when we extravagate from him but will never utterly disinherit us and cast us out of his favour and protection but though for a moment he forsakes with everlasting kindness he remembers us Fourthly This teacheth us the folly and danger of all oppositions against and oppressions of the People of God If God be their help who shall be their destroyer or dare be their opposer And yet such is the madness and phrensie of the world as they will venture to set themselves against those God hath set himself for The wicked have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge They know what to do well enough with him for all that they are resolved to persecute him let him save and deliver him Many there be saith David which say of my soul there is no help for him in his God Psal 3.2 3. These in their triumphant bravado's and flourishing vapours are their vain and cursed conclusions I will pursue I will overtake that 's their desperate resolution The world is resolved to hate those God loves and persecute them God hath undertaken to protect They will kick against the pricks and though they cannot reach the person Christ whose Image the Saints do but represent yet Panther-like in their rage they will tear the picture Either by secret fraud they are consulting against Gods hidden ones to undermine them or by open violence endeavouring to overthrow them But such is the Saints stability in God that the very gates of Hell shall never prevail against them They are as Mount Sion that cannot be moved They do but throw stones against the wind go about to pluck the Sun out of Heaven as those Barbarous Nations who when scorched by the heat of it endeavour with their arrows to shoot at it There is no enchantment against Jacob nor divination against Israel saith Baalam himself a Wizzard Numb 23. And God hath set a noli me tangere about his People Psal 106.15 Yea promised that no weapon formed against them shall prosper God will turn those weapons against themselves and cause all their arrows to return on their own heads God will be an enemy to his Peoples enemies and bring ruin on all the Churches oppressors It 's Solomon's counsel not to oppress the poor because his Redeemer is mighty The Most High regards it and will reward it too and relieve them under it For the oppression of his poor and needy he will also arise and set him in safety from him that puffeth at him Psa 12.5 God is his Peoples second and stands at their back he will uphold Jacob though a Worm he hath undertaken their defence and will vindicate their cause They therefore have no cause to fear or their enemies to triumph God stands Sentinel over them never slumbers or sleeps and they may sleep securely while he awakes as that great Commander did when his Captain was watching the enemies motion David will never flie or run for 't as long as he hath God for his shield Psal 11.1 In the Lord saith he put I my trust how say ye to my soul fly as a Bird to your Mountain And neither have their enemies any ground of confidence Would not you think that man worse than mad whom you bend setting his shoulders against a strong and well-built house thinking to overturn it of its foundation or against an impregnable Rock endeavouring to remove it from its place Such and infinitely far worse is their vanity who set themselves against the Lord and his Anointed None ever yet set himself against the Almighty or shall ever do but will be sure to have the worst of it God saies Zach. 12.3 He will make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces Heerom tells us that at the entrance of the gate of Jerusalem there lay very great stones by the lifting whereof men used to try their strength He that could heave them came off without any harm but they which attempted and could not lift them were sorely bruised and battered if not utterly spoiled by them Such will be the issue and success of all wicked mens designs and enterprizes against Gods People who have him as the stone of their help all their powers policies attempts and under-ground devices shall come to nought and confusion their mischief come down on their own head and their violent dealing on their own pate yea all their confâ—deracies and combinations as well as conspiracies and secret machinations shall be broken in pieces Isa 8.9 10. And as God told the Israelites once when leaning on the Egyptians both he that helpeth and he that is holpen shall both fall together Isa 31.3 O that the world would at length learn the wisdom not to oppose God and so run on the pikes of their own inevitable ruin but rather kiss the Son lest they perish in his wrath when kindled but a little And which is a consequence of this or rather a just inference upon it let all that pretend to bear good will to Sion beware openly or covertly of taking in against Gods interest and cause whatsoever be their disguises or pretences lest it comes home by them in the end If Meroz was cursed for not helping the Lord against the mighty what will be their doom who dare help the mighty against the Lord If good Jehosaphat had so sharp a reproof for helping with the ungodly and those who did not fear the Lord 2 Chron. 19.2 They must needs not only be blamed but also cursed who will venture to aid abet or assist the wicked against those who fear the Lord and are the objects of his help and protection And so much by way of deduction and inference Secondly This provokes to examination If they be thus happy who are interested in God and have him as their help and hope it 's worth our enquiry whether this God be our God and consequently our help and hope in the day of evil Now if we would know this our interest let us take first some general signs of an interest in him Secondly some more particular evidences or discoveries of our making him our hope and help The first mark or sign of an interest in God is union with him in and through Christ All creatures through the fall are out of favour at Heaven and there is no coming to God but through his Son He is the way the truth and the life The way in which the truth by which the life unto which the soul moves and comes No man comes to the Father but by him nor knows the Father but 't is of his revealing We are far off from God by nature but draw nigh through Christs blood that new and living way If we know him we know also the Father Are our souls united then to Christ by faith have we received him as our Lord and Saviour Prince and Priest to save and sanctifie redeem and rule us are
gives gifts even to the rebellious comfort he is the Father of mercies and God of all consolations He knows our wants yea and our thoughts long before and when we know not what to ask yet he knows what to give He is able to help against sin its guilt its strength against temptations though Satan be mighty he is Almighty against afflictions from himself or oppositions from the world The shields of the earth are his and he can weild them as he pleaseth Psal 47.9 His very intueri is operari and one smile of his beatifical face is able to create more sollace than all the frowns of the world can sadness or discomfort This was the pillar of Abraham's faith Rom. 4.21 Knowing what he had promised he was able to perform Secondly A voluntate Men oft-times are willing to help but not able and many times able but not willing but God is as willing as able He is alwaies ready to succour and relieve his People he is a God that waits to be gracious yea he is already engaged Call upon me and I will answer thee Thirdly Ab instantia auxilii from the presentness and instancy of his help He is a present help in time of trouble Men oppressed oft miscarry through help at a distance but the Lord is alwaies near at hand to his people he is their arm every morning and in the evening the God of their life God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early Psal 46.5 I am God and not man the holy one of Israel in the midst of thee Hos 11.9 He comes in the nick seasonably and opportunely and brings salvation if need be on the wing Isa 31.5 As birds flying so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem defending also he will deliver it and passing over he will preserve it Veni vidi vici is his motto he is slow to punishment but quick to deliverance Then thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am Isa 58.9 He is oft nearest when he seems furthest off As he cuts short his work in righteousness in respect of the wicked so he brings near his righteousness to his People Isa 46.13 It shall not be far off and his salvation shall not tarry Fourthly A fidelitate from his faithfulness in helping The reason of mens failure is either want of ability or want of fidelity but God is faithful who hath promised By promising he hath made himself a debtor and he will not stand alwaies engaged much less break his promise His faithfulness cannot fail The husband may be unfaithful to the wife the father to the son the Prince to the subject but God will never be unfaithful to his People Men may intend help but be unexpectedly disappointed or pretend it and yet really hinder there is oft a conjunction of forces where no union of hearts and affections God made the woman to be a meet help to the man and faithfulness is one of the principal duâ—â—es that flows from conjugal relations but yet â—â—t-times they prove unfaithful yea perfidious â—s Dalilah did to Sampson but God will never â—ail them that trust in him He keepeth truth for â—er vers 6. Fifthly A constantia from the perpetuity and â—nchangeableness of his help This the Psalmist â—ere adds by way of confirmation of his assertion â—f blessedness vers 10. The Lord shall reign for â—â—er God alwaies lives and reigns Men die â—one generation comes another goes and none â—ayes but God ever lives as the Patron and Proâ—ector of his People The King of Heaven never â—ies under all the changes and vicissitudes in this â—wer Region of the world he still abides a God who changeth not He is a standing help to which â—he soul may go and resort on all occasions Psal â—1 2 He will not forsake the work of his hands â—he is a never fading and failing refuge Nevertheless saith the Psalmist I am continually with thee â—hou hast holden me by my right hand Thou shalt â—uide me with thy counsel and afterward receive â—e to glory Psal 73.23 24. We may let go our â—old of God but he will never let go his hold of â—s by his grace we are kept from falling and â—y his mighty power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are guarded to salvation Let the Psalmists inference conclude this point Psal 48. ult For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death And so much for the priviledge or the blessing pronounced Secondly Follows the propriety or benedidiction applied in this pronoun his his help whence observe First A Saint and he alone hath a special interest and propriety in God Others may have a common but they only a saving interest God may give the men of the world something from himself but he hath made himself only over to his People They may call all their own but God but these can call God theirs when they have nothing else Abraham gave the Sons of Keturah portions but reserved Isaac the Inheritance Jehosaphat gave his other Sons gifts but Jehoram the Kingdom The earth God hath given to the children of men but the Lord is the portion of his Peoples Inheritance Psal 16.5 Influence flows from interest and interest flows only from union O God saith David my God Thou art my God and I will praise thee He who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is in him their God and Father This new name none knows but he that receives it Secondly Observe Saints only can be just expectants of divine help and influence His help and salvation is to them that fear him Fiducial recumbency on God flows only from the consideration of our interest in him and is founded on this bottom that he is a God in covenant with us He is first the God of Jacob and then an help that is the order here My God and then my salvation Job 13.16 He is a peculiar help to his People The title he hath assumed to himself is the God of their salvation Indeed he is an help to others in a larger sense but by way of peculiarity or singular specialty the only help of his elect They alone are others are not under any distinguishing promise but rather a threatning Isa 65..13 Behold saith God my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty they shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed And they only coming within compass of the promise and so having a right to the mercy of it can only jâ—stly hope and confidently expect it The wicked hath no hope They alone can come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and beg it in the time of their need Wicked men have no God to go to and how can they ever hope to come to God in an evil who in a good day have run away from
by thy great power and stretched-oâ—â— arm As he hath infinite wisdom and knows alâ— things so infinite power and can do all things â— he is wonderful in counsel and mighty in working And thus we finde the Church shoring up her reeling and sinking spirits with the stud oâ— his infinite boundless and never failing mercy and compassions Lam. 3.21 This I recall to my mind therefore have I hope Saints hope in his mercy Psal 33.18 The Attributes of God are as so many props and pillars to uphold a falling soul as so many shields which he may bear before him to fence off the strokes of evil When they cannot lay hold on a Promise they may yet lay hold upon an Attribute and though they sit in darkness and see no light yet may they stay upon it One shine of an Attribute in its full lustre and glory is able to dispel in a moment all those mists of fear doubt and temptation which have over-spread the souls Heavens and cause them utterly to vanish Secondly The merits of his Son They are also strong pillars of this hope He is that mighty one on whose shoulders God hath laid his peoples help Psal 89.19 All fell and became a ruinous heap in Adam but is repaired by Christ It hath pleased the Father all fulness should dwell in him the spirit without measure treasures of wisdom and knowledge And all the grace and mercy of God runs through the chanel of his blood whether concerning our eternal or temporal condition He is the Saviour of all but especially of them that believe with him we have all things as being entailed upon him all is yours because you are Christs 1 Cor. 3. ult Through the knowledge of him all things are given us which pertain to life and godliness God supplies all our wants according to the riches of his glory in Christ He is represented to us under all possible names of fulness and excellency to assure us that whatsoever we want may be had in him He is called light life treasure yea the Apostle calls his unsearchable riches Ephes 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfathomable wealth It 's reported of the Spanish Embassadour that when he had beheld the Duke of Venice's treasury with great admiration as indeed being the richest in the world yet in the end commends his Masters above it which the auditors wondring at and demanding the reason of he gives this answer This treasure though vast hath a bottom but my Masters hath no bottom alluding to the Isles of Mexico c. This is much more true of Christ he hath bottomless treasures of grace and peace wisdom and holiness joy and comfort life and glory bliss and happiness to give out to his members And considering help in the other notion he is also the most proper and adequate object of our hope For him hath God exalted a Prince and Saviour not only to dispense out the gifts of repentance and forgiveness as Kings do on their inauguration daies but also hath raised him up to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and deliverer of his People from the hands of all their enemies The Redeemer that shall come out of Sion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. He shall raise the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof Act. 15.16 He is called Gods strength Isa 27.5 His neck saith the Spouse in her description is like the Tower of David builded for an Armoury whereon there hang a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men Cant. 4.4 He is the Saints chief helper the Antesignanus or standard-bearer of the whole Army or as we render it the chiefest of ten thousand under whose conduct himself going in the front before us we may rout Armies of sins fears temptations men and Devils though never so combined or bandied against us Though they compass us about like Bees yet in this name of the Lord may we destroy them He is a security against the wrath of God and against the violence of men also Saith Bernard sweetly ubi tuta firmaque requies nisi in vulneribus salvatoris Every wound of Christ is a City of Refuge to the pursued soul of a Christian The destroying Angel will pass over those who are sprinkled with Christs blood The avenger of blood shall never touch those who are once lodged in this sure Sanctuary and they who have the scarlet thred of his merits tied upon their hearts are certain of delivery from wrath to come and being proximi Jovi are yet procul à fulmine This man saith the Evangelical Prophet of him shall be as an hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary Land Isa 32.2 A shelter against colder and battering storms and a shadow under burning and scorchsing heats He comes forth saith the other Prophet that is to be Ruler in Israel from among the least of the thousands of Judah whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord in â—he Majesty of the name of the Lord his God And this man shall be thy peace when the assyrian shall come into the Land strength against or comfort under his oppression This was that the Prophet Zachariah comforts the Church with against the Babylonish captivity Zach. 9.9 11 12. Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Sion Behold thy King cometh unto thee And what follows upon his advent As for thee also by the blood of the Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water and so directs them to turn to him that strong hold as prisoners of hope Never failed that soul of help who made Christ his hope He never will cast out those which come to him and citius clavem ab Hercule none can pluck his sheep out of his hand Thirdly The relations of the Covenant Whom should a child trust to for help but his Father and the innocent for right but the Judge This is that the Prophet pleads all along in times of calamity and trouble Gods Paternity Kingship conjugal relations The Church alwaies goes to him under these relations of a God a Judge a King a Father an Husband all which are moving his bowels of affection she laies her claim to God as hers on all occasions I am thine saith David save me So the Church impleads her interest The Lord is my portion therefore will I hope in him Fourthly The truth and fulness of his Promises What God hath a tongue to speak is ouâ— duty to have an ear to hear and heart too to believe for what he hath spoken with his mouth he will fulfil with his hand 2 Sam. 7.24 25. Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you â— Joshua tells the people cap. 23.14 And so Solomon blessing God before
the people thus bespeaks them there hath not failed one word of all his good promise 1 King 8.56 All his Promises are Yea and Amen made in Christ and confirmed and made good by him Now the Promises of mercy are sure footing for our faith and serve highly to fix and establish our hope I had perished saith David in mine affliction but that thy word was my hope Psal 119. This gave him comfort So as he professeth at the 114 verse Thou art my hiding-place and my shield I hope in thy word And so emphatically again Psal 130.5 I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait And in his word do I hope The Promises are as so many Magazines for relief Mines for supply Springs for consolation Breasts for refreshment They are as the clefts of the Rock and secret places of the stairs for the souls security and protection They are as an anchor of hope sure and stedfast as the Apostle elegantly calls them Heb. 6.19 which if well fastened the ship is sure so that neither wind or wave can move it There cannot be more venom in a judgement than there is balm in a Promise This was that bare up Davids soul and Christ too whom he typifies even Gods Promise of not leaving his soul in Hell nor suffering his holy one to see corruption Act. 13.35 This upheld Jonas's spirit from sinking under all his temptations and distractions and his faith and hope from drowning even when his body was swallowed up he did not throw all over-board but yet lookt towards his holy Temple Jonah 2.4 To which the Promises were peculiarly made Though the gate of mercy seemed shut all hopes of pardon cut off mountains of opposition stood in the way of his faith yet he looks up and by faith over-looks all faith in the Promise made him row against winde and tide and bear against all the difficulties and disasters of providence and hope not only against reason but sense too and believe over not bare difficulties but seeming impossibilities also When David was driven out of all hopes of the Kingdom so as peremptorily to conclude he was cast out of Gods sight should fall by the hand of Saul and all God had said was but a story and his Prophet Samuel a tale a lie he recovers himself from under all these wrestlings and animates his soul by the remembrance of the Promise I had fainted but that I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Though God does not alwaies fulfill his threatnings but revokes them on repentance wherefore the Jews counted not him a false Prophet that foretold Judgements though they came not to pass yet he alwaies fulfils his Promises to them that fear him and hope in his mercy This staid Abrahams faith therefore under all apparent contradictions Rom. 4.21 He that promised would perform Fifthly Exemplaria Providentiae The experiments of his Providence are another sure ground and bottom of hope Experience is the breeder of Hope Rom. 5.4 They which have tried God cannot but trust â—iâ—n For the Lord will not forsake his People This was the ground of Davids confidence 1 Sam. 13.37 when he went out against huge Goliah The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine one deliverance assures another And it is no less the Argument of his Prayer in several Psalms Psal 27.9 Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation Thou hast O Lord taken the care of me hitherto expose me not now as a destitute Oâ—phan to the wide world Psal 31 2 3. Be thou my strong rock for thou art my rock and my fortresâ— Psal 42.8 9. All thy waves and billows are gone over me yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time I will say unto God my rock when he was almost sunk even about drowning he catcheth hold on the bough of former experience seasonably and opportunely and so saves himself So Psal 71.5 9. Thou art my hope from my youth cast me not off in the time of my old age So vers 17 19. Thou hast taught me O God from my youth now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not There 's his Prayer and see how his Faith gets up and rises still higher and higher from hope to assurance verse 20. Thou which bast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the Earth And as he ends the Psalm so he begins it Verse 1 2 3. In thee O Lord I put my trust let me never be put to confusion be thou my strong rock and habitation for thou art my rock and my fortresse When the Out-works are taken then he retreats to the principal Fort when a Christians present evidences are darkened or hopes discouraged he may and ought to fly to the experience of Gods former gracious dealings and comfortable manifestations to look back to the days of old and years of ancient times and call to remembrance his former Songs under his present sufferings These will bear him up as in the dayes of old upon Eagles wings I was under such a temptation but the Lord strengthened me under such an affliction but God delivered me Thus David Psal 28.7 The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped He goes to God by a Periphrasis Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvelous loving-kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee And thus the Church Psal 22. and 44. Our Fathers trusted in thee We have heard what thou didst for our Fathers in the dayes of old And shall not the Fathers unto the Children praise thy truth So Psal 115.12 The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us S. Psal 74.12 God is my King of old Thou didst divide the Sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the Dragons in the waters Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon It 's all along observable how the Church and People of God have stood upon this Giants shoulder of former experience in their pleadings and wrestlings with him for future mercies And in an especial manner those two solemn and signal deliverances out of Egypt and from the red Sea as God makes them a constant argument for obedience to him so do they of confidence upon him And thus the Church in the Lamentations in the saddest dumps of her affliction recurrs to her experience Lam. 3.26 It 's good a man should both quietly hope and wait for the salvation of the Lord. Thus the Apostle argues against wants and necessities Hebr. 13.5 from the Promise And against dangers from the experiments of
souls and preserver of his creatures As the Malefactor fled to the City of Refuge crying all along as he went Refuge Refuge so should the soul fly to God either under the pourings out of personal wrath as the Prodigal to his Father or offender to the Judge for pardon or under the popular executions of his wrath on the world as a Wife flies to her Husband for protection When God is coming out against the world with sword fire famine or pestilence then 't is our wisdom to repair to him who is an harbour in every tempest a shelter in every storm a sanctuary wherein the soul may securely hide and repose under every stroke of divine vengeance Secondly Under the oppressions of Satan or oppositions of humane violence Go as beggars to the Throne of Grace to beg help in that time of need When the Kite comes get under the wings of Gods Providence and presence So Did David Psal 57.1 Psal 143.8 I fly to thee to hide me Thus Luther I will goe and tell my God Thirdly In the failure and disappointment of all Creatures when all second Causes fail then 't is time to go to the first and when the arm of flesh breaks then to lay hold on the Father of Spirits So David Psal 73.23 and 1 Sam. 30.6 when he had lost his wives yet he rejoyceth in God as his husband So the Church Hab. 3.17 As Gods solemn appearances for us engage us to trust in Him Exod. 14. ult Then they believed the Lord and his servant Moses So do the Creatures appearances against us and discouragements to us This was the foundation of Mordecai's conclusion of Faith Esth 4.14 Fourthly Upon Imposition or undertaking of extraordinary burdens whether of service or suffering Thus Moses goes to God for Eloquence when he was to go in to Pharaoh and become his accuser and Gods advocate spokesman for Israel So David going out against Goliah went out in the Name of the Lord and Jehosaphat when to combat with the Ammonites beggs help from Heaven Our Saviour falls earnestly to Prayer when about to suffer New services call for new Supplies and great sufferings proportionable strength and support to carry us through them Fifthly Under falls into deep and sore afflictions and distresses As under surprizals by fears and dangers what time we are afraid trusting in him so under the feeling of piercing afflictions In my distress saith David I cried to the Lord and out of the depths he heard me When the shipwrackt Soul cannot swim to shore yet let him cry for help The end God brings us into afflictions is that they might bring us to himself that we might not trust in our selves but in him the living God In times of personal distress or Visisitation wants weaknesses sicknesses scandals confinements banishments from our house and home and native soil yea under the most cruel persecutions by tongue or hand we may appeal with Job and David to Heaven and have right done us When the Soul is like Noahs Ark floating upon the top of these waters it may rest on God's holy Mountain Thus we finde the Church betaking her self to God in an ill time a time of general corruption sore oppression and extreme depopulation Mic. 7.7 though it was foul under feet she hopes to finde it fair above head and while she found nothing but a louring Earth presumes to spye a similing Heaven Our Saviour bids us not in glorious times but sad not hang down but lift up our heads Luk. 21.28 Sixthly Under dying apprehensions Thus David flyes to Gods Covenant and confirms by the fresh attestations of his Faith his Vision with and interest in his God when to take his leave and farewell of all worldly interests and the union between his body and soul was to receive its dissolution So holy Job when marching out of the world goes out to his Redeemer There is no such time as a dying hour to trust in the living God And so much shortly to that first Quâ—stion Secondly How must we make our addresses to God so as in an evil day to finde help from him Especially these five manner of wayes First By Soul-abasement and humiliation acknowledging our own unworthiness and insufficiency that we are less than the least of all Gods mercies unworthy any crumm that falls from his Providential Table Indeed as long as we can stand upon our own leggs we will not go to God The Childe as long as he can maintain himself will not come home to his Father but when we are fallen then we are glad of help This is that hath always obtained with God for particular mercy and publick salvation and hath been the constant carriage and behaviour of his people in their addresses to him though they come to him boldly as to a Father yet withall humbly as to their King Thus the Centurion I am not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof Thus the Prodigal Father I have sinned against thee and against Heaven So the Woman of Canaan Truth Lord the dogs c. So in publick suits Abraham comes not with dust and ashes on his head only but in his mouth also when a solicitor for Sodom Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel present themselves with great humiliation before God when praying for the people So the Princes of Israel when captivated by Shishak humble themselves and say the Lord is righteous 2 Chron. 12.6 7. and so the Church Isa 64.7 When she stirs up her self to take hold upon God she confesseth he had hid his face from her for her sins and consumed her for her iniquities The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up them that be bowed down Psal 145.14 If we would finde acceptance with God we must go to him as that good King Lord we know not what to doe Lord I am under such a guilt under such a temptation under such a want or affliction and I know not what to doe but mine eyes are towards thee And that 's the second with renunciation of all Creature-helps and carnal confidences God never loves to give his people mercy till they know not where to have it else when they know not what to do then he will let them know what he can do Thus the Church goes to God Jer. 3.23 24. and cap. 14.22 and so Isa 26.13 When all our Cisterns are dried up then is a fit time for God to open the windows of Heaven If we would have Soul-help we must deny our selves and disclaim all creature-props and stayes ordinances duties graces priviledges and if outward help we must abandon all Creature-dependencies The hand must be first emptied that receives any gifts of grace and mercy from Heaven Thirdly By Prayer and Invocation It s Gods promise in leading his people to their resting place that with weeping and supplications he would lead them Jer. 31.9 Asa in his great strait goes to God by Prayer and beggs and implores help 2 Chron. 14.11 He cried unto