God for mercy may not yet enter into his Eates For this reason Let us cry unto the Lord. And as we must thus imitate their behaviour in misery so the next is their Remedy which likewise muâ—â— be ours They cast their burthen upon the Lord knowing full well that he was able to help them being the Lord and as willing as able because their God In treating of which the utmost of my intent shall be to divide such shares of sorrow among you as that your very soules may be even cut asunder wâ—thin you being indeed your onely remedy in trouble and the onely way to appease your angry God for the broken and contrite heart he will not dispise And therefore let us sigh and weep and cry unto the Lord. As the cause of this Peoples misery was Famine so their case in regard of any Earthly succour that could be expected was helplesse and remedilesse For the Heavens were become as Brasse and the Earth as Iron unto them the Lord their God who comprehends all in his Fist had withheld from them the bottles of Heaven and stopped the spouts of Raine now being ready to dye with hunger they mingle their Bread with weeping seeking to relieve themselves by tears and groans And cry unto the Lord. Hence the Point is this Obs That godly sorrow and holy affliction is the best remedy in any sorrow and affliction whether it be from Men from Sathan or from God himselfe whether it be in Body Estate Name Mind or soule of a Man whether it be on particular Persons or on our Selves or on our Friends or those that are about us or on the whole Land as on Church or Common wealth This is the most soveraigne Remedy in all distresse and extremity whatsoever this inward godly griefe is a salve for every sore and a playster for every wound To Weep and Cry and poure out our Hearts before God is the course that this people here took and that which we must take in the like or any other ealamity and according to the measure of the affliction and as it is more publick or private so must be the measure of our lamentation To this there is a promise made in Isaiah Isa 61.1.2.3 That when our Hands cannot help our selves nor our Tongues prevaile with others yet then we may relieve our selves by our Prayers unto God for in that place the Lord undertaketh that Mourners shall be comforted And there is great cause why God should so deale with such kind of Persons For first He is full of pitty and compassion and therefore the Prophet Joel bids us Joel 2.13 Rent our Hearts and not our Garments that is bring inward sorrow that may crush and breake the Heart and then turne unto the Lord which if we doe we shall be sure of reliefe because the Lord is mercifull saith he and our God is ready to forgive When we see our Children weeping mourning and consessing their faults we cannot but have our bowels of compassion carning towards them what shall we then thinke of God He is our Father we are his Children and be is farre more mercifull then we can be for he hath no other bowels then the bowels of compassion and therefore when we Mourne in an holy manner certainly he will arise and have mercy upon us he cannot slay when he sees our Eyes full of Teares and our Hearts full of sorrow for the sighs and groanes of his people will not let him have rest in Heaven Secondly This godly mourning must needs be a speciall remedy in all manner of afflictions because it makes our Prayers very forcible it sets an edge upon our Petitions and makes us pray heartily servently and strongly When Jacob wept in his Prayer Hos 12 4. it was so effectuall that he prevayled When Gods people joyned together to poure forth buckets full of Teares drawne from the bottome of their Hearts before the Lord 1 Sam 7.6 they were marvellously helped for the great measure of their Teares made their supplication more servent And therefore when our Saviour was about the principall point of his Mediatorship then did he gather strength unto himselfe by this means He did offer up Prayers with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death Heb. 5.7 Thirdly This godly sorrow must needs be very effectuall because it is exceeding forcible against sin for when sorrow comes into the Heart sin goes out it will not lodge there unlesse it be cockered and much made of When every one laments his iniquity and mourns over Christ Jesus whom by his sinnes he hath pierced then there is a Fountaine opened to wash us all from our sins that have made a wicked separation betwixt us and our God And seeing then that this godly sorrow is a means to make God pitty us and to make us call earnestly upon him and to expell sin which might hinder us from prevayling with him it must needs follow That of all remedies in time of distresse this is the best and surest Since sorrow is our onely safery and the best and surest remedy in distresse Let us a little reflect upon our selves and miseries and apply this soveraigne Balme to all our wounds There are many afflictions abroad at Sea Ships taken Merchants spoyled goods seized Marriners imprisoned many at home in our Townes nay in our owne Families as losses erosses sicknesses diseases parting with friends discontents nay there are many things amisse in our owne Hearts and here is medicine for every one of our maladies Let us then get it and use it and all arguments and helps that may continue and increase it Thus the Ninevites when Jonah threatned distruction against their City within forty dayes they humbled and abased themselves and fell to mourning and used Fasting to help it forward and to further them to this remorse and griefe for their great and hainous transgressions they had grieved the Lord by their iniquities and therefore now they would grieve themselves with contrition for them and neglect no means to further them in the worke of humiliation Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. They Proclaime a Fast they put on Sackcloth from the greatest to the least they neither eat nor drinke they cry mightily unto God and every man turnes from his evill way and from the wickednesse that is in their hands And when God saw that they turned from their evill wayes than God repented of the evill that he said he would doe unto them and he did it not And since we of this Nation have seen and felt affliction and justly may feare danger to be neer us still let us betake our selves to this mourning if we refuse to doe it and shall continue to be hard-hearted suppose the devouring bloud-letting Sword should come againe into our Land suppose the Plague like a loaden spunge should come flying through our Townes and Countries sprinkling poyson wheresoever she comes suppose pale meager
that are his he corrects but for a time but his anger never asswageth towards the reprobate though for a long time he deferre And therefore grudge not to see the wicked flourish like a green Bay-tree for a time passe but by a little and upon your return his place will not be found for God holds not the wicked innocent But for you though you be afflicted here you shall be comforted hereafter for through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of Heaven This is the Kings high-way to happinesse and there is not a Saint in Heaven but hath led this way and beaten this path before us For Stones cannot be squared for Pallaceworke without the stroke of the Hammar and we must be content to endure the stroaks of Gods Hammar of afflictions that we may be polished and squared and made lively Stones fit to be layd in the Heavenly Jerusalem What matters it then to see Dives here flant it in Purple and fare deliciously every day when at last he must be tormented in flames while hunger-starved Lazarus though afflicted here yet his comfort is hereafter and is transported from the Porch of a Tyrant to the Bosome of Abraham Besides though God useth many wayes to bring us home unto him yet none more then affliction It was Hunger that drove the Prodigall home to his Father And surely nothing so opens the Eyes of the soule as misery and trouble O how correction opens those Eyes which prosperity kept shut O how often doth the paining of the Body work the saving of the Soule O how often doe missortunes like the Rungs in Jacobs Ladder serve to mount out soules up to Heaven Let God then wound us so he will but heale us let him strik our Bodies with sicknesse with sores with restraint so he will but with these wounds heale out Soules Let come what will come so it but chase us to God drive us home to his House end in Prayer and make us cry unto the Lord. 10. But still the afflicted soule goeth on and sayeth Though God tell us that he holds not the wicked iunocent and will not surely cleare them but ordains them for judgement and reserves them for correction yet we dayly see that they doe not onely flourish here in this world but goe to their graves in peace and are not to any outward appearance in trouble like other men Well saith God in the tenth or last place Say they doe yet will I meet with them in their Children and punish their sins in their posterity Visiting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children and upon their Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation they shall be sure to tast of the bitter Cup of Gods wrath here as their Fathers doe in Hell Thus if this name of God in these ten severall properties were but rightly understood and applyed were it but as oyntment poured out and spread upon our hearts there is nothing in distresse nothing in trouble nothing in misery could hinder us from crying to the Lord considering he is strong mereifull gracious abundant in goodnesse and truth and forgiving iniquity transgression and sin c. But without any further enlargement upon these proparties in their severall particulars I will onely clap them altogether and make Application and so hasten you again to the House of Mourning to cry unto the Lord. Is the Lord thus strong and mercifull and gracious c. then why should a Christian trouble himselfe at any thing that befals him here Hath he crafty enemies let him goe cry to the Lord for direction his wisedome is infinitely beyond their policy Hath he strong enemies let him goe cry to the Lord he is mightier and stronger then they all In a word hath he any outward affliction or inward corruption that doth annoy or trouble him let him goe cry to the Lord and have recourse to his God and there he shall find remedy for all nay whatsoever mans ease be if he hut seek the Lord he shall have help Psal 145.18.19 So sayes that Princely Prophet God is neer to all that call upon him yea to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desire of them that feare him he also will heare their cry and will save them And though their hearts be so oppressed that they can utter no words that 's no matter God will have respect to their very desires and surely their teares speak highest and their sighs cry loudest in the Ears of God Let us then groane for a broken heart and sigh and fob and weep and cry Cry unto the Lord. Thus having done with this peoples behaviour in the time of Famine and likewise with the Remedy they used they east their burthen upon the Lord as also with the Motives inducing them thereunto because he is able being the Lord and willing because their God Let us now close up all in our mourning garments and robing our soules with the inward sackcloth of sorrow not onely Pray but Weep nor Weep alone but Cry Cry unto the Lord. From whence the Point is this They who would not have God to shut his eares against their Prayers must be sure that they not onely Pray but Cry and that their Petitions proceed from a broken heart and an humble spirit For till the heart be even pulled in pieces by godly sorrow and rent in sunder with godly griefe sin and lust will not out and then there can be no acceptance looked for from God either of us or of our services The sacrifice of God saith David Psal 51.17 is a sorrowfull spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Mar. 7.35 And therefore did Christ groane in his Spirit when he Prayed for that poor man in the Gospel So did Hannah sigh and weep sore 1 Sam. 1.15 and poured out her soule before God And there is good reason to move us to labour thus to be inwardly touched for till we have a sense and feeling of our wants we may well speak but we can never Pray till the heart be pained with sin its impossible it should be fervent for the pardon of it He that hath no feeling of poverty cannot earnestly intreat for a supply of his necessities He that hath no feeling of his sicknesse can never be an instant suiter for the means of health So he that hath no feeling of his spirituall poverty can never covetously hunt after those true treasures which onely enrich his soule to all eternity And he that hath no sense of his sin-sick soule can never seek to that true Physitian who onely can apply Physicke to his bleeding heart and sin-sick burthened soule This serves for the reproofe of those that come with drowsie verball Prayers those that come with words of course to intreat God to pardon their sins and strengthen their Faith but never poure out their soules before God but onely spend a little breath and they
Body but also dismember it in the Common-weale making so many Factions as there are Functions in the Church so many fancies as men and as many opinions as fancies and to that height of impiety some are arrived as that being Christs Free-men they ought not to be subject to any but are set free by Christ from the observation of Fasts or Feasts appointed by the Prince or Governour and not submitting to the Government under which they live will hold fast their liberty purchased by Christ though the appointment of them by the Governour be onely for the assembly of Gods people and that upon speciall occasions for the exercises of the Word and Prayer without placing the worship of God or any force of Religion in the observation of them or without any opinion of holinesse in those dayes more then other dayes And thus the Church of England did ever observe Holy-dayes Fasts or Feasts and no otherwise and yet did not fore goe their liberty purchased by Christ I might give way to my Discourse in this and enlarge it to a Volume but I had rather mourn for this kind of people the onely troublers of our English Israel then meddle with them But to you that are peaceable in Israel willingly submitting your selves to the Government under which God hath placed you and that for Conscience sake know you that it is lawfull for the Dominator or Governour to appoint a Fast or day of Hamillation and you are bound to obey For the lawfulnesse of their Edicts I need not stand at all upon it it hath ever been used by Princes of all Ages for which I might produce clouds of witnesses but search you the Scriptures and trace all the Kings For our obedience to their commands know that we are bound to obey them in their absolute commands so far forth as they are warranted by the Word of God And for this let that praecept of St. Paul serve for all Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13.14 Let every soule be subject to the higher Powers and if every soule then no man is free And again Submit your selves to all manner of Ordinance of man for the Lord sake whother it be unto the King as unto the Superiour or unto Governors as unto them that are sent of him So that people that obey not the wholesom Laws of the Magistrate sin greatly and if any refuse to be ordered by them Rom. 13.2 they resist the Ordinance of God and are specially threatned that they shall receive to themselves damnation And thus have I showed you That Princes or Governours may in the time of War or other Judgement enjoyne us a Fast and Proclaime a solemne assembly to the end we may testifie our Humiliation and better attend on the exercises of the Word and Prayer and that we are to obey them but withall in keeping of a Fast let these cautions be observed 1. That our Fasting be voyd of superstition and that we place no worship of God in it but hold it onely as an help to further us in the duties of Religion 2. That we have no opinion of merit by it that thereby we merit forgivenesse of sins increase of grace or the like 3. That we hold it not of absolute necessity 4. Lastly That it be without breach of the rule of charity either hurting our selves or making us thereby unfit for good duties or giving offence to others such as are weak in knowledge causing them to call our Christian liberty into question rather Informing them that the Magistrate hath power to enjoyn and we are bound to obey who by his Authority doth not take away the use of the things we abstain from but onely orders and moderates the same The like may be said for Feasts dayes of Thanksgiving or holy dayes but I passe them onely I could wish That every one of you would keep every day a Christian Feast even every day holy day which you may doe by purposing every day to avoyd all and every sin and by setting your selves every houre of the day in the sight of God and walking as before him carefully and conscionably in all good duties and so doing you shall keep a good Conscience and that the wife man tels us Prev 15 15. is a continuall feast even every day holy day And now being fully resolved That the King or Governour may Lawfully enjoyn us a Publick Fast in the time of extremity or any common calamity whereby we may testifie our Humiliation with out the least opinion of meriting forgivenesse of our sins the causes of all our miseries and that he may Proclaim a solemn assembly and that we are to obey not with any opinion of holinesse in the time but that the appointed day is for the assembly and holy convocation of Gods people for the exercise of the Word and Prayer Let us all then as at all times so especially upon these dayes of Humiliation set a part turne unto the Lord our God with fasting weeping and mourning and cry unto the Lord to spare this Nation and command his destroying Angel to sheath his Sword and cease from punishing that there may be no more complaining no more leading into captivity Let us implore Gods gracious power to withdraw his angry moved hand against us and let us beg of the God of mercy to stay his further dreadfull vengeance and threatned punishments from any further displaying horrour throughout all our Nation And for that purpose Let us run to our place of refuge the House of the Lord upon the feet of Prayer and there cry unto the Lord to spare this Land to spare this People to spare us from the Sword c. The occaâ—ion or cause of the fast The next is the occasion or cause of this Fast and that if you please to look into the verses foregoing the Text you will find to be a great Plague of Famine for the space of no lesse thou foure years Ver. 20.11.12.13 Their field wasted theâ—◠〈◊〉 mourning their corne destroyed their vines dryed up their oyle 〈◊〉 their harvest perished all the trees of the field withered and joy withered away from the Sons of Men So that just cause had they to lament and howle and lye in sackcâ—oâ—h and ashes nay in dust and ashes But should I prosecute my weak apprehensions in this I should but draw the Treatise beyond a just extent Let it suffice That their Land was russeted with a bloodlesse Famine a dreary punishment Heavens curse and the engine of destruction which doth bring terrour to mortals death to all things and therefore good cause had they to call a solemne assembly to sanctifie a Fast to gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the house of the Lord their God and there cry unto the Lord. And as theirs was Famine so the cause of our solemne assemblies or dayes of Humiliation for some years by-past hath been Warre and the worst of Wars a civill
thinks would bring us to this principle namely That our Consciences may be pure and sound and that we exercise our selves in shewing brotherly kindnesse one to another for if this order be duely observed then Fasting added thereto will be pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. The Fast that God hath chosen is To deale thy bread to the hungry to cloth the naked c. For as in the observing of a Fast as you had before we must not onely doe good but shun evill so we must not onely abstain from doing wrong to the poor from laying heavy yokes and knots upon them but we must shew our selves liberall and lowly towards the afflicted and such as stand in need of our help For there are two parts of equity and justice first That we offer no man any wrong Secondly That we imploy our riches and goods towards the maintenance of them that are in want and necessity and these two parts must be joyned together for it is not enough to abstaine from violent courses unlesse therewithall we shew mercy in releeving our poor brethrens wants Neither is it sufficient to succour one if you rob from some to bestow upon others for we must not releeve our neighbours wants by Thefts and Pillages and if thou hast committed any injustice cruelty or extortion though oughtest not to make amends by calling in God to thee as if thou wouldest make him partner with thee of thy spoyles It is necessary then you see that these two parts of equity and justice by joyned together if we would have God to approve and allow of our Charity First We must offer no man wrong Secondly We must imploy our riches and goods towards the maintenaâ—â—e of them that are in want we must together with abstainâ—ng from violent courses shew mercy in releeving our poor brethrens wants Dost thou fast then deale thy bread to the hungry for this the fast that God hath chosen and indeed true Religion standeth chiefly in Charity to the poor James 1.27 To visit the Fatherlesse and Widow for love is set forth in sundry places as the chiese of all graces especially in the first of the Corintians the thirteenth to the end of the Chapter Now where there are no acts of Charity no giving of Almes to the poor there can be no love 1 Iohn 3.17 as Saint John largely proveth Almesdeeds therefore to feed the hungry to cloth the naked to distribute and give of our goods to the poor is greatly required both in the Old and New Testament Deut. 15.7.8 Moses chargeth the people of Israel often To give and to lend freely to their poor brethren Psal 112.5 David describeth the righteous man by this That he is mereifull and distributeth and scattereth abroad Pâ—ov 19.17 Solomon makes the Lord his Debtor that giveth to the poor saying He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. Isa 58.7 And Isaiah bids to bring the poor wandring into thine house and to break thy bread to the hungry Mat. 5.7 c. See Christ blessing the mereifull and commanding to give to him that asketh and not to turn away from the pool that would borrow and acknowledgeth the receipt of whatsoevel is given to the poor as if it were given unto himself Mat. 25.35 For I was hungry and ye gave me meat naked and ye clothed me c. And to move us hereunto first Let us consider that it is Gods command of whose gift it is that we enjoy any thing Secondly The poor be our brethren yea our own flesh Isay 58.7 then hido not thy face from thine own flesh It s inhumanity me thinks to disdaine and despise those in whom we are forced to acknowledge our own Image for howsoever the rich may account of the poor the poor by nature is as good as the rich the rich are no better then they they are all alike by nature So Nehemiah Nehem. 5.5 Our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren and our sons as their sons and though they be brought in subjection they and their children their lands and their vineyards yet here is their happinesse the Lord is their portion and Heaven their Inheritance Lazarus shall passe from the Paws of Dogs to the Hands of Angels from the Porch of a Tyrant to the Bosome of Abraham Thirdly Let the rich help the poor and the poor will help the rich But perhaps some will say We stand no need of Beggars help yes sure thou standest in need of their Prayers and pitty hath ever a Prayer for him that stands in need of it Let the rich then releeve the poor and the poor will pray for the rich for this is the reason why God made some men rich and some men poor he made the rich men his sons and heires here upon Earth to the end that their younger brethren the poor might have their secure sustenance and he made the poor men heires of Heaven that the rich might have there their secure happinesse So that the rich by relâ—eving the poor and the poor by praying for the rich might both by Gods favour have equall portions in Heaven God made some rich and some poor that the abundance of the rich might supply the wants of the poor and the abundance of the poor supply the wants of the rich and so their for might be alike Take it in the Apostles words 2 Cor. 8.14 Vt vestra abandantia that your abundance may supply their want and their abundance may be for your want that there way be equallity Saint Chrysostome saith That God did not create the rich to relieve the poor but the poor that the rich might not be barren of good works and if the Clouds be full they will poure forth raine upon the Earth the rich man must be like a Cloud if he have abundance let him distribute it liberally Fourthly To give to the poor is a means to thrive the better because thus we obtain Gods blessing to the doubling and multiplying of what we give for pitty was ever profitable to them that used it Cast thy bread upon the Waters after a few dayes thou shalâ— find it Give to the poor and though it seem to be as a thing ventured at Sea yet it shall bring the profit even such profit as is beyond esteem unspeakable joy and a Kingdom without a change And here it may be enquired since we must give to the poor first Who ought to give Secondly How much Thirdly To whom And fourthly In what manner For the first Who ought to give My answer is That every one who is not a receiver of Almes ought to be a giver of Almes It is true indeed That this duty is first and chiefly commended to the rich 1 Tim. 6.17.18 1 John 3.17 Luke 12.33 2 Cor. 8.14 But our Lord Jesus Christ goeth further and commandeth That if a man have two Coats to give to him that hath none and he
reason of the heate of the Plague or at least by reason of the heate of the Plague of sinne fly unto this place Here be the waters of comfort here are wells enough to be drawne off to coole the heate of a thirsting soule This is the Place which God hath Proclaimed to the World That if the heavy laden will but come he will ease them if the thirsty will but come he will refresh them O ye Righteous souls who in the time of Warre are in continuall feare and danger of your bodies imprisoning of your goods plundering of your sons butchering of your daughters deflouring and of the pouring forth of your blood like water upon the ground and not onely the perpetuall enslaving of you and your posterity but that which is worst of all the violating of your Consciences by Oaths and Ingagements at the will of the Conquerour fly unto this House here be the Armes and Armory of the strong men and when you cry your Enemies shall turne backe O ye Righteous souls who in the time of Famine are ready to dye for hunger having pale and bloodlesse Faces lanke and leane bodies hunger-starved carkasses and in this extremity know not what to doe run to this Flace this House the Master whereof can feed an Elias by Ravens A Daniell in Dungeons And the Widow and her Son with a Cruse of Oyle that never wasteth and here shall ye be sure to finde satning food for your soules In a word In any calamity in all straights and miseries whatsoever fly to this Place this House of the Lord your God And in all kinds of distresse let us approach this Throne of Grace let us enter these Gates and Courts with joy let our Prayers come unto him in his holy Temple and let us all like David be glad when men say Come lot us goe to the House of the Lord for there is salve for every sore there is medicine for every dise ase and there is comfort at all assayes In this world we are as Pilgrims having here no continuing City and while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord in which Pilgrimage many are the troubles of the Righteous and if they fly to this sacred Sanctuary and there cry unto the Lord the Lord delivers them out of all And to hearren you hereunto know for your comforts That the Lord whom you serve is not like to the Princes and Rulers of the Earth who desire not to be molested with requests from their distressed Subjects but its joy to the Almighty and he takes pleasure to heare their supplications and is most glad when they aske or beg of him the best things What a comfort is this then to all afflicted souls in the heat and height of their afflictions and depth of their miseries to have a place of refuge and a place of refreshment and preservation to run unto and there refresh their wearied members and supplicate the God of Glory and the God of all Consolation But now though we have a place of safety to fly unto in the time of trouble and danger yet a man may mistake his way thither and then never a whit the neerer And therefore least we should erre in our way to this place the Lord himselfe hath given us a constant guide and card of directiâ—n to leade us thereunto even the witnesse of his holy Word Wâ—itten and Sealed that can never deceive us but is as a fiery pillar unto us in the darke desert of this World to shew us the way to that Heavenly Canaan It is a lanthorne to our feet and a light to our paths let then our loynes be girded and let us beare in our hands this shining light But yet though we have a place to fly to in trouble and likewise a guide to direct us the way yet a man especially in misery would not willingly goe to a place where he hath neither title nor right nor interest nor friend nor acquaintance where he may expect if not shutting the doore upon him yet at least poor entertainment and miserable comforters Now to hearten us against these feares the Text tells us That we are of the same Family or Houshold for the Master or Lord of this house is our God so that it is as it were our own for it is usuall for Children or servants to call their Fathers or Masters house wherein they live our House and there we shall finde our best acquaintance and our choicest friends even God our Father Christ our Brother and the holy Ghost our Comforter But still though we have a secure place of refuge to fly unto in danger and a guide to direct us that we erre not in our way and good right and Interest thereunto being of the same Family and Friends and acquaintance there also yet being infected with the Plague of sinne and laden with iniquity we may feare that we shall not be received for those in whose soules the Plague of sin doth reigne however they may come into the society of the Church yet cannot be admitted to the Throne of Grace And therefore to the end our sins should neither dishearten nor hinder us know That the Lord our God hath given us Christ the Righteous to cover our unrighteousnesso so that as pure and cleane we might come unto him He hath put on us the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 that being adorned with his righteousnesse and holinesse as lacob was with the goodly garments of his elder Brother Esau we might with confidence betake our selves to this Asylum and in the name of Christ might goe to the name of Iohovah and in his name the Subject hath as much right to goe as the King the People as the Priest the Slave as the Lord the Servant as the Master and the infected as the sound for Christ prayeth with us all as our Brother he prayes for us all as our High Priest and he is prayd unto by us all as our Lord he alone is the Eye wherewith we see the Father the Hand to offer up our Prayers unto him the Mouth to speake unto him and therefore let us goe unto him by vertue of this right that he is the Lord our God and we of his Family and Houshold But for all this though we have a House to goe unto and want not a guide and be of the same Family and stored with Acquaintance and adorned with our Elder Brothers Righteousnesse yet if we be lame or have not Feet to carry us thither we are but like the Creeple at the Poole obnoxious to all hindrances And therefore though the Feet of the Flesh be sufficient to carry us to the Church yet we must have other Feet even spirituall Legs before we can come to this House namely the Feet of Faith and Prayer Faith is the first Foot 2 Cor. 1.24 for if by Faith we stand by Faith we may also goe to the Lord who is faithfull and
how could we goe unto him by the Foot of Prayer if we did not beleeve in him Rom. 10. â—â— For how shall they call on him in whom they have not belceved The second Foot is Prayer which is so swift a Foot as that it dispatcheth in an instant all the way betwixt Heaven and Earth and as a fiery Chariot mounts into the presence of the Almighty to implore his assistance and though we live here in this vale of misery so farre off from our Fathers House yet being furnished with these two spirituall Feet we may in a moment ascend up thither and there recreate our wearied spirits though we live in this world as in a wast desart if we be in want of any thing with these spirituall Fees we may runne to our Fathers House and there provide our selves If the Lord hath east us down upon our bed of sicknesse that we cannot use the Feet of our bodies yet he hath given us those other Feet of Faith and Prayer to use in flead of them Hezekiah being sick of the Plague 1 Kings 20.2 could not use the Feet of his Body but with the Feet of the Spirit he went unto this place Ionah was lockt up in Prison in the belly of the Whale yet by the vertue of these Feet out of the depth he ascended to the holy Temple of Iehovah But notwithstanding all this though we know we have a House to goe unto and no hinderance in the way nor difficulty in the passage nor want a guide to direct us and have good right to the place and friends and acquaintance to entertaine us and robes to adorne us and feet to carry us thither yet if we know not how to behave our selves when we come there though we come as suiters we shall be but bad speeders And therefore the next shall be to teach you how to demeanc your selves in this House of the Lord your God And for this purpose I shall for your sakes endeavour my selfe to binde you all to such good behaviour in Gods House as becomes the glory of his publick service and presence for the godly Christian ought with all care to lay before him the rules that tye him to a comely composure and carryage in the House of God and to strive to fashion his nature and practice so as may become the Majesty of his Publick Worship for there be divers things which in a speciall manner must be lookt unto in performing these publick duties And to this end I shall give you some few Rules which if you please to observe you shall not onely be good Suiters but good Speeders also First All of all sorts must come and appear publikely before the Lord to doe him homage and service Viâ— unita fortior the more the better not onely the Elders but all the Iuhabitants of the Land This you may see in Deutoronomy 31.11.12.13 where you shall find That all Israel were to come to appeare before the Lord their God in the place which he should chuse men women and children and the stranger within their gates that they might heare and learne and feare the Lord their God and keep and observe the words of his Law none exempted all must come Secondly We must come with all possible reverence and look to our feet when we enter into the House of God and strive to shew before all men our most carefull respect to God his holy Ordinances for God will be sanctified by them that come neer him and he looks for it at our hands by our reverent behaviour to be glorified before all the people See it your selves in the tenth of Leviticus and the third And Ecclesiastes the fifth and first and be perswaded to shew a most holy and reverent feare of Gods name and presence So that Princely Prophet I will come into thine House in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare will I worship towards thy holy temple Psal 5.7 Thirdly We must come with a great deale of Zeale In all publick duties that of David should be true of us The Zeale of Gods House should eat us up Psal 69.9 And this singular Zeale we should shew these six wayes 1. By loving Gods House above all other places in the world our heart should be fired in us in that respect that we may truely say with the Psalmist Psal 26.8 O how I love thy house I have loved the habitation of thine house and the place where thine honour-dwelleth 2. By resolutely purposing to resort to Gods House with joy and gladnesse notwithstanding the scornes and oppositions of worldly men O that we were of Davids mind glad when men say Come let us goe into the House of the Lord Psal 122.1 3. By stirring up others with all importunity to goe with us to worship God in Sion The mountaine of the House of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the hils and all Nations shall flow unto it the word flow declaring the zeale of the Children of God when they are called And many people shall goe and say Come let us goe up to the mountaine of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his wayes and we will walke in his paths for the Law shall goe forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isay 2.2.3 4. By making hast to Gods worship going to the House of the Lord with the first and with willing hearts with an holy thirst after the means flocking and flying thither as the Cloudes or as so many Doves to their Windows Up let us goe and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts Zachar. 8.21 And the Psalmist Thy people shall come willingly at the time of assembling thine army in holy beauty from the wombe of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth Psal 110.3 5. By forwardnesse and cheerefulnesse in contributing towards the maintenance of Gods House and service in the means thereof 6. By grieving heartily because other men neglect and contemne the House of God The Zeale of Gods Children ought to be such when they see his Word sleighted as that they should be like David whose Eyes gusht out with Rivers of Water because men keep not thy Law Psal 119.136 Fourthly We should in all publick Duties serve God with one consent and one heart There should appeare in Gods servants a wonderfull desire of unanimity and concord that when they speake to God it may be as the voyce of one man when the Lord speaks to them they should heare with one Eare It is a marvellous glory in Religion when people can come to this to serve the Lord with one shoulder Let us all call upon the name of the Lord Zeph. 3.9 and serve him with one consent or as it were with one shoulder Fiftly and lastly look upon the fifty second Psalme eighth and ninth verses and from thence we
Christianity when others troubles are theirs others losses theirs others reproaches theirs others sufferings theirs and when any distresses and straits of others are made theirs And they that thus lament for Sion shall be comforted with Sion God hath promised them singular consolation it is their Portion and they may confidently expect it But it may be demanded If Sorrow be our onely safely and best Remedy in misery and trouble How long must we continue our humiliation our sorrow our mourning our crying The Answer shall be this Never cease mourning till God cease afflicting never make an end of crying till God make an end of punishing never cease Humiliation till God give Consolation VVhen the Lord ministreth unto us occasion of Griefe let us never cease untill he againe revive our Hearts we must not begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh but having a good entrance we must goe on with our worke and bring it to perfection and if God give us an heart to mourne set to it and never give over till he set us free Hence the Point shall he this That we should never make an end of Mourning and Weeping till God make an end of afflicting and scourging For this Looke upon Ieremy and see him never making an end of Weeping Mine Eye saith he droppeth without stay and ceaseth not till the Lord looke downe and behold from Heaven Mine Eye breaketh my heart Lam. 3.49 c. And so he exhorteth the People Let teares runne downe like a River Day and Night take thee no rest neither let the Apple of thine Eye cease Arise Cry in the Night in the beginning of the Watches poure out thine Heare like Water before the Face of the Lord Lam. 2.18.19 But for Proofe enough If you will have Examples for this continued forrow and mourning Then first take theirs who are mentioned in Nehemiah Who Wept at the Hearing of the Law till they were bid to rejoyce Neh. 8 9. It was a notable commendation of that People that they would not leave off till they had warrant to leave off The next shall be Mordecai who when Queene Esther sent him Garments to Clothe him and would have his Sackcloth to be taken from him he would not receive them Esther 4.4 but humbled himselfe so long till he was assured of deliverance The third shall be Iacob Who would never let goe his hold Gen. 32.26 Hos 11.4 but still wrastled with the Angel and continued weeping and praying till he obtained a blessing The last shall be the Weman of Canaan who stuck so close to her businesse and was so importunate with Christ for her Daughter Matth. 15.22 c. and would never desist nor let her Suit fall till she had prevailed with our Saviour I might produce you a cloud of witnesses but these shall serve worldly helps the deeper distresses we be in the least comfort they will afford us so in Spirituall helps the greater extremities we be in the more comfort will they minister unto us when we are helplesse and hopelesse then Faith works wonders and never shewes forth it selfe so mightily and powerfully as when it workes alone Wealth Strength Friends and all other outward things and worldly comforts when miseries lye heavy upon us and we begin to cast an Eye to them expecting some reliefe and comfort from them will but deale with us as the High Priests did with Judas when all went well with him then they hug'd him and who but Judas they then made shew of all favour and friendship towards him but when in the horrour and anguish of his soule he makes his moane unto them Mat. 27.45 Crying out that be had sinned betraying Innocent bloud they then set him packing with a cutting and uncomfortable answer What is that to us And such cold comfort shall we receive from any Earthly props and supports whereon we rest and stay our Hearts when we have most need of them they will stand us least in stead So that we may truely say of them as Job did of his Friends Miserable comforters are ye all Job 16.2 But as for those that live by Faith in Christ Jesus they are underlayed with better props and supporters then the world can afford for when they have none other to deliver them they can deliver themselves by Prayers by tears by sighs by cryes and by calling upon Gods name out of the lowest Dungeon And if no distresse no breaking no crushing can hinder Gods People from Praying and Crying Then first This may serve to shew us the difference betwixt the wicked and the godly in times of outward or inward affliction when they drinke both of the same Cup and are plunged into the same miscries Cast a wicked man into a Dungeon and lay him full low where he can meet with no worldly help and what course will he take You shall see that either he will blaspheme God and bite his Tongue for madnesse Rev. 18.15 as they that are spoken of in the Revelations or else he will grow desperate and make away with himselfe as Judas Achitophel and other monsters have done But let a godly man be layd as fast and low in the same Dungeon and he will be full of joy when the other is full of desperate griefe and sing Psalmes and poure forth many Prayers and mighty Cryes in stead of the others imprecation and blasphemous speeches Take one example for all Peter and Judas had both dealt unfaithfully though in a farre different degree and manner with their Lord and Master and were both brought into great perplexity but Peter goes out confesseth his fault weeps bitterly and gaines exceedingly by it Iudas on the other side sorroweth desperately and speedily dispatcheth himselfe whereby doth manifestly appeare the different carriage of the Faithfull and of Insidels when they are both overbarthened with sorrowes and miseries Secondly Can no distresse no crushing nor breaking hinder Gods People from Praying and Crying This is for singular comfort unto the Children and servants of God that no crosse can befall them to hinder their Prayers or stop the passage of their cryes from the Eares of the Almighty but all shall quicken and inflame the spirit of Prayer in them surely the issue of their trouble must needs be good when it is watered with Teares and sanctified with requests if they can wait till their harvest come such a seed-time must needs bring them a plentifull and blessed crop of comfort And therefore if you have the holy Ghost in your Soules and Prayer in your Hearts if you have Teares in your Eyes and sighs in your Breasts then blesse God for so good an inside for it s your present help in trouble it s your meat in Famine your preservative in Plague your strength in Warre your help in Affliction and your comfort at all assayes therefore in all distresse fly unto God end in Prayer and cry unto the Lord. And no wonder if these people
speed accordingly for their cold Prayers bring but cold successe And this is true not onely of the wicked but even of the godly Psal 32.3.4.5 David roared and cryed but was never the better till he confessed his sin and was inwardly grieved for the same and then both sin and punishment were removed at once Therefore let us strive with the Lord in our Prayers and Supplications labouring for this fighing and crying this inward sorrow which is so needfull that doing as this people did in the time of Famine we may speed as they did in this time of our calamity For thus saith he that is high and excellent he that inhabiteth eternity Isa 57.15 whose name is the Holy one I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart And the longer we wayt and cry the greater measure of comfort we shall have and the longer it shall tarry with us And therefore since servency in Prayer is so requisite let us not onely Pray but Cry Cry unto the Lord. And for our comforts we shall find God as ready to heare as we are to cry and if we send up our Petitions unto him with sighs and groans he will send down speedy and comfortable help unto us and we shall be sure of good successe even above that we can ask or think As it is in the Lamentations Lamt 3.5 c. Thou hast heard my Voyce thou drewest neer in the day that I called upon thee Whether we desire the suppression of our enemies or subduing of our own corruptions or whatsoever else we shall be sure to speed well God will draw neer unto us by his mercifull presence and with gracious deliverance if we draw neer unto him in our miseries and afflictions So saith our Saviour Mat. 7.8 Whosoever asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Let us then knocke at Gods presence Chamber-doore and though we be never so mean never so contemptible we shall have no repulse For he will fulfill the desires of those that feare him he will also heare their cry their sins though never so many in number or grosse in nature cannot hinder Gods favour Witnesse the Israelites who lived many years without the true God 2 Chron. 13. yet whosoever returned in his misery and sought God he was found of him Another example of Gods goodnesse in this regard we have in Jonah who though for his Rebellion he was cast into the Sea yet God heard him out of the belly of the fish and set him upon the dry land again A third shall be that notorious Theefe who had spent all his life in the Devils service yet no sooner cryes Lord remember me Luke 22.42.43 but Christ not once casting him in the teeth with his sins gives him this good and quick and comfortable dispatch To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The last for this shall be Manasses who had been a most weefull and miserable sinner 2 Chron. 33. yet When he cryed to the Lord in his distresse he heard him set him free and restored him to his Kingdome Here then is comfort for every distressed soule let us but call upon the name of our God and then help and comfort is at hand for God is neer to all that call upon him in truth though it be not with such strength of Faith as we should yet if we seek him he will be found of us and he limits us not to time conditions or things but we may look for help at all times in all straits and in all things and when we have most need then we shall be sure of the best help But now if we would be certain of this comsort we must observe these three Rules Job 11.14 First We must put all wickednesse out of our hearts and out of our hands we must humble our selves and turn from our wicked wayes we must remove our sins and then God will remove our crosses James 4.8 So Saint James exhorts Purge your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded And this is it we must doe if we will have God to draw neer unto us for God will not dwell in an heart defiled with sin he will turn both eyes and ears from us if we continue in our evill wayes because that when our Tongues cry for mercy then our Sins cry for vengeance and though we cannot come to him without iniquity yet we may come to him without the love and liking of iniquity we may come with shame and sorrow for our iniquity and then our sins neither hinder our Prayers nor stop or keep back Gods favour from us Secondly We must seek God according to all his means as we find in the Canticles Cant. 3.1.2 c. Who when the Church had lost Christ that is the feeling of his love and the sense of that Communion which formerly she had with him she then useth all private and publick means and at length commeth to conserence with Gods servants which few will doe till they be driven to it of necessity and then having wayted a while she finds him whom her soule loveth The same must be our practice if one medicine will not serve the turn use another Pray Fast Meditate Confer and then at last the Lord will be found in mercy but as we are slack in using any of the means so shall we fayle in our comfortable expectation of favour from God Thirdly We must use the means diligently and in good earnest for if we have a base account of Gods mercies its just that we should goe without them James 5.16 The Prayer of the righteous avayleth much but upon this condition Psal 72.12 if it be fervent God delivereth the poor when he cryeth but if they would have hearing there must be crying God poures forth Floods of grace but upon whom The Prophet tells us Isay 44.3 Onely on the thirsty ground God filleth the hungry with good things but they must be hungry they must be such as feel themselves pincht and starved with spirituall famine Luke 1.53 Christ was sent to Preach the acceptable yeare but not to the mighty and States of the world To whom then even to Prisoners and Captives that is to such as could grieve and mourn for their Captivity Hence is it that a number reade and heare and pray and yet prevaile not because they doe it so drowsily and carelesly the Lord desers to help them because they are not fit for help because they doe not strive and wrastle in their Prayers Let us therefore use all the means with constancy and carefulnesse and then we shall obtain our hearts desire even above that we can ask or think for if we would not have God to shut his ears to our Prayers we must not
what eare heart not of troubles and losses and crosses on Land and on Sea at home and abroad and where is any mourning for the afflictions of Joseph where are our tears that should cry aloud and pierce the ears of the Almighty surely we have not so mourned as we ought to have done It is a Prodigy to see Fountains dryed up in Winter but far more prodigious must it needs be to see our eyes hearts breasts and all dry in these so many winters of our common miseries and these long continued stormes of our afflictions I know there is few or none of us but will sigh at the losse of his goods by enemies at the parting with his estate at the Imprisoning of his Person at the banishing of himselfe and friends from their native homes there is none of these but seems to take away the very life of our soules from us and yet few of us sigh for our own or other mens sins the cause of all our woe But surely all causes rather then effects are to be lamented sin is the cause losse but the effect And though t is true that reason doth informe and affection doth inforce a kind of lamentation weeping and mourning for the losse of goods liberty or friends c. yet grace doth commend and God doth command another fighing sobbing crying both for our own and nationall sins for nature doth teach us to weep for naturall causes but grace for spirituall and if the least of our bosome sins be fire in the hand and a serpent in the heart how much more then are common sins to be lamented being the unfruitfull thornes that choke the good seed of vertue and grace And yet it is to be feared if inquiry were made that many would be sound in this great and still continued misery whose mouthes in stead of prayers and cryes belch and breath out nothing but the unsavoury speeches of the soule corrupting not the company onely but the very Ayre in which they breathe whose eyes in stead of tears are the open windows to let in whole loads of sin into their minds whose ears in stead of receiving and conveying the good Word of God to their soules are the doores of their own destruction whose breasts in stead of sighs are the very store-house of corruption nay were inquisition made it is to be feared that many of us would be found in these our publick maladies though the times have long called to mourning scarce to have layd aside our publick sins not parting with our ordinary impieties in these extraordinary judgements Good Vriah refused to take his honest ease 2 Sam. 11.11 while the Arke and Israel and Iudah abode in tents I pray God none of us have presumed to take unhonest courses since our miseries have bin so great our plagues so mighty Gods judgements so weighty and our danger so eminent Let then all of us shew our selves by an holy mourning that we are so far from participating in such mens sins and in the wickednesse of the world as that in consideration hereof we may be found not onely sighing but weeping and bemoaning the increase of iniquity and deploring the sins of our Nation And no doubt but many might be found amongst us who sometimes send out a naturall sigh or sob in regard of some outward thing as in regard of shame and punishment in regard of wants and distresses or in regard of the hand of God upon them by sicknesse paine sores or the like Exod. 8.8 as Pharaoh did when the hand of God was on him then he cryed I have sinned and take away this plague but he never cryed take away the hardnesse of mine heart and the cursednesse of my nature Nay more perhaps some may be found who sometimes sigh and groane for some actuall sin when they feel it pressing and lying heavy upon their Consciences yet these men but groane as the bruit beast doth that is pressed with some heavy burthen but they fetch not their sighs from under that corruption that cleaves to their Hearts so they groane not with their Hearts soundly when they sigh for their Sins But if we would have true comfort in sighing and groaning for Sin we must down to the root of all Sins in our selves and fetch our sighs from under that corruption that cleaves inwardly to our soules and that 's the sighing of a Child of God and such loud-tongued scalding Sighs and salt brinish tears flowing from the Heart-breaking of a Sin-burthened soule will be both pleasing to God and yeild comfort to us Let us then sigh and groane heartily for those Sins which are so deeply ingrafted in us let us weep for our selves let us weep for others let every remembrance of Sin both our own and others make fresh bleeding wounds in our Hearts Let sorrow clothe us let mourning cloud us let weeping be in every corner let nothing be heard in our streets but the Voyce of wayling and while our miseries are smarting and our calamities lasting let nothing remaine to the godly but sorrow and weeping that so we may escape unhurt in the devastation of the wicked for the Saints are alwayes priviledged men their sorrow is their safety their lamentation the cause of their preservation So in Ezekiel Ezek. 9.4 c. mourners shall be marked Set a Marke saith God upon the Fore-heads of them that Mourne and Cry for all the abominations of the Land and by this Marke shall be preserved Examples to all Posterity and Saints hereafter in Eternall Glory And thus having clothed you in the Garments of heavinesse and robed your soules with the sable livery of Mourning I cannot I suppose leave you in a better habit then that of Sorrow nor in a better Posture then that of Humiliation nor in a better Place then the House of the Lord your God where if you Cry earnestly no doubt but he will heare graciously And so let Lamentation Seale up our Discourse Lord Heare our Prayer and let our Cry come unto thee AMEN FINIS