Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A42912
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Godliness no friend to rebellion, or enemy to civil government Being the substance of a sermon occasionally preached at Great Yarmouth, Octob. 25. 1673. By a lover of peace and truth.
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Lover of peace and truth.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing G933F; ESTC R215817
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19,698
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39
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the Lord and seek to him for pardon and help when the Lord shall avenge himself upon us to the full oh then let us take that way God hath appointed for deliverance and prosperity 4. But in the last place there is another Truth that seemed to be upon the heart of this great Darius and that is Doct. That God will be entreated only by his Servants Says he That they may pray for the life of the King They that is the Servants of the living God the Children of God they are most like to do good at Prayer to God for me for God is entreated only of his Servants But who are those Servants of whom only God will be entreated 1. They are opposed to Atheists who say There is no God The Scripture saith He that comes to God must believe that God is That is essential to Prayer the contrary cuts off and destroys the very essence of Prayer So that not Atheists but they that believe there is a God and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him shall prevail with God in Prayer 2. Secondly The Servants of God are opposed to Idolaters that worship false Gods Let every one go to his own God now he that serves the God of Heaven and earth is most like to prevail with this God The Priests of Baal they cry'd to Baal and the Heathens in the ship with Jonah cry to their God but Elijah or Jonah could only prevail with the God of Israel and who are most like to prevail with that God but they that truly worship him Otherwise the Prayers of a Heathen that worship the Sun and Moon might prevail as much as ours 3. Thirdly They are opposed to impious and profane ones There are a Generation of such in the world who by their wicked lives confute their Religion and their Christian name and Prayers If a Heathen should hear their words and see their actions and manner of living it would make them think either there is no God or that the God of the Christians is a false God of such it is said That the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. 4. Lastly They are opposed to Unbelievers Christ being the Object of Faith who is the Way the Truth and the Life through whose Name alone we are welcome to God As Christ saith Whatever ye ask in my Name believingly it shall be granted to you And again There is no Name under Heaven whereby we can be saved but the Name of Jesus Christ only So that without Faith in his Name whereby any one accepts and depends upon Christ as a Saviour and Deliverer he cannot expect to prevail with God in Prayer God will be entreated only of those who have by Faith embraced the Lord Jesus whom the Gospel by the appointment of God holds forth to be a Saviour to lost sinners otherwise the Prayers of a Turk would be as acceptabie to God as the Prayers of a Christian Nay the Prayers of a Jew who scornfully deny Christ to be come in the flesh may do as much in Heaven as the Prayers of one who savingly believes in Christ No such shall one day know that there is one and but one true God and that Jesus Christ his Son is the appointed way of Salvation and that they only who truly believe on him to a receiving the Kingdom of his Spirit and Grace in their hearts to regeneration and holiness are those Servants of whom God will be entreated in mercy either for publike or private blessings To clear this I could give you many instances take only two or three When God laid a Judgement upon the family of Ahimelech saith God to him Go to Abraham for he is a Prophet he shall pray for you him I will hear And in the last Chapter of Job ver 38 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering and my servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly in that ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job How unexpected was this to these men that this despised Job whom they endeavored so much to convict of hypocrisie is only accepted of God and to him they must go to pray and entreat God for them So though Jeremiah was a man of sorrows and much despised of all sorts in his time yet the time came when Zedekiah the King sent his honourable Messengers to Jeremy saying Pray now unto the Lord our God for us as in Jer. 37. verse 3. So we read in the Acts concerning the Jews however they had despised the Lord of Life as also his Apostles yet being convinced of their sin and lost condition by their Ministery and Preaching they came to those despised Apostles crying out in bitterness of spirit Men and Brethren what shall we do So the Goaler ye read of in the Acts who no doubt helped on the persecution of the Apostles by his rude and course usage yet when God broke in upon his Soul with a mighty convincing and astonishing power he came trembling to those very men whom he had not long before put in the stocks crying out Sirs What must I do to be saved These instances shall suffice to shew us that God is only entreated by his Servants and that whose persons are accepted in Christ their Prayers only are powerful with God I might give several Reasons for this But I hasten to the Use Vse First If so then I beseech you learn to prize holiness and godliness for though no man is accepted for his holiness yet no man without holiness shall ever see God or be accepted of God Let not your eye be upon what the World magnifies but upon what God delights in For that which is in high esteem with men may be an abomination with God all the Dignities of this world cannot give you the worth that Godliness will put upon you this makes a man weigh down a thousand of the Sons of Belial Wicked and prophane wretches are as the dross of the earth while the Godly Christian is as gold in God's sight God will only be entreated of such Oh! then give Godliness its due honour and regard Let all scoffing Ishmaels take heed they be not found guilty and answerable at the great day of Judgment for abasing and abusing that which God will honour and takes more pleasure in than in any thing besides here below There are many too many for the welfare of the Nation who do not only take pleasure in an impious loosness of Conversation but in railing and scoffing vent their foolish malice against religiousness purity and strictness of life let such take heed for in so doing they fight against God who sets a value upon his Holy Ones that tremble at his word and will hear them when all the earth shall be silent before
our earth that they also may sanctifie his great Name aright 3. A third Observation or Truth which seemed to be upon the heart of our Darius here is That as God only can bless us so God will be worshipt of us and sought to by Prayer for those blessings we stand in need of 'T is true God can bless us without our asking but he will be sanctified in the way of his dispensations There is no rational expectance to be had of God's blessings but in the way which himself hath set and appointed viz. the way of Prayer the Heathens were much convinced of this that no good thing could be obtained of their Gods but by Sacrifice which as we have shewed was a Rite of Invocation or Prayer therefore in all their solemn attempts and motions still they began with Sacrifice imploring their Gods to be propitious to their designs and give success to their noble and high enterprises And if the light of Nature evidence so much Religion and regard to God How much more should Christian Religion teach us to seek God in all our undertakings and concernments relating to our private or the publike affairs of the Nation For though God's mind is always inclined through free Grace to do good to mankind yet for the honour of his Name it shall be in a way of sanctifying his Ordinances and Appointments therefore says the Apostle Let your requests be made known to God not as if God needed our relation or discovery of our wants to him No he knows our wants before we ask but by our asking of God we declare our dependance upon him and recognize or acknowledge his Sovereignty over us nor do our Prayers make a change in the Counsels and purposes of God but they many times make a change in our minds when thereby our hearts are wrought to be more humble in patience and submission more believing in quieting our minds in resting upon the Promises of God's Grace for God hath annexed great promises of good to those that call upon him Call upon me says he in the day of trouble and I will hear you for your Nation for your families or as we have it in 1 Chronicles 17.14 If my people which are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and return from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land So that the great and good things which God hath promised are still with reference to the way of Prayer therefore Jeremiah 29. verse 11. saith the Lord by his Prophet For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray to me and I will hearken to you When you would have an end of wars the way is to go to God by Prayer for God will be sought to whatever his thoughts are that in every thing his Name may be honoured Vse Now for Use This shews the Holiness of Prayer how much it tends to God's Honour that his Creatures do in all the affairs of their life commit and commend themselves to God by Prayer As also it shews the usefulness of Prayer to us How great a help it is either to our affairs or our mind in all our streights This is the golden Key that unlocks the Treasury of Gods Alsufficiencie and gives us to see that there are more with us than against us this is the Bucket that fetches up water of life in the wilderness of our extremities and necessities and brings relief and refreshment to the mind of man when nothing else will quiet his spirit this will Oh! then roul all your burdens upon the Lord the burden of national Affairs of family affairs or of your particular concernments which will answer one end of afflictions for when God sends a Famine or Plague or War or any other disturbance upon a Nation or People it is that we might seek unto God who stands ready to be entreated by a Reforming people he waits that he might be gracious to such a people who observe every Call of God to duty and rightly interpret every Voice to its proper end and intendment Of Judgments to a servent praying and striving with God to remove them Of Sin to humiliation and beseeching God to divert his impending wrath and prevent the ruine of the Nation Of the want of this God complained Ezek. 22. ver 29 30. The people of the Land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy yea they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully and I sought for a man among them to stand in the gap before me for the Land but I found none See what follows Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath their own way have I recompensed upon their head saith the Lord. So that when the voice of injustice and wickedness cried against Israel because none was found to plead with God Oh! how ill it went with them Sin opens a gap for a flood of wrath to break in upon a people and when a Voice of Atheism Prophaness and unparallel'd Impieties are heard in our Land what but a way of Prayer and humiliation can produce any security for the Nation Oh! then seek to the Lord that he would purge the Land in Mercy not in Judgment Let not the Lord say I sought for a man to stand in the gap and turn away my wrath from England and found none Think of this you that live without Prayer in whose Family the Voice of Prayer is not heard How little do you serve the Publike good of the Nation Whom doth God threaten with his fury but the Families that call'd not on his Name How will the men of Nineveh rise up in Judgment against such a Generation who when they heard but the threatnings of wrath fell to praying and fasting Jonah 3. verse 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least And in ver 8. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the iniquity that is in their hands And verse 9. For who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger and we perish not Observe what eminent success they found in the way of God as verse 10. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil ways and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do to them and did it not This and what else is written is written for our instruction and what cause shall we have to be silent for ever before the Lord if after all smitings and admonitions past or present troubles we turn not to