also a Chideing Contending withfighting as Gen. 26 vers 20 22. So that this sin is a calling of the most High to an account and a bringing of Him before our judgment-seat as Iob 33 13. Where the the same verbe is used Why dost thou strive against him Or why dost thou call Him before thy tribunal summond Him to compear before thee or contend with Him in judgment or plead against Him He answereth not he giveth no account of his matâ—…s to any 2. It is a rebelling against the Lord. When the People of Israel murmured against the Lord and against Moses and Aaron Numb 14 v. 1 2 3. Moses said unto them Vers. 9. Only rebel not ye against the Lord. So it is said Psal. 78 vers 40. How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness in the margine See Vers. 8. 3. It is a manifest calling his Wisdom in question and a saying that He is not wise enough to order and dispose matters aright As if He were not mighty in wisdom Iob 36 vers 5. Our Wisdom were to cease from our own Wisdom Prov. 23 vers 4. and to beleeve though we should not see that in wisdom he hath made the heavens and all Psal. 104 vers 34. and 136 vers 5. and hath established the world in wisdom Ier. 10 vers 1â—… and 51 v. 15. And not think to give Him Counsel and Advice how He should rule the world for there are Depths of Wisdom and of Knowledge in Him Rom. 11. 33. that we should think upon with Admiration for if in our wisdom we think to correct His wayes and quarrel against them and not comply with them he will destroy the Wisdom of the wise 1 Cor. 1 19 20. O what a guilt must this be to proclame ourselves wiser than He is and better able to order all things aright at least what concerneth ourselves The very hauk will not flie by our wisdom Iob 39 26. and shall we think to prescribe Rules to God 4. It is a calling in question of His Absolute Power and Soveraignity As if He might not do what he pleased but were obnoxious to us and bound to give an account of his wayes to us or could do injustice or wrong to any As if he had not that Power over His Creatures to whom he hath given being and all they have that the Potter hath over the lump of Clay or we have over our beasts which are our fellow-creatures and hold not their being of us And must not this be a great sin 5. When we are sinfully anxious and disquieted with his Dispensations towards his Church We call into question His Faithfulness and Care of and also his Love to his Church as if he had forgotten to be gracious and would be merciful no more and cared not that she perished as Christs Disciples said Mark. 4 38. contrare to 1 Pet. 5 7. And this sure must be no small sin 6. We hereby proclame Him to be an imperfect Worker and say that He is not God for his works who is God cannot but be perfect and his Way also Deut. 32 4. 2 Sam. 22 31. 7. We profess ourselves hereby able to finde out the depths of His wayes and to search Him out unto Perfection as was said to Iob Chap. 11 v. 7. Why else will we think to reprove Him and amend what He hath done as if it were amisse 8. When we are dissatisfied with His Dispensations towards us we really accuse the Most Holy of Injustice as if indeed He had wronged us and we had deserved better at His hands though all His wayes are Judgment and though He be a God of Truth and without Iniquity and just and right Deut. 42 vers 4. Eliphaz said to Iob after he heard his complaints Chap. 3. Iob 4 vers 17. Shall mortal man be more just than God Shall a man be more pure than his Maker Elihu said well Iob 34 vers 17. Shall we condemne him that is most just What a sin must it be to lay such an Imputation on Him who hath justice and judgment for the habitation of his throne Ps. 89 vers 14 and who is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of Iustice Iob 37 vers 23 Next The Consideration of this should cause us watch against this evil and labour for another frame of heart that will be more complying with the Wayes and Works of the Lord. And for this cause we should take another look of the Works of the Lord and consider them in another manner than we usually do and this bringeth me to the Third thing in the Text which will also lead us to a further improvment of this impossibility of helping what we suppose is amisse in the Works and Dispensations of the Lord. Thirdly Therefore let us see what way we should consider the Works of the Lord to the end we may have a suteable frame of spirit complying sweetly with all the crooks that are or we suppose to be in Gods Way and Works for in reference to this only shall we speak of considering the Works of the Lord. We should then consider the Works of the Lord whether of Creation or of Providence 1. So as that thereby we may become rooted and more setled in the Faith of this that He alone is Iehovah above all Gods and this would do much to quiet and calme our spirits For our murmuring at or displeasure with what He doth floweth from the want of the clear sight and apprehension of the hand of the only Supream and Soveraigne God therein Hence to the end that people may set Him above all imagined false and supposed God's he readeth a lecture to them of His great works Esai 40. from vers 12. and forward and inferreth once and againe vers 18 25. to whom then will ye liken God Or what likeness will ye compare with him So he setteth forth several remarkable works that He would do for his Church that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and that the holy One of Israel hath created this Esai 41 vers 20. And when we consider His Works so as to see Him alone to be Jehovah the Absolute and Soveraigne King Creator Conservator and Disposer of all Things according to His own will and pleasure then our hearts will bow more and submit unto His holy Determination and we will learne to say with good old Eli 1 Sam. 3 18. It is the Lord Jehovah let him do what seemeth him good 2. We should consider the works of the Lord till we finde thereby that He alone is the wise Governour of the World and that there is a beauty of Divine Wisdom to be seen and observed on all even on that which we account most crooked in our blinde and byassed judgments Thus did holy Iob Chap. 12. contemplate the most crooked like works of the Lord such as His breaking down shutting up of
sometimes wise and great Politicians Statsmen and Leaders of Armies carry on their designes in such a way as ordinary onlookers shall not understand what the matter meaneth nor what is intended by what they see done with their eyes And the more they carry on their work with success in the dark and hid from the observation of ordinary spectators the more do they discover their great wit and give proof of their dexterity in the managment of affairs of greatest consequence and such under-ground workings and stratagems carry on them a special piece of Beauty and Glory Thus our Lord thinketh good sometimes to work and while working not let every one see what he is doing but carry on his business much out of sight and under ground and by Holy and Majestick Stratagems so as not only enemies shall be ignorant of what He is doing or about to do but many even of his owne followers and friends shall be in the dark So that the observation of Iob. Chap. 23 8 9. is oft times found to be true Behold I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot perceive him As also of the Psalmist Psal. 77 vers 19. Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known As all the wayes and footsteps of the Lord are full of Majesty and of hid and unseen Glory and therefore must be sought out of all that take pleasure therein Psal. III vers 2. so that in all of them the Lord is like Himself acteth like Himself and every piece of them discover to a spiritual observer the Finger of God So there are some special pieces of work which are more signal and remarkable and wherein the Lords gloriously-working hand is less obvious and even these works upon that very account are in a special manner Glorious and Majestick and of such is the truth in hand to be understood wherein the Lords footsteps are not seen nor known nor observable by every one for further clearing of which point of truth concerning the Lord's thinking good to work and yet to hide Himself so as it shall not be observed by every one that He is indeed working we shall mentione some few of these special Works of God that are thus covered with a cloud of Majesty that every one cannot understand the Reasons of State why such and such things are done or suffered to be done nor see the connexion betwixt these Actings and the intended Designe As 1. When there is not only a seen and palpable disproportion betwixt the meanes taken and followed and the end projected or intended and an obvious unsutableness of the meanes used unto the designe to be carried on by them But the Work of the Lord seemeth to Onlookers to Crosse and Counter-work the intended end How oft is it seen that the Works of Gods Providence seem not to run in a subserviency to the bringing effectually about of the Promises but rather to turn head upon them and to threaten the utter annulling of them and rendering of them void and of no credite When the present Dispensations of providence are considered and compared with the great things concerning the Kingdom of Christ promised who can see what rational correspondence they keep can observe them smiling one upon another as fit meanes and the end would do Nay who would not say that these Dispensations do rather drive on a direct designe to defeate the Promises who would consult with humane Reason Is not this then a special piece of the Lord's Work wherein He hideth himself and thinketh good to cloath himself with State and Majesty that every one may not be able to prye into the Depths of his Insinite Wisdom nor see how all things are laid and joynted together with firme bands and ligaments that cannot be broken or dissolved and so have a certaine connexion with the intended and promised good When Moses was sent to deliver the People of Israel out of Aegypt and to tell them good newes that the Lord had visited them and looked upon their Affliction and would now rescue and deliver them from their bondage and slavery Exod. 4 v. 30 31. the Dispensation that immediatly followed upon the neck of that seemed to keep no good correspondence therewith when their yoke was made heavier and their bondage more grievous and their slavery and hard work doubled by the People of Israel their being constrained to seek straw for themselves without diminishing the tale of their bricks and they hereupon who formerly believed the Word of God by Moses and bowed down and worshiped when they heard the same now made to say unto Moses and Aaron Exod. 5 v. 21. The Lord look upon you and judge because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his Servants to put a Sword in their hand to slay us Yet herein was a piece of that Stately Working of God which is full of Majesty which the People could not see and which Moses himself could not well take up as his words to God Vers. 22 23. evidence where he saith Lord Wherefore hast thou so evil intreated this People Why is it that thou hast sent me For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name he hath done evil to this People neither hast thou delivered thy people at all 2. When the Dispensations of God are such as even those whom they most concerne who have greatest interest in them and are most called therefore to understand them do not know what to say of them nor what construction to put upon them nor what to gather out of them not only in particular but even as to a more general matter that is they shall not know whether they speak-out Mercy or Anger in God towards them This must be a singular piece of God's hiding himself and covering himself with a cloud that no distinct judgment can be made of what He is doing Such was that Dispensation which Sampsons Father met with He and his Wife could not agree in their judgment as to what they saw Iudg. 13. Manaoh said Vers. 22. We shall surly die because we have seen God But his Wife on the contrary said Vers. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a Burnt offering and a Meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would he at this time have told ut such things as these So as to that strange and unusual Dispensation which holy Iob did meet with he did not know what the mind of the Lord was nor what he was intending and driving-at thereby therefore he resolveth Chap. 10 Vers. 2. to say unto God Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me which sheweth that he was utterly ignorant
37 v. 11. Our bones are dried and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts Then even then when People can see no hope He who hideth himself can say Prophesie upon these Bones and cause breath enter into them and bring flesh upon them and cover them with skin and put breath in them that they may live Vers. 3 4 5 6 7 c. and make them a strong Army This is among his hid Acts whereof he hath a rich treasure 5. When the meanes which He putteth His peoples upon in order to their deliverance and outgate are such as promise little â—…or nothing being considered abstractly and in themselves being very unlikely in humane probability to effectuate the end designed then and therein the Lord is a God that hideth himself as when he commanded Iosua and the People to compasse Iericho and to blow with Rams Horns who could have thought that that should have proven an adapted mean for bringing to the ground the strong Wals of the City And when Esther was imployed to effectuate the ranversing of the decree given out to destroy all the Iewes who could think that thereby Haman should have been destroyed and all the Enemies of the Iewes Who would have thought that the stirpling David should have killed the great Goliah thereby brought about the defeate of the mighty Army of the Philistines Thus oftentimes the Lord maketh use of most unlikely and improbable meanes that the excellency of the Power and the Glory may be His And He cometh thus in a dark cloud with Salvation without observation that His hand may more eminently appear and be observed and His Salvation be more conspicuous 6. When some very hopful beginning of a good Work of Reformation meeteth with an unexpected stop and impediment to retard it this is one of the wayes wherein the Lord chooseth to hide Himself and His work then is His way covered with a cloud and His footsteps cannot be seen Thus it was when contrary Orders came to stop the building of the Temple after the peoples return from captivity as we read in the Book of Ezra whereby that necessary work so much desired prayed for hoped for and with such earnestness begun was for a considerable time retarded Thus was it also when David was about the bringing up of the Ark out of Kirjath Iearim to set it in its place in the midst of the Tabernacle that was pitched for it and had for this end assembled the Body of the People of Israel and all the chosen Men of Israel Thirtie Thousand and was now rejoiceing before the Lord playing before Him on all manner of Instruments then even then is there an unexpected stop put to the work for when they were advanced to Nachons threshing floor Vzzah one of the Sones of Abinadab put forth in his simplicity his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the Oxen shook it and upon this the Anger of the Lord was kindled against Vzzah and God smote him there for his errour and there he died by the Ark of God 2 Sam. 6 vers 5 6. And upon this the work is stayed for David was afrayed of the Lord that day and would not remove the Ark unto him unto the City of David but carried it aside unto the House of Obed Edom the Gittite where it stayed full three Moneths Vers. 8 9 10 11. See 1 Chron. 13. 7. When even the Godly are left of God to take such courses as do provoke God to anger prove stumbling blocks to the Godly and a strengthening of the wicked in their evil wayes and to bring wrath upon the Land then doth the Lord hide Himself and hath His way in the Sea for who can consider this Dispensation and not be astonied Are the Reasons hereof obvious to all Is there not something singular uncouth and rare in this Dispensation Thus was it when the Lord left Gideon to make that Ephod which proved a snare to him and to his House and an occasion of sin to the Land for it is said All Israel went thither a whoreing after it Iudg. 8 vers 27. And this was when the Lord had wrought a great deliverance by him and had subdued Midian so that they lifted up their heads no more Thus also was it when the Lord left Aaron to make that Calfe in the Wilderness that brought so much Sin and Wrath upon the People as we see Exod. 32 and 33. Deut. 9 vers 8 21. Thus was it also when the Lord suffered David to number the People moved him as it is said 2 Sam. 24 vers 1. or suffered Satan to stand up to provoke him thereunto as it is said 1 Chron. 21 vers 1. A deed that cost Israel dear for therefore the Lord sent a Pestilence that destroyed in three dayes Seventy Thousand Men 1 Chron. 21 v. 14. 2 Sam. 24. 15. 8. So we may conceive the Lord to be a God that hideth himself when we see wicked enemies imployed and actively bestirring themselves in carrying forward the Lords Work It is true when these Enemies are most active in carrying on their wicked Designes and malicious Purposes the Lord who overruleth all as the great Master of Work turneth their desperat wickedness to good and in his Holy Wisdom and by his Irresistible Power maketh that contribute to His ends and to the carrying-on of his Holy Designes for He hath a wheel in the midst of all their wheels and in this the Lords way is indeed in the deep waters so that Enemies cannot perceive this and his own People are oft in the mist and through unbeleefe and faithless fear have oftentimes unsutable thoughts of God and of His Way But the thing that we are now speaking of is a passage of the Lords Providence that is more rare and observable when to wit the Lord will force and necessitate Enemies to do that which is a manifest and plaine setting forward of His work contrare to their owne wills and inclinations as when the Philistines were constrained to send home the Ark to Israel againe 1 Sam. 6 This was a Majestick piece of Providence And that which made the way of the Lord more hid here was this that the Lord would rather bring home the Ark thus than employ the Israelites themselves and send them forth to recover the Ark by a glorious Victory over the Philistines We would readily think that He should rather have done this but He is a God that hideth himself and chooseth what way He thinketh meet 9. The Lord manifesteth himself to be a God that hideth himself in His workings when in His holy Providence He delayeth procrastinateth and suffereth His intended and promised work to meet with retarding hinderances and impediments we would think that when the Lord did so wonderfully and with such an outstretched arme bring the People of Israel out of the furnace of Aegypt to the end he might make good His promise to Abraham
vers 7. Hear O my People and I will speak O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God thy God And yet the following Verses declare how unlike to His People they were And it holdeth alwayes true of Beleevers who have closed a Covenant with him by faith And that upon these Grounds 1. The unchangablness of His purposes which alter not according as outward Dispensations change but are stable as mountains and as rocks in the Sea that are not moved for all the motion of the sea about them and all changes of tides and tempests Hence whom he loveth he loveth to the end Ioh. 13 vers 1. He is no changling in his love it is like himself unalterable Hence also His gifts and calling are said to be without repentance Rom. 11 vers 29. And which is very remarkable this is spoken concerning the Lords purpose of calling home the People of the Iewes who have been lying under the weight of their own doom and imprecation and are yet as unlike to be delivered as ever of whom the Apostle saith that though as concerning the Gospel they are enemies for our sakes yet as touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers Vers. 28. and as a Confirmation of which he addeth for the gifts and callings of God or the gift of the calling of God are without repentance So that the purposed gifts or intended callings of God will and must be the Lord not being as man that he should repent A Balaam when he took up his parable could say Numb 23 19. God is not a man that he should lie neither the Son of man that he should repent Hath he said and shall he not do Or hath he not spoken and shall he not make it good So said the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 15 vers 29. And also the strength or the Eternity and Victory of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent And this abideth firme notwithstanding that sometimes we read of Gods repentings which is only to import the change of his outward Dispensations sometimes to the better Deut. 32 vers 36. Iudg. 2 vers 18. Exod. 32 14. 2 Sam. 24 16. 1 Chron. 21 51. Ier. 26. v. 19. Psal. 106 45. Amos. 7 3 6. Ion. 3 vers 10. Sometimes to the worse Gen 6 vers 6. 1 Sam. 15 vers 35. And so is spoken of God after the manner of men who evidence the change of their minde by the change of their outward carriage way and work Man is a changable Creature but with God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Iam. 1 17. Hence the Lord saith of Himself I am God and change not Mal. 3 6. 2. The Covenant in which this Relation and Interest is offered and accepted is an unchangable Covenant Hence we finde it called an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23 vers 5. So Esai 55 3. and 61 vers 8. Ier. 32 v. 40. Ezech. 37. vers 26. Heb. 13 20. It is an everlasting Covenant and all things promised and held-forth in this Covenant are the sure mercies of David Esai 55 3. Act. 13 34. And therefore seing all the Dispensations of God in and about His Church and People turn upon this wheel and run into this channel of mercy being parts or appendices of the sure mercies of David they can make no change or alteration in the fountaine out of which they all spring Water coming out of one the same fountaine may run in diverse channels some greater and some lesse these channels may at length run to a great distance from other and the water in them may not be alike clear and free of mud and yet all this diversity and difference can make no difference or alteration in the spring and wels head 3. Nay all those various and discrepant dispensations are but pieces and parts of that one grand designe which the Lord is prosecuting to wit the glorifying of his great Name and Free grace in the salvation of his Church and People through Jesus Christ And therefore the difference or alteration that is apparent in among them is so far from giving ground to inferre any mutation of the Lords Interest in and relation to His people that to a Spiritual seeing and beleeving eye they do the rather and the more confirme the same because such an eye will see the connexion betwixt all these as meanes and the great end designed and will see that they are all subordinat unto and are concurring effectually in their subordinat place to the securing of the end intended in which they are all meeting together as lines in a center drawn from the circumference 4. Fountaine love runneth along in all these various dispensations so Modifieth Tempereth Qualifieth and Ordereth them that they can make no breach upon that firme and everlasting Relation nor work any substantial change in the State and Condition of His people Scourges and Chastisments are not a casting out of the house and a disinheriting but flow from and are qualified by fatherly love and care whatever the witless child suppose or imagine Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Heb. 12. 6. Prov. 3. 12. 5. So is it contracted in the Covenant of Redemption betwixt Jehovah and the Mediator Psal. 89 30 31 32 33 34 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 visite their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes 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 The accomplishment therefore of this Article of that Covenant is rather a proof and confirmation of its stability and inviolableness and consequently of the permanency of the Relation and State than of any change and alteration in the same and all the changes of the dispensations of the Lord towards his People should rather confirm them in the faith of this than raise doubts or jealousies in their minds From whence by way of Use we may see how reprovable many even of the Children of God are who measure Gods love by these outward dispensations accordingly are up or down in their hops and joyes as these alter to the better or to the worse We do not hereby meane that they should not be sutably affected with the various dispensations of the Lord in and about them we do not presse a stoical insensibility which is but a stupidity for on the contrarie we say it becometh them well to weep when the bridegroome is away as to rejoice while he is present When the Lion roareth they should fear and tremble Amos. 3 8. When the Lord is angry they should bear his indignation because they have sinned Micah 7 9. But the thing here
accuse Him of unrighteous dealing As those whom Paul bringeth-in reasoning against the truth of God and saying Rom 9 19. Why doth he yet finde fault For who hath resisted his will To whom he answereth Vers. 20 21. Nay but o man who art thouâ—… that answerest againe or disputest against God or repliest against God c. As if he had said Hath not the Lord Power and Soveraignity in that matter to do what he will as well as a Potter hath over a bit clay May not God dispose of His Clay which he made Himself as well as the Potter may do of the Clay which he made not and is not the Creator of but was created to his hand by the same God that created himself Why then dost thou quarrel with Him or disputest against Him Canst thou help the matter Canst thou make that straighter than it is 3. When we corrupt the truthes of God and abuse them perverting them to our corrupt and licentious Ends like that saying Rom. 6 vers 1. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound And againe Vers. 15. Shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under grace And Chap. 7 v. 7. Is the Law sin So Chap. 3 v. 31. Do we then make void the Law through faith These and the like Objections which Paul in his Epistles preoccupieth shew what the corrupt heart and reasonings of men are set upon and how prone they are to turne the Grace of God into lasciviousness and to pervert the right Wayes of the Lord. Whereby they clearly demonstrate how displeased they are at the holy Truths and Wayes of God and how ready to thraw and pervert them that they may become more straight then they seem to them at present to be 4. When we Fret Repine Grumble and Grudge in our minde against any of the Lords Dispensations in and about us or our concernments This was the great sin of Israel they murmured against the Lord and against Moses Exod. 15 and 16 and 17. Numb 14 and 16 and 17. 1 Cor. 10 10. They were dissatisfied in their mindes and repined and murmured against the Lord and hereby they said they would have the wayes and dispensations of the Lord altered towards them they were crooked and they would have them made more straight 5. When our hearts do not sweetly comply with the Wayes and Dispensations of the Lord or we learne not nor study Christian Submission We should submit ourselves unto the Lord I am 4 vers 7. and humble ourselves under his mighty hand 1 Pet. 5 v. 6. We should be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits Heb. 12. vers 9. even when he Crosseth Chastneth and Afflicteth us But when we forget this Christian Duty we declare our displeasure at Gods wayes and dealings with us and say that we would have his work amended and that made straight which He hath made crooked 6. When we are Impatient and cannot waite God's leasure but take sinful courses to deliver ourselves or sit down discontented and sinfully longe for an outgate then we declare our dissatisfaction with God's way and would have his dispensations altered and matters running in another channel As when the labouring man would have the day of harvest the next week after the seed is cast into the ground he is displeased with Gods Order and Appointment of some Moneths interveening Whileas we should have Patience and waite Gods time with Patience I am 5 7 8. Luk. 8 15. 2 Pet. 1 v. 6. I am 1 4. Rom. 12 12. 7. When we are discontented with our own lot and grudge at others as having a better lot than we have an evil which Iames condemneth Iam. 5 vers 9. and which plainly sayeth we would amend Gods work and set straight what He hath made crooked As that wicked King was displeased when he heard the message of the Lord 1 Kings 20 42 43. 8. When we are excessively Anxious and Disquieted in our minde as to any passage of Providence that we meet with or as to any crosse that befalleth us David checketh his own soul as to this Ps. 42 vers 5 11. and 43 5. saying Why art thou disquieted within me We are discharged to be careful thus with a sinful anxiety for any thing Phil. 4 v. 6. 1 Cor. 7 32. But When we are thoughtful we clearly say that we would faine make straight what God hath made crooked though Christ hath told us Matth. 6 27. that by taking thought we cannot adde one cubite to our stature 9. When though we dar not speak against God in sending a crosse upon us yet we are not satisfied with the Manner or Measure or Season or Duration and Continuance or the Instrument of our crosse but say we would choose any other crosse but this we would be satisfied if it were not so Bitter and so Heavy and so Insupportable we would have taken it well had it come upon us at any other time than now we would most chearfully have borne it if it had been of shorter Continuance and had any other person been the Instrument thereof we would have laid our hand upon our mouth all which and the like though they seem to insinuate some sort of Submission yet are plaine Declarations that we think the way of the Lord crooked and that we would have matters better ordered and all things made more straight and even than they are 10. When in our prayers there is not that submission unto the holy and soveraigne Will of the Lord that ought to be but rather a limiteing of the holy One of Israel and a sinful unwarrantable Importunity as to things not necessary in themselves nor for us without submission of soul unto the holy Will of the Lord as to the Manner Time and Measure of the Lords granting of our suites When our Prayers are not commensurate unto the Promises as to their Substance nor put up with Submission to God's Will and Soveraignity as to the Manner Measure Season Way and the like circumstances which the great God hath keeped in His own hand By these and the like wayes we declare our dissatisfaction with the wayes and works of God and account them crooked and think and endeavoure though in vaine to make straight what God hath made crooked An evil at which God is highly displeased Wo unto him saith the Prophet Esai 45 vers 9 10. that striveth with his maker Let the Potsheards strive with the Potsheards of the Earth shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou Or thy work he hath no hands Wo unto him that saith to his Father what begettest thou Or to the woman what hast thou brought forth And the great sinfulness of this sin appeareth in these Particulars 1. It is a striveing against the Lord in the place now cited the word in the Original signifieth a Contending in judgment as Lam. 3 vers 58. Leading a processe against one Judging or Sentenceing in judgment so