towards him and doth not straiten it such a fear as is an helper of thy Ioy not an enemy to it such a fear as furthers the Comforts of the Holy Ghost such a fear as hath no torment in it and therefore love though perfected shall never cast it our and thou didst never see good day till this took hold of thee dost never enjoy good hour when this doth not over-rule thee 'T is a bitter thing to thee that ever thou wert without it Ier. 2.19 Thirdly Tell Him it is Him and his goodness that thou fearest his frown his absence his silence are now more dreaded by thee then all his Darts and Thunders used to be formerly the loss of a smile of a kiss a kindness is that thou most fearest and this thou takest to be a spirit of ingenuity not of slavery Fourthly He knows thy voyce and can tell whether he hear any of his own Language from thee or no how badly and brokenly soever it be pronounced though thou chatterest like a Crane or a Swallow or mournest like a Dove as Hezekiah speaks of himself Isa. 38.14 Every creature conveys its sound its tone and tune to the young ones and none of his children are still born the Spirit unties their tongues and sets them a crying Abba Father and he knows thou dost cry sometimes not coldly tender him some dead prayers but cry and not as a thief at a Bar to a Judge whom he neither loves nor hath any confidence in but as a poor child when in distress who daily asks his Fathers blessing Fifthly Desire him that he would feel thee as Isaac did Jacob the desire of thy soul is not only to have a smooth voyce but hands also so far from roughness that he may for ever own thee as one of the seed of Jacob thy heart is against a Covenant of works but for all the works of the Covenant Oh but the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously thy Revoltings have been multiplied and thy back-slidings are many and how shall He pardon thee for this In puts God himself to a pawse to a stand to demur upon it Fer. 5.7 and chap. 3.19 How shall I put thee among the children Nay Chap. 2.29 He seemeth to put a stop to all further pleading Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord Nay which is worst of all the Holy Spirit of God being hereby grieved where haft thou now another friend to speak a good word for thee when the Father is offended there 's the Son to mediate for thee and when Christ is disobliged yet there is the Spirit to intercede for thee but when the Spirit is vexed and quenched there 's never a fourth Person in the Trinity to make up the breach to comprimise the difference who shall now put words into thy mouth or fill thy mouth with with Arguments yet even in this case try him if he will not help thee at this dead lift and prove an Advocate for thee for he himself hath pen'd a form of prayer for one in thy case Hos 14.1 2 3. Go then even to this holy Spirit and fill thy mouth with Arguments First Tell him thou hast read or heard of his goodness Psal. 143.10 and of his Love Rom. 15.30 Not only that which he begets in the Saints but that which he bears to them all the world hath had experience of it the Church especially and thou art not altogether a stranger to it and hast now occasion further to try it and hopest to find it no whit inferiour either to that of the Father in giving his Son or that of the Son in giving himself for thee though He hath not been equally loved and honoured with then but wofully neglected and forgotten Secondly Ask him if it be possible for thee to be in a worse plight then when he first had to do with thee and did he then fall to work upon thee when he might have abhord to foul his fingers with thee and will he now forsake the work of his own hands Psal. 138.8 Thirdly Thou hopest he will dwell in thy dust when death hath done its worst unto thee and raise than again according to Rom. 8.11 and will he now forsake thy soul and not raise that again now that sin and the devil have done their worst against it for worse then what hath been thou thinkest cannot befall thee Fourthly Have not the most eminent Saints that ever he dwelt in had their backslidings and finned even against that grace wherein lay their excellency were they all restored by him and shalt thou only be abandoned Fifthly Were not all those gracious tenders to backsliders framed and filed and recorded by him Fer. 3.22 Return ye backfliding children and I will heat your backslidings Behold i ve come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Hosea 14.4 I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him and in many other places and beg he would teach thee experimentally to know what is meant by Gods healing backslidings Sixthly He knows that nothing in the world ever so wounded thee or went so near thy heart as thy tempting and grieving of him hath done and thou art resolved never to forgive thy self though he do no as sometimes thou thinkest not in Heaven Seaventhly He knows that thou art to this day wailing and wondring and waiting to know wherefore thou wert so left unto they self and that thou art far from wipeing thy mouth and slighting of it thou canst not but think that God hath some design upon thee therein as he had upon Hezekiah 2 Chron. 32.31 God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart and little didst thou think when God first turned thy heart unto himself there had been that in it which since hath broken forth from it nor was ever any so deceived in thee as thou hast been in thy self but art resolved now against that folly of trusting in thine own heart any more Eighthly Ask him upon what termes he first entred upon thy heart Was it not with a Commission there to stay how ill soever treated or entertained So saies Christ it was agreed on Joh 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Thou wouldst not for a world have him only upon the same account The first Adam had him in his state of innocency concurring meerly as a third Person in the Trinity but by vertue of a relation to the second and then he must never leave thee he must not only alight but abide also as upon the head so upon the Members Joh. 1.32 33. Ninthly Say to him hereby shalt thou know that he is God indeed equall to the Father and the Sonne and
that though all the world should conspire against him to un-God him yet shall his invincible patience and insuperable good will raise an everlasting piller of witness in thy bosome let who will cast him off he shall be thy God for ever Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquities Micah 7.18 is equally true of Father Son and holy Spirit But still thy heart akes and is diquieted to think that what 's said of a man of great wrath Prov. 19.19 is also most true of thee such an one must needs suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again he 'le ever and anon bring himself into the bryers and this is thy case though the sweet Spirit of God be willing to forgive thee former offences and to fetch thee off from thy imbroylments yet is he likely to have an heavy hand with thee considering thy corruptions and temptations thou art likely to run upon a new score to run into new rebellions and there will be no end of all his labour yet in this case go and order thy cause before God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Ask Him Was not this one great end why our nature was taken into personall union with the divine that the diseases of the one might be healed by the infinite vertue an durity and efficacy of the other did Christ come only to cure the sicknesses of the body or were not all these cures the types and representations of those he came to work upon the souls of sinners sure such as touch him by faith shall have their bloody issues stopped and all other inward distempers cured in the dales of his flesh he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil Acts 10.38 and lamentable were our loss by his removall to Heaven if from thence his vertue could not reach us and if he were now on earth thou art verily perswaded thou mightst have help from him why not from Heaven 2. Did He not die that sin might die and be destroyed he was not only cloathed with our nature but strip'd by the seperation of soul and body though not of the Godhead from either that sin and our souls might be seperated why doth sin live seeing Christ died 3. Demand even of Justice if Christ hath not fully paid thy ransome why then art thou kept in bonds holden with the cords of thy sin the worst usage which the worst of men in this world are threatned with Prov. 5.22 his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins the vilest dungeon to this without this is a pleasant pallace a delightfull garden as was said by some if the blessed Martyrs of their prisons 4. Complain that these corruptions do wrong defile and outrage that nature which Christ now wears in Heaven and hath exalted far above the brightest Cherub for He and his are all of piece Heb. 2.11 and this is a thousand shames and pities 5. If there be any seed of God any beginning of that everlasting work of sanctification in thee thou art not become A member of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 for Christ never took any but sanctified upon him and how then can he hide himself from his own flesh he would not have us do so Isa. 58.7 how can he indure to see his own flesh so shamefully abused He who made a Law a man should not hide himself when he saw his enemies beast sink down under his burden the Ass of one who hated him Exod. 23.5 Doth he take care for Oxen and for Asses and can he himself forbear to help up the soul of one that loves him and will he not help with him or if thou art afraid to say thou lovest him because thy heart is so little with him yet to be sure there 's a poor sould down and will he not help it up will he not help it and that against those oppressors which are as well the enemies of his praise and glory as of thy peace and safety And surely these Cananites are left in the Land as it was in the figure To keep down pride Deut. 7.22 To try whether we will follow the Lord or our lusts Judg. 2.23 To reach us war and to exercise our graces Judg. 3.1 To make us to keep more above upon the mountains Judg. 1.34 To become tributaries and do our drudgery 1 King 10.21 God makes our corruptions do us some service which our graces cannot do without them But peradventure thou maist think with thy self that through grace whereunto nothing is impossible thou maist be both pardoned and purified too in time but it will cost thee dear first a world of afflictions must be expected where there hath been such a world of provocations and yet remains such a mass of corruption and these fears of what may come take thee off from enjoying what is present Go with this complaint to thy Judg that these fears may be disarmed and bound over no more to molest thee go fill thy mouth with arguments for who can say his mountain is strong he shall never be moved or who can fore-tell or fore-see the things that may befall him even pardoning mercy it self is no sence against this flail of affliction 1. Tell Him whatever comes 't is thy disire to bear his indignation because thou hast sinned against him Mich 7.9 and that thy stubborn uncircumcised heart may accept of the punishment of thine iniquity because even because thou hast despised his judgments and carried it as if thy soul had abhorred his statutes Lev. 26.43 Nay 2. Tell him that thou hadst rather be under the schooling of his children then the cockering of his castawayes under the severe mercy of his discipline as Augustin speaks of that of the Church then under the impunity of those desperate lost creatures whom God hath thrown up as a lost case and will not be at the cost to bestow another rod upon them even his correcting rod as well as his supporting staff shall be a comfort to thee Psal. 23.4 no punishment like impunity 3. Though it be infinitely more eligible that way to be humbled and reformed then not at all yet tell him if he will be pleased to spare thee 't will be more for his honour to do it in the midst of prosperity because this is more difficult and more unusuall Jer. 22.21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice Now what a glory will it be to him to bore thine ear in the midst of thy prosperity 4. As this will be more glorious for Him so more usefull to others the examples of such a convert is much more conspicuous and illustrious in miserable ones 't is hard to distinguish
that 't is one of his Crown-Jewels his peculiar prerogative to teach his people so as to profit Isa. 38.17 Cathedram habet in caelis qui corda docet He who speaks to the heart speaks from Heaven hath his pulpit there one from the dead cannot do it an Angel from Heaven cannot do it Rev. 3.7 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} if he be not opening though he do nothing to shut no man can open But if he will be the teacher it matters not what the schollar be he hath no felllow at it who teacheth like him faith Elihu Job 36.22 6. Minde him of his promise not only that he will teach but passively that his people shall be taught Joh. 6.45 especially the humble and it may be thou canst say upon thine own observation I never was proud of any thing never boasted of any good expected but I mist it of any good enjoyed but I lost it God will not suffer thee to be proud upon any termes he will rather have thee humbled by thy sins then proud of thy grace and seeing he hath laid thee and keeps thee so low will he not teach thee 7. Minde him of his practise all along from the creation to this day which of all his Saints could not say as well as David Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now Psal. 71. 17. Nay he teacheth the husbandman Isa. 28.26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him now put him to it and say Lord art thou the plowmans God and dost thou teach him and wilt thou not be my God to teach and to instruct me to make me wise to salvation for this also if any thing must come from him who is wonderfull in counsels and excellent in working 8. His goodness puts another argument into thy mouth Psal. 119.68 Thou art good and dost good and if ever thou wouldst do me a good turn O teach me thy statutes 9. Appeal unto him if it be not thy practice as knowing the unfitness and unsuitableness of thine heart to any holy service to cast it into his hand and thence to expect it when the duty calls for it of another tincture put in kelter and fitted thereby for spiritual motion 10. He knows it is the devil and his agents and factors thy corruptions which do distract and disturb thee and would any parent endure that his slave should abuse his childe before his face when he is upon his knee for a blessing or comes to receive his commands Ask him how he can indure to see his execrable slave insult over thee before his face and doth not rate away that curre and pluck him off and fling him down to hell from whence he came why will he not do it It is the reproach of Senacheribs Idoll that they who came out of his bowels slew him there 2 Chron. 32.21 in the house of his God under his Idols nose in the very act of worshiping 2 King 19.37 and he could not protect him Tell the Lord thy God the only true God the living God it will not be for his honour that thou shouldst be continually bafled and abused by Satan and those that come forth out of thine ownbowels when thou settest thy self to worship him he looking on who alone is able to rescue and relieve thee whose glory the devil strikes at herein as well as at thy peace ad safety 11. Tell Him if he will allow thee nothing at present but the comfort of obedience to sweeten thy attendance upon him yet that shall not discourage thee that shall not rid him of a customer his work on earth as well as in Heaven is both work and wages not only for but in keeping his Commandements there is great reward Psal. 19.11 It is joy to the just to do judgment Prov. 21.15 and through grace it is so in some measure to thy poor soul 12. Lastly When at any time thou art afraid to go away from an Ordinance utterly unregarded from a Sermon from a Sacrament from off praying ground and no notice taken of thee say secretly in thy heart Lord I am here thy poor client whom thou knowest so well lo here am I not one word not one look not one touch this day in this duty Say with her in Judg. 1.15 Give me a blessing for thou hast given me a South land a dry land give me also springs of water and thy Father will be as liberall as hers was he will give thee the upper springs and the nether springs 't is well he findes thee there though thou dost not yet finde him thou shalt in conclusion be no loser by it But all these pleadings may some doubting soul say for ought I know may prove in vain for I have thoughts and oppressing fears sometimes that a God so high holy and happy is not at all concerned minds not the addresses of a worm so wofull so sinfull so full of distresses and distractions no more then a man minds the movings or murmurings of flies or bees which moves swiftest or hums sweetest for we are infinitely lesse to Him then they are compared with us and sometimes I find no answer at all or so strange and contrary that my fears are strengthned and confirmed Now though this temptation cannot prevaile far upon thee at least not finally if thou art a constant pleader with God yet it is neefull when it doth but shew it self to go and order thy cause before him and fill thy mouth with Arguments against it 1 Call to mind how god Himself hath affirmed the contrary and tell him thou darest not question the truth of his ingagements Psal. 138.6 Though the Lord be high yet hath he regard unto the lowly he doth not at all forget himself when he remembers thee Nay he sets forth himself in all his Sublimity and Glory when he professeth the greatest kindnesse and condescension to those who judg themselves least capable of it Isa. 57.15 Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is Holy I dewll in the high and holy place here 's enough to make all the Creatures that should hear it exceedingly to feare and quake as 't is said of Moses Heb. 12. 21. and yet what follows what a soft still voice after all this thunder I dwell also with him that is of a broken and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones so that he who is brought below the condition of a Creature broken and crumbled to nothing may yet be a companion for this high and holy One so in Isa. 66.2 though Heaven be my Throne and the Earth my Footstool yet to this man will I look that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word Ask him now whether this be the presumption the device of any Creature or his own discovery which he hath
quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam saith the Vulgar quis dabit scirem saith Montanus quis est qui possit facere ut valeam accedere saith the Syriac he would fain find an Angel to conduct him to the Throne of God saith Senault or rather the Angel of the Covenant to afford him that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that Manuduction which the Apostle speaks of as the known priviledge of all Believers who through him have an access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 But not to darken the words instead of explaining them by giving the various readings and opinions of Interpreters I will draw out some observations and hasten to that I desire to insist on Observa 1. The sorest stroaks cannot drive away good souls from God but rather draw them nearer to him my stroak is heavier then my groaning yet O that I knew where I might find him 2. God himself even for his own sake is the great Object of a Saints seekings O that I knew where I might find him not this or that to be gotten by him 3. Pretious souls that have a large Interest in God are sometimes at a loss as to his sweet and sensible Presence The great God hath his unknown Retreats whether his best friends cannot sollow him So verse 8.9 Behold I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him So holy David Psal. 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee You see his Interest is clear he can say Thou art my God and yet he had but little enjoyment of him his soul thirsteth longeth followeth hard after him ver. 8. Such another sigh ye have Psal. 101.2 O when wilt thou come unto me do not conclude ye have no interest because ye have little enjoyment no Union because ye want Vision 4. A gracious heart seldom or never thinks it self near enough unto God its Sun and Sheild and Center O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat 5. Gods Judgement-seat where he sits to hear and determine causes is not terrible or unapproachable to a Believer who knows it to be a Throne of Mercy as Iob here did for says he verse 6. how would he use me if he had me there would he overwhelm me with his greatness will he plead against me with his absolute Power No but he would put strength in me Happy are all that can say so for me must all appear there 2 Cor. 5.10 11. and it will be terrible to all those that do not often resort thither afore-hand 6. A poor afflicted creature often thinks he hath a great deal to say unto God if he could but get an hearing he thinks how he would order and argue on t the matter what a story he would tell him if he could but get his ear gain access and audience from him 7. 'T is good to have our hearts and mouths fil'd with Arguments when we come to plead and expostulate and reason out our great concernments with out God This is the point I pitch on to expell that spirit of slumber which hath so much weakned the spirit of Prayer in our days that comparatively they are but little enriched by it who trade to Heaven with it where God hath all good things lying ready by him and waiting only for Prayer to come and fetch them away When Christ himself would give us a perfect Pattern of Prayer both fot matter and manner he winds wraps up all with a conclusion Mat. 6.13 consisting of certain reasons to perswade God to hear our prayers or at least to perswade assure our selves that he doth will hear them the reasons have an influence into all and every one of the Petitions Thine is the Kingdom and therefore we expect that as a good King thou shoulst receive and answer our Petitions it is thy concernment as a King to have thine honour advanced therefore hallow thine one name glorifie it in the Church let thy Kingdom come to it advance thy Will in it sustain us thy Subjects pardon our sins keep and defend us from Evils So Thine is the Power which Kings oftentimes want but thou art able to exalt thine own name to extend thy Kingdom over all to fit us to do thy will to minister to our necessities to pardon our sins to preserve us from all Evils And thine is the Glory The hallowing of thy Name is the chief part of thy glory thy Kingdom the prime place of thy glory herein art thou glorified when we obey thy Will when thou providest for thy people forgivest their sins preservest and deliverest them from their Enemies therefore do thou all these things for us therefore do we trust hope that thou wilt do all these thing for us Thus our blessed Saviour doth direct us and thus the blessed Saints have practised in all Ages When the people of Israel had made the molten Calf and committed Idolatry with it and God was about to destroy them for it see how Moses in his prayer for them layes hold on the avenging hand of God and stays it by reasoning and arguing from the dishonour that would redound unto God if he should destroy them and from the Covenant that he had made with their fathers Exod. 32.11 12 13 c. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the Land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand thou art now greatly engaged in the business the Egyptians will slander thy gracious intentions and say it was for mischief with a purpose to slay and consume them Remember Abraham Isaac and Israel thy servants to whom thou swarest by thine own self that thou wouldst deal otherwise with their Posterity and see how he prevails vers. 14. The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people So when he would have destroyed them for murmuring Moses interposeth again for a pardon and fills his mouth with arguments Num 14.13 c. The Egyptians will hear it and they 'l tell stories of thee to the Inhabitants of this Land and they 'l slander thy Power and say because thou wert not able to carry them any further thou didst rid thy hands of them in the Wilderness Now therefore I beseech thee shew what thou canst do put forth the greatness of thy power in pardoning as thou hast spoken of thy self and as thou hast practised hitherto in forgiving this people stom Egypt even untill now And see how he carries it again vers. 20. The Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word So Abraham before him Gen. 18. 23 24 25. wilt thou also destroy the Righteous with the wicked that be far
Egyptian Task-masters no cruel Bondage that makesthy life bitter to thee no Enemy coming in as a flood to oppress and do thee wrong no Iron-yoak that gals thy shoulders no Violence and Spoil to cry out and complain of Sure thou hast not studied thine own case thou hast not ordered thy cause aright if this fountain fail thee But will this be admitted nay the poor soul say all Complaints are troublesom men cannot endure them I Answer God will Out of the abundance of my Complaint and Grief have I spoken hitherto says Hannah 1 Sam. 1.16 and you know how she sped Nay the word rendred Arguments I find by the Latin Interpreters rendred Redargutionibus Increpationibus lob in some case is Defendant as to the charges drawn up against him by his friends but here he is Plaintiffe also could I come near the Bar sayes he I would make my moan the whole Court of heaven should Ring out and be made sensible of my sufferings But we are well enough with our English translation of the word and it is warranted by the best Criticks the word signifying all proceedings all arguments and reasons used in a cause by either party and contains all that can be alledged or urged by a poor creature any way in his own defence or for his advantage 4. There are some Arguments yet in Archivis in the Rolls and Records of heaven which were never yet imbezled they lie in the Ark of the Covenant hid wth Christ in God under double lock and key where neither moth nor rust can come to corrupt nor thief break through to steal yea they lie many of them in the very heart and bosome and being God of himself I hope we shall meet with some of them anon and that they may meet with the very case of thy soul and that thy soul may meet with God in the making use of them Object 3 But what will Arguments work upon God that King Eternal is not swayed but by eternal considerations He knows no motives but his own bowels and the Merits and Mediation on of his Son and Spirit Answ 1 T is true and well for thee and me that t is so otherwise Time-accidents and Time-exacerbations had long ere this hurried us into a woful Eternity past all relief by way of Argumentation hell not Heaven had been filled with our complainings 2. Hath he not given thee those two great friends of his for thine Advocates the one at his own right hand in Heaven moving and negotiating and alwayes appearing for thee the other seated in thy breast though once a Cage for every unclean and hatefull Birds the Dove alights and abides upon that dunghil and will not be frayed away and the voyce of that Turtle is heard in our Land yea the Fathers own heart is full of love brim full and running over upon thee and this continually pleads for thee and makes all thine arrows which fly upwards inevitable not one is shot in vain 3. Good arguments in prayer do shew the necesity of prayer and great equity for the obtaining of the things prayed for and so do very much confirm our Faith and fire our affections and enable a man to break through many Discouragements which Satan or his own heart may cast in to hinder Prayer and certainly though there be no need of Arguments to work upon God there is to work upon us though not to move his love yet to remove our unbelief though not to prevail upon him to give yet to perpare our selves to receive Mercy Vse The only use I shall make of the Point shall be to press all to make use of it to put it in practice daily it will please your Heavenly Father very well he loves to hear his children Reason it out with him and he doth of set purpose delay to grant their Requests sometimes because he loves to hear often from them to hear their Voyces and see their Faces he loves to hear what they can say for themselves so he dealt with the woman of Canaan he first seemed not to hear her then did deny her suit and then gave a very sharp and cutting Reason of his denial because she was but a Dog she was none of the Israelites who were his Children but when Christ hears her wise answer to his objection Truth Lord but the dogs eat of the crums that fall from their Masters table which was a strong piece of Logick she received an high commendation of her faith and A Grant that would be sure to please her Her will O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15.21 22 c She Retorts his own weapon upon him and he yields and gives her what 's dangerous if not good her own Will My purpose is leaving all other wayes of application or enlargement to speak to some principal cases of greatest concernment and most frequent occurrency in our lives and I shall only break the ice in each case for facile est inventis addere to set your wits a work which men which Christians makes least use of in their greatest occasions we trifle in serious things and are serious only in trifles or rather to rouz up your Graces in the holy Apostles phrase {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to stir up the fire which lyes raked up and buried under the ashes of sloth and supine oscitancy or rather indeed to Jog the spirit of Prayer which lies dormant in many bosomes and doth them little service I would but set that Plough a going which too many cast in the hegdge as almost useless which yet if well managed would fill your Garners with all manner of store and to which whosoever puts his hand without too often looking back shall be fit for the Kingdom of God First then Is unacquaintedness with God thy Misery the matter of thy moan and mourning is this thy complaint as t is of the most knowing that so little a portion is heard of Him that neither the Thunder of his power nor the Charms of his Love are sufficiently understood by thee we rather are known of him then that we can say we know him Gal. 4.9 and where or who is he hath no need to plead in this particular some make this to be Jobs case in this very text for thus they render it Vtinam nossem Deum invenirem eum O that I knew God then I should find him He that knows God hath found him and he shall never find him who never knows him His friend that spake last had advised him Chap. 22. v. 21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be peace c. and it may be 't is thereunto that he answers O that I knew him O that I knew where I might find him to be better acquainted with him is this thy case go order thy cause before Him and fill thy mouth with Arguments Ask him with an humble and
naughtiness and he can tell where there are super-aboundings over-flowings of Grace and Mercy and if he will draw up the sluces thou shalt not only honour him by believing but be encouraged to look for more then ordinary favours from him even because sin hath so abounded And is not this the faith that should come or must thou look for another or if this be it why then is not thy heart purified heart and life sactified by it Why is it not unto his servant according to his word Act. 15.9 26.18 Plead and press this hard upon him and my soul for thine he will not deny thee he will not say thee nay you may take not mine but the Apostle Peters word for it that this is the true Grace of God wherein ye stand 1 Pet. 5.12 But there is a damp upon thy Spirit a great discouragement which takes off thy boldness before him thou fearest that though thou dost as thou thinkest believe and rejoyce for a season in the Grace believed yet 't is not likely to last alwayes thou shalt not be able to hold the rejoycing of thy confidence firm unto the end thou shalt prove but a temporary a dung-hill covered with snow which will melt away thou findest so much hypocrisie in whatever thou goest about thou hast done much evil without the mixture of any good but never any good without the mixture of much evil and the hypocrite is justly hated of God and man the world hates him because he seems good and God abhors him because he only seems and is not truly such and this sometimes thou fearest will be thy portion and canst not discover the bottom of thy misery to any flesh living and this ere long will put an end to thy pleading thou fearest that both the Gift and Grace and spirit of Prayer if ever thou hadst it will leave thee according to that in Iob 27.8.9 10. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him will he delight himself in the Almighty will he alwayes call upon God Well go to God in this case however Go order thy cause before him and fill thy mouth with Arguments I. Tell him He and He alone knows whether thou aymest not at entireness of heart before him both as to the subject the whole heart which thou wouldst have kept even from thine iniquity and as to the object all his Commandments thou knowest not one of them which thy spirit balks or boggles at but the more pure his word is the more thy soul loveth it And also as to the means of Grace they are all dear and pretious to thee and thou wouldst be found in the use of all his appointments bid him name that thing which he requires which thou knowingly and purposely declinest and is this the guise or way of an hypocrite only be sure thy heart reproach thee not Secondly He knows that is the secret end of thy living why thou art desirous or so much as content to continue in this world not to share in the pleasures or profits or honors thereof the worlds Trinity which it adores serves and sacrificeth it self unto but to be receiving or doing some good in thy station and generation and can it be thus with an hypocrite Thirdly He knows that thou chusest rather to be sickly or poor or disgraced and to walk close with him then in health wealth or honour to wander from him or to lie out at a great distance from communion with him yea rather to be following hard after Him though thou shouldst never enjoy his glorious ravishing transporting presence while thou livest then to swim in abundance of carnal enjoyments and to have a heart careless of him estranged from him and is it thus with any hypocrite in the world Fourthly Tell him thou hadst rather he should know all thy secret sinnings against him then that he should not know all thy secret sighings and lamentations after him the world hath seen and stumbled at many of thy miscarriages but hath not seen nor recovered by thy secret mournings but he seeth in secret and therefore tell him Fifthly It will not be for his honour to reject thee for all must out all thy secret sobbings and pantings and pursuings after him must be know one day and what would Angels and men think to see such a mourner in secret cast off to all eternity Lastly Appeal unto him He knows thou hast been usually as earnest with him for Holiness in time of prosperity as in time of straits and adversity and is this the manner of hypocrites Surely no Vzziah was marvellously helped till he was strong but when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the Lord his God 2 Chr. 4 5. 14.15 It was not so with Iehosaphat he sought the Lord God of his Fathers and walked in his Commandements and not after the doings of backsliding Israel Therefore the Lord stablishied the Kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought him Presents and he had riches and honour in abundance And his heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord Piety procures a settlement and that brings off the people to an acknowledgement of their Magistrate and to a love unto Him and that ushers in plenty and abundance and an honest heart in the midst of it all is carried higher and nearer to God as the waters bear up the Ark and lifted it nearer Heaven If it be thus with thee in thy measure there may be and will be some Leaven of hypocrisie which may somewhat four thy performances which yet upon thy humiliaton shall be pardoned and thy Judge himself and his Deputy in thine own bosom will pronounce that thou art no hypocrite Peradventure thou mayest reply though I may prove no hypocrite yet I shall prove little better then a slave I fear I am awed and acted only by a spirit of fear and this is far from a Gospel-spirit from a spirit of Adoption they are set as adversaries and Antipodies one against another and if there were not a dread of God upon my spirit if destruction from God were not a terrour unto me I know not what would become of me nor whether Satan and my corruptions would hurry me Well yet go and order thy cause before him and fill thy mouth with Arguments Ask him if He have not observed ordinarily thy spirit to be more melted and humbled when he hath filled thy heart with joy and thy mouth with Prayses then by any evil felt or feared then by the sense or approach of any evil whatsoever and is this the frame of a slave or of a child Secondly Tell him 't is true thou fearest him and so do all the Saints and Angels in Heaven but 't is with such a fear as enlargeth thy heart
accursed thing unbelief a Jonah in the ship which will be raising new tempests and that is a fear lest God at last should turn his back upon thee and thou be found amongst those that are deceivers of their own souls being turned into hell when it seems their looks though nothing else were towards Heaven if ever this be thy case hye thee to God presently go fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Complain against thine own heart so farre as there is any mixture of unbelief in this fear confess that as to God it is an unworthy jealousie and thou hast need with Gideon to cry him mercy to pray that his anger may not wax hot against thee for asking him so many signs considering how often the fleece hath been wet and the floor dry already to give thee satisfaction Yet when thou lookest downward there is misery enough and matter enough to justifie all thy fears and to move him to pardon yea to sanctifie them unto thee especially considering that thy All is at the stake and that it is Eternity Eternity Eternity that is before thee that vast gulf of eternity and if thou art mistaken in thy confidence thou art lost irrecoverably to all eternity this may move him to pity rather then to anger and to say to them that are of a fearfull heart be strong fear not behold your God will come and save you Isa. 35.4 2. For thy further establishment ask him if he have not made all as sure as grace can make it yea it is therefore all of grace that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 as sure as infinite love infinite wisdome infinite power can make it and thou dreadest it as thou dost Hell it self to make the God of all Grace and Truth a Liar 1 Io. 5.10 to add to all thy other evils that grand abomination of unbelief which puts more affronts and scorn upon him then all other sins whatsoever 3. Ask if all the spirits of just men now made perfect will not confess the mercies of Christ to be sure mercies and that he as Boaz saith of Ruth shewed them more kindness in the latter end then at the beginning and that having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end and reserved the best wine for the last the last grapes especially in Chrifts vineyard yeild the sweetest wine David makes it obvious to any mans observation Psal. 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright he goes current for a perfect man for the end of that man is peace And even a Balaam is forced to acknowledg it and there is a desirableness in the death in the later end of the righous Numb. 23.10 Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my later end be like his 4. If yet thou fearest as to thine own particular ask if the holy Ghost who makes it his trade to help infirmities and hath helped thee in thine all thy life long ask if he will not then help thee when thou art most infirm nothing but a lump of infirmity and weakness surely then in thy greatest need he will not fail thee Lastly Tell him he knows why thou wouldst so fain be with him in his Heaven not because thou fanciest it a Turkish Paradise or a Paganish Elisium abounding with carnal or corporal pleasures not only because thou wouldst escape everlasting burnings though he himself cannot blame thee for ayming at this seeing he commands thee by all means possible to endeavour it But thy soul longs incessantly to go to Heaven because Heaven is the Land of Hallelujahs and thou wouldst fain be thankfull really thankfull Heaven is the Land of Love and thou wouldst fain take thy fill of love in loving and being beloved in loving as thou art loved without intermission without interruption enternally and so be ever with Christ which is by much farre better Phil. 1.23 All these meet daily with a thousand hindrances and incumbrances which make thee sick of earth and sigh for Heaven groaning within thy self with that blessed Apostle who had once been there 2 Cor. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven Hinderances and Imcombrances which make a Hell above ground not to be endured by any honest heart and how much more intollerable then is the nethermost Hell for there is never a nooke never a corner in it where a poore sinner might weep eternally without blaspheming without hearing blasphemies without hating of God without sinning against him He knows how often thou hast told him if there were how much more quietly thou couldst accept of the punishment of thine iniquity there and there justifie him and there bewaile thy folly and madness and lament the loss of him for evermore But to lose him and all love to him and to be sinning agaist him eternally this cannot be consented to but by a Creature damned already though above ground nothing therefore short of Heaven can satisfie thee or ought so to do and if upon these terms thou canst not be admitted into his rest sure he will have but little who went thither to prepare a place for thee This hope then we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedee Heb. 6.19 20. thus building up your selves on your most holy faith and praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life , Jude 20 21. ver. But hast thou not a good mind before parting to speak a good word for others also this hath been constantly the way of the spirit of adoption when David came before the Lord upon the saddest occasion that ever his soul was acquainted with when he was most full of his own concernments and had most cause of fear that his appearing for others might do harm rather then good yet then he ventures to frop a word for Sion and remembers Jerusalem amidst his greatest grief as well as he prefers her before his chiefest joy do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jeresalem What his sinnes had weakened and attempted to ruine he endeavours to strengthen and repair by his prayers and seldome do ye see him rise from of his knees before he had pleaded the Churches cause and oftentimes he makes that his only errand as you may find by severall Psalms pend for no other purpose Nay many times the best pleaders feel not their hearts warm in the work till they come out of the narrow circle of their own personall concernments and launch into the business of the body of Christ and then are their hearts fixed 06 by the spirit of grace and
supplication the great soul of that body But now adaies many praying persons can find little to say unless by way of complaint concerning the publick Be it so you were told at the first that the word here translated Arguments signifies complains also if then thou canst make the cause of the publick thine own as thou oughtest to do Go order thy cause before him and fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Plead for his poore persecuted people all the world over ask if it be nothing to him to see the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Christ spilt like water upon the ground even to this day in Piedmont Poland and other places are not the eyes of his glory weary of such sad spectacles ask if there be not with them even with them sinnes against the Lord and if the rage wherewith they have slain his servants reach not up to Heaven 2 Chron. 28.9 it was wont so to do in former times Complain that their bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cuteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth Psal. 141.7 and ask if he look not on to require it when shall the earth disclose her blood and no more cover her slain 2. Complain that there 's nothing visible towards a reckoning with that drunken beast which makes it self drunk with the blood of the Saints as with sweet wine nay he seems of late to blow upon some enterprises leveld at them and to shine upon the counsels of the wicked Ask him when shall those fourty and two moneths be expired for men miss it in their calculations and conjectures when shall the mountains flow down at his presence and the seaven hills amongst the rest when shall the powers of the earth melt like wax before the fire at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of the whole earth why is his Charet so long a coming why tarry the wheels of his Charet Minde him that the harvest of the earth is not only ripe but even dried up and withered {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rev. 14.15 compared with Math. 13.6 and 21 19. a wonderfull expression of His Patience but how long Lord holy and true when oh when shall it yet once be Ask Him if His soul takes any pleasure in them that he thus long continues them 3. Cut scores with the poor Jewes we are many a prayer behind hand with them when shall the Redeemer come unto Sion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob when will he lift up his feet to those perpetuall desolations to the mountains that have laid alwaies wast he speaks one would think as if he himself thought the time very long when shall the receiving of them be as life from the dead tell him we hear as yet of no noise no shaking at all in the valley of dry bones no coming together of the bones bone to his bone and yet how much of the Glory of God and good of men how much of the treasure is imbarqued in this bottome when shall Saints and Nations be Synonymâs and Termini convertiblies {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as is implied Rev. 15.3 King of Nations and yet 't is translated King of Saints as if at that time Saints and Nations should be of an equall extent and latitude 4. Begge a watering upon his plantations abroad there are many pretious soules worthy of the remembrance many poore souls that need it many praying souls to whom thou owest it many pleading souls who will repay it therefore you that have escaped the miseries that have befalen others remember the Lord his concernments and people afar off and let Jerusalem come into your mind Jer. 51.50 Many have friends and relations with whom they enjoy little Communion in this world pray ye may meet at the right hand of Christ never to part in the next 5. Complain unto Him of that spirit of prophannesse which yet domineers in our Lands and over the generallity of our Nation though he hath loved our Nation and hath wrought such Salvations for us as can no where be matched save in the story of Israel he hath given some into our hands others under our feet I need not name them sure of all the world English men are under the most powerfull obligations unto holiness but alas how ill do we requite the Lord like a foolish people and unwise Oh pray that Christ may indeed sprinkle many Nations and ours among the rest in a speciall manner with His Blood and Spirit that we may yet become a peculiar people zealous of good works 6. Press Him to cast out that unthankfull spirit wherewith so many are possessed even to a strang degree of distemper that hath befallen us which is said of Egypt the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of us which causeth us to erre in every work as a drunken man stagereth in his vomit Isa. 19.14 We are ready to reel and dash one against another continually many abusing many dispising all their present mercies thought but a few years agoe the crums of that loathed Manna which now fall from our tables would have relished as most precious priviledges worthy to be purchased at the rate of the utmost hazards and hardships peevishness keeps many from praying for their Magistrates and how can they look for good by them who sin in ceasing to pray for them 1 Tim. 2.1 2. what would that blessed man if now alive say unto us who so exhorted in Nero's time and because he knew men would be backward he backes his commands with Arguments from the benefit that redounds to the Church and from the acceptableness of this practice to God making supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority 7. Ask when that unclean spirit of error blasphemy and delusion shall have its pass according to his promise Zach. 13.2 and be sent packing out of our Lands Some not of the worst people simple souls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the Apostle calls them have been mislead hereby and he hath said They that erred in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmured shall learn doctrine Isa. 29.24 they that erred and they that murmured the holy Ghost ranks them together as being of one feather it seems there is no small affinity between the erroneous and the murmurers but pity and pray for those who like Absoloms two hundred follow their leaders in the simplicity of their hearts 8. Bewail before Him that wofull wilfull affected soul-murdering ignorance which as a vail covers so many hearts and faces notwithstanding all the means of light afforded us there are indeed too too many dark places even in all the three Nations in Ireland especially which are full of cruelty but alas how many are there in the midst of our Goshens without Christ without God in the world meer Atheists as