Fasting cannot be sayd to be penall A punishment is properly imposed by the Iudge not by the offender but fasting is arbitrary and by the offender taken up Nor doth the Scripture in any place call fasting a punishment Neither will that Story of the Ninivites proue it either a satisfaction or a punishment To that of Mathew from our Saviour I answere by deniall that every thing is meritorious to which a reward is given for there may be a reward of Grace as is disputed strongly against the Papists by many in the Question of merit The reward is to the prayer therefore but by accident to the fast but neither is the reward to prayer as of merit for when we pray wee supplicate and acknowledge our selues unworthy therefore to fasting much lesse is the reward of due We conclude it then that Fasting is not a part of worship but a Medium and in the New Testament not properly a Medium either to effect or signifie any thing but to dispose unto the extraordinary exercise of prayer and so it is said to be powerfull an helpe to that to which the Scripture giues testimonie that it doth prevaile The prayer of the righteous prevailes much if it be fervent But of this more in the second businesse which we proceed unto the proofe of the Doctrine 2. Secondly for the confirmation of this Truth the Prophet Ioel is very expresse and comfortable Turne unto mee with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning rent your heart and not your garment and turne unto the Lord for he is gracious who knoweth if he will returne and leaue a blessing behinde him Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctifie a Fast call a solemne assembly Then will the Lord be jealous for his Land and pittie his people Ioel 2.12.13.14.15.18.19.20 I might be large in instances your owne knowledge of them may spare me a labour not needfull I shall rather spend that time to confirme it by some Arguments 1. It is powerfull with God because the meanes which himselfe hath appointed to prevaile Nothing can be powerfull with God but as under the relation of an Ordinance God puts efficiencie into every thing as being the first mover of the wheeles in every engine That God may be pacified he must tell us how he will be pacified and we cannot fayle when wee goe in the way of his owne appointments Turne unto mee sayth the Lord There 's the Ordinance Then he will pittie his people There 's the issue of the Ordinance 2. It is powerfull with God because most suiteable to those Relations wee stand in toward God the Relations of Subjects Servants Supplicants Offenders Wee know that lowlinesse hath an insinuating and winning force and Great Spirits are soonest made ours by stooping to them as Tacitus notes judiciously concerning the great Augusta though she maligned the prosperous she was pittifull to the distressed though an enemy God hath beene pleased to manifest himselfe such and so appeased That he will resist the proud but giue grace unto the humble But in our fasting wee fall low before his foot-stoole wee crouch unto our Soveraigne wee supplicate of our Iudge we beg and plead not and prevaile 3. Prayer that prevailes is hereby made more fervent Prayer is the Toole fasting giues the Toole an edge makes it sharper and then it cuts more smoothly It specially remoues the impediments that make prayer slow 1. There are impediments in the understanding it helpes to illumine that The crammed bodie is not so fit an organ for the purer soule to actuate it selfe within wee see that abstemious men are of more quickned apprehensions Thus the outward abstinence is profitable but more the inward spirit of a fast that is to be Humble and to them is the promise of a cleared Intellect He will guide the humble in his way 2. There are impediments in the will it helpes to elevate that the will comes thus to be weakened in its resistance against God and is made more speedy in its better motions as the Hawke or the running dog are better for the flight and speed when slenderly fed The will is Bird-limed with the earth and fasting doth unintangle it then it becomes more apt for prayer As it was a wittie note of Ambrose concerning Elias He went up to heaven by the ladder of fasting before he ascended in the Chariot of fire 3. There are impediments in the affections they are oft out of order and disquiet our devotion it helpes to bridle them Affections are ordinarily wanton and then they grow imperious When Hagar was entertained with respect she despises her Mistresse but when checkt she growes modest Fasting giues the correction to our too sawcy servants then they become serviceable and waite upon prayer Saint Paul learnt this method while he professeth That he keepes under his body and brings it in subjection Thus it addes speed unto prayer and there is prevailing Which leades us to the third businesse to the application in a double use 3. The Application is 1. To condemne the folly and injustice of such as contemn or neglect so powerfull a Dutie There are cursed Edomites that say of Ierusalem Downe with it downe with it even to the ground and doe envie the prosperitie of Sion Fasting and prayers build up a wall but the Horonite the Ammonite and the Arabian Sanballat Tobiah and Geshem laugh at the worke and labour to hinder it There are some that dare say What needes this adoe Wherefore are these intended assemblings Thus they oppose their owne safetie and endeavour against that with which God both is pleased and pacified Nay some are so mad that wee use for a remedie or prevention they esteeme and accuse as the meanes to bring in the pestilence How farre at length will the malice of Satan extend But the Papists take us off from this reproofe while they tell us wee are fitter to ward then giue the blow They accuse us as in our doctrines and practise enemies to fasting Vnjust slanders For our doctrine let them heare it and see what they can object Besides what hath beene said let them heare him whom professedly they are wont to oppose Calvin in the fourth Booke of his Institutions in the twefth Chapter Seeing fasting is an holy exercise why should wee lesse use it then of old they used in like necessitie Wee reade not onely that the Israelitish Church which was framed and constitute by the word of God but also the Ninivites who had no other preaching but that of Ionah fasted in signe of sorrow What reason is there we should not doe the like But t is an outward Ceremony which together with others tooke end in Christ Nay but at this day as it alwayes was it is a profitable helpe to the faithfull and an usefull admonition to the awakening of themselues lest with their too much securitie and sloath they more and more provoke God Wee assent to the very words of that great
fervent prayer availeth much Zeale puts the heart into a good temper and apts it for motion which cannot be without an heate besides it helpes on prayer and makes it speedie Prayer is the weapon with which wee fight zeale giues that an edge for wee are easily dulled and need that whetting And to use another expression prayer ascends as the fire the fire moues unto its owne place to the element of fire in the hollow of the Moone and that it may passe the better without hindrance it goes up like a pyramis spirewise sharpe-poynted the more easily to penetrate zeale is the pyramidall or poynted flame of prayer and wings it up freely till it come before God and peirces with a kinde of violence till it gaine an entrance T is a fit Story which St. Augustin hath I le repeate it to you When he came as a visitant to the house of a sicke man he saw the roome full of friends and kindred who were all silent yet all weeping the wife sobbing the children crying out the kinsfolks lamenting The good Father suddenly utters a prayer Domine quas preces exaudis si has non exaudis Lord what prayers dost thou heare if thou hearest not these A prayer not so much artfull as vehement hath a kinde of violence in it And the Scripture sets it forth by such like words To cry To wrestle To striue all arguing an holy importunitie 2. Continuance True zeale continues t is a fire not a flame onely and according to the Apostles Rule Wee must pray alwayes 1. In the constant disposition of heart 2. In act at all seasonable opportunities all fit times as is interpreted by St. Paul in the very choice of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So wee reade that Mephibosheth eate continually at the Kings table 2 Sam. 9.13 And that Anna departed not from the Temple but served God day and night Luk. 2.37 that is when ever the time was seasonable and opportune We must continue to pray though wee finde our selues indisposed to prayer and therefore wee must continue because indisposed The Devill sometimes teaches our sloath to object That wee are dull and dead and unapt and were therefore better not pray at all then pray without life But it is with our soules as sometimes with some part of our bodyes If a man leane long upon his Arme without motion of it it becomes so benummed that t is made unfit for motion but wee continue rubbing of that part till wee bring the bloud to the same free course againe Such dulnesse and distemper by our owne neglect oft grows upon our better part but wee must be constant in the warming and rubbing of the soule when wee are dull to pray against dulnesse and not to leaue the worke till wee finde our former life running freely and spirit in our veines 5. The last particular that I propounded for explication of the Essentialls to prayer is That wee must pray for things lawfull The promise is that Good things shall be given to them that aske them Mat. 7.11 The highest good is Gods glory then our good and the Churches Our good is spirituall and temporall Spiritualls are so farre to be asked as they are promised so farre as necessary to salvation That wee should haue grace is absolutely necessary and therefore wee pray absolutely for it Degrees and measures are not limitedly necessary therefore for limited and set measures wee may not absolutely pray yet for necessary measures absolutely because absolutely necessary Temporalls may be prayed for and with determination of what wee petition for Licet orare quod licet desiderare Some haue thought wee may not pray for Temporalls but onely in the generall and conditionally I thinke they too much streighten us for a conditionall petition doth petition nothing nor doth a generall If a sicke man pray in such a forme Lord send me what thou knowest fit for me I discommend not the forme yet the sicke-man prayes not more for his health then the cōtinuance of his disease I thinke it lawfull and not onely lawfull but fit that he determine and particularise his prayer Lord send health yet still in this sense it is conditionall though we determine the petition yet ever to use an expresse or tacite subjection to Gods will and wisedome These are the essentialls to prayer in my Catecheticall Method the other day to my owne I followed likewise the Accidentalls to prayer and more largely but here meant onely to make use of what is necessary to our present purpose and haue sufficiently shewed what prayer is in the second part to be explicated I shall be briefer which is 2. How it yeelds remedy When wee pray and determine upon this or that particular thing wee doe as it were apply Gods will unto it and when that application is made wee are said to prevaile Now wee cannot apply Gods will by commanding of it that were blasphemy to imagine nor by a familiar postulation that were not lesse then blasphemy but by a submisse representation of our will unto him Therefore some haue expressed themselues thus When wee pray unto men wee mooue and affect them with what wee say but when unto God our selues are rather mooved and affected the change is in us wee are fitted for a grant But I thinke wee may admit of more That God honors this ordinance as declaring himselfe affected by it because it is that medium onely by which being intervenient or interceding God imparts much unto us Not that God is any way ignorant and needs this representation of our wills for he understands our thoughts a-farre off Psal 139.2 Nor that God of nilling is bowed and made willing by these representations for with him is no variablenesse neither shadow of turning Iam. 1.17 But onely that it is his way that ordinance which himselfe hath appointed and wee onely impetrate what wee beleeue him to will So that our prayers doe argue no change in God neither doth the firmenesse of eternall providence hinder our prayers but wee onely use Gods way and entreat what wee beleeue him to will as it is cleare in that of the Apostle 1 Ioh. 5.14 This is the confidence that wee haue in him that if wee aske any thing according to his will he heareth us And more cleare in an example that of Davids prayer for the establishing of his house Let the house of David thy servant be established before thee for thou hast told thy servant thou wilt build him an house therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee and now O Lord thou art God and hast promised this goodnesse now therefore let it please thee to blesse the house of thy servant 1 Chro. 17.25.26.27 I haue done with the explication It follows 2. The Confirmation of the truth The very explication is proofe enough prayer is our remedy in distresses for our remedy lyes in God and prayer mooues to him
residence shewes its government being seated in the middle of the body if at least that conceit of a great Etymologist bee warrantable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the contract of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be derived of the hebrew word keneb Medium 2. The Spirit notes the actiue power of the soule that which executes the resolutions of the former and therefore in our usuall way of speaking we call an actiue man a man of spirit But here I thinke both words doe signifie one and the same thing the soule of man whether we consider it organically and so call it the heart or in-organically and so call it the spirit but howsoever we expresse it it is the soule of man which must bee fitted for Gods service to be such a sacrifice 2. The soule must bee broken and contrite which though in a curious notion they may be distinguished yet I here conceiue them to expresse the same thing the thorough humiliation of the inward man You will all discerne that the words must not be taken properly for none will imagine that that fleshy part the heart must be divided or broken in peices or bruised for that were to make a dead man in stead of a living Sacrifice wee must necessarily then understand the speech to be figuratiue and that David useth a metaphor that the soule in respect of its humiliation before God must bee as a thing bruised and broken into peices Or it may farther signifie the degrees of humiliation there must not onely be a breaking but a contriting a pounding unto dust The heart is naturally stony proud stiffe and rebellious but it must be beaten from its owne height and layd levell and flat before Gods foot-stoole it must be wounded and lie bleeding before God it must shake and tremble at his presence and therefore the Italians haue a word that is apt to expresse this Scheggiare of Scheggia a loose lease or a paper by it selfe when the booke is unbound The soule must be as it were unbundeled it must be shaken and loose a scattered and shivering thing before God 3. The soule when it is thus separated into peice-meales then it is Gods Sacrifice Sacrifices were Gods service in the Iewish manner of worship they were divided and broken when they were offered But these were Ceremoniall Services the Morall service that God now requires is rather a broken heart then a slaughtered Beast yet there is a resemblance in this unto that and it is called Gods sacrifice because it is such a Service as is suiteable unto him Offrings in the Law were either Expiatory or Dedicatory our true humiliation in some sence is both while wee weepe over Christ who is our Expiation and dedicate our selues to God in a full entire and sincere service The inward man must be truely humble and this is Gods service the Sacrifice that wee offer 2. Having thus explained it wee are to confirme it by Argument 1. Such humiliation is and is called Gods sacrifice because God himselfe is the Author of it he onely breaks us and fits us for his owne Altar T is true that Crosses may make us lye downe they may humble us but God must make us humble Vnlesse God sanctifie the affliction wee may be stubborne under the burthen and fret against that hand which wee should at once see and acknowledge with submission Yee know the Story that a rocke gushed forth waters it was strange that waters should flow out of an hard stony Rocke but the rocke was smitten and then it flowed But could a stroake breake a Rocke or could the Rod cause the dry stone to yeeld forth moysture Nay the cause was Gods Command God bid Moses strike and then the waters flow When the power of God accompanies the affliction and sanctifies the suffering then the heart of man breakes kindly and that may well be called Gods when he prepares his owne sacrifice 2. This humiliation is suiteable to God and therefore both is Gods sacrifice and is so called 1. Such service is suiteable because it is sincere because spirituall The giving of the heart notes truth in the Offring and that is it which God requires which he taught the Iewes when he commanded them to giue him the fat and the intrals of Beasts that were slaine The heart notes unfainednesse for the body may be personated in taking on a different shape the heart cannot a man may appeare to be another man by the varietie of his garments but he is the same man inwardly in his heart and in truth what ever his habite speake him He that giues his heart offers a fit Sacrifice suiteable because both spirituall and unfained 2. As the heart is suiteable in regard of sinceritie so brokennesse is suiteable in regard of the manifestation of humilitie And it is convenient that wee should fit our selues unto those relations wherein wee consider God to come into the presence of our Lord and Soveraigne bending into the presence of our Iudge trembling into the presence of our justly-offended yet gratiously-accepting God bleeding wounded broken 3. For a third reason it may also be called Gods sacrifice because it doth him speciall honour in a double respect 1. What wee giue him Our hearts our spirits Whom wee honour wee present with gifts and by the greater gift wee expresse the greater honor and what greater present can wee giue him than our selues The Christian offers more to God than the Iew was wont It was no such great matter to offer a Lamb or a Ramme or a Bullocke they that were rich might spare them the poore in many cases were not enjoyned to it but however they did but offer somewhat out of their fold wee offer what is of greater price and brings God more honor The better part of our selues our very selues our hearts and spirits 2. How wee giue them Broken It is not so much the gift as loue and esteeme in the gift that honours now wee doe witnesse our loue by our sorrow and according to that distinction which the Schoole hath afforded us wee expresse a twofold sorrow appretiatiue and intensiue 1. Our Appretiatiue sorrow discovers it selfe to the honour of God when wee shew at what a rate wee set Gods favour that to revenge our selues for losing of it or losing at least our actuall apprehension of it by our sinne wee roughly and severely handle our best part and wrecke our displeasure upon that which wee hold deare and precious 2. The Intensiuenesse of our sorrow honours him and is witnessed that wee not onely afflict our hearts for the dishonoring of our God but doe afflict them with deep wounds even to brokennesse and contrition I 'le not longer stay upon Confirming of this truth but descend easily to the Application 1. Vse If the divided wounded spirit the broken heart be Gods sacrifice wee learne a mystery That there is a Man-slaughter lawfull not onely lawfull but profitable but convenient Esteeme it no Paradoxe