And in that he himself hath suffered being tempted Heb 2.18 he is able to succour them that are tempted 1. Jo. 2.1 Jo. 17.5 And therefore having Christ to be our Advocate and that he tells us that he prayeth for his why should we decline so easie a way and take a harder and more deceitfull tract either by the merits of our own prayers or the mediation of Saints or Angels If there be occasion to pray for the members of Christ labouring under difficulties on earth let the prayers ascend to the Head saith Aug. who is gone before into heaven by whom there is propitiation for our sinnes 1. Jo. 2.2 For if Paul be a Mediator the other Apostles should be so too and if there be many Mediators there 's no reason why Saint Paul should say 1. Tim. 2.5 There is one God and one Mediator between God and man the Man Christ Jesus In whom we are one if we keep thâ— unity of the spirit Ephe. 4 3. in the bond of peace Therefore if we desire that our prayers should be as incense Psal 141.2 or a morning sacrifice to God and receive a gracious answer from him we must tender them to him onely in the Name and for the merits of Jesus Christ Mat. 3.17 In whom alone he is well pleased 6. Lastly our prayers receive not that audience or acceptance that we expect because we offer them not with that due respect we ought our outward behaviour is not suitable with that of Petitioners If a man petition for any thing it 's fit he should compose himself as becomes a Petitioner that is by uncovering his head bending himself and the like We usually call him that begs an alms with his hat on a sturdy begger and give him relief accordingly Jer. 6.16 Ask and enquire of the old pathes and see whither in former ages there were ever such bold unreverend Petitioners as now God may well take up to us the speech which he used in the Prophet to the uncivill Jews If I be a Father where is mine honour if I be a Master where is my fear Search the Scriptures and you shall finde how reverently the Saints of God made their addresses to him Abraham in his conference with God fell on his face So did Mary Gen. 17.3 the sister of Lazarus Jo. 11.32 to our Saviour Christ And the Samaritan Leper one of the ten Lepers which were cured Fell down on his face at Christs feet Lu. 17.16 giving him thanks for the great benefit he had received from him a gesture certainly of much submission King Solomon 1. Kin. 8.15 assoon as he had built the Temple powred out his Prayers to God for a blessing Nor is that set down that he prayed onely but for our instruction with what gesture he did it 54. He arose from the Altar of the Lord from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven Ezra in his Prayer for the people that had sinned grievously Ezra 9.5 Fell upon his knees and spread out his hands to the Lord his God Saint Pauls precept is 1. Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting Our Saviour himself kneeled wheâ— he prayed Lu. 22.41 Act. 9.40.20.36 Saint Peter praying for Tabithas restoring from death to life kneeled down and prayed The like diâ— Saint Paul upon the shore at Ephesus with all that were with him We may read also in sacred Scripture that many Penitents joyned with their prarers smiting their brests and casting ashes upon their heads renting their garments and putting on of sack-cloath these and the other before mentioned being tokens that their prayers were fervent and their confession of sinnes and their repentance for them serious and humble For while we cast up our eyes and stretch our hands to heaven we declare and signifie our ardent expectation of all aid and good from God alone and from none other When I kneel I expresse my humility when I smite my brest I shew mine indignation against my self for offending so gracious a God and the like I deny not but that the true worship of God consists chiefly in inward not outward behaviour yet outward gestures are not only as I said signes of the sincerity of our prayers but prevalent also to stirre up our attentions and to cast off all dulnesse and frigidity in praying Besides these humble gestures are as it were a means to incite others that are spectators of our devotion to the like reverentiall performance And indeed since God is the Creator not onely of the soul but of the body also which is as it were the temple of the Soul and that the Body one day must receive good or ill with the Soul why should not God be honoured by both I confesse as I said before that the inward affections of the Soul justly chalength the first place in our Prayers nor is it to be thought that God despiseth the prayers of him that sitteth standeth or lyeth if his affections go along with them yet since God hath given man a Body with a Soul for his own glory 1. Cor. 6.20 Therefore as the Apostle directs glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods In all these fore-named gestures it 's certain that the heart must be lift up before the hands the heart must kneel before the body for the heart hath knees as well as the body Eph. 3.14 witnesse Saint Paul the heart must weep before the eyes and the heart must speak before the tongue for it 's not the voice or bare sound of words which God gives ear to but the affection of the heart Though true vocal prayer is necessary to stirre up our fainting spirits and to incite others to the like duty for God by the Prophet complained of such as were onely wording petitioners Isa 29.13 and our Saviour quotes the same text Mat. 15.8 against the Scribes and Pharisees This people draw neer me with their mouths and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me Therefore as Augustine doth we may conclude that Oratio non est in multiloquio True prayer consists not in many words And with him Differunt multum loqui multum precari Hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam sermonibus agitur plus fletu quam affatu There 's great difference between much speaking and much praying this work is better effected by groanes then words by weeping then by speaking There are divers presidents in Gods word to inform us that God hears mental prayers Eâ— 14.15 aswell as vocal Wherefore cryest thou unto me saith God to Moses when we read not of a word that he spake So when God was offended at the Israelites for making a golden calf Moses stood sad and silent yet as it seems he prayed secretly and his prayer ascended up to
it rained not on the earth by the space of three yeers and six moneths And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit Samuel having terrified the people for their ingratitude 1. King 17. 18. by thunder and rain in harvest â— Sa. 12.18 was entreated by the people to pray to God on their behalf to withdraw that judgement from them which he did Yet a little neerer to our selves The people in the absence of Moses cause Aaron to make a golden Calf God is highly displeased with them and saith to Moses Ex. 32.10.11.14 Let me alone that I may consume them Moses besought the Lord for them and he was appeased In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen 19.19 and the countrey round about Let by prayer preserved Zoar. Jonah being sent by God denounceth destruction to the great city Ninive The king and the people betake themselves to prayer and repentance Jon 3.4 10 and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not In particular cases we finde Gen. 32 9. Jacob prayed for deliverance from the wrath of his brother Esau and had it 1. Sam. 1.11 Hannah from barrennesse of womb and the Lord heard her By prayer Jer. 40. Jeremiah was comforted in the dungeon and released Dan. 6.22 Daniel saved from the violence of the lyons Job was preserved upon the dunghil Luk. 23 42. The Thief found Paradise upon the Crosse Act. 12.5 And Peter was delivered from prison by the prayers of the Church If any wanted necessaries they prayed to God for them As Jacob for bread Gen. 28.20 and raiment If for wisdom to manage their calling as Solomon he begged 1. Kin. 3 9. and had it in large measure If they lay sick and desired health as Hezekiah 2. Kin. 20.6 upon his prayer to God he had not onely the sentence of death revoked but fifteen yeers added to his life In the new Testament we finde thâ— duty in great estimation Our Saviâ—â— to encourage us not that he had neâ—â— himself oft times used to pray and gave us a rule Luc 21 36 Pray alwayes So did the Apostle Paul 1. Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing And the Fathers and Doctours in the Primitive church gave prayer many encomioms stiling it the key of heaven and practised it oftner then any other religious duty Nay in those times as the best things may in time be corrupted some there were the Psalliam or Euchite that prayed so much that they which should hear of it saith Augustine would think it incredible and were therefore numbred among the Heretiques of that age Their errour grew upon the misunderstanding of those words of our Saviour and of the Apostle of praying alwayes and without ceasing which as the Fathers expound them was that men should allot some time daily for performing the duty of prayer But we wretched creatures a thing much to be lamented in these very times of heavy and bitter afflictions when heaven it self the elements and all creatures else seem to be sensible of them we I say do not so much as think of amendment of life nor seek we to God by prayer but in these extremities have recourse to the arm of flesh and rely upon our own strength and wisdoms them which God being neglected nothing is more vain and helplesse Nay being already stricken Jer 5 3. we have not grieved being almost consumed we have refused to receive correction We have made our faces harder then a rock we have refused to return And as it was in the prophet Esays time Isa 22.12 In that day a day like ours did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth And behold joy and gladnesse 13. slaying oxen and killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Insomuch as God may again take up that complaint which he did long since Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your children they received no correction And it 's no marveile we coming so short in this duty of prayer of those which have gone before us that all the elements conspire against us nor is it wonder if we feel daily the revenging hand of God which prayer only as it were tyes up in greater measure then they felt it Therefore are we much to be blamed for though we conceive that Godâ— judgements lye heavier upon us then upon any Nation of former ages yet we procrastinate and put off from us this wholsome remedy of prayer Our necessities are present why seek we not for present help Do we know whither we shall have time to pray while too morrow how dare we then promise so much to our selves The Parable of the foolish Virgins should teach us to take the present time for none ever escaped unpunished that neglected and let slip the time and opportunity of Gods mercy The Prophets counsell was Seek the Lord while he may be found Isa 35 6. call upon him while he is neer We are daily frighted with many fears and those not causelesse one plague one judgement suceeeds another nor are we free either within or without us from divine vengeance In these extremities what more present remedy or help can we finde then by calling upon God and casting our cares upon him Is any afflicted saith the Apostle Let him pray Jam. 5 13. If crosses dangers sicknesse warre famine pestilence tempestuous weather want or other calamity hang over our heads or befall us what is to be done Let us pray If the sence of our sinnes trouble us as well they may if the fear of eternall death the wages of sin afflict us Let us pray for prayer is the life and soul of the soul and so profitable a duty so necessary that the soul health life it self and all we have depend upon it Then why do we so much neglect it so little regard it why have we not recourse to God by daily and fervent prayers especially in these times when we have more need of his help and succour then ever before The Church is rent and torn the Kingdom distracted and even at the brink of ruine and destruction Can we behold these desolations with dry eyes without bleeding hearts shall we not deprecate Gods anger and imprecate his favour and become humble suppliants to him to pardon our great and manifold sins and to avert these his heavy judgements from us shall the heauens seem to mourn and shall not we shall we not If a man have lost all that he possessed and become blinde lame and infirme this man must either beg or starve and perish Certainly we have lost by our transgressions all the good we had and therewith all the gifts and graces of grace and nature what then remains but that like
predictions of his wrath we have either neglected or misinterpreted not unlike the Jews of whom Josephus relates Who when a starre or Comet in the shape of a sword hung over the city of Jerusalem by the space of a yeer before the destruction of it and that when at the feast of Vnleavened bread there shone a light at nine of the clock in the night as bright as if it had bin the clearest day in the yeer De bell Jud l. 7. c 12. yet saith he some of the Jews interpreted them according to their severall fancies others wholly contemned and sleighted them till at last too late they found their own folly to their utter destruction But more observant of things of this nature was Lewis the gentle son to Charlemain for when some of his Courtiers perceiving he was troubled at the apparition of a Comet shewed him that place in the prophet Be not dismayed at the signes of heaven Jer. 10.2 for the heathen are dismayed at them he answered We ought not indeed to fear any thing but him who is the Creator both of us and that Comet Aimon de gest Fran. l. 5. c. 17. yet we cannot but sufficiently admire and acknowledge his goodnesse that vouchsafeth to admonish us impenitent sinners and to stirre us up to repentance by such signes as these Now though we wave these things as not to be regarded yet we should not be so sencelesse and stupid as to slight the judgements under which we lye but be sollicitous to remove the cause of them that the effects may be removed also Sin and transgression we finde to be the cause an humble confession with contrite hearts for that which we haue formerly committed and amendment of life for the future with earnest prayer to God to take off his heavy hand must be the cure We must say with them in the Lamentations Lam 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. 41. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens and say we have transgressed and rebelled 42. But we are farre stom taking the right course to remove these judgments onely we look back to former times and comparing ours with those we conclude them to be happy and ours most miserable we complain and murmure that 's all we do It cannot be denied but that ours at this present may paralel if not exceed the worst of times if we consider the dearth and scarcity of all manner of food and necessaries the unseasonablenesse of weather destroying the fruits of the earth a plain prognostique of famine to ensue the land almost destroyed with distractions and divisions yea with murders and rapine trade utterly decayed and many thousands of people undone many poor widows and orphans succourlesse and harbourlesse ready to perish all these being the sad effects of a civil but a bloody warre yet these are not the worst of our miseries our condition is yet more wretched For all that have been yet enumerated are without us nor do they detract from our eternall happinesse but rather adde to it Afflictio dat intellectum these temporall judgements do or should bring us to the consideration of the cause namely Sin and consequently to a detestation of it but the distractions which are within us make us much more miserable then these which are without us Our understanding is blinde our will perverse and prompt to all evil the flesh lusteth against the spirit and our affections are so inordinate that no kingdom no not our own is at such discord as we are within our selves which is the chief cause that God is so offended with us this and onely this makes us miserable indeed It were therefore to be wished that as we look back to the condition of our predecessors so we would balance our lives with theirs then we should be forced to confesse that they were not so great sinners as we are and therefore their punishments ought to be lesse then ours by the rule of proportion of Gods justice and considering this we would soon lay down these complaints betake our selves to some expedient to appease the wrath of God Besides if we would but take notice of the course they took when either they felt or feared the heavy hand of God we should confesse that they deserved more favour from God then we do and we lessepity from him then they To leave other things and to passe by their sanctity and piety of life which the greater it was the harder it is for our imitation They had and applyed not onely a cure for their afflictions when they befell them but an Antidote too And this was Prayer In all their difficulties they had recourse to prayer as a speciall sanctuary to flee too hoping nay being assured to obtain any thing at Gods hands by it Were they at any time in danger of enemies they had recourse to God by prayer And how prevalent it was ever with God appeareth by that notable place in Exodus when Joshua fought against the Amalekites Exod. 17.11 Moses lift up his hands to God and Israel prevailed and when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed So that it was not Joshuahs sword but Moses prayer that overcame the Amalekites The Children of Ruben and Gad fight against the Hagarites 1. Ch. 5 20.21 one hundred thousand of them were delivered into their hands for they cryed to God in the battell saith the text and he was entreated of them because they put their trust in him The Moabites and Ammonites came in great multitudes to fight against Jehosaphat He being in fear of them made his addresse to God by prayer and said 2. Ch. 5 20.22 O our God we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee And the Lord turned the forces of his enemies one upon another and they destroyed themselves Hezekiah prayed against Senacherib king of Assyria 2. Kin. 19.15.35 that invaded his kingdom with a mighty army and the Lord sent an Angel by night into the camp and destroyed 185000. of them Zera the Ethiopian came against king Asa with an host of a thousand thousand 2. Chr 14.8 Asa having 580000. to oppose him He cryed to the Lord and said 2. Chr. 14.8 c. It is nothing with thee to help whither with many 〈◊〉 with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee c. and the Ethiopians were utterly routed and slain King David found the force of prayer effectuall in this kinde Psal 56.9 for he saith When I cry to thee then shall mine enemies turn back There are diverse other examples of this nature in holy writ In the case of famine Jam. 5.17.18 we may see what Saint James writes of Elias that he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and