or can who have nothing of Christianity in them nor profess nor pretend to any such thing He is a covetous worldling indeed who doth love the world and wish for the world and work harder for it than some of these do which profess religion It is a shame and a reproach to the Gospel that it should be so and wo be to them by whom the reproach cometh But yet 't is too true there are amongst the number of Professors some though not so many as the world say God forbid there should for they say all are such yet some such there are whose hunger and labour after the world can hardly be overmatch'd by any of those whose names are written in the earth and have no part nor portion in Christ nor name in his Churches Friends I pray deal faithfully in this matter every one of you with your selves ask your hearts How stand I affected to this world are my desires after this earth moderated and limited by my Religion or are they not so high and impetuous that they have even swallowed up my desires after God are you as impatient when you sink and grow to decay in religion as you think you should be if you were sunk and fallen to decay in your outward estates Can you truly say I am not so much athirst to grow rich in this world but I am more athirst to grow rich towards God nay can you say this I am so much athirst for God that this hath quenched my thirst and allayed my desires after this world I am become more indifferent what I have here whether more or less my heart sits loose from all below through the strength of my desires after God can you say so O that you could more of you than I doubt can Well know that 't is impossible that you should intensely desire God and this World together one of the two must fall you must strike sail as to your earthly affections or your souls will never hoise up sail heavenwards And this is the first direction for the kindling and quickning your desires heavenward suppress and allay your carnal and earthly desires 2. Be sensible of your necessity Necessity kindles desire Ps 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee Whence is this thirst and longing O 't is from his necessity I am in a dry Land where no water is I have need of thee Lord need of thy water Brooks for out of thee I have none 't is all a dry Land there 's no water below thee to quench my thirst Friends would you be quenched in your desires after more Grace be sensible of your barrenness and your want do you not want to be in better case than you are have you grace enough to supply your necessities those that are very poor outwardly whose poverty pinches them their necessity will make them beg How is it there are so many poor so many necessitous souls and yet so few begging souls even ready to starve for want of bread and yet cry no more after it Why 't is because however we are in great necessity yet we have not a due sense of our necessity our soul poverty doth not pinch us men that are extreamly poor in the world their poverty pinches them but for souls the poorer they are the less they are pinched with it O friends if you were more pinched with your spiritual poverty if those dry and lean souls did but feel how lean you are if you were touched with a feeling of your necessities if your cold wishes I would I had more grace were come to I must have more I must be more holy I must be more heavenly-minded I must be more zealous for God and more busie and active in following him a necessity lies upon me and wo is me if I continue as now I am the sense of your necessity of getting up into a better case would enlarge your desires after it 3. Be practically convinced of the excellency of a prosperous state in the grace of God All the world how eagerly are they wishing after prosperity men have such high thoughts of worldly prosperity that every one would be glad to prosper as Mal. 3.15 they count the proud happy so generally do worldly men count the rich happy the prosperous happy When we hear of men grown up to that plentiful estate described Ps 144.13 14. Whose garners are full affording all manner of store whose sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets whose Oxen are strong to labour and there 's no complaining in the streets who have plenty of good things and nothing ailing them how do worldlings cry out Happy are the people that are in such a case and hence 't is that their very Souls are all upon the wing making all the haste they can after this earthly prosperity And what if Christians had as great thoughts of soul prosperity O what a case are they in whose hearts are full of all manner of store full of wisdom and spiritual understanding full of faith and of power full of the hidden treasures of eternity whose mouth is full that have grace in their hearts and grace in their lips whose life is full of all the fruits of righteousness what an excellent spirit are they of what an excellent life do they live happy are the people thrice happy are the souls that are in such a case Do worldlings call the proud happy the rich happy the great ones happy ones Yea rather Happy are the Souls whose God is the Lord and those especially who have the grace of God so abounding towards them and in them What if you were practically convinced of this of the excellency of the happiness of a flourishing prosperous state in the grace of God If you did not only notionally conclude it so in the general for that every Christian will do but with a particular respect to your selves O how happy were it for me if I were one of these prospering souls if I could get my soul to be filled with God and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus O if I could love as the best of Saints love O if I could live as I see some Christians live if from creeping on the earth and having my foundation on the dust my soul might get upon the wing and have its conversation in Heaven if in stead of having fellowship with sinners I might have fellowship and live in communion with the Father and the Son if instead of serving my flesh I might spend my days in serving the living God if from being such a sluggard such a cold and lazy soul I might get up to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord O what if there should be such a change made upon me if from this dead and dry and barren case I am in I might be brought to be a living lively fruitful heavenly zealous Christian O what a blessed change would this be O how should mine heart be filled
he lived and as he would have them live they would not only that they may be blessed in Christ but that Christ may be pleased in them They never have their wills but when Christ hath his will of them It does not suffice me saith a Christian that I have hopes of getting to Heaven by Christ at last I must be more holy here I would live so that my ways may please Christ How can I bear it to be so unlike to him to be so often breaking out and breaking loose from him O that I might hold me close by Him that I might in my whole course please the Lord. I would fain be a more exact and perfect Christian All this the Apostle follows so hard after Phil. 3.12 Not as though I had already obtained or were already perfect but I follow after if I may apprehend Brethren this is as far forth as you are Christians and this should be the sum of your desires and aims to get as near as possible to an exact conformity to Christ both to his Image that as he was so you may be in this World and to his will that you may stand compleat in all the wills of Christ 3. Christians falling so much short of that holy conformity to Christ they desire do fall under many doubts and fears how they shall attain O how short do I fall of such an holy frame of such an holy and undefiled course When I look upon what I would be and what I am what a distance is there how far am I yet behind how hardly can I reconcile my loose and lazy heart to such a strict and holy course My untoward heart O how it slugs and hangs back and will not come on O how it boggles breaks loose how many a step doth it make out of this narrow into the broad way O how it lusts after the ease and liberties of the flesh and how often doth it turn aside from Christ to the vain ways and lying vanities of this present World When I would be totally conformed to the Law of Christ I find another Law in my members carrying me out to a compliance with the Law of Sin I am warping every day I am wandring in every duty I am apt to lose my self in every Company I come into in every business I set my self to I cant but look upon it as a comfortable thing and as a blessed thing if mine heart might be ever with the Lord if I could keep me close by his side and constantly under his eye What a mercy what a joy would it be but Woe is me I cannot obtain I have wished and hoped and prayed I have tryed and tryed and still I fall short O how little hope is there left that yet I shall obtain 4. Their trust in Christ is their help against all their discouragements and fears Dost thou say there 's no hope I shall not obtain To perfect conformity to Christ thou canst not but is there no hope of thy becoming a more eminent Christian than now thou art Rebuke that unbelieving thought with this word yet I trust in Christ I shall He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him Heb. 7.25 Not only to save them from wrath but to save them from sin to save them to the uttermost and to sanctifie them to the uttermost Do not say I cannot think how this weak slippery loose untoward heart I cannot think how it should ever come to be setled and fixed in such a severe and holy course do not say such a word Can'st thou not think how Yet he is able to do for thee abundantly above all that thou canst ask or think Eph. 3.20 His thoughts are not as thy thoughts his ways are not as thy ways the Lord Christ can over-do the thoughts of his People can do that for them which they never thought could be done yea and if thou wilt trust him he will do it Consider and study that Scripture Psal 37.5 Commit thy way to the Lord trust in Him and He will bring it to pass Thou hast many good things upon thine heart thou canst not take up with this poor and pittiful and in and out way of life that thou livest thou wouldst fain come to a more spiritual Heavenly active useful course of life This thou proposest to thy self this thou hast made some offers and attempts upon but thou canst not bring it to pass but still thou fallest short what shouldst thou now do why commit thy way to the Lord trust in Him and he shall bring it to pass and as v. 4. He shall give thee the desire of thine heart Christians I hope your hearts are set upon this holy conformity to Christ I hope you will not sit down by what you have already attained God forbid that that easie trifling way of Religion that is all that some of you have attained God forbid that this should satisfie you and I hope it does not I hope you are both wishing for and reaching towards a more strict and painful course Are you so hold on If you have prayed for it pray again pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 Never give over till you have it Have you tryed what you can do to mend your course and mend your pace Try again and again never sit down as discouraged but hold you on keep to the way of the Lord as you can keep you going keep striving and labouring with your hearts with your might and in so doing commit your way to the Lord trust in him and he shall bring it to pass do what you can through the grace already received and what you cannot trust in Christ and he will do it for you 'T is not an idle trust as I said before that I exhort you to such a trust as to save you the labour Never say I trust in Christ that he will work my work in me and for me and so cast off all care your selves 't is not an idle trust but a stirring trust an encourageing trust heartening you to the work Keep doing keep going keep striving towards a more holy serviceable life and then trust in Christ and he shall bring it to pass and give you your hearts desire Christians my hearts desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved I would fain help you to Heaven and that you might be presented by Christ to the Father without spot or wrinkle and in order hereto I would fain see more of the spirit of Christianity and the holy Image of Christ breathing forth and shewing it self more conspicuously in all your ways I study what I can to Preach so to you that my words may be effectual to bring you up to an higher pitch of Holiness and this is my encouragement my trust in the living God that my labours with you shall not be in vain I Pray and trust I Preach and trust I labour among you and trust and what is
and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God That is even then when he is in darkness and hath no light at such a time there may be such a stay God would not command him to impossibilities What is it to be in darkness and to have no light Why no les then to give up all for lost to be in the darkness of an uncomfortable and hopeless state and not to have so much light as to discern his holy habits or actings that should comfort him Why yet even then there may be a stay or else God would never have bid him even in such a case to stay himself upon his God There may be a stay and there is so for do but ask such a poor dark disconsolate Christian when as to his sense he is most hopeless and says I have no hope do but ask him then why what will you take to give up and forgoe all your hope in Christ Will you be hired for ever to quit your hope in Christ O no not for all the world look ye there now though he says he hath no hope yet all the world shall not hire him to let go that hope he hath 2. A resolved cleaving to Christ He doth still when 't is lowest with him with purpose of heart cleave unto Him He thinks here also that he hath no mind nor list to follow Christ or Holiness any longer judging it will be all in vain I but ask such a poor Christian Will you return then to take up your lot with Sinners and give off from serving or following Christ any longer Will you return to your old Lusts to your old carnal and fleshly Life Will you return from Christ to embrace this present World Since you have no hope to the other World will you return to make your best of this World Will you to Ryoting and Drunkenness will you to your old Covetousness and Greediness will you hence-forth go back and live in a total neglect of Christ and his holy ways will you give off hearing and give off praying and give off the trouble and care of an holy watchful Life and let loose the reins to your corrupt Nature and let it take its own course Will you do so Can you do so O the Lord forbid sure I will never go back how-ever if I never come to Heaven yet I will not return to wickedness God will speak Peace to his People but though he never speak Peace to me yet I will not return to folly Though I cannot say with Job cap. 13.15 Though he Slay me yet will I trust in him Yet this will I say though he Slay me yea though he Damn me yet will I serve him If I must to Hell yet I am resolved that Holiness shall be my way I will not allow my self to slight Christ or to sin against Christ though I should never have any benefit by Christ Whatever he will do with me as to my future state yet I am resolved to be his Servant while I live If I may not be a Saint in Heaven yet I will be as much as I can a Saint on Earth Holiness is good if I have never so small a spark of it 't is a Beam of God 't is the Image of Christ If I may not see God nor dwell with Christ yet I will get a little of him here a little is better than none though it should last me but a little time If I may not behold his Face in Righteousness yet I will do what I can to sit at his Feet in Righteousness whatever he do with me Ask any poor Christian that is in his darkest state whether this be not the standing resolution and purpose of his heart And is it not evident now that whatever he thinks of himself he still cleaves unto Christ The truth is such abiding workings of the heart towards Holiness are the souls cleaving to Christ and it appears though he cannot see it himself yet to Standers-by that the root of the matter is still in him yea and such holy resolutions in a dark state are stranger evidences of sincerity than the same resolutions where they are encouraged by the highest sensible enjoyments Certainly there is more of evidence in it to be able to say though he damn me yet I will serve him then there is in this I will serve him because he hath saved me For mine own part I should have an higher confidence of a poor disponding and even despairing Christian that 's bent upon Holiness than of many whose Religion is animated and encouraged by raptures of Joy For the close of this e're I proceed farther give me leave to put in a word of Exhortation let me exhort you in the words of Barnabas Act. 11.23 That with purpose of heart you will cleave unto the Lord. Cleaving Notes Firmness Closeness 1. Be firm stick close to Christ Let it be with you as with the Apostle Rom. 8.38 39. Let nothing separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Be sure of this that he will be with you whilst you are with him Jam. 4.8 Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh to you So may I say stick fast unto Christ and he will stick fast unto you Christ is a sure Friend and he will stick by all his Friends that are faithful to him Consider the three fore-mentioned cases as Arguments to press this Exhortation 1. You are in a Wilderness and must expect troubles to come upon you Your Faithfulness to Christ may cost you dear you may be forsaken of your Friends you may fall into the hands of your Enemies yet if ye will be Faithful to him though all men forsake you though evil men run upon you yet Christ will stick to you So he did to Paul 2 Tim. 1.16 17. No man stood with me but all men forsook me notwithstanding the Lord stood by me and strengthened and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon where we have 1. The hard case he was nd Christians must look to be in 1. He was in the hands of Enemies of great Men who were examining him and before whom he was to answer for his Life Christians may be brought b fore Rulers and there Tryed for their Lives and judged for Malefactors 2. He was forsaken by his Friends he had many Friends before but when it came to the pinch they all gave him the slip and shrunk back and stood aloof and left him alone Count upon this hard lot and count it not strange if it come to be your lot 'T is not so much to suffer in Company as when any particular person is singled out as a Deer from the Herd and chased alone the Hunters are upon him and the Herd will not shelter him but shift away from him That 's it you may look for to be persecuted by Enemies and not to be owned by your
Gods God never departs till there be another God taken in with him and set up by him and God will never continue unless these Idols be cast away Ezek. 14.5 They are estranged from me by their Idols they are grown strangers to me and I must be a stranger to them they have taken in other Gods besides me And v. 5. Repent says God and turn your selves from your Idols If you would have me stay let them go their way There is a setting up of Idols in the Congregation a setting up of Stocks and Stones to worship and there is a setting up of Idols in the Heart Ezek. 14.3 These men have set up their Idols in their Hearts Those that have no such Idols as Israel had those that abhor Image Worship or worshipping of the Sun and the Host of Heaven those that would be trembled to see an Idol set up in the House of God may yet have an heart full of Idols One of the chief of our Idols is the World and our great Heart-Idolatry is Covetousness or the Love of the World Col. 3.5 And Covetousness which is Idolatry If God be provoked to depart from us 't is to be suspected that this is the Idol that drives him away Our hearts are gone after the World and thereupon 't is that the Lord God is so far from our Hearts Would you lay hold on God put away your Idols cast this world out of your Hearts 'T is vain to confess we have sinned against God 't is vain to pray Lord leave us not God will never regard your confessions nor your prayers till your Idols be cast out Friends whatever we suffer or are like to suffer 't is this World 't is our Worldliness that hath undone the most of us the gains of this World the pleasures of this World have been taken into our Hearts and thereupon 't is that God leaves us to sink and go to ruin as we do Cease from your Idolatry away with your Earthly-mindedness and Fleshliness your hands are full of dirt and ashes empty them of these or you can never lay hold on God We cry out against the Wickedness of our Age the Atheism the Adulteries the Oaths and prodigious Profaneness that is among us and these and suck-like Evils we look on as the reason why God is such a stranger and so angry with us But besides these Wickednesses of the openly Profane there are other iniquities to be found even amongst those that profess against this Profaness and this for one the Iniquity of our Covetousness that hath thus provoked the Lord against us Is 57.17 For the Iniquity of his Covetousness I was wrath and smote him I hid me and was wrath and yet he went on frowardly in the way of his Heart Here 3 things 1. That Covetousness is Iniquity or Wickedness Covetous Ones are Wicked Ones however they may look like Holy Ones whatever of God or Religion appears yet their Covetousness where it is predominant marks them out for Wicked ones Art thou a Professor of Religion dost thou Hear dost thou Pray dost thou joyn thy self to those that fear God and yet art thou a Worldling thou art but a Wicked Man whatever thy Profession be 2. The Iniquity of our Covetousness will make God to withdraw and hide his Face from us I hid me and was wrath 3. Covetous men how dear soever their Covetousness costs them yet they will go on their way He went on frowardly that is perversly or obstinately in his way He would not be turned back he would not give off from following his worldly heart how angry soever God was with him for it O this Disease of a worldly Heart when it is rooted once it hardly admits of a Cure Beloved God hath prescribed you many Remedies and God hath given you many Warnings and your Souls have suffered great loss by it O the impoverishment that hath fallen upon your inward man by your so over eager pursuit of the advantages of our outward man and yet for all this who will take warning How little abatement is there to be seen of the Zeal of our Hearts after Earthly things O 't is an evil Disease and a tough Disease that will hardly be purged away There are some Humours of the Body that are so tough that where they abound they can hardly be purged away without the destroying of Nature and there is no Humour in the Body so tough and hard to be removed as this disease of the Soul Well but yet unless you mean to part with God yea and to part with him for ever you must let this Idol go And the like may be said of any other of our Idols any other Sins you have set up in your Hearts There can be no taking hold of God but you must let all your Idols go you are at this point either these must be parted with or God and your Souls must part You that are proud Professors that Pride must be laid in the Dust you that are for your pleasure or your ease you that are for your credit and reputation you that are given to appetite whose God is your Belly or your Throats you must come off from all that your hearts are thus set upon or else count upon it that as you have begun to fall as there is a breach between God and your Souls begun so it will grow worse and worse with you and the breach grow wider and wider till it become too great to be ever made up What Friends will ye love this World to the Death will you love your Pleasures and your Ease and your Lusts to the Death will you sell all that you have all your Religion all your Hopes and your Comforts that you have had in it will you sell your God and your Souls for these vile things The Young Man in the Gospel foolishly refused to sell what he had in the world for Christ and will you not refuse to sell Christ and all your Hopes as to the other world for the trash you have here do not you see do none of you see how dear they have cost you and how low they have brought you as to the State of your inward man already and will you hold on still and never give over till you have lost all and all hopes of ever recovering what you have lost O be yet advised and go no farther on cast ye away cast ye away your Idols and yet return to the Lord and he will return to you 2. Our laying hold on the Covenant of God We have no other hold on God but his Covenant with us we had need keep the Covenant of God inviolable for there 's all the hold we have either for this life or the life to come And this is the hold that we find this people of Israel insisted upon v. 9. of this Chapter Behold see we beseech thee we are all thy People that is thy Covenant People See we beseech thee or
of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up Charity begins at home and so must all Religion Religion must begin at home in thine own heart first and then in thine house and thence thou wilt get more ability and aptness to diffuse it abroad Consider Beloved how is it with you at your homes upon this account what Religion is there going in your Families how often do your Children and your Servants hear any gracious words from you O Friends do all you can to make all yours Partakers of the Grace you have received Is the word of the Lord in thine own heart let your whole houshold hear oftner of it as you sit at your Tables as you sit at your fires or are walking in your houses 't is not now any stated way of instruction by reading the word repeating Sermons catechizing c. that I am dealing with you about but that in a way of familiar discourse you would be often dropping down some gracious words Friends have you a conscience towards God What conscience is that that will suffer you to live in the neglect of so known and necessary a duty can you with any conscience withhold bread or cloths from your own with what conscience then can you withhold counsel and instruction will you make yours partakers of all you have in the world only they shall have no benefit by the knowledge or the grace you have received Let your bowels instruct you to be kind to their souls and if you will by any arguments be perswaded to be thus kind to your own you will thereby be prepared and get such an holy habit as will make it more familiar and easie to you to live profitably amongst others Beloved Hearken to me in this thing will you hearken and try what you can do if ever you would stand up in your Generations as persons of any use or serviceableness to Christ and the interest of his Gospel if you would not stand in the companies you come into as insignificant Cyphers or as dumb Idols that have mouths and speak not be perswaded to use your tongues to better purpose at your homes 3. Next speak unto your Brethren and fellow Christians to those that fear the Lord. Mal. 3.16 Those that feared the Lord spake often one to another Ps 66.16 Come to me ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you We took sweet counsel together said the Psalmist Ps 55.14 That is we that were the Friends of the Lord or took our selves to be such we consulted together or counselled one another in the matters of God It may be you may be more abashed and afraid to speak to those that are without you know not how they will take it you doubt they may be dogs that will tear and rend you or at least that they may be swine and trample under feet and scorn and despise those holy words you speak unto them they may laugh at you and scoff at your counsels But now with your Brethren in the Lord you may be more free in confidence that they will accept and take in good part the good words you speak and will also be tender to you and bear with your infirmities if any be in speaking Labour for a more profitable converse Christians with Christians Believers with Believers this will be more easie because you may presume one another to be of the same Spirit your good words will be unto them acceptable words and the sense of that will invite you to speak Christians have mutual need one of another to help each other in the Lord and yet there is a great fault amongst us that we are not thus mutually helpful Like those foolish Quakers we have too many of our silent meetings as to our main concern scarce a serious or savoury word comes from us when we meet together Christians learn to amend this fault Let us as we have opportunity edifie and build up one another in the most holy Faith Jude 20. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works Heb. 10.24 Friends do not tempt one another as perhaps too often you do to be vain as you are vain to be carnal as you are carnal Do not chil and damp each others spirits by your carnal and frothy and impertinent discourses but quicken one another do what you can to whet and set an edge upon each others spirits and holy affections What have you nothing to talk of when you come together but of your trades and your fields or of news or of the weather and such-like impertinences Have you not a God have you not Souls have you not a Country whether you are traveling are you not upon a Journey to that blessed Land have you not Friends and Kindred above that are worth the speaking of have you not enemies and temptations here below an evil world to travel through many corruptions and afflictions to conflict withal and have you not need of mutual counsel comfort encouragement and establishment one from another How is it that you can find room for so much idle talk when you have matters of such weight and moment to fill up your time when do you use to return with most comfort and satisfaction upon your spirits when you have been vainly merry together or when you have been edifying one another in the most holy faith 4. Then in the next place speak to those which are without to poor sinners that are yet in their sins Ps 51.13 Then will I teach transgressours thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee Your special work possibly may lye amongst the houshold of faith but as you have opportunity you must do good to all Gal. 6.10 All that need you must be made partakers of your spirituals as well as of your temporal things Those that fear God it may be may sometimes hear some good words from you but have you never a word for those that fear not God O pity your poor unconverted neighbours and in your compassion do what you can to pull them out of the fire convince them of their sins warn them of their miseries perswade them back from the Devil invite and allure them in to Christ let them hear often of grace and sin of heaven and hell of death and judgment from your lips See how the compassions of the Church work towards the Heathen world Cant. 8.8 We have a little sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for our sister The poor Gentiles they have no Scriptures no Prophets no Ordinances no breasts of consolation we have a poor sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for her they pitied the poor Gentiles and in their pity they consider what they might do for them And why do not we carry it alike to unconvered sinners we have poor children poor neighbours that have no eyes no heart that have no Christ
and the misery of those you are praying for Hear the cry of the poor blind and hardned Sinners amongst us these stones cry out their misery does let fall a tear over us lift up a Prayer for us Hear the cry of your Enemies who curse you and persecute you for Religion sake their case calls upon you bless us that curse you pray for us that despitefully use you and persecute you hear the cry of your brethren in the Lord especially your Sin-sick brethren your Soul-sick brethren your decayed and backsliding brethren do not their cases cry loud in your Ears Help help us by your Prayers hear your poor Children and Families crying what shall we do What will become of us if there should be a going on in this sinning and sinking 'till the Gospel be taken from us For our sakes try what ye can do besiege the Throne of Grace take hold of the God of Grace that he leave us not to die for want of Instruction Hear Magistrates and Ministers crying We need your help as much as any cry mightily unto the Lord for us Hear a whole Kingdom yea hear the whole World crying Pray to the Lord for us O Brethren how much matter of Prayer have we how many moving and heart-breaking cases have we before us Set them before your eyes lay them deeply to heart and this will quicken you in Prayer All these cases and multitudes more send in their Bills and passionately cry in your ears now try what you can do to help in a time of need to help a poor languishing Nation to help poor Magistrates and Ministers to help poor sinning and dying Souls you that make mention of the Lord now keep not silence bow your knees call up all your sighs and groans pour out your tears pour out your souls set heart to heart and prayer to prayer unite your strength and cry in the ears of the Almighty O Lord behold for we are very vile we are very low arise and save us save Lord or we perish 2. How you may most successfully perform this Duty In answer to this take these few following Directions 1. Make God your Friend and see that there be no standing controversie betwixt Him and your Souls See that you be sincere Converts to God and have a good conscience towards God see that ye be reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus and be not aliens and enemies and that matters be kept fair and clear betwixt God and your Souls Is it peace betwixt the Lord and you or is there not a particular controversie that he hath with you Consider if the Lord hath not somewhat against you and such as hath provoked him to anger against you Get the controversie to be taken up make your own peace first and then you will be fit to be Intercessors for others If I had a Petition to present to the King I would not put it into the hands of a Rebel no nor into his who were under his Princes frown I would put it into the hands of a Favourite and so should have the more hope to speed If you would do your friends a kindness in Heaven see that you hold your own friendship there If I regard iniquity in mine heart God will not hear my Prayer Ps 66.18 Pray for whom you will for your self or your friends 't is like to come to all one as if you held your peace God will not hear you whilst you regard iniquity in your hearts Hast thou Sin in thee and Sin that thou allowest in thy self what ever it be great or little open or secret purge it away and cast it from thee or God will not hear thee Prov. 15.8 The prayer of the upright is his delight Give me the holy Souls the humble the tender the watchful the Jacobs the Daniels the Noahs the plain-hearted them that walk with God and are highly favoured of the Most High to appear before the Lord for me Those that are in their Sins and utterly Strangers from God and those that have declined in Godliness and are become Wanderers from the Lord what hope is there of any service that their Prayers will do God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth John 9.31 Beloved a poor languishing Nation calls upon you for the help of your Prayers but alas what help is there in them To have a company of poor hard-hearted impenitent and dead Sinners or of sick and loose and carnal Professors to have such a company gather'd together to pray there is as much hope in it as if the Blind and the Lame and the Bed-ridden of a Nation should be gathered together into an Army to fight as great success is like to be obteined by such a sinful congregation assembled to pray as would be by such an impotent Army gather'd together to fight One sincere upright hearted Saint will do more than a whole congregation of praying Sinners Acts 27. we read of a Ship in a Storm and a desperate hazard of being cast away all visible hope of its being saved was cut off the Mariners could do little more in the Ship and such a company of profane Wretches could do nothing in Heaven But behold one Paul he prays and he prevails the Lord gave him his life and the lives of all them that sailed with him the Mariners and the Soldiers might have prayed while they would but the Ship had been never the more secured from sinking if Paul had not been with them Indeed it 's the duty of Sinners to be present in days and in the exercises of Humiliation and there may be this advantage of it They may by this means be converted and so 1. There 's one more added to the number of God's Remembrancers there 's one more Souldier added to the Praying Army If there were hundreds or thousands of Converts more brought in so many would there be added to joyn in their strength to wrestle with God 2. By every new Convert God's Interest is increased in such a people by how many more Converts there are by so much the more hath God to lose if such a people should miscarry Well this is the first Direction if you would that your praying should be to any purpose Make God your Friend 2. Make often use of your Friend in your personal cases live a Praying life those that are much in Prayer are most like to be mighty in Prayer He that deals much with the Lord in prayer will have many experiences of God's gracious dealings with him in answer to his Prayers You will hereby prove that Prayer is not such an helpless and insignificant Duty as those that disuse themselves to it are apt to distrust it to be you will never give off your cases for hopeless whilst there is this way open to go to God He that uses to go before the Lord will be the more able to go with boldness and confidence