behoveth us abide under a continual sense of our natural impotency and penury of our dependence upon God and obligation to him for the free collation of those best gifts that by some difficulty of procuring them we may be minded of their worth and induced the more to prize them that by earnestly seeking them we may improve our spiritual appetites and excite holy affections that by much conversing with Heaven our minds may be raised above earthly things and our hearts purified from sordid desires that we may have a constant employment answerable to the best capacities of our Souls worthy our care and pain yielding most solid profit and pure delight unto us that in fine by our greater endeavour in religious practice we may obtain a more ample reward thereof For the same reason indeed that we pray at all we should pray thus with continued instance We do not pray to instruct or advise God not to tell him news or inform him of our wants He knows them as our Saviour telleth us before we ask nor do we pray by dint of argument to persuade God and bring him to our bent nor that by fair speech we may cajoul him or move his affections toward us by pathetical orations not for any such purpose are we obliged to pray But for that it becometh and it behoveth us so to doe because it is a proper instrument of bettering ennobling and perfecting our Souls because it breedeth most holy affections and pure satisfactions and worthy resolutions because it fitteth us for the enjoyment of happiness and leadeth us thither for such ends Devotion is prescribed and constant perseverance therein being needfull to those purposes praying by fits and starts not sufficing to accomplish them therefore such perseverance is required of us Farther V. Praying incessantly may import that we do with all our occupations and all occurrences interlace devout ejaculations of prayer and praise lifting up our hearts to God and breathing forth expressions of devotion sutable to the objects and occasions which present themselves This as it nearly doth approach to the punctual accomplishment of what our Text prescribeth so it seemeth required by S. Paul when he biddeth us pray always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spirit and to sing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the heart that is with very frequent elevations of spirit in holy thoughts and desires toward Heaven with opportune resentments of heart directing thanks and praise to God We cannot ever be framing or venting long Prayers with our lips but almost ever our mind can throw pious glances our heart may dart good wishes upwards so that hardly any moment any considerable space of time shall pass without some lightsome flashes of Devotion As bodily respiration without intermission or impediment doth concurr with all our actions so may that breathing of Soul which preserveth our spiritual life and ventilateth that holy flame within us well conspire with all other occupations For Devotion is of a nature so spiritual so subtile and penetrant that no matter can exclude or obstruct it Our Minds are so exceedingly nimble and active that no business can hold pace with them or exhaust their attention and activity We can never be so fully possessed by any employment but that divers vacuities of time do intercurr wherein our thoughts and affections will be diverted to other matters As a Covetous man what-ever beside he is doing will be carking about his bags and treasures an Ambitious man will be devising on his plots and projects a Voluptuous man will have his mind in his dishes a Lascivious man will be doting on his amours a Studious man will be musing on his notions every man according to his particular inclination will lard his business and besprinkle all his actions with cares and wishes tending to the enjoyment of what he most esteemeth and affecteth so may a good Christian through all his undertakings wind in devout reflexions and pious motions of Soul toward the chief object of his mind and affection Most businesses have wide gaps all have some chinks at which Devotion may slip in Be we never so urgently set or closely intent upon any work be we feeding be we travelling be we trading be we studying nothing yet can forbid but that we may together wedge in a thought concerning God's Goodness and bolt forth a word of praise for it but that we may reflect on our sins and spend a penitential sigh on them but that we may descry our need of God's help and dispatch a brief petition for it a God be praised a Lord have mercy a God bless or God help me will nowise interrupt or disturb our proceedings As worldly cares and desires do often intrude and creep into our Devotions distracting and defiling them so may spiritual thoughts and holy affections insinuate themselves into and hallow our secular transactions This practice is very possible and it is no less expedient for that if our employments be not thus seasoned they can have no true life or savour in them they will in themselves be dead and putrid they will be foul and noisome or at least flat and insipid unto us There are some other good meanings of this Precept according to which Holy Scripture back'd with good Reason obligeth us to observe it but those together with the general Inducements to the practice of this Duty that I may not farther now trespass on your patience I shall reserve to another opportunity The Seventh Sermon 1 THES 5. 17. Pray without ceasing WHAT the Prayer here injoyned by S. Paul doth import and how by it universally all sorts of Devotion should be understood we did formerly discourse How also according to divers senses grounded in Holy Scripture and enforced by good Reason we may perform this duty incessantly we did then declare five such senses we did mention and prosecute I shall now adde two or three more and press them VI. Praying then incessantly may imply that we do appoint certain times conveniently distant for the practice of Devotion and carefully observe them To keep the Jews in a constant exercise of Divine worship God did constitute a Sacrifice which was called Tamidh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the continual sacrifice And as that Sacrifice being constantly offered at set times was thence denominated continual so may we by punctually observing fit returns of Devotion be said to pray incessantly And great reason there is that we should doe so For we know that all persons who would not lead a loose and slattering life but design with good assurance and advantage to prosecute an orderly course of action are wont to distribute their time into several parcells assigning some part thereof to the necessary refection of their bodies some to the convenient relaxation of their minds some to the dispatch of their ordinary affairs some also to familiar conversation and interchanging good offices with their friends considering that otherwise they
thousand spent otherwhere perceiving that he biddeth us welcome that he treateth us kindly that he sendeth us away refreshed with sweetest comforts and rewarded with most excellent benefits this will not onely reconcile our hearts to Devotion but draw us into a cordial liking and earnest desire thereof such as the Psalmist expresseth when he saith My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God This will engage us into strong resolutions of constantly practising it such as the same Holy person again declareth in those words I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Hence in stead of a suspicious estrangedness a servile dread or an hostile disaffection toward God there will spring up an humble confidence a kindly reverence a hearty love toward him which will upon all occasions drive us to him hoping for his friendly succour longing after his kind embraces So will the frequency of Devotion render it facil and pleasant Whereas on the contrary disuse thereof will make it at any time hard and irksome strengthening and encreasing our natural averseness thereto performing it seldom we shall never perform it well with that attention that affection that promptitude that willingness and alacrity which are due thereto According to so many senses in so many respects may we and should we observe this Precept From thus praying continually there can be no good exception or just excuse The most common pleas that will be alledged for the omission thereof are two one drawn from external avocations the other from internal indispositions obstructing it both of which are so far from being good that being scanned they will soon appear serving rather to aggravate then to excuse or abate the neglect I. I cannot saith one now attend to Prayers because I am not at liberty or at leisure being urgently called away and otherwise engaged by important affairs How much a flamme this Apology is we shall presently descry by asking a few Questions about it 1. Do we take Devotion it self to be no business or a business of no consideration Do we conceit when we pay God his debts or discharge our duties toward him when we crave his aid or mercy when we solicit the main concernments of our Soul yea of our body also and its estate that we are idle or misemployed that we lavish our time or lose our pains 2. What other affairs can we have of greater moment or necessity then this Can there be any obligation more indispensable then is that of yielding due respect and service to our Maker our great Patron our most liberal Benefactour Can there be any interest more close or weighty then this of providing for our Souls eternal health and happiness Is not this indeed the great work the onely necessary matter in comparison whereto all other occupations are meer trifling or unprofitable fiddling about nothing What will all other business signifie what will come of it if this be neglected Busie we may be we may plod we may drudge eternally but all to no end All our care is in effect improvidence all our industry may be well reckoned idleness if God be not served if our Souls are not secured 3. If we survey and prize all worldly businesses which among them will appear so importunate as to demand so greedy as to devour so worthy at least as to deserve all our time that we cannot spare a few minutes for maintaining our most pleasant intercourse and most gainfull commerce with Heaven What are the great businesses of the world what but scraping and scrambling for pelf contriving and compassing designs of ambition courting the favour and respect of men making provision for carnal pleasure gratifying fond curiosity or vain homour And do any of these deserve to be put into the scale against shall all of them together be able to sway down our spiritual employments Shall these images these shadows of business supplant or crowd out Devotion that which procureth wealth inestimably precious pleasure infinitely satisfactory honour incomparably noble above all this world can afford If the expence of time be as the Philosopher said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most precious expence that can be how can it better be laid out then upon the worthiest things such as Devotion alone can afford the purchace and possession of True Vertue sound Wisedom a quiet Conscience and steddy tranquillity of mind the love and favour of God a title unto endless joy and bliss are purely the gifts of Heaven and thence they will not descend of themselves but Prayer must fetch them down If nothing then in the world be comparable to those things how can any time be so well spent as in Prayer which acquireth them which also best secureth what-ever we have and is the readiest way to procure whatever we want 4. Should we not farther honestly comparing things easily discern that it is no such indispensable business but rather indeed some base dotage on lucre some inveigling bait of pleasure some be witching transport of fancy that crosseth our Devotion Is it not often a complemental visit an appointment to tattle or to tipple a match for sport a wild ramble in vice or folly that so deeply engageth us to put off our duty 5. Yea is it not commonly sloth rather then activity an averseness from this rather then an inclination to any other employment which diverteth us from our Prayers Is not I say the true reason why we pray so seldom not because we are very busie but because we are extreamly idle so idle that we cannot willingly take the pains to unscrew our affections from sensible things to reduce our wandring thoughts to compose our hearts into a right frame to bend our untoward inclinations to a compliance with our duty Is it not because we do not feel that favour and satisfaction in these which we do in other trivial and worthless employments nor will be at the trouble to work such dispositions in our Souls Do we not betake our selves to other conversations and commerces meerly for refuge shunning this intercourse with God and with our selves These I fear are oftner the real causes of our neglecting Devotion then any such mighty avocations which we pretend 6. But were there indeed not onely a counterfeit or imaginary but a real competition between Devotion and other lawfull business which in reason should carry it in conscience which of the two should be forborn or suspended Is it not evidently better that the pursuit of our temporal interests what-ever they be should be a little checked then that our affairs of everlasting consequence should be quite laid aside that we should venture a small impairing of our estate then surely endammage our Souls that we hazzard to disappoint or displease a man then
dissent from him but it is as the fairest and justest so the surest and likeliest way of reducing things to a firm composure without more a-do letting the world alone to move on its own hindges and not impertinently troubling our selves or others with the conduct of it simply to request of Almighty God the Sovereign Governour and sole Disposer of things that he would lead his own Vicegerents in the management of the charge by himself committed to them Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God is a rule very applicable to this case As God's Providence is the only sure ground of our confidence or hope for the preservation of Church and State or for the restitution of things into a stable quiet so it is only our hearty Prayers joyned with a consciencious observance of God's Laws whereby we can incline Providence to favour us By them alone we may hope to save things from sinking into disorder we may asswage the factions we may defeat the machinations against the publick welfare 12. Seeing then we have so many good arguments and motives inducing to pray for Kings it is no wonder that to back them we may also allege the practice of the Church continually in all times performing this duty in its most Sacred Offices especially in the celebration of the Holy Communion S. Paul indeed when he saith I exhort first of all that prayers be made doth chiefly impose this Duty on Timothy or supposeth it incumbent on the Pastours of the Church to take special care that Prayers be made for this purpose and offered up in the Church joyntly by all Christians and accordingly the ancient Christians as Tertullian doth assure us did always pray for all the Emperours that God would grant them a long life a secure Reign a safe family valiant Armies a faithful Senate a loyal people a quiet world and whatever they as Men or as Emperours could wish Thus addeth he even for their Persecutours and in the very pangs of their sufferings they did not fail to practise Likewise of the Church in his time S. Chrysostome telleth us that all Communicants did know how every day both at even and morning they did make supplication for all the world and for the Emperour and for all that are in authority And in the Greek Liturgies the composure whereof is fathered on S. Chrysostome there are divers Prayers interspersed for the Emperours couched in terms very pregnant and respectful If the Offices of the Roman Church and of the Churches truckling under it in latter times shall seem more defective or sparing in this point of service the reason may be for that a superlative regard to the Solar or Pontifical Authority as Pope Innocent III distinguished did obscure their devotion for the Lunar or Regal Majesty But our Church hath been abundantly careful that we should in most ample manner discharge this Duty having in each of her Holy Offices directed us to pray for our King in expressions most full hearty and lively She hath indeed been charged as somewhat lavish or over-liberal of her Devotions in this case But it is a good fault and we little nead fear over-doing in observance of a Precept so very reasonable and so important supposing that we have a due care to joyn our heart with the Churche's words and to the frequency of Prayers for our Prince do confer a sutable fervency If we be not dead or meerly formal we can hardly be too copious in this kind of Devotion reiteration of words can do no harm being accompanied with renovation of our desires Our Text it self will bear us out in such a practice the Apostle therein by variety of expression appearing solicitous that abundance of Prayers for Kings should be offered in the Church and no sort of them omitted There are so many General Inducements to this Duty at all times and there are beside divers Particular Reasons enforcing it now in the present state and posture of things Times of trouble of danger of fear of darkness and perplexity of distraction and distress of guilt and deserved wrath are most seasonable for recourse to the Divine help and mercy in Prayer And are not Ours such are they not much like to those of which the Psalmist saith They know not neither will they understand they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course or like those of which our Lord spake when there was upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which were coming on the earth Are not the days gloomy so that no humane providence can see far no wisdom can descry the issue of things Is it not a very unsettled world wherein all the publick frames are shaken almost off the hindges and the minds of men extremely discomposed with various passions with fear suspicion anger discontent and impatience How from dissentions in Opinion do violent factions and feuds rage the hearts of men boiling with fierce animosities and being exasperated against one another beyond any hopes or visible means of reconcilement Are not the fences of Discipline cast down is there any conscience made of violating Laws is not the dread of Authority exceedingly abated and all Government overborn by unbridled licenciousness How many Adversaries are there bearing ill will to our Sion how many turbulent malicious crafty spirits eagerly bent and watching for occasion to subvert the Church to disturb the State to introduce confusion in all things how many Edomites who say of Jerusalem both Ecclesiastical and Civil Down with it down with it even to the ground Have we not great reason to be fearful of God's just displeasure and that heavy judgments will be poured on us for our manifold hainous provocations and crying Sins for the prodigious growth of Atheism Infidelity and Profaneness for the rife practice of all Impieties Iniquities and Impurities with most impudent boldness or rather with outragious insolence for the extream Dissoluteness in manners the gross Neglect or contempt of all Duties the great Stupidity and coldness of People generally as to all concerns of Religion for the want of Religious Awe toward God of Charity toward our Neighbour of Respect to our Superiours of Sobriety in our conversation for our Ingratitude for many great Mercies and Incorrigibleness under many sore Chastisements our Insensibleness of many plain Warnings loudly calling us to repentance Is not all the world about us in combustion cruel Wars raging every-where and Christendom weltering in blood and although at present by God's mercy we are free who knows but that soon by God's justice the neighbouring flames may catch our houses In fine is not our case palpably such that for any good composure or re-instatement of things in good order for upholding Truth and sound
SERMONS PREACHED UPON SEVERAL OCCASIONS BY ISAAC BARROW D.D. late Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and one of His MAJESTIE's Chaplains in Ordinary The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1679. To the Right Honourable HENEAGE Lord FINCH Baron of Daventry Lord High Chancellour of ENGLAND and One of His MAJESTIE's most Honourable Privy Council My LORD I Take the boldness to present your Lordship with some of the First-fruits of my deceased Son's Studies in Divinity And since it hath pleased God to my unspeakable grief and loss to deprive me of so great a blessing and comfort of my old age it is no small mitigation of my sorrow that whilst he liv'd he was not unprofitable to the world and that now he is dead he hath left those monuments of his piety and learning behind him which I am told are generally thought not unworthy to be imparted to the publick If these Sermons be such I have no cause to doubt but they will easily obtain your Lordship's Patronage who are so known a Favourer of all that is vertuous and worthy especially of Religion and the Ministers of it Of which I had particular experience upon the death of my good Son when your Lordship was pleased with so much humanity and condescension to send to comfort me under that sad loss and to express your own resentment of it But what-ever these Sermons be since I have no other way to acknowledge my great obligations to your Lordship upon all occasions I hope your Lordship will please favourably to accept of this how small soever yet sincere testimony of my dutifull respects and gratitude I am My LORD Your Lordship 's most obliged and most obedient Servant Thomas Barrow THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE Author of the following SERMONS was so publickly known and so highly esteemed by all Learned and Good men that nothing either needs or can be said more to his advantage Not but that I think it very fit that the Picture of this truly-great Man should be drawn at full length for the knowledge and imitation of posterity and it will I hope be done hereafter by some more skilfull hand However I shall not within the narrow limits of a Preface so much as attempt the Character of him of whom either not a little or nothing at all ought to be said And the Sermons themselves do as little need commendation as the Authour their own excellency and eloquence will praise them best I shall therefore onely advertise the Reader of some few things concerning them The Design of the Five first is to recommend Religion to our esteem and practice from the consideration of the manifold excellencies and advantages of it The Four next do treat of the two great Duties of Religion and parts of Divine Worship Prayer and Thanksgiving and contain likewise a very powerfull persuasive to the practice of them The Three last were preach'd upon three solemn Occasions The First of them upon the 29. of May 1676. the Anniversary of His MAJESTIE's happy Restoration The Second upon the 5. of November 1675. in commemoration of our great Deliverance from the Powder-Treason both in the year of his Vice-Chancellourship The Last at the Consecration of the Bishop of Man the now Lord Bishop of S. Asaph his Uncle in which he pleads for the due Respect and Revenue of the Clergy with so much modesty and yet with so great force of reason and eloquence that the whole Profession may justly think themselves for ever indebted to him Some of these Sermons were the very first that he made by which we may judge with what preparation and furniture he entred upon this Sacred employment The first of them was preach'd at S. Mary's in Cambridge June 30. 1661. and was I think the first that he ever preach'd Those two excellent Sermons of Thanksgiving were as I am inform'd the next The fourth in order was the first that he preach'd before the King's Majesty In the placing of them as they now stand I had very little regard to the order of Time but rather to some small reason taken from the Subject matter of them not worth the mentioning any reason almost being good enough in a matter so indifferent and where none is necessary Besides these the Authour hath left many other excellent Sermons upon the most important and usefull Subjects in Divinity particularly upon ail the Articles of the Creed and several other very learned Discourses and Treatises Theological and Mathematical which may God willing in convenient time be communicated to the publick to the great advantage and furtherance of Religion and Learning In the mean time I heartily recommend these Sermons to thy serious perusal and shall onely say this of them That as they want no other kind of excellency so particularly they are animated throughout with so genuine a spirit of true Piety and Goodness that he must either be a perfectly-good or prodigiously-bad man that can reade them over without being the better for them THE CONTENTS SERMON I. Prov. 3. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Page 1. SERM. II. and III. 1 Tim. 4. 8. But Godliness is profitable for all things Page 34 72. SERMON IV. 1 Sam. 2. 30. For them that honour me I will honour Page 116. SERMON V. Prov. 10. 9. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely Page 161. SERM. VI. and VII 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing Page 195 223. SERM. VIII and IX Ephes. 5. 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God Page 258 297. SERM. X. On May 29. 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authority Page 348. SERM. XI On Novemb. 5. Psal. 64. 9 10. And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider of his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory Page 403. SERM. XII At the Consecration of the Bishop of Man the now Lord Bishop of S. Asaph Psal. 132. 16. I will also cloath her Priests with salvation Page 461. LIber hic cui Tituâ—us Sermons preached upon several Occasions by Doctour Barrow IMPRIMATUR Ex Aedibus Lamb. 1. Nov. 1677. Geor. Hooper Rmo D no D no Gilberto Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacris Domesticis The First Sermon PROV 3. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace THE meaning of these words seems plain and obvious and to need little explication Her ways that is the ways of Wisedom What this Wisedom is I shall not undertake accurately to describe Briefly I understand by it An habitual skill or faculty of judging aright about matters of practice and chusing according to that right judgment and conforming the actions to
pleased commonly to reward and encourage upright persons by the best success For He hath as it were a natural inclination to gratifie those who desire to please him and as the Psalmist expresseth it hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants He may seem concerned in honour to countenance those who have regard to his will and who repose confidence in his aid discriminating them from such as presume to act against or without him in defiance to his will with no deference to his Providence As they do render him his due respect by submitting to his authority and avowing his power so he will acknowledge them by signally favouring their concerns Even his truth and fidelity are engaged in their behalf seeing he very often hath declared and promised that in all matters and upon all occasions he will be ready to bless them X. To conclude It is an infinite advantage of upright dealing that at the last issue when all things shall be most accurately tried and impartially decided a man is assured to be fully justified in it and plentifully rewarded for it As then all the deceits which now pass under specious masks shall be laid bare all varnish of pretence shall be wiped off all perverse intrigues shall be unravelled all wicked and base intentions shall be quite stripp'd of the veils which now enfold them all shrewd contrivers and engineers of mischief all practisers of unjust and malicious guile shall be exposed to shame shall lie down in sorrow So then The righteous man shall stand in grent boldness his case will be rightly stated and fully cleared from slanderous aspersions from odious surmises from unlucky prejudices and mistakes what he hath done shall be approved what he hath suffered shall be repaired So that it then evidently will appear that upright simplicity is the deepest wisedom and perverse craft the meerest shallowness that he who is true and just to others is most faithfull and friendly to himself that who-ever doth abuse his neighbour is his own greatest cheater and foe For In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by-Jesus Christ every man's work shall be made manifest The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God Unto which our upright Judge the King eternal immortal invisible the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen The Sixth Sermon 1 THES 5. 17. Pray without ceasing IT is the manner of S. Paul in his Epistles after that he hath discussed some main Points of doctrine or discipline which occasion required that he should clear and settle to propose severall good advices and rules in the observance whereof the life of Christian practice doth consist So that he thereby hath furnished us with so rich a variety of moral and spiritual precepts concerning special matters subordinate to the general laws of Piety and Vertue that out of them might well be compiled a Body of Ethicks or System of precepts de officiis in truth and in compleatness far excelling those which any Philosophy hath been able to devise or deliver These he rangeth not in any formal method nor linketh together with strict connexion but freely scattereth them so as from his mind as out of a fertil soil impregnated with all seeds of wisedom and goodness they did haply spring up or as they were suggested by that Holy Spirit which continually guided and governed him Among divers such delivered here this is one which shall be the Subject of my present Discourse the which having no other plain coherence except by affinity of matter with the rest enclosing it I shall consider absolutely by it self endeavouring somewhat to explain it and to urge its practice Pray without ceasing For understanding these words let us first consider what is meant by the act injoyned Praying then what the qualification or circumstance adjoyned without ceasing doth import 1. The word Prayer doth in its usual latitude of acception comprehend all sorts of Devotion or all that part of Religious practice wherein we do immediately address our selves to God having by speech oral or mental a kind of intercourse and conversation with him So it includeth that Praise which we should yield to God implying our due esteem of his most excellent Perfections most glorious Works most just and wise dispensations of Providence and Grace that Thanksgiving whereby we should express an affectionate resentment of our obligation to him for the numberless great benefits we receive from him that Acknowledgment of our entire dependence upon him or our totall subjection to his power and pleasure together with that Profession of Faith in him and avowing of service to him which we do owe as his natural creatures and subjects that humble Confession of our infirmity our vileness our guilt our misery joyned with deprecation of wrath and vengeance which is due from us as wretched men and grievous sinners that Petition of things needfull or convenient for us of supply in our wants of succour and comfort in our distresses of direction and assistence in our undertakings of mercy and pardon for our offences which our natural state our poor weak sad and sinfull state doth engage us to seek that Intercession for others which general charity or special relation do require from us as concerned or obliged to desire and promote their good All these Religious performances Prayer in its larger notion doth comprise according whereto in common use the whole Body of Divine Service containing all such acts is termed Prayer and Temples consecrated to the performance of all holy duties are styled Houses of prayer and that brief Directory or pregnant Form of all Devotion which our Lord dictated is called his Prayer and in numberless places of Scripture it is so taken In a stricter sense it doth onely signifie one particular act among those the Petition of things needfull or usefull for us But according to the former more comprehensive meaning I chuse to understand it here both because it is most commonly so used then especially when no distinctive limitation is annexed or the nature of the subject matter doth not restrain it and because general reasons do equally oblige to performance of all these duties in the manner here prescribed nor is there any ground to exclude any part of Devotion from continual use we being obliged no less incessantly to praise God for his excellencies and thank him for his benefits to avow his Sovereign Majesty and Authority to confess our infirmities and miscarriages then to beg help and mercy from God All Devotion therefore all sorts of proper and due address to God that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all prayer and supplication which S. Paul otherwise speaketh of are here injoyned according to the manner adjoyned without ceasing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is indefinently or continually 2. For the
meaning of which expression we must suppose that it must not be understood as if we were obliged in every instant or singular point of time actually to apply our minds to this practice for to doe thus is in it self impossible and therefore can be no matter of duty it is inconsistent with other duties and therefore must not be practised yea will not consist with it self for that we may pray we must live that we may live we must eat that we may eat we must work and must therefore attend other matters so that actual Devotion neither must nor can swallow up all our time and care The deliberate operations of our mind are sometimes interrupted by sleep sometimes will be taken up in satisfying our natural appetites sometimes must be spent in attendence upon other reasonable employments commanded or allowed by God whence there can be no obligation to this practice according to that unlimited interpretation This Precept therefore as divers others of a like general purport and expression must be understood not in a natural but moral sense according as the exigence of things permitteth or as the reason of the case requireth so far as it is conveniently practicable or as it is reasonably compatible with other duties and needs But we must not so restrain it as to wrong it by pinching it within too narrow bounds How then it may be understood and how far it should extend we shall endeavour to declare by propounding divers senses whereof it is capable grounded upon plain testimonies of Scripture and enforcible by good Reason according to which senses we shall together press the observance thereof I. First then Praying incessantly may import the maintaining in our Souls a ready disposition or habitual inclination to Devotion that which in Scripture is termed the spirit of supplication This in moral esteem and according to current language derived thence amounteth to a continual practice a man being reckoned and said to doe that to which he is ever prompt and propense as it is said of the righteous man that he is ever mercifull and lendeth because he is constantly disposed to supply his neighbour with needfull relief although he doth not ever actually dispense alms or furnish his neighbour with supplies for his necessity The words may signifie this they do at least by consequence imply so much for if we do not in this we can hardly perform the duty in any sense without a good temper fitting and a good appetite prompting to Devotion we scarce can or will ever apply our selves thereto If there be not in our heart a root of Devotion whence should it spring how can it live or thrive If the organs of Prayer be out of kelter or out of tune how can we pray If we be not accincti have not the loins of our mind girt and our feet shod in preparation to the service when shall we set forward thereto My heart said David is fixed I will sing and give praise fixed that is readily prepared and steddily inclined to Devotion So should ours constantly be As a true friend is ever ready to entertain his friend with a frank courtesie and complacency as he ever is apt upon occasion for advice and assistence to have recourse to him so should we be always disposed chearfully and decently to converse with God when he freely cometh to us or we have need to apply our selves to him If there be from stupidity of mind from coldness of affection from sluggishness of spirit from worldly distraction any indisposition or averseness thereto we should by serious consideration and industrious care labour to remove them rousing our spirits and kindling in our affections some fervency of desire toward spiritual things otherwise we shall be apt to shun or to slip the opportunities inviting to Devotion our hearts will be so resty or listless that hardly we shall be induced to perform it when it is most necessary or usefull for us II. Praying incessanty may denote a vigilant attendence with earnest regard and firm purpose employed upon Devotion such attendence as men usually bestow on their affairs whereof although the actual prosecution sometime doth stick yet the design continually proceedeth the mind ever so directing its eye toward them as quickly to espy and readily to snatch any advantages of promoting them This is a kind of continuance in practice and is commonly so termed as we say that such an one is building a house is writing a book is occupying such land although he be at present sleeping or eating or following any other business because his main design never sleepeth and his purpose continues uninterrupted This is that which is so often injoyned under the phrase of watching about Prayer Watch ye therefore and pray always saith our Lord. Continue in prayer and watch in the same saith S. Paul Be ye sober and watch unto prayer saith S. Peter Which expressions import a most constant and carefull attendence upon this duty that we do not make it a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by-business in our life a matter of small consideration or indifference of curiosity of chance to be transacted drowzily or faintly with a desultorious and slight endeavour by fits as the humour taketh us but that accounting it a business of the choicest nature and weightiest moment we do adhere thereto with unmovable purpose regard it with undistracted attention pursue it with unwearied diligence being always upon the guard wakefull and expedite intent upon and apt to close with any occasion suggesting matter thereof That we should doe thus reason also doth oblige for that as in truth no business doth better deserve our utmost resolution and care so none doth more need them nature being so backward and occasion so slippery that if we do not ever mind it we shall seldom practise it III. Praying incessantly may signifie that we do actually embrace all fit seasons and emergent occasions of Devotion This in moral computation doth pass for continual performance as a tree is said to bear that fruit which it produceth in the season and a man is accounted to work in that trade which he exerciseth when-ever he is called thereto This sense is in several Precepts parallel to that in hand plainly expressed Pray saith S. Paul with all prayer and supplication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Watch saith our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praying in every season or upon every opportunity Devotion indeed is rarely unseasonable or impertinent we may offer it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in season and out of season that is not onely taking opportunities presented for it or urgently requiring it but catching at them and creating them to our selves when there is no such apparent and pressing need of it But there are some special occasions which more importunately and indispensably do exact it some seasons there are either ministred by extrinsecal accidents or springing from internal
shall be uncertain and unstable in all their ways And in this distribution of time Devotion surely should not lack its share it rather justly claimeth the choicest portion to be allotted thereto as being incomparably the noblest part of our duty and mainest concernment of our lives The feeding our Souls and nourishing our spiritual life the refreshing our spirits with those no less pleasant then wholsome exercises the driving on our correspondence and commerce with Heaven the improving our friendship and interest with God are affairs which above all others do best deserve and most need being secured They must not therefore be left at random to be done by the bye as it hitteth by chance or as the fancy taketh us If we do not depute vacant seasons and fix periodical returns for Devotion engaging our selves by firm resolution and inuring our minds by constant usage to the strict observance of them secluding from them as from sacred enclosures all other businesses we shall often be dangerously tempted to neglect it we shall be commonly listless to it prone to defer it easily seduced from it by the encroachment of other affairs or enticement of other pleasures It is requisite that our Souls also no less then our Bodies should have their meals settled at such intervalls as the maintenance of their life their health their strength and vigour do require that they may not perish or languish for want of timely repasts that a good appetite may duly spring up prompting and instigating to them that a sound temper and robust constitution of Soul may be preserved by them Prayers are the bulwarks of Piety and good Conscience the which ought to be placed so as to flank and relieve one another together with the interjacent spaces of our life that the enemy the sin which doth so easily beset us may not come on between or at any time assault us without a force sufficiently near to reach and repell him In determining these seasons and measures of time according to just proportion honest prudence weighing the several conditions capacities and circumstances of each person must arbitrate For some difference is to be made between a Merchant and a Monk between those who follow a Court and those who reside in a Cloister or a College Some men having great encumbrances of business and duty by necessity imposed on them which consume much of their time and engage their thoughts of them in reason neither so frequent recourses to nor so long continuance in prayer can be demanded as from those who enjoy more abundant leisure and freer scope of thoughts But some fit times all may and must allow which no avocation of business no distraction of care should purloin from them Certain seasons and periods of this kind Nature it self in correspondence to her unalterable revolutions doth seem to define and prescribe those which the Royal Prophet recommendeth when he faith It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O thou most High To shew forth thy loving-kindness every morning and thy faithfulness every night Every Day we do recover and receive a new life from God every Morning we do commence business or revive it from our bed of rest and security we then issue forth exposing our selves to the cares and toils to the dangers troubles and temptations of the world then especially therefore it is reasonable that we should sacrifice thanks to the gracious Preserver of our life and the faithfull Restorer of its supports and comforts that we should crave his direction and help in the pursuit of our honest undertakings that to his protection from sin and mischief we should recommend our selves and our affairs that by offering up to him the first-fruits of our diurnal labours we should consecrate and consign them all to his blessing that as we are then wont to salute all the world so then chiefly with humble obeisance we should accost him who is ever present with us and continually watchfull over us Then also peculiarly Devotion is most seasonable because then our minds being less prepossessed and pestered with other cares our fancies becoming lively and gay our memories fresh and prompt our spirits copious and brisk we are better disposed for it Every Night also reason calleth for these Duties requiring that we should close our business and wind up all our cares in Devotion that we should then bless God for his gracious preservation of us from the manifold hazzards and the sins to which we stood obnoxious that we should implore his mercy for the manifold neglects and transgressions of our duty which through the day past we have incurred that our minds being then so tired with study and care our spirits so wasted with labour and toil that we cannot any longer sustain our selves but do of our own accord sink down into a posture of death we should as dying men resign our Souls into God's hand depositing our selves and our concernments into his custody who alone doth never sleep nor slumber praying that he would guard us from all the dangers and disturbances incident to us in that state of forgetfulness and interregnum of our Reason that he would grant us a happy resurrection in safety and health with a good and chearfull mind enabling us thereafter comfortably to enjoy our selves and delightfully to serve him Thus if we do constantly bound and circumscribe our days dedicating those most remarkable breaks of time unto God's service since beginning and end do comprehend the whole seeing in the computation and style of Moses Evening and Morning do constitute a Day we may with some good congruity be said to pray incessantly Especially if at the middle distance between those extremes we are wont to interpose somewhat of Devotion For as then usually our spirits being somewhat shattered and spent do need a recruit enabling us to pass through the residue of the day with its incumbent business so then it would doe well and may be requisite in a meal of Devotion to refresh our Souls with spiritual sustenance drawn from the never-failing store-house of Divine grace which may so fortifie us that with due vigour and alacrity we may perform the ensuing duties to God's honour and our own comfort Thus to practise was the resolution of the Psalmist that great Master of Devotion Evening said he and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud And this was the custom of the noble Daniel from which no occasion could divert no hazzard could deterr him He kneeled saith the story upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God These are times which it is necessary or very expedient that all men even persons of highest rank and greatest employment should observe These even of old were the practices of Religious persons not expressely prescribed by God's Law but assumed by themselves good reason suggesting them to the first practisers and the
himself bountifull and mercifull toward us when we so palpably are injust and ingratefull toward him No Surely he scorneth the scorners and Whosoever despiseth him shall be lightly esteemed so he expressely hath threatned and seeing he is both infallibly true and invincibly able we may reasonably presume that he will accomplish his word VIII Lastly Praying incessantly may import at large a frequency in Devotion This the words at least do exact or necessarily imply however expounded For doing incessantly cannot imply less then doing frequently in no tolerable sense can we be said to doe that continually which we doe seldom but it is an ordinary scheme of speech to say that a man doeth that always which he is wont to doe and performeth often As of the pious souldier Cornelius it is said that he gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always and of Anna the Prophetess that she departed not from the Temple but served God with prayers and fastings night and day that is she frequently resorted to the Temple and served God with an assiduous constancy As the words may bear and do involve this sense so doth the reason of the case inforce it for very just very fit very needfull it is to practise thus There is ever at hand abundant reason for and apposite matter of Devotion therefore no large space of time should pass without it there be perpetually depending many causes thereof whence there is not to be allowed any long vacation from it As every moment we from God's mercy and bounty partake great favours so should we often render thanks and praise for them for perpetually to receive courtesies and rarely to return acknowledgments is notorious ingratitude and iniquity We frequently and in a manner continually do fall into sins often therefore we are obliged to confess sins we are concerned to deprecate wrath and beg mercy otherwise we must long croutch under the sore burthen of guilt the sad dread of punishment the bitter pangs of remorse or the desperate hazzard of stupid obduration What-ever we design or undertake toward the good management and happy success thereof we being ignorant and impotent creatures do need the guidance the assistence and the blessing of God so often therefore it is requisite that we should be seeking and suing for them if not we do not onely transgress our duties but fondly neglect or foully betray our own concernments The Causes therefore of Devotion being so constant the Effects in some correspondence should be frequent Such frequency is indeed necessary for the breeding the nourishment the growth and improvement of all Piety Devotion is that holy and heavenly fire which darteth into our minds the light of spiritual knowledge which kindleth in our hearts the warmth of holy desires if therefore we do continue long absent from it a night of darkness will overspread our minds a deadning coldness will seise upon our affections It is the best food of our Souls which preserveth their life and health which repaireth their strength and vigour which rendreth them lusty and active if we therefore long abstain from it we shall starve or pine away we shall be faint and feeble in all religious performances we shall have none at all or a very languid and meager Piety To maintain in us a constant and steddy disposition to obedience to correct our perverse inclinations to curb our unruly passions to strengthen us against temptations to comfort us in anxieties and distresses we do need continual supplies of grace from God the which ordinarily are communicated in Devotion as the chanel which conveyeth or the instrument which helpeth to procure it or the condition upon which it is granted Faith Hope Love spiritual Comfort and Joy all Divine Graces are chiefly elicited expressed exercised therein and thereby it is therefore needfull that it should frequently be used seeing otherwise we shall be in danger to fail in discharging our chief Duties and to want the best Graces It is frequency of Devotion also which maintaineth that Friendship with God which is the soul of Piety As familiar conversation wherein men do express their minds and affections mutually breedeth acquaintance and cherisheth good will of men to one another but long forbearence thereof dissolveth or slackneth the bonds of amity breaking their intimacy and cooling their kindness so is it in respect to God it is frequent converse with him which begetteth a particular acquaintance with him a mindfull regard of him a hearty liking to him a delightfull tast of his goodness and consequently a sincere and solid good will toward him but intermission thereof produceth estrangement or enmity toward him If we seldom come at God we shall little know him not much care for him scarce remember him rest insensible of his love and regardless of his favour a coldness a shyness a distast an antipathy toward him will by degrees creep upon us Abstinence from his company and presence will cast us into conversations destructive or prejudicial to our friendship with him wherein soon we shall contract familiarity and friendship with his enemies the World and the Flesh which are inconsistent with love to him which will dispose us to forget him or to dislike and loath him It is in fine the frequency of Devotion which alone can secure any practice thereof at least any practice thereof duly qualified so hearty so easy so sweet and delightfull as it should be We have all a naturall averseness or indisposition thereto as requiring an abstraction of thoughts and affections from sensible things and a fastning them upon objects purely spiritual a rearing our heavy spirits above their common pitch a staying and settling our roving fancies a composing our vain hearts in a sober and steddy frame agreeable to Devotion to effect which things is a matter of no small difficulty and pain which therefore without much use and exercise cannot be accomplished but with it may so that by frequent practice the bent of our heart being turned the strangeness of the thing ceasing the difficulty of the work being surmounted we shall obtain a good propension to the duty and a great satisfaction therein This will render the way into God's presence smooth and passable removing as all other obstacles so particularly those of fear and doubt in respect to God which may deterr or discourage us from approaching to him God being most holy and pure most great and glorious we sensible of our corruption and vileness may be fearfull and shy of coming near unto him But when coming into his presence we do find that such as his Majesty is such is his Mercy when we do tast and see that the Lord is good when by experience we feel that in his presence there is fulness of joy being abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house having our Souls there satisfied as with marrow and fatness finding that a day in his courts is better then a
engage to do things just and fitting or restrain from enormous actions retain notwithstanding something of this natural inclination and are usually sensible of good turns done unto them Experience teaches us thus much and so doth that sure Oracle of our Saviour If saith he you do good to those who do good to you what thanks is it for even sinners that is men of apparently leud and dissolute conversation do the same Yea even Beasts and those not only the most gentle and sociable of them the officious Dog the tractable Horse the docile Elephant but the wildest also and fiercest of them the untamable Lion the cruel Tiger and ravenous Bear as stories tell us and experience attests bear some kindness shew some grateful affection to those that provide for them Neither wild Beasts only but even inanimate creatures seem not altogether insensible of Benefits and lively represent unto us a natural abhorrence of Ingratitude The Rivers openly discharge into the Sea those waters which by indiscernible conduits they derived thence the Heavens remit in bountiful showrs what from the Earth they had exhaled in vapour and the Earth by a fruitful increase repays the culture bestowed thereon if not as the Apostle to the Hebrews doth pronounce it deserves cursing and reprobation So monstrous a thing and universally abominable to nature is all Ingratitude And how execrable a prodigy is it then toward God from whom alone we receive what-ever we enjoy what-ever we can expect of good The Second Obligation to this Duty is most just and equal For as he said well Beneficium qui dare nescit injustè petit He injustly requires much more injustly receives a benefit who is not minded to requite it In all reason we are indebted for what is freely given as well as for what is lent unto us For the freeness of the giver his not exacting security nor expressing conditions of return doth not diminish but rather increase the debt He that gives indeed according to humane or political Law which in order to preservation of publick peace requires only a punctual performance of contracts transfers his right and alienates his possession but according to that more noble and perfect rule of ingenuity the Law which God and Angels and good men chiefly observe and govern themselves by what is given is but committed to the faith deposited in the hand treasured up in the custody of him that receives it and what more palpable iniquity is there then to betray the trust or to detain the pledge not of some inconsiderable trifle but of inestimable good will Exceptâ Macedonum gente saith Seneca non est ulla data adversus ingratum actio In no Nation excepting the Macedonians an action could be preferred against ingrateful persons as so Though Xenophon no mean Authour reports that among the Persians also there were judgments assigned and punishments appointed for Ingratitude However in the court of Heaven and at the tribunal of Conscience no offender is more constantly arraigned none more surely condemned none more severely punished then the ingrateful man Since therefore we have received all from the Divine Bounty if God should in requital exact that we sacrifice our lives to the testimony of his Truth that we employ our utmost pains expend our whole estate adventure our health and prostitute all our earthly contents to his service since he did but revoke his own 't were great injustice to refuse compliance with his demands how much more when he only expects from us and requires some few acknowledgments of our obligation to him some little portions of our substance for the relief of them that need some easie observances of his most reasonable commands Thirdly This is a most sweet and delightful Duty Praise the Lord saith the most experienced Psalmist for the Lord is good sing praises to his Name for it is pleasant and otherwhere Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely The performance of this Duty as it especially proceeds from good humour and a chearful disposition of mind so it feeds and foments them both root and fruit thereof are hugely sweet and sapid Whence S. James If any man be afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing Psalms Psalms the proper matter of which is praise and thanksgiving Other Duties of Devotion have something laborious in them something disgustful to our sense Prayer minds us of our wants and imperfections Confession induces a sad remembrance of our misdeeds and bad deserts but Thanksgiving includes nothing uneasie or unpleasant nothing but the memory and sense of exceeding Goodness All Love is sweet but that especially which arises not from a bare apprehension only of the object 's worth and dignity but from a feeling of its singular beneficence and usefulness unto us And what thought can enter into the heart of man more comfortable and delicious then this That the great Master of all things the most wise and mighty King of Heaven and Earth hath entertained a gracious regard hath expressed a real kindness toward us that we are in capacity to honour to please to present an acceptable sacrifice to him who can render us perfectly happy that we are admitted to the practice of that wherein the supreme joy of Paradise and the perfection of Angelical bliss consists For Praise and Thansgiving are the most delectable business of Heaven and God grant they may be our greatest delight our most frequent employment upon earth To these I might add such farther considerations That this Duty is of all most acceptable to God and most profitable to us That Gratitude for Benefits procures more disposing God to bestow and qualifying us to receive them That the serious performance of this Duty efficaciously promotes and facilitates the practice of other Duties since the more we are sensible of our obligations to God the more ready we shall be to please him by obedience to his Commandments What S. Chrysostom saith of Prayer It is impossible that he who with competent promptitude of mind doth constantly apply himself thereto should ever sin is most especially true of this part of Devotion for how can we at the same time be sensible of God's Goodness to us and willingly offend him That the memory of past Benefits and sense of present confirms our Faith and nourishes our hope of future That the circumstances of the Divine Beneficence mightily strengthen the obligation of this Duty especially his absolute freeness in giving and our total unworthiness to receive our very Ingratitude it self affording strong inducements to Gratitude That giving thanks hath de facto been always the principal part of all Religion whether instituted by Divine Command or prompted by natural Reason or propagated by general Tradition the Ethnick devotion consisting as it were totally in the praise of their gods and acknowledgment of their
more easily more compendiously or more effectually discharge then by earnestly praying for our Prince seeing that if we do by our Prayers procure God's favour to him we do certainly draw it on the State and the Church If God moved by our devout importunities shall please to guard his Person from dangers and to grant him a long life to endue his Heart with Grace with the love and fear of himself with a zeal of furthering publick good of favouring piety of discountenancing sin if God shall vouchsafe to inspire him with Wisdom and to guide his counsels to bless his proceedings and to crown his undertakings with good success then assuredly we have much promoted the publick interest then infallibly together with these all other blessings shall descend on us all good will flourish in our Land This was the ancient practice of Christians and directed to this end For We saith Lactantius to Constantine with daily prayers do supplicate God that he would first of all keep thee whom he hath willed to be the keeper of things then that he would inspire into thee a will whereby thou mayest ever persevere in the love of God's Name which is salutary to all both to thee for thy happiness and to us for our quiet 4. Wherefore consequently our own interest and Charity to our selves should dispose us to pray for our Prince We being nearly concerned in his welfare as parts of the publick and as enjoying many private advantages thereby we cannot but partake of his good we cannot but suffer with him We cannot live quietly if our Prince is disturbed we cannot live happily if he be unfortunate we can hardly live vertuously if Divine Grace do not incline him to favour us therein or at least restrain him from hindring us This is S. Paul's own consideration I exhort you saith he to make prayers for Kings that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Upon such an account God did command the Jews to pray for the welfare of that Heathen State under which they lived in Captivity And seek said he the peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace And for the like cause the Christians of old deemed themselves bound to pray for the Gentile Magistrates according to that of Tertullian We pray for you because with you the Empire is shaken and the other members of it being shaken assuredly even we how far soever we may be thought from troubles are found in some place of the fall Farther 5. Let us consider that Subjects are obliged in gratitude and ingenuity yea in equity and justice to pray for their Princes For They are most nearly related to us and allied by the most sacred bands being constituted by God in his own room the Parents and Guardians of their Country being also avowed and accepted for such by solemn Vows and most holy Sacraments of Allegeance whence unto them as such we owe an humble piety a very respectful affection a most dutiful observance the which we cannot better express or exercise then in our heartiest Prayers for their welfare They by God are destined to be the Protectours of the Church the Patrons of Religion the Fosterers and cherishers of Truth of Vertue of Piety for of the Church in the Evangelical times it was prophesied Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers Thou shalt suck the breasts of Kings Kings shall minister to thee wherefore to them not only as men and Citizens but peculiarly as Christians we owe the highest duty and consequently we must pay the best Devotion for them To them we stand indebted for the greatest Benefits of common life they necessarily do take much care they undergo great trouble they are exposed to many hazzards for our advantage that under their shadow we may enjoy safety and quiet we may reap the fruits of our industry we may possess the comforts and conveniencies of our life with security from rapine from contention from solicitude from the continual fears of wrong and outrage To their industry and vigilancy under God we owe the fair administration of Justice the protection of Right and Innocence the preservation of Order and Peace the encouragement of Goodness and correction of Wickedness for they as the Apostle telleth us are God's Ministers attending continually on these very things They indeed so attend as to deny themselves and to forgoe much of their own ease their pleasure their satisfaction being frequently perplexed with cares continually enslaved to business and subject to various inconveniencies rendring their life to considerate Spectators very little desirable As therefore according to our Lord's observation they are usually styled Benefactours so they really are even the worst of them such as Claudius or Nero of whom our Apostles speak in considerable measure at least in comparison of Anarchy and considering the mischiefs issuing from want of Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The matter is not flattery saith S. Chrysostome himself of all men farthest from a flatterer but according to the reason of the case we must esteem our selves much obliged to them for the pains they sustain in our behalf and for the benefits we receive from them For he indeed must be a very bad Governour to whom that Speech of the Oratour Tertullus may not without glozing be accommodated Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are done unto this Nation by thy providence we accept it always and in all places most noble Felix with all thankfulness However what Seneca saith of Philosophers that they of all men are most obliged and most grateful to Kings and Magistrates because from their care they enjoy the leisure quiet and security of contemplating and practising the best things upon which account saith he they could not but reverence the authors of so great a good as Parents that is or should be far more true of Christians That leisure to use his words which is spent with God and which rendreth us like to God the liberty of studying Divine Truth and of serving God with security and quiet are inestimable benefits for the which they are indebted to the protection of Magistrates Therefore in all reason a grateful retribution of good will and of all good offices particularly of our Prayers is to be payed to them Is it not very absurd saith S. Chrysostome that they should labour and venture for us and we not pray for them 6. Whereas we are by Divine command frequently injoyned to fear and reverence to honour to obey Kings we should look on Prayer for them as a principal branch and the neglect thereof as a notable breach of those duties For As to Honour and Reverence it is plain that no exteriour signification in ceremonious unveiling or cringing to
a departed Soul and that of Elisha did effect the same and that of another Prophet did restore Jeroboam's withered hand how the prayers of God's people frequently did raise them up Saviours and when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distresses how the prayers of Asa discomfited a million of Arabians and those of Jehoshaphat destroyed a numerous army of his enemies by their own hands and those of Hezekiah brought down an Angel from Heaven to cut off the Assyrians and those of Manasses restored him to his Kingdom and those of Esther saved her people from the brink of ruine and those of Nehemiah inclined a Pagan King's heart to favour his pious design for re-edifying Jerusalem and those of Daniel obtaining strange visions and discoveries how Noah Job Daniel Moses and Samuel are represented as powerful intercessours with God and consequently it is intimated that the great things atchieved by them were chiefly done by the force of their prayers And seeing prayers in so many cases are so effectual and work such miracles what may we hope from them in this wherein God so expressly and particularly directeth us to use them If our Prayers can so much avail to our personal and private advantage if they may be very helpful to our friends how much shall the Devotions of many good men all levelled at one mark and aiming at a publick most considerable good be prevalent with the Divine Goodness However if God be not moved by Prayers to convert a Prince from all sin to make him do all the good he might to bless him in all matters yet he may thence be induced to restrain him from much evil to keep him from being worse or from doing worse then otherwise would be he may dispose him to do many things well or better then of himself he would do he may preserve him from many disasters otherwise incident to him which will be considerable effects of Prayer 11. I shall add but one general Consideration more which is this That Prayer is the only allowable way of redressing our case if we do suffer by or for Princes Are they bad or do they misdemean themselves in their administration of government and justice we may not by any violent or rough way attempt to redâ—lm them for they are not accountable to us or liable to our correction Where the word of a King is there â—â— power and who shall say to him What dost thou was the Preacher's doctrine Do they oppress us or abuse us do they treat us harshly or cruelly persetute us we must not kick against them or strive to right ourselves by resistence â—or Against a King saith the Wise-man there is no rising up and Who said David can stretch out his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless and They saith S. Paul that resist shall receive to themselves damnation We must not so much as ease our stomach or discharge our passion by raiâ—ing or enveighing against them For Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people is a Divine law and to blaspheme or revile Dignities is by S. Peter and S. Jude reprehended as a notable crime We must not be bold or free in taxing their actions For Is it fit saith Eliâ—â— to say to a King Thon art wicked and to Princes Ye are ungodly and to reproach the footsteps of God's Anointed is implied to be an impious practice We must forbear even complaining and murmuring against them For Murmurers are condemned as no mean sorâ— of offenders and the Jews in the wilderness were sorely punished for such behaviour We must not according to the Preacher's advice so much as curse them in our thought or not entertain ill conceits and ill wishes in our minds toward them To do these things is not only high presumption in regard to them inconsistent with the dutiful affection and respect which we owe to them but it is flat impiety toward God and an invasion of his Authority who alone is King of Kings and hath reserved to himself the prerogative of judging of rebuking of punishing Kings when he findeth cause These were the misdemeanours of those in the Late Times who in stead of praying for their Sovereign did clamour and rail at him did asperse him with foul Imputations did accuse his proceedings did raise Tumults and levy War against him pretending by rude force to reduce him unto his Duty so usurping on their Prince or rather on God himself assuming his right and â—king his work out of his hands disâ—overing also therein great profaneness of mind and distrust of God's Proviâ—ence as if God being implored by Prayer could not or would not had â—t been needful without such irregular courses have redressed those evils in Church or State which they pretended to feel or fear Nothing therefore in such cases is left to us for our remedy or ease but having recourse to God himself and seeking relief from his hand in his good time by converting our Prince or directing him into a good course however comforting our selves in the conscience of submitting to God's will This is the only method S. Paul did prescribe even when Nero a most vile flagitious man a sorry and naughty Governour as could be a monstrous Tyrant and most bloody Persecutour the very inventer of Persecution did sway the Empire He did not advise Christians to stand upon their guard to contrive plots to provide arms to raise mutinies and insurrections against him but to offer supplications prayers and intercessions for him as the best means of their security and comfort And this was the course of the Primitive Christians during their hard condition under the domination of Heathen Princes impugners of their Religion Prayers and Tears were then the only Arms of the Church whereby they long defended it from ruine and at last advanced it to most glorious prosperity Indeed if not assuming the liberty to find fault with Princes we would practise the duty of seeking God for his blessing on their proceedings if forbearing to scan and censure Acts of State we would earnestly implore God's direction of them if leaving to conceive disgusts and vent complaints about the state of things we would assiduously petition God for the settlement of them in good order if in stead of being shrewd Politicians or smart Judges in such matters we would be devout Oratours and humble Soliciâ—ours at the Throne of Grace our endeavours surely would find much better effect toward publick advantage we certainly might do more good in our closets by a few hearty wishes uttered there then by all our tattling or jangling Politicks in corners There are great contrivances to settle things every one hath his model of State or method of Policy to communicate for ordering the State each is zealous for his own conceit and apt to be displeased with those who
Doctrine for reducing Charity and Peace for reviving the spirit of Piety and bringing Vertue again into request for preserving State and Church from ruine we can have no confidence or reasonable hope but in the good Providence and merciful succour of Almighty God beside whom there is no Saviour who alone is the hope of Israel and Saviour thereof in time of trouble we now having great cause to pray with our Lord's Disciples in the storm Lord save us we perish Upon such Considerations and others whereof I suppose you are sufficiently apprehensive we now especially are obliged earnestly to pray for our King that God in mercy would preserve his Royal Person and inspire his Mind with Light and endue his Heart with Grace and in all things bless him to us to be a repairer of our breaches and a restorer of paths to dwell in so that under him we may lead a quiet life in all godliness and honesty I have done with the First Duty Prayer for Kings upon which I have the rather so largely insisted because it is very seasonable to our present condition II. The Other Thanksgiving I shall but touch and need not perhaps to do more For 1. As to general Inducements they are the same or very like to those which are for Prayer it being plain that what-ever we are concerned to pray for when we want it that we are bound to thank God for when he vouchsafeth to bestow it And if common Charity should dispose us to resent the Good of Princes with complacence if their Welfare be a publick benefit if our selves are interested in it and partake great advantages thereby if in equity and ingenuity we are bound to seek it then surely we are much engaged to thank God the bountiful Donour of it for his goodness in conferring it 2. As for particular Motives suting the present Occasion I need not by information or impression of them farther to stretch your patience seeing you cannot be ignorant or insensible of the grand Benefits by the Divine Goodness bestowed on our King and on our selves which this day we are bound with all grateful acknowledgment to commemorate Wherefore in stead of reciting trite stories and urging obvious reasons which a small recollection will suggest to you I shall only request you to joyn with me in the practice of the Duty and in acclamation of praise to God Even so Blessed be God who hath given to us so Gracious and Benign a Prince the experiments of whose Clemency and Goodness no History can parallel to sit on the throne of his Blessed Father and renowned Ancestours Blessed be God who hath protected him in so many encounters hath saved him from so many dangers and snares hath delivered him from so great troubles Blessed be God who in so wonderful a manner by such miraculous trains of Providence did reduce him to his Country and re-instate him in the possession of his Rights thereby vindicating his own just Providence declaring his salvation and openly shewing his righteousness in the sight of all people Blessed be God who in Him and with Him did restore to us our antient good constitution of Government our Laws and Liberties our Peace and Quiet rescuing us from lawless Usurpations and tyrannical Yoaks from the insultings of Errour and Iniquity from horrible Distractions and Confusions Ever blessed be God who hath turned the captivity of Sion hath raised our Church from the dust and re-established the sound Doctrine the decent Order the wholsome Discipline thereof hath restored true Religion with its supports advantages and encouragements Blessed be the Lord who hath granted us to continue these sixteen years in the peaceable fruition of those Blessings Praised be God who hath not cast out our prayer nor turned his mercy from us Praised be God who hath turned our heaviness into joy hath put off our sackcloath and girded us with gladness Let our mouth speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever The Lord liveth and blessed be our Rock and let the God of our salvation be exalted Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who onely doeth wondrous things and blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. The Eleventh Sermon PSAL. 64. 9 10. And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider of his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory IF we should search about for a Case parallel to that which we do now commemorate we should perhaps hardly find one more patly such then is that which is implied in this Psalm and if we would know the Duties incumbent on us in reference to such an Occasion we could scarce better learn them other-where then in our Text. With attention perusing the Psalm we may therein observe That its great Authour was apprehensive of a desperate Plot by a confederacy of wicked and spitefull enemies with great craft and secrecy contrived against his safety They saith he encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them That for preventing the blow threatned by this design whereof he had some glimpse or some presumption grounded upon the knowledge of their implacable and active malice he doth implore Divine protection Hide me saith he from the secret counsel of the wicked from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity That he did conside in God's Mercy and Justice for the seasonable defeating for the fit avenging their machination God saith he shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded That they should themselves become the detectours of their crime and the instruments of the exemplary punishment due thereunto They added he shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away Such was the Case the which unto what passage in the history it doth relate or whether it belongeth to any we have recorded it may not be easie to determine Expositours commonly do refer it to the designs of Saul upon David's life But this seeming purely conjecture not founded upon any express words or pregnant intimations in the text I shall leave that inquiry in its own uncertainty It sufficeth to make good its pertinency that there was such a mischievous Conspiracy deeply projected against David a very great personage in whose safety the publick state of God's people was principally concerned he being then King of Israel at least in designation and therefore in the precedent Psalm endited in Saul's time is so styled from the peril whereof he by the special Providence of
Providence may signifie lightness to father on God the mischiefs issuing from our sin and folly may savour of profaneness but to ascribe every grand and beneficial event unto his good Hand hath ever been reputed wisdom and justice It hath been saith Balbus in Cicero a common opinion among the Ancients that what-ever did bring great benefit to mankind was never done without Divine goodness toward men And well may they deem so seeing to doe so is most agreeable to his nature and appertaining to his charge and may appear to be so by good argumentation à priori For that God doth govern our affairs may be deduced from his essential Attributes and consequently that he doth in especial manner order these things which are the most proper and worthy objects of his governance God indeed doth not disregard any thing he watcheth over the least things by his general and ordinary Providence so that nothing in nature may deviate from its course or transgress the bounds prescribed to it He thereby cloathes the grass of the field He provideth for the raven his food and the young lions seek their meat from him without his care a sparrow doth not fall to the ground by it all the hairs of our head are numbred But his more special hand of Providence is chiefly imployed in managing affairs of great moment and benefit to mankind and peculiarly those which concern his people who do profess to worship and serve him whose welfare he tendreth with more then ordinary care and affection He therefore hath a main stroke in all revolutions and changes of State he presideth in all great counsels and undertakings in the waging of war in the settlement of peace in the dispensation of victory and good success He is peculiarly interested in the protection of Princes the chief Ministers of his Kingdom and in preservation of his people the choice object of his care from violent invasions and treacherous surprises so as to prevent disasters incident or to deliver from them It is he that as the Psalmist saith doth give Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword It is he that continually keepeth Israel without ever sleeping or slumbering who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof who is in the midst of her that she shall not be moved who hath declared that he will help her and that right early that he will not cast off his people nor forsake his inheritance that no weapon formed against his Church shall prosper that salvation belongeth to the Lord and his blessing is upon his people When therefore any remarkable event highly conducing to the publick good of Church of state supporting them in a good condition or rescuing them from imminent danger doth appear it is most reasonable and most just to ascribe the accomplishment thereof to God's Hand When any pernicious enterprize levelled against the safety of Prince and people is disappointed it is fit we should profess and say The righteous Lord hath hewen the snares of the ungodly in pieces 4. Another like mark of special Providence is the Righteousness of the case or the advantage springing from events unto the maintenance of Right the vindication of Innocence the defence of Truth the encouragement of Piety and Vertue God naturally is the Judge of right the Guardian of innocence the Patron of truth and Promoter of goodness The Lord is a refuge to the oppressed He is a Father of the fatherless and a Judg of the widow He will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor He executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed He blesseth the righteous and compasseth him with favour as with a shield He preserveth the souls of the righteous and delivereth them out of the hand of the ungodly All his Paths are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies When-ever therefore Right is oppressed or perillously invaded when Innocence is grossly abused or sorely beset when Piety is fiercely opposed or cunningly undermined when good men for the profession of Truth or the practice of Vertue are persecuted or grievously threatned with mischief then may we presume that God is not unconcerned nor will prove backward to reach forth his succour And when accordingly we find that sig nal aid or deliverance do then arrive it is most reasonable to suppose that God particularly hath engaged himself and exerted his power in their behalf For seeing it is his proper and peculiar work seeing it most becometh and behoveth him to appear in such cases affording his helpful countenance when he doth it we should be ready to acknowledge it In such a case The hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies saith the Prophet 5. Another character is the Correspondence of Events to the Prayers and desires of good men For seeing it is the duty and constant practice of good men in all exigencies to implore God's help seeing such Prayers have as S. James telleth us a mighty energy it being God's property by them to be moved to impart his powerful assistence seeing God most plainly and frequently hath declared and obliged himself by promise that he will hear them so as to perform what-ever is expedient in their behalf seeing we have many notable experiments recorded in Scripture as those of Asa Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Elias Daniel and the like of Prayer bringing down wonderful effects from Heaven with which the testimonies of all times and the daily experience of good men do conspire seeing the presumption of such efficacy is the main ground and encouragement of Devotion we have great reason whenever Events are answerable to such Prayers to ascribe the performance of them to God's Hand great reason we have in such cases to cry out with David Now know I that the Lord saveth his Anointed he will hear him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand just cause have we according to his pattern thankfully to acknowledge God's favour in answering our petitions The King said he shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce For thou hast given him his heart's desire and hast not withholden the requests of his lips 6. Again The proceedings of God especially in way of judgment or of dispensing rewards and punishments discover their original by their kind and countenance which usually do bear a near resemblance or some significant correspondence to the actions upon which they are grounded Punishments saith a Father are the forced off-springs of willing faults and answerably Rewards are the children of good deeds and God who formeth both doth commonly order it so that the children in their complexion and features shall resemble their Parents So that the deserts
Country till a long time after his decease How often did God profess for his servant David's sake to preserve Judah from destruction so that even in the days of Hezekiah when the King of Assyâ—ia did invade that Country God by the mouth of Isaiah declared I will defend this City to save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake We may indeed observe that according to the representation of things in Holy Scripture there is a kind of moral connexion or a communication of merit and guilt between Prince and People so that mutually each of them is rewarded for the Vertues each is punished for the Vices of the other As for the iniquities of a People God withdraweth from their Prince the free communications of his Grace and of his Favour suffering him to incur sin or to fall into misfortune which was the case of that incomparably-good King Josiah and hath been the fate of divers excellent Princes whom God hath snatched away from people unworthy of them or involved with such a people in common calamities according to the rule propounded in the Law of God's dealing with the Israelites in the case of their disobedience and according to that of Samuel If ye shall do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King so reciprocally for the misdemeanours of Princes or in them and by them God doth chastise their people For what confusions in Israel did the offences of Solomon create what mischiefs did issue thereon from Jeroboam's wicked behaviour How did the sins of Manasseh stick to his Country since that even after that notable Reformation wrought by Josiah it is said Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations wherewith Manasses had provoked him And how sorely by a tedious three years famine did God avenge Saul's cruelty towards the Gibeonites Nor are only the sins of bad Princes affixed to people conspiring with them in impiety for even of King Hezekiah it is said But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem So the pride and ingratitude of an excellent Prince were avenged on his Subjects And when good King David God averting his Grace from him did fall into that arrogant transgression of counting his forces that as Joab prudently foretold became a cause of trespass to Israel and God saith the Text was displeased with this thing therefore he smote Israel David indeed seemed to apprehend some iniquity in this proceeding expostulating thus Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbred even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed but as for these sheep what have they done But God had no regard to his plea nor returned any answer to it for indeed God's wrath began with the People and their King's sin was but a judgment executed on them for The anger it is said of the Lord was kindled against Israel by their sin surely which is the only incentive of Divine wrath and he moved David against them to say Go number Israel and Judah So indeed it is that Princes are bad that they incur great errours or commit notable trespasses is commonly imputable to the fault of Subjects and is a just judgment by Divine Providence laid on them as for other provocations so especially for their want of Devotion and neglecting duly to pray for them For if they constantly with hearty sincerity and earnest fervency would in their behalf sue to God who fashioneth all the hearts of men who especially holdeth the hearts of Kings in his hand and turneth them whither-soever he will we reasonably might presume that God by his Grace would direct them into the right way and incline their hearts to goodness that he would accomplish his own word in the Prophet I will make thy Officers peace and thine Exactors righteousness that we might have occasion to pay thanksgivings like that of Ezra Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers who hath put such things as this in the King's heart to beautifie the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem We are apt to impute the ill management of things and the bad success waiting on it unto Princes being in appearance the immediate Agents and Instruments of it but we commonly do therein mistake not considering that our selves are most guilty and blamable for it that it is an impious people which maketh an unhappy Prince that their offences do pervert his counsels and blast his undertakings that their prophaneness and indevotion do incense God's displeasure and cause him to desert Princes withdrawing his gracious conduct from them and permitting them to be miss-led by temptation by ill advice by their own infirmities lusts and passions into courses fit to punish a naughty people So these were the causes of Moses his speaking unadvisedly with his lips and that it went ill with him for their sakes of Aaron's forming the molten Calf of David's numbring the people of Josiah's unadvised enterprise against Pharaoh Neco of Zedekiah's rebellion against the Assyrians notwithstanding the strong dissuasions of the Prophet Jeremy concerning which it is said For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babylon Considering which things it is apparent that Prayer for our Prince is a great office of Charity to the Publick and that in praying for his safety for his Honour for his Wealth for his Prosperity for his Vertue we do in effect pray for the same Benefits respectively to our Country that in praying for his Welfare we do in consequence pray for the good of all our Neighbours our Friends our Relations our Families whose good is wrapped in his Welfare doth flow from it doth hang upon it We are bound and it is a very noble piece of Charity to love our Country sincerely to desire and earnestly to further its happiness and therefore to pray for it according to the advice and practice of the Psalmist O pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces We are obliged more especially upon the highest accounts with dearest affection to love the Church our Heavenly Commonwealth the Society of our Spiritual Brethren most ardently to tender its good and seek its advantages and therefore most urgently to sue for God's favour toward it being ready to say after David Do good O God in thy good pleasure to Sion build the walls of Jerusalem Arise O Lord and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Now these duties we cannot