Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n
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B02144
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Seasonable thoughts of divine providence affording comfort to those who are in danger. Instruction to all that are delivered from the late sad visitation. Wherein we are inform'd whether our preservation be a fruit of God's special love, or of his common providence.
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Chishull, John.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing C3903B; ESTC R176572
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27,160
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97
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preserved from the destruction which God was bringing upon the City We find also that Cain was marked that he might not be slain the first was doubtless in mercy but most Interpreters agree in this That Cain's was a Judgment upon him a trembling of his heart and head which imply'd his guilt and was a terror to others as well as to himself Here then may arise a great and weighty Question worthy of the serious consideration of those whom the late Judgment of Pestilence hath spared Quest How shall I know whether my preservation from this Judgment be a special Mercy or a fruit of Common Providence Or whether it be not worse a reservation unto evil Ans You shall know three ways First By some things which go before such a preservation Secondly By some things which accompany it Thirdly By some things which follow it First Some things go before such Deliverances as these when they are in Mercy and they are such as these First A sense of the danger that we are in that so we may be taken off from all self-confidence and fitted for the observing and honouring of Divine Goodness Thus it was with Paul 2 Cor. 1.9 We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead He was as a dead man in his own apprehensions and was taken off from all hopes and dependencies upon creatures and had nothing to hold by but this That God was able to raise the dead This sense of danger ushered in a great deliverance and made way for the magnifying of the Mercy of God and indeed when God intends to bless and sanctifie any deliverance to a man he prepares him by the sense of his danger for a thankful reception of the Mercy Secondly As there is commonly a sense of the danger so there is also of our own unworthiness of that mercy which we desire and of that which we enjoy already and of our ill deserving in respect of the evil that we fear Thus it was with Jacob when he was in danger of falling into his Brothers hands Gen. 32.10 11. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother A sense of our unworthiness of what we have already received of the Lord is a great argument that God intends us more Thirdly A Spirit of Prayer to be earnest and strive with God for the mercy God seldom gives any thing to his people in mercy but he sends a Spirit of Prayer to usher it in When God would deliver Jacob from the hands of Esau he pours out a mighty Spirit of Prayer and he wrestled with God all the night Gen. 32.24 Now what was his wrestling the Prophet Hosea expounds it Hos 12.4 He had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication to him And what did Jacob pray for this night he told us before Gen. 32.11 Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the Mother with the Children Jacob saw that his whole Family lay at stake now there was but a step betwixt them and death therefore he bestirs himself and will not give over till he gets the victory and prevail with God he will not leave praying till he carry away a perswasion that his prayers are answered Fourthly An humble Spirit to submit to the hand of God under that affliction and danger which we pray to be delivered from It is no contradiction to pray against an affliction and yet submit to the will of God A man may pray against the evil and yet submit to the will of God and this is very acceptable unto God it is a fore-runner of deliverance from trouble already come and may well be a sign of preservation from danger approaching Lev. 26.41 42. If their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Israel This frame of Spirit was found in David when that heavy affliction befel him that his own Son rebelled against him 2 Sam. 16.11 12. Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him David stooped under God's hand in this affliction and this was an argument that God would deliver him out of that trouble as we see he did Fifthly Mourning for those evils which we see God is about to punish When God finds us mourning for our own and other mens sins whether he spare us or take us away in the judgment that is coming either is in mercy If he spare us it is to see better days and to enjoy better things if he take us away it is from the evil that is to come but commonly God hath a care of such to preserve them from the evil as we see he did the Mourners in Jerusalem when a general judgment was come upon the City Ezek. 9.4 5 6. Now it is our work to reflect upon our hearts and consider how we have found them under the apprehensions of this judgment of the Pestilence approaching if we have found such impressions as these we may conclude that our lives have been given us in mercy and that they are the fruits of Gods special providence and goodness Secondly You shall know by some things which did accompany this preservation While this judgment from which you are preserved did hang over your heads you had some such impressions as these upon your spirits First A resolution to depend upon God in the mid'st of trouble untill the calamity be over-past When God intends to give in a mercy of this kind he commonly draws forth Faith to act for it at least a Faith of dependance though not a Faith of assurance and though there may be many fears yet these may serve to quicken and stir up Faith of adherence to depend upon God This is the meaning of entring into thy chambers Isa 26.20 Which doth not deny a prudent use of means to prevent evil and danger but imply a trusting more to God to preserve us then to the means we use Prov. 3.5 6. Trust to the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths A man is not forbidden to use his own understanding but to lean to it There may be not only a care to prevent danger but a fear of it when we have used means and yet a dependance upon God a casting of our selves upon him for help with a resolution to rely upon him and particularly in this case of the Pestilence preservation is promised only upon condition of a Faith of reliance and dependance upon God As we may see in
the connexion of the 1 2 3 verses of the 91. Psal He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shaddow of the Almighty What is the meaning of this but that he that makes God his refuge in danger shall be safe under his protection from this general proposition David takes up a particular resolution to depend upon God I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust And from thence he infers for his own the comfort of all that do thus Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome Pestilence The connexion of the 9. 10. verses of this Psalm are no less considerable than these Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most high thy habitation there shall no evil befall thee neither shall the Plague come nigh thy dwelling Where such a particular act of Faith goes before preservation from the evil commonly follows and this is always the fruit of special grace Secondly Where preservation is in mercy there is found an acceptance of life and liberty and peace and what ever we enjoy in this as from the hand of God taking all from him Faith is a Grace that fetches all from God and gives all to him it hath to do with God in every thing and looks over and beyond every creature and means to him if Faith apprehend a danger it takes its preservation from it as well as its deliverance out of it equally from God This we see in David Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my Salvation and my high tower David gives God all those titles which we give to those things from whence we expect or receive help whatever men fly too or depend upon in time of danger that is God unto David therefore he ascribes all the deliverance that he had from trouble to the Lord alone he takes his life as given him by the Lord ver 16.17 He sent from above he took me he drew me out of many waters he delivered me from my strong enemy And as he acknowledges his preservation from danger so he also confesses all the good that he injoys to be peculiarly from the Lord. Psal 23.5 Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over Thus where God gives any thing in mercy he gives a heart to acknowledg the mercy to be from him and to eye God particularly in it Thirdly A high esteem of the mercy that comes in such a way The season and the conveyance of the mercy do much advance the price of it To live in dying times to be safe when others are in danger to be in peace when others are in trouble is a mercy to be highly prized To have all these at such a time is much but to have them in answer to prayer to have them through the Promise and Covenant of Grace is a great deal more To have these not as the fruit of common providence but of special grace and fatherly care ' sets a great lustre upon the mercy and makes it very precious in the esteem of the soul We see David was much affected with deliverance that the Lord gave him Psal 116. Because it was in a time of great trouble and danger v. 3. The sorrows of death compassed me And because he saw the hand of God eminently in it v. 6. The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me He prized it the more because it came as an answer to his prayers v. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications And cheifly because through all this he saw that God had a singular care of him and a high esteem of his life and not only of his but of all those that fear him ver 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Fourthly Then preservation from danger comes in special mercy to us when the same impressions are found upon our spirits which the affliction sanctified should have wrought upon us When the keeping off of an Evil doth work the same things that this should have produced if it had come and had been sanctified to the soul then the preservation from this is in mercy to the soul As for example Art thou in health when others are sick Art thou free when others are shut up Hast thou life and strength when others are upon beds of languishing Then enquire Dost thou find those workings of thy heart as are suitable to a gracious spirit upon a sick bed Dost thou see the vanity of the World the shortness of time Dost thou mourn for the loss of time as they do who are going into Eternity And art thou careful to call thy Evidences together Dost thou see the preciousness of thy soul the weight of Eternity the excellency of Christ and of an Interest in God as if thou wert upon a Death-bed Oh then thy preservation is a mercy to thee for these should have been the gracious fruits of such a condition if thou hadst been brought into it for God hath done that good by keeping off the affliction which he should have done thee by it if it had fallen upon thee and had been blest unto thee Fifthly Then Preservation is in love when it is accompanied with a singular love to God Thou wilt find thy heart not only in love with God but thou wilt call upon thy heart more and more to love God This was David's care to engage his heart to God because of that singular providence of his over him Psal 116.1 He is also much affected with the goodness of God towards his people he therefore stirs up others to love him in respect of his Providence Psal 31.19 20 23. Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of men thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues Hence he takes occasion ver 23. to call upon men to love God O love the Lord all ye Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer It is but reasonable that when we see more of God's love in any Providence it should engage us to put in more of our love into every duty We should be full of affection and zeal for the glory of that God who we see cares for us Thirdly We shall know whether this Preservation be in mercy by those things which follow it First If there be found in us a care to keep those impressions alive which were made upon our hearts in the time