received it was for us and what he did was done by us and what he lost we lost in him Now if we have lost this Power of Obeying must God also lose his Priviledge and Sovereignty of Commanding Must he lessen his Authority as we lessen our Ability Truly had Adam once thought of this slight he might have sinn'd himself quite from under the command and dominion of his Creator and might soon have become thus free Do not you your selves think you may if a Debtor of yours through his own default becomes a Bankrupt require your Debt of him So stands the Case here between God and us we are all disabled to pay the Debt of Obedience that we owe to God but yet it is through our own default and the Power that we had is not so much lost as wilfully thrown away and may not God justly come upon us for our Debt Our want of Power takes not off our obligation to Obedience because it is through a wilful defect that we are deprived of that Power If a Servant throw away his Tools with which he should work may not his Master justly expect his Work from him though he knows he cannot work without them God's Commands respect not the Impotency that we have contracted nor do they therefore abate any thing of their Severity but they respect that Power and Ability that was once conferred and bestowed upon us Yea were it so that God could with Justice require no more from us than what at present we have Power and Ability to perform this would make the Grace of God First vain and fruitless and Secondly dangerous and destructive First This would make void the pardoning Grace of God For according to this Doctrin nothing could be required of us if we could do nothing but without Grace we can do nothing and therefore if Grace be not bestowed on us nothing can justly be required from us and if nothing be required nothing is due from us and then we do not sin in not performing any thing and where there is no sin certainly there can be no place for pardoning Grace and Mercy And so these wise Men who think they do so much befriend the Grace and Mercy of God in all haste in affirming that God requires nothing from us but what at present we have Power to perform are injurious to the Mercy of God in making of it void as to Pardon and Remission Secondly this Doctrin makes the sanctifying Grace of God destructive and pernicious If God can require justly no more of us than we can perform wherefore is it that Men are justly damned Is it not because they will not do what they are able to do And whence is it that they have this Ability Is it not from the Grace of God's Spirit And therefore if they have not Grace to make them able to do more than their own corrupt Wills are willing to do God could not justly condemn them and consequently that of the Apostle should stand no longer true Eph. 2.5 Through Grace ye are saved but through Grace ye perish These two Consequences will follow if God could justly require no more from us than what we have Power now to do So that tho' we have not Power and Ability to work out our own Salvation yet we are not thereby excused from our Obligation to do it But Answ 2 Secondly Though we cannot of our selves work out our own Salvation Yet God doth not mock us as some do thence infer neither doth he only upbraid us with our own Weakness but hath serious and weighty ends why he Commands us to Obey Those that are so ready to cast this Odium upon the Doctrin of Special Grace making God a derider of Human Frailty and Miseries when he Commands Obedience from them to whom say they himself denies that Power and Grace that should inable them to obey I would only ask these Persons this Question Whether do they grant or whether or no can they deny that God antecedently before he Commands knows who will obey and who will not obey If they say God knows who will not obey will they say God mocks them when he Commands them to obey though he knows they will not What they Answer to this the same may we Answer to their Objection But now there are two Ends why God Commands us thus to work though we are not able according to which God is very serious in commanding us thus to work And God doth this First That he may hereby convince us of our own Weakness and that wretched Estate into which our Sins have brought us that he might humble and abase us when we reflect how far we are fallen from our first Perfection and Excellency When we consider on the one Hand that God requires nothing from us now but what we once had a Power to perform and then on the other Hand consider how little yea how much of that nothing it is that now we have Power to perform this convinces us how miserably great our Fall is that makes those things impossible to us that once were both easie and delightful Secondly God loves to deal with Men as with rational Creatures that have free Faculties capable of moral Influences fit Subjects to be wrought upon by Precepts Counsels Commands and Exhortations as well as by Internal and Efficacious Grace that Arguments and Motives may persuade without as Grace sways within that so by both he might render them a willing People in the Day of his Power And therefore they are not in vain neither to those that shall be saved nor to those that Perish First To those that shall be saved these are the Instruments which the Spirit of God makes use of to incline their Wills and conquer their Affections into the Obedience of Christ and therefore they are not in vain In conversion ordinarily if not always the Moral work goes before the Physical That is there is first the rational Persuasion before there is the efficacious and determining Motion For God when he works on Man he accommodates himself suitable to the Nature of Man that as he is a Creature so he may be and is the Subject of Gods efficacious Motions and as he is Rational so he may be guided by Counsels lead by Persuasions over-awed by Convictions and therefore when God Converts any he takes both these ways inwardly he works by effectual Grace powerfully subduing the Will as a Creature subject unto it and outwardly he works by moral Suasions and Authoritative Commands whereby he inclines the will sweetly and freely to consent to the Power of that inward Grace which indeed he shall never nay indeed he cannot resist and both these together do concur as I said before to make a willing People in the Day of Gods Power And Secondly For those that Perish these Commands have a double end and use First They are Instruments in the Hand of the common work of the Spirit of God to
as we are to speak to him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh The holy Angels in Heaven stand always ministring in the presence of God and Prayer doth in some kind associate us with them it brings us to lye prostrate at the Feet of God at whose Feet also Angels and all the Powers in Heaven do with much more Humility than we fall down and worship him we and they fall down together at the Feet of the great God we in Prayer and they in Praises This Priviledge cost Jesus Christ dear for it is through him as the Apostle speaks that we have access with boldness unto the Throne of Grace All Access thither was barred against Sinners till Christ opened a Passage for us by his own Death and most precious Blood And shall not we make use of a Priviledge purchased for us at so dear a Rate as that is Hath Christ shed his Blood to procure us liberty to pray and shall not we spend our Breath in praying Hath Christ died such a cursed cruel Death to purchase liberty for us to pray and shall we rather choose to die an eternal Death than make use of it This is to despise the Blood of Jesus Christ to offer an high Affront and Indignity unto him to account it a vile and contemptible Thing when we make no more esteem of that for the purchase of which he shed his precious Blood We look upon it as a great Priviledge to have free and frequent access to those that are much our Superiors and shall we not reckon it a much higher Priviledge that we may at all times approach the presence of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and higher than the highest as we may do at all times in Prayer 3. Prayer is a sovereign Remedy for an afflicted Mind Thirdly Prayer it is the most sovereign Medicine and Remedy for an afflicted Mind Nothing is so desirable in this World as a faithful Friend to whom we may at all times unbosom our selves and make all our Secrets and Grievances known Now Prayer directs us to go to God himself he is our most faithful Friend that can best counsel and best help us and Prayer is a means whereby we reveal the Secrets and Troubles of our Souls unto him Prayer it is our discoursing with God When our Hearts swell with Grief and are ready to break within us how sweet is it then to take God apart and give our Hearts vent Prayer it is a making our Case known to him and a spreading our Wants before him casting all our Burthens upon him who hath promised to sustain us Fourthly consider 4. Prayer is a means appointed by God for all Mercies that we want Prayer is a means appointed by God for the obtaining of those Blessings and Mercies that we stand in need of for all Things are Gods he is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth whether they be spiritual or temporal Mercies that we desire if it be Wealth Strength or Wisdom all are his If we would have spiritual Blessings conferred upon us our Faith our Love our Patience our Humility strengthned and encreased he is the God of all these Graces and Prayer it is a means appointed by God to convey all these unto us Our Prayers and God's Mercy are like two Buckets in a Well while the one ascends the other descends So while our Prayers ascend to God in Heaven his Mercies and Blessings descend down upon us 5. We are always in want therefore we should pray always Fifthly consider All our Supplies are only for our present Exigences to serve us only from Hand to Mouth the stock of Mercy is not ours but God's he still keeps it in his own Hands and this he doth that he might keep us in a constant Dependence upon him and in a constant Expectation of Mercy from him Our Wants grow up very thick about us and if we did but observe it we should find every Day yea every Hour new cause to present new Requests and Supplications unto God and therefore as our Necessities never cease so neither should our Prayers 6. They â—hat will not Pray shall Howl Sixthly consider this If you will not be persuaded to pray you shall one Day be made to howl You that will not now look up to Heaven in Prayer shall hereafter look up in Blaspheming Isai 8.21 Isai 8.21 They shall fret themselves says the Prophet and curse God and their King that is in their horrid Despair and Anguish they shall Curse and Blaspheme both God and their King that is the Devil and they shall look upwards Tho' now wicked Men will not look to Heaven yet then God will force them to look upwards There may Two Objections possibly be made against this Duty of Prayer Object 1 First God doth before-hand know all our Wants and Desires and therefore what Necessity is there of Prayer Answ To this I answer with St. Augustine God says he doth require that we should pray to him not so much to make known what our Will and Desire is for that he cannot be ignorant of but it is for the exercise of our Desires and to draw forth our Affections towards those Things that we beg at his Hands that thereby we may be made fit to receive what he is ready to give Object 2 Secondly Say some It is in vain to pray because all our Prayers cannot alter the course of God's Providence we cannot by our most fervent Prayers change the method of God's Decrees if he hath resolved from Eternity to bestow such a Mercy upon us we shall receive it whether we pray or pray not if he hath resolved we shall never partake of it if we do pray all our Prayers will be in vain Answ I have long since Answered this Objection and told you That it is true God's Providence is immutable But the same Providence that orders the End to be obtained hath likewise ordered the Means by which it must be obtained As God hath decreed Blessings to us so he hath decreed that they should be obtained by Prayer and therefore we must pray that we may obtain those Blessings for that is the Means God hath decreed for the obtaining of them Directions how we must Pray so as to be accepted Some possibly may say If we must thus pray without ceasing how shall we be assured that God will hear us If it be our Duty to pray how shall we pray so as that our Prayers may become acceptable unto God I Answer 1. They that hear God God will hear them First If you would have God hear you when you pray you must be sure to hear him when he speaks See that place Prov. 1.24 28. Because I have called and you have refused and have set at nought all my Counsels therefore says God you shall call but I will not answer you shall seek me early but shall not
find me God stops his Ears against their Prayers who stop their Ears against his Law So you find it Prov. 28.9 Prov. 28.9 He that turneth away his Ears from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an Abomination And this is but Equity with God to refuse to hear them that refuse to hear him Wherefore should God give attention to us when we Pray more than we to him when he Speaks Secondly 2. Prayer must be with Affection If you would have God hear you you must be greatly affected with what you speak your selves Qui frigide rog at docet negare He that asks coldly begs only a Denial Certainly we cannot in reason expect that God should regard when we Pray when we do not regard our selves what we Pray How do you think a lazy Prayer that scarce drops out of your Lips should have Strength and Vigour enough to reach Heaven and to pierce through the Ears of God If you expect to shoot up a Prayer to Heaven you must draw it from a Soul full bent Thirdly 3. We must Pray with Patience We must come to God with Resolutions to wait for an Answer We must not give over Prayer because God doth not presently bestow a Mercy upon us that we desire this is not only to lose the Mercy it self but to lose our Prayers also God is a great God and King above all Gods and it is but his due State to be waited long upon in this Sense it is true He that believeth maketh not haste Certainly if we believe God to be infinitely wise to know the best Season to give us what we crave both for his Advantage and for ours also we shall not be in haste in our Suits or peevish because we are not strait answered but patiently wait God's leisure as knowing that God hath read our Petitions and will grant them when he seeth the fittest time 4. We must not make Requests for our Lusts Fourthly If you would pray so as to be heard be sure you put up no Requests in the behalf of your Lusts The Apostle gives the reason why of so many Prayers that are put up to God so few prove successful Jam. 4.2 James 4.2 You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss to consume it upon your Lusts Now to ask Blessings from God for our Lusts is when we beg any outward Mercy be it Wealth or Health or the like with reference to the gratifying of our own carnal and corrupt Desires therefore in James 4.4 the Apostle calls them Adulterers and Adulteresses Such Men are indeed like Adulteresses in this as they ask their Husbands those Things many times that they bestow upon them that they love better so wicked Men do many times ask those Mercies and Blessings of God that they intend to spend upon their Lusts that they love better than God and therefore it is no wonder that God who knows their secret Thoughts and Intents denies them Fifthly 5. We must put some stress upon our Prayers You must put some stress upon your Prayers if you would have them heard and accepted you must believe that it is to some purpose that you pray If we think it is of no great concernment to pray God will think it is of no great concernment to give what we pray for Sixthly 6. We must not put too much stress upon our Prayers You must take heed also that you do not put too much stress upon your Prayers that you do not set them up in the stead of Christ that you do not expect to merit by your Prayers the Things that you pray for but only look upon them as a Means and Ordinance that God hath appointed to obtain those good Things that you stand in need of 7. We must plead the merit of Christ in our Prayers Lastly You must be sure to make Jesus Christ your Friend when you come unto God or else all your Prayers are no better than scattered in the Air or spilt in the Carringe Benjamin was a Type of Christ in this respect Joseph chargeth his Brethren that they should not dare to see his Face again unless they brought their Brother Benjamin with them So truly they shall find no Welcome with God that do not bring their elder Brother Jesus Christ in the Arms of their Faith and plead his Merit and his Righteousness for the obtaining of their Desires So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD WITH THE Improvements thereof FROM PSAL. cxxxix 7 8 9 10. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD. Psal cxxxix 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me THESE Words declare to us the glorious Attribute of God's Immensity or Omnipresence set forth in most elegant and lofty Terms as if the Prophet would mitigate that Dread that might well seize upon us from the consideration of the terrible Majesty of God being so near us by the sweetness and flourishing of the Expression Whither shall I go from thy Spirit This Question doth not imply that David was indeed contriving how to make an Escape from God nor pondering with himself in what forlorn Corner of the World he might lie obscure where the Presence of God should never apprehend him but this Interrogation serveth for a vehement Assertion Whither shall I go That is there is no Place where I can go or where I can imagine to go but thy Spirit and thy Presence will be with me Whither shall I go from thy Spirit That is either from thee who art a Spirit and so canst pierce and penetrate me be as truly and essentially in the very Bowels and Marrow of my Soul as my Soul is intimately and essentially in my Body From thy Spirit that is from thy Knowledge and thy Power thy Knowledge to detect and observe me thy Power to uphold or to crush me In what dark Corner or Cavern soever I should muffle my self yet thy presence is so universal that it would find me out for it stretcheth it self from Heaven to Hell If I make my Bed in Hell By Hell here may be meant either the Grave which is often so called in Scripture as Acts 2.27 Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Cortion A Prophecy concerning Christ that is Thou wilt not leave my Person in the Grave so it is interpreted Verse 31. when it is said that his Soul was not left in Hell