hasten the birth and spoyl the conception The Prophet of old complains of some Isa 35.4 Isa 28.16 that they were of an hasty heart whereas He that believeth maketh not hast God deferrs to put an edge on our desires a value on what is promised and to exercise our Faith The Word that is gone forth out of the mouth of the God of truth should quiet but it doth not Isa 60.22 Psa 102.13 I the Lord will hasten it in its time The Lord will arise and have mercy upon Zion when the time to favour her yea when the set time is come And is not Gods time the best 9. Abusing Promises How have many abused rather than applyed Promises How many dogs take the Children's bread How many Hypocrites tast of the forbidden fruit Lay hold on that which doth not belong unto them When they read those sweet delicious promises of the pardon of Sin of the love of God of the freeness of grace of the glory to come they count them as theirs whereas they are but Usurpers they set their mark on anothers goods they are thieves and robbers for they are strangers to the Promises How many abuse the mercy of God in the Promises so that even the Promises become an occasion of stumbling whilst they continue in sin in hopes of pardons through the Promises We are not led by the sweetness of the Promise to Repentance but rather harden our hearts presuming of pardons on course from the God of grace Gluttons surfet soonest upon the greatest dainties thus many venture to continue to sin that grace may abound hence Repentance is put off because men hope God will abundantly pardon when ever the wicked forsakes his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts The Promises are not made a Sanctuary unto which men fly from sin but as a Sanctuary to protect them in their sinfull courses God is mercifull slow to wrath he will abundantly pardon c. therefore c. Do not we overlook all the threatnings and terrible denunciations of God against our sins and wholly pitch on the comfortable Promises of the Gospel Do not we eye Promises and yet hate Commands Do not we mind Temporal Promises with the neglect of Spiritual and therein disparage God by setting a deeper value on Earth than on Heaven on our back and bellies than on God Do not we eye the Promises that speak of mercy but pass over those that lead to duty View with pleasure pardoning Promises but neglect the Promises of sprinkling us with clean water and that Sin shall not have Dominion over us We like it that God will be our God but we love not to be Gods people under his command and at his dispose How do we eye the absolute Promises but neglect the conditional We take hold of Promises of deliverance when under any misery but we forget the condition If my people shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their evil wayes c. little is that minded by us which the Prophet speaks At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation Jer. 18.9 10. and concerning a Kingdome to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voyce then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them We love we like Promised mercies and every one is looked upon as an unbelieving Thomas that doubts of the mercy but we overlook the preparatory duties of Fasting Praying Repenting and Reforming our hearts and wayes c. Hence men dote almost on the Promises of grace but secretly hate the Promises to grace because they find no gracious qualifications in themselves they love to hear of Gods readiness to pardon but they are loth to hear that they must come to Christ for Repentance and then for Remission they would fain have the penny but they cannot endure labour God hath linked his Promises and our seeking together Ezek. 36.37 Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them But how many of us do either altogether neglect or slothfully go about to perform the condition of the Promise Are not some of us altogether strangers to faith the condition of the whole covenant of grace know not what an heart purifying faith means We never gave our selves unto the Lord yet run away with the Promises of forgiveness though ignorant of the Mediatour betwixt God and sinfull creatures though full of pride and high concerts of our own Righteousness though we live in an open disesteem of the Gospel of Christ though we cannot but find an incompliance of heart with subjection to Christ yet we boast Abraham is our Father the blessing of Abraham is come upon us the Promises are ours How do the Promises of God make some slothfull in the use of appointed means How formal in duties are we May it not be said of us Deest aliquid intus as of the Image there is somewhat wanting withinâ— Are not we silly doves without heart Are not we only bolstred up with the Promises O! these pillows under our heads make us slumbring Virgins All is well God is mercifull c. but we do not sweat and get our living by labour we strive not to enter in at the straight gate c. We look for the blessed hope but we live not soberly I know saith God the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of peace Jer. 29.11 12. but not of an evil to give you an expected end but be sure that ye call upon me and goe and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you 10. Nicely applying them How nice and curious are some in applying of Promises They forsooth take no pleasure in any Promises but such as they think no hand touched before their own They neglect the plain clear open rich Promises of the Gospel and if any be more abstruse and hard to be found out by an ordinary eye they are greedily suck'd in They are only or mainly for mystical Promises Such think they are delighted with the goodness of the Promise whereas they are only pleased with the newness of it or with their own invention and that they can see farther into a Mill-stone than another I have known some of these and I have seen what is become of them their pride and affectation hath led them also from the plain paths of holiness 11. How many will not close with a Promise such is their folly till the thing promised be found within them Not applying them till they have what they should apply them for Because their hearts are so corrupt therefore they will not apply the Promises of subduing iniquity and of purifying the heart whereas there is no way to get their corrupt hearts cleansed but by laying hold on such Promises and the longer they keep off the Promise the worse it will be with them
A GOSPEL-GLASSE Representing the MISCARRIAGES OF English Professors BOTH In their Personal and Relative Capacities for which God is contending with them by the Sword Plague c. and since the writing of the greatest part of the following Treatise for the Press by the dreadful Fire in London OR A CALL FROM HEAVEN To SINNERS and SAINTS By Repentance and Reformation to prepare to meet God Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Jer. 2.35 Yet thou sayest Because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me Behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXVII THE Authors PREFACE WHEN it is a day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness then saith the Prophet Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion Joel 2.1 2. and found an Alarum in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble Lam. 2.1 How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a Cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden V. 6 he hath destroyed the Places of the Assembly The Lord hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger his Priests V. 7 Yea the Lord hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary the Law is no more her Prophet also find no Vision from the Lord. O that now mine eyes could fail with tears V. 9 and my bowels were more troubled within me O that my Liver were poured upon the Earth for the destruction of the Daughter of my People V. 11 because the Children and the Sucklings swoon in the streets of the City We see not our Signes there is no more any Prophet Psal 74.9 neither is there among us any that knoweth How Long. When we 2 Sam. 6.1 2. like David were restoring the Ark of God I mean the presence of Christ in his Worship and Ordinances what Stumblings of the Oxen have we seen What miserable Disappointments have we met with And what sad breaches have there been made How hath God stopt our way and branded our Enterprises with wonderful remarks of his sore displeasure Hear therefore the word of the Lord Hos 4.1 ye Children of Israel for the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land We poor Ministers have pleaded with you till we can plead no more the Lord hath bid us stand by whilest he himself takes up the Controverste O is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.31 Are you not sensible what Arrows God hath begun to shoot amongst us How many thousands Psal 58.9 Isa 5.25 and ten thousands hath he taken away as with a whirlwind by the Pestilence For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still How hath God shaken our Heavens Hag. 2.6 and our Earth the Sea as well as dry Land How doth he contend still by the Sword And how much precious blood hath the Earth and Sea drunk up For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still O! Come Psal 46.8 Behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth Every Providence of God especially his more notable Acts hath a reason written upon it could mans eye read it When the Church complained that God was as a stranger in the Land Jer. 14.8 10. and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night The Lord replyes to them Thus have they loved to wander c. The Controversie began on their side they may see their Sin in the Punishment as in a Glass Do they winder I grow strange to them The estrangement began on their part Nothing appears more our instant Duty than to enter a serious scrutiny What have we done Wherein have we offended Lam. 3.40 41 44. Let us search and try our wayes saith the afflicted Church of Judah upon this very occasion of the Lords covering himself with a Cloud that their Prayers could not pass through and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens O! Hag. 1.5.7 Consider your wayes The Lord doubled it Your iniquities have seperated between you and your God Isa 59.2 and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear I find men will easily subscribe to this that Sin is the procuring cause of all misery but I find an aptness to transferr the guilt from one to another from one party to another and though people do even sell themselves to work wickedness yet so predominant is Self-love that it sees no spots in it self Ahab is not the troubler of Israel but Elijah Nay a good man Aaron excuseth himself Exod. 32.22 and layes the blame on others The Sin is theirs not mine Men have a natural desire to justifie themselves and their desire is so strong that they care not whom they bespatter or burden so they may but ease and acquit themselves And indeed Sin is such an ugly Monster that no man will own it if he can choose but had rather lay this Child of Darkness at any mans door yea at Gods than Father it himself My Design in this Enterprize is to obviate this Distemper and to bring you all of you to own your iniquity that you may say resolve upon it that you will confess your iniquity Psal 32.5 that so God may forgive the iniquity of your sin My Place and Duty as a Minister though wholly unworthy of that Relation to God and you binds me to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Ezek. 16.2 and therefore I have descended to Particulars that if it be the will of God I might hit the humour 1 Kings 8.38 and shew to every man the plague of his own heart The Lord knoweth I take no pleasure to rake in these Dunghills I dread the ill uses that the Sons of Belial may make of this Enterprize I expect various Censures from them who should be otherwise minâ—ed but my record is on high that the great Design of this Publication is to reduce Professours to a more aweful humble serious Repentance towards God and singular Conversation before men I thank God for the freedome that a Reverend Brother hath taken with the ejected Ministers Vox clamantis in Deserto and I must profess that since the perusal of that most seasonable Piâ—ce I have had no quiet in my Conscience till I entred upon this Labour Though my bodily Distempers pleaded loud for my silence though I was
many wells of Salvation have been opened unto me which have been shut unto the most of the World But to return to Plato If he thanked God for living in the dayes of Socrates we may say that greater than Socrates have been amongst us We have had those with whom we have taken sweet counsell with whom together we have gone to the house of God who have been burning as well as shining lights many examples of close-walking heavenly Christians have we enjoyed such as have had the wisdome from above and more pure learning than ever Socrates or Plato could pretend to The Society of how many heavenly grave serious active fruitfull Christians have we been blest with such as have been faithfull admonishers such as would not suffer sin to rest upon us such as have dayly told us here is the way walk herein O the helps we have had But O the cursed unthankfulness of our hearts towards God notwithstanding his bestowing upon us so many lights to guide us so many fires to warm us and so much salt to season us 1. Instead of giving God the glory of all O! Evidenced in their Sacrificing to Instruments Hab. 1.16 how have we sacrificed to our own nets and to other Instruments We have praised our selves rather than God for what we have We have not ascribed the glory to God but to Instruments like that Cardinal who writ down how much such a Prince honoured him what such a Lord did for him and what such a Pope conferr'd on him whereupon another infers This man remembred his Friends but forgot God Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands but God hath little or no share in the Triumph 2. Too much Complaining How sensible are we of our wants and straits But O how unaffected with the goodness of God towards us How full of complaints are we but empty of acknowledgements Hath not the want of some one thing robb'd us of the comfort of all our enjoyments and God of the praise that was due to his name We have been such is our wayward Nature more troubled for the want of some one thing than thankful for many mercies Like Haman one Mordecai not bowing to our desires hath made us heavy and senseless under all our honours and Gods vouchsafements Like Achab we have been more dejected for want of Naboth's Vineyard than we have bless'd God for a Kingdome 3. Being most in the Petitionary part of Prayer Are not we oftner longest and heartiest in the Petitionary part of Prayer We are still craving the supply of wants but seldome very seldome too too seldome blessing of God for what we are stored with Our Petitions are long but Praises are short To whom be praise honour and glory serves for a sufficient Doxolgy Yea how earnest how fervent how importunate are we in the Petitionary part but how dull and heartless are we in the Gratulatory part of Prayer 4. Setting up their rest in Gladness Do not we set up our rest in being glad of Mercies and Deliverances Whereas it is one thing to be glad of a Mercy or Deliverance but another thing to be thankful for it Then are they glad I but that will not serve the turn Psal 107.30 31. it is a return of an higher nature which God looks for O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness 5. Forgeting Mercies Isa 17.10 Are not we unmindful of the gracious dealings of God with us Have not we forgotten the God of our Salvations and been unmindful of the Rock of our strength He is an unthankful man saith Sekeca that denies a Benefit received so is he that dissembles it together with him that requites it not but of all the rest he is most unthankful that hath forgitten it 6. Not making Catalogues of Mercies Psal 78.5 Deut. 4.9.6.7.31.19 Have not we neglected to make Catalogues of the Mercies we have received to help our memories How can we that have not and will not submit to this Divine Ordinance look upon our selves as some of Gods Israel This God hath ordained for a Law and a Statute for Israel What was this Ordinance That they should write it what God had done for them and so provide that the Generations to come might know what God had done But alas how little care have we that whatsoever God does may be for ever to his glory Eccles 3.14 How injust are we unto our Children and the Generations to come in depriving them of a faithful Record of Gods Mercies to us in which God speaks to them as well as unto us What God spake to Jacob at Bethel he spake to Israel that lived in Hosea's time Hos 12.3 above a thousand years after it There he spoke with us How injurious to them By such a faithful Record they might read the right way in sayling Heaven-ward by our Falls they might know where lye the Rocks and Quick-sands and by our Deliverances where Out-gates are to be found Not speaking of Gods Mercies unto others Psal 66.16 7. Have not we been too silent concerning the Goodness of God towards us How seldome do we with David say Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul How unlike Saints are we Thy Saints shall bless thee they shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom Psal 145.10 11 12. Isa 63.7 and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men thy mighty acts I will mention the loving Kindnesses of the Lord and the Praises of the Lord according to all that he hath bestowed on me c. So sings Zion 8. Not stirring up others to joyn with them in praising God Have not we neglected to call on others to joyn with us in the blessing of God When did we make a Collection of Praises from our Friends that would gladly have been in the Quire A thankful heart is fill'd with enlarged desires that others that all would joyn in the work of Praising God A gracious heart doth not think it enough to praise God alone though it would be praising God were there none in Heaven or Earth to bear it company But I shall speak more particularly Their Vnthankfulness and instance in some of those choice personal Mercies to wave national ones for which the best of us are too too unthankful How have we forgot the hole For Conversion and deep pit and miry clay out of which we were digg'd Have not we been unmindful of the blessed Jubilee when the Prisoners were let out of the Prison-house Paul remembreth many Circumstances of his Conversion the Place wherein Acts 22.6 7. in a journey nigh to Damascus the Time when about Noon the Manner how suddenly there did shine from Heaven a great Light round about me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice c. He remembred also what he was before Conversion
1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Persecutour a Blasphemer and injurious What saith God Remember this day What day The day wherein you were delivered from the house of bondage under Sin the World and Satan O! how have we forgotten that the Lord by a strong and irresistable work of his blessed Spirit translated us out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of his dear Son It was he that made Jordan to give back and delivered us from Egypt and the Wilderness that we might inherit the good Land O! what Enemies were we studying to be damned galloping to Hell till God met us How seldome do we look back to the Spring from whence all our Mercy flowes For Election How unthankful have we been for that Original-fountain-Mercy eternal Election Why should God single us out a People for himself Why did Grace blossom from Eternity Why did God plot and study my happiness before I had a beeing What was there that Jacob is smiled upon and Esau not so God might have had his Revenues of Glory out of my ruine O that he should glorifie the riches of his mercy in my Salvation And yet how little is God magnified for this How little do we bless God for Christ For Christ Though he be the Stream that alone refresheth the City of God yet how seldome is his Love his stoops and condescentions for us his bleeding and dying for us remembred by us with hearty Praises and Thanksgivings For the Covenant of Grace and the Spirit How little do we bless God for the Covenant of Grace which Mr. Allen excellently calls The Bow in the Cloud after a Deluge of Sin and Misery the forfeited Lease of Eternity renewed the Magna Charta of the City of God the Hopes of Sinners and the Riches of Saints And in particular for the Promise of the Spirit in all his Offices and Operations for the application of the purchased Possession Ezek. 36.27 For outward Salvations I will put my Spirit within you How little do we remember to bless the Lord for outward Salvations You begin perhaps with a little as Jacob and now behold you have two bands a troop of Children Friends c. and an Estate to maintain them When others have had one Mess you have had Benjamin's Portion the silver cup put into the sacks mouth Riches and God too Estate and Christ too Peace and the God of Peace too the World and a good Title to it and yet do not you seldome cry out Bless the Lord O my Soul and let all that is within thee praise his holy Name How seldome do you consider who hath maintained you all this while Who hath delivered you and pull'd you as brands out of the sire You have had the Sentence of Death in your selves you have been with David and Paul in the mouth of the Lyon and yet saved near to perish by the Bullet Sword Pestilence Feaver and other dangers and yet your Lives given you for a prey But how soon have you forgotten the wonders shewen unto the dead O the many preventing Mercies that you have been made partakers of Hath not God secured you in many travails How many have died much younger than you whilst the Lord lengtheneth out your dayes in order to Repentance How many have died in an instant and been snatch'd away without any warning given of Death's approach whilst you have had many an Harbinger to give you to understand its nearness to you How many have been crush'd by falls from houses and câ—â—oured by beasts and by other accidents have been hastened to their long home whilst God is long-suffering to you How many have you seen drawn on Sleds led to shameful and violent Deaths whilst you have been kept from such dismal ends And are there no thanks due to the Name of God And yet how seldome do you admire at distinguishing Providence and preventing loving kindnesses You have a guard of Angels to attend you day and night to secure you from danger but how little do you bless the Lord for the Heavenly Host And yet if you do thank God for some signal outward Mercies perhaps for ease from the Stone Gout Cholick perhaps for security from the rage of the devouring Pestilence if you thank not God more for deliverance from Hell from the guilt and power of Sin than for outward Salvations you discredit God and his choicest Mercies by under-rating Spirituals to Temporals We should have blessed God for his Rod For sufferings for Christ as well as for his Staffe for both are Mercies but how unthankful are we even for sufferings for righteousness sake God expects that in every thing we give thanks as we should not be partial in our Obedience so neither in our Thanksgiving How little have we imitated the ancient Christians whose mouths were alwayes full of Thanks be unto God They saluted one another with Deo gratias and when they heard tydings of Persecution or Protection of Crosses or Comforts still they cried out God be thanked How unlike are we to famous Bradford If said he the Queen will release me I will thank her if she will keep me in Prison I will thank her if she will burn me I will thank her Thou shouldst say from thy very heart Though sick though scorned though threatned though all the day long counted as a sheep for the slaughter yet blessed be God that I am counted worthy to suffer for his Name Blessed be God that he counts me for a Son and chasteneth me for my profit that I may be made partaker of his holiness Blessed be God that I am chastened that I may not be condemned But how few give thanks alwayes in all things unto God Eph. 5.20 Isa 24.15 1 Pet. 4.16.13 We have been too backward to glorifie God in Zion much more in the Fires The Apostle Peter would not have any man suffering as a Christian to be ashamed but to glorifie God on this behalf and to rejoyce in as much as he is partaker of Christs sufferings But God knows how farr from Praises we have been when the Storms have been high and threatned our Tabernacles How hath God charged us to remember Mercy Confiderations against Vnthankfulness and to praise him for it Ye that fear the Lord praise him Praise him O ye Servants of the Lord Praise thy God O Zion Psal 22.23.135.1.147.12.148.1.150.1 2. Praise him in the heights Praise God in his Sanctuary Praise him for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Doth not the innumerableness of Gods requiries of Praise and Thanksgiving aggravate our neglect of this Duty What Provision hath Christ made against this Sin Hath not he appointed the Sacrament of his Supper on purpose to help us to Remember him and his saving benefits Do this in Remembrance of me But have not many Professours been so resolved to be unthankful that they have neglected this great Ordinance
which was appointed to strengthen their Remembrance of past Mercies Hath not God told us that he hath formed us for his praise And what yet backward thereunto We can never love God to an height whilst we forget his loving Kindnesses I wonder not that many complain of their decayes of Love to God whilst they forget his wonders of Grace and Love to their Souls Even Publicans will love those of whom they are beloved And did we oftner recount the Mercies of God they would work endearments betwixt God and our Souls Did we consider what a wonder it is that God should draw us out of nothing that he who stoops to behold the things of Heaven should put his singer to our workmanship that he should curiously work us as Needle-work in the dark Vaults of Nature and that when we were fuller of sin than the Toad of poyson that yet he should feed a Toad and cloath a Cockatrice the Fire of Love to God would burn within our breasts How is God provoked by this sin God took it ill at the hands of the Israelites that they remembred not his hand Psal 78.42 nor the day in which he delivered them How much more do we grieve the Lord who remember not the goodness and salvations of the Lord in Canaan yea in Zion Our Saviour was grieved that his Disciples remembred not the five Loaves Mat. 16.8 9 10. and the seven Loaves and how many Baskets they took up Innumerable greater favours hath God shewed to us and yet we forget them How have we forgot the God that bridled Natures proud waves and said Hitherto ye shall goe and no farther When we were ripe for Judgement then Mercy stept in and yet how slow to give thanks Hardly one of tea blesseth God for cleansing Mercy as they ought Were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine This makes me fear People have not had a deep sense of the misery and stains of Nature for that their Saviour is no more thanked Did not the Lord force thee by an over-powering work of Grace upon thy Soul at first Conversion to be willing to be made happy Did not he compel thee to come into the Feast Was it not God that brought thee to such a Parish to such a Minister and to such a Text And did not he by his Almighty power enable thee to believe and apply Was it not he that broke thine heart when as hard as a nethermost Mill-stone and made it soft malleable and pliant to his will and pleasure And what forget the wonders of the Lord in the deep This vexeth the Lord to the heart Did not he cause the Walls of Jerâ—co to fall as by the voice of Rams-hornes by weak inconsiderable means Did not he alienate thine heart from Lusts that were dearer to thee than thine eyes Did not he present the face of Christ as lovely to thy Soul who before was despised aend rejected And hath not Christ fed thee with fresh supplyes of free Grace that have watered thy Soul every moment so that you have been kept through his mighty power How many doubts hath Christ answered and how many scruples hath he by his Holy Spirit satisfied thee in And yet O wretched heart how unthankfull hast thou been Thou hast forgot all his benefits A man would think it were impossible that every unpleasing Providence should make us so forgetful of all the mighty Works that have been done within doors upon our Souls How just is it with God to plague us for this our unkindness unto him Isa 17.10 11. Because thou hast forgotten c. therefore the harvest shall be an heâ—â— In the beginning all succeeded well saith Vatablus upon the place according to our desire In the day the Plant grew and in the morning the Seed flourished but because of unthankfulness extreme misery followed Wonder not that the Showres are with-held that the Lord causeth the Sun to set on the Prophets at Noon day that the Manna falls not before your doors that the hidden Mannah Ingrato quod donatur deperditur Sen. and white Stone are denied you you have been unthankfull you have not taken care for the fragments that nothing be lost Gods Mercies have been lost upon you Or Waters were become Wines our Gleanings were better than the Worlds Vintage God dealt with us as Sons But now if he draws in his hand and make his Garden as a desolate Wilderness for this sin who can say unto God What dost thou Must not all of us put our mouths in the dust Did not we sit under our own Vines Had we not our solemn Assemblies Did not we goe in troops to the house of the Lord Was not Holiness in credit Did not the mix'd multitude joyn with us and desired to be numbred amongst us because God was with us Did not fear come upon all the People And had not the Churches rest Did we fear the shaking of the Spear Might we not have been as holy as we pleased Had not we as much liberty as we desired But O then how unthankfull were we How troubled were we that every Mordecai did not bow that every one would not be of our mind and dance after our Pipe God knows what a Controversie there is with the Land for the Unthankfulness of them that dwelt therein O how glad would ye be of one of the dayes of the Son of man of your old Privileges and Spiritual Liberties Because ye have not served God with joy and praise in dayes of plenty therefore it is but a righteous thing that you serve in scarcity and famine of Bread of the Word of the Lord. CHAP. XIII Their neglect of Prayer especially of secret Prayer 6ly NEglect of Prayer is another part of Ungodliness Professors neglect of Prayer too common even among Professours Request and Thanksgiving are saith one like the double motion of the Lungs by which they suck in and breath out the air again In the Petitionary part of Prayer we desire either the bestowing of some good thing or the preventing or removing of some evil from our selves or the inflicting of some evil on Gods implacable Enemies And in the Gratulatory part of Prayer we return the praise of glory of what we have received from God unto God Though the Thanksgiving part of Prayer be most yet the Petitionary part of Prayer is too much neglected It is Ungodliness to goe about any Business or Journey to fix our Abode to use any Creature Food or Physick without asking Gods leave and blessing in Prayer Yea it is a branch of Atheism this Brat of irreligion is laid at the door of Atheism by the Psalmist Is it not a Lamentation Psa 14.1 3 4. and should it not be for a Lamentation that so many Professours should be guilty of such Ungodlineâ—â— Are there not many that never prayed in all their lives Never Praying Professours are looked upon by the world as Praying people
with God by deferring and deferring And hereby many mischiefs attend The World that Pest of Souls and Graces is admitted before we have got our Antidotes against the Infection of it Hence deadness of heart ensues multitudes of worldly distractions so that after a few hours the Soul hath no mind at all to speak with God but though it must to the Closet yet there is it pestered with wandring thoughts discontented thoughts worldly thoughts so that the time which should be spent in pure Communion with God is taken up in driving these Fowls from the Sacrifice Besides God is an holy God and jealous for his Name and he esteemeth it a reflection on him to be so neglected that he must be served last of all and therefore withholds his influences from the Soul to condemn such salocy abuses of his great Name and then no wonder if thou be soon overcome with a world of vain impertinent cogitations By neglect of early going into your Closets you credit the World too much as if it were more worthy of your time and strength than the Lord is Whereas you should profess that all your hours are Gods and therefore you dare not Prov. 3.9 but honour him with the first Fruits of all your increase you will thereby sanctifie all the Harvest all the Vintage by presenting God with the green Eares By neglect of your Mornings you hint to other Observers as if you were not First to seek God and his Kingdom and the righteousness thereof You neglect the sittest season for then the mercies of the night are freshest smell sweetest which after a while like Flowers will lose their scent with us Whilst the Iron is hot it is our wisdome to strike His Mercies are renewed every Morning so should our Praises By entring on business without calling on God you declare you need not the Lords assistances and that you depend not on him for every thing but can make a snift to live without him Whereas God feeds us from hand to mouth and hath not left any stores with us that we may make our addressments to him night and day who must water us every moment Poor Souls did you but see your dangers by reason of the three great Brigades of Enemies the World the Flesh the Devil you would not be so fool-hardy to venture abroad untill you have beseeched God to help poor needy indigent Creatures Remember You want as soon as you wake and those things you want as none but a God can supply you You need Divine Power to follow your Callings By neglecting this season the Devil and the World have often made you forget or omit the Duty for the day You have no leisure in the Morning and what then the Devil fills thy hand with unexpected business that the excuse grows stronger and more plausible But must we serve the Slave and neglect the Lord of glory By omitting this hour you are the unfitter for Family-worship were the Instrument tuned before it would be the fitter to play in consort But oh what hazards dost thou run not only by preferring other things and business before God but by neglecting the first hour of the day when thou art not sure of a second Thou purposest such an hour to pray but what is thy Life save a Vapour which may expire before that hour CHAP. XIV The miscarriages of Praying Professours about Prayer 7l Praying Professors miscarriages THere is not only Ungodliness in not Praying Prayerless Souls worshipping God no more than Beasts an Oxe or an Asse c. but in Praying amiss And O! how many wayes do Professours fail in and about this Duty both before and in and after First before the Dury How do Professours fail before their entrance upon this Duty of Prayer 1. Neglecting Meditation Psa 5.1 of God By neglect of Meditation Few can say Consider my Meditation Have not we rush'd upon this Duty before we have meditated of the God we were approaching to What an holy God he is and how unworthy we are to take his Name into our mouths What a consuming fire he is and what dry stubble we are Have not we rush'd into Gods Presence his Holiness Omnisciency Heb. 4.13 as the Horse rusheth into the battel Have we considered that his eyes are piercing as flames of fire That all things are naked and open as it were dissected before him with whom we have to do We have not set God before our eyes neither have we believed that he is as certainly an Observer of us as we are with our selves Our thoughts would not be so low so earthly so distracted did we believingly consider into whose Presence we are coming Have we considered Gods Almightiness Omnipotency That He can do more for us than we can ask or think He that cometh to God in Prayer should believe that God is 1 Sam. 15.29 that He is the Strength of Israel that what we are to beg of God Pardon of Sin Victories over our Lusts c. are Mercies beyond the Creatures power to reach forth to us but the Lords arm is not shortened that he cannot help Have we meditated on Gods bounty Gods goodness and grace pity and tender compassions As one more ready to give than we to ask as one who giveth liberally and upbraids not with our oft comming We want vast thoughts of the great goodness and mercy of God we have base beggerly thoughts of God as if we should trespass too much upon him and weary him by coming to oft to his door Have we mused upon the Faithfulness of God his Faithfulness Who is under engagements to relieve us to ease us to be found of us when we seek him with our whole hearts 1 John 5.14 And this is the considence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Have we meditated of the Way of the Way unto God Odi Deum absolutum Luth. by whom we must come to God How daring are Souls to venture on an absolute God How is the new and consecrated Way neglected How is Christ laid by as if there were no need of a Mediatour of an Advocate with the Father How seldome do we pass through Gâ—lgotha to the heavenly Jerusalem and see that none can come to the Father but by the Son We see not our need of Incense and Odours to be mingled with our Sacrifices Revel 8.3 4. little do we consider that the Opportunity of speaking with God is the price of blood of the precious blood of the Son of God Have we meditated of our Sins of their Sins of those to which we are by nature and custome mostly addicted and of those with which we have since the last Duty polluted our Souls From the want of Meditation hereof ariseth formality in Duties the heart is not humbled in Confession neither is the Soul importunate with the Lord for pardon
if this one thing were all things and disobedience to this Commandement were disobedience to all Is it nothing to us that hereby Crossing Christs Prayer as much as in us lies we make the Prayer of Christ of none effect Christ knew the evil of heart-burnings and divisions of wrath and bitterness against one another though we do not and therefore having preached up love among his Disciples on earth he sets upon praying down Union from his Father in Heaven and what he insisted most upon in his Sermon that he enlargeth most upon in his Prayer John 17.11 21 22 23. And now I am no more in the World but these are in the World and I come to thee holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us That the World may believe that thou hast sent me And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me Throwing off Christs Livery John 13.35 that they may be made perfect in one and that the World may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Is it nothing to us that hereby we throw off Christs distinguishing Livery By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if you have love one to another He doth not say Hereby you shall be my Disciples but hereby it shall be known Nor doth he say Hereby I shall know nor hereby you shall know but hereby shall others know Nor doth he say Hereby they shall ghès and conjecture but hereby they shall know as by a sure and infallible sign Nor doth he say Hereby some a very few shall know this great secret but hereby all men shall know Nor doth he say Hereby all men shall know that you seem to be my Disciples but that you are so indeed Is it nothing to us Representing Christ as an Imposture that hereby we make the Jewes and Heathens look on Christ as an Impostour How can they look upon him otherwise whilst they see his Coat so full of seams yea his Body so full of rents Hereby we hinder the World from being convinced that Christ is sent of God Christ therefore prayed John 17.21 23. Making Christs doath of none effect that His might be one that the World may know that God sent him Is it nothing to us that hereby we make as much as in us lyes the Cross of Christ of none effect and his blood to be shed in vain Christ not only preach'd up Love and prayed for it but also paid for it As he went from preaching up Love on Earth by his Sermon to pulling it down from Heaven by Prayer So he went from praying to paying for it and the Price which he laid down for it Ephes 2.14 15 16. was his Blood saith a late ingenuous Writer For he is our Peace who hath made both one c. having abolished in his flesh the enmity c. for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross Shall Christ dye to break down partition walls and will we dare to keep them up Shall he shed his blood for peace and shall we imploy our wit and interest to blow the trumpet to War Is it nothing to us Calling in question Gods Promises Isa 65.25.11.6 that hereby we make Jews and Pagans call in question the truth of Gods promises What can they think of those promises that the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord. That the Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the failing together and a little Child shall lead them When the Lambs cannot fold together without pushing at one another Is it nothing to us Grieving Christ and the Spirit that hereby we grieve our dear Lord Jesus and the ever blessed Spirit May we not easily imagine what a grief it is to the head to see the members of his body renting and tearing each other to see heirs of the same hope those that lye together in the same bosom of Election and whose Names are on his Breast and whom he presents before his Father together in Heaven to be thus broken asunder on earth O! me thinks if we had any love to Jesus Christ we should study to be of one affection What Luther said once to the Ministers of Norimberg is very considerable Suppose said he you saw Jesus Christ standing bodily in the midst of you and thus bespeaking you What do you O my dear Children whom I have Redeemed by my blood that you might mutually love one another There is no danger in your difference but there is much in your dissention Do not thus sadden my Spirit do not thus spoil the holy Angels of their joy in heaven Am not I more to you than all your matters of difference How can we expect the company of the Spirit of grace and peace whilst such fiery contentions are amongst us Were the Disciples quarrelling and contending when the Holy Ghost fell on them No They were all with one accord in one place Acts 2.1 Psal 133.10 Where men dwell together in Unity there the Lord commands the blessing for ever God will not saith a learned man sow the precious seed of his grace and love among bryars and thornes the enemies of peace Is it nothing to us Rasing Sion that hereby we do what in utlyes to rase Sion even to the foundation thereof The stones support the building by being coupled together Mat. 12.25 Making real Saints weaty to support the World any longer How can the house stand when the stones are severed when not a stone is left joyned to a stone Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against it self shall not stand Is it nothing to us that hereby we make reall Saints the pillars of the World weary of staying in the World to support it any longer It was the sight of the divisions among Christianss that made Grynaeus Melancthon Strigclius those pious and precious Souls weary of earth Psa 55.6 and to wish and desire the wings of a Dove that they might sly away and be at rest in that place where there is a rest remaining for the people of God Hebr. 4.9 as from all other evils so from this of divisions and dissentions among Brethren It was â—â—e conjecture of one that as Go is first Judgement against the old World was by Water against the heat of Lust so his last Judgement upon the World
from Genesis to the Revelation and what ever filthiness waâ— found in Men or Kingdoms may be founâ— upon our skirts and shall not we hang up our harps refuse to be comforted shall not we lye down prostrate before God and pour out water before the Lord and weep till we can weep no more Tremble O my heart under all these provocations And let your hearts be as the leaves of a treee that is shaken by the Whirlwind What so many hellish lusts to swarm in thy heart What guilty of so many millions of iniquities against the God of Heaven and yet thou secure light vain and frothy I profess if I did not know what a stone I have within I should wonder all the day long how it is possible we can stand under so much guilt without shreiks cryes and lamentations I should wonder how you eat and drink and sleep how you can laugh or sing whilst God is so provoked Can I think that man lives who is not moved by the weight of a mountain on his back Professour thou hast that which is heavier than Mountains of lead upon thy Soul and yet thou hardly feelest it Thou dost not groan under that which drew not only tears of water but of blood yea clots of blood from the eyes and veins of Jesus Christ I wonder how you continue your claims to Christ how you can call God Father Christ Redeemer whilst you have so little love to him and whilst you were never pricked at the heart for all the injuries that you and others have done him Whom you love you are troubled for if he be injured by your selves or others But where is your Soul-trouble for your own and other mens sins Are not many as sensual as ever as great servants to the flesh as ever Have you not your Feasts and Entertainments as formerly Though it be a day Isa 22.12 13 14. wherein the Lord calls to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with sackcloth yet behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine And hath not the Lord sent you a word that may make your knees to tremble Is not the hand-writing plain It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye saith the Lord God of Hosts O! Fall down amazed fill thy Spirit with horrour away into thy Closet though thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity yet pray to the Lord if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart and the wickedness and prophaness of thy life and particularly thy unseasonable mirth and fleshly indulgencies may be forgiven How can you trade with so much guilt upon you You have had your pleas for your covetousness and inordinate affections to the World that God bids you provide for your own But what think'st thou of thy Soul Is that no part of thine own Is that no piece of thy charge O! Provide for thy Soul Thy Soul cannot be safe whilst stained with so many thousand impurities which were never mourned over to this day O! Let sorrow enter into the very inwards of thy heart and let the insupportable pressures of sin sink thy very Soul Zech. 12.10 Mourn as the tender Mother for her only Son be in bitterness so as thou canst not relish those things which thou hast hitherto followed with so much eagerness Let the loathsomeness of thy sins be continually before thine eyes as thy standing dish So it was with Repenting David Psa 51.3 Lam. 5.16 Lam. 1.1 2 3 4 9 13 21. My sin is ever before me So it was with the Church Woe to us we have sinned It is true they were under fearful Plagues How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become a Widow She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary Among all her Lovers she hath none to comfort her all her Friends have dealt treacherously with her c. She dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her Persecutours overtook her between the straits The wayes to Zion mourn c. She came down wonderfully and she had no Comforter c. The Enemy hath magnified himself c. From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them c. All mine Enemies have heard of my trouble they are glad that thou hast done it Lam. 2.3 15 16. The Lord hath burned against Jacob like a flaming fire which devoureth round about c. All they that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wagg the head at the Daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the Perfection of Beauty Lam. 4.6 11 16. the Joy of the whole Earth All thine Enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth and say We have swallowed her up Certainly this is the day we looked for We have found We have seen it The punishment of the iniquity of the Daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her The Lord hath accomplished his fury he hath powred out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof The anger of the Lord hath divided them c. Lam. 5.2 8 10 11. Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers our Houses to Aliens Our Necks are under Persecution We labour and have no rest Servants have ruled over us there is none to deliver us out of their hand Our skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible Famine They ravished the Women in Zion and the Maids in the Cities of Judah But yet they mind not their misery so much as their sin Woe unto us for we have sinned In order to the promoting of this godly sorrow I do importune thee with the highest fervency I can that thou seperate some extraordinary time to humble thy self by Fasting and Prayer that God would give thee Repentance for thine own and thine other mens sins Perhaps to this day thou hast never observed one in order to the getting of a broken heart O that I could now prevail with thee for this is the means that God hath blest again and again On such dayes God hath softned many an heart and cast out the Devil of security and hardness which could not be cast out in ordinary times of waiting upon God Let thy main request on that day be for a deep consideration of all thy sins with all their several aggravations and a deep humiliation for them O! I beseech you if you have any love to Christ to the credit of Religion to your perishing Souls break through all businesses and impediments and retire your selves and fall down at the footstool of God more solemnly than ever you did If you are by the consideration
What vengeance is that like to prove which hath Gods Armies of Fire and Wind united Is it nothing that the Fire burned at some time contrary to the Wind and as it were in opposition to it and was then as uncheckable as when it had the Winds raising and chasing it Is it nothing that in the drought of the season and the want of water God seem'd to hinder the application of Remora's to both Wind and Fire Was not therein the Judgement executed upon England in its heart which God threatned against the Chaldeans a drought is upon her Waters and they shall be dryed up Jer. 50.38 for it is a Land of graven Images and they are madd upon their Idols Is it nothing that the rational and probable anticipations of the constagrating progresses of the Fire which might have been were hid from the eyes of those whose interest it would have been to have improved them Did not God at that time take courage from the mighty and wisdome from the wise Is it nothing that London the great Bulwark of the Reformed Religion against the assaults and batteries of Popery and Prophaness is in a great measure destroyed But above all Is it nothing that generally there is so little sense of any of these Judgements The Wine of Astomshment is given us to drink and we reel to and fro like Drunkards But alas 2 Chron. 7.14 Who humbleth himself and prayes and seeks Gods face and turns from his wicked wayes that God may heal our Land 2. The sins of any one of us may be the Incendiâ— aries Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing the sins of any one of you in particular may have been the great Incendiary This is certain God hath for the delinquency of one man yea for one sin brought Plagues upon many If any thing will move thine heart this will but nothing will without Gods concurse The Lord fasten this nayl the Lord fix this upon thy Soul and let it be as Frontlets between â—â—ine eyes day and night When Achan was guilty of one sin and that a secret one when he had stoln a wedge of Gold when he had impropriated it to his own use which God had destined to another he troubled the whole Church of God the Armies of Israel fell before the men of Ai the generation of Gods curse yea Joshua their Prince became dejected and his communion with God was thereby for a while broken And the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up Josh 7.10 11 12 c. 22.20 wherefore lyest thou on thy face Did not Achan the Son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing and wrath fell on all the Congregation of Israel And that man perished not alone in his iniquity The iniquity of Peor though committed long agoe yet raised a cloud of wrath which was ready to empty it self upon the whole Church of God for it many years after Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us Josh 22.17 from which we are not cleansed to this day although there was a Plague in the Congregation of the Lord The Gibeonites who had craftily secured their Lives by an exchange for their Liberties got an Oath from Saul and almost 500. years after when this Covenant was broken in the slaying of many of them and Saul was dead the flourishing Church of God suffered three years Famine for this Perjury Then there was a Famine in the dayes of David 2 Sam. 21.1 three years year after year and David enquired of the Lord And the Lord answered It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites Manasseh sinn'd and that cost the Liberties and Lives of many good as well as bad Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great anger 2 Kings 23.26 wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the Provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withall Pharaoh refused to give liberty to Gods Church to worship their God and this brought unparallel'd Judgements and Plagues upon the whole Land of Egypt Amalecks abuse of Gods people was not forgotten for an hundred years but God took up an everlasting quarrel with them till he had rooten them out of the Earth Thus saith the Lord of Hosts 1 Sam. 15.2 I remember that which Amaleck did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt Yea the Sins of one good man have brought down Plagues upon many David whether out of curiosity or vain-glory or confidence in an arm of flesh would needs number the people a little sin in comparison of what we are guilty of yet it cost the lives of 70000. by the Pestilence So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel c. 2 Sam. 24.15 and there dyed of the people from Dan even to Beersheâ—a seventy thousand men Solomon was a good Prince and yet by his sins he brought miserable confusions on the most considerable part of the Church of Israel by that great revolt which it occasioned Wherefore the Lord said to Solomon 1 Kings 11.11 For as much as this is done of thee and thou hast not kept my Covenant and my Sâ—atutes which I have commanded thee I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy Servant Eli a good man and a good Magistrate yet because too indulgent to his Children a Vice common but seldome considered and bewailed what a fearful Plague brought he upon his Posterity as well as himself And the Lord said unto Samuel Behold I will do a thing in Israel 1 Sam 3.11 12 13 14. at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his House When I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his House for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not And therefore I have sworn unto the House of Eli that the iniquity of Elies House shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever Luk. 11.50 51. Mat. 23.35 36. The blood of all the Prophets saith Christ which was shed from the Foundation of the World shall be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation And yet who holds up his hand to Gods Barr and cryes Guilty Guilty Who saith as David when the Angel forraged among the People 2 Sam. 24.17 Let thy hand be against me for these sheep What have they done We are quick-sighted enough yea too much to espye and aggravate the sins of others We expect fearful Plagues for others Adulteries Drunkennesses Swearing and Blaspheming But the Lord hearkeneth when we will