A SERMON PREACHED ON THE Fast-Day NOVEMBER the xiii th 1678. Being appointed for Fasting and Prayer BY BENJAMIN CAMFIELD Rector of Aylston near Leicester LONDON Printed by J. Macock for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St Pauls MDCLXXVIII Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis A SERMON ON PSALM xviii v. 2. but in the last Translation v. 3. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine Enemies IT is not long since we were Assembled on the fifth of this Month to Bless and Praise God for his wonderful Mercies to this Kingdom in the seasonable Discovery and Defeating of our Romish Enemies most wicked and accursed Powder-Plot which had it taken effect all had been Entomb'd on a suddain in one common Ruine And now upon notice publickly given That the same kind of Agents are at work again in another way to Destroy both His Sacred Majesty and with Him our Liberties and Religion we are by the warrant of Authority met together here this day to call upon that God who alone is able to protect and save us and whose undeserved goodness we have had so much experience of hitherto that he would be pleased graciously to continue yet to defend both our King and Country and bring to light still more and more all secret machinations against his Majesty and the whole Kingdom To which purpose therefore I could not think of any thing more pertinent and agreeable both to Direct us in our present Duty and Encourage us to the same than the words I have read from the Royal Psalmist I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine Enemies This Psalm was a Publick Form of Devotion Composed and appointed by King David for the solemn seasons set apart to Commemorate his manifold Deliverances and Victories for all the dayes wherein God had delivered him as the Chaldee Paraphrast hath it And it hath the Honour to be twice Registred in Holy Writ with very little variation in the words of it For you may read it in the 22d Chap. of the 2d Book of Samuel as well as here in the Book of Psalms From whence we may plainly collect That however some of This Generation quarrel and except against set Forms of Divine Worship and Service to cast dirt upon the established Religion and make way for New-fangled Devices of their own rather than Godly Edifying in Love and Unity yet it was not so in the Church of God from the Beginning but both a publick Form was wont to be prescribed and upon like occasions one and the same Form was without scruple made use of And that by the Counsel and Countenance of no meaner a Person than King David himself who is recommended to us as an eminent Servant of God both in his private and Regal Capacity Acts 13.22 a man after Gods own heart as he himself hath testified of him So much we have sufficiently intimated in the very Title of this Psalm which was inscrib'd to the chief Musician or Prefect of Musick the Master of the Choire to be sung upon publick Solemnities To the chief Musician A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the Day that the Lord deliver'd him from the hand of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul And he said See Dr. H. in loc Viz. as followeth that is A Publick Form of Worship or Religious Acknowledgment indited by David that eminent Servant of the Lord in Commemoration of those many Preservations and Victories which God had vouchsafed him and his now quiet settlement in the Kingdom of Israel and Judah by the interposure of the Divine Providence in subduing the Philistines Syrians Moabites and Ammonites that rose up against him in quieting the Rebellion of Absalom his son Absalom soon after which it is recorded 2 Sam. 22. but especially in rescuing him out of the malicious bloody hands of Saul This he composed and committed to the chief Musician as a suitable service for those solemn Dayes wherein there should be occasion to commemorate his Deliverances and Victories And to that purpose it continues registred in the Book of Psalms among many other as a Pattern and Example unto all Posterities and a Justification as I said beyond all contradiction both of the lawfulness and expediencie of Publick Forms of Devotion and the use or Repetition of the same Forms upon like occasion I shall not now go about to unravel the Contexture of the whole Psalm because I would not divert your attention from that plenty of good and proper Meditations which the Text alone suggests unto us Wherein we have these two principal parts 1. David's holy Resolution or Practice I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised And 2. The Motive he had thereunto from the assured success of it So shall I be saved or safe from mine enemies Of which therefore now by God's help I shall treat in order as they lie And First of the Psalmist's holy Resolution or Practice I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised Wherein we may consider yet more distinctly these three Particulars 1. The Person whose Example we have before our eyes together with the Circumstances of his Condition I King David the Servant of the Lord preserved and deliver'd by him from many potent Enemies already and yet not without the Fear and prospect of others succeeding afresh and growing up in the room of them 2. The Act or Practice it self resolved upon Calling upon the Lord which as I shall take occasion to shew you was all along his most Religious Custom as well as Resolution in like Cases for the Future And then 3. The special Character here annexed unto the Object of his Invocation Worship and Devotion The Lord who is worthy to be praised I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised First The Person here spoken of the I in the Text. That is David a pious and Religious King styled in the Title of the Psalm The Servant of the Lord as I told you Religion we see is not a vile or mean Performance is not a thing below the Highest and most eminent Monarchs of the World no disparagement at all unto their Greatness but that which is indeed the chiefest Ornament in their Diadem and Crown of Glory They have the same Essential Dependence upon God with other men and He the same Right and Title of Soveraignty and Dominion over Them being King of Kings and Lord of Lords Nay They have an Obligation above others to serve and Honour God Almighty not only as his Reasonable Creatures and Dependents like unto others but as his peculiar Ministers and Servants in their Sacred Office as Kings exalted and upheld by him in that their Dignity Again Their Necessity as well as
by that very invocation The Lord then is He whom we are to direct our Prayers unto the Living God and not Dead Idols the Lord of all and not any of his Creatures not the best of them Saints or Angels As for Idols you may remember what Elijah said to Baal's Priests 1 King 18.24 Call ye on the Name of your Gods and I will call on the Name of the Lord. Verse 26. Accordingly they called on the Name of Baal we read from morning even until noon saying O Baal hear or answer us But there was no voice neither any that answered And Elijah mocks them upon it Verse 20. Cry aloud for he is a God he is talking or meditateth that is in a deep study or be is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked Their Idols Psal 115. saith the Psalmist of the Heathen are Silver and Gold the work of mens bands They have mouths Psal 135. but they speak not eyes have they but they see not ears but they hear not c. They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them O Israel trust thou in the Lord He is their Help and their Shield c. q. d. Aid and Defence is to be had from Him and from him only We must renounce all Confidence and Dependence upon any other thing whatsoever Psal 20.7 8. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God They are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong-Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe God is offended when we seek other Refuges Hos 7.10 11. The Pride of Israel saith the Prophet testifieth to his Face and they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek Him for all this Ephraim also is like a silly Dove without heart They call to Egypt They go to Assyria c. Jer. 17.5 6 7 8. Thus saith the the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the Heath in the Desert c. Blessed be the man who trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is For he shall be as a Tree planted by the Waters c. It is the Character of the Ungodly Lo Psal 52.8 This is the man that took not God for his Strength but trusted unto the multitude of his Riches †See Psal 62.8 9 10. Neither may we call upon Saints or Angels to help us Rev. 19.10 22.9 for they are all God's Creatures and Servants as well as we they refuse this Worship at our hands and bid us give it unto God only whom they together with us adore I may here use the words of Eliphaz which yet some of the Romish Church have been so absurd Chamier Panstrat Vol. 2. l. 2. c. 2. as to quote for the invocation of Angels Call now Job 5.1 if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn Secondly As to the person invocating he must be Righteous at least in the Gospel acceptation that is a sincere and hearty Penitent For God heareth not Sinners John 9.31 viz. Such as continue in a course of Sin Prov. 15 8-29 The Prayer or Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him Unto the wicked saith God Psal 50. What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Prov. 1.28 c. 28.9 To such he threatens They shall call upon me but I will not answer He that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer shall be an abomination To such he saith again Isa 1.15 c. When ye spread forth your Hands I will hide mine Eyes from you Yea when ye make many Prayers I will not hear Your Hands are full of Blood Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil learn to do Well seek Judgment relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord. That is upon these terms and no other Vers 19 20. we may meet as Friends If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse and Rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Seek the Lord Ch. 55.6 7. while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near but to that end let the Wicked forsake his way and the Unrighteous man his thoughts Ch. 58. ◠c. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt cry and he shall say Here I am If thou takest from the midst of thee the Yoak Verse 6. c. the bands of Wickedness before spoken of Jam. 5.16 'T is the Prayer of a Righteous man that availeth This our Psalmist was very sensible of Therefore saith he I will wash mine hands in Innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. Psal 26.6 The Eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous 34.15 and his Ears are open to their Prayers 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear me And in this very Psalm Psal 18.20 c. The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God or not departed from my God as the wicked doth for all his judgments are before me and I did not put his Statutes from me I was also upright before him and kept my self from mine Iniquity Eschewed mine own wickedness Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my Righteousness according to the cleanness of my Hands in his Eye-sight And yet this Psalm was most probably indited if we keep to the series of the History See Dr. H. in Loc. where 't is first recorded 2 Sam. 22. after the Commission of those great Sins of Adultery with Uriah's Wife making him Drunk contriving his Death and Living for some considerable time before Nathan came to him from God under this guilt These many expressions therefore of his Universal Uprightness must be Interpreted and Understood as the Scripture elsewhere speaks with the exception of that matter of Uriah 1 Kings 15.5 David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite And we are farther to remember That for that too he had Repented before the Composure of this Psalm And Repentance when sincere restores to God's
Favour and Acceptance as if we were Innocent Thirdly For the Prayer or Invocation it self that must be the Exercise of all sorts of Graces and not the Labor of our Lips only But Isa 29.13 more especially this Holy Incense must have these following perfumes in it 1 It must be with Humility and Reverence With Humility in a deep sense of our Unworthiness and Distance from God as Creatures but much more as Sinners No one loves a proud Begger Jam. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 Such God is said to look on afar off But he giveth Grace sheweth Favour to the Humble Psal 9.12 10.17 â—b 22.29 He heareth the desire of the Humble and will not forget their Cry but will save them And then there must be a Reverence to That Majesty which we approach unto That is a Due we know to all our Betters See Malachi 1.8 Let us therefore have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Hebr. 12.28 with reverence and godly fear 2 With Faith Heb. 11.6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him So St. James directs If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask of God Jam. 1.5 6. who giveth to all men liberally but let him ask in Faith nothing wavering where yet Faith seems to import rather a stedfast adhering to the Christian Profession See Dr. H. in loc than a General Belief of God's Being Attributes or Promises 3 With Sincerity Not out of feigned lips Psal 17.1 or Lips of Deceit but in Truth The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him 145.18 to all that call upon him in Truth or Faithfully And this is that which the Prophet Isaiah expresseth by calling on God with all the heart Then shall ye call upon me Isa 29.12 and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart And St. Paul styles it Calling on the Lord out of a pure that is 2 Tim. 2.22 an honest and upright heart 4 With Zeal and Fervencie For it is good alwayes Gal. 4.18 saith the Apostle to be zealously affected in a good matter But he that asks coldly teacheth another to deny his Requests We can never think or hope that God will attend to those cold and drousie Prayers which we hardly attend unto or mind our selves in the utterance of them 'T is the fervent Prayer of a righteous man that availeth much Our Blessed Saviour speaks a Parable to learn us the Force of Importunity both with God and Man St. Luk. 18. We are to pray as those that are in good earnest and sensible of the Great Concerns we call upon him about and therefore to excite and stirre up all the Powers of our Souls thereunto that we be not among Those of whom the Prophet complains There is none that calleth upon thy Name Isa 64.7 that stirreth up himself to take hold on Thee 5 With Charitie for without This we are nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 3. and nothing profits us But Blessed are the merciful Matth. 5. for they shall obtain mercie With the merciful Thou wilt shew thy self merciful saith our Psalmist Psal 18.25 But he shall have Judgment without mercie Jam. 2.13 who hath shewed no mercie With the same measure we mete to others God will measure to us again And therefore he saith Give and it shall be given to you Luk. 6.38 Forgive and it shall be forgiven But if ye forgive not neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you If thou bring thy gift to the Altar go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother c. Prov. 21.13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the Crie of the Poor he also shall crie himself and shall not be heard 6 We must continue our Importunity with Perseverance without Fainting and growing weary not contenting our selves with having once petitioned Psal 25.5.37.7.86.3 c. 123.2 but following on our Suit and waiting patiently still upon God from day to day untill he have Mercy upon us To this purpose our Blessed Saviour spake a Parable That men ought alwaies to pray Luk. 18. and not to faint And yet 7 We must pray with a due Submission of our selves unto God's Will and Wisdom not confining him to any particular ways or methods of our own devising Permittes ipsis expendere Numinibus Quid Conveniet nobis rebusque sit utile nostris Remarkable was the Resignation of King David's Spirit unto God Almighty's pleasure If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord 2 Sam. 15.25 26. he will bring me again but if he Thus say I have no delight in Thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him 'T is the Petition our Blessed Saviour hath taught us Thy will be done and such was his own Example to us Father if it be possible let This Cup pass from me Nevertheless not what I will not as I will but Thy will be done We must own that God is Righteous in whatsoever befalls us and be ready to apologize for his Providence 'T is of his Mercie alone that we are not consumed and our only Hope is That his Compassions fail not 8 We must be sure that we tender up our Requests unto God in the prevailing Name of Jesus Christ his Beloved Son our Great and only High-Priest Mediator and Advocate by whom we have received the Atonement and who ever liveth to make intercession Dan. 9.17 18. Not for our Righteousness saith the Prophet Daniel but for the Lord's sake Propter Christum as Castalio there notes so we are taught to conclude all our Prayers The Direction and Encouragement comes from our Blessed Saviour himself Joh. 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it Do all therefore in the Name of Jesus Christ Col. 3.17 saith the Apostle giving thanks to God and the Father by him Lastly Our Prayers must be followed with suitable Endeavours We must not only Ask but seek and knock too that is enquire after the most probable and likely Means and be diligent and industrious to remove the Impediments in our way Mr. Hooker's Serm. in the end of Bishop Sandersons life as a Reverend Person ingeniously Glosseth on Those words We must be like the Good Pilot that hath his hand to the Helm as well as his Eye to Heaven We must not be lazy and idle Petitioners like the Countrey-man in the Fable that contented himself barely with crying out to Hercules to help him out of the mire Remarkable is That of Nehemiah Nehem. 4.9 Nevertheless we made a Prayer unto our God
place engageth them hereunto for they are surrounded with those Dangers and Troubles which none but God alone the Supreme Potentate can preserve or deliver them in and from No sooner have they escaped one Plot and Contrivance of mischief but another Snare is laying for them The Hydra of Treason and Rebellion hath many Heads and when one is cut off another perks up in its stead Such was David's Condition And we need not to look further than This Psalm for an ample proof of it Here we read of the sorrows of Death and Hell compassing him Verses 4 5. The snares of Death preventing him The Floods of ungodly men making him afraid The Sons of Belial men impatient of the Yoke of Government and Restraint coming like a mighty Torrent upon him Verse 16. Many waters threatning to overflow and drown him Blood-thirsty powerful and malicious Enemies such as hated him Verse 17. and were too strong for him Verse 39. rising up against him And those not only of Forraign Nations but amongst his own People Verse 43. The strivings of the people nor only making open Insurrections but endeavouring private Assassinations by men of violence Verse 48. and those too secret and unknown Dissembling and False-hearted Subjects Verse 44. such as yielded feigned Obedience such as lied unto him in all their fair professions and dissembled with him as the old Translation hath it Verse 6. No wonder therefore that we find him in his Distresse and in a Day of Calamity and as it were in Prison and Confinement Verse 18 19. in great straits sometimes in a state of War and at other times in great Perils Such is the condition of all Kings especially of Pious and Religious Kings For the King is the head of Order and the very life and soul of Laws both Civil and Sacred So many Enemies therefore as there are abroad to a State or Kingdom their level is chiefly neither at small or great but at the Head and Soul of all the rest The Devil and his Agents are all Adversaries to Order and Quiet and Peace with Piety and Virtue and therefore must necessarily impugn and strike at the grand Conservator of all these And then in his own Dominions if we reckon up how many there alwayes be that are in ill Circumstances themselves and have their hopes only in a Change in fishing as we say in troubled Waters in disturbing all that they may scramble for somewhat How many Ambitious of Rule and Power themselves that would fain be uppermost How many envious at all above them who therefore are ready to pull them down or undermine them How many thirsting for Liberty unbounded Liberty to do whatsoever is good in their own Eyes How many cross'd in their undue Desires and Lusts by the severity of good and wholesome Laws How many whose Faith and Allegiance is easily corrupted by the popular insinuations and pretences of wheedling Demagogues or to be bought and sold with Bribes and Pensions How very few of Courage and Honesty enough to stick by a Prince in his low Condition How many Powers and Policies and Devices he hath continually to watch over and to struggle with How many he must of necessity trust and imploy whom he hath but little or slender assurance of If we consider I say but these and the like obvious Circumstances we cannot but see the manifold Troubles and Miseries and Calamities that every Prince every good and Religious Prince especially is beset withal As David we read was But the greatest comfort is He hath a Refuge and Sanctuary near at hand notwithstanding all this to betake himself unto namely that of the Text. I will call upon the Lord. This we find upon all occasions was our Royal Psalmists stay and security When He knew not what to do nor whither to betake himself his Eyes were still unto God God Psal 46. saith he is our refuge and strength a very present help in Trouble Therefore will we not fear c. Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Thus at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 David saith the text was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning of him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his Sons and for his Daughters and when any thing goes amiss or succeeds ill in Government the blame and complaints usually fix and center on the chief Governour but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God He becalmed himself as we read elsewhere with such like expostulations as These Psal 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God Psal 43. for I shall yet praise him who is the Health of my countenance and my God Observe therefore by how many different Names and Attributes of security he calls God in the Verse before our Text on purpose as it were to declare That he was All in All in his account My Strength saith he and my Rock Psal 18.1 and my Fortress and my Deliverer my Buckler and the Horn of my Salvation that is according to the Hebrew Idiom wherein Horn is used for Power and Plenty my most Powerful and All-sufficient Saviour and my High-Tower In weakness my Strength against the Storm and Billows of Adversity and that Ocean of Calamity which beats at any time upon me my Rock impregnable against all manner of Violence or Assaults my Fortress or Bul-work my Shield and Buckler invulnerable whatever Hosts or Armies invade me my High-Tower and Castle at all Times and in all Cases a most mighty and abundant Saviour and Deliverer They are excellent words of the Prophet Habakkuk Hab. 3.17 18 19. which I the rather mention because the later part of them is taken out of this Psalm Psal 18.32 33. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls that is all visible help and relief shall fail Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like Hinds feet and He will make me to walk on my High-places There can be no possible want of provisions to this High-Tower or Garrison We see by the way what an utter Enemy the profess'd Atheist is to all publick Governments and the best security of Kings and Princes †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Chrysost in Psal 143.2 10. who by denying God and Providence takes away this most Comfortable Refuge and Sanctuary which amidst all Perils and Dangers they are to betake themselves unto It is the Character of such profane ones That they call not upon God themselves Psal 14. and that is not all
my trouble distress and calamity more especially And so he goes on to fortifie his Resolution by a further Commemoration of his former practice This way and the blessed success of it The sorrows of Death compassed me and the pains of Hell gat hold upon me as we have it also in the 18th Psalm I found trouble and sorrow then called I upon the Name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is merciful The Lord preserveth the simple the plain honest upright man who relieth on him when he is void of counsel to help himself I was brought low and He helped me There is nothing certainly more proper in a Time of Affliction Calamity and Trouble than this Religious practice of Calling upon the Lord. Jam. 5.13 Is any among you afflicted saith St. James let him pray Psal 50.15 Call upon me saith God himself in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Such therefore was the message of King Hezekiah unto Isaiah the Prophet 2 King 19.3 4. This is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy wherefore lift up thy Prayer for the Remnant that is left Even Nature at such a time of extremity prompts us to this piece of Religion The Atheistical Poet acknowledgeth it to be the common Practice of Mankind Multóque in rebus acerbis Acriùs advertunt animos ad Relligionem Lucret. l. 3. Men in their Pains and Adversities are very apt to cry out Lord help us This the Prophet notes in a people that were otherwise forgetful of God Lord Isa 26.16 17. in trouble have they visited thee they have poured out a Prayer when thy Chastening was upon them Like as a woman with Child that draweth near the time of her deliverance and cryeth out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord. You have many Instances together in Psal 107. how men cry unto God in their troubles and he delivereth and saveth them out of their Distresses particularly of them who go down to the Sea in Ships when the stormie wind ariseth and they are at their wits ends Vers 27 28. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble Hence we have a common Proverb Qui nescit orare discat navigare He that knows not to Pray let him go to Sea where the sight of so many Dangers ready to swallow up and devour him is supposed to be sufficient to teach him This Lesson Unless he have contracted an unnatural Hardness and senslesness both of God and Death the Fears of Shipwrack will awaken him to Prayer The Mariners Jonah 1.5 we read in the storm cryed every man to his God and the Ship-master comes to Jonah and saith unto him Verse 6. What meanest thou O sleeper arise call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not And we find them all afterwards importunately at their Prayers They cryed unto the Lord and said Verse 14. we beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee The Disciples in a Tempest awaken our Blessed Saviour saying Lord Matth. 8. save us we perish This I say is the natural and constant Practice of All that have any regard to themselves or sense of a Deity that have not sinn'd themselves into a blockish stupidity past feeling in the time of imminent Troubles and Dangers and Calamities to call upon God And this is urged by Salvian as a strong Conviction against the Denyers of God Almighty's Providence Lib. 1. p. 17. Cur ad coelum quotidiè manus tendimus c. Why stretch we our hands daily towards Heaven Why seek we the Mercy of God by our repeated Prayers Why do we run to Temples and Churches Why do we supplicate on our knees before Altars Nulla enim nobis est ratio precandi si spes tollitur impetrandi We have no reason at all to pray if we have no hope left us of speeding by it And the Heathen Seneca before him managed this argument against the Epicureans who allow'd of such kind of insignificant Deities who neither heard nor regarded the Prayers of their Supplicants Nec in hunc furorem omnes mortales consensissent alloquendi surda numina inefficaces Deos. De Benef. l. 4. c. 4. It is no ways likely or credible saith he that all mortals should consent together in such a point of Madness as this is continually to call upon Deaf Gods and such as can Do nothing for them Nevertheless it must be granted that all who call upon God do not speed in their Requests because as St. James hath it Jam. 4.3 they ask amiss Ye ask and receive not saith he because ye ask amiss And therefore it will be requisite before I leave this subject to shew you briefly what are the qualifications of such a Calling upon God as we may be assured of the Good effects of These Qualifications now are reducible unto Three heads The First concerning the Object of our Invocation whom we are to call upon That must be the Lord and the Lord only Secondly As to the Person Praying He must be Righteous at least in the Evangelical sence that is a True Penitent Thirdly As to the Prayer or Invocation it self That must be with Humility and Reverence with Faith with Sincerity with Forvency with Charity with Perseverance with a due Submission to the Divine Will tendred up to God in the Name of Christ and attended with Endeavours agreeable to our Prayers I shall little more than touch upon the particulars they are so many and I would not prevent my self in what else remains But yet it is plainly necessary that I say somewhat of them because without attendance unto These things our Prayers will certainly prove ineffectual and vain Oblations And as good you know not at all as to no purpose First then The Object of our Invocation must be the Lord Jehovah the True and Living God and none besides him I will call on the Lord. Prayer is a piece of Divine worship peculiar unto God and which we cannot without peril of Idolatry give unto any other And therefore it is one of the Arguments used by the Antient Fathers as well as Modern Divines to prove the Deity of our Blessed Saviour because we are taught to Call upon his Name So we read of St. Stephen Act. 5.59 They stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Soul Saying Lord Jesus he called upon God That is owned his Deity And this is the Paraphrase whereby Christians were at first known They that called on this Name Act. 9 14-21 1 Cor. 1.2 All that in every place call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem As Plinie reports of them L. 10. Ep. 97. Whatsoever we Religiously call upon we either find or make a God to our selves
saith he and set a Watch against them the Enemies day and night because of them 'T is an excellent Rule of Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Pythag. What we endeavour let us pray for and what we pray for let us also endeavour There must be all along saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an union of Prayer and Endeavour we must neither be for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Atheistical and Godless or graceless Endeavour nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Idle and inoperative Prayer Now having said thus much of the General Qualifications which must accompany our Calling upon God to render it successeful Let me yet annex Two more that are very proper to our publick Devotion And so our Prayers will still be the more prevalent if attended 1. With Fasting And 2 With Unanimity First Fasting is to be added unto Prayer both as a Means to render us more attentive and fervent in the same and as a Testimony of our Humiliation before God in the Confession of our Sins and judging our selves unworthy to be any longer sustained in Life by God chastening and afflicting our Souls in his presence by voluntary Penance for our manifold Transgressions and Excesses There are some Devil 's not to be cast out Mat. 17.21 but by Prayer and Fasting as our Blessed Saviour acquaints us And we may well reckon the Devil of cruel Treachery and Perfidiousness in that number This hath been the constant way of the Church of God in all great Exigencies by Fasting together with Prayer to call upon God as you may read in Ezra Nehemiah Esther Isaiah Daniel c. Turn ye to me Joel 2. saith the Lord by his Prophet Joel with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning and rent your Heart and not your Garment that is not your Garment only Let there not be only the external signs of Humiliation and Mourning but the Thing signified by them both Sign and Thing signified together who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a Blessing behind him This to be sure is the likeliest way of speeding He addes therefore Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctifie a Fast call a solemn Assembly Gather the People sanctifie the Congregation assemble the Elders Gather the Children and those that suck the Breasts Let the Bridegroom go forth of his Chamber and the Bride out of her Closet Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord. Where we find That the Fast must be general when we call upon God for a General Blessing and all that are concerned in the Effect should be also in the Means to it And whatever some vain people judge of the needlesness or Indifference of Fasting God takes it extremely ill if any under publick Calamities comply not with this Prescription In that day saith the Prophet Isa 22.12 13 14. did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to girding with Sackcloth and Behold Joy and Gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely This iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die saith the Lord God of Hosts Secondly We are to call upon God with Consent and Unanimity that we may be as joint Supplicants besieging Heaven as it were with an holy Violence in our united Importunities for Mercy So the Prophet Zephaniah hath it Zeph. 3.9 That they may call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent or with one shoulder And thus we read of the Primitive Christians Act. 2.1 They were all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in one place And when St. Peter was in Prison Ch. 12.5.12 Prayer was made without ceasing or instant and earnest Prayer was made of the Church unto God for him Many were gathered together Praying To such Assemblies now as These that Promise of our Blessed Saviour reacheth with Advantage Mat. 18.19 20. I say unto you that if Two of you shall agree on Earth touching any thing that they shall ask For where Two or Three are gather'd together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Much more then where there are many Two's and Three 's a whole Nation at the same time upon their knees together if other requisits are not wanting may they be sure of obtaining that thing which they ask in particular or somewhat better in the room of it This is the advantage of publick and common Prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius calling upon God in and with his Church that he would send both King and People help from his Sanctuary and strengthen them out of Sion Psal 20. And thus much now for the second point the Duty or Practice here resolved upon calling upon the Lord with those several qualifications which will render it most effectual and successful It remains in the Third place that I add a few words also of the special Character annexed unto the object of our Psalmists invocation Who is worthy to be praised I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised The word is capable of a double rendring Who is worthy to be praised or whom I praise And accordingly Expositors render it differently but both waies to a purpose very fit to be observed diligently by us lxxii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Sam. 22. but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Lat. accordingly Invocabo Dominum laudabilem vel laudatum laudans invocabo 1 I will call on the Lord who is Omni laude dignissimus worthy of all Praise the most lovely Object of Veneration And so it trains us up to the highest thoughts of that Adorable Object we call upon Worthy to be praised is the Sum and Abstract of all his Perfections together and therefore prompts us to Approach unto him with Good and Valuable Thoughts of him not as a cruel Tyrant delighting in his Creatures Miseries and Torments not as an hard Master with-holding from his Servants more than is meet but a most Gracious Lord as willing as he is able to Help and Relieve us a most Indulgent Father as far above all Earthly Parents in Wisdom Power goodness and readiness to hear and supply his Childrens wants as Heaven is above Earth And here I might observe to you farther that it is the Holy Prudence of Pious Men frequently exemplified in Sacred Writ to call upon God under such Appellations Titles or Attributes as are most agreable to the matter of their present Petition and fittest to Animate and Encourage their Hopes of receiving from him So doth the Psalmist here in effect I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised viz. as for his Power and Wisdom and Goodness at all times so for his abundant Mercy which I have already had a