an arm of flesh and not relying on the mighty power and faithfulness of God Did the Lord for this sin of David send a Pestilence among the Children of Israel so that there dyed of the people Seventy thousand men O then take we heed of a proud vain-glorious spirit and that we trust not in an arm of flesh 11. So for the Sin of Apostacy Back-sliding and Revolting from God Did the Lord often threaten that for this sin he would consume them by the Sword the Famine and the Pestilence O then take we heed that we do not Apostasie and Back-slide in our spirits from the Lord. 12. So for the Sin of Rebellion and Obstinate Disobedience against God and his Commandments Did the Lord for this sin threaten that he would send the Pestilence among them and make it cleave unto them until he had consumed them O then beware that thou sin not against God and his Commands with an Obstinate Rebellious and disobedient heart 13. So for the Sin of Insurrection and rising up against the Lords lawful Governours and Government Did the Lord so severely deal with Corah Dathan and Abiram and their Complices and Co-partners for this evil not visiting them after the common visitation of men causing also the Plague to break in among them so that there died thereof Fourteen thousand and seven hundred O then take we heed of this so highly provoking Pestilential sin 14. So for the Sin of Prophanation of Gods holy things and an Over-curious Presumptuous speculation and prying unwarrantably into the secrets of God Was the hand of the Lord so heavy upon the men of Ashdod and also upon the men of Beth-shemish for this sin so that he smote them with a deadly destruction even of the people Fifty thousand and threescore and ten O then see that we are not guilty of this so highly provoking Pestilential sin 15. So for the last Pestilential destroying Sin of Adding or Diminishing from the word of God for which the Lord hath threatned such dreadful plagues and punishments O take thou heed of this so highly provoking sin lest the Lord add unto thee his plagues and take away thy part out of the Book of Life Having now seriously considered what those sins are that so highly provoked the Lord to send down this sore visitation of the Plague or Pestilence among a people see I say that thou enter then into a diligent search and examination of thine own heart and ways to find out the sin or sins which thy Conscience shall tell thee thou standest guilty of before the Lord Whether it be the sin of Oppression Persecution Murder Idolatry Adultery Covetousness Cursing or Swearing Infidelity Discontent Pride Apostacy Disobedience or any other of the forementioned provoking evils And see that thou art very exact and not slight and superficial in this manner of self-examination This is the exhortation of the Lord by his Prophet Zephaniah Chap. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired thus is it rendred in our Translation but other Traslations read it thus Search your selves narrowly yea search your selves narrowly O people not worthy to be desired Before the Decree bring forth before the day pass as the chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you I finde the Hebrew word signifies thus much First To gather your wits together that was before dispersed upon vanity Secondly To frame your selves to purge away your spiritual chaff Thirdly To search narrowly as for a lost jewel or hid mine The true sence is Enter into your selves search try and examine all your ways and doings that ye may rightly understand how heavily and greivously God must needs be offended with your great and manifold sins And mark the reason why they should be so diligent and industrious in this work Before the Decree bring forth That is before that doth come to pass which is decreed by God against you Gods Decree is then said to bring forth when it cometh to be executed As the bringing forth of a woman doth not follow presently after the conception but in the appointed due time So also is the Decree of God not brought to light by the execution of it until the time determined and appoined by
counsel that I give thee then there is hope that God will have mercy upon thee and lengthen thy peace rest and prosperity And if thou wilt break off thy sins by righteousness then thou must not onely loose the bands of wickedness but thou must undo the heavy burdens also and let the oppressed go free and break every yoke Thou must deal thy bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked thou must cover him and not hide thy self from thy own flesh Isa 58.6 7. And surely if this counsel be timously accepted O people of England O City of London though thou hast trespassed greivously against the Lord and broken the Covenant of thy God and the hand of the Lord is gone out against thee and death is come up into thy Windows yea even entred into thy Palaces Jer. 9.21 Yet know that if thou humblest thy self and repentest there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Ezra 10.2 And O that thou mayst know even in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace before they are hid from thine eyes And think not that your flying away can secure you his hand knows how to find you out Whether canst thou go from his spirit or whether canst thou flee from his presence Psal 139.7 And know assuredly that if thou art still an enemy and a hater of God and goodness his hand will find thee out Psal 21.8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them And as Job saith His eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Job 34.21 22. And though thou exalt thy self as the Eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars thence will I bring thee down saith the Lord Obad. vers 4. And know whosoever thou art though thou rufflest it in thy gallantry and pride if yet thou puts far away from thee the evil day and causest the seat of violence to come near that liest upon thy bed of Ivory and stretches thy self upon thy Couch and chaunts to the sound of the viol and drinks wine in bowls and anoint thy self with the cheif oyntments but greivest not for the afflictions of Joseph that the judgment of God will pursue thee at thy very heels And if thou repentest not but shalt still bless thy self in thy heart saying Thou shalt have peace though thou walkest in the imaginations of thy own heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare thee but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against thee and all the curses that are written in the Book of God shall lye upon thee and the Lord shall blot out thy name from under heaven Deut. 29.19 20. The Third spiritual Receit When in the conscionable use of the former means thou findest that this bitter pill or potion of Repentance hath begun to operate upon thy heart so as to cause it to melt and mourn kindly before the Lord then in the next place take a good draught of Faith in the blood of Christ and put therein also a good quantity of Beleif in the power faithfulness and promises of God in Christ This through the blessing of God will make this bitter pill to work strongly and effectually to the expelling of all those virulent obnoxious and malignant humours that are such great enemies to a healthful and sound constitution of soul and body which if unexpelled that they grow to some head and strength they will have a very strong influence upon thy spirits to contract this sore Pestilential distemper to the endangering oftentimes of the loss and ruine of the whole man soul and body to all eternity First Then this Faith in the blood of Christ rightly applyed unto thy soul is and hath been always a very soveraign Receit and a precious Antidote to expell 1. All the fiery assaults of Satan 2. The venome and malignity of sin And therefore among all the several choise peices of our spiritual Armory laid down in the 6th of the Ephesians This is recommended as the most choise and principal peice among them all Above all taking the sheild of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Some translate it in all as if he had said in all things whatsoever you do see that you use the sheild of faith to all as if he had said to all other Graces add this above all which is more emphatical for hereby all the imperfections of the rest of the Armes are covered and we are best defended against all the fiery darts and assaults of Satan that is his poysonous darts which by their venome inflame the soul The Apostle alludes to the custome of old in times of war who by their darts shot fire or else when they dipped the heads of their arrows in poison and shot them at their enemies they even fired their flesh To prevent which it is said that the Souldiers made them large sheilds of raw Neats-leather which might cover the whole body so that when the fiery venemous darts lighted upon them they were presently quenched All which agrees well with the nature of Satans temptations which as poison and fire do wound and pierce the soul if they be not stopped and quenched by the sheild of faith when they hit upon it So in the 1 Pet. 5.8 The Apostle directs to the making use of this most excellent peice of a Christians armour of proof speaking of our adversary the Devil who as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour This counsel he gives That we resist him stedfastly in the faith Resist the Devil saith James and he will flee from you Jam. 4.7 Resist him when he tempteth and enticeth thee to fullfil thy fleshly lusts and to seek after the freindship of the world And he will flee from thee he will run away if thou withstand him oppose him and set thy self as it were in battle array against him thou wilt find him as very a coward as ever any that handled a weapon thou wilt make him run away presently But that you may resist him and foil him you must be sure to resist him and that stedfastly in the faith if you make use of this weapon he will never be able to encounter with you Faith will foil him By this weapon the Saints always overcame him Rev. 12.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And how by the blood of the Lamb Satan will tell thee thou art a vile filthy polluted and abominable wretch a great and hainous sinner but faith in the blood of Christ will tell him that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners yea the greatest and cheifest of sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And that God hath set him forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood for the remission of sins Rom. 3.25 And though thou art naturally unclean and hast contracted much defilement by reason of sin yet that Christ hath loved thee and washed thee from thy sins in his own blood Rev. 1.5 That in him thou hast redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1.14 Satan will tell thee thou hast broken the Law and incurred Gods anger wrath hell and eternal damnation Faith will tell him that Christ hath perfectly fulfilled the Law satisfied divine justice taken away the curse and freed thee from condemnation Rom. 8.1 and that Jesus Christ by his blood hath pacified Gods anger towards thee Rom. 3.25 Faith will tell him thou art not under the Law now and so not under the Curse and that though the Law does pronounce thee accursed for the breach of it yet Christ hath redeemed thee from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.10 13. Satan will tell tell thee still thou art unrighteous and the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but faith will tell him that thou art washed that thou art sanctified that thou art justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 And that Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 And as he was made sin so of God also is he made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Does Satan tempt thee â—o evil Faith will tell him that he so tempted Christ but Christ vanquished him in all his tempttaions Mat. 4. And we are more then Conquerors through Christ that hath loved us Rom. 8.37 Does he yet tempt thee to be proud tell him that God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5 5. Does he tempt thee to passion tell him that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Jam. 1.20 Does he tempt thee to uncleaness tell him thy body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and thou art not thine one but art bought with a price and therefore thou must glorifie God in thy body and in thy spirit which is Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Does he tempt thee to be a servant of men tell him thou art bought with a price and so freed from that servitude 1 Cor. 7.23 would he have thee to please men tell him if yet thou shouldst please men thou shouldst not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1.10 Does he tempt thee to the love of the world tell him that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 Does he tempt thee to an indifferent luke-warm spirit in the things of God tell him that the Lord testifies against such a spirit that is neither hot nor cold that he will spue it out of his mouth Rev 3.16 Does he tempt thee to fall away draw back and renounce thy profession tell him that such as so fall away shall not be renewed again unto repentance Seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame Heb. 6.6 And that if any man draws back the Lord will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 You see what a most excellent weapon this sheild of Faith is to repel the temptations and assaults of Satan upon all accounts Secondly And it is of like force and efficacy to expel the venome and malignity of sin Art thou stung with it at any time look up by faith unto the brazen Serpent there 's healing Numb 21.9 Are thy sins of a scarlet dye Faith in his blood can make them as white as snow are they red like crimson it will make them as wool Isa 1.18 Are they many and multiplied transgressions Faith will tell thee that where sin hath abounded there grace hath much more abounded that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.20 21. Hast thou abundantly sinned this faith will tell thee that God will abundantly pardon he will multiply pardons Isa 55.7 Dost thou fear the reigning domineering power of sin This faith will assure thee That sin shall not have dominion over thee for that thou art not under the law but under grace Rom. 6.14 Dost thou yet fear that thy sins shall stand on the file and that God will remember thine iniquity this faith in Christs blood will assure thee that he will blot out thy transgressions for his own name sake and will not remember thy sins Isa 43.25 But perhaps thou art afraid of Death and of the power of the Grave this Faith will assure thee that death is swallowed up in victory his sting taken out that Christ hath ransomed thee from the power of the grave and hath redeemed thee from death that he is deaths plague and the graves destruction Isa 25.8 Hos 13.14 1 Cor. 15.54 So that we may triumphantly say Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay the gracious beleiving souls may be perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord Rom. 8. and some of the last verses thereof Wilt thou not then fear this severe stroke of Gods visitation O get more of the blood of sprinkling on thy soul this speaketh better things then the blood of Abet The blood of the Paschal Lamb was to be strook on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses of the children of Israel when God did intend to smite the first-born in the land of Egypt and execute his judgement against all the Egyptian gods and saith the Lord When I see the the blood I will pass over you meaning the children of Israel and the Plague sholl not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the Land of Egypt What did this typifie and hold forth but Christ the true Passover or Paschal Lamb whose blood besprinkling the conscience cleanseth us from all sin and delivereth us from the stroke of the destroying Angel even from wrath to come 1 John 1.7 1 Thess 1.10 See then that thou exercise thy self continually in that onely heaven upon earth and sweetest sanctuary to a
hunted troubled ond afflicted soul The life of Faith in reference to thy Salvation Sanctification and Preservation As to thy Salvation Let the truly-humbled soul grieved and graoning under the heavy weight and burden of sin throw itself into the meritorious and merciful arms of Jesus Christ wounded broken and bleeding upon the Cross and there let it hold and hide it self for ever in full assurance of eternal life by vertue of that promise Joh. 3.36 He that beleiveth on the Son hath everlasting life 2. As to thy Sanctification If thou keep thy Faith the fountain root and heart as it were from which all thine other Graces spring in life and vigour thou wilt pray more comfortably be more couragiously patient hear the Word more faithfully receive Christs Ordinance of Breaking bread more joyfully spend the Lords day more delightfully confer more chearfully meditate more heavenly and walk in all the ways of new obedience with more strength and conquest over corruptions For ordinarily every one shall find the exercise of other graces to be comfortable or cold according to the liveliness or languishing of his faith 3. As to thy Preservation both temporal and spiritual in crosses afflictions and all Gods outward angry visitation let thy Faith be exercised in the power of such Promises as the Psa 89.33 and 50.15 Heb. 12.6 7 8 11. 1 Thes 3.3 1 Tim. 2.11 Act. 14.22 Luk. 9.23 Isa 63.9 Secondly Act Faith in the power ability all-sufficiency and omnipotency of God Power can do much but omnipotency can do all and is above all He is able to do whatsoever he pleaseth Psa 115.3 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered Job 9.4 The Angels which excel in strength are at his command Psa 104.4 and subject unto Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 The Devils apprehending the power of God do tremble Jam. 2.19 All the power that men and devils have it is given them from above Joh. 19.11 And for other creatures he saith to the deep be dry Isa 44.27 He commands the earth and it opens her mouth Num. 16.30 31. The consideration of whose mighty power made the Psalmist thus to break forth O Lord God of Hosts who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the Sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them thou hast broken Rahab in peices as one that is slain thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm Thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand Psa 89.8 9 10 13. At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Jer. 10.10 Beware then how we call into question the power and all-sufficiency of God How we speak against God This was the sin of the Israelites and it was highly provoking unto the Lord. It s said they spake against God and said Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people therefore the Lord heard this and was wrath Psa 88.19 20 21. Moses also he falls expostulating the case with God The people amongst whom I am saith he are six hundred thousand footmen and thou hast said I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole moneth Shall the Flocks and the Heards be slain for them to suffice them or shall all the Fish of the Sea be gathered together for them to suffice them And what Argument does the Lord use to convince Moses of his carnal if not incredulous reasonings But this Is the Lords hand waxed short thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not Numb 11.21 22 23. And the Lord rained flesh upon them as dust and feathered Fowles like as the sand of the Sea though it was given as a great judgement unto them Psa 88.27 The same Argument does the Lord make use of when he falls a reasoning with his people the Jews upon the account of their dereliction or rejection and that they might yet have sound ground of hope still of their restauration though they had sold themselves for their iniquities and could not produce any Bill of Divorcement of the Lords putting of them away in Isa 50.2 Is my hand shortned at all that it cannot redeem or have I no power to deliver Behold at my rebuke I dry up the Sea I make the Rivers a Wilderness their Fish stincketh because there is no water and dieth for thirst I cloath the Heavens with blackness and I make sack-cloth their covering So Isa 59.1 Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear Which may be an excellent support to our faith Let thy Faith then be exercised in the mighty power of God in these following particular cases and seasons 1. In times of great difficulties and streights 2. In times of sore sicknesses 3. In times of great sinning 4. In times of Worshipping and Serving the Lord. 5. In times of great suffering for the Lord. 1. In times of great difficulties and streights Know that the same Almighty power who could smite the Rock and cause the waters to gush out and the streams to overflow can furnish a table in the Wilderness can give bread and provide flesh for his people Take heed now of such irrational absurd and preposterous reasonings The Lord smote the Rock and gave water in abundance but can he now furnish a table in the Wilderness I remember the time when I was in great streights for bodily and soul refreshments and the Lord smote the Rock in a strange miraculous and unexpected way and the Waters gushed out and the streams over-flowed I had comfortable supplies for soul and body and that in a plentiful manner But can he now help me in my streights and supply my necessities now all conduit pipes are cut off and all visible means of supplies and supports are taken away Taxes are multiplied and increased our Trade is gone the Gentry gone and such as gave life and being thereunto have laid aside and betook themselves to a retired life many gone beyond the Seas because they could not follow their callings and be suffered to enjoy the freedom of their consciences too God hath smitten some of my dear friends or relations who were instruments in his hand of my comfortable sustentation and supportation and now my Wife and Children begin to stare me in the face to sob and sigh and I have not wherewith to releive them The sight and thoughts of these things do even break my heart and wound my very bowels within me what shall I do what course shall I take for a livelihood Methinks I hear such doleful complaints among thousands destressed Families in the City at this time Is it not a time and
season then to be acting faith in the mighty power and providence of God Surely it is an easie matter to trust God when we have Meal in the Barrel and Oyl in the Cruse and Money in our Purse but wilt thou trust God and rely upon his power in the want and absence of all As the Prophet Habakkuk when the Fig-tree did not blossom nor fruit could be found in the Vines when the labour of the Olive did fail and the Field did yeild no meat when the Flocks were cut off from the fold and there were no Herd in the stall when there was an utter consumption and deprivation of all things then to be rejoycing in the Lord and joying in the God of our salvation Then to say the Lord is my strength and he will make me to walk on my high places Then to say the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want as David and though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Psal 22. then to live beleivingly trustingly and dependingly upon God This is a high Act of Faith in the Power of God And O that I could minister a word of support unto thy soul in such a condition Well be not faithless but beleiving live still in the faith of the all-sufficiency of God That his hand is not shortned that it cannot help neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear there 's no diminution of his power or is there any unwillingness in God to hear and help in a time of need Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil saith the Psalmist when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about Psal 49.5 So say thou thou poor doubting and disponding soul Why should I fear in this evil day why should I distrust that God and doubt of his power and all-sufficiency to help me now who hath fed me and cloathed me and sustained me all the days of my life Why should I not be casting my care upon him who hath not only promised but is able also to take care of me 1 Pet. 5.7 Why do I not cast my burden upon the Lord who hath graciously promised and he is able also to sustain me and will never suffer the righteous to be moved Psal 55.22 This was a great stay and support to Abrahams faith when God promised to make him a Father of may Nations He considered not the deadness of his own body being about 100. years old nor the deadness of Sarai's womb He staggered not at the promise of God through unbeleif but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Mark I pray you he did not only beleive the promise but the ability of God also he fixt his faith in the power and all-sufficiency of God Rom. 4.19 20 21. He was assured that God was as able as he was faithful in the performance of his promise God had said unto him but a little before Abram I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect and now Abram would not question it in the least he knew his grace was all-sufficient for him and that his strength could be perfected in his weakness As the Lord told Paul in another case 2 Cor. 12.9 And has left it for ever upon record as a most precious cordial of comfort to refresh and support the most fainty distressed and disconsolate soul To wit When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them And that they may not think he wants power to perform what he hath promised saith he I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the values I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water Isa 41.17 18 19. Surely this promise is very applicable to poor needy thirsty hungry souls upon the accompt of temporal or spiritual refreshment And the Saints have beleived it Though I walk saith David in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me thou wilt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me Psal 138.7 Yea though I walk through the valley of the shaddow of death though I should be in the most dark dismal and uncomfortable condition yet I will fear no evil thou art with me thy presence shall support me thy rod and thy staffe they shall comfort me Psal 23.4 Though he slay me saith Job yet will I trust in him I will maintain mine own ways before him He also shall be my salvation Job 13.15 So when the enemies of God are high and the Church of Christ very low O this acting of faith in the power of God is of great use O God how long shall the adversary reproach shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever Why withdrawest thou thy hand even thy right hand and that 's the hand of power and strength surely pluck it out of thy bosome For God is my King of old consider it I pray you working salvation in the midst of the earth Thou didst divide the Sea by thy strength thou breakest the heads of the Dragons in the waters Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in peices and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness Thou didst clean the fountain and the floud thou driedst up mighty rivers Psal 74.10 11 12 13 14 15. What cannot the Lord do when he hath a purpose to save his people and to destroy his enemies Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a god as our God Thou art the God that dost wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people Thou hast with thine own redeemed thy people the Sons of Jacob and Joseph Psal 77.13 14 15. Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoyce in thee Psal 85.6 This raised up the Churches hopes in the stormy and tempestuous times of persecution and why The Lord reigneth he is cloathed with majesty the Lord is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself c. The flouds have lifted up O Lord the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves What then The Lord on high is mightier then the noise of many waters yea then the mighty waves of the Sea And so said Jethro when Moses had told him what the Lord had done unto Pharoah and to the Egyptians for Israels sake and all the travel that had come upon them by the way and how the Lord delivered them Now I know saith he that the Lord is greater then all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them This is the Churches comfort that though their enemies are high and proud and imperious yet the Lord is above them
Ezod 18.8 11. This was the Argument that good King Jehosophat used in prayer with the Lord when a great multitude of enemies came against him O Lord God of our fathers art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the Kingdomes of the Heathen and in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy freind for ever O our God wilt not thou judge them for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee And the Lord did thereupon shew forth his mighty power and that this great multitude was not able to withstand him For he set ambushments against the Children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir that came against Judah and they were smitten and every one afterwards helped to destroy another 2 Chron. 20. O then be acting faith in this great and powerful Jehovah that he would make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the Nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God Isa 52.10 Fear and tremble before him whose mighty power hath limited and bounded the proud and imperious waves of the Sea that hitherto shall they come and no further and here shall its proud waves be stayed Jeremiah 5.22 comp with Job 37.11 Fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell Matth. 10.28 It is he that makes the pillars of heaven to tremble and to be astonished at his reproof Job 26.11 And learn to depend on this Almighty being for preservation in all streights and exigents whatsoever who can preserve without means as Elijah forty days and forty nights 1 King 19.8 by strange and miraculous means even by the help of Ravens that fed him 1 King 17.4 by the ministery of Angels vers the 5. and the 6. of that 1 King 19. Chap. By small means as the widows meal in the barrel and her little oyle in her cruse 2 King 17.14 Against means as Daniel in the Lions den Dan. 6.22 By ordinary means wherein his powerful blessing is to be desired else we may eat and not be satisfied Hag. 1.6 And let us praise him withal our strength for his almighty power Rev. 4.11 Worthy art thou O Lord to receive glory and honour and power Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory 1 Chron. 29.11 And let us be speaking of his power to make known to the Sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and whose dominion endureth throughout all generations And for the adversaries of the Lord let them know that they shall be broken to peices and that out of heaven God shall thunder upon them 1 Sam. 2.10 And that his power and his wrath is against all them that do evil Ezra 8.22 And let it be matter of consolation and encouragement in our prayers that we call on that God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think Eph. 3.20 In our perseverance That the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth who fainteth not neither is weary will renew our strength that we shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Because he upholds us in our integrity Psal 41.12 The Garrison that keeps us is the power of God 1 Pet. 1.5 And none can take us out of his hand because he is greater then all Joh. 10.29 In times of Temptation For our strength is in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6.10 't is he that strengthens us in the inward man And when God shall help us with a little help Dan. 11.34 then our strongest temptations shall not prevail but we shall be more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 In times of Affliction Know that he that is Almighty orders them for the kind whether on our souls or bodies names or estates Amos 3.6 For the measure whether great or small Jer. 30.11 The time sometimes but an evening heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the mourning Psal 30.6 Sometimes ten days The Devil shall cast some of you into prison and ye shall have tribulation ten days Rev. 2.10 Sometimes our sorrows shall be for years Psal 90.15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil He orders the Deliverance there is an appointed time for that also Josephs feet must be hurt with fetters and lye in irons until the time that the word of the Lord came and tried him and then the King sends and looseth him and makes him Lord of his house and Ruler of all his substance Psal 105.19 20 21. There is a time when the Prisoners shall be loosed out of their pit and turn to their strong hold even the Prisoners of hope Zach. 9.10 11. Lastly what great consolation doth this minister in respect of death our bodies shall not always rot and consume we must awake and sing though we dwell in the dust Isa 26.19 And our vile bodies shall be chaanged and fashioned like unto his glorious body even by the mighty and absolute power of Christ according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 All created powers being derived from him and subordinate unto him 1 Chron. 29.12 and 2 Chron. 14.11 2. Act faith in the mighty power of God and that in times of sickness and of this sore visitation of the Lord. Know that this is the Lords prerogative royal to kill and to make alive to bring down to the grave and to bring up again 1 Sam. 2.6 This the Lord challengeth as his own sovereign peculiar right I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deut. 32.39 In Psal 90.1 2 3 Saith the Church there Lord thou hast bin our dwelling place in all generations Before the mountains were brought forth c. even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God And what follows Thou turnest man to destruction and sayst Return ye children of men The consideration of this mighty power and the Churches acting faith in the same did put her upon pious thoughts of returning unto the Lord Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up And what follows After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Hos 6.1 2. Consider then in the first place whoever thou art that art thus under the chastising hand of
God that affliction commeth not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks flye upward Job 5.6 7. But if sores and sickness comes not forth of the dust from whence come they then Surely from the powerful immediate overruling hand of God So said Eliphaz Job 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole So Job himself acknowledged ch 19.21 Have pity upon me have pity upon me O my friends for the hand of God hath touched me So David Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal 38.2 And consider that as a sparrow falls not to the ground without Gods providence so the Plagve and Pestilence and all other Sicknesses and diseases are guided by his own immediate hand and he onely doth smite when and whom he pleaseth and know that the same Powerful hand that took away thy health can in a moment take away thy breath and then thou diest aad returnest unto thy dust Psal 104.29 This should make thee lye down patiently at the foot of God and with all willing and chearful resignation of spirit with good old Ely say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 And with Job Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2.10 But whatever affliction he layeth upon thy loins or what strokes soever upon any of thy dearest relations see that thou murmur not nor charge the Lord foolishly or unjustly say not with the King of Israel Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6. ult 2ly Let the sence of the mighty hand of God which is upon thee humble thee deeply So says Peter Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 This will evidence it self inwardly in a sight and sence of thine own great unworthiness in an abhorring thy self in dust and ashes and loathing thy self for all thy abominations in a tender sense of temptations either in thy self or others in a hatred of Hypocrisie a willingness to suffer affliction and a contentation in some measure to the will of God in what estate soever it shall please God to bring thee to Outwardly towards God it will keep thee lowly in the use of means and in a continual fear and awfulness of Gods presence not caring to be counted vile for the service of God And in carriage towards men it is such a grace as is not affected in words or gestures nor is it censorious arrogant or contentious but makes a man go before in giving honour and not to think much to equal himself with them of the lower sort This is the time now to be narrowly searching into thine own heart and mourn under it and bewailing now thy want of love unto the Lord and thy abounding love to sin do thou cover with sorrowing what breach thou hast made with sinning and remember That had thy sin never been so sweet then thy sorrow had never been so bitter And know that God is now awaking thee from all thy secure sleeps that every minutes breathing he lends thee more may be spent in preparing to meet Jesus Christ at the Judgement of the great Day which that thou mayst effectually do with all thy might with fear and trembling as before the Lord remember that the next step from this life thou takest is into eternity 3ly Thus waiting till thy change come Be further in the exercise of Faith in the power of thy mighty Redeemer as to a glorious resurrection of thy body when laid asleep in the grave Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up thee also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 and then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and then this mortal shall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.53 54. 3. Act Faith in the mighty power of God in times of great sinning and prophanation of the name of God So Jeremy speaking of the customs of the people that they are vain and of their Idol-gods that they are altogether bruitish and foolish and the stock is a doctrine of vanities he sets the great and mighty Jehovah against all their Heathenish gods Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might Who would not fear thee O King of Nations Jer. 10.6 7. So in the 10. verse But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation So the Prophet Habakkuk he sets Faith on work in the mighty power of God in a time of great sinning and of treacherous and cruel dealing Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine Holy One we shall not dye O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he Think upon the mighty power of God when men grow bold and impudent in sinning do they oppress the poor and crush the needy Amos 4.1 Know that this mighty God can soon crush them under his feet Lament 3.34 and feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and then they shall know the Lord to be the mighty one of Israel Isa 49.26 Does the horrible impieties and wickdness of men greive and wound thy heart Know that he that is thy God is the God of salvation and he shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespass Psalm 68.20 21 verses And what says Solomon If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province Marvaile not at the matter For he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they Eccles 5.8 4. Act faith in the mighty power of God as in times of great sinning so in times of serving and worshipping of God So did Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar the King had made an Image of gold and set it up to be worshipped and that whoso fell not down and worshipped the said Image should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery surnace And who is that God saith he most blasphemously that shall deliver out of my hand What said Sadrach Meshaoh and Abednego O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
and supplication that he had made 1 King 9.3 So Psa 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the Earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness So Psa 91.3 6 7 10. Surely he shall deliver thee from the noysom Pestilence Thou shalt not be afraid of the â—estilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Art thou sick then apply The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing Tbou wilt make all his bed in his sickness Art thou there where the sick are apply I will take away all sickness from the midst of thee Fearest thou the Pestilence I will deliver thee saith the Lord from the noysome Pestilence So that of Eliphaz to Job He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee in Famine he shall redeem thee from death and in War from the power of the Sword Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the Tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh c. And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace Job 5.19.20 21 24. So in Isa 43.2 The Lord promiseth he will be with us in the fire and in the water the waters shall not overflow us nor the fire devour us And in Heb. 13.5 he hath promised likewise that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee The labour of the Olive may fail as Habakkuk speaks our nearest and dearest friends and relations may fail our eyes may fail our tongue may fail our strength may fail our flesh and heart may fail our spirits may fail yet saith the Lord I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee When the poor and the needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them Isa 41.17 What can be more refreshing and supporting to the poor languishing fainting sinking soul Thus in any trouble of soul body good name outward state present or to come thou maist by the soveraign power of saith working upon the word of his promise not only draw out the sting and expell the poison of it but also procure a great deal of comfort to thy truly humbled soul and maintain it in despight of all mortal or infernal opposition in a constant spiritual gladness Considering that all those Promises whereupon thy heavy and disconsolate heart in such cases may repose and refresh it self have their being and confirmation from the blessed name Jehovah it self see Exod. 6.3 and therefore as sure as God himself they are sealed with the bloody sufferrings of his only Son and therefore as true as Truth it self and if thou art in Christ are all as certainly thine as the heart in thy body or blood that runs in thy veins Nay and a little more for thy comfort the glory of Gods Truth is mightily advanced and himself extraordinarily pleased by thy more resolute stedfast and triumphant cleaving unto them What a blessed sweet and heavenly life then is the Life of Faith as it is exercised in the Promises of God O then be encouraged to be acting Faith in the Promises and to be storing up a good stock of Promises every day They are of excellent use in all estates in all conditions in all kind of distresses whatsoever By beleiving the Promises we shall prosper by beleiving and applying of them we shall come to participate of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 And therefore they are called exceeding great and precious promises That by these saith the Apostle you might be partakers of the Divine Nature not of the substance but of the quality Non transformatione naturae humanae in divinam sed participatione donorum quibus conformes efficimur divinae naturae as one distinguisheth very well not by the transformation of the humane nature into the divine but by the participation of gifts whereby we are made conformable to the Divine Nature And so it notes a fellowship with God in his holiness and a fellowship with God in his blessedness that is in the beatifical vision and brightness of glory upon which account as to the excellent use and nature of them one terms them a Christians Catholicon a general purging Medicine a Salve for every sore being a help to all duties a quickner of all graces and a comfort in all distresses And like a well-fill'd Apothacaries shop there is contained in them heavenly receipts of all sorts wholesome physick of every kind for expelling and curing all sorts of diseases and sicknesses incident to Saints and for the corroborating and strengthening of the new nature and keeping the spiritual man in a good healthful constitution lusty and strong able for Gods Service and for working out his own salvation with fear and trembling Wouldst thou then have thy faith like the Light in the Lords Sanctuary never to go out then acquaint thy self with Gods Promises know them well meditate on them confer about them let them be continually in thy mind memory heart and tongue Satan laboureth in nothing more then to keep us in unbeleif especially of particular promises for he knows if we beleive them we shall in all things have the victory Come before God with boldness carry peace in our own bosomes to our graves and do and suffer any thing for God Oh the abundance of sweet cordial comfort which all humble beleiving souls draw by faith out of every promise And these precious promises our breasts of consolation whereupon our comfort and happiness so much depend lye hid in the holy Scriptures as veins of gold in the earth How then should we be searching into those rich mines that bring to light such heavenly treasures and how should it stir us up to go to God in prayer for the accomplishment of them unto us and waiting in the diligent use of all means for the gaining of them you shall find God not only making you heirs of Promises but you shall be comfortable possessors of those many good things which God hath promised to beleivers And the more you meditate and the oftner you pray upon them the more good will you see in them and find to flow from them And this leads me to the next Spiritual Receipt and Soveraign Antidote and that is Prayer The Fourth Spiritual Receit 4ly The fourth special Receit and preservative against this contagious disease or which may be of excellent force and efficacy for the removal of it is faithful and fervent Prayer This is a tried receipt an approved remedy of which
I may say as David said to Abimelech the Preist concerning the Sword of Goliah There is none like to it 1 Sam. 21.9 A most incomparable weapon if we have skill to use it Let us consider a little then what Prayer is as to the derivation and definition of it I find that Prayer comes of a word in the Hebrew which signifieth Appeal whereby we refer the Cause of our selves or others unto God as unto the Supream Judge calling upon him appealing unto him for right presenting our selves and our cause unto him as to one who hath power to determine Causes and to whom appeals may be made And if you would have a breif description of it it is the pouring out of the humble penitent beleiving soul before the Lord 1 Sam 1.15 Or as one very pithily defines it It is Devotae animae cum Deo colloquium that is It is the talk or conference of the devout soul with God For a man barely to speak in the air and his heart have no approaches unto God in it this is no Prayer in Gods account I cannot therefore let pass that excellent saying of Bernard Cum oramus cum Deo loquimur cum legimus Deus nobiscum loquitur Si vis cum Deo semper esse semper ora semper lege that is When we pray we speak with God when we read God speaketh with us If thou wilt always be with God then always pray and always read More plainly and fully It is a work of the spirit of Christ in the beleiving soul by which we desire of God alone things lawful and needful with confidence to obtain them through the alone mediation and intercession of Christ to the praise and glory of his name So then if thou wilt pray aright and find acceptance with God therein thou must pray to him and to him alone in the name and through the alone mediation and intercession of Christ by the powerful and immediate help and assistance of his own spirit and that beleivingly from the heart with understanding and feeling of our wants in fervency of spirit forgivingly reverently and perseveringly Without which ingredients never think of putting up an acceptable Prayer unto God with any confidence or assurance to be heard at the throne of grace I shall touch a little upon the particulars for the help of such poor souls whose desires are to grow into a more spiritual acquaintance with God First then If thou wilt pray aright thou must pray to God and to him only and that in the name of Christ God alone is to be invocated and prayed unto not Saints nor Angels Christ in his prayer which he taught his Disciples would have us direct our Petitions unto God our Father which is in Heaven Luk. 11.2 Mat. 6.9 And why to God alone 1. Because God onley is Omni present every where present in all places and at all times But this is inconsistent to any creature to be ubiquitary or present in all places But that God is so see Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God a far off Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord see Psal 139.7 8. God is not only the God of the hills but of the valleys also 1 King 20.28 2. Because God as he is Omni-present so he is Omniscient he knoweth all things all the hearts of the Sons of men So said Solomon in the prayer he made at the Dedication of the Temple For thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men 1 King 8.39 So Jer. 17.9 I the Lord search the heart and try the reins Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Prov. 5.21 Doth he not see my ways and count all my steps saith Job Chap. 31.4 There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Job 24.21 22. So Psal 94.9 10 11. He that planted the ear shall he not hear he that formed the eye shall he not see he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity 3. God is stiled a God hearing prayers Psal 65.2 and this David could speak experimentally Verily God hath heard me he hath attended to the voice of my prayer blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Psal 66.19 20. 4. As he is a God hearing prayer so he is most able to help Psal 52.2 I will cry unto God most high unto God that performeth all things for me He shall send from heaven and save me Eph. 3.20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen So Asa when a mighty host came against him in his prayer lays hold on Gods power and ability to help Lord saith he it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power help us O Lord God for we rest on thee and in thy name we go against this multitude 2 Chron. 14.11 So Jehosaphat when a great multitude of the Moabites and Amonites came against him he sets himself to seek the Lord as able and all-sufficient to help him And said O Lord God of our Fathers art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the kingdomes of the Heathen and in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee O our God wilt not thou judge them for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon the 2 Chron. 20.6 12. 5. Prayer is a Divine Worship and a Spiritual Sacrifice God would have us to call upon him in the day of trouble Psal 50.15 And if we should be seeking help from any other he will take it very ill at our hands If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god saith the Church shall not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of our hearts Psal 44.20 21. In every place Incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering saith the Lord. Mal. 1.11 So Psal 141.2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of mine hands as an evening sacrifice There was given to the Angel that stood at the Altar having a golden censer much incense That he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was