whole heart Psal 119.145 so runs the promise of the Lord to his people Jer. 29.13 Ye shall seek and find me when ye search for me with your whole heart And thus you see in brief what Christ prescribeth for the manner of your prayers Now in the last place for the end of prayer that must be his glory we must aim at his ends and not our own If we seek any thing my Brethren meerly for our own ends to advance our own credits or our own profit we have no aim at all but self in our Petitions If we would have gifts and graces for no other ends but this that we may be applauded and observed if we would have wealth and riches in the world for no other end but this that we may strut and swagger and satisfie our own lusts and so accordingly we may conceive of other things we have cause enough to doubt that Jesus Christ will leave us in such suits as these are yea though we be his own people But if we would have nothing from the Father but in reference to Christ and to his glory if we would have grace and if we would have outward things that we may serve him the better that we may honour him the more we have good grounds to hope that Jesus Christ will second us in such requests as these are Now he will tell the Father There is such a suit of such a member such a Saint of mine I pray thee hearken to it and dispatch it out of hand for it concerneth me aswell as him Fain he would have more grace but I assure thee for I know his heart it is not to be proud or to be lifted up himself but to lift up me with it and to glorifie my name Poor soul he never thinks he gloryfieth me enough and therefore he would have more strength from thee to do it Thou seest how I am interessed in this suit of his and therefore I beseech thee do not put him off but answer him for my sake It is thy great design to glorifie me in the world and if thou wilt but give this Saint of mine more grace he will give me more glory Come let me set thy Treasure open and give him out a large share for I my self shall be a gainer by it And thus far I have shewed you how we may have Jesus Christ to be our Advocate in our Petitions We must walk by his Rule and pray according to his Will as I have laid it open to you both in relation to the Preparation and the Supplication both for the matter manner and the end If thus we do we may be confident of the good word of Christ for us But what if we fail in this I answer in a word and so an end If we fail in the matter of our prayer if that be not according to the will of Christ such a Petition and request as this we may resolve upon is laid by If we fail in the manner of our prayer either it is a total failing or a gradual failing If it be a total failing if we pray without faith without any faith at all without zeal and the like farewell to the success of such petitions If it be but a partial failing and that failing strived against and prayed against the case is very different By Evangelical allay we do what we desire to do in Gods gracious acceptation We pray in faith if we desire to pray in faith we pray with zeal if we desire to pray with zeal We pray according to the Will of Christ if we desire to pray according to the Will of Christ as to the manner of our prayers And if we pray according to his Will but in such a sense as this Christ intercedes and God hears Our Advocate strikes in with us and begs his Father to regard the matter and not the manner of our prayers He is an Intercessor for us to his Father in reference to both these both to the thing desired and the manner of desiring that he would give the one and that he would forgive the other And thus far of the first sort of directions how to judge whether in the Petitions that we make we walk by the Rule of Christ or no. Proceed we to the second sort how to determine whither we act by the Spirit of Christ or no. If in our prayers we act by Christs Spirit there are some measures and degrees of fervency and zeal in them The Holy Ghost is frequently compared to fire in Scripture He shall baptize you saith John the Baptist speaking of our Saviour with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is with the Holy Spirit which is not like water only but like fire too in those that are baptized with it so that where the Spirit is there is an holy heat in those that are partakers of it which shews it self in prayer as in other duties They are fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And though their heat may be allaid and cooled sometimes by outward means like water cast on this fire yet still there is an inward striving and disposition to be fervent The Holy Ghost within them is like fire to this incense I mean the incense of their prayers And though it may be smothered sometimes that it cannot flame or burn up either by afflictions or temptations or desertions yet it is never utterly extinguished in the Saints Although there be not flames perhaps yet there are coals continually on the Altars of their hearts which though they may be raked in the ashes now and then yet at some other times they burn amain Their hearts are hot within them and the fire kindles If we act by Christs Spirit our prayers are not purely natural but spiritual desires For you must know my Brethren that a man may pray yea he may think that he is much assisted by the Spirit in his prayers when all proceeds from his own Spirit and all his prayers may be nothing else but meerly natural desires As when a man perceives himself to be in great distress and sees no way or means to be delivered from it and is convinced and satisfied that God can save him notwithstanding this extremity of danger In such a case these suppositions being made he may enlarge himself to God in prayer and yet he may be stirred and quickned to it by nothing but his own Spirit which is naturally carryed to the use of any means which it conceives may be effectual to such an end as this is So that this man for all his earnestness may not act by Christs Spirit but his own as it is very manifest those wretches did who when they saw themselves invironed round about with dangers and thought that none but God could help them cryed vehemently to the Lord Exod. 14.10 and yet in the succeeding verse it appeareth what they were They shew themselves in their own colours But when a man is carryed high in prayer upon
themselves Proceed we to the clearing of the second It is a matter of high concernment for Christs disciples to be at nearest unity among themselves As of wondrous difficulty so of very great concernment It is the first thing that our Saviour begs in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that they might be one And prayes his Father to effect it by his own almighty power Holy Father keep them through thy own name that they may be one as we are By which he shews that as it is a hard thing so it is a choise thing a thing of special consequence worthy the putting forth of the almighty power of God about it And therefore the Apostle Paul would have us strain our selves to get it and preserve it to do as much as lies in us even to the utmost as much as it is possible for men to do to set all our abilities and all our faculties a work to procure and keep peace Rom. 12.18 And to this end having perswaded the Colossians to adorn themselves with mercy kindness humbleness of mind and with the habits and the acts of meekness and long-suffering as with glorious robes he perswadeth them at length to put on love which is an uniting grace a bond of perfectness the uppermost garment as it were and so the largest fairest richest and most pretious piece of the new cloathing of a Christian And therefore puts a special Emphasis upon his exhortation to it Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness which will unite and join you perfectly together They are not graces of the meanest rank that Paul commends to the Colossians in the former verses Yet having run through all of them and being come at length to this uniting grace as to the top and chief of all he sets the finger of a hand against it to point it out as supereminent Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness How is the Prophet David carried out beyond himself and even ravished in the contemplation of this pretious unity among the Saints and therefore calleth others to join in admiration with him Psal 133.1 Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity The admirable and surpassing excellency of it is represented to us in the Scripture many wayes If God will promise any special mercy to the Church it shall be this Isa 11.6 The Wolf and Lamb shall dwell together the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Lyon with the Calf and a little Child shall lead them And great shall be the peace of thy Children Isa 54.13 If he will give them any choice blessing The Lord will bless his people with peace Psal 29.11 If we will pray for any favour worth striving for it must be for Church-peace and unity among the Saints Pray ye for the peace of Jerusalem Psalm 112.7 that it may be like a City that is at unity within it self And therefore the Apostle is so earnest for it as it were for life and death The God of peace give you peace alwayes and by all means By which he intimateth that as it is a thing of wondrous difficulty so of great concernment for Christs Disciples to be at unity among themselves And this I shall lay open to you in a few paaticulars It is of great concernment to the growth of Christs Disciples and to their thriving in their spiritual estate It is observed of the Church Acts 4.32 that they were of one heart and one soul And that which follows presently is this great grace was upon them all It seems they were in the increasing and the thriving hand by this means Where there is great peace among the Saints there is great grace too Much union brings forth much communion and much Communion brings forth much holiness and much grace When Christians walk on in a sweet and amicable way they cannot choose but grow exceedingly But when dissentions make them to reserve themselves this is extremely prejudicial to the increase in holiness which otherwise would be among them That place of the Apostle is very notable to this purpose Col. 2 19. And not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together encreaseth with the increase of God being knit together it maketh increase It is of great concernment as to the growth of Christs Disciples so also to their comfort that they be at nearest unity among themselves it is a notable expression of the Apostle Paul to this purpose Col. 2.2 That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love There is the mercy wished them that their hearts might be comforted and then the requisite condition and qualification to make them capable of this comfort being knit together in love Much union much comfort little union little comfort no union no comfort Indeed it is a pleasant thing for Brethren to live together in unity but it is a bitter thing to live in discord and dissention it eats out all the joy and comfort of a man and fills his spirit with vexation When men are over head and ears in Controversies and Contentions especially Saints with Saints it makes their lives unquiet and uncomfortable to them You shall observe how restless such men are who are embroyled in troubles and who are deep in Controversies and Contentions they cannot eat they cannot sleep they cannot talk they can do nothing cheerfully and freely they are so clogged and cumbred with their own impatient and perplexed thoughts Listen to them and you shall hear them ever and anon complaining that every one is vexing them and troubling and molesting them so that they cannot live in peace Their wives their children and their servants cannot be at quiet for them they are in such a pelting humor upon every light occasion Their families are like the middle Region of the air continually rent and torn with storms and thunders and tempestuous stirs which rise at first of a thing of nothing a thin invisible fume drawn up from the earth And all this comes to pass by the dissentions that they have with others which takes away the meekness of their spirits and with that their quiet too And therefore you shall find a meek and quiet spirit joyned together and made the chief adorning of a Christian 1 Pet. 2.4 Whose adorning let it be that of the hidden man of the heart even the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit It it be meek it will be quiet if enraged it will be troubled it will be like the Sea that cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt It is of so great concernment as to the growth and comfort of Christs Disciples that they be at unity c. so also to their keeping in with God himself they must have peace among themselves if they will have peace with God if they be angry one with another God
respect they are sensibly decayed and they are nothing like the men that they were in former times Fall into discourse with them alas their wonted faculty is gone either you shall find them dead and stupid as it were not having any savory word to say in any matter that concerns Religion or else they talk is so far of so barren so unprofitable that it administers no grace no benefit at all to them that hear it Follow them into their houses and there you shall observe that many holy exercises and religious houshold duties which had been formerly set up and constantly performed perhaps for divers years together are either utterly neglected or else discharged in such a cold and formal manner that there is no life in them Enquire of other men who knew them in their first beginning and they will tell you all is gone their wonted heat and zeal and forwardness is come to nothing and in them the Proverb is verifyed The Dog is turned to his own vomit and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Vse 4 Is it so That the word of God is the ordinary means by which he sanctifieth his people not only in a way of inchoation but also in a way of augmentation Here then we see what we must do if we desire to thrive in holiness to make a daily progress and increase in grace We must attend upon the preaching of the Gospel And truly there is little hope that we should ever grow as Christians without the use of this means The tree that spreads and flourisheth and brings forth much fruit is said by David to be planted by the water side Psal 1.3 Even so the thriving and the growing Christian must be planted by the means he must be near the Word of God those waters of the Sanctuary as the Prophet calls them That saving Doctrine must drop down upon him as the rain it must distil upon him as the dew and as the smaller rain upon the herbs and as the showrs upon the grass as Moses speaks Deut. 32.2 or else he will be like in time to wither and decay and come to nothing Vse 5 Is it so That the Word of God is the ordinary means by which he sanctifieth his people not only in a way of inchoation but also in a way of augmentation Then certainly those men are in an ill condition who though they constantly enjoy the preaching of the Gospel yet do not thrive nor grow by it they hear it Sabbath after Sabbath yea and perhaps repeat it with their families and yet are not a jot the better for it any way Look at what point they were for knowledge practice and obedience many years ago at the very same they stay they are the very same men there is no alteration on them they have not gained any ground on their corruptions they are not grown a jot more constant and fervent in religious duties then in former times What is the reason that the Gospel produceth not its genuine effect in these men and that it bringeth forth no augmentation no increase of inward grace or outward obedience the fault is not in the inefficacy of the Gospel simply considered in it self but in the hardness and deadness of their hearts and as we use to say of ground that is manured and drest and watered much if it yieldeth no increase that it is very barren ground just so we may conclude of these men And certainly their case is fearful if they so continue as the Apostle shews us in the same Similitude Heb. 6.7 The earth that drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But on the other side that which bringeth bryers and thorns is rejected and nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned And therefore I beseech you my Beloved as increase and growth in grace is one effect in Gods Word so let it bring forth this effect in you and that it may so do I shall prescribe you some directions Remove those impediments that hinder growth and profiting by the Word of God and they are principally such as follow 1. The first is pride and loftiness of heart and spirit for when a man is puft up with a self opinion of his own sufficiency and thinks he knows as much as all the Preachers in the world can tell him how can he profit by the Gospel He is so full that when the water of the Word is poured upon him either it runneth over and is spilt upon the ground or else returneth back upon the face of him that poured it If therefore you desire to thrive by it come to hear it my Beloved with teachable and humble spirits the Lord will teach the humble his ways 2. Infidelity or unbelief for if we give no credit to the Word of God if we believe not the report of the Word of God his arm will never be revealed to us we shall not benefit nor profit by it And therefore this is yielded as the reason why the Jews were not a whit the better for the Word Heb. 4.2 The Word did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it 3. The third impediment is strong passion for as obstructions in the stomach hinder growth by bodily and outward food so vehement and head-strong passions do keep us from receiving growth and nourishment and augmentation by the Word of God You shall observe it commonly that men that have such furious and unbridled passions in them that will not be subdued by reason nor by Scripture do seldom profit by the preaching of the Gospel no it must be received with meekness if we mean to grow by it Jam. 1.12 And therefore the Apostle yields it as the reason why the Corinthians could not bear strong meat substantial solid truths their stomachs were not able to digest them they were so cloid with these obstructions 1 Cor. 3.2 4. Prejudice against the gifts or person of the Teacher this will exceedingly abate the power and hinder the success and profit of his teaching If once the heart be prepossest with jealousies and sinister thoughts and disaffection to the Minister there is but little hope of any benefit that such a man will reap by his labours These are the lets which we must labour to remove if we desire to thrive and grow by hearing of the Word of God If we desire to grow and to increase by it we must not hear it only but labour to digest it too A man shall never thrive and prosper by the meat he eats if he digest it not unless there be concoction and assimilation of it to the substance of the person that is nourished Let such a person feed as plentifully as he will there will be no augmentation So let us hear as much and as often as we will if we do not digest the Word of God the