unto the ends of the world For thus only could Nebuchadnezzar be brought to this knowledge Dan. 4.33 And thus by feeling that hand of God which they refuse to see let all thine enemies be forced to acknowledge thee And thou O blessed Jesus bruise them with a Rod of Iron and break them to pieces like a Potters vessel because they have said That thou shalt not rule over them General Rules It appeareth from this that it is not the worship which God requireth which is forced from them by compulsion with an unwilling mind as that of the Israelites in the wilderness Ps 78.34 When he slew them they sought him The Rules which will shew us how to worship God acceptably are 1. That we pray read meditate and perform the like services to God from this belief That we cannot spend our time in any worldly affair so well or so much for our Profit Joy Comfort Delight and Satisfaction as in this or that duty 2. That we give our Alms with this belief that it is the best way of improvement of our wealth and therefore do it freely to such as you can never expect any return from them but from God only 3. That upon these accounts we perform our services to God with all our might These three prove our cheerfulness and willingness 4. That we perform them constantly and early 5. That we perform them invisibly to man not expecting any reward from men nor a good word 6. That we pride not our selves in our services and dispise others with a stand off I am holier than thou but count our selves unprofitable servants and desire that our very best services be cleansed purified perfumed and accepted only through the merits and mediation of Christ Jesus and confess that we can offer him nothing but that which is his own for he gives both the will and the deed that is good and puts his Spirit into us and causeth us to walk in his statutes and confess also that we have need of Christ Jesus as our High Priest to bear the iniquities of our holy things 7. That in all our services which we perform we seek principally the glory of God Thus we see that most of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are and by thus doing we give proof that we are God's children for they seek God's glory though it be with the spoliation of their own glory as David dancing before the Ark. And the glorious Angels worship and fall down before God casting their Crowns at his feet Apoc. 4.10 8. That we faint not in our mind nor be weary but work out our salvation with fear and trembling 9. That we prepare our selves for holy duties Of Prayer THIS being the first Duty which we learn in our tender age and the first in our daily practice whether it be because that the sense of our own needs and wants driveth us to seek our supplies and succours from the omnipotent being that we thus begin the day or from the nature of man which being yet undefiled with the corruptions of ill examples followes its own Instinct and inclination and is therefore easily taught this practice or else takes it in its minority or whether it be that all do teach their infants this part of divine worship first as most necessary or that they are best capable of So it is that this is the first in order of practice and eminent for its Vertue if it be rightly performed and of most frequent use It will be therefore proper enough to begin with a Regulation of my self in this particular Which that I may do I will consider 1. The manner and circumstances And 2. The matter of prayer And 3. motives to excite my self to it The various manners of prayer are to be found in the Psalms of David And in those prayers which we read in scripture made by our blessed Saviour the Saints however it will not a little avail thee O my soul so set down those particulars which shall come to thy thoughts as well concerning the inward manner as the outward The inward is particularly expressed in Eph. 6.18 praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit Watching c. In the Spirit must be the manner for though Watching fasting and all other outward manners be had if this be wanting only it is but a lame or blind Sacrifice Because as it is said Rom. 8.26 We know not what to pray for as we ought Though we have the first fruits of the Spirit ib. v. 34. But we have help for our infirmities from the assistance of the Spirit And it maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered v. 27. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God When thou art such in thy prayers to God and puttest up such petitions with intention sighing and groaning of Spirit and not extention of voice thou knowest by whose assistance it is and that thou art accepted therefore crave it of God And though thou findest disability in thy self or an indisposition because the flesh cannot keep pace with the Spirit thou wilt find the intercession of the Spirit in thy heatr unutterable be not therefore discouraged or dejected because thou canst not pray vocally for those prayers that are not expressed are as powerful with God as theirs that are well expressed when thou findest in thy self a desire to draw nigh to God do it though thou wantest words As the fire from Heaven consumed Elias Sacrifice so look up to Heaven and crave Gods assistance and thou mayest find such inlargement in the duty to put up effectual fervent prayers in the Spirit whereby thou mayst take Heaven by force our lifting up of our hearts to God moveth him to bow his ear to us And having such an Almighty Helper what need we to fear infirmities let us trust to our Succours The Spirits Asistance consists in these particulars It excites holy desires which are pleasing to God and sometimes dictates them verbally sometimes without words and expressions The Spirit of Grace causeth a Christian to beg for Spiritual blessings comforts and injoyments and to desire to long breath and pant after them uncessantly It causeth fervency of Spirit firing our affections with holy Zeal for Spiritual gifts and Graces injoyments and satisfactions helpes and improvements and keeps up those holy flames which it kindles So that it preserves us from looking back with Lots wife from drowsiness slightness in performing duties and from faintings tipified by Jacob wrestling with God it unites our hearts to God and helps us against discurrency of thoughts which naturally we are subject unto Unless we are carried on in the duty by an apprehension of Spiritual enjoyments It drives away fears and doubts which are subject to arise from guilt and supplieth us with a holy confidence and child-like desposition ingenuity and assurance and freely opens
our minds to make known our requests to him whereby we can call God Father Gal. c. 4 v. 6. because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart whereby ye call him Father therefore as oft as we find our Souls thus let us wrastle it out with God till we get the blessing and desir'd grace Men that want the Spirit of God have these three dispositions Slavishness Mercenariness and Sensuality They pray out of fear and in doubt of acceptance and when they have their desires their Prayers cease unless they be customary and formal Prayers and they crave but sensual things The Spirit also supplyeth a Christian with holy ends and represseth carnal ends so that in all our requests we seek the glory of God as it is sought in all the petitions in the Lords Prayer in such the largeness of our desires doth not hinder the obtaining of them but furthereth rather for he hath commanded open thy mouth wide and hath promise to fill it The larger the desires the more pleasing to God and the more like to speed for the more of the Spirit is in them There is no colour then why any should neglect this duty upon pretence of having the Spirit for the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord continued in Prayer and breaking of Bread after they had received the spirit for God is to be found met with in those ordinances as he saith he walketh in the midsts of the Golden Candlesticks And the Spirit is to be sought in these for the best of Saints have need of seeking it in a greater measure and for continual supplies and watering every moment which they obtain in and by their communion with God in this duty But the more we have of the Spirit the more we ought to be conversant in this Duty because we are furnished with ability and for not using our Talents they may be taken away and by using they are improved And the more effectual and fervent they will be by this that they are more spiritual Much less may we neglect prayer if we think we have not the Spirit for we pray for it And this circumstance of fasting and watching is sometimes joined with this duty to the end our prayers may be more spiritual I mean a Fast from a meal that none may perceive not a Fast of 40 days nor exchange of Flesh for Fish Fasting doth as much promote it as the contrary doth let and hinder it though possibly we may use the same expression full as fasting yet they who have tryed know the advantage which this gives above that to the fervency and earnestness and the holiness of our desires and prayers and to repentance and sorrow for our sins And our Saviour tells his Disciples of a sort of Devils which could not be cast out but by fasting and prayer And Mark 9. Cornelius thus prayed and thus Daniel Dan. c. 9. both with good success David also humbled himself with fasting for they knew well that words of course as a Sacrifice that costs nothing is nothing worth And unless we thus pray in the Spirit it appears we cannot please God for the prayer cannot otherwise be holy and for such things as are pleasing to God for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Although we ought to pray in this manner yet nevertheless ought we not to neglect the duty though we cannot perceive the assistance of the Spirit for God feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him If they can call upon him no man can pretend a disability And David in the 107 Psalm sheweth how people that are plagued for their wickedness because they rebell'd against the Lord and contemned the counsel of the most high v. 11 and 17. Yet crying unto the Lord in their trouble he deliveretd them out of their distress Though these prayers were extorted from them in their extremities when their soul abhorr'd all manner of Meat and they were even at Deaths door And when they were at their wits end and ready to perish through their hunger and thirst and bondage which for their sins they suffered yet in their extremities they cry to God whom they had sinned against and he delivereth them These were not such prayers as are put up by the Spirit for such relief even nature though degenerated can easily pray but the dictates of the Spirit are spiritual yet in regard the heart and lip go together those are prevalent much more if prayed in faith If God heareth such prayers and thou thy self hast obtained thy Requests for these or the like benefits and temporal deliverances thou mayest then be emboldened and encouraged to ask and continue praying for all thou lackest as David expresseth Psal 116. I am well pleased that the Lord hath heard the voice of my prayer therefore will I call upon him as long as I live And if thou hast been heard for things temporal thou needest not to despair or doubt when thou prayest for those things which are pleasing to God which he hath commanded thee to ask and Jesus Christ also hath commended to thee to seek and promised to procure Not but that a Child of God may and must by Faith and by the Spirit ask the things of this life for our blessed Saviour teacheth us to pray for our daily bread he pray'd Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me yet not my will but thy will be done This submission made that prayer which was natural to be spiritual although he prayed for that which he knew was impossible And since God in his mercy hath given his peculiar people many promises of temporal blessings they may and must ask them in faith in such order as Jesus Christ hath appointed viz. seeking the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof first and with modesty and such other circumstances as hereafter is express'd and God will grant our requests as far as is for our good But that which is sure to prevail is the holy appetite that planteth Hungers and Thirsts after righteousness for to that is the promise annexed and blessing too Matth. 5.6 Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye Isa 44.3 I will pour water upon him that is thirsty The desires of such shall be satisfied though not utter'd with full expressions nor strength of Lungs as Prayers learn'd may be Importunity which our Saviour Christ so much presseth is comprehended under this of praying in the Spirit for he taught nothing but what was spiritual And his practice too proves it to be the operation of the Spirit that makes us importunate in Prayer for when he prayed he was frequently in agonies and prayed most earnestly It reproves those that mind other things when they pray how shall God mind their prayers what he teacheth and urgeth for this is in Luke 18. where he sheweth that for our importunities sake we are hear'd of God and argueth that we ought always
these two principles they are our sollaces and delight and also Gods delight Therefore will he hear them and reward them Albeit Gods holy people ask temporal blessings of him and the comforts of their life and temporal deliverances so that it may be objected that they have other principles and motives natural of performing duties than these two spiritual I Answer that it is the disposition of the New nature of the child of God to desire the obtaining of temporal mercies and blessings by and through this way and meanes of seeking them of the gift of God by prayer only that so they may enjoy them as pledges of his fatherly love mercy and faithfulness and as returnes of their prayers And so they will be the more careful to use them to the honour and glory of God And in them they enjoy God and his loving kindness which they value and comfort themselves with more than with his gifts as it is expressed in the Psalmes in this saying thy loveing kindness is better than the life it self and the heavenly Spouse desireth not to be inriched but by her husband and for further answer I say If God hath at any time heard us for outward blessings I conceive he hath obliged us to ask them of him still as if I salute or visit my neighbour and acquaintance and he returnes the like civilities I am to continue my complisance but if he answer them not then he casts me out Another Motive may be fetched from the Priestly office of Christ who ever liveth to make intercession for us And offereth up our prayers in his golden censer perfumed with incence and sweet odours If so then must we be careful and make sure that he have our prayers alwaies to offer up for us else we shall neglect him and his office and the access with confidence which he hath purchased for us Also we shall neglect the mercy of almighty God who is said to be rich in mercy to all them that call upon him in Faith Ephes 3. Also we shall neglect the gracious assistance of the holy Spirit which helpeth our infirmities in this duty Consider also what Vows and promises we have made to God upon extraordinary occasions for the due performance of this duty Psal 61.8 I will alwaies sing praise unto thy name that I may daily perform my vows Psal 116.16 Consider whether the facility of the duty be not a sufficient Motive to it for I conceive that there could not be made a more easie command than this of our blessed Saviour Ask and ye shall have Man could not have desired an easier It is expressed by David in his Psalms thus Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it To ask is the easiest thing that we can do unless it be to open our mouthes In this respect Christs burthen is light The prayers which he enjoins are short he forbids long ones Besides the great rewards of so small a service make it yet lighter because of the disproportion between this and that And they are yet more light by reason of the assistance we have from Gods holy Spirit I intend not that all prayers are performed with ease alike The fervent prayers of the Saints which are put up for such graces as they need and against such lusts temptations corruptions trials as they labour under are mixed with sighs and groanes which cannot be uttered but all their prayers are not such for those which are but for common mercies ought not to be such for even the wickedest will pray and howl for Corn and Wine as it is in Hose few words are injoined in these prayers And thus they are most consistent with faith in Gods promises that he will not suffer us to want these Necessaries of life Compare these services with the chargable Sacrifices of the Jewish law and the burthen of ceremonies which they were not able to bear and these will appeare but easie and light But that which facilitates this duty most is faith whereby believing we shall obtain we ask of God such things as we need for our soul and body as confidently and boldly as children use to ask of their parents the things they need their food and rayment and the like these esteem it no difficulty to ask whatsoever they have a mind to but a pleasure and delight and doubt not of speeding especially when they are invited and incouraged by promises The freeness and easiness of access which we have to God in Christs name makes the duty facil for Jesus Christ the Son of God hath made way for the poor and needy and empty handed begger they need not bring a present to make their way But then when thou seest no good in thy self if thou grieved thereat desirest grace and seekest to him for it these are Motives with which thy Saviour will be perswaded to give thee of his fulness grace for grace and will be moved thereby to intercede for thee to his Father what begger will not go thither for relief where he is assured to speed The paternal relation between God and us instructs us of the easie access what ever we need we know he is ready as a Father to give he takes care of us and will provide for us he expects but to be asked he hath prevented our asking with invitations and will hardly stay till we have done asking but he will grant it because he delighteth in granting the requests of his children else he would not grant them with such overplus nor invite us to ask And it evidenceth to us that we are his children when we do make use of our free access upon all occasions And believe his readiness to grant And if a prodigal Son might find such free and kind reception as our Saviour saith then he that is the dear Son and pleasent child and hath title to all cannot be denied 1. Preparatory Ejaculations Lord draw nigh to me Now that I draw nigh to thee and if for my unworthiness thou canst not be so propitious to me as thou wouldest be to thy child that is obedient then draw nigh to me as the Father was pleased to do to his unworthy prodigal son But if thou wilt neither of these yet be thou pleased to help me as thy Servant and Son of thine handmaid but if this thou wilt not then Lord relieve me as thou didst the Cananitish woman as a Dog of thy family with the crums of the bread of life thy holy Commandment hath taught us importunity therefore if thou canst not hear me for any relation hear me for my Importunity 2 Preparatory Ejaculation Lord thou hast made thy Servant to know his own insufficiency I find daily that fain I would do good and be such as thou commandest us to be but when I would do good evil is commonly present with me and how to do the good I would I know not This sense of my own insufficiency in every grace makes me a daily
And prayeth Forsake me not in the time of mine Age when my strength faileth me until I have shewed thy strength unto this Generation and they Power unto all c. Psal 72. He urgeth his holy Resolutions Give the King thy judgements c. Then shall he Judge the people according to right and defend the poor c. He shall keep the simple folk by their right and punish the wrong doer Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voice of my calling my King and my God Motiv for unto thee will I make my my prayer my voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 86.11 Teach me thy way O Lord the motive And I will walk in thy truth knit my heart unto thee the motive that I may fear thy name Psal 16. Preserve me O God the motive for in thee do I put my trust Psal 17. And in sundry other Psalms he urgeth the wickedness of his enemies as a motive ver 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me the motive with their mouth they speak proudly c. In the 38 Psal he also urgeth the malice and wickedness of his enemies together with his own sorrow and misery by reason of his sins and his enemies ver 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there rest in my bones because of my sin ver 20. Of his enemies he saith they were against him because he followed the thing that is good but he will confess his iniquities these motives introduce this prayer Hast thee to help me O Lord God of my salvation In the 4 Psal He makes use of Gods former benefits as a motive for further beneficent saying Hear me when I call O God of my Righteousness the motive for thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble Psal 86. He urgeth his afflictions he suffered under Gods hand and his enemies malice and the goodness and mercy of God And concludes O turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me Usual in his prayers is that expression for thy Name sake They who would make use of this as all must must know him in that name which he himself proclaimed Exod. 34.6 For David did refer to this The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin c. The Lord cannot forget his own name therefore cannot forget to be gracious If we can use that inducement of Moses Lord if I have found favour in thy sight it is peculiar to his favourites and obligeth God to hear This is a large Field and may afford great plenty and variety but every man may supply himself with it that list to read and observe the Psalms It is noted by Bishop Cooper that it is not sufficient to seek from God because of that which he is but we must also consider what we are Otherwise as Jehu said unto one demanding Is it peace What hast thou to do with peace So the Lord may answer us though the Lord be gracious what is it to us As to the subject matter of Prayer the Children of God are sometimes mistaken about it and are in doubts St. Paul accordingly confesseth in the behalf of himself and others we know not what to pray for as we ought We find Moses also mistaken in the matter of his Prayer Exod. 33.18 Shew me now thy Glory for God answer'd him that no man could see his face and live and that he could not see it yet Almighty God to shew his propensity in hearing prayer came as neer his request as he could for God answered him in that which was as profitable and useful for him He made all his goodness to pass before him and let him see his back-parts so that Moses lost not his Prayer though he did not obtain the thing he asked Much more may we expect success in our Prayers when we ask such things as he hath commanded us to seek which we know are according to his will and our blessed Saviour also hath engag'd for our obtaining The invitations being so many so importunate and so free viz. To come and buy without money and without price to open our mouths wide to ask and have it appears and we must so believe that Gods bountifulness is such that he is more ready to give than we to ask or receive And like as a Mother whose breasts are full is more desirous to give suck to her Babe than that to crave or receive it such is Gods freeness to us It concerns us then to advise what these rich benefits are which we are to beg and buy without money or price And if we may have what we lack for asking certainly we shall be convinced of the greatest folly in the world if we will lose them for want of asking Many are ignorant of their own wants as the Church of Laodicea who knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked but thought herself in the contrary estate But God adviseth her of her wants and the remedy of it which he sheweth her is to be had of him only viz. Gold tried in the fire that she might be rich and white raiment that she might be cloathed and eye Salve that she might see and freely invites her to buy them of him though she were poor blind and naked and had nothing to purchase them withall therefore we may infer that all men be their condition what it will may come to God in this duty of Prayer for all their needs as we read Jonah 1.5 The Mareners cryed every one to his God For our better direction that we may not miscarry in our suits as the Mother of Zebedees Children did our blessed Saviour hath plentifully instructed us what we should pray for as he here directs the Church of the Laodiceans Matth. 6.9 and Luke 11.2 The Disciples sensible of their own insufficiency do make it their suit to him to teach them thereupon he gives a pattern and rules for them and us to use In which Prayer the three first and the three last petitions are spiritual According to the rule which he gives ver 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof From this prayer of our Saviour and the rules by him given and from the precepts elsewhere and the prayers of the Saints we find but these three things necessary to be prayed for viz. Grace and the means of Grace and the rewards promised thereto For though the Children of God do most frequently use confession of their sins and thanksgivings together with their Prayers as Daniel did And Davids Psalms are most of them thus and whether we use them as
inducements for the things we pray for as we use confession as an inducement for pardon and thanksgiving may and ought to be used as an inducement for obtaining further mercies or else we look upon them as distinct duties they are proper enough but not always necessary to be joined with this duty therefore we refer them to their proper places and judg them much more easy as to the verbal expression than fervent Prayer for grace and spiritual enjoyments When God hath filled our heart with food and gladness and hath wrought deliverance for us and so hath given us matter of thanksgiving if the Heart be but enough thankful words of praise and outward actions cannot be wanting but thanksgivings and confessions are peculiar things and for this duty this one motive may be sufficient to enforce it viz. That it pleaseth the Lord better than a Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs Psal 69.32 These three viz. Grace and the means of Grace and the rewards I conceive they contain all the promises and all that God hath engag'd by the new Covenant to give to his people They contain also all that God hath commanded and enjoyned his people and requireth of them and they contain all that they need or can desire to make them happy here and hereafter And there is no Petition in the Psalms of David or in any prayer in all the Scripture but is contained under one of these heads for all the Prayers of the Saints tends to this end viz. The glory of God and the promotion of his Kingdom and the means thereof Those Prayers which are against the opposites namely against sin and iniquity and the occasions and helps thereof and against every degree of sin and the punishments and curses due to sin and sinners That the rod of the Wicked may not rest upon the lot of the righteous Psal 125. These are of the same nature with the former for the overthrowing plucking down and destroying of sin and Satans Kingdom and the treading him under foot is the preparing the way of the Lord that his Kingdom may come therefore we do in this pray against those and in praying against those we pray for this Hence it is that God hath made promises accordingly of subduing our iniquities and to tread Satan under our feet That no Weapon formed against us shall prosper That sin shall not have dominion over us And we pray for the performance of these promises when we pray the second Petition of the Lord's Prayer Thy Kingdom come for the Kingdoms of the World cannot become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ but by the subsersion of Antichrists Kingdom This notwithstanding it is our duty to pray expresly as we are strengthned and assisted by the holy Spirit as well for these as against those and against those as well as for these although implicitly he that prays for the Kingdom of God prays against sin and Satan See Psal 119. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity c. Likewise when we pray thus generally in these words of our blessed Saviour we do implicitly pray for the conversion of the Jews Yet ought we notwithstanding expresly to pray for it because we are commanded to give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise What persons we are to pray for is also taught by the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.1 I will therefore that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men but yet we are chiefly to pray for the chosen people of God for thereby we express and declare our fellowship with them and our relation to them as members of the same mystical body in Christ Jesus and thereby endeared to us more than our natural relations Therefore we find the Apostles in their Epistles praying for those they write to and requiring the like of them again Paul to the Ephesians prayeth for them c. 1.17 That God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of him that their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand c. and Chap. 3.16 Prayeth that they may be strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inner-man that they may know the love of Christ for the Saints at Philippi he prayeth that their love may abound more and more in knowledg and all judgment that they may approve things that are excellent that they may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God Philip. 1.9 By these and the like Prayers of the holy Apostles we learn what to pray for as well for our selves as others We learn from St. Pauls prayer for the Hebrews c. 13. To pray that God through the blood of the everlasting Covenant would make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. For it is through Jesus Christ if any thing we do is pleasing to God and it is God himself who works it in us Those that do not pray for the peace of Jerusalem are not Citizens thereof therefore they do not love her But they that do pray for her peace and give God no rest until he make Jerusalem a praise are Citizens of that Jerusalem which is from above which is the mother of us all and they receive comfort from her welfare and are sure that she shall receive a benefit by their Prayers and hope to receive benefit mutually by her Prayers for as the Apostles in their Epistles to the Churches pray for them so they do also desire their prayers I infer that every particular Christian in his Prayers must put in suit the general promises viz. That all her people shall be holy all righteous all be taught of God and holiness to the Lord shall be writ upon the Bells of the Horses They who pray for these Spiritual gifts and graces for themselves and others do pray in the Spirit and seek the Glory of God And by their fervency and zeal and frequent addresses to God for them and for repressing and subduing their opposites viz. The sins which so easily beset them their iniquities and corruptions They shew forth their weariness of them and burthen which loadeth them from which they groan and cry to be eased and deliver'd by God because they are not able by all they can do to be deliver'd by their own industry And because our blessed Saviour hath promised to ease such therefore they may be sure to be heard if they confessing their particular burthen of corruption whether it be pride
ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity Nevertheless we must continue praying though the Lord seems inexorable for though he tarry long it may be that he only intends to exercise thy faith and patience and other graces And he will fulfil his promise for thy deliverance in his own time not thine The Rod of the wicked may rest a long time on the back of the Righteous but shall not alwaies With this direction too that thou observe when thou prayest against any affliction or calamity that thou chiefly prayest against the causes of them and those sins upon which God useth to threaten and denounce those calamities especially if thy conscience tell thee of any particular sin which might procure them And that thou submit to him who sends it with patience if his will be not to remove his hand confessing it to be his mercy that thou art not consumed and hear the Rod and him that appointed it And if by thy great afflictions thou beest deprived of all comfort and made the spectacle of all misery yet thou art to trust to thy amends at the last day Though worms consume thy flesh yet it may be comfort enough to support thee that thou know that thy Redeemer lives and thou shalt see him at the last day So Job By execution some go to Heaven as the Thief upon the Cross The promised Blessings and Enjoyments Benefits Deliverances and Immunities and earthly Comforts must not be taken or understood absolutely but subordinately and relatively viz. as may conduce and further the spiritual and eternal welfare of those who are heirs to them and have title to claim them therefore they must be sought with submission and modesty as we find Jacob praying but only for food and rayment and our Blessed Lord and Saviour when he prayed that the bitter cup of his sufferings might pass from him it was with submission Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done Because these prayers are the dictates of nature which the Saints and Servants of God do not use to inlarge but suppress albeit God oftentimes grants them with an overplus as when David asked life and God granted him long life viz. for ever Solomon wisdom and God gave him besides riches and honour And Jacob asked but food and rayment and the Lord increased him to two bands And Abraham a child and God granted him seed like the sand of the Sea But in these prayers too we do not find the dictates of Nature only but the dictates of the Spirit usually combining in the same petition For it is probable that Hanna did design the Glory of God in asking a child as the consecrating him to God gives reason to suppose although we read of another cause which was the contempts which she sufferd for her barrenness and her grief thereof conceived which drove her to seek to God for succour and praying vowed if God would give her a male Child then she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life which vow she performed If we also praying for ontward blessings vow and retribute to God our prayers are warranted and are spiritual Especially if we design the glory of God therewith Those who have received such prayers with an overplus are much more bound to consider what they shall retribute and if they they have vowed too let them perform lest they lose all again for their unworthiress and Ingratitude And with these cautions God doth sometims allow beggars to be chusers as 〈…〉 what sex her Child should be And so Lot got Zoar to be spared when God had appointed it to destruction The good Emperour Titus thought it an unbeseeming thing that any person should depart from his Princes presence sad therefore he granted all petitions then shall not his Prince be much more gracious To sue to God upon his own promise is an argument of faith much used by the faithful people of God as we find in many of the Psams And an argument wherein God delights as he doth in every work that is of faith And no man that ever prayed thus lost his labour I cannot affirm that they alwaies obtain the things of this life because they are not absolutely promised Though godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come and no good thing shall be wanting to those that live a godly life they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Psal 34. Yet these worldly blessings are not absolutely good for every person in every condition therefore are not absolutely promsed But yet if we do seek these bodily comforts by use of means we ought to joyn prayer with the means else God will frustrate the means As we read 2 Chron. 16. he did when Asa sought to the Phsiycians to be healed and not to God But spiritual mercies and graces and the gifts of the Spirit are absolutely good and absolutely promised and every man may and must seek them evermore because they are commanded to have them and to seek them and they are promised to those that seek them and those who seek them not are threatned Those graces which we have we are not able to retain and keep of our selves the Church of Ephesus Apoc. 2.2 was labourious patient zealous against evil persons tryed the pretended Apostles and for the name of Christ Jesus laboured herein without fainting And yet for all that reproved in the next words Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love The like perils I suppose attend all the Sarvants of God Though some are of opinion that the Elect cannot fall away yet we see they do sall foully And therefore they shall do well to pray to God for supportation As David Psal 119. prayeth Hold thou me up and I shall be safe And he prayeth for all graces in particular but it cannot be supposed that he was destitute of all therefore it is certain that he prayed for many which he then had Probably because he was sensible of his weakness and danger of falling if God did not water him every morning and every moment as he hath promised to do or if God did not keep him watch over him strengthen him hold him up with his arm which the Lord hath promised to do Therefore we may be sure that we need it all And that he must be sought too to perform these gracious promises And the Lord will keep and encrease in us those graces which we have And deliever us and save us from those corruptions and lusts which we think we are free from otherwise we who seem both naturally and spiritually fortified against some sins may fall in the thing wherein we excel for so did Moses he spake unadvisedly with his lips though he was the meekest man upon the earth
the perception of these mysteries so according to this example let thy faithful people prepare themselves with repentance and perfect charity and if we remember that our neighbour hath any thing against us ler us leave our gift at the Altar and go and be first reconciled to our neighbour and then perform our Sacrifice to God and apprehending and discerning the Lord's body that we commit no irreverence And as our souls are prepared so let us prepare our bodies as thy servant David when he eat the shew bread 1 Sam. 21.5 answered the Priest Women had been kept from them three daies and the vessels of the young men were holy Let our bodies be sanctified by fasting temperance abstinence prayer and humiliation lest as the Ark of the Covenant by which the Lord conveyed the greatest benefits to the Israelites being taken by the Philistines brought to them the greatest calamities and so it did to Vzzah for but touching it irreverently In like manner these heavenly gifts if we eat them unworthily shall prove our damnation and if they who but touched the hem of his garments or received him into their house received such benefits shall not they who receive him into their souls be healed of all their infirmities and as the antient martyrs by receiving these mysteries were strengthened to undergo all that tyranny could lay upon them Let them in like manner strengthen us against all that Satan and the world can do against us And as the daily Infirmities of our body are helped by our bodily nourishment so let our Infirmities of our souls by this our Spiritual nourishment be relieved and us be satisfied and delighted therewith as with heavenly manna O Lord sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings thou wouldest not have but thou gavest a body to thy only begotten Son that he should offer up himself in whom thou art well pleased And this Sacrament was instituted by him in Commemoration of his death and the acceptable Sacrifice of his life for the sins of the world Lord by his death and Sacrifice of his life unto thee which we hereby celebrate be reconciled unto us This is that pure Sacrifice which the Saints shall offer up unto thee in every place LORD since thou turnest the malice of men and the unjustice which they do thy Saints to the advantage either of their secular concerns as Josephs imprisonment was or of their soules Lord inable me to suffer wrong and to take it patiently to suffer railings and reviling as David did Shemei's railing saying If the Lord hath said to Shemei curse David who shall say why hast thou done so So let him curse for who can tell whether the Lord will requite good for his railing If I loath the fool in them I must not act it my self by returning the like Let me consider that by patience I possess my Soul and that it is better to suffer wrongfully than as an evil doer since it is the will of God that we should suffer and let our graces be exercised hereby And let us consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners Jesus our Lord lest we faint and be weary in our mind for the consideration of his suffering such reproach and the frequent remembrance of him hath efficacy and vertue to strengthen and support us who are willing to be conformable to his sufferings but we had rather that this cup might pass from us LORD whenever we fall into any sin we find immediately that we have lost our own innocence and thy favour so that we cannot go about our affairs with that quietness and peace and serenity of mind as before we did and in all that we do we fear it will have but bad success because we dare not look up to thee for a blessing Lord give us to consider this when we are tempted that we may fear sin more and make it out to our understandings how we do by sin crucify again unto our selves the Lord Jesus and put him to an open shame for we are all ready to pronounce an Anathema upon the Crucifiers of our Lord therefore let us not suffer these his Crucifiers to live He that seeth in secret he will reward thee openly Let this encourage us to frequent Prayers and duties But O Lord our services are so few and so slight and perfunctory and sinful while our hearts go after our covetousness and lusts so that we forget before whom we are and what we are doing and so our duties are sacriledge and our services provocations sins vain oblations abominations filthy rags like Nadab and Abihu's strange fire like the offering of the lame and blind when we have a male in our Flock so that thou mayest justly deal with us as Pilate did with the Gallilaeans whose blood he mingled with their sacrifice What reward then can we expect O Lord we beseech thee though our prayers are sinful yet accept them offer'd up in the Golden censer of Jesus our Mediator which is full of Incense which are the Prayers of the Saints and let these filty rags be wash'd in his blood and then they will be clean and white as Snow and then thou mayest reward them but yet that reward is thy free mercy therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name is all the praise for what can we do for which thou should'st reward us with so many mercies here and with life eternal Any one of thy mercies is of more value then all our services could deserve or requite if we should continue in the duties of prayer and praising thee night and day all our lives for we owe thee all we have or can do It is thine as we are thy creatures and we were but unprofitable Servants after we had done all we can and we have need of an almighty Redeemer Then let us not murmure if the Lord doth delay to hear us Neither let us say 't is in vain to serve the Lord. Let us consider also that thou dost delay out of mercy to try our patience and perseverance and other graces and to make us more servent or may be because thou wilt not reward us with temporal blessings but eternal which is far better and let us not press or be importunate to receive our reward here lest we go without the eternal reward but let us be willing to trust God though he delay LET me not come near to that which may be a temptation or if a temptation come upon me unawares let me not say in my heart I shall be strong enough to resit it and so trust to my own strength but let me have grace to observe those ways and methods of resisting sin as thou hast appointed in thy word Therefore let me fly immediately from the temptation as Joseph fled from his Mistress leaving his Cloak If by chance I fall into the Company of Drunkards let me not say I shall preserve my sobriety because I love that and hate that
the lame and the blind if we have no better in our flock thou wilt accept it therefore I will not cease to pray unto thee though I cannot approve my own prayers for thus I come unto thee without money or price that thy gifts may be free O that I could account the corruption of my nature to be my misery as Saint Paul complaining of the law of his members warring against the law of his mind so that he could not do the good he would cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin And make me as sensible of the strength of it as this holy man was LORD if I fall into sin let me not be insensible of it as the adulterous woman who eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done 〈◊〉 wickedness But like as David after he had sinned and the Prophet Nathan had told him God had done away his sin yet his grief and sorrow for having offended God gave him no rest so that he wept day and night So let my sins grieve me as oft as I remember them Meditation SINCE the Apostle Peter wherein he was confident of his strength above all others immediately fell I will ascribe my standing to God only and praise him who holds me up And pray with David Lord hold thou me up and I shall be safe And watch and take heed to my self and alwaies fear lest I fall since I know that I stand not by my own strength for corruption of nature is as strong in me as in others and the tempter the same to me as to them but the Spirit of God only makes the difference therefore I will praise God who upholds me and keeps my feet from falling for it is not I that live the life of faith but Christ that lives in me therefore with the Elders in the Revelations I will cast my Glory and Crown at his feet from whom I have received it And the consideration of this my weakness shall teach me charity towards those that are overcome with temptation that I may restore them in the spirit of meekness but not judge them lest I condemn my self as David did himself in the Parable of the yew Lamb And as Judah condemned himself in condemning Tamar And let me not flatter my self like the Scribes and Pharisees who said If we had been in our Fathers daies we would not have been partakers with them in killing the Prophets LORD establish thou me with thy free Spirit whereby I may stand in the hour of Temptation and run the ways of thy Commandments freely without rub or let without dulness and without danger of stumbling or falling that the Spirit may be willing though the flesh be weak And with Paul when he was full of the Spirit he was content not only to be bound but to die for Christ so may I also since thou lovest only the chearful giver And as it said 5 of Judges 9. Thy heart is towards the governours of the people that offered themselves willingly So make me alwaies to cast off readily and freely every tempter that goes about to seduce my affections from thee disdaining to harken to them LORD give me to avoid not only gross sins but also the smallest and first degrees of sins viz. To turn away my eyes from beholding vanity Not to look upon the wine when it moves it self right in the cup to make a covenant with my eyes not to look upon a maid gives me understanding in the way of God that I may know these small degrees of sin to be sins and the danger of them to avoid them and all other of the like nature Then I shall know that I have a New heart and that thou hast put thy Spirit into me which I desire to know above all things LORD let not my heart deceive me either making me think that I have more grace than in truth I have as Peters did him so as that he thought though all men denied thee yet he should not or by making me think I have not those corruptions that I have as Hasael 2 King 1.13 When the Prophet told him what cruelties he would commit upon the Israelites he answerd is thy Servant a Dog Yet did he commit the same but let me know my own weakness and vileness that I may not trust to my own strength in any temptation but let me rejoice in God my strength and know that thou art my strength and that thou only holdest me from falling and keepest my feet from slipping and orderest my goings and makest me to run the waies of thy Commandments And inclinest my heart to thy testimonies O hold thou me up and I shall be safe Keep thy Servant also from presumptuous sins and from the sins of infirmities and let me always know my own insufficiency weakness and corruptions and watch and pray against them not only against gross sins which the heathen and unbelievers detest as drunkeness swearing murther and adultery theft and the like but against every degree of sinfulness and every vain and lustful thought and idle word unseemly gesture which I can easily espy as motes in anothers eye while I hardly discern the beam in my own but do thou O Lord take away from me this blindness of heart with the effects and consequences thereof by causing the day star to arise in my heart LORD let my former experiences which I have had of thy goodness beget a confidence in me in all dangers as it did in David when he went to encounter Goliah He remembered the slaughter of the Lion and the Bear and concluded the Philistin should be like one of them And breakes out saying though 10000 men should set themselves against me round about yet will I not be afraid and though as many Devils also are against me let me not be afraid let me remember thy promise saying call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shaltpraise me And let me not rely upon nor trust in the outward meanes the arm of flesh though I do make use of it as Nehemiah whenhe builded the walls of Jerusalem he set watches and they took their arms with their spades so wisdom teacheth but yet not to trust to the Sword or think that our bow shall help us for so did that Philistine Wherefore said David thou comest to me with thy sword thy spear but I come to thee in the name of my God Lord teach me the power of prayer especially mingl'd with faith And to consider that thou hast heard the wicked when they have sought thee as Ahab because he walked heavily and mourned thou wouldst not bring the evil in his daies And thou heardest Manasses and thy poor people that cry unto thee in their trouble thou deliverest out of their distress as exiles prisoners Marriners and sick persons when their soul fainteth in them and they cry unto thee being at their wits end And
Fret not thy self because of the ungodly nor be thou envious against the evil doers ver 29. The wicked seeth the righteous and seeketh occasion to slay him ver 14. The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to slay such as be of an upright conversation ver 12. The wicked plotteth against the righteous and gnasheth upon him with his teeth ver 33. The Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged ver 39. And 40. The Salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble And the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things v. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of God shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword for thy sake are we killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter 37. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerers through him that loved us These consolations did not only support the suffering Saints but made them triumph over all their torments Take joyfully the spoiling of their goods Rejoyce in the Lord in the want of all things When they had nothing to possess all things Sing in the dungeon dispise death and not accept deliverance Psal 119. David by delighting in Gods word was supported Satans envie to the Servants of God all that all belongs to God raiseth up persecutions to the holy seed The Dragon in the Revelations is set forth persecuting the woman Rev. 12.8 Satan hath great wrath because he hath but a short time therefore the persecutions under the Gospel are greater than those were under the law St. Paul was not only ready to suffer afflictions for Christ but to dye also Satan was not contented when he had prevailed in the trial of holy Job to the taking away of his substance nor yet when he had prevailed for the depriving of him of his children but his body also must be smitten The office of the Comforter would be in vain If Gods people were never dismayed If there were no broken heart to be healed and bound up there needed no strong consolations of the Holy Spirit nor no Oil of joy and gladness if no spiritual heaviness were He could not restore beauty for Ashes if no Ashes were upon our heads nor wipe all tears from our eyes if they wept not before The Sun of righteousness should arise with healing in his wings in vain if none had need of healing The Blessedness to those that mourn that they shall be comforted were needless They are necessary also that the scriptures migh be fulfilled They are plentiful for this assertion Through many tribulations we shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If we endure not tribulations whereof all are partakers then are we Bastards and not Sons All that will live godly must suffer persecutions 2 Tim. 3.12 Many are the troubles of the righteous If our Hope were in this life only we were of all men most miserable By all which it appears that the Saints are the people that are to be oppressed for they only can bear wrongs and oppressions Psal For thy sake are we killed all the day long yet do we not forsake thee Judgement must begin at Gods house The Spouse in the Canticles saith Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath shined upon me She had been in hardship and underwent what injuries Wind and weather could do to her and knew that worldly men would censure her as wicked and forsaken of God Gods antient people the Jews when they sined were carried into captivity in Babylon according to the Prophesies They were restored again upon their repentance And sinning again were utterly destroyed by the Romans under Titus's command The Scriptures which threaten plagues punishments and curses cannot be fulfilled if afflictions should not befal us Six of the seven Churches of Asia were threatned unless they repented Will any one think that the impenitent scaped unpunished there is not any one of those punishments which God threatned from the beginning of the holy Scripture to the end but came to pass save only where repentance prevented them as was the case of the Ninivites And in some degree Ahab and Manasses shew their repentance answerable to which their remission was but our first parents found the truth of all Gods threatnings so did the old world that was drowned So did Gods ancient people the Jews of whom ' its said 14 of Hose 1. Thy iniquities have distroyed thee For all those curses and plagues threatned against them and their City as Josephus who was in the calamity and an eye witness writes did come to pass not one excepted Davids family was foretold of that Judgement that the sword should not depart from them and the truth of it they felt So Jezabel and Ahab Lots wife these knew the terror of the Lord and are set forth as examples to us as it is in St. Judes epist Our Blessed Lord and Saviour hath undergone that curse which was threatned to our first Parents In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the Death And if he had notundergone it for us we all must have undergone it in our own persons Call upon God therefore O my soul with earnest prayers constantly and fervently that he would support thee and hold thee up in the time of the firy trial that is to come upon all the world to try them But especially in the time of spiritual desertions which by reason of our frailties befals the best of Gods Servants as it did our blessed Saviour upon the Cross when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and the spouse Cant. 5.6 Sought for her love but could not find him and Psal 13.1 v. David saith How long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Isa 38.14.15 Hezekiah mourns as a dove his eyes fail him with looking upward 15. I shall go softly all my days in the bitterness of my soul and the 5 Cant. 6. And Psal 102. Shew that all the Servants of God must expect that God will withdraw himself somtimes and v. 8. This shall be written for the generation to come that the Lord will regard the prayer of the poor distieute he will not absent himself for ever he will be found again This was the Zenith of our Saviours sufferings and none but Saints can lye under this suffering But God is with them though they see him not for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee 2 Chron. 16.2 The Lord is with you while you