THE DRVMME OF DEVOTION Striking out an Allarum to Prayer by signes in heauen and Prodigies on earth Together with the Perfume of Prayer In two Sermons Preached by William Leigh Bachilor in Diuinitie and Pastor of Standish in Lancashire Luke 21. 28. And when these things begin to come to passe then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neere LONDON Printed by Tho Creede for Arthur Iohnson dwelling in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the white Horse 1613. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR Thomas Parry Knight one of his Maiesties most Honourable priuie counsell and Chanceller of his Highnes Dutchie of Lancaster together with the Right vertuous Religious Lady his wife grace be multiplied in this world and glory in a better Right honourable IF as the Psalmist saith The Lord hath so doone his maruellous workes that they ought to be had in rememberance and are much sought out of all such as feare him pardon me in your honourable patience while I presse with passion such prodigies as haue fallen out of old in former times and now of late in these moderne daies of danger wherein we liue All harbingers of Gods Irefull wrath and indignation for mans transgression And yet I know not how which is a wonder of wonders signes from heauen are not respected sinnes on earth are not repented for We can discerne the face of the skie like the Iewes in the Gospell taxed by our Sauiour and thereby we dare prognosticate of the effects of faire or foule weather to come but we cannot discerne either by signes from heauen or prodigies on earth how the Lord is rison out of his place and threatneth our destruction if we repent not The meditations hereof I am bold to put vnder the shelter of your honours protection and pray they may passe your iuditious eye in sort as they are tendered that is from the dutie and seruice I owe in many rspects being otherwise vnable to answere the same but in such passages of prayer and religious exercises as fall within the compasse of my profession And surely such passages are best suted to your selfe whom religion hath made honourable and worthy those great and waightie imployments you haue vndergone abroad in forraigne parts and at home within the kingdome vnder two religious Princes Besides spare me to seeke protection at your honours hands in regard of the place you beare with vs vnder God and the king our worthy Chancellor the sterne of which gouernment you haue moderated for many yeares with such iustice mixed with mercy as I dare appeale to your clemencie and milde censure in any thing I haue here tendered And for the latter Sermon which is the Perfume of prayer the Arrow of our deliuerance in the daies of danger I trust it shall not be offensiue if I make it proper to the Elect Lady your religious wife and consort whose practise of much pietie with prayers and teares Church-weapons haue beene are and will be a blessing to your house and an ornament to the Church of God whilst Anna-like she frequents the Temple house of God treading vpon that holy ground with no lesse due then true deuotion And now the Lord Iesus as he hath matched you together in grace and giuen you much honour with length of daies espouse you to himselfe in the kingdome of glorie that you may come to the feast and mariage of the Lambe crowned with glorie and clad with immortalitie ensignes of a better world whither Christ is gone before and hath traced you the way to follow after which because you haue faithfully done he will come and fetch you to himselfe in a time accepted that where he is there may ye also be Against which day and blessed houre the Lord God of heauen prepare you with your oyle and your lamps light that ye may meete him in the cloudes and so be caught vp to raigne with him for euermore Amen Amen Your honours most humble and at command William Leigh THE DRVM OF DEVOTION Striking out an Allarum to Prayer by signes in heauen and prodigies on earth ACTS II. 19 And I will shew wonders in heauen aboue tokens in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapours of smoake 20 The Sun shal be turned into darkenes and the Moone into bloud before that great notable day of the Lord come 21 And it shal be that whosoeuer shal cal on the name of the Lord shal be saued VPon the reading of this Scripture prophesied of by Ioel applyed by Peter and to be accōplished in the latter daies me thoght I heard the Lord speaking from heauen as hee did by another Prophet and say Write this vision and make it plaine vpon Tables that hee may runne that readeth it for the vision is for an appointed time and at the last it shall speake and not lie though it tarry waite for it shall surely come and not stay Now what it is that shall come and not stay is the subject of my speech and the division of my Text. There shall come signes and wonders in the latter dayes to provoke our repentance there shall come faith and confidence to all the godly to assure them of deliverance and to this end are wonders wrought as in heauen aboue so in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapour of smoake that the dampe of our sinnes might be put out by the breath of our Saviour whose presence wee may be assured then presseth neere vs when these his wonders are vpon vs. If Kings of the earth stirre the commons are moved shal the King of heauen rise either to bee iudged or iudge the world and shal the creatures sit still surely no for though we his reasonable religious creatures bee silent in our sinnes and say nothing yet shall the senselesse creatures grieue and grone after a deliverance I say deliverance from the bondage of corruption wherin they are and from the dampe of sinne wherewithall they are pestered Of these in order as God will And first of prodigies provoking our repentance next of the sweet perfume of prayer assuring vs of deliverance when feare and fire shall fine vs for our good for it shall bee that whosoever shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saved What may be the meaning of the spirit in this place touching the time and manner of these signes when and how they should appeare to the worlds wonder divers haue diuersly divined 1. Some say the accomplishment should bee at the second comming of Christ to judgement and bee harbingers of that dreadfull day 2. Others for it shall bee at the siedge and sacking of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespatianus of which opinion the Greeke Paraphrase is which citeth Iosephus writing thereof 3. Some say the accomplishment should bee at the death of Christ and in the day of his passion when all the world should bee passionate for him but not with him for hee must tread the
is this proud Philistim that he should reuile the Host of the liuing God Thou commest to me with a sword and with a speare and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hostes the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon It would be too long to tell of all but this is the summe by the power of prayer diuels are dispossessed the dead are raised maladies are cured eyes are opened tongues are vntied and sinowes are losed prayer fatched done fire from heauen and it staied the sunne in Gibion it openeth heauen it shutteth hell and shaketh all the powers of darkenes it conque reth God it quieteth the conscience it sacketh sinne and to conclude as it is in my text it saueth soules for it shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued These words are three times mentioned in the scriptures of God to make vs the more attentiue they are riuited with a stiddy hand a treble stroke to make vs y e more apprehensiue of y e Lords mercies they are driuen in like holie nailes of the holy Sanctuarie wheron t◠hang our saluation on the daies of triall when there shall be signes in the heauens aboue tokens in the earth beneath blood and fire and the vapour of smoke then whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued And such priuiledge haue all his Saints but the diuels damned shall either be silent dum in the day of danger or if they speake they shall call to the mountaines to fall vpon them The Lord God of spirits prepare vs euer to pray and by that way and meanes giue vs passage into the presence of our good God there to haue both audience and answere for his sonnes sake who hath saued vs from our sinnes by shedding of his most pretious blood thereby to redeeme the world of his Elect. To that God and Christ with the power of the holy Ghost proceeding from both be all honour and glorie this day and euer Amen Amen FINIS Habacuk 2. 2 Psal 7 46. Heb. 12. 19. Deut. 33. 2. Heb. 12. 21 Psal 68. 8. Ioel. 3. 16. Suidas in Thulis Suidas in vita Angusti Niceph. l. ◠Hyri c. 17. Ezech. 12. 1. King 13. 2. Iob. 14. 13. Lib. 7. Cap. 12. 2. Thess 2. 8. Gen. 7. 20. Gen. 7. 22 Buried at Standish Church in Lancastshire Aprill 17. 1613. Isay 3. 24. Amos. 3. 6. Iob. 14. 1. 1. Peter 1. 23. Gen. 5. 24. Ps 45. 2. Mark 11. 24. Math. 21. 22. Iam. 1. 5. Ps 145. 18. 2. Iud. 9. 11. 3. Isay 66. 2. Oseah 12. Isay 39. 14. 2 King 20 5. 4. Isay 62. 7. 1. King 18. 43. 44 Iob. 1. 5. Dan. 6. 10. Ps 55. 17 1. Thes 5. 17 Act. 10. 9 10. Iud. 8. 5. 2. Part first impediment Pro. 1. 14. Pro. 28. 9. A second impedimēt Isaih 1. 15 c. Isaiah 59. 1. 2. Lam. 3. 4. 1. Sam. 28. 15. 3. Impediment Prou. 21. 13. 4. Impediment Mark 11 25. Eccl. 17. 23. 5. Impediment Ieremiah 7. 16. Ezech. 14. 14. Numb 11 10. 30. 1. Sam. 8. 6. 7. Deut. 17. 14. 2. Cor. 12. 7. Isay 62. 6. 1. Tim. 4. 4. 5. Ioh. 17. 1. Cant. 5. 5. Exod. 3. 32. Leui. 4. 31. Heb. 7. 24. 25. Gen. 20. 3. 7. Numb 16. 41. c. Iob. 5. 1. The Papists abuse this place to make good their prayer to Saints which is spoken not of the dead but of the liuing Saints Rom. 15. 30. 31. c. Act. 12. 5. 6. c. Gen. 25. 1. Sam. 1. 2. King 4. Luk. 113. Exod. 17. 1. Sam. 7. 2. Chron. 20. 6. 1. Sam. 17. 45. Ioel. 2. 23. Rom. 10. 13.
wine-presse alone Lastly and the least in reputation of iudgement are the Iews who euen at this day vnderstand it to bee meant of the warres of the Israelites with Gog and Magog Ezechiel 38. 39. But that I seeme not more opinatiue then orthodoxall I may safely say with the precedent words of my Text that these shall bee accomplished in the latter dayes which are alwayes taken for the dayes of Christ when with the effusion of his bloud hee will power out the abundance of his spirite vpon all flesh and withall shew his wonders from time to time to a senselesse world senselesse of it Sauiour so as from the first day of his comming in grace to the last day of his appearance in glory wonders shall appeare more or lesse to the comfort of the godly and confusion of the wicked And surely it is respectiue to see how sparing the Lord is of his judgements and how plentifull in his mercies his bloud and spirit are powred out in al abundance his signs prodigies are but sparingly shewed and pointed at as harbingers of his wrath to moue vs to repētance bloud shed spirit powred out O bottomlesse depth of mercy signes but shewed and prodigies but pointed at limitting both feare and fire that it fall not vpon vs before we repent there was never mercy either met it on earth or matched it in heaven and therefore I know not whether I shal more willingly admire his loue in spending his mercies vpon vs or his vndeserued fauors in prouoking our repentance David in the person of the faithfull and in a case nothing different mourneth over Sion with this wofull complaint Wee see not our signes and there is no Prophet left but Lord how long Where it is to be observed that they doe not complaine because they haue no Captaine to lead them in the field but that they haue no Prophet to instruct them in the faith accounting it a greater calamity to lacke the heauenly food then the earthly fight nay more and to come neerer the proper Subiect I haue in hand these Saints in Sion sorrow not for that they haue no Ensignes to follow on earth but because they haue no signes shewed them from heauen to assure them of the Lords presence to fight their battels and be propitious deeming it more disasterous to faile of signes about then of Ensignes below where prophesie is not there the people perish and where neither wonders from heaven wound vs to repentance nor tokens below provoke vs to prayer we are in danger and die in our security Are not all things as they were in the beginning so saide a secure world in the dayes of Peter musicke mirth and minstrelsie were in their feastes velvet silke and sables were on their backes their coffers were full of siluer gold and pearle their dishes were filled with dainties their garners with graine their stawles with fatlings and their Orchards with all manner of fruit their gardens and fields diaperde with all variety of fruites they felt neither sinne within nor sorrow without no wonders in heaven aboue or tokens in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapour of smoake were vnneath seene and therefore no marvell if they put farre away the evill day and suncke in their security When Israel was full then shee kicked against the Lord and her sin increased as the signes decreased til tokens from the Lord had taught her another discipline the vapour of smoake blasted her garland when it was at the greenest famine sword fiery Serpents brake her heart to better obedience and the Lord was mercifull vpon their repentance VVe thinke it goeth well with vs when our waters keepe the course of their wonted Channels without inundations when the North is clear and light without fiery inflammaons when neither Sunne nor Moon laboureth of an Eclipse we deeme the day blessed when the ayre is pure and the windes are still when the seas are calme and no thunder breaketh the cloudes yet better it were if thunder-clappes from aboue did breake our hearts and prodigies below plowed them vp for a softer mould against the day of haruest when the Lord shall come in the cloudes with his fanne in the one hand to winnow all fire in the other hand to purge all the corn for heaven and the chaffe for hell Moabs rest was Moabs ruine and surely I could never yet see but the world that flattereth vs is more dangerous then the world that persecuteth vs according to that periculosior mundus blandus quam molestus It was said of David by one who saide well factus est securus devictis hostibus praessura caruit tumor excrevit When he had no fight hee fell from his God and the proud tumor of his lust the lesse it was handled the more it rankled The doctrine is good for the generall and so I will descend to a more particular vse of signs it may be to shew that he can be mercifull without means the Lord will sometimes be silent shew no wonders but passe vs like the sweet running waters of Shiloh that goe softly by Sion but when it pleaseth him for our loude crying sins to come in judgement then wil hee swell like the turbulent waters of Iorden that run roughly thē wil his signs wonders bee harbingers of his wrath warning vs of his neare approch ready to destroy if we repent not But to worke a certainety out of such wonders as the Lord hath wrought either by himselfe in th◠old Testament or by his Christ in the new It is to be observed that ever vpon his comming to a worke of judgement or a worke of mercy there hath gone before him a commotion of Creatutes to present his presence for as I haue already saide If when Kings of the earth stirre the people are moued shall the God of heaven rise from his rest and the creatures sit still I say sit still before his presence in whose voice there is feare and in whose face there is fire for even our God is a consuming fire When the Law should bee divulged from the holy Mount the Lord came from Sinai and rose vppe from Seir vnto them and appeared clearely from Mount Paran and he came with ten thousand of Saints and at his right hand a fiery Law the ayre thundered the hils trembled burning blacknes and darkenes were his pauilion and so terrible was the sight which appeared that Moses said I feare and quake It was a great day fearefull and fiery because of a fiery Law what maruell then if vpon the approch of so great a majesty the earth shooke the heauens dropped at the presence of this God even the God of Israel What should I say more of Israels God sith at the brightnes of his presence the red sea was diuided Iorden was driven backe Quailes fell from heaven and the Rocke gushed out water springs the sunne stood still in Gibion
starre yet kindleth a combustion in the hearts of the two Kings of Marocco and Fez nor is the flame extinct in Spaine but yet burneth in the breast of Sebastians blood against that of Castile And surely it may bee a warning to all Christian Kings and Princes of the world to stir vp their zeale and melt their coldnes to fight for the christâ—â—â— an faith against the Infidels whiâ—… rather then they should liue vncoâ—…trolled the heavens will threateâ—… their destruction by sheathing theâ—â—… swords in the blood one of anotheâ—… Chronicles made it an honourabl◠〈◊〉 fight which christian Kings had and vndertooke against the Sarazens foâ—… the holy land But the holy Sepuâ—chre is now buried in oblivion anâ— the Turke hath tied it to his taxe and territories whom while Christian Kinges should resist with all their powers fight for the christiaÌ„ faith they fall in faction one against another and so spend and blend their bloods together Surely Domestica mala maiora sunt lacrhymis these home bredde evils among christian kings are greater than can be expressed with teares therfore I leaue it in the silence of my soule and to the praier of al Gods Saints that their souraignes may ioyne in a holy warre against the Heathen And so I passe â—…o the rest That Mirabilis annus will never 〈◊〉 forgotten when the seas rockes 〈◊〉 shelues fought for England and â—…ade vs so glorious by deliverance 〈◊〉 the wonder of all Christenâ—ome Nay more I may not bee silent â—…ow this our Goshen and land of â—â—…ht was sodainely turned into an â—â—…yptian darkenesse when vpon 〈◊〉 darke Saturday neere hie noone at what time vsually the Sun giueth out his fairest shine a sodaine darknesse was over all the land and so fearefull as men were at their wits ends panted in soule left off al secular care betook them to their best prayers not knowing what would be the Issue till the Lord againe and ere wee thought vpon his mercy remoued the judgement In token of our intollerable neglect of the light of his Gospell whereof that gloomy day was a sure Sacrament taxing our dim sight with his sharpe censure that because for a long season the light had shined in darkenes and the darkenes comprehended it not he could if hee would remoue the candlesticke candle and all and put out the eye of faith as hee had dearned the light of heauen Nay more and aboue al I haue said to make the prodigie yet of greater wonder it was observed by many how during the darkenes of the day all thinges were husht and so still as leaues stirred not beasts fed not birds sung not but stood agast as if they had beene filled with astonishment And you know how not long after this darke day the light of Israel was put out fot a time Queene Elizabeth died a dearne day to England had it not beene presently repayred with as cleare a light from Scotland in whose Sunne-shine now wee walke and sing still with solace the Songs of Sion in our owne land It may be so sodaine a darkenes presenlty relieued with so great a light was a Symball or Sacramenr of our Soueraignes dead and liuing two peereles Princes both relieued with their desired lights Hee of Englands honour Shee of heavens glory yea and we their Subjects delivered from that dark and dangerous night of Queene Elizabeths death by the speedy arising luster of that morning starre our Soveraigne Lord the King whose day wee pray may euer dawne It may bee some sharpe sight may censure me in the applying of this darke day to the death of Queen Elizabeth yet dare I say and I hope with good warranty that when godly Kings and Princes die Quid ni mundus ipss defleret eum principem esse rapiendum per quem duramundi istius reÌ„perari solerent So saide Ambrose of the death of Theodosius Why may not this worlde deplore such a Prince to bee taken away by the violence of death as by whome the dangers and difficulties thereof haue beene moderated Nay hee proceedes further and nearer the point I ayme at Hoc nobis motus terrarum graves hoc iuges pluviae minabantur vltra solitum caligo tenebrosior denunciabat quod clementissimus Imperator Theodosius recessus esset è terris This the great Earthquakes wee haue felt with the continuall raine wee haue had and a more palpable darkenesse than vsuallie we haue seene haue denounced and threatned that Theodosius a most milde and mercifull Emperour should depart this world You are religiously wise to discerne of what is said when Christ suffered the Soueraigne of all Soveraignes there was a commotion of all the creatures All were moved to see and behold so dolorous a spectacle Earth quaked rockes riued the Sunne was darkned and the Moone became bloodie Starres fell from Heauen there was blood fire and the vapour of smoake before that greate and notable day of the Lord came And what was Iesus of Nazareth other then a King then conquering our enemies for a better world And what was Theodosius Queene Elizabeth with all of their rancks and Religion lesse than Princes in his stead to tule in this world And why may not the creatures of God condole alike vpon their dissolutions Next it will bee remembred whiles Chronicles can speake how the earth was bound by a prodigious frost to Londons wonder when Thames was paved for cart and carriage for horse and man able in one day to support a waight of wonder and vpon the other dissolved into weake Water It pierced deepe into the bowels of the earth and to this day the flowers hearbes plants and trees nay more man and beast fish and fowle haue not recovered their decayed strength but yet feele the effects thereof all to warne vs of our chillerie zeale to God more colde then the Isickles hanging at our doores and strange it is that so many Sunne-shines as haue beene since and showers of Gods mercies still powred vpon vs should not melt our frozen hearts to more speedy repentance and provoke vs to prayer with more deuotion I passe by many strange Eclipses both of Sunne and Moone more frequent and vniuersall than haue been of old darkesome sun bloody Moone prognostications of our dearne light and dead life in the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ wherein with those glorious lights the Sunne of righteousnesse seemes to bee vayled as with the cloud and curtaine of our sinnes Alas and woe is mee therefore wee are fallen from our first loue wee worke not wee shine not as wee did in the dayes of persecution when fire and fagot fined vs for our God And the late inundations with vnseasonable weather in their extremities as of cold so of heate windes and tempests are nothing lesse then prodigies of an irefull God to tell vs of the deluge of our sinnes that of the old world swelling but 15. cubits aboue the highest hils this reaching from the
c. wee haue seene his Star in the East and are come to worship him him not it lest any man might bake cakes to the Queene of heauen adore the creature for the Creator Yet follow it till it come to the place where the babe is then leaue it and offer of thy Gold Myrrhe Frankencence that is when these signes in heauen prodigies on earth haue brought thee to the sense of thy sinne and sight of thy Sauiour offer vp the sweet perfume of thy praier praise an euening and morning sacrifice vnto thy Christ Lastly are there rumors of warres abroad in the world or warres at home woes and wonders euen at thy doores Hannibal ad portas Is the enemie at thy gates Are the Barbarians abroad and is the Turke in armes Vibrans hastam in Christianos breathing after Christian blood desine peccare ciuitas non peribit cease to sinne and the citie shall not be sacked Quid fugis patriam si vis saluus esse tua potius peccata subter fuge si tu peccare deseris victus est inimicus Why leauest thou thy country nay rather if thou wouldest be safe flee from thy sinnes if thou leaue off sinning the enemie is conquered And how is he conquered Non Gladio Golias sed lapide prosternitur Goliah was not slaine with a sword but with a stone out of a sling that is to say by powerfull praier For so saith Dauid thou commest to me with a sword and with a speare and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts whom thou hast rayled vpon And thus you see how the Drum of deuotion in the hand of Gods creatures though senseles of themselues yet sensible of our sinnes hath stroken an allarum to praier Now let vs smell to that sweet perfume and presse both the power and priuiledge thereof to saue out of these words It shall be that whosoeuer shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saued But because I haue wearied you ouermuch in this I will spare both my selfe and you till a further opportunitie And so let vs pray O eternall God and most mercifull father c. The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND Sermon THE PERFVME OF PRAYER THE ARROWE OF OVR deliuerance in the daies of danger when signes from heauen and Prodigies on earth are on vs to moue our repentance Acts. 2. 21. And it shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued SIgnes in heauen and prodigies on earth as I haue told you are nothing else but drums of deuotion prouoking our prayer in the sweet perfume whereof whiles we walke the Lord will either deliuer vs from deserued iudgements or giue vs patience to abide the fyrie triall And therfore pardon me yet further to ceaze vpon your religious eares and hearts on Gods behalfe and in tender of your saued soules Pardon me to presse you to powerfull praier thereby to make the Lord propitious ayding assisting when workes of wonder both aboue and belowe doe threaten our destruction The wicked in that day shal wring their hands rent their garments teare their haire and cry vpon the mountaines to fall vpon them but the godly shall haue boldnes in that day they shall lift vp their heads and knowe that the day of their redemption draweth neere yea as it is in my text they shall call vpon the name of the Lord and be saued I say all such as feare God shall feare no fire but call vpon the name of the Lord and be saued Yet so as the holy Ghost euer giues the gust power and spirit of prayer without which it is no perfume but a stinch in the nosthrills of the Lord of Host And therefore as you may here see the blessed Apostle clearing the imputation of Drunkennes both in himselfe and the rest his associats euen in the height of that high feast of Penticost doth in ebriat the soules of Gods Saints with a pregnant prophesie of the abundance of the spirit which should glad the hearts of the godly in the latter daies So then I may safely say that as the fire is knowne by it heate the Sunne by it light and the tree by it fruit so may you by prayer know whether the spirit of God be in you or no As also whether ye shall be saued when prodigies are abroad wonders in heauen aboue and tokens on earth beneath blood and fire and the vapour of smoake Much prayer and much passion is euer from a powerfull spirit and it argueth a Royall presence of the holy Ghost for euen as in water face answereth face so in plea of saluation spirit answereth spirit Gods spirit answereth our spirit that we are his children yea and the insence of our prayer answereth the perfume of his spirit in which sweet ayre we are carried and breath vnto saluation VVhy then it may seeme where there is much prayer there is much spirit where there is little praier there is little spirit and where there is no prayer there is no spirit and if who soeuer shall call vppon the name of the Lord hath much spirit and shall bee saved it will follow that whosoeuer shall not call vpon the name of the Lord hath no spirit and shall not be saved And I cannot but wonder that sith the vision is for an appointed time and now is the time euen in the latter daies which are the dayes of Christ wherein God hath promised to power out his spirit vpon all flesh euen the spirit of grace and compassion so as euery one should weepe apart because of him whom they haue pierced And yet our praier should be so scanted and our spirits so dull as wee seeme to bee dead in our deuotion Surely wee dire the Deity with our sinnes wee quench the spirit wee grieue it wee despite it and therefore wee pray not because the spirit breathes not Some few droppes of this heauenly fountaine distilled vpon the Patriarkes and Prophets of old but the cundits of grace were neuer so fully opened as in these latter dayes of Christ when with the effusion of his blood hee vented out the abundance of his spirit and powred it vpon all flesh and is it not strange thē that men should so liue as if they stood in doubt whether there bee an holy Ghost or no and in these last dayes of mans redemption they should breath more weakly and pray more faintly then in the first dayes of the worlds creation when Abel was slaine by Caine it is of speciall observation that vntill the dayes of Enoch men were silent in their deuotion and cared not for their God for then as it is in the Text men beganne to call vpon the name of the Lord Caines sinne had so corrupted Seths seed sanctity that till Enoch repaired the ruines by his holy profession there was little prayer little spirit litle pietie in that world
liued when Christ was dead yet should they see with their eyes that the truth should rise out of that type and when the Heyfer was slaine yet the Lambe should liue yea and that very Temple stones and all should turne to Greet Ne populus redirit ad Iudaizmum Lest the people might goe backe to Iudaizme 4. Fourthly nay yet more the great Brason doore as the Author saith being at the East end of the Temple which twentie men could hardly either open or shut at the sixt hower of the night flew open of it owne accord shewing a new way and passage of Christ to a better place and being euen vnto a Tabernacle not made with hands but pitched in the high heauens opening of it selfe without helpe of any 5. Together with these as Iosephus writeth in the 21. of May a gastly spirit of an vnspeakable height and bignes was seene in the citie a pregnaÌ„t prodigie of their imineÌ„t desolation when Zim Ohim Skritchowles Fairies Satyres did haunt their houses and fairest habitations 6. Chariotes in the ayre armed meÌ„ fighting by troups amoÌ„g the clouds appeared throughout al the Land of Iudea marched towards the Citie with fearce Encounters all presages of their future fall by the furie of warre which was at their doores and yet they repented not 7. Nay more in a solemn feast when the Priests were assembled by night as their manner was to sacrifice they heard this voice Migremus hinc migremus hinc let vs get hence let vs get hence the wonder they heard sell from heaven enioyning them silence and a cessation from all legall ceremonies and sacrifices now ended both Priest place and offering vpon the sole sacrifice of Christ whom they had cruelly murthered and therfore had need to be gone before the fire of his fierce wrath was kindled against that place people and kingdome Lastly and of all other prodigies to provoke their repentance vpon the Lords presence neere approch now ready to strike it was not the least which fell out in one Iesus the sonne of Ananias of the vulgar sort who foureteene yeeres before the siedge when al was in quiet peace and plentie this sonne of Ananias comming to the feast of Tabernacles when the manner was that the Princes of the people should doe their devotions to God in the Temple sodenly he cried out to the wonder of them all A voyce from the East a voyce from the West a voyce from the foure windes a voyce vpon Ierusalem a voyce vpon the Temple a voyce vpon the Bride and vpon the Bridegroome a voyce vpon all the people Thus night day he ran through euery street crying without thought of food or regard of any insomuch as when he was beaten by the mighty impatient of the prodigie I say beaten to the bare bones he neither shedde a teare or shewed himselfe suppliant but at euery stroke stil cried out Wo woe to the inhabitants of Ierusalem and thus continuing during all the time of the siege and especially at their solemne feasts At last when the siege was at the hotest running round about the walles of the City without feare hee vttered the same voyce and said Woe to Ierusalem was to the people and woe to my selfe At which last woe Sagitta ictus occumbebat wounded with an arrow hee fell downe dead The vse is good and for vs in the height of this our security all these wonders and signes euery man interpreted as the story saith Pro sua libidine euen as best pleased himselfe some they neglected some they corrected some they contemned donec patriae exidin suaque pernieie eorum iniquitas confutata est till their error with their wickednesse was corrected with the destruction both of their country and of themselues they killed their Prophets they beleeved not Christ whom when they had slaine and silenced then was it time for prodigies to speake and say O bloudy City I dare giue remission vpon thy repentance but I dare giue no rest vpon thy rebellions Before the destruction of Troy as Virgil reporteth Fatis aperit Cassandra futuris era Dei Iussunec vnquam credita Tencris Cassandra foretold it ruine but could neuer be beleeved she spake from the holy Oracle but was not heard It s a fearefull thing when the Prophets are despised it s more fearefull when their Prophesies are set at nought but its fearefull aboue all feares when fire is a falling downe froÌ„ heauen that is when we with our Prophets and prophesying prodigies speake and wonders worke and yet wee repent not so it was with Israel I pray God it bee not so with England To speake of the signes wonders and prodigies that shall be seene vpon the worlds ending I dare not I cannot that feare and fire oppresseth my spirits in the thoughts thereof Et horret animus meminisse my very mind and soule melteth at the heat thereof And therefore hauing in some weake measure mentioned that dreadfull day heretofore in two other Sermons I leaue it vnder a vayle as Apelles did the imperfect portraiture of Agamemnon father of Iphigenia and come a little neerer home euen downe to our dayes Haue we no signes in heauen or prodigies in earth to moue our repentance Haue not the heavens of late yeeres strucke an alarum to provoke our prayers by vncoth signes never seene before It is some 40. yeeres agoe since that starre in the North appeared in Cassiâ—peia whereat the Astronomers stood agast Surely it was some star of Bethlehem conducting vs to that Babe of Bethlehem Non in cunis sed in Cathedra not lying swathled in the cratch but advanced into his chaire of high estate by a second birth of holy doctrine theÌ„ divulged through out all the world when the Gospell should beget faith in more abundance from the East to the West by North and by South I durst not thus presage of the effect of this star were I not well warranted by the judgements of two worthy Divines lights of this age Du Plessis and Beza who by that wonder in heauen are bold to say that the Lord hath prognosticated a second birth of Christ vpon the earth by the preaching of the Gospell vnto all nations vnder heaven neuer to bee backed by that wicked man whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shal abolsh with the brightnesse of his comming whereof these wonders in heauen are warnings on earth for all Gods children to bee prepared with our oyle and our Lampes light to meet him in the cloudes and so to bee caught vp to raign with him for â—ver And so to the next Not many yeeres after and right â—pposite to that in the North there appeared an other wonder in heauen a blazing starre both great and fearefull threatning some dangerous event to the Southerne parts of the world which the Affiricans in some measure felt when the Kings of Barbary and Portugall were slaine The cinders of that
It is said of Enoch that hee walked with God and was no more seene It was his speciall priviledge so to bee rapt vp else moe had followed after but they wanted his spirit his prayer and the familiarity hee had with God it was a bad world for the spirit breathed not and therefore men prayed not When all flesh had corrupted their wayes so as God looked down from heaven to see if there were any that were good and there was not one good no not one then mans wickednesse wallowed in the water of his destruction Noah prayed and hee was preserved the rest called not vpon the name of the Lord and therefore perished I might tell of Abraham Isaacke Iacob Moses Samuel and Ioshua how plentifull the spirit was in them and how powerfully they prayed in their dayes yet from a sparing spirit which breathed but vpon few besides their owne families So might I speake of al the renowmed Kings of Israel and Iudah of inspired Prophets holy men and godly Matrones down to the dayes of Christ all of blessed memory for feruent prayer and frequent yea and from a powerfull spirit yet limited to their peculiars and as it were confined within the borders of Paleftine till Siloh came meane our Christ the Messias and Saviour of all the world who as I haue said with the effusion of his blood powred out the abundance of his spirit vpon all flesh I say with Zacharie the spirit of prayer and compassion that the godly might mourne because of him whome they had pierced The Issue is sweet and the doctrine is Orthodoxall taken from the practises of the godly in all ages neuer was it yet seen or heard that euer man prayed preached or pray sed aright but as the spirit gaue him vtterance The holy Ghost is the holie guide of all our holy actions it is the seasoner of the soule and the moulder of all our sanctity it is the mother of piety and it openeth the doore to all true deuotion where it breathes there is the perfume of Prayer where it breathes not there is sinne in silence without cry or calling vpon the name of the Lord that they might be saued The creatures as it is in Paul may grone wee may grieue and sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodies in the salvation of our so ules but yet it is the spirite that helpeth our frailety and so whereas wee know not how to pray as wee ought the spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with signes that cannot bee vttered for hee that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the meaning of the spirit and he maketh requests for the Saints according to the will of God If the Apostles could haue tolde how to haue prayed of themselues they would neuer haue gon to Christ to haue taken out the lesson nor said Maister teach vs how to pray but they knew that the holy Ghost and he were all one and therefore would fetch that sweet perfume from his blessed breath they knew that grace was powdered in his lipps because God had blessed him for euer Well then I say no more but this to presse out this sweete perfume of prayer to be practised of all with vnwearied diligence 1. That there is an house of prayer and the Lord hath purged it 2. There is a day of prayer and the Lord hath sanctified it 3. There is an heart for prayer and the Lord hath possessed it 4. There is a mouth for prayer and the Lord hath opened it 5. There is a president for prayer and the Lord hath enioyned it 6. There is a premiuÌ„ or reward for prayer and the Lord hath giuen it euen saluation to out soules for so saith the text It shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued Nay if none of these were yet because we are fallen into the last and worst daies of the world wherein sinne was neuer so sinfull deferued iudgements neuer more doubtfull nor Sathan so busie to bestir himself for that he hath but a short time It might moue vs to be no lesse feruent then frequent in prayer and the rather for that wonders signes prodigies harbingers of Gods wrath are vpon vs yea Hanibal ad Portas iudgemeÌ„t is at our doores Oh pray pray pray neuer more need to pray But it may be ye know not how to pray and therefore ye aske and haue not because ye aske amisse ye seeke and find not because ye seeke amisse For euery man seekes his owne either of pleasure or profit but fewe the things that are of Iesus Christ and therefore spare me while I tender to your religious eares and harts a modell of prayer where after if you fashion your deuotion ye may be sure both to haue audience and answere from the Lord. Wherein first consider the manner how to pray which is your preparation Secondly remoue the impediments that hinder prayer which is your pollution Thirdly respect the incouragement ve haue to pray because of the premium and rich reward which is saluation for it shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued And first for the manner how must I call that I may be heard how must I be prepared that I may make the Lord propitious and readie to helpe in time of need how may I make him to returne my prayers into my bosome while I double my plaints within my brest I must first call in faith for without faith it is not possible to please God faith is the salt of the sacrifice that makes it sauâ—rie it is the Star guiding it is the piller of fire conducting it is the hand reaching it is the spirit breathing a passion from vs more sweete then Incense in the nostrills of the Lord of Host In my faith I haue full assurance that I shall be heard answered obtaine my desires for Christ so promised when he cursed the barren tree and blessed the batsome heart thus Whatsoeuer ye desire when ye pray beleeue that ye shall haue it and it shall be done vnto you And Iames the Sonne of thunder before the call of praier sent out the fire of faith like lightning before y e clap when he said If any man lacke wisdome let him aske of God which giueth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him but let him aske in faith and wauer not c. Yea Dauid was of this consort when he sung to y e solace of his soule The Lord is neare vnto all that call vpon him yea to all that call vpon him faithfully What should I say more our faith is the victorie by which we ouercome the world it is danted with no difficulties it passeth for no impossibilities it extent reacheth far euen from the nethermost hell to the highest heauens Secondly as I must call in faith if I will be
hollow vault at Endor spake to teach vs that if we will not know there is a God we shall be taught that there is a diuell Zim and Ohim wil haunt our habitations and the witch at Endor will endaunger our dwellings A third wall of separation stopping the passage of our prayer to God is the sinne of vnmercifulnes towards the poore for as the wiseman saith He that stoppeth his eare at the crying of the poore he also shall cry and not be heard vnmercifulnes towards the poore was one of the sins of Sodome and little doe I doubt but it stopt the passage of Abrahams prayer euen frō fiftie to tenne mercifull men not found in Sodome for whose sake the Lord might spare the rest The vse is good I pray God the teares of the poore hinder not the prayers of the rich many are oppressed yet are not pittied we can goe to no pulpit but they presse our harts to prouoke our speech all I can say is this take heed for as ye know he y t would not giue a crum of comfort was denied a drop of mercy and not to pittie the poore on earth it cannot but hinder your prayer in heauē Fourthly if you long after audience and answere frō God of that ye pray for you must beware of malice and picke out that poyson you must forgiue that you may be forgiuen yea and which is yet more you must pray for your worst enemie that you may preuaile with your best friend That friend hath well aduised thee as a friend saying When ye shall stand and pray forgiue if ye haue any thing against any man that your father also which is in heauen may forgiue you your trespasses Ye aske saith a brother of the Lord and yet ye receiue not because ye aske amisse that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures It s a foolish pleasure on earth that beates backe a prayer from heauen It s a foolish passage with man that stops a passage with God And so for conclusion of this poynt be warned that as you heighten your prayers vpward so you lessen your sinnes downward And with Siracides returne vnto the Lord and forsake thy sinnes make thy prayer before his face and diminish the offence Lastly as wickednes in our selues and proper sinnes doe hinder our prayers So when sinne is in those we pray for it often stoppeth our passage vnto the Lord and maketh him inexorable As in Ieremiah the Prophet when the Lord said I will cast you out of my sight as I haue cast out all your brethren euen the whole seede of Ephraim Therefore thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp cry or prayer for them neither intreate me for I will not heare thee Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem As and if he should say exemplarie sinnes shall haue exemplarie iudgements for I will power my wrath vpon this place vpon man and vpon beast and vpon the trees of the field and vpon the fruit of the ground it shall burne ô Ieremiah and thy prayer shall not quench it Nay and as it is in an other Prophet If these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were among them they should not but deliuer their owne soules by their righteousnes saith the Lord God All I haue said is but this if our prayers be not heard it is quia petimus 1. indigné 2. indigna 3 pro indignis either the thing is vnlawfull we pray for or we are vnworthie who pray or they for whom we doe pray The mother of Zebedes childrē had not her boone at the hands of Christ for that her demand was not lawfull Esau had not that he prayed for because he was vnworthie And if you poure out ten thousand praiers either for the diuels or damned ye shall not be heard for their sinnes are gone before them to their iust condemnation And here spare me a while and I hope it shall not be vnprofitable to the further sanctifying both of your will and skill in prayer if I lay downe certaine Rules whereby you may know how diuersly y e Lord doth answere the requests of his Saints yet all to their endlesse comfort if they can but be patient of his answeres And first obserue and you shall find it to be true that God heareth some ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem he answereth their pleasure but not their profit what they would haue but not what they should haue As when the people lusted after flesh in the wildernes and loathed Manna God gaue them their fill yet while the flesh was betweene their teeth before it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people the Lord smote the people with an exceeding great plague in so much as the place of their buriall is called vnto this day kibroth hattauah graues of lust Againe it was their desire to haue a king like other nations whervnto y e Lord yeelded yet told them it had beene better for them if they had not forsaken him but kept him still their guidon The vse is good against all such as pray for nothing but for the pleasures and profites of this world beautie wealth and plodding wit which oftentimes God putteth into their hands like a sword into the hands of a lunatike man wherwithall he endangereth himselfe and so the Lord answereth all such ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem The second rule is religious too much to the solace of Gods Saints who often heareth and answereth ad vtilitatem non advolūtatem answereth I say our profit and not our pleasure As he did Paul who praying thrice that Sathans buffettings which were the prickes of the flesh might be taken from him Christ answered no Paul not so my grace is sufficient for thee and my power is made perfect through thy weakenes And this made the Saints of God to reioyce in nothing more then in the crosse of Christ where by the world was crucified vnto them and they vnto the world they reioyced in their infirmities anguish and persecutions though buffettings of Sathan and prickes of the flesh yet purging fire fyning them for their God whiles they were resolued that all the afflictions in this world were neuer worthy of that glorie which should be reueiled and all such the Lord doth answere ad vtilitatem non ad voluntatem whiles they seeme to shrinke vnder the burden of their afflictions The third rule is not irregular with God who for the most part doth answere all his Elect children ad voluntatem ad vtilitatem making them glorious by deliuerance in the daies of their afflictions answering their pleasure with their profit and what they should with what they would as he did the Niniuites when he deliuered them from their destructiō The woman of Sirophenishia from her diuell the children from
make an attonement for him and it shall be forgiuen him Father forgiue them for they wot not what they do It was Christ his prayer vpon the tree and he preuayled And Demitte nobis debita nostra is our dayly prayer and who doubteth of indulgeÌ„ce Sathan winnowed Christ prayed and Peters faith failed not Nay that I may shut vp this assurance and close with your religious eares and hearts who heare me this day This man saith Paul because he indureth euer hath an eternall priesthood wherefore he is also able perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Marke I pray you how grace aboundeth in our Christ a man of our mould and miserie ergo mercifull to saue A God of might and maiestie ergo able to saue yet not with shadowes and Iterations like Aaron which argued his imperfection but once sacrificed for all which made him an absolute Sauiour And all this without limitation either of time place time or person to all such as goe to God by him Thirdly as by the power of prayer the euill of sinning is taken away and forgiuen so likewise the euill of punishment is often pardoned and quite forgotten When Abimelech had taken from Abraham his wife and so endangered his state life and kingdome God by night warned him of the wickednes by a dreame and said Behold thou art but dead because of the womaÌ„ which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife now then deliuer the man his wife againe for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee that thou maist liue and if thou deliuer her not againe be sure that thou shalt die the death thou and all that thou hast You see the sinne you see the danger and withall you see the meanes of deliuerance from both Euen Abrahams prayer powerfull with God to stay the stroake of death from the king and barronnes from euery wombe of the house of Abimalech When Sodome for her sinning was to feele the Iudgement of God punishing Lot prayed that he might shift to Zoar O let me escape thither is it not a little one and my soule shall liue to whom God answered Behold I haue receiued thy request also concerning this thing that I will not ouerthrow this citie for which thou hast spoken hast thee saue thee therefore for I can doe nothing till thou come thither Where marke I pray you how prayer openeth the fountaine of grace and beateth backe the ocean of Gods iudgements it mouldeth him to be mercifull euen to Sodome till Lot be safe in Zoar for so he saith I can doe nothing till thou come thither thy prayer hath manacled my hands I cannot strike till thou be gone hast thee saue thee escape thy life feare and fire are a falling see thou saint not either in thy powerfull prayer or speedie passage Corath Datham and Abiram with a rout of Rebels moe stand vp against Moses Aaron saying Ye haâ—e killed the people of the Lord God sawe the sinne and hastned on the iudgment when he said vnto Moses get you vp from among this congregation for I will consume them quickely Then as the text saith they fell vpon their faces And Moses said vnto Aaron Take the censor put in fire of the Altar cast on Incense and goe quickely to the congregation and make an attonement for them for there is wrath gon out from the Lord the plague is begun Then Aaron tooke as Moses commanded him and ran into the midst of the congregation and behold the plague was begun but when he stood betweene the dead and them that were aliue the plague was staid O blessed Incense blessed praier blessed station O blessed deuotion so readily running to repaire the ruines of a dying decaying people where fourteene thousand and seuen hundred died besides them that died in the conspiracie of Chora yet as you may there see by the sufferage of prayer the rest were saued and the plague was stayed Elephas as it is in Iob vrged much the power of prayer to deliuer from punishment when he said to Iob call now if any will answere thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne As and if he should say to aggrauate his griefe the more O Iob of all thy miseries this is not the least that neither thy God will answere thee nor the Saints will pray for thee whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed if there be no passage for prayer in the day of thine affliction whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed Let Paul conclude for all to make good the power of prayer in this particular of putting off the punishment of sinne with deliuerance from danger when he pressed the people to pray for him 1. That he might be deliuered from the disobedient in Iudea 2. That his seruice in the church might be accepted of the Saints 3. That hee might alwaies come to them with ioy 4. And that he together with them might be refreshed with the shewer of all heauenly comforts A needfull prayer my deare brethren from you to God for vs who are your Pastors that we may feed you without perill that our seruice may be accepted that our presence may be with ioy And that drops of grace distilling from aboue may daily refresh our more then dying and decaying plants And here I might seasonably presse with Pauls perill Peters deliuerance out of prison by the prayers of the Saints Who when he was in durance and imprisoned by Herod the king earnest prayer was made of the church vnto God for him and preuailed for euen there as you may read the praiers of the Church ouerturned the counsell of tyrants obtained the presence of Angels brake the prison vnlosed the chaines put Sathan to flight and preserued the Church yea and Peter too when by the prayer of men and conduct of an Angell he passed away without peril and was deliuered out of the hand of Herod and from all waiting for of the people of the Iewes Fourthly and lastly as prayer is the arrowe of our deliuerancâ— â—oth from the euill of sinning and the euill of punishing so is it piercing in procuring all good things for vs from the hands of God For by it the barren wombe is made batsome as in Sarah Annah the Shunamit and in Elizabeth of all which it fel out as it did with Zacharie when the Angell said feare not Zacharie for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall beare thee a sonne c. By it the enemie is conquered as in Moses against Amalecke of whom it is said plus fecit oratio mosis orando quam Iosue pugnando Moses prayer was more piercing then Iosuas pike In Samuel against the Philistimes In Iehosophat against Moab and Ammon In Iudeth against Holefernes And in Dauid against that Gyon of Gath wheÌ„ he said what