abolished these fundamentall points of religion and not have broched lyes in hypocrisie all men would soone have espied the treachery The like I might say of fasting What the Popish fast is What the Popish fast is I will describe out of their owne writers It is an abstinence from flesh onely and the things that come from it according to the order of the Church upon set and certaine times appointed to make satisfaction for our sinnes to merit the grace of Christ and to obtaine everlasting life Can light and darknesse be more contrary one to the other then these things are to the truth But this I have handled else where Comment upon Esther albeit the bare allegation be a sufficient confutation of this vanity Lastly it behoveth us to meet the Lord by prayer and fasting as the Church in all ages hath usually done in times of dāger It is the Counsell of the Prophet when the Lord commeth out as an armed man against his people to seek reconciliation and attonement with him Amos. 4.12 This will I doe to thee O Israel and because I will doe this unto thee prepare to meete thy God O Israel We are not stronger than he Psal 24.8 who is the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battel Exod. 15.3 as a man of Warre and therefore we are not able to encounter him Remember the words of our Saviour Luk. 14. Luk. 14.31.32 What king going to make warre against another king sitteth not downe first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that commeth against him with twenty thousand or else while the other is yet a great way off hee sendeth an Ambassage and desireth conditions of peace The Lord is come out already against us and hath his twenty thousand in battel aray and hath smitten downe many thousands of us We cannot now say he is yet a great way off there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague is begunne among the people Numb 16.46 and yet who almost layeth it to his heart Act. 12.20 O that there were that wisedome in us which was in the men of Tyre and Sidon when they knew that Herod was displeased with them they came with one accord and desired peace because their countrey was nourished by the kings country We know we feele the Lord is highly displeased with us and that we have provoked him to anger why do we then delay the time and send not out to him an embassage of prayer and repentance and offer conditions of peace This we must doe many wayes first accuse and endite our selues as guilty before him like poore prisoners standing at the the barre and holding up our hands Secondly Confesse our sinnes that have procured his heavy displeasure Thirdly Let us vow to forsake them this must evermore be joyned with confession Pro. 28. Fourthly Give no rest to our own soules till we be reconciled to God and restored to his favour againe and he have called in his judgments against us Lastly Eph. 4.22.23 let us leade a new life cast off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of our minde without this all our meetings and assemblies are nothing worth yea our prayers and fastings are turned into sinne Neither circumcision avayleth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are made new 6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he layd his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sate in ashes Hitherto of the solemne repentance of the Ninevites from the highest to the lowest now consider the actions of the King both in his owne person and in his proclamation Behold a wicked city turned from her wickednesse in the turning of an hand Ionah no sooner proclaimed destruction but the King sent out his Proclamation he no sooner heard of wrath denounced from the throne of God but he presently arose from his owne throne when he heard how they had all covered the whole land with their sinnes he covered himselfe with sackcloth he laid aside his royall robes and clad himselfe with repentance as with a robe See then the outward meanes of their repentance the word of the Prophet Ionah preached judgment through the City this could not long be hidden from the King and hence arose their turning to God Doct. This teacheth Repentance is wrought by the preaching of the word in the hearts of men that God worketh repentance and the conversion of a sinner by the Preaching of the Word The author and giver is God or else we never have it but the meanes and instrument by which he worketh it is the ministery of the Word The Apostle Paul exhorteth the servant of the Lord to instruct those that oppose themselues 2 Tim. 2.25 if God peraduenture will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Iam. 1.18 An other Apostle confirmeth the same Of his owne will he begate us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruites of his creatures And we have a third witnesse of another Apostle We are borne anew not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 1. Pet. 1.23 by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever Reasons First the word is quicke and livelie Reason 1 powerfull and piercing sharper than any two edged sword Heb. 4.12 and entreth even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts Heb. 4. Howbeit not from any inherent power in it selfe nor from the mouth of him that Preacheth it for he can give it no force Gal. 2.8 nor set any edge upon it but from the power of God as Gal. 2. He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles Secondly faith is the fountaine and beginning of repentance but whence have we faith but by the word as we have declared already that Ionah preached and the Ninevites beleeved This also the Apostle teacheth Rom. 10.17 Faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God So then these three stand thus in order the word faith and repentance How shall they heare saith the same Apostle and in the same place without a Preacher The Ninevites heard Ionah before they beleeved and they beleeved his preaching before they repented if they had not heard the Prophet they had never beleeved and if they had never beleeved they had not to turned the Lord. NO man therefore can be converted except he have beleeved Thirdly the conversion of a sinner is as I may say the onely miracle of the Gospell It is usuall with the Lord to shadow his miracles by outward meanes Pro. 25.2 that he might conceale his owne workes as Pro. 25. The glory of God is to
and are called with an holy calling by the voice of their Shepheard and set apart by the power of the Word as the Nazarites were by their vow To this purpose it is said of the Church Loe the people shall dwell alone Numb 23 9. and shall not be reckoned among the Nations If then we joyne our selves with the world we disjoyne our selves from the Church Secondly true holinesse is begun in their nature Wee beleeve this in our hearts and wee must practise it in our lives Tit. 3.5 Tit. 3.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 Hereby we make our election and calling sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 No sanctification no salvation Thirdly the holinesse of Christ and his righteousnesse is imputed unto them Heb. 10.10 being washed and bathed in his blood Heb. 10.10 These rely wholy upon his merits for their righteousnesse and salvation not upon themselves Fourthly they cleave unto such as feare God and worke righteousnesse with unchangeable affections as the onely people in the world with whom they become one body Rom. Rom. 12.5 12.5 For as they are one in Christ so they are one among themselves and love one another in deed and in truth as fellow servants of the same family as fellow berthren of the same Father and as fellow Citizens of the same City with all meeknesse patience gentlenesse lowlinesse long-suffering love concord and unity As sheepe will not be alone so neither will they sort with Swine or Beares or Lyons or Wolves Let all our delight therefore be in the Saints Psal 16. 2 Cor. 6.16 2 Thes 3.14 Heb. 10.39 On the other side let us avoid the society of the wicked Come out from among them and touch no uncleane thing separate from them and have no familiarity with them Fiftly they strive with might and maine by sanctification and holinesse of life to exceed and outstrip the deeds and practices of Turkes Papists and prophane persons of the world 1 Pet. 2.9 Phil. 2.15 that these may see their good workes and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven For except our righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises Matth. 5.20 wee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Our workes not our words onely must speake for us and witnesse with us that we are of this one Church And let us take heed lest by our sinfull lives we slander our profession blaspheme the Name of God our Father dishonour Christ our Head and disgrace the Church our Mother Ephes 1.4 Lastly wee must acknowledge our selves to be Pilgrims and strangers in this world Heb. 11.9 10. as the Patriarkes and holy men of God did For albeit we are in the world yet we are none of the world and albeit we live on the earth yet we must not be earthly-minded Phil. 3.20 but have our conversation in Heaven and from thence looke for our Saviour to change our vile bodies and to fashion them like to his glorious body We live here as in a strange Country but we looke for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God We must therefore use this world as though we used it not 1 Cor. 7.31 And thus being members of the Church militant in this life wee shall be parts of the Church triumphant in the life to come there to remaine with Christ Iesus our Head for ever Little flocke The third point of the division followeth which is the limitation it is little Though it be a flocke yet it is but a little flocke It is a company yet but a small company Touching the company or compasse of the Church we are to consider two things First the errors that stand on both sides and the strength of the reason that Christ maketh against all carnall feare of want and famine Touching the errors on both hands as well on the right hand as on the left some goe about to shrinke up the sinewes of this little flocke and so contract it into a lesser roome then Christ himselfe hath folded it into True it is hee hath shut it up into a narrow fold but many have gone about to pin it up and to tye it shorter then he hath done Thus the Iewes that were of the Circumcision offended who went about to gather it into a shorter summe then they ought to have done for they contended with Peter and tooke it grievously Acts 11.2 3. that he went in to men uncircumcised and did eate with them They falsely perswaded themselves that the promises concerning the Messiah pertained to themselves alone because they heard in the Scriptures that they were called the peculiar people to whom pertained the adoption Rom. 9.4 5. the covenants the giving of the Law and the service of God and so they dreamed that the Gentiles were quite excluded from salvation and severed from the Church of God Howbeit this is contrary to the ancient promise and prophesie that God will enlarge Iaphet Gen. 9.27 that hee shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and hereunto doe other Prophets accord Thus also did the Donatists shut up the Church into a corner of the world onely to wit in Africk August De Haeres cap. 69. as if it had beene utterly perished out of the whole earth besides Thus doe the Anabaptists and sundry of the Separation as if there were no true Church upon the earth but among themselves who in truth are the true Donatists of our time as whosoever knoweth the history of them will easily acknowledge For these Sectaries were Separatists who had their Conventicles apart under colour of great corruptions in other places persons and Churches and they imagined contagion and infection to arise by communicating with all others This is a generation that say as it is in the Prophet Esay 65.5 Stand by thy selfe Come not neere to me for I am holier then thou But here good and evill are mingled together as cleane uncleane in the Arke as wheate and chaffe in the floore and must so continue to the end of the World So likewise doe the Romanists abridge it who fasten the Church to the sleeve of the See of Rome and therefore define it to bee a company of men under one Pastor Bellar. lib. 3. De Eccles cap. 2. and subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome so that let men beleeve never so orthodoxally and soundly otherwise yet they hold them out of the account of the Church and brand them to bee no better then damnable Heretikes who doe not acknowledge their lord god the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ the head of the Church and their chiefe nay universall Pastor Thus Catholike and Romane with them generall and particular shall be all one which Church when it was at the best Rom. 1.8 and their faith spred abroad thorowout the whole world was never taken to be the Catholike Church but a part thereof which now is no sound part or
have houses and lands therefore feare not Wee have much laid up for many yeeres and wee want nothing therefore feare not But the reason standeth otherwise with God He will draw faith from the consideration of our frailty hope out of despaire and strength out of weaknesse as once hee brought light out of darknesse Gen. 1.2 3. Rom. 4.17 Heb. 11.3 2 Cor. 12.9 and all things out of nothing As if hee should say Ye are few and little regarded of the world therefore ye shall be the more regarded of me my power shall be perfected in your weakenesse and the more yee lye open to the wide world the more ye shall be under my protection and the lesse yee shall need to feare so that howsoever yee be every way little in the judgement of men yet yee are every way great in mine eyes Thus doth Christ our Saviour understand more then hee expresseth Now to come to the words themselves we have shewed before in what sence the flocke of God is called little The first consideration is in regard of the number yee are a few in number yea a very few and as it were a little handfull yet notwithstanding as a little corne is more of worth then great heapes of chaffe and one sheepe then many goats so this small company is more precious in Gods sight then all the multitudes of the ungodly Doct. 4 This teacheth that the flock of Christ is but a small and little flocke the number of Gods children is few thin sowne and soone told We may easily perceive and prove the truth hereof if wee observe the state of the Church from the beginning of the world Gen. 4.8 25. The family of Adam the first man was little and he remained childlesse a long time after Abel was made away by his owne brother while the posterity of Cain a carnall and cursed seed encreased in power in strength in number and in estimation of the wicked world When the flood came the house of Noah onely whom hee saw righteous in that generation consisting of eight persons was saved Gen. 6.9 7.1 1 Pet. 3.20 2 Pet. 2.5 Gen. 19.24 2 Pet. 2 6. whiles all the rest were miserably drowned in the waters When Sodom was destroyed with fire and brimstone from Heaven all the rest of the City were consumed and burnt to ashes and onely the house of Lot escaped with their lives as a prey Of all the multitude that came out of Egypt amounting to sixe hundred thousand none entred into the Land of Canaan but Caleb and Ioshua Numb 14.22 23. True it is all the rest were not condemned howbeit if we consider their often provocations discâ—â—â—entments murmurings and open rebellious against God we shall easily discerne that the fewest number did truely beleeve and soundly cleave to God and entred into the heavenly Canaan as Iude 5. Iude 5. The Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that obeyed not The holy Scripture is full of such testimonies examples parables and comparisons both in the old and new Testament Those whom God reserveth as a portion to himselfe are called a tenth Esay 6.13 17.6 24.13 they are compared to the shaking of an Olive tree Two or three berries are in the top of the utmost boughes and foure or five in the high branches The Church it selfe complaineth that it is as the Summer gatherings Mic. 7.1 and as the grapes of the Vintage there is no cluster to eate If there be foure sorts of hearers Matth. 13.23 Luk. 18.18 one onely among them all is the saving hearer that hath a good and honest heart And if ten leapers be clensed one of them onely among them all is found to returne backe to give glory to God Gen. 18.32 Ier. 5.5 Matth. 7.13 Luk. 13.24 Rom. 21.3 4. 1 King 19.14 When Abraham made intercession for Sodom if ten righteous persons had beene found in it the whole City had bene spared for their sakes See more Jer. 5.5 Matth. 7.13 Luk. 13.24 Rom. 11.3 4. compared with 1 King 19.14 Rom. Rom. 9.27 28. Esay 10.22 23. 1.9 Revel 3.4 9.27 28. Though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet a remnant shall bee saved for he will finish the worke and cut it short in righteousnesse because a short worke will the Lord make upon the earth And as this hath beene in former times so is it in our dayes If wee would take a view of the state of the world as it is knowne and daily discovered in our daies and sever from places where the face of a Church is the state of Mahometans Barbarians Savages Iewes and Idolaters what is it but a poore handfull as a brand taken out of the middest of the fire or as a little flocke driven into a corner of the world Againe to leave out the rabble of those that are without experience teacheth that where the face of a Church is setled and established and Christ Iesus is professed if you take away such as are open enemies Libertines Epicures luke-warme Professors prophane men Atheists Newters Halters carnal Gospellers ignorant persons hypocrites Antichristians Anabaptists false-brethren meere civill men that trouble not themselves with God or godlinesse and such like that meddle not any way with matters of religion we may truely cry out with Christ our Saviour Matth. 20.16 Luke 18.8 Many are called but few are chosen Neither may we thinke it will be better or otherwise hereafter for Christ Iesus admonisheth us that when the Sonne of man commeth he shall scarce finde faith on the earth This will farther appeare by reasons Reas 1 First because as the way to the earthly Canaan was thorow a solitary wildernesse so the way that leadeth to the heavenly Canaan and to everlasting life is narrow Matth. 7.13 14. and the gate straight and that in divers respects It suffereth not a man to sleepe soundly in his sinne and to wander whither hee listeth but shutteth him up within the close bounds of the Word of God which telleth him that he must suffer persecution deny himselfe Matth. 16.24 Col. 3.5 mortifie and crucifie the old man and all the affections of the flesh which is as irksome and unpleasant to the flesh as if a man should betake himselfe to perpetuall imprisonment put manacles and fetters upon hands and feet and thrust himselfe into the Stockes or Gaole whereas he might live abroad at liberty without restraint and resistance or without controlement and contradiction of any man whatsoever Secondly such as are faithfull and feare God live for the most part in contempt and disgrace of the world which hateth and contemneth them mocketh and scoffeth at them as Ismael did at Isaac so doe they that are borne after the flesh Gal. 4.29 persecute them that are borne after the Spirit and therefore they must take up their Crosse and follow
drinke but to cease from sinne as the Prophet speaketh August super Iohan. Esay 58.6 Chrysost suâ— per Math. Hee that sinneth and yet withall fasteth saith Chrisostome doth not fast to the glory of God but spareth his owne substance onely This is handled at large in these Treatises wherein is noted what the true exercise of fasting is what are the outward and inward parts thereof the one answering to the other together with the severall abuses of the counterfeit fastings True it is the Church of Rome complaine against us and accuse us as enemies to fasting even as the Pharisees sometimes condemned the Disciples of Christ Math. 9.14 whom he excuseth and defendeth but were we worthy of this reproch and reproofe yet are they the unfittest to upbraid us with it who beside the bare name and naked title of fasting have nothing remaining of the true nature and right practise thereof but the end they ayme at is to set up their owne merits and to puffe up them selves with pride as it was with the blind Pharisees their predecessors whom in this and in sundry other points they follow These things thus laid open J presume to offer to your Worship whose good affection to our Tribe so much scorned and scoffed at in the world and carefull frequenting the exercises of religion many wayes appeareth and as a token and testimony of my thankfull remembrance of your love to me in that you disdaine not but upon every occasion of passing by to come under the roofe of my poore cottage remembring the words of our blessed Saviour Mar. 6.4 A Prophet is not without honour save in his owne Countrey and among his owne kinne and in his owne house The God of heaven and earth encrease your zeale to the truth and finish that good worke which he hath begunne in you unto the day of Jesus Christ Your Worships at command William Attersoll THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTISE OF FASTING and PRAYER of FAITH and REPENTANCE IONAH 3.4 And Ionah beganne to enter into the City a dayes iourney and he cryed and said Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrowne THis Prophecie is wholly Historicall as the other prophecies are dogmaticall It containeth the History of Ionah relating what happened to himselfe when he was sent of God to the great Cittie Nineveh Gen. 10.12 to denounce unto the Ninevites their utter overthrow Who this Prophet was and when he prophecied may be gathered sufficiently out of the Scripture where we reade that Ieroboam the second restored the coast of Israel from the entring of Hamath unto the Sea of the Wildernesse according to the word of the Lord 2 King 14.25 which he spake by his servant Ionah the sonne of Amittai the Prophet which was in Gath Hepher And it seemeth that he was the first of all the Prophets whose writings are extant and remaine in the Church for the instruction thereof in faith and obedience For he lived before the battell of Ioash King of Israel with the Syrians about the end of the dayes of Elisha 2 King 13.14 and 14.25 Neither let any object the Prophecy of Micah as though he were before in time the same that prophecied in the daies of Ahab 1 King 22. Because these two were not both one but different neither doe their names accord in the Originall as may appeare to every one that readeth True it is this prophet hath this end and yssue of his writing with the rest to set forth the judgements and mercies of God toward mankind but this he hath proper and peculiar that he is not here sent unto the Church and people of Israel but onely unto prophane unbeleevers and uncircumcised persons that we should understand thereby that God hath rule over all nations and is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Iewes Rom. 3.29 and an avenger of sinne in whomsoever he findeth it Rom. 2.12 according to the saying of the Apostle As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law Rom. 2.12 For then the Prophets were sent to the Syrians 1 King 17.9 19.15 2 King 8.7 and to them of Damascus and to the Tyrians howbeit extraordinarily at the will and pleasure of God And doubtlesse by his sending of his Prophets to strangers out of the promised land God would reprove and condemne the desperate stubbornnesse of the people of Israel who would not be moved and perswaded by so many of his holy Prophets that were sent and dwelt among them and by so many threatnings as were brought upon them where as these poore infidels and unbeleevers did by and by beleeve and obey the voyce of one Prophet Math. 12.41 Luk. 11.32 that the Lord might say of them as he doth in an other case Matth. 8.10 I have not found so great faith no not in Israel I will not stand to discourse at large the vaine conceit and idle speculation of Epiphanius Epiphan of the life of the Prophets touching this Ionah For he telleth us that Elias gat himsalfe into the Wildernesse by reason of a great famine which hee had called upon the land where being nourished by Ravens he quenched his thirst with the water of the brooke and when the brooke was dryed up hee was an hungred and removed into Sarepta a Citie of Sidonia 1 King 17.9 Luk. 4.26 unto a poore woman a Widdow the mother of Ionah and entred into her house now the woman left nothing undone of that which he commanded her and he did eate and blessed her for he could have no abode with the uncircumcised And when as Ionah the sonne of the woman was deceased God raised him up by Elias and restored him alive unto his mother because of the entertainement which she gave unto him and that when Ionah was come to full age he was sent unto Nineveh to the Assyrians Where we have some truth mingled with much falsehood and therefore he deserveth to be credited no farther then he hath the warrant of Gods word being deceived with the tales of the Iewes that are masters of such lyes I know the common sort are most of all delighted with such new tangled devises that have no substance in them howbeit we should not please such itching eares nor feed them with empty winde in stead of wholesome food but avoid prophane bablings and oppositions of science falsly so called which some professing have erred concerning the faith 1 Tim. 6.20.21 In this prophecy observe a twofold calling or sending of Ionah the first in the two former chapters which he rejected the second in the two latter which he executed In this third chapter is set forth the execution of his calling together with the fruit and profit thereof in the Ninevites whereby we may see his errour and oversight in flying from his function and supposing that he was sent in vaine when
strong servants of God strong in faith that send up many strong cries to the throne of grace nay the strong God that hath commanded this duty to pray one for another hath also promised to heare them This no doubt was a comfort even to Peter himselfe put in prison that he knew Act. 12.5 Heb. 12.5.12.13 Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him and for his deliverance Let us not therefore faint under the Crosse when we are rebuked of him neither despise the chastening of the Lord who aymeth at our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse but rather lift up the hands which hang downe and the feeble knees and not cast away our confidence which hath great recompence of reward And let this be our comfort in these rerillous times that God heareth us for our brethren and our brethren for us and our elder-brother Christ Iesus our mediatour for us all who for his mercies sake for his truthes sake for his promise sake for his sonnes sake will in his good time send an happy deliverance that albeit for a season we be kept in affliction 2 Cor. 1.5.12 yet as our sufferings have abounded in us so our consolation should abound through our restoring when we had in a manner the sentence of death in us that thankes also may be given by many on our behalfe Secondly seeing Gods children for our comfort and consolation make request and intercession for us and are heard O how much more ought we to remember the sweet mediation of Christ Iesus our Lord and Saviour and comfort our selves and one another therewithall True it is we may and ought not a little to comfort our selves with the prayers and intercessions of other weake men our fellow servants like to our selves and subject to the same passions we are especially seing we know our whole Church at the same time assemble together to pray for us and to turne away his wrath from us and to call backe his destroying Angel that he may at length say It is enough 2 Sam. 24.16 stay now thy hand and so repent him of the evill upon our repentance and humiliation if I say we have much matter of comfort offered unto us by the publike prayers of the Church often as it were with one mind and with one mouth made and renewed on our behalfe how much more doth peace and consolation arise unto us by the mediation and intercession of Christ our Saviour the head of the Church the beloved sonne of God Heb. 1.2.3 Math. 17.5 the sonne of his love the heire of all things the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his person in whom the father is well pleased Herein consisteth our cheefe comfort that we rest and repose our selves in him as our Advocate and rely upon the merit of his passion Ioh. 11.42 whom the father alwaies heareth Indeed he commandeth that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thankes be made for all men 1 Tim. 2.1 and that we pray one for another that we may be healed Iam. 5.16 But if God at any time vouchsafe to heare any of his children it is for his sonnes sake not for any worthinesse or merits in them but for the Lords sake that is for Christs sake Dan. 9.1.7 for he is the Angel of the Covenant Revel 8.3 to whom was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the throne Therefore also the Apostle saith Heb. 5.16 In the dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares was heard in that he feared because he prayed to him that was able to save him from death Lastly it is our duty to performe this duty our selves toward others and to require this duty to be performed for us by others Thus did Daniel a man greatly beloved of God who had many deepe mysteries by vision declared unto him he spake to his Companions Dan. 2.18 that they should desire the mercies of the God of heaven to reveale his secret to him that they might not perish So the Apostle prayed the Church of the Thessalonians 2 Thess 3.1 to pray for him and the rest of his fâ—llow-labourers that the word of the Lord much hindred by the opposition of potent adversaries might have a free passage As then he prayed before for the Thessalonians so here he prayeth the Thessalonians to pray for him that he might be comforted together with them by the mutuall prayers both of them and of him The use of mutual praier To this duty we should be stirred up in regard of the mutuall profit that proceedeth from the practise and performance thereof For first it serveth as the ordinary meanes ordained and sanctified of God to prevent judgments threatned and to remove judgments already inflicted Remember the devout and zealous prayer of Salomon 2 King 8.33.35.37.44 when the people of Israel be smitten downe before their enemies because they have sinned against thee when heaven is shut up and there is no raine c. if there be in the land famine if there be pestilence blasting mildew locust or caterpiller c. whatsoever plague whatsoever sicknesse there be heare thou in heaven thy dwelling place and forgive the sinne of thy servants c. Secondly it is a cordiall to preserve and strengthen us in all spirituall graces as we see that by Christs prayer Peters faith was kept from failing Luc. 22.32 Luc. 22. and thus he prayed not onely for the rest of the Apostles but for all them that should beleeve on him through their word Ioh. Iob. 17.20.24 17. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me c. Prayer therefore is a notable preseruative to keepe the precious treasures and iewels of grace in the Closets of our hearts and serveth to strengthen and encrease good things in us For as it obtaineth blessings at Gods hands so it procureth the encrease of them and it is no lesse vertue to keepe and continue to enlarge and encrease what we have obtained then at the first to obtaine it Thirdly to bring remission of sinnes to subdue in us the power of sinne Iam. 5.15 Psal 19.13 Iam. 5.15 The prayer of faith shall save the sicke and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sinnes they shall be forgiven him For the cause of sicknesse and all diseases is sinne and therefore our Saviour healing the man sicke of the Palsie said unto him Math. 9.2 Sonne be of good cheere thy sinnes be forgiven thee dealing like a good Physitian who removeth the cause that he may remove the effect So then faithfull prayer and a purpose or resolution to continue in sinne cannot poffibly stand together Lastly it
should never fade nor faile nor fall away Thirdly give no occasion of offence to wicked worldlings to open their mouthes against us to speake evill both of us and of our profession The Apostle warneth us to cut off occasions from them that seeke occasions 2. Cor. 11. 2 Cor. 11.11 And hee warneth young women to guide their houses 1 Tim. 5.14 and to give no occasion to the adversary to speake reproachfully 1 Tim. 5. These are they that watch for our halting and slipping as the Fowler doth for the Bird or the Hawke for his prey They lay nets and snares to catch the simple and heedlesse soule It is meat and drinke to them if they can take them at any advantage If wee suffer reproofe and reproach wrongfully happy are we and great is our comfort we have no cause of griefe and sorrow but rather of rejoycing resting in the testimony of a good conscience Psal 37. 44.11 12 13 17. and the approbation of Gods Spirit who shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy judgement as the noone day Thus wee see in the faithfull Psal 44. Thou hast given us like sheepe appointed for meâ—t thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorne and derision to them that are round about us thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen a shaking of the head among the people c. all this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely with thy Covenant c. But if we suffer as evill doers wee have no comfort at all in any such sufferings but rather much discomfort and matter of sorrow and mourning Fourthly let us from the hatred and harsh entertainment we finde in the world be perswaded to knit our selves more closely to the rest of the faithfull that are brethren of the same Father servants of the same Master and members of the same body Forasmuch therefore as we are hated in the world and of the world let us cleave the more closely to God our Father and to Christ our head Ioh. 15.17 18. 17.26 John 15.17 18. who commandeth us to love one another Hence it is that Christ saith I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Touching this brotherly kindnesse observe these three circumstances the manner the time and the persons The manner of it must bee earnestly fervently constantly and in truth not faintly not coldly not hypocritically not in shew onely for so did Cain love his brother The time must be at all times every season is the season thereof fit to practise it not in prosperity onely and when they have little or no need at all of us but chiefely and especially in adversity in time of dearth and famine which is the time of the triall of our love as Pro. 17.17 18.24 Prov. 17.17 18.24 A friend loveth at all times and a brother is borne for adversity And touching the persons whom are wee to love all the brethren not onely the rich and wealthy but the least the lowest the meanest the poorest among them especially whom the Lord hath chosen to be rich in faith Iam. 2.1 2 5. and heires of the Kingdome of Heaven To this end wee are warned not to have the faith of our glorious Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons forbidding us to despise poore Christians and to respect onely the richer sort of higher places that abound in earthly blessings Now to effect this brotherly love the better Motives to worke true love in us and to worke it the sooner in our hearts wee must consider sundry motives to move us thereunto laid before us in holy Scripture First we shall be all knowne to be the Disciples of Christ by this charity Ioh. 13.35 as a servant is by his livery to what Master he belongeth John 13.35 Secondly hereby we know that we are translated from death to life 1 Ioh. 3.14 and from the state of damnation to salvation because we love the brethren They are all no better then dead men starke dead in sinnes and trespasses and lying under condemnation that are destitute of this love Thirdly whosoever hateth his brother the Son of his heavenly Father is another Cain a very murtherer 1 Ioh. 3.15 and ye know that no murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him If wee would scorne to bee blotted and branded with such an odious name it behooveth us to avoid and beware the like practice as well as the title It is in vaine for us to goe about to shun and shake from us the name so long as we resemble his nature Nay we are like the Devill himselfe Iohn 8.44 who was a murtherer from the beginning Joh. 8. When the Prophet told Hazael of his barbarous and horrible cruelty that hee should shew against the children of Israel he seemed to scorne it and to startle at it as at an hideous matter Is thy servant a dog 2 King 8.13 that he should doe this great thing but what availed this or was he one inch the further from it because he put it away from him No doubtlesse So what shall it profit these men to cast from them those names of Cain and his father the Devill and think they have wrong offered them to be so esteemed wheÌ„ in the meane season they nourish malice and mischiefe in their sinfull hearts Fourthly hereby we know that we are of the truth 1 Ioh. 3.19 and shall assure our hearts before him by the opposition of the world 1 Joh. 3.19 so that from hence we should gather great consolation and assurance to our selves that we are not married to the world but are divorsed from the world Iam. 4.4 If we be the friends of the world we become the enemies of God because the friendship of this world is enmity with God Fiftly love is of God 1 Iohn 4.21 Iohn 17.3 and every one that loueth is borne of God and knoweth God whereas he that loveth not God knoweth him not 1 Joh. 4.21 howbeit this is eternall life to know him Joh. 17.3 Sixtly God hath loved us first when we deserved no love 1 Iohn 4.9 Rom. 5.8 but to bee hated whereas we often hate those that deserve to be loved yea he so loveth us that hee sent his Sonne his onely begotten Sonne whom he loved and in whom he is exceedingly well pleased that wee might live through him Is not this love of his toward his enemies strong enough to worke love againe in us toward our brethren O what a little feeling have we in our hearts of the love of the Father if it cannot worke thus much in us to cause us for his sake to love his children The bright beames of the love of the Sunne of righteousnesse did never shine upon us to quicken us if wee doe not also warme