thou me at all nor Lovest thou me as these but Lovest thou me more then these Thou hast sinned more then these doest thou love me more then these Christ expected more love from Peter then from the rest of the Disciples And so Peter did return more love to Christ then the rest did And though the book of the Acts be called the Acts of the Apostles yet there is more spoken of Peter then of all the rest of the Apostles that had seen Christ in the flesh Peter after his fall did shew more love then the rest 1 Peter preached the first Sermon after Christs resurrection and ascension Act 1. 15. 2 Peter was the first that went into the Sepulchre after Christs death and resurrection Although Peter and John did run to the Sepulchre John out-ran Peter and came first thither yet Peter first went down into the Sepulchre to see where Christ was laid John 20. 6. 3 When Christ after his resurrection was walking upon the waters Peter cast himself into the Sea to go to meet Jesus he had no patience to stay till he came at him Joh. 21. 7. 4 Peter converted more souls to Christ then all the rest of the Apostles did 3000 souls at one Sermon 5 Peter died for Christ he was crucified for Christ and he desired that he might be crucified with his head downward because he thought it was too much honour for him to die as his Master So you see that as Peter had been more treacherous to his master then the rest so Peter was more ardent in his love to Christ then the rest And so you must all learn to see that as your sins have been more and greater then the sins of other men so your humiliation must be more your love must be stronger That is the first branch of the first Use 2 This may teach you to magnifie the riches and freenesse of Gods grace that God should cast an eye of grace and love upon such a wretch as thou wast that God should passe by such men as the strict Pharisee and pitch upon thee that God should not make thee as exemplary in punishment as thou wast in sin that thou shouldest be made a monument of his mercy who deserved to be a spectacle of wrath that God should make his mercy to rest upon thee that might cause his justice to take hold upon thee So much for the first Use 2 This Doctrine is usefull to men of a civil carriage of an honest and in-offensive behaviour in the world that have been religiously educated lived ingenuously that never broke out into such grosse and exorbitant courses as other men have done To you I would say three things 1 Whereas you say that you are of a more civill life then others and so you are apt to perswade your selves your case is better then others Consider others are more easily and ordinarily converted then you are Publicans go to heaven before you You read in Luke 18. 14. the Publican went away justified rather then the Pharisee Luther hath a notable glosse upon these words It is far more easie for harlots and notorious sinners to be saved then for proud titular Saints because the former are easily brought to a sense of their sins but the latter are like to perish in the conceit of their own righteousnesse except they be converted in an extraordinary manner This I speak not that I would disswade you from a civill course of life or draw you to in open profanenesse but that you may not rest upon your moral accomplishments upon your good meanings and think that you are sermon-proof that the Minister can hardly meet with your corruptions and consciences 2 If God doth convert such men usually they are not so eminent in grace then others This is expressed Luke 7. 43 c. He to whom most is forgiven loves most and doth most service Usually such content themselves with smaller measures of grace then they whose transgressions have exceeded 3 What thy sins want in bulk and magnitude thou makest up in number Your transgressions are many your back-slidings are increased Jerem. 5. 6. Thy continuance in sins makes thy sins equivalent to greater sins if your sins fall short of others in nature it may be they exceed in aggravations it may be thou sinnest against more mercy more knowledge it may be thou maiest have more sin in thine heart though anothers sins do more break out in his life So much for the second Use 3 This Doctrine is usefull to profane men to the looser sort 1 Let this be an invitation and incouragement to you to come in to Christ and to imbrace the Gospel 1 Though your sins be great yet they are not so great as the mercies of God The mercy of God is compared to a sea the sea you know is a very great deep A great Leviathan may be covered in the sea as well as a little fish a great rock as well as a little pebble A remarkable place you have Isa 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee The Sun can scatter both thick and thin clouds 2 Though thou hast been very sinfull yet thy conversion taketh away all infamy from thee Paul was once a blasphemer c. but that reproach was rolled away when through the grace of God he found mercy It is very observable that in the genealogy of Christ there are but four women mentioned it is not usuall to mention women in genealogies and the Scripture sets a mark of infamy upon them all The first is Thamar Matth 1. 3. she was an incestuous woman for she lay with her father in law as it is recorded Gen. 38. 38. The second is Rahab verse 5. she was an harlot Heb. 11. 31. The third is Ruth verse 5. she came of Moab the son of Lot by incest begotten of his own daughter Gen. 19. 37. The fourth is Bathsheb 1 vers 6. she was guilty of adultery This is done for the comfort and incouragement of the most infamous sinners to come in to Christ 3 If God call you you are likely to be greater instruments of his glory then others A persecuting Saul became a preaching Paul a wanton Mary became a weeping Mary she whose whoredomes had been spoken of in all the places where she dwelt afterward her grace came to be spoken of wheresoever the Gospel was preached So much for the first branch of that use 2 Because Doctrines of comfort many men suck poyson from and so get their ruine therefore I shall lay down a Caution or two Take heed you do not abuse this doctrine 1 Do not make the conversion of any scandolous sinner to be any stumbling block in your way to heaven It was the great stumbling block in the way of the Pharisees when they saw that Christ would eat
the Holy Ghost What was his end in desiring the Holy Ghost Was it to obtain a spiritual mercy No but it was that he might work miracles And further when Peter put him upon the begging of a spiritual mercy vers 22. pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee But Simon Magus followed not Peters rule he had no great desire of the pardon of sin or any spirituall mercy but he prayes That none of those things which Peter had spoken might come upon him vers 24. That is that his money might not perish nor he perish with it that his gifts might not perish this was his great request and desire 3. An holy importunity of Gods people is more in sensibleness of the inward affections of the heart then in the outward expressions of words Psal 38. 9. All my desire is before thee and my groanings are not hid from thee Davids heart panted and failed him vers 10. but not a word of expressions though his expressions were very good Rom. 8. 26. The spirit helps our infirmities with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered It is said Revel 5. 8. The four and twenty Elders had golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints They are called odours for their sweetnesse golden for their excellency and vials which are vessels of large extent in the belly but narrow mouthed The hearts of Gods people are like vials many times inlarged within when they are straitned in their words and expressions There are many times most dilated desires in the hearts of the Saints and yet they are so narrow mouthed that they are not able to utter But now it is otherwise with hypocrites they have more in the expression then in the action It was Gods complaint against the Jews of old They draw nigh to God with their lips when their hearts were far from him An hypocrite indeed performes duty but his duties never reach to his heart They are like a pot that is hot at the top but cold at the bottom 4. An holy importunity makes a man more inlarged before God in secret then before men in publike O my Dove that art in the clifts of the rock in the secret places of thy stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voyce and thy countenance is comely The voice of Christs Church is sweet even then when she is in secret when none but God beholds her Cant. 8. 13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens the companions harken to thy voice cause me to hear it But now an hypocrite doth never care to have any secret communion with God he cares not to pray alone and if hee bee brought to that hee takes no care of his heart he curbs not his thoughts all his care is in company popular applause and vain-glory is as the wind to the sails of a Ship that makes their affections move the faster An hypocrite in this regard may be resembled to a Nightingale which sings sweetess when any man stands neer her So carnal men when others are witnesses of their actions then they put forth the utmost of their ability They are of John's temper he was zealous onely upon that condition that others would see it 5. This holy importunity makes a godly man the more humble the more enlarged he is to prayer The reason is because he looks upon his enlargements not as coming from the strength of his natural parts or abilities but as the free-gift and gracious dispensation of Gods Spirit and so he sees he hath nothing whereof to boast and so it makes him low in his own eyes You know a violet that is one of the sweetest flowers growes lowest in the earth The fullest ears of corn do most hang down The fullest barrels make the least noise So the most gracious heart is the most low and vile in its own apprehensions is the nearest earth but dust and ashes The fuller he is of divine discoveries or enlargement the less boasting doth he make in the world A ship the heavier it is laden the lesse it is tost with winds and waves the more empty it is the more it is lifted up above the water so a man the more empty the more tost too and fro with every wind of applause Grace is as it were the balast of the soul to keep down a mans spirits and make him humble in the midst of wit and parts Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer Be sober and not puffed up do not boast of your enlargements Though it is true it doth refer to another thing yet Byfield refers it to prayer and he saith That man that prayes to God with most enlargednesse of affections towards God that man cannot but he must watch and be sober Sobriety is opposed to pride for a man may be dumb with his own gifts and graces and watchfulnesse is opposed to remisnesse and deadnesse and carelesnesse of spirit in the performance of duties Thus it is with a sincere man that hath this true importunity in him But now wicked men if ever they have enlargements in duty it puffs them up It is with them as it was with Uzziah 2 Chr. 26. 16. When God had helped him marvellously til he was strong But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction When God helps the soul of such a man in duty it makes him to lift up himself against God and be puffed up above his brethren 6. He that hath this holy importunity in him his desires are rather quickned then abated by denials You finde this in the woman of Canaan Matt. 15. 22. She cryed unto Christ saying Have mercy on me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grie vously vexed with a divel Jesus Christ takes no notice of her He answered her not a word vers 23. There is one discouragement One would have thought she would have dâ—â—sted but she prayed again and the Disciples besought him to send her away vers 23. There was another discouragement which would have knocked off the desires of many but she continues her request still Jesus Christ himself answers her I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel vers 24. There is a third discouragement and yet this doth not cool her affections but she comes afresh upon Christ she came and worshipped saying Lord help me vers 25. Yet she found another repulse and that worse then any of the former It is not meet to take the childrens bread and give it to doggs vers 26. Christ you see calls her a dog and yet all this doth not cast her off but she takes encouragement even from this discouraging answer And she said Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters table vers 27. She was resolved she would not give over till she got what she came for till Christ
and that is in these cases Answ 1 1. This is a mercy in case any of his people ask any thing that is sinful in it self God denies that to his people in mercy which he gives to others in wrath God will not alwaies give to his people what they pray for but what is best for them If God should give his people all they ask they would be undone It is mercy to deny a mad man a sword for he would cut his own throat with it To deny a child a knife for he would cut his fingers with it You have an instance in Peter Luke 5. 8. When Simon Peter saw him he fell down at Jesus his knees saying Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. Had Jesus Christ granted Peter his request he had been undone for ever Therefore he would not depart from him So that this denial was in mercy As on the other side it is a demonstration of Gods wrath many times when God doth grant mercies to wicked men So it was to Pharaoh he desired that God would remove the plagues from him God granted it thereby to harden Pharoahs heart and make him ripe for destruction 2. God denies in mercy if that we ask would be an occasion of sinne Suppose a man beg wealth God sees the having of wealth would make him a proud man Now the denial of that is a mercy to him As in the forementioned instance God would not let Isaac go down to Aegypt because it would have been an occasion of sin to him As he said very well God denies that in love which he grants in anger God doth not hear many in their desires that he may hear them for their good 3. God denies a prayer in mercy when he gives a better in lieu of it It was the desire of Moses that he might goe into the land of Canaan but it was better to him to goe to the heavenly Canaan and therefore God translated him thither So the Apostles desired Christ to tell them when he would restore the Kingdome to Israel He would not resolve them that yet he gave them a greater mercy for he gave them the holy Ghost So David desired the life of that childe that was illegitimate but God tooke away the bastard which would have been a living monument of Davids folly and gave him a Solomon God will either give us what we aske saith Bernard or what he knowes to be better for us 4. God may deny to returne this request in mercy to quicken our he'res and affections in prayer and to make us more eager in the pursuit after mercy God many times denies that mercy which thou beggest not as though he would not heare thee but to see how thy heart will be drawn out towards him in prayer to make thee more vehement and importunate in thy desires Thus God was angry with the prayers of his people Psal 80. 4. that they might be more fervent God doth not delay to heare our prayers saith Anselme because he hath no minde to give but that our desires may be kindled and so he may take occasion to give more plentifully 5. God may deny a thing in mercy if thou didst too eagerly desire the mercy and too affectionately set thine heart upon it if thou lovest it too much in the expetition thou wilt be excessive in the fruition Rachell had better wanted Children which she so impetuously desired for she had a childe and died in childe-bed God turnes mercies too passionately desired into curses and snares to us or else takes them away from us And so I have answered this second Question And that is the third and last particular I come now to application Use 1 Use 1. Consider this oh all you wicked and ungodly men Consider how far you are from having your prayers heard What will not a father heare his childe when he prayes to him coldly and remissely and will he heare a slave If God will 〈…〉 â—eare the remisse prayer of a god ly ma◠〈…〉 dost thou thinke he will heart the prayers of a wicked man If God will not heare his peoples prayers at all times notwithstanding they are in a state of friendship will God heare thy prayers oh wicked man that art in state of enmity against him If God will not heare the prayers of his own people which are sometimes his delight dost thou thinke he will heare thy prayers which are alwayes an abomination to him 2. This should put an holy awe upon the hearts of all godly men what though you are in a state of favour with God though this will carrie your soules to heaven yet this will not bring you a return of your prayers You must have your hearts rightly qualifyed before God will give a returne of thy prayers And thus much for the second doctrine and also for the negative condition I come now to the condition positive to which returnes of prayer are annexed Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs From which part of the text you may observe this doctrine Doct. 3 That the people of God must not content themselves with being in a state of favour and friendship with God but they must also labour after this holy importunity in prayer before they can have their prayer accepted In the handling of this doctrine I shall proceed in this method 1. I shall answer an objection that stands in the way 2. I shall shew what this importunity is 3. At what times God works this in his people 4. Wherein lies the difference between an holy importunity and a naturall importunity 5. What are the reasons why the people of God must have this importunity in prayer 6. How comes it to passe that so many want this holy importunity in their prayers 7. What helps may be used to attaine this servencie and importunity of spirit And then I shall apply it by way of Caution Obje 1 1. I must answer an objection which is this It may be some will say what need is there that this condition should be so much pressed what need is there of importunity in prayer Hath not God decreed what mercy to bestow vpon me if so then I am sure I shall have those mercies let me pray how I will and on the contrary if God hath not decreed to give me such a mercy I shall not have them let me pray never so well for the decree of God is effectuall irresistable and cannot be altered All mine importunity cannot alter the decree of God For answer to this I shall propound three things to your consideration 1. We have not to doe to search into the secret will of God we are to minde the revealed will of God and not the secret It concernes not us to know what God will doe but what God would have us to doe
I have dispatcht all those particulars propounded in the beginning I now come to the application of the point I shall apply it by way of Caution to prevent severall mistakes in the world about this holy importunity And there are two sorts of mistakes There are some that thinke they have this importunitie when they have it not And there are others that thinke they have not this importunitie when indeed they have it Both these mistakes I must labour to rectifie Caution 1 1. There are some that thinke they have this importunitie when they have it not Every man by nature is proud of his own parts and abilities and apt to thinke that he hath more grace then indeed he hath And here there are foure mistakes or if you will foure grounds of this great mistake Many conceit they have importunitie when indeed they have it not 1. Because they are fluent in their expressions in prayer 2. Because they have some stirring of the affections in prayer 3. Because God gives them the mercy they aske 4. Because they pray by heart and not by book Now all these are false grounds and therefore I shall endeavour to disprove them in order The first ground of this deceit is this There are some that conceive they have this importunitie because they have multitude of words and variety of expressions in prayer Now this is no just ground for a man to conclude that he hath this holy importunitie in foure cases 1. In case expressions come from the strength of naturall gifts and parts and not from saving grace A man may have a strong memory and volubilitie of tongue and good naturall abilities and yet all this while fall far short of this gracious importunitie 2. In case thou art full in expression but emptie in affection There are many men whose words doe outslip their hearts and their expressions exceed their affections So did they Isa 29. 13. For as much as this people draw neare mee with their mouth and with their lips doe honour me but have removed their heart far from mee Some men are like boyling water when it boiles fastest and boiles out of the top then there is nothing at the bottome All their prayers are at the top in their mouth and not in their heart and affections Their affections doe not carrie equipage with their words 3. In case thy importunate expressions be more used in company then in secret it is a signe thou haft not this holy importunitie but it comes from popular applause It is not so with the people of God Christ speaks to his people Cant. 8. 13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens the companions hearken to thy voice cause mee to heare it to shew that they should not onely pray and be importunate when the companions hearken to their voice when they are in company but even then when no eye sees them when no eare heares them when none is present but God alone God expects that we should pray in secret as well as in company 4. In case thy fluencie of expressions doe make thee conceited of thy selfe and of thy gifts and to sleight the gifts of other men this is an argument thou hast not this holy importunitie for that makes a man humble and low in his own eyes When a man comes to despise other men and exalt himselfe above his brethren this is a token thy importunitie comes not from a right principle And so I have disproved the first false ground upon which many conceit they have this importunity 2. Another false ground upon which men conceive they have this importunitie when they have not is this Because they finde in themselves some stirrings in their affections in prayer to God But this is no just ground for that opinion in these cases 1. In case thine affections are more stirred up for the removall of affliction upon thee then corruption within thee As it was with the Mariners in Jonah they cried mightily unto God but what was it for not that they might be delivered from their sins and corruptions but that God would bring them safe out of that tempest wherein they were 2. In case thine affections be kindled by a false Principle as by popular applause or vaine glory and not by the Spirit of God 3. In case thy affections are more drawn out after pardoning mercy then subduing grace A man whose conscience is awakened may be so far rouzed with the feare of hell that he may be very earnest to have sin pardoned out of a meere principle of selfe-love 4. If these stirrings be fading There are many that have a flushing in their affections that have no standing affections in their hearts They are like a man in a fever that when the distemper is on him he may be stronger by farre then he is in his ordinary course now this is not the naturall strength of the man but onely the violence of his distemper and the decay of nature Just so the violence that some men have doth not argue a strength of grace but a decrease of grace rather And so much for the second ground of that mistake A third ground upon which many mistake is this Because God gives them the mercy they aske Now they thinke God would not give them what they ask if he did not hear and accept their prayers But neither is this a good ground and that for these reasons 1. God may give you mercy not as a returne of prayer but as a fruit of his generall providence whereby he doth take care for all his creatures God giveh meat even to the Ravens that crie unto him The Lord gives to every thing their meat in due season God heares the cries of the meanest of all his creatures in the time of need 2. God may hear thee and grant thy request in wrath and not in mercy So it was with the Israelites they were weary of that government that God had set over them and they were very importunate to have a King Nothing would satisfie them but a King They refused to heare the voice of Samuel and said nay but we will have a King Well God heares their request and grants it and gives them a King Might they thence conclude surely their prayers were accepted of God because God did give them what they desired No God tells us the quite contrary Hosea 13. 11. I gave thee a King in mine anger So in the 78. Psal The Israelites were very desirous of meat God heard them Verse 29. 30 31. So they did eat and were filled for he gave them their own desire They were not estranged from their lust but while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them and smote down the chosen men of Israel So that Gods giving of a man the mercie he wants is no argument to a man to conclude that God accepts his prayers 3. If God hath heard thee
relieve his people and to supply their spiritual wants Among the wants of Gods people this is one that we do not know what we need nor what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. Therefore God supplies our wants not onely in what we ask but in what we want though we do not ask it nor pray for it So much for the Reasons I come now to answer some objections Object 1 But some may say What priviledge hath a godly man more then a wicked man to have more to be given him then he doth ask seeing we read of wicked men that they do prosper in the world and have more then heart can wish Psal 73. I answer Answ 1 1. It is true in temporal mercies God may give wicked men more then the godly and more then their heart can wish but God doth not give them spiritual mercies As we may see in Balaam God gave Balaam honours and riches but Balaam cried our O that I might dye the death of the righteous This God did not grant him So many wicked men do say in a general way Lord pardon my sins God doth not hear them It may be a child of God may ask of God temporal mercies and God will give him spiritual mercies this is more then he did ask and that much better then he gives to wicked men 2. Though God doth give unto wicked men more then their hearts can wish yet God doth not give it as any return of prayer but onely as fruits of general and common providence as they are his creatures whom he will preserve 3. God may give wicked men more then their hearts can wish and this is not in mercy but in wrath They may receive mercies but not as mercies not in mercy And there are four demonstrations when God hears a man in wrath 1. When he asks any thing of God that is sinful in its own nature as the denial of it is an act of mercy so the grant of it is a fruit of Gods anger God doth many times give those things in his anger which he denies when he is well pleased God will not hear his own people according to their wills but according to his own will It is in this case as it is with a father when his child for want of knowledg asks a knife of him by which he may cut his fingers the father will not give him the knife except it be in wrath So a man may ask mercies at the hand of God and it may be God will give them in wrath to cut themselves with them 2. If you ask those things of God which though they are not sinful in their own nature yet if thy asking of these lawful things be to an unlawful end God will deny these in mercy and when he gives them it is in wrath As if thou desirest temporal mercies to abuse them to drunkenesse or to live in any other sin and wickednesse if God give thee those mercies t is as a testimony of his wrath to thee So it was in the 78. Psalm v. 18. They tempted God in their hearts and asked meat for their lust There was the end of their desires They desired a lawful thing for unlawful ends But what followed The wrath of God For while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God came upon them vers 30 31. 3. If you ask any thing of God and he gives it in wrath you may know by this if it be an occasion of sin to thee it is given thee in wrath So it was with the Israelites even now mentioned the meat that God gave them proved an occasion of sin vers 32. they sinned still and believed not his wondrous works When the mercies you enjoy becomes fuel to your lusts those mercies are accompanied with the curse and wrath of God and this using of mercies will turn to the aggravation of wrath 4. Mercies are given thee in wrath when the enjoyment of them hinders thee from the receit of greater mercies from God Thus it was with the Devils Matth. 8. 31 32. They besought Christ that they might go into the Herd of Swine Christ granted them that he let them enter into swine that they might not enter into men When the giving of temporal mercies hinders thee from the receit of spiritual mercies they are given in wrath There are many men to whom God gives temporal mercies they have riches in abundance pleasure at will every thing they can desire but these mercies take off their thoughts and affections from better things by getting these they loose Christ and grace immortality and eternal happinesse Now in these cases though God doth give mercies yet they are given in wrath and so notwithstanding this objection the priviledg of Gods people is much greater then the priviledg of wicked men But it may be further objected and enquired If this be so that mercies are given to wicked men in wrath and by a common providence How may I know when mercies come to me as returns of prayers Now I shall answer that in these particulars Answ 1 1. Mercies are returns of prayer when the receiving of mercy is a means to quicken the heart to beg for other mercies at the hands of God when the mercy shall make thee more to love prayer more to use prayer This you finde proved by Davids experience Psal 116. 2. Because he hath heard my voice therefore will I call upon him as long as I live You see here because God had heard Davids prayer and given him the mercy he begged he makes an argument and an engagement to himself to pray as long as hee lived So that to continue prayer is a means to get more mercy and the leaving off of prayer when you have a mercy is a means to loose that which you have obtained at the hands of God But as for the wicked it is not so with them Mercies received onely from a common or general providence have no such efficacy as you may see Job 21. 7 8 c. there Job tells you the wicked live become old yea mighty in power Their seed is established in their sight with them and their off-spring before their eyes Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them Their bull gendereth and faileth not their cow calveth and casteth not her calf And so he goes on describing that happy condition that wicked men were in and how God followed them with mercy after mercy Well what was the effect of this Did this engage them to call upon God Did this make them in love with prayer No it had a quite contrary effect vers 14. Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy waies And vers 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him 2. Mercies that are given
desire And when the time of the Bond was almost out he being much troubled in his minde came to Luther and told him what he had done and what was like to befal him upon it Whereupon Luther called the Church together and kept a solemn Fast in the behalf of the young man And whilest that Luther was in prayer being earnest with God there was a great noise heard amongst them and the Bond was cast into the lap of Luther in the midst of the Congregation And so for time to come the young man did lead an holy and godly life 7. And lastly Mercies are given as answers of prayers in case you make care and conscience to perform to God those vowes which you made to God before you did enjoy the mercy But when we promise God largely before we have the mercy and when we have them do not perform our vowes it is an argument we have the mercies by general and common providence Job 22. 27 28. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt pay thy vowes thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon thy wayes When thou begest a mercy and saiest Lord give me such a mercy and I will do thus and thus I will walk so and so before thee I will improve them to thy glory Now when thou shalt thus ask for mercy and make vowes to God he will hear but then thou must be sure to perform thy vowes This frame of heart we finde to be in David Psal 66. 13 14. I will go into thine house with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vowes which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble You see David was in trouble and he prayed to God and made some promises and vowes in case God would deliver him Now God did deliver him out of trouble and hee did make good his vowes Now here was a return of prayer David you see did not grow secure and carelesse but he made conscience to pay what he had promised to God And so you see how you may discover whether the mercies you receive from God be returns of prayer or onely fruits of common and general providence And so much for Answer to that Question Another Objection or case of conscience is this How can this be true that God gives his people more then they need seeing it is the complaint of Gods people many times that they have been a long time begging mercy and God doth not give them so much as they desire Many say I pray for pardon of sin and I cannot get it pardoned and the pardon sealed I pray daily for power against my corruptions and yet I cannot get my lusts subdued What then shall I think of my prayers may some poor soul say Now to this I shall lay down several things by way of answer Answ 1 1. It must be considered that God many times gets glory by the denials of his people yea he gets more glory by denying then by the granting of a mercy And if the denying of a mercy to thee be the way to advice Gods glory it is better that God should have his glory and thou be without the mercy then that thou shouldst have the mercy and God want his glory An eminent instance of this you have Joh. II. There was a prayer made by Mary and Martha for their brother Lazarus And they came unto Jesus and said he whom thou lovest iâ— sick But Jesus said This sicknesse is not unto death but for the glory of God When Jesus Christ heard that he was sick yet he staied two dayes in the place where he was though he loved Martha and he loved Lazarus yet he stayed two dayes and would not go to him but in the 14. verse Christ said plainly Lazarus is dead And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent that you might believe But they said unto him Lord if thou hadst been here he had not dyed Christ came and commanded them to role the stone away Martha answered He hath been four dayes in the grave and by this time be stinketh This was that that Christ aimed at Christ knew that it was greater glory to him to raise the dead out of the grave then to raise him out of the bed of sicknesse The power of his Godhead did more appear in the former then in the latter And when Martha told him He stinketh Jesus answered Said I not unto thee if thou didst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God that is thou shouldst see the power of my Godhead This was the end of Christs denying of mercy though it was earnestly desired 2. I answer It may be thou dost not hear God in his commands and then it is no wonder God doth not hear thee in thy prayers If thou dost not hearken to the call of God it may be expected that God should not hearken to thy call See Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded Compared with verse 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me Mic. 3. 4. Then shall they cry unto the Lord but he will not hear them he will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings Zach. 7. 13. Therefore it is come to passe that as he cryed and they would not hear so they cryed and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts It may be God hath been calling upon thee this many years to believe and to repent to be reformed to forsake the evil of your doings and thou hast not heatd his calling his mercies have not drawn thee his judgements have not affrighted thee and is it not just with God to let thee call and he not hear thee 3. It may be thou dost ask but sleightly and therefore thy prayers are not successful As it is with a man that asketh any thing of another man sleightly and coldly he doth as it were desire him to say him nay So when man askes mercies of God carelessly and indifferently this provokes God to give no answer It may be thou prayest sleepily and drouzily and with a wandring heart And dost thou think God will hear that prayer that thou dost not hear thy self Dost thou think that God will accept of that prayer when thou knowest not what thou sayest 4. God may give thee a mercy and thou through thy incredulity impatiency and inobservancie not minde the returns that God gives God may hear thy prayers and yet thou not take any notice of it This you may see in Job Job 9. 16 17. If I have called and God answered yet I will not believe that God hath heard me because thou breakest me with
thy tempest Job was in a fit of impatiency and unbelief And though God did give him returns of prayer yet hee would not did not observe them 5. God may deny thee the mercy not that he is unable or unwilling to hear thee or relieve thee but to make thee the more desirous of and so the more fit for mercy It may be yet thou art not fit for an answer The Philosopher beg'd some mony of Antigonus he gave him a Drachme He said It is not for a King to give so little a Talent had been a more sutable gift The King replied Though a Talent is fit for me to give yet thou art not fit to receive So though God is alwaies fit and ready to give an answer to our prayers yet we are not alwaies fit and ready to receive it God bids us open our mouths wide and I will fill it God denies us that we may open our mouths the wider and enlarge our desires the more after mercy The Lord doth by his people as a father by his child a father may seem to withdraw and hide himself from his child to try its love to him and the child begins to mourn and cry yet the father comes not to the child but when he hears the child cry aloud then he comes to it and takes it up in his arms So the Lord many times sees his people pray but he seems to withdraw from them to hide himself from the prayers of his people and goes as it were out of their sight until they begin to cry aloug to be very earnest and importunate in their prayers till their desires be enlarged towards God and then God graciously returns their prayers into their bosom Now this is a very good reason why God denies the prayers of his people Desires defer'd grow the stronger but if the mercies be soon given the desires grow cold and the mercy growes contemptible Mannah lightly come is lightly set by God doth by us as a Fisher-man doth he drawes back the bait that so the Fish may come after it the more eagerly and bite the harder God seemes to draw back a mercy that wee may more earnestly pursue it 6. Consider this that Gods people have prayed and waited a long time before God hath given them the mercy they have asked before God hath given them an answer of their prayers God promised Abraham a son that from him should proceed such an one in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed that his seed should be multiplyed as the starres in the firmament and yet it was fifteene yeares betweene the time of Gods making him that promise and the accomplishment of it So likewise you finde it in Zacbariab and Elizabeth they prayed for a Childe at the first beginning of their marriage now God did heare their cryes and prayers yet he did not give them a returne till they were old and stricken in yeares So likewise it was with the Church Lament 3. vers 8. Also when I cry and shout be shutteth out my prayer And ver 44. Thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayers should not passe through So also it was Hab. 1. 2. O Lord how long shall I cry and thou wilt not heare It was also the complaint of holy David Psal 22. 1 2. My God my God why hast thou for saken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent 7. God may not onely deferre or deny to heare his peoples prayers but in some times and cases be angry with the prayers of his people Psal 80. 4. O Lord God of hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the prayers of thy people So Job 30. 20 21. I cry unto thee and thou doest not heare me I stand up and thou regardest me not thou art become cruell to me with thy strong hand thou opposest thy selfe against me 8. Consider this for thy comfort that thy person may be accepted and thy prayers heard and yet the thing thou prayest for not granted to thee An instance of this you have in Christ himselfe he prayed Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26. yet this cup did not passe from him but he did drink of it and yet it is said that Christ was heard in all that he prayed for Heb. 5. 7. Deut. 3. ver 23. I be sought the Lord at that time saith Moses and ver 26. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes and would not heare me and the Lord said unto me let it suffice thee speake no more to me of this matter Moses did importunately desire that hee might see the Land and goe over Jordan to possesse it Moses was a godly man and here he prayes for this mercy but yet God was angry with him bad him pray no more God bad him goe up into the Mount and see the Land but told him he should not goe over So when thou askest a particular mercy at the hand of God God may deny them that mercy and yet heare their prayers and accept their persons 9. God may deny thee the mercy thou askest and give thee a better in the roome of it he makes you to open your mouthes the wider that he may give you the greater mercies Abraham prayed that Ishmael might live Now God did not heare his prayer in that as Abraham did desire it but he gave him Isaac and with him he established the Covenant which was a better mercy Moses was denied in his request to go into Canaan but he was translated into a better place into the true Canaan the Kingdome of heaven 10. God may denie what we pray for in mercy which should he grant it would be a token of his wrath as if a man should aske that which was sinfull or that which would be an unavoydable occasion of sin or if he should aske it for sinfull ends or in case a man ask that that would be a monument of his shame all which cases I have spoken to before and therefore shall now say no more 11. God may heare another mans prayers for thee though he will not heare thine owne This is a great comfort to every poore weake Christian in the world they have a stock of prayers going for them to the throne of grace You reade in Job chap. 42. that God forbad his three friends to pray but bad Job pray for them and told him that he would heare him for them ver 8 9. goe to my 〈…〉 and offer up for your selves a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept least I deale with you after your folly in that you have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job And they did as God