they are brought they may serve for the like end whereunto the History of Job is conceived to have been intended Origen Sixt. Senens Bibliothe lib. 1. p. 9. l. 8 p. 649. and with him the Jewish Rabbins and others conjecture that the Book of Job was first writ in Syriac by Job himself or by his friends and after translated into Hebrew by Moses at what time the Israelites were under the servitude of Pharaoh in Egypt and that for this intent that by the reading thereof they might receive Consolation learn Patience and gather Hope in that their hard bondage by the consideration of Jobs sufferings his pious and patient behavior under them and the redoubled happiness which their end brought forth So in like manner whatsoever burden any of the servants of God may be under now from any suspense they may apprehend lying upon prayers either their own or others either for themselves or their relations these Examples may be of some such use and may raise up their hearts somewhat in representing to them that the same affliction hath been accomplished in their Brethren that have been in the world 1 Pet. 5 9. I will conclude mine Answer to the first Query with another General Observation on the said History of Job It is concerning the state of the Controversie therein debated The great difference between Job and his three friends in it is this Job maintaineth That the Lord may Job 9.22 6.29 23.11 12. 27.5 6. and sometimes doth temporarily afflict destroy desert or defer to hear a righteous man and prosper or grant the desires of the wicked man They on the opposite part contend That God doth at no time leave or cast down the pure and upright Job 9.24 10.3 12.6 27.7 8. 8.20 4.7 8.5 6 11.13 4.8 20.20 21.27 28. 22.15 nor any ways second or favor the ungodly And particularly in reference to prayer one of them viz. Bildad affirms in terminis That if Job would seek presently unto God and if he were pure and upright surely now at that instant the Almighty would awake for him and make the habitation of his Righteousness prosperous And again he asserts Behold God will not cast away a perfect man neither will he help the evil doer Which last sentence taken in the utmost extent so as to exclude all manner of casting away the one and helping the other will no more stand then the former of the Lords instant awakening for and prospering of Iob if pure and praying But why do I interpose to determine in this Controversie The Lord himself doth umpire the difference in the end of the Book and he decides it on Iobs side he tells Eliphaz Job 42.3 4 5 6. Thou and thy two friends have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Iob hath This I suppose is necessarily to be taken as the Lords coming in and arbitrating the main Controversie betwixt them Iob indeed had used some unbeseeming and reprovable speeches of and to God as the Lord before convinceth him and he acknowledgeth but in the main of the question and debate to wit concerning the divine administration in relation to the estates and prayers of the righteous and the wicked Iob was in the right and his three friends besides it Iob indeed had this unhappiness heaped upon his other miseries that both his Person and his Argument were severely censured by his Opponents His Person as a wicked Hypocrite Chap 4.6 7. 22.5 c. His Argument Rebellionem haberi quaerimoniam meam Tremel as Rebellion Chap 23.2 whilest those his Censurers sat high in their own opinion both for wisdom Chap. 15.9 10. Integrity Chap. 22.18 and worldly weal Chap. 22.20 Yet in conclusion Iob and his Tenet are absolved his Friends and their Cause are disallowed by God I cannot pass from this without additionally observing the immediate Consequents of this Arbitration As by this sentence pronounced Iob is vindicated and his three friends rectified so are they both reconciled and they are reconciled in Sacrifice and Prayer Iobs friends provide the Sacrifice and Iob makes the Prayer and these being performed Iob is heard and accepted of God both for himself and his friends and being so he is raised up again to a prosperous estate and that double in proportion to his former havings O if this might be the happy period of the most unhappy divisions of these days about Prayer and Providence As that it may be so is to be the joynt wish prayer and labour of all so there is no necessary reason to despair that it shall be only if they that sustain Jobs condition would hold out to act Jobs approved part in particular that his resolution Chap. 27.3 4 5 6. All the while my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils my lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit God forbid that I should justifie you till I dye I will not remove my integrity from me My Righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live CHAP. III. The second Query handled viz. How or in what sence God may be said to hide himself from his Peoples Prayers grounded upon his Promises and seem by his Providences to answer the Prayers which are contrary thereunto WE have granted and attested by many witnesses that the Lord doth sometimes and in some sort hide himself from his peoples prayers some ways grounded upon his promises and seemeth by his Providences to answer the prayers that are contrary to them But it will be very necessary that the case may not seem and be apprehended worse then it is that needless and causless perplexities about it may be prevented and that we may understand aright those passages both of Scripture and divine Providence which concerning it have been set before us or may occur that we rake out the true sence of that supposal and concession by a due explication and limitation of it For that purpose I shall proceed 1. In the unfolding of the terms or clauses therein 2. In collecting the explication of them into some Corollaries or summary Propositions The first and chief work will be the unfolding of the terms In the doing of it need will be that I insist severally on these clauses 1. Of the people of God 2. Of the groundedness of prayers upon the divine promise 3. Of Gods answering and of his hiding himself from prayers SECT I. Of the People of God ALl Nations and persons in the world are in one acception Gods people in as much as he is their Creator and supreme Lord they his Creatures and Subjects The Earth is the Lords Psa 24.1 and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein He himself saith Behold all Souls are mine Ezek. 18.4 Job 41.11 and again Whatsoever is
under the whole Heaven is mine But some people are his in peculiar above others and in a more neer and special relation belong unto him in as much as he fixeth a more peculiar property in them and settleth a more special dominion over them and placeth a more intimate presence among them Moses saith unto Israel The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the Earth Deut. 7.6 10.14 15 Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords thy God the Earth also with all that therein is only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and he chose their seed after them even you above all people as it is this day It must be noted further of these his peculiar people 1. Some are in this relation by external vocation union communion and profession only that is they are appropriated to God by outward acts of Ordinances and Worship and enjoy external ministerial and temporary priviledges and benefits The description of these in Scripture is They are Gods people and Saints that have made a Covenant with him by sacrifice Psa 50.5 2 Chro. 7.14 Neh. 1.10 they are his people which are called by his Name or upon whom his Name is called These are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand viz. from Egypt They are they to whom pertaineth the Adoption and the glory Rom. 9.4 and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises that is they have those things as to the outward signs tokens expressions and actions of them 2. Some have over and above this stile and relation a neerer appertainency unto God to wit by inward and effectual grace calling union and communion He that is of this number is called an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile a Jew inwardly Joh. 1.47 Rom. 2.29 that hath the Circumcision of the heart and in the spirit of such the Lord speaketh Surely they are my people children that will not lye Isai 63.8 so he was their Saviour These are such as God hath peculiarly loved freely chosen dearly purchased efficaciously called absolutely covenanted with and singularly qualified and sanctified for this relation and the benefits and glory that ensue upon it The Scripture is industrious in distinguishing betwixt the people of God in the former and in the latter way and shewing the difference which there is between them in sharing of the priviledges of Gods people They that are his in the former way only are set out under this character They are Jews outwardly they are born after the flesh they are the sons of the Bond-woman Rom 2.28 Gal. 4.29 30 Isai 48.1 they are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Judah which swear by the Name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel Matt. 7.22 but not in truth nor in righteousness They will say unto Christ Lord Luk. 13.26 Lord have we not prophecyed in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works we have eaten and drunken in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets These because they are meer nominals and remain without the spiritual part of this relation without those graces vertues and effectual workings that are in Saints indeed and without the truth power and life of Sanctification therefore they are in the upshot disclaimed Hos 1 9. Ro. 9.6 7 1 28 1 Joh. 2.19 Mat. 7.23 and declared to be not the people of God not Israel though of Israel not children though the seed of Abraham not Jews not of us and Christ will profess unto them I never knew ye depart from me ye workers of iniquity But they that are Gods people in the latter more peculiar and intimate respect they are noted out thus They are the little flock to whom it is their fathers good pleasure to give the Kingdom Luk. 12 32 Mat. 20.16 the few that are chosen of the many that be called his people which he fore-knew Ro. 11.2 5 9.7 8 23 27.4.12 the remnant according to the Election of Grace the children of the Promise Abrahams seed by Isaac the vessels of mercy the remnant that shall be saved not of the Circumcision only but walkers in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham Gal. 4.29 3â— sons of the free-woman born after the Spirit As there is betwixt these two sorts viz. the people of God by external vocation only and they that are his by internal transformation also much difference in other respects so there is particularly in respect of success in prayer and though the Lord may in some sort hide himself from them both when they pray yet not from them both alike the difference will be shewn after SECT II. Of the groundedness of Prayers upon Divine Promises COncerning the groundedness of Prayers upon Divine Promises we are well to observe divers things First That prayer unto God hath in Scripture a twofold ground There is 1. A ground of precept 2. A ground of promise There is a ground of Precept by which prayer is authorized and made necessary and a ground of promise by which it is supported and encouraged The precept is the ground of Conscience for the undertaking of it the promise is the ground of confidence and assurance for the success of it The precept shews the subject for what and the manner how to pray the promise gives us the inducement why we should pray Both these grounds we have delivered together in divers places as in that of the Psalmist Psa 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee Call upon me in the day of trouble there 's the ground of precept I will deliver thee there 's the ground of promise And in that of the Apostle James If any of you lack wisdom Jam 1.5 let him ask it of God that 's the ground of precept and it shall be given him that 's the ground of promise And in that of our Saviour Matt. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you there 's a treble precept Ask seek knock and a treble promise It shall be given you Ye shall find It shall be opened unto you I will not deny but in some kind the promise may be accounted a ground of warrant or precept for prayer yea in some cases it is the only warrant that is where the thing prayed for is a peculiar blessing out of the common road 2 Sam. 7.16.25 27 as was that promise of God to David of a sure House and Kingdom upon which he built his prayer And that made to the Prophet Elijah 1 Kin. 17.1 Jam. 5.17 that there should
to hide himself from his people in these late troubles was in their divisions and breaches among themselves in opinions practises and party-makings and it is probable the Lord will have them first to be at one again among themselves ere he manifest himself among them Then for simplicity and truth take only that speech of the Lord in the Prophet Isaiah Isai 63.8 For he said Surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour with that of the Psalmist Mercy and Truth are met together Truth shall spring out of the Earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven Psal 85.10 11. So necessary and neerly alyed is sincerity and veracity unto the recovery of Gods presence aspect and audience 3. The third and last Direction for the Cure of this evil is Let our satisfaction be placed and sought in God himself When the stream or rivelet is cut off or dryed up the way to help that is to go to the fountain it self Doth the Lord withhold from us this or that blessing which we ask of him our best remedy for that is to seek the fruition of God himself his presence and favor and to satisfie our selves and make up all defects therewith Whatsoever wants we lie under in respect of externals yea or internals Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia Augustin all the particulars we lack are equivalently yea eminently and transcendently to be had in the enjoyment of God if we have him we have them and more God communicateth himself unto his creature two ways Either as an Agent or as an End either effectively or objectively either by way of operation or by way of rest and complacency Though we have not his operative or effective communications in the production of every of those works and events which we think behoveful for us yet if we have the objective or terminative communications of him as our end rest or chiefest portion and good it is enough Nay this participation of God is far above the other He communicateth himself in his acts and operations to all his creatures but as an end of rest and complacency only to his blessed Angels and Saints That communication is more remote this immediate that more earthly this is heavenly that more reserved and limited this is full and satisfying There is a staying upon God by faith the vertue whereof is to give us the thing we beg for in prayer before it be given us and whether ever it be brought forth in rerum naturâ or in a providential course or under a sensitive enjoyment yea or no. Faith giveth us that acquiescence in God and such an assurance of the performance of the petitions we ask of him either in kind or equivalently and such a clear foresight of what is to come as that however there be a great distance and many impediments and delays betwixt as and our prayers yet there is a kind of presence and possession of them unto us Joh. 8.56 By it Abraham saw Christs day with rejoycing By it he and the other Patriarchs before the obtaining of the earthly or heavenly Canaan Heb. 11.13 saw afar off and embraced them in their promises By it Davids eye saw his desire upon his enemies Psa 54.3 7 when as yet they were up against him and in pursuit of his Soul By vertue of it we have this confidence that if we ask any thing according to his Will 1 Joh. 5.14 15 he heareth us and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him He saith not we know that we shall have the petitions but we know that we have them that is because either we are as sure of them as if we had them in our hands already or we have them in the fountain or myne in having interest in and u ition of God David when he would still and quiet all murmuring and impatient thoughts in the hearts of the righteous at the delay of their deliverance and the flourishing of wicked men and prosperous success of their evil courses he prescribeth this medicine Delight thy self also in the Lord Psal 37.4 and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart If they be disanimated by the aforesaid dealings of divine Providence so that they know not how to go on against such discouragements in trusting in the Lord and doing good the things immediately before exhorted unto he delivereth them this as a cordial Delight thy self in the Lord. All the discomforts from present crosses and wants may be sweetened and swallowed up by this the satiating solace that is to be had in God And if the mind be impatiently bent to have its desires fulfilled this is the way to have them and that out of hand if he do not effect them in created events he will supply them in affording himself if he do not perform them in providences he will bless them in blissâ—ul consolations to thy Soul and as Elkanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Am not I better to thee then ten sons Is not God better to thee then ten thousand prayers When Esau and Jacob met by Peniel and were in their strains of courtesie about Jacobs present Gâ—â— 33.9 11. Esau having a good earthly estate in Mount Seir told Jacob I have enough my brother and Jacob said to him again I have enough Interpreters observe the word which Esau useth translated enough signifieth much and the word for Jacob's enough signifieth all Esau hath much but Jacob hath all And the reason of Jacob's fuller expression well may be because though his estate in worldly possessions was probably far less then Esau's yet he was Israel a Prince with God he had God for his portion to him he had continual recourse by prayer and if he got not by that means every thing he might ask or not instantly yet he had God himself his presence and favor and so he had all And that reason himself might imply when together with his profession to have enough or all he saith because God hath dealt graciously with me There is in God a full store-house and well-spring of comforts to make up the defects of whatsoever other things we fail of If the Lord hide himself from us in things subsidiary or subservient or the means conducing to the end and not in the main matter or ultimate end it self to wit his favor Spirit and Kingdom we may well satisfie our selves What we are short of in those intermediate and accessive things we may find and enjoy in God David when all was taken and gone at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 encouraged himself in the Lord his God The Penman of Psal 73. Psal 73.25 26 when all went on the wicked mans side and against the people of God finds a rock for his heart and an everlasting portion of God and him he sets up as his only and
stand upon my watch Chap. 2.1 2 3. and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer he is yet delayed in his petition and receives an answer of further Judgments yet to come And the Lord answered me and said Write the Vision and make it plain upon tables Chap. 3.2 that he may run that readeth it for the Vision is yet for an appointed time c. So that his hopes were overwhelmed with fears and terrors which he expresseth in this third recourse in prayer to God O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voyce Verse 16. rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in my self c. The Apostle Paul was earnest by prayer for Israels Conversion and Salvation that is for the Body of that Nation which continued in blindness and stood upon their own and out against the righteousness of God for Justification Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved Rom. 10.1 The answer of God unto him in this was That a remnant only should then be called and the rest be judicially hardened for a long time to come Chap. 11.5 7 25. even until the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles Upon Sauls disobedience and the Lords repenting of his advancement to the Kingdom Samuel prayed a whole night 1 Sam. 15.11 35. yet the Lord rejected Saul from being King over Israel and when this was done Samuel still mourned for Saul Chap. 16.1 till at length the Lord reproved him and sent him to anoint another for that place 2. The holy servants of God have met with stays and disappointments not only in their petitions for others but even in their supplications for themselves and when they have prayed in their own behalf Upright Job that man of Tryals doth in this respect thus make known and bewail his case to his friends Know now that God hath overthrown me and hath compassed me with his Net Job 19.6 7 8. Behold I cry out of wrong but I am not heard I cry aloud but there is no Judgment He hath fenced my way that I cannot pass and he hath set darkness in my paths And in another place he complaineth of thâ— same unto God I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear I stand up and thou regardest m not Cap. 30 20 26 27 28. When I looked for good then evil came upon me and when I waited for light there came darkness My bowels boiled and rested not the days of affliction prevented me I went mourning without the Sun I stood up and I cryed in the Congregation The Prophet David often finds himself in this condition often cries out of it unto God In his 13 Psalm he complains thus for lack of audience How long wilt thou forget me O Lord Psal 13.1 2 3. for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me How long shall I take counsel in my Soul having sorrow in my heart dayly How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me Consider and hear me O Lord my God In the 31 Psalm he saith I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind Psa 31.12 I am like a broken vessel In the 69. he 〈…〉 moan thus I am weary of my crying Psal 69.3 my throat is dryed mine eyes fail while I wait for my God Holy Heman also was in this very plight O Lord God of my Salvation I have cryed day and night before thee Psal 88.1 and with what success He tells presently Verse 4 5. I am counted with them that go down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou rememberest no more and they are cut off frâ—â— thy hand And again a little after Lord I have called upon thee I have stretched out my hands unto thee Yet had he no better speed Vers 9.14 Lord why castest th u off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me Nay the greatest Example possible we have for this to wit that of our blessed Saviour who in his Passion is pâ—rsonated by David in these words My God My God Psa 22 12. Mat. 27.46 why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent Part of which words he audibly uttered or rather cryed out when he hung upon the Cross I will add hereunto only one Instance and it is as great as can be added to the former It shall be taken from the contâ—nual experience of all true Christians that are or ever were in the world Our blessed Saviour teacheth all his to pray Thy Will be done in Earth as it is done in Heaven And again Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Now although these things are and ought to be dayly prayed for yet it must needs be acknowledged as it is experienced by all the Saints of God on Earth that never doth any of them attain to in this life an absolute conformity to the Will of God like that of the Angels and Saints in Heaven nor to a sinless distance from all temptations Bellar. T. 4 de Justif lib. 4. cap. 13. Chamier T. 3. l. 11. c. 7. s 21. Bellarmine would infer from hence a capacity of perfection in the Saints â—â—edience in this life for otherwise saith he these petitions in the Lords prayer are in vain taught and used This Inference we deny There are divers things allowed yea commanded and necâ—ssary to be prayed for which yet may never be granted and there are sundry things as those petitions specified which are to be prayed for every day and yet they may in their just and full measure never be attained till our last day and end come 3. Yea when the servants of God have called upon God in and for his own Cause and Concernment yet the Lord hath sometimes hid himself from their prayer Eliah whom the Apostle James brings in for a singular pattern of prevalency in prayer he maketh intercession to God against Israel in the Lords Cause as well as his own saying Lord they have killed thy Prophets Rom. 11.2 3. and digged down thine Altars and I am left alone and they seek my life Yet after this things went still on in Israel in relation to the matters of God as they did before he never lived to see any redress The people of God in Psal 44. call out upon God and expostulate with him as one that seemed to sleep out the time of their heavy Calamities and hid his face purposely from them and put their Case into utter oblivion Psal 44.8 22 23 24. Awake why
fretting her unchearful look her meatless meals were now layd aside There is a promise to them that seek God That he will make them joyful in his house of prayer Isai 56.7 30.19 as he will bestow those blessings upon them which they crave so he will for earnest make them joyful before they go out of his house And in the same Prophet Thou shalt weep no more he will be very gracious unto thee at the voyce of thy cry David praying and being in a very heavy taking having his Soul cast down within him and deep calling unto deep at the noise of Gods water-spouts and all his waves and his billows going over him that is he being as it were overwhelmed in a Sea of sorrows evils flowing upon him like waves one at the heels of another had this reviving giving him Psa 42.4 7 9 Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life The Lord will command his loving kindness that is he will dispatch it forth to him instantly as a winged Messenger and Harbinger of a good issue of his prayers and afflicting griefs And whil'st he is praying the song of God shall come into and recreate him his own prayer and Gods song shall joyn company together and both at once associate him The Souls under the Altar that cry how long O Lord c. they are put to stay some time for their vindication Apoc. 6.11 Eccles 9.7 8 but in the mean space it 's said White robes were given unto every one of them Those white robes might betoken a chearful habit of spirit a good measure of alacrity put into them during their sufferings yet to be prolonged in assurance of their answer and release in due time to come 3. By a continuation of the Spirit of prayer or an exercise of it When the hands are still supported in their lifting up to God or raised and stretched out higher towards him when the motions vigor and vehemency of prayer are renewed or redoubled in the hearts of Gods servants it is a token from God that it shall not be in vain but to some purpose and effect that they call upon him Hos 12.3 4 When Jacobs strength in wrestling with the Angel was so great and did hold out until day break and he was so set that he would not let the Angel go until he had blessed him this was a strong argument of his power and prevalency with God and that he should prevail with men also with his Brother Esau and all his Troop The pouring upon the House of David Zec. 12.10 and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications is put in the Prophet as a fore-running presage and introduction to many great mercies to them The Apostle brings in this as a clear earnest to Believers of deliverance from sins and sufferings and of receiving the glory and redemption of the body expected and groaned after That the Spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us in prayer with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 As it is a special favor and a good sign to a people that God gives to his Prophets the opening of the mouth in declaring his Word Eze. 29.21 so it is also that he bestows upon them a mouth opened wide and a voyce loud and lifted up in prayer Open thy mouth wide saith God to his Israel and I will fill it Psa 81.10 4. By an erected confidence and it may be a clear foresight and evidence that the Petition is dispatched in Heaven and shall assuredly be accomplished in time on Earth This pledg God doth sometimes vouchsafe his faithful ones upon their seeking of him and before he work to the effecting of their prayers as it is in the Psalmist Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Psa 19.17 thou wilt prepare their heart or as the Margin thou wilt establish their heart that is When they have poured out their desires unto thee thou wilt give them a seal of success by setting impressions of confidence and evidence of it upon their hearts This we often find in David in one part of his Psalm he is praying weeping complaining expostulating and deprecating the dejections and desertions of his Soul for lack of audience and by and by before any thing be done about the affairs or particulars of his prayer he is lifted up and composed in full assurance of having his requests yea triumphs in them as already embraced Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity Psa 6.8 9 13.5 6 â— 20.6 42.11 142.7 for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping the Lord hath heard my supplication But I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy Salvation I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me 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 Why art thou cast down O my Soul why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The righteous shal compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me Cornelius the Centurian in one of his Fast-days and whil'st he was praying had a vision of assurance in which an Angel told him Cornelius Act. 10.30 Luk. 1.13 Philem. 22 thy prayer is heard and the like had Zacharias the Priest in the Temple at the time of prayer The Apostle Paul also being in prison at Rome conceived such a confidence of his being given up to the Christians at Coloss by way of enlargement upon their prayers that he sends out of his prison to Philemon at Coloss to prepare him a lodging with them there This may be sufficient for the illustration of the first way of the Lords answering prayer to wit by way of Obsignation or Assurance wherein we have noted four instances or acts I come to the second kind of answer which is by way of performance this is when the thing entreated for in prayer is accomplished This is the most sensible and most noted way of prayers return from Heaven to the Petitioner David describes it in that his benedictory Psalm Psa 20.1 4 21.2 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble c. Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel and in the next Psalm to that Thou hast given him his hearts desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips It will not be unnecessary to observe the several methods of this answer of performance 1. Sometimes it is instantaneous or dispatched all at once it is finished in one compleat act as when Samuel cryed unto the Lord for Israel at what time the Philistins Army stood ready to give the on-set upon them it is said The Lord heard or in the
Margin answered him 1 Sam. 7.9 10 and as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering the Philistins drew neer to battel against Israel but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistins and discomfitted them and they were smitten before Israel 2. Somtimes it is successive or effected by degrees when the servants of the Lord in their straits and needs call upon him he often helps them gradatim or by successive steps Two steps more frequently he makes in this work 1. He sends strength and support under and during the affliction or want of the benefit desired 2. And then after he gives them deliverance from it he loosens the bands of their distress and they escape out of it both these we have distinctly noted in divers Scriptures as in that of the Psalm He shall call upon me and I will answer him and mark the degree of the answer which follows I will be with him in trouble there 's the one I will deliver him and honor him there 's the other And again In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthened me with strength in my Soul there 's the first present support in his exigence which is further amplified after Though I walk in the midst of trouble Psa 138.3 7 thou wilt revive me and then follows in the next words recovery out Thou shalt stretch out thine hands against the wrath of mine Enemies and thy right hand shall save me This double step of relief from God to his people upon their prayer is notably set forth in the Prophet Malachi When the state of things was grown so forlorn Mal. 3.14 c. as that the ordinary sort of Fasters and Prayers concluded it a vain thing to sâ—â—ve God and a profitless course to keep his Ordinances and to walk mournfully before him yet there were some left that truly feared the Lord that spake often one to another in mutual corroborations unto piety and that thought upon the Name of God in diligent and constant calling upon it and observe the issue these have a twofold day set for them and in them have those 2 degrees of help from God successively 1. There is a day when God makes up his Jewels or as Drusius interprets a day when he makes Judgment or proceeds in Judgment and in that day they saith the Lord of Hoasts shall be my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him that 's the first day and first step of succor The Lord will own them for his in the evil day he will take care of them as of his choycest and preciousest goods and he will moderate their share of troubles and support them therein so that as it is in the next words there shall be a palpable difference put and discerned betwixt them and the wicked in their sufferings 2. There is another day cometh after a day that shall burn as an oven and in this latter day is that other step of the help of those fearers and seekers of God that is their deliverance and full satisfaction For in that day the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hoasts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch But unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of Hoasts I will further note that the latter of these two degrees of Gods return to prayer viz. Deliverance out of trouble or fruition of the thing asked may have its several degrees also As 1. When God raiseth up the means and secondary causes which he will use and sets himself to work by them 2. When he doth carry on and consummate deliverance with them This order he pursued in bringing Israel out of Egypt upon the hearing of their cries and groans he first appears to Moses in Midian and gives him a Call Commission and Instructions to go into Egypt and fetch them out I have heard saith he to them out of the burning Bush their groaning Acts 7.34 and am come down to deliver them and now come I will send thee into Egypt And then Moses and Aaron being joyned together in Egypt and after many goings in there unto Pharaoh for dismission of them and many additions of oppressions upon the Israelites and many miraculous plagues upon Pharaoh his People and Land they are led or posted out of Egypt in one night And in the recovery of the same people long after from their captivity and ruines under the Babylonian the Lord proposeth in his promise several degrees as in the Prophet Hosea And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear saith the Lord Hos 2.21 22 21 I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth And the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and they shall hear Jezreel and I will sow her unto me in the Earth and I will have mercy on her c. Such a series of causes and operations the Providence of God doth often go through in delivering his people This is spoken figuratively in the Prophet not as if the Heavens and the rest of the inferior Creatures here had a voyce or did pray and we must not understand it as spoken of the order of Gods receiving but of his performing prayers In order of receiving prayer God immediately and only hears Jezreel his people but in order of answer and execution he first hears or answers the Heavens that is puts efficacy and influence into them and then by them into the Earth and by the Earth into its fruits and so comes home to Jezreel and then also Jezreel must be sown in the Earth that is must be cast into the ground and lie under the clods of affliction and be in appearance as dead for a time and then spring up and be restored The smoke of incense which came with the prayers of the Saints Rev. 8.4 and ascended up before God out of the Angels hand by it and them were procured the seven following Trumpets Now these Trumpets the issue and execution of those prayers sounded successively one after another and did accomplish those prayers by so many degrees and the term of their succession and continuance ere all be finished is supposed to be for many years yea divers ages Thus of the second way of prayers receiving its answer and the several steps of it The third and last is that of Commutation The Lord doth sometimes hear and answer the prayer when he doth not give the very thing prayed for There is an answer by way of exchange to wit when God gives in lieu of that which is asked another thing which is as good or better for
certain measure of afflictions to undergo and pass through with the stint of time for the continuance thereof and from these no supplications or intercessions unto God can redeem or recover him until they be made up and finished 3. To give others an example of patience and confidence in God under the like delays David waited long for the Lord Psal 40.1 2 3. and then he inclined unto him and heard his cry and brought him up out of the horrible pit c. and the effect of this his patient staying Gods leasure and the issue of it is Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Long and great endurings become famous and draw the eyes of men much upon them and the consequent of mens observing them is by the operation of Gods grace that they fear and trust in the Lord They fear with a reverential fear of Gods mighty hand a with a Providential fear so as to prepare for the like tryal and lay up trust in God against it come Job likewise inferreth this as the effect of all his miseries and the delay of his prayers under them Job 17.8 9 Vpright men shall be astonied at this and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite the righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Chap. 15.16 17 20. He had somewhat before in this his present reply to Eliphaz mentioned his prayers and tears My face is foul with weeping and on my eye-lids is the shadow of death not for any injustice in my hands also my prayer is pure My friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto God Jobs sorrows we see were abundant and continuing and his prayers exact and holy See Divines Annot in loc 2 Edit yet at present he was insulted on as one deserted of God notwithstanding in these his extremities he gathered this comfort unto himself that other godly men will make a better use of his afflictions then his friends had done and although at first they might be taken with admiration to see such a man as he in that condition yet upon recollected thoughts they will decline censuring yea clear and joyn with him against his enemies and by his example will reinforce their stediness and renew their strength courage to entertain and bear the like encounters 4. Lastly The more to dismay deject and confound the enemies and reproachers of his people in the issue The Church of Judah in the Prophet Micah when after her low fall and long waiting and sitting in darkness and bearing the indignation of the Lord he at last pleadeth her cause and executeth Judgment for her bringing her forth to light and letting her behold his Righteousness she telleth us Mic. 7.10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God Hannah staying and praying and weeping long for a child and during her barrenness being much provoked and fretted by her adversary Peninnah when at length she obtained her son Samuel she saith in her song My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies 1 Sam. 2.1 3. because I rej yce in thy Salvation Talk no more so exceeding proudly let not arrogancy come out of your mouth When the wall of Jerusalem was at last by the diligent prayers labours and watchings of Nehemiah and the people of Judah finished it is said Neh 6.26 All their enemies when they heard thereof and all the Heathen that were about when they saw it they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God When the Beast hath overcome and killed the two Witnesses who by prophecy and prayer oppugn his Kingdom and maintain the truth of Christ there will be great insulting They that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another But anon when after the three days and an half they are raised again and called up into Heaven in the sight of their enemies great fear shall fall upon those their beholders Look how much pleasure and joy they took in their dead and prostrate condition so much terror and confusion will possess them at their recovery and ascention into Heaven It was the thing which Peter observed as soon as he was come to hâ—mself upon his deliverance out of prison then when the purposes of his Persecutors against him and the prayers of the Church of God for him were come even to the last cast of tryal which should prevail that the Lord had sent his Angel and delivered him out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Iews Herods hand had now even almost gone through with the execution of Peter the Jews were mightily pleased with his proceedings and the eve of his designed deaths-day being come they were high in expectation to have their cruel eyes and malicious hearts satisfied with the spectacle of his slaughter wherefore his rescue thus long deferred and now atchieved did the more abate and cross the insolency of his enemies These are the Ends which I find in Scripture respecting others for which the Lord may hide himself from his peoples prayers by way of delay and having done with them I have finished the whole series or order of Causes of the Lords hiding himself from prayers both the procuring Causes given by man and the ends or final Causes proposed by God and under this latter head both the ends of Gods denying and the ends of his deferring his servants prayers and of the latter sort both the ends which concern the persons praying and those which reflect upon others And having made up this enumeration I have returned answer to that Query What may be the reason of Gods hiding himself from his peoples prayers grounded upon his promises in its general state or as it may extend to any time case or people SECT VII The Application of both sorts of Causes unto the present Case I Am now to speak to the Hypothesis or the Case in particular as it is ours What may be the reason of the Lords hiding himself now from his people of these Nations in respect of their prayers Of this I must say something but it shall be but by way of hint for I neither need to speak of this all that I could nor can I speak all that there is in it The former I need not the resolution of this query being someway contained in what hath been already said in answer to the query in general the latter I cannot by reason of the large bredth of the Subject it extending it self to so wide a circuit of ground to so great a multitude of persons and to so vast a mixture and variety of ways and transactions and those so secret or intricate that neither mine nor any other one mans experience or
against and strike at in his present proceedings among us This is very evident to him that will see Whilest people of all degrees are busie with head and hand by policy and power or industry to raise and secure their Interest in the world so that Religion Truth Right and publique Peace are nothing regarded in comparison of it the Lord seems even to set himself against them and to cross thwart and curse them in that their beloved concernment What is become of those secular Prerogatives and Priviledges of the which superior persons have been so much more jealous and tender then of the weightier things of their charge particularly the honour of God the safety and lustre of his Truth and the purity and order of his House What satisfaction or success have others had in all their private labours cares and ploddings for the world The sollicitude and turmoyl of most hath proved to be vain and voyd yea to their loss and going backward so that we may say with the Prophet Behold is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity Hab. 2.13 Have not we experience of this Mens wordly endeavors now are as labour in the very fire wherein the laborers have pain in stead of profit and their work consumes as fast as they make it Verily the toyl adventures and strivings of the most in these days for their earthly respects comes to the same reckoning with theirs in Haggai Hag. 1.6 Ye have sown much and bring in little c. all endeavors prove unhappy and abortive and it is from the same agent and for the same cause that then it was so I did blow upon it Why saith the Lord of Hosts because of mine house that is waste Verse 9. and ye turn every man to his own house Never were people more intent and desirous to grow high great and rich in the world then of late have been and now are the men of this generation and how remarkably even to almost every mans conviction doth God appear against them unto their debasement and impoverishment by Wars and distractions at home and abroad by Land and Sea The Lord by his ways may be conceived to have passed a peremptory sentence of us as in the words of the Prophet Yea they shall not be planted yea they shall not be sown yea their stock shall not take root in the Earth Isai 40.34 and he shall also blow upon them and they shall wither and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble q. d. Men would fain take root in the Earth they assay to sow to plant they attempt all ways of thriving in the ground but all in vain God is against them in it he says it thrice over they shall not they shall not they shall not which may respect those three ways of disappointment Either he prevents them in the beginning they shall not be planted they shall not be sown he denies them materials wherewith or soyl wherein to set up their husbandry Or he crosseth their progress their stock shall not take root in the Earth either the storms from without shake it or some vermin at the root some secret curse of God deads it that the stock of wealth parts or friends with which they set up rots and consumes in the Earth Or he blasteth them before the harvest they shall wither and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble all their gay hopeful and promising flourishes do in a short while ere the years end miscarry if they can stand out ordinary storms which nip others the Lord himself will blow upon them with his mighty whirlwind and that turns their fruit into dryed stubble In the midst of the falls and miscarriages of the most some it may be gather and go away with great spoils of wealth honour and advancement but what quiet or comfort have they withall what blessing either from God or man attends them Do we not see the Lord sending among the fat ones leanness and kindling under their glory a burning Isa 10.16 33. Do we not see the Lord lopping the bough with terror and the high ones of stature are hewn down We see one War Combustion and Change coming after another in which the greatest do take their turns both in ascending and coming down There is a War now on foot threatening sad things in many respects and particularly in this of mens worldly interest if it go on as it must needs wear and waste the Community in Blood and Treasure by Slaughter Impositions and loss of Trade so it may abate and shrink the strongest Power the highest arm of flesh the deepest Treasury Methinks the Lord bespeaks our Mammonists and Matchiavels less and greater now as he did them of Judah or Israel by Isaiah Isai 10 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far To whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your glory c. 4. Let the Consciences of men speak Do we not generally acknowledg this to be the reigning sin of the times Do we not universally note and complain of it We take not the charge of every one home to himself yet we cry out of it in one another and as the sin of the age The Country charge the Soldiery with it the Soldiery lay it upon them of higher place and office Clients and Suiters complain of it in Courts and Judicatories and they again retort it The Ministers reprove it in the people and some of the people cast it upon their Ministers None own it in themselves but every one asperseth his neighbor with it I shall not here say where it lies more then otherwhere or endeavor the excuse of any but thus it is evident by every mans confession that it is the Nations regnant sin 6. To conclude This is a sin which the evil under present consideration the Lords hiding from prayers reflecteth on by way of proportion This evil is a suitable retaliation to that fault In having recourse to God by prayer we make profession to place our Interest in Heaven but if under that profession our hearts our dependencies be nevertheless upon the Earth it is but suitable that God should put us back and our interest in Heaven desert us in our recourse to it In so doing God doth but say to us as he did once of Israel Where are their gods Deut. 32.37 38. See Judg. 10.14 their rock in whom they trusted which did eat the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink-offerings let them rise up and help you now and be your protection If our ambition and aim be to be great and potent in this world we must think to be but weak in Heaven If we will court the world we must expect but cold entertainment with God If we make the world