odors Their sweet odors were an emblem of prayer and the time of their Incense-offering was their time of prayer * Psa 141 2 Luk. 1.10 so that it is as much as if he had said I will not accept your prayers This the Prophet Daniel renders as the reason of the accomplishing of the seventy years captivity and of the Lords hiding so long in that particular from his people and their prayers All this evil is come upon us Dan. 9.13 yet made we not our prayers before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities The people before and all along during the captivity did pray as I have before noted but they did not so pray as withall to turn from their iniquities and therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil saith he in the next words or as some render Therefore hath the Lord been diligent Rolloc in loc and persevering in that evil which he hath brought upon us that is therefore he hath gone on in judgment against us and would not be entreated We may note it in all experience a course of prayer and a course of sin cannot stand together I mean they cannot both stand in force together but either prayer will beat down sin or sin will keep down and enervate prayer neither do they ordinarily stand together for any time in regard of practice but either prayer will break off the course of sin or sin will break off the custom of prayer What the Apostle saith of the Spirit and the flesh that they mutually lust against one another Gal. 5.17 the same may be said of prayer and sin they combate and conflict each against other and that until the one be brought down We have thus seen what sins in special are causes of Gods hiding from prayers and we have had them distinguished in three ranks namely sins against piety sins against the second Table and sins in or about prayer and under each of these have been mustered up divers particulars The fourth thing propounded to consideration was certain circumstances in sin which help forward this effect and move God the rather to it These are 1. Incorrigibleness in sin or a going on in sin notwithstanding and in contradiction unto special means applyed for reformation as when the Word of the Lord is sent out and published unto a person or people for a direct conviction and rebuke of the sin or sins committed and lived in and for the calling of men to repentance of and recovery from them or when the Judgments of God have come and lien upon men personally domestically or nationally in any kind as a witness against and correction for the sin or any other means hath been used and yet nevertheless men persist and obstinately persevere in their evil ways This was Israels and Judahs aggravation of their sin and it added weight to and furthered the Lords hiding from their prayers But they refused to harken Zech. 7.11 12 13. and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the Law and the words which the Lord of Hoasts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hoasts Therefore it came to pass that as he cryed and they would not hear so they cryed and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hoasts When the Lord declared to Israel Hos 5.15 by the Prophet Hosea that he would go and return to his place that is that he would withdraw his presence and audience to a great distance from them this was one thing which brought it on They have done so and so Verse 2. though I have been a rebuker of them all And the same is alledged against that people in the Prophet Isaiah as concurring to this effect I hid me Isai 57.17 and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart or as the late Annotations because he went on frowardly Divines Annot. 2 Edit c. And so their froward and obstinate running on in their sin was not the consequent but the antecedent and reason why God was wroth and being angry hid himself from them 2. Presumption or an adventuring to do an act or run a course against the express and particular prohibition or warning of God by his Messengers against the doing thereof As when Israel in the wilderness would needs go up to fight with the Amorites Moses relating it to them afterward saith And the Lord said unto me Say unto them Go not up neither fight Deut. 1 42 c. for I am not among you lest ye be smitten before your enemies So I spake unto you and ye would not hear but rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord and went presumptuously up into the hill c. and ye returned and wept before the Lord but the Lord would not harken to your voyce nor give ear unto you 3. Scandalous sinning David when the Lord had struck the child that Vriahs wife bare unto him with sickness besought God for the child and fasted and lay all night upon the Earth but nevertheless the child dyed and the special reason why the Lord was so inexorable to him in this particular Nathan the Prophet had before given him Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely dye * David was not heard because it stood not with the rule of divine justice that so scandalous a sin which made the enemies of God to blaspheme should not have an exemplary punishment Mr Mede Diatrib part 2 pag. 298. Those sins of the people of God which do open the mouths of the professed Adversaries of Religion to reproach the Name of God are more then ordinarily obstructive of prayer It is time for God upon the remittance of such by them to manifest his special dis-favour in such an effect that so he may vindicate that Name of his which his people call upon from the aspersion of their sin As God upon this ground refused to hear David so did he for the like cause deny the petition of another as eminent for nearness to and favor with him as he to wit Moses He besought the Lord very pathetically for leave to go into and see the Land of Canaan but the Lord would not harken unto him in it but he must dye beyond Jordan and what was the reason the Lord tells it Aaron and him Because ye beleeved me not Numb 20.12 27.14 to sanctifie me in the eyes of the children of Israel By his sin at the waters of strife a scandal was given unto the people reflecting upon God himself and therefore when mention is afterward made of this sin and the sentence of God upon it as it is often noted in the sacred
and Reason in some sort by which he walks towards them In our present distractions and obscurities although we have not a Samuel now as Israel once had in their Assembly at Gilgal to say to us by immediate and extraordinary commission from God as he then to them 1 Sam. 12 7 Stand still that I may reason with you of all the righteous acts of the Lord by shewing us as he did to them what great things God had done from time to time for us and what evil returns we have made to him and what therefore he hath done against us and what the causes of his so doing have been in particular and to confirm his disceptation by a miraculous sign from Heaven that might enforce our confession as did Samuel upon Israel Luk. 16.29 Yet we have Moses and the Prophets to hear Isai 8.20 we have the Law and the Testimony to repair to 2 Pet. 1 12. we have that more sure word of Prophecy whereunto to take heed we have the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 which are able to make us wise unto Salvation to furnish us This is the means by which God now layeth forth his ways and the grounds of them so far as he sees good to reveal them to us In the written Word of God there are divine Declarations that for such and such causes God will hide himself from prayers There are Histories and Narrations of times and cases wherein and of persons from whom and of reasons for which God hath withdrawn himself There are also Recognitions and acknowledgments of men both that such hath been the proceeding of God towards them or others and wherefore it hath been and of all those and all other Scripture Declarations Histories and Acknowledgments Rom 15 4 it is said Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning These things were our examples All these things happened to them for ensamples 1 Cor. 10.6 11 and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come The proper and direct end of the putting of these upon divine Record clearly was that as Urim Lots and Prophets speaking with lively voyce were to them of former ages unto whom they were afforded in stead of Scripture so the Scripture now should be to us in stead of Urim Lots and Prophets speaking and that those things which were once delivered by inspiration to some persons and on particular occasions should still retain an infallible Authority and an express voyce to give information generally unto all and in every case But to understand God speaking to us in his Word Among those many Reasons which Scripture layeth down of Gods hiding in this behalf to discern which of them more specially belongs to our case this is a matter of some skill and indeed herein lies the knot of the enquiry We are apt as in other so in this particular to misapply to take hold on that in Scripture which fits not us and to pass over that which appertaineth to us to catch at that which speaks not and to be deaf to that which doth speak to us Any better course for the seting of us right in this regard I cannot think of then that of the Psalmist in the 73 Psalm when he was come to a loss in his enquiry the which was somewhat alyed to this of ours when he thought to know the thing and it was too painful for him he went into the Sanctuary of God and there he understood the bottom of his query This way if well followed and practised may also stand us in good stead in the search in hand That entering into the Sanctuary of God and approach unto God therein is of such avail David will inform us elsewhere Thy way O God is in the Sanctuary And again They have seen thy goings Psa 77 13 68 24 O God even the goings of my God my King in the Sanctuary The proceedings of God toward his people with all that concerning them is requisite to be understood are to be learned in his Sanctuary for this reason it may be that it is called the place of his feet Isai 60.13 Ezek. 43.7 and the place of the soles of his feet that is the place where the tracts or prints of his feet may be found out so far as they are knowable Hence it is that whereas David makes this one thing among many and above others which he had desired of the Lord and would seek after Psal 27.4 to wit that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life his end in it was to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple Let us therefore consider a little what this entering into the Sanctuary of God may mean or what it may import to us There were three constant and principal errands or occasions for which the people of God were to go into the Sanctuary of God 1. For Attonement or Reconciliation with God by sacrifice 2. For Prayer 3. For Instruction in the written Word of God What the moral of these is to us will be easily gathered Would we then be helped at this loss or stop Would we hear and understand what God the Lord speaks to us out of his Word Would we take out of it that portion which properly belongs to us Would we have the Book of God to open as it were in the fit place Luke 4.17 Augustin Confess l. 8. c. 12. as sometimes it did to our Saviour and as it is reported to have done once to holy Augustine Let us enter into the Sanctuary of God that is put in practise these three things 1. Seek we Peace and Reconciliation with God in the pardon of our sins through that one only real and sufficient Sacrifice of Christs Death The Lord promiseth Israel that at the door of the Tabernacle where the continual burnt-offering was offered up upon the Altar Exod. 29.42 43. there he would meet with them and he would speak there unto them David in the 51 Psalm that his penitential Psalm earnestly seeking unto God for pardon of sin doth therewithall promise to himself that in the hidden part God should make him to know wisdom yea in that measure to know it that he should be able to teach others the ways of God And Psal 25.4 5 7 11. in another Psalm petitioning God to shew him his ways to teach him his paths and lead him in his truth he annexeth as in order thereunto his requests that the Lord would not remember the sins of his youth nor his transgressions and that he would for his Names sake pardon his iniquity It may be observed that in the day of the Prophet Daniels solemn humiliation and prayer Dan. 9 19 c. and in the close thereof immediately as it seems upon those words of his O Lord hear O Lord forgive c. the man Gabriel came to him and
to haste away and pass over Jordan by night 2 Sam. 19.9 never staying till they came to Mahanaim Mahanaim saith Mr. Buntings Itinerarium was a City in the Tribe of Gad 44. miles from Jerusalem near the River Iabok which River was within the Confines of the Ammonites as will appear by Gen. 32 2 22 with Numb 21.24 Deut. 2 37. 3.16 Josh 12.2 the very border of the Kingdom so that as the very Text tells us he fled out of the Land Thus for a time Providence goes along with Absalom and seems to accomplish his and put back godly and innocent Davids prayers And this it appears was taken notice of even by Absalom and his party for David in his Psalm composed upon his flight from Absalom saith Many are they that rise up against me many there be which say of my Soul There is no help for him in God * Psal 3.1 2. But one Example more shall I bring for this and it is a note-worthy one Job the Monument of Afflictions accompanied with integrety maketh this one strain of his adverse condition I am as one mocked of his neighbor who calleth upon God and he answereth him Job 12.4 That Job called upon God and found no answer is expressed by himself in several other passages of this Book which I cited before Here then he meaneth by him who calleth upon God and he heareth him another to wit his neighbor by whom he saith he is mocked Job 19 7. 30.29 19.3 Whether by his neighbor he intendeth any of those his friends who were now in eager dispute with him maintaining a contrary part to him and of whom he complains elsewhere that they had reproached him ten times or another it is not very manifest but the former is very probable Who calleth upon God that is the mocker who was one that made a profession of the true Religion with him who was so bold that he durst pray to God to confirm his works and to prosper him in his wicked courses And he answereth him God answers him really by making the mocker to prosper in his evil way His meaning is that he had Heaven Earth against him and his deriding friends were heard of God when he could not be heard Divines Annotat. in Loc. And Mr Caryl in loc Yet we may take for certain that betwixt Job and him whosoever he was there was some kind of odds or variance that they both called upon God and that in their so doing Job was the just upright man and the other was in the wrong Yet see Job seemeth to himself to be repelled in his prayer and his scornful Antagonist to be heard of God How he was heard Job explaineth in the next Verse but one The Tabernacles of Robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly They were heard it appears in temporal issues and advantages But in stead of my own I will present you with Mr Caryls Paraphrase on those words The Tabernacles of Robbers prosper Robbers are of two sorts There are open Robbers that care not who sees such are warlike Robbers who bring Power to do what they cannot do by Justice such were those warlike Bands and at them Job aims in this Argument of Chaldeans and Sabeans who spoiled Jobs Estate and Cattel By Robbers here we may understand these boisterous sons of Mars men of blood and violence who make their Will their Law and think they may do whatsoever they have power to do Secondly There are secret Robbers Deceit and Fraud commit Robbery as well as Power and Force Some rob while they pretend to seek for right some are rob'd others are murthered by the Law the Law is a shadow to many lawless actions Others rob securely while they seem only to sell Ephraim said Surely I am become rich I have found me out Substance in all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin Hos 12.8 q. d. I am sure none can charge me with any open wrong or Robbery it appears plainly that I have done no such thing for that were sin that is punishment would follow such iniquity whereas I thrive and prosper Both or either of these Robbers may be understood here They who provoke God are secure To provoke God is sinning with a high hand q. d. I do not speak of those who sin lightly who trade in small sins or sin after the rate and course of ordinary men but they who sin provokingly and boldly they who send defiance to Heaven by sining even those live securely here on Earth Are secure The Hebrew is abstract and plural securities confidences are to them They sin against God every way and they have security every way they sin against God as much as they can and they have as much prosperity as they will all kind of security is their portion who commit all kind of impiety Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly What the worst of men have is of Gods giving he puts it into their hand Satan puts wickedness into their hearts but it is God who puts power into their hands God puts the persons and estates of others into their hands Abundantly Our Translators add that to shew the bounty of God even to many of them who most designedly disobey him Such have not only as much as they need but as much as they desire God brings Quails into their hands as well as Manna In cujus manus venire facit Deus sc omnia animi sui vota Merc. Into whose hands God maketh to come to wit all their wishes There is another reading Who put God into their hand The Jewish Doctors are much for this They may be said to carry God in their hand because they act as if God were in their power and dispose not they in his The Tyrians chained Hercules to a post that he might not depart their Country This is to bring a God in the hand grosly and openly They do it closely and covertly who are unwilling to be guided by his hand They who would bring God down to their wills make Laws for God They who make a Law for God act as if they had made God Thus hath Mr Caryl opened these words for me and we see of what a large extent the answer of an evil mans prayer in opposition to a godly mans may be Thus have I produced Examples of sufficient variety and what pertinency mine observation and leasure would afford to the thing propounded in both the branches of it viz 1. Of Gods hiding himself from his Peoples Prayers grounded on his Promises 2. Of his seeming by his Providences to answer the Prayers which are Contrary thereunto SECT IV. The Conclusion of the Chapter shewing the Vse may be made of the Examples fore-alledged IF it be asked To what purpose may the collecting of this multitude of Examples serve I answer Besides the Resolution of the Query to which
providence co-operate together and in this co-working each hath its proper part as it were the one is to petition the other is to perform and consequently the one is to propose the other to dispose the one to crave the other to carve the one to importune the other to opportune or to contrive the way method and season of effectuating as may be for the best As in shooting the hand and the eye act together the one to draw the Bow and enforce the Arrow the other to direct both to the work Or as in sailing the Pilot and the Rowers or Halers work together the one to make the ship go the other to make it steer its right course so do Providence and Prayer close and concur together in working for the good of praying Saints The breath of our Prayers must fill the Sails but the divine disposal must tend the Card and Compass 4. In judging of Gods appearing to or hiding from their prayers the faithful seekers of God are not to rest in their own sense or eye-sight nor in the present face of Gods providence or ways these may yield them for a time no answer no testimony of audience they are like the vision in Habakkuk not always speaking but having a peculiar time to speak At the end it shall speak and not lye Hab. 2.3 yea these may yield them occasion of discouragement or doubt when indeed the Lord hath a respect to their prayers is mindful of a return and an answer may be in drawing or dispatching out to them And further they are to look over all the ways of hearing whether by Testification Performance or Commutation lest their answer may be with them and they not aware of it not find it out * Vid. Calv. Instit l. 3 c. 20 S. 52 5. As divine providence may at present stand at a distance from or proceed oppositely to prayer even whilest prayer may be heard and answered or in answering so it may run parallel or go along with it it may act agreeably and answerably to prayer it may produce what prayer hath asked and yet nevertheless the prayer may be unanswered all this may be and not in answer to prayer Therefore as God may be apprehended to hide himself from his peoples prayers when indeed he doth not but sets open the door of mercy and his hearing ear to them and sets awork his hand of providence in the best manner for them so he may be conceived to answer the prayers that are contrary to them when indeed it is nothing so As God sometimes hears the prayer when he doth not give the thing so he sometimes gives the thing when he doth not hear the prayer This seeming Paradox I will endevor to make clear by instances and illustration The Danites messengers whom they sent to spy out the Land of Laish for them as they went turned into the house of Micha and in the Idolatrous way of his Religion that is Judg. 18. by the Ephod and Teraphim and carved Image and molten Image which he had made and by the young Levite which he had consecrated and kept as his Priest for that Idolatry enquired of God as they called it concerning the success of their expedition and the said Priest returned them this answer Go in peace before the Lord is your way wherein ye go and according to his answer it succeeded with them they discovered and immediately conducted the six hundred Danites who for their better speed robbed Micah and took along with them those his good presaging Idols and Priest unto a large and good Land which was that they sought after and lacked and they most easily and prosperously conquered the Inhabitants and possessed the Land and enjoyed it long though they there set up Micahs graven Image and superstitious Priesthood all the time the house of God was in Shiloh Here Providence speeds and suits with the ends and enterprizes of those devotions which certainly could not be but very displeasing unto God and therefore could not be followed with any such success for the prayers sake In like manner Saul when as Samuel came not to Gilgal within his time he took in hand to offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings either in his own person or by another contrary to the Commandment of God 1 Sam. 13 9 12 that as he pleaded to Samuel his Soldiers might not desert him and the Philistins might not set upon him before he had made supplication unto the Lord. Well notwithstanding this his sacrilegious or otherwise presumptuous Error in thus seeking to God contrary to his Will and way prescribed yet he goes out presently to his War against the Philistins and though he had a very small Army but six hundred men and neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of them yet he prospered and got the victory The Text saith The Lord saved Israel that day Ver. 15 22 ch 14 20 23 and there was a very great discomfiture of the Philistins Thus it went happily according as Saul had prayed yet questionless this was not properly in answer to his prayer for the answer to that Samuel had given him before and it was quite of another nature viz. a sharp rebuke for his transgression and foolishness therein 〈◊〉 4 and a declaration of the Lords purpose upon it to translate the Kingdom from him and dispose of it to another Prayer is properly answered 1. When the thing prayed for is not only done but is done in accâ—ptation and reward of prayer or for the prayers sake and it s well pleasing and prevalency with God 2. When it is done by vertue of the Promise 3. When it is done in special mercy to the person praying But a wicked mans prayer cannot come within these rules or any of them the prayer of such a one cannot be pleasing or acceptable or of any force with God Prov. 28.9 He that turneth away his ears from hearing the Law even his prayer shall be abomination the prayer of such a one hath no promise belonging to it Psa 50.16 Vnto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth unto such a one the Lord beareth no fatherly affection Psa 34 16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil And as an evil mans prayer cannot properly receive answer from God so neither can an evil prayer whatsoever the person be Psa 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Observe it though it were holy David or the choycest of Gods servants that should pray yet if he pray amiss if he regard iniquity in his heart he cannot have hearing And again Who is of the generation of them that seek God that seek his face and shall receive the blessing from the Lord Psa 24.4 and righteousness from the God of his Salvation why he who hath not lift up his Soul
faces their affection favor and regard is to them and this sets them up against all the clear lights and admonitions of Gods Word their sin we see is of a blinding nature to them and they blindfold themselvs with it The Law saith of a gift Deu. 16.19 that it blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous this it doth by raising the affections which like a steam or mist about a candle dim the eyes of the understanding So it is in the prevalency of every other sin as well as in that of bribery We say affection is blind love to sin doth deprive the sight and deprave the judgment that when an inquisition is passing the right cannot be discerned There is a place very full and suitable to this in the Prophet Isaiah Isai 44.18 They have not known nor understood for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot understand He hath shut that is their Idol spoken of immediately before The Prophet there and in the discourse thereabout doth excellently set forth the infatuating and intoxicating nature of Idolatry and every lust-serving sin is real Idolatry how unreasonable stupid and sensless it makes the followers of it how it prevails not only to tempt and entice them to its committance but to bind and block up their senses and reason from all discovery of their extream folly in it so that they cannot once reflect upon or entertain a thought of their dotage therein though it be never so palpable And this place is sufficient to make good the description I gave before of a known sin we cannot expect to the making of it such that a man do actually apprehend and own and yield it to be a sin It is in the next words said of these men None considereth in his heart or as it is read none setteth it on Vers 19 or returneth or reduceth it to his heart neither is there knowledg or understanding to say I have burnt part of it in the fire c. This phrase none considereth or setteth on to his hearth gives us the sence of those words before and after wherein they are said to have no knowledg or understanding of what they did to wit they had not the practical applicative or actual knowing habitual knowledg principles out of which to deduce an act of judgment they had for the Prophet there abundantly proves what they did was against Natures light common Reason and ordinary sense and therefore in the following words he saith Remember these O Iacob and Israel Remember there wanted no more but an act of remembrance or calling in out of the storehouse of the memory that which was there already layd up and was sufficient to shew them the whole truth of that matter But to return to the point here it is evident that the cause of the Lords hiding himself may be near at hand may be in the very hearts and before the faces of men and yet they not see nor consider it that is they see it not to be a cause of such an evil the thing they see and own and that too much but they understand no such causality or effect by it and the reason why they do not is the darkening and deluding efficacy that their Idolized sin hath upon them The more men set up their sin in their heart and put it before their face as an Idol to wit in affection and regard the more it is out of their mind and sight in respect of entitling or attributing to it the mischief that it doth them they cannot see or find it out in point of causing and procuring that evil to them because they look and fix too much upon it in point of love and affection It is truly that beam in their eye which is not considered it is therefore not considered because it is in their own eye it is too near to be noted and being so close to them it not only scapes espying but it is the impediment that they cannot see any thing else as they ought Thus any allowed sin is a blind or skreen against the enquiry we we are upon by way of efficiency 2. It doth it Meritoriously or by way of provocation it moveth God to deny an answer and this is in the next words Should I be enquired of at all by them q. d. I cannot endure that such persons should come and enquire of me and if they do adventure upon it it shall be in vain This advancement of their Idols and iniquities in their heart and before their face doth mightily incense God and he takes their coming to enquire of him in this conjunction with their sin as a very high presumption and daring affront and indignity put upon him and for it he refuseth and repulseth their enquiry with indignation Suitable to this rejection is that in Daniel when the Church of God whether Jewish or Christian whether under Antiochus or Antichrist I shall not here dispute should be in her time of greatest trouble it is said Dan. 12.4 Many shall run to and fro to wit to understand the rise and continuance of those doleful afflictions and the Angel informs the Prophet Daniel that their enquiry should be of a twofold success according to the difference of the enquirers Vers 10 None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand and the reason why none of the wicked shall understand is immediately foregoing because the wicked shall do wickedly for their wicked doings it shall be that they shall be left destitute of understanding in these Times they may run to and fro but it will be but as it is in the Psalmist like a dog with an unsatisfied mind and the reason is because they go round about like the dog to pursue their sinful lusts with greediness Yea it may be observed this retaining and persistency in their sin when they come to consult with God not only frustrateth their seeking unto him by provoking him to deny them resolution but it procureth a further sentence from God as the words following declare and it is of two parts 1. A penal tradition or delivery of them up to deceits and delusions Vers 4 I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his Idols q. d. He shall not only be denyed that answer which he would have and I would give if he were an obedient and sincere seeker of me that is a friendly and satisfying solution of his doubt but he shall have an answer worse then none an answer of judgment and displeasure and it shall be according to the multitude of his Idols that is as his abominable Idolatries deserve and in some proportion to that kind of sin he shall have no better an answer then if he were enquiring at his Idols he shall have an Idols answer and that was indeed sometimes a dumb mute and answerless repulse as was that of
in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them And the Lord plagued the people because they had made the Calf c. Many a dear Saint of God and many a holy prayer of such hath been non-suited in Heaven by the over-poysing sins of them for whom they have interceded 2. Or the sin may be theirs who are in near relation to the persons prayed for We may find that sometimes the wickedness of bad friends or alies hath made more against men then the prayers of their godly friends could make for them Josiah and Jeremiah both very choyce ones the one for a Prince the other for a Prophet they both prayed for Judah about one time but the sins of Manasseh the grandfather of Josiah and the King of Judah were too strong for them both they are mentioned as the prevailing reason against both their prayers * 2 Kings 22.15 16 17 with 23 25 26 Jer. 14.19 15.1 2 3 4. 3. The third thing propounded to consideration is What sins in special do provoke God to hide himself from his peoples prayers The Scripture brands a multitude of sins by name and special note with this effect Let us view the particulars And for that end I will put them into three ranks 1. Sins against Piety or duty to God 2. Sins against the second Table 3. Sins in or about Prayer it self 1. Sins against Piety Unto this rank belong these sins following 1. Idolatry or the setting up and giving divine Worship unto those that are no Gods For this peruse that story in Judg. 10. In short it is thus The Lords anger waxed hot against Israel and he sold them into the hands of the Philistins and of the Ammonites The Israelites under their oppressions and distresses by them cry unto the Lord with confession of their sin The Lord answers them That seeing after and notwithstanding many former deliverances from the like evils they had now forsaken him and served other gods therefore he will deliver them no more let them go and cry unto and be delivered by the gods which they have chosen This was the dolorous repulse which in a day of tribulation they received for their sins of Idolatry For this sin it was that God declared he would neither hear his people of Judah praying for themselves Jer. 11.10 c. nor his Prophet Jeremiah praying for them See also for this Ezek. 20.31 2. Covenant-breaking with God As in that example I last mentioned of Judahs and Jeremiahs prayers They were rejected for this as one cause The house of Judah have broken my Covenant which I made with their fathers therefore c. And though they shall cry unto me I will not harken unto them c. Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up a cry or prayer for them c. 3. Abuse of Religion to carnal ends This was the sin of the Prophets of Judah and for it they are sentenced with this Judgment They make my people to err Mic. 3.5 6 7 they bite with their teeth and cry peace and he that puteth not into their mouths they even prepare war against him Therefore night shall be unto you that ye shall not have a vision and it shall be dark unto you that you shall not divine and the Sun shall go down over the Prophets and the day shall be dark over you Then shall the Seers be ashamed and the Diviners confounded yea they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God 4. Contempt neglect waxing weary of slothfulness in or falling off from the service of God Mal. 3.14 The people in the Prophet Malachi complain by way of taxing God It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hoasts And wherefore do they thus charge God what was the cause of this obstruction of their prayers If they had looked well about them they might have found it in themselves and in those very services which they complained to be disregarded in as the Prophet before in the first second and third Chapters had made it manifest against them They were grown to despise Gods Name to pollute and account contemptible his Table to offer the blind the lame and the sick for sacrifice to profane the Name of God to esteem his service a weariness and to snuff at it the Levites were departed out of the way they had caused many to stumble at the Law they had corrupted the Covenant of Levi Iudah had profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved from the days of their fathers they were gone astray from Gods Ordinances and had not kept them they had robbed God namely in tythes and offerings No marvel their devotions proved so vain and unprofitable to themselves when they were so vile and curtalled as they were done unto God they had no worse then they brought When the Spouse in Solomons Song gave her self to sluggishness Cant. 5.3 6. and would not arise from her bed when she was called up by her Beloved this moved him to withdraw from her door and to absent himself from her when after she would have entertained him and missing sought him The set time for God to favor Sion in regarding the prayer of the destitute Psal 102. and in hearing the groaning of the prisoner is when his servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof that is as I understand when the sight and face of Gods house and service is amiable to them and the very dust the humblest and meanest part of it is delightsom 5. Loathing of refusing to harken and disobedience to the Word of God Solomon saith He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law Prov. 28 9 Chap. 1.24 28 29 30. even his prayer shall be an abomination And Because I have called and ye re-refused I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded c. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me c. See the verifying of this in Zech. 7.11 12 13. What congruity is there that men should look to be heard of God when they will not harken to him Upon these terms is audience promised by our Saviour to his servants Joh. 15.7 If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you 6. Carnal security or putting confidence in a temporal portion as in wealth successes or advancements This sin was Davids cloud In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord Psa 30.6 7 by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 2. The next rank of sins is of those against the second Table In it as causes of this effect are 1. Blood-guiltiness When you spread
will punish your Idolatry by abandoning your daughters and daughters in law to infamous and unbridled lust which shall not be repressed by the Laws or Magistrates punishments nor corrected by 〈◊〉 Diodate The which is to be understood as well of the Lords dissolving the force of Laws and the Magistrates power and proceedings as of hs withdrawing his own preventing grace and withholding his castigations by which the women might be restrained from those crimes and this he declareth as the punishment of the adulterers license which the parents or husbands of those women took to themselves and permitted to others in matters of Worship and Religion Now how is Reformation minded with us In special how is it in relation to the house of God For Superiors is it not wholly professedly inexorably layd aside by them It is if I much mistake not For Inferiors men are generally unwilling impatient of coming under any Rule either of Confession of Faith or of Worship or of Government There was erewhile nothing but disputing for and against this and that way of Discipline and there was eager contention each party for the advancement of their frame of Government but now men are generally agreed to let all alone and to be without any at all and to leave off all settlement in Religion And this is the issue which the Tempter certainly aimed to bring it unto when Reformation was first moved in and he stirred up so many Commotions and particularly such a multitude of Sects and Civil Interests to stickle in it And there are two things which make our irreformedness exceeding abominable and therefore very forcible against our prayers 1. We are they that lately drew near to God very solemnly in Prayer Fasting Oaths and Covenants for Reformation of Religion Now it is a most desperate thing and so no doubt it will be found for men to dally with God in a work of this nature for men to seek God and swear by him for Reformation and then to reject and stand against it How should God hear our prayers when we our selves hinder them How should he not deny them when we our selves deny them How should he answer them when we contradict them If we make voyd our Prayers and Covenants for his Interest we are impudent unto stupidity if we look for any thing but frustration in the remainder of our suits Exod. 19.8 24.3 7. Heb. 9.18 Deut. 5.27 Exod. 32 33. Israel at Mount Sinai hears and receives the Law from Gods own mouth they make a Covenant with him for its performance dedicated with blood they desire Moses to go up into the Mount unto God to hear receive and bring them down all that the Lord would speak and they would hear and do it but after this ere Moses could return and ere forty days were expired they set up gods of their own handy work and a worship of their own devising and this made that heavy breach betwixt God and them for which they payed so dear and were so long remembered This was that which heightened Judahs sin and desolation even their universal seeking and covenanting with God and beginning to act for Reformation under Josiah and their as general Apostacy under Zedekiah And this was that which brought that fearful ruine of the Jewish State and of Jerusalem by the Roman after Christs time They generally professed repentance and embraced the Baptism of it by John Mat 3.5 Mark 1.5 Luke 7.29 but they falsified herein turning to persecute and crucifie Christ to withstand and infest his Apostles and to reject his Gospel These patterns sadly speak to us at this day who have done the like to them 2. We have let slip yea thrust away the opportunity of Reformation when it served Formerly the Court and the Bishops bore the blame of the irreformedness of the Church and Nation of latter days the Malignants and Wars were urged as the impediments of it but since these blocks have been removed and a full opportunity hath been put into their hands who before cryed and petitioned to God and man for it and I cannot but say if I must say the truth in their hands it hath miscarryed the fairest opportunity that ever Nation had and that under the strongest engagements to it hath miscarryed nothing wanted but hearts to use it One part hath failed through remissness in it and over-much eying other interests inferior to it and another part hath actively withstood and put it back opposing all conclusions and agreements towards it kindling new flames yea traversing and confounding their own principles councels and courses rather then not interrupt it Here is irreformedness to a height if not a non-ultra This is a Lamentation O England and shall be for a Lamentation But I will insist no further on the sins in or about our prayers I wil also here omit the above-named modal aggravations of our sins having purposely for brevities sake taken them or the most of them in as I have gone over the heads already touched This shall serve for the noting out the Reasons on our part viz. the meritorious Causes or provoking sins for which the Lord now hideth himself from his peoples prayers For the other sort of Reasons to wit the final Causes or the Ends which the Lord may have to accomplish upon us or others thereby It is not fit or expedient that I descend unto the particulars thereof by way of positive assertion as to say it is for this or that special end It may suffice that I have gathered out of Scripture and layd down in one series those several ends for which the Lord declareth to hide himself from his peoples prayers and that further I hear annex these two things 1. As it is not to be doubted but that the Lord hath a peculiar people in England yea such as are his not only by external calling and profession but according to the Election of grace and that have a sanctifying and saving interest in him and his promises so questionless he hath these or some of these ends to bring forth in or unto them by his present hiding himself from their prayers and in especial from those prayers which they have and do still dayly put up to him for the publique concernments of the Church of Christ and in particular for those of England They are of many kinds some of them he may in their determinate import never grant others of them he doth delay Those which he may finally deny his end towards them which he may I suppose I may without presumption say he doth aim at and will accomplish thereby is both to prevent the evil which by their obtaining those petitions might ensue to them and to provide for and procure their greater good Those which he doth for a time delay his intent and drift we may conceive and conclude certainly in that delay is to bring to pass thereby some of those Ends if not all which have been
to be his Oracle unto us and hath willed us to harken unto even the Lord Jesus with those whom he hath set in his Church under him are rejected I desire the Reader for this and for his satisfaction against the use of Astrology and Almanack-divination to peruse that prohibition of it and the opposition which is put betwixt it and Christs Prophetical Office Deut. 18. vers 9. unto 19. and the contestation which was betwixt the Apostle Paul and Elymas * Elymas is supposed to be an Arabick word or to be a Gentile name taken from a place in Persia called Elymais and it is of the same signification and use with the title Chaldaeus which is an Astrologer because in Chaldaea Astrology was invented and much used See Beza Drussus and Heusius in loc the Sorcerer Wiseman or Chaldaean Acts 13.8 unto 12. 3. Against this sin God doth specially manifest himself in his proceedings among and against us It is apparant God leaveth us now unto obscurity and darkness of mind and we are benighted and to seek what the Will of God is almost in all affairs both Religious and Civil publique and private For the Reason let the Holy Ghost speaking in the people of Judahs case Isai 29.11 tell us The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed vers 13 14 c. Why was it so For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men Therefore I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people even a marvelous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise-men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid The Jews long continued wilful shutting their eyes ears and hearts against the Word of God was the reason which our Saviour rendereth why he spake to them in Parables Mat 13.13 14 so as hearing they should not understand and seeing they should not perceive Both the Word and Providences of God are perverted and misapplyed they are become unto many a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence and a snare upon which they stumble and fall and are taken in error and pernicious ways What 's the reason Because men have been so long wittingly disobedient stubborn and contumacious against the plain and clear instruction of the Word Is 8.13 14 28.12 13. 1 Pet. 2.8 That which they would not suffer to be their Ruine is become their Rule they would not be led by it therefore they are left to be misled by the shadow of it We are divided and set one against another in numberless breaches and quarrels in matters divine and humane publique and personal Wherefore is it Why the Gospel and Christ in it is a stone which being rejected of men in regard of their building thereon will fall upon its Rejecters Mat. 21.4 and on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder We are dissolved even to dust in rents and divisions by this very means and for this cause Those that have Christ preached to them as the Son of God and their King and they devise rage consult and set themselves against him Psal 2.9 to break his bands asunder and cast away his cords from them Christ will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters vessel We have thus risen up against Christ and he hath thus now dealt with us The Lord declares by his Prophet that this very iniquity to wit despising the Word Isai 30.12 13 14. and trusting in oppression and perversness and staying thereon shall be as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall and he shall break it as the Potters vessel that is broken to pieces he shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sheard to take fire from the hearth or to take water withall out of the pit Thus contempt of the Word brings fractions and ruptures among a people We are subject to changes and mutations of State Persons in supream Authority are dethroned and outed one party after another * This is a divine punishment Prov. 28.2 Amos 6 13 their Authority and Laws are conculcated men do take to them horns by their own strength What 's the reason Why divine Authority the Commandments of God his Word and Will are layd aside dispensed with transgressed and waved at pleasure and as humane policy suggests I dare say it before all the world The not walking evenly by the Word of God the Gallio-like disposition towards it that is the not regarding to vindicate and settle it the not caring and providing that the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified these corrupt neglects of men in Authority are one reason of their displacing and ejection Psal 82.5 2.10 11 12 And O that they would know and understand and not walk on in darkness that they would be wise now and instructed and serve the Lord and kiss his Son This sin was it for which the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes of Israel was rent from Solomon in his heir Rehoboam and was translated to Jeroboam see 1 King 11.9 to 12. And this was it for which the Lord afterward delivered Rehoboam and his people of Judah over into the hand of Shishak King of Egypt they cast off the Rule and Law of God and therefore he determined of them thus They shall be his servants that they may know my service 2 Chro. 12 2 8 and the service of the Kingdoms of the Countries Suitable hereunto is that which the Lord saith of Israel in the Prophet Ezek. 20.24 25. Because they had not executed my Judgments but had despised my Statutes c. wheresore I gave them also Statutes that were not good and Judgments whereby they should not live Lastly We are in doubt and danger of the Removal of the Gospel from us either by Apostacy or Persecution or both for these have been wont usually to tread one upon the heels of the other and therefore I say we are in that danger and if so it be what is the reason It is the proper product of our unworthy and contemptuous carriage towards it * Mat. 21.43 4. This is the sin which our Consciences do now take to and reflect upon as the procuring Cause of all our miseries and particularly of this hiding of God from prayers That so it is I shall not go about to confirm by reason or instance it is sufficient to refer to and the proper evidence thereof is the sense and dictate of every mans conscience of theirs especially who are cordially observant of the evils we lie under from God and of the incentives of them from our selves There may be indeed yea there is partiality and indulgence in every one
Religion next door to Atheism to reckon the warranting or condemning Will of God by such a measure How oft must such a Judgment be driven to tack about and change sides and dance Ecebolus his turns We may in these days observe iâ— some men that the Religion way or party which was most odious to them and most obstinately resolved against by them they have meerly upon this account been first melted into milder thoughts of and presently linked into deep affection and high admiration of it It is a miserable mind that in stead of embracing that rule of the Apostle for a principle Godliness is great gain with contentment will choose the reversed supposal of the worldling and say Gain is godliness We in this Age are the more culpable if misled into this â—rror having seen the vicissitudes that have come upon all interests successively none excepted no not theirs who have stood so much upon this argument having also so many Evangelical maxims and premonitions from our blessed Saviour and his Apostles in the Word to the contrary and having recorded before us in sacred Story so many examples of them that have grosly abused themselves yea and the Name and Honor of God with such collections For the two latter Considerations I will give a few Instances of each For Evangelical Maxims and Premonitions I will refer my Reader to peruse at his leasure Luke 6.20 unto 27. 16.25 Joh. 15.19 Act. 14.22 1 Cor. 4.8 to 14. 2 Tim. 2.12 Jam. 2.5 6 7. 5.1 to 7. vers 10 11. Rev. 11.2 to 11. 13.3 to 9. Aâ—d add the mention of thes◠〈◊〉 passages When our Saviour was pressâ—â— by the Pharisees and Sadduces the Jewish Sectaries to shew them a sign from Heaven to a warrant his actions or to prove that he was the Christ he telleth them Mat. 12 38 39 40. 16.1 to 5. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and furthâ—r dâ—nyeth them utterly any sign such as they meant that is a solemn magnifical or signal token which should make him externally and publiquely pompous and glorious to the world only they should have the sign of the Prophet Jonas and that was a sign clean contrary to the strain of their thoughts even an emblem of humiliation and debasement to the lowest pitch which was therefore to them a stumbling stone and a sign to be spoken against rather then to confirm them For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Again for the Ages of the Church which follow that of Christ and his Apostles what do the Scriptures reveal to us touching the use or validity of Providential signs Why it forewarns us that the shewing of great signs and wonders a coming with all power the doing of great wonders and the working of miracles are the exploits of false Christs false Prophets the Man of Sin the second Beast Mat. 7.22 24.24 2 Thes 2.9 Rev. 13.13 14. 16.14 19.20 the false Prophet and the three unclean spirits that come out of the mouth of the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet And the reason why Miracles Signs and Wonders do cease in the true Church before and in the times of Antichrist and do appear on the side and among the followers of Antichrist was rendered long since by John Hus and not only by him but before that long by Augustin Chrysostom Isiodore and Gregory alledged by him to wit because the Church of Christ must be persecuted and seem abject and forsaken and must overcome by the confession of the Truth See Mr Fox Acts and Mon. vol 1. pag. 593 c. by holiness and shining in good works and by love and patience and not by power and Antichrist must sway all and have full power to persecute and hypocrites that look after Temporals more then Spirituals must be discovered and the true Saints tryed and Carnalists justly punished with that snare of specious signs As for the Examples of such as have grosly mistaken and deluded themselves with such collections take these few Those stubborn Idolatrous Iews in Ieremiah having told him in answer to a solemn message from the Lord unto them that they would not harken unto him speaking unto them in the Name of the Lord but they would pertinaciously adhere to their own way in burning incense and pouring out drink-offerings to the Queen of Heaven they render this for their ground We and our fathers c. have done thus in Iudea Jer. 44.16 c. and then we had plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil but since we left off that worship we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine Saul hearing that David was come to Keilah he thought he had him then couped up and at his mercy and thereupon he would needs gather that God had done it in favor of his cause 1 Sam. 23.7 he said God hath delivered him into my hand Such use did Shimei make also against David of the providence of God to wit when Absalom had risen up and dispossessed him of his Kingdom Casting stones at him and cursing him he said Come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial 2 Sam. 16.7 8. the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned and the Lord hath delivered the Kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son and behold thou art taken in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man Leah having given Zilpah her maid to her husband Iacob to wife and God after that harkening unto Leah so that she conceived and bare Iacob a fifth son Gen. 30.17 18. this was the interpretation she made of it God hath given me mine hire because I have given my maiden to my husband and she called his name Issachar an hire She applaudeth her promoting of Poligamy a trespass both against her husband and her self by the happy issue of her prayer in her bearing another son * See also Hos 12.8 Zech. 11 5 Mal. 2 17. But away with this silly religionless inference 4. Turn not out of the ways of God I mean the ways of his Word and Commandments decline not into any unwarranted path upon occasion of such Providences of God K â—p to the Law and to the Testimony and what ever Oracle it be that speaks not according to this Word Isai 8.20 refuse the pretended light thereof for in truâ—h there is no light in it The Prophet David in Psal 37. which he purposely peneth for the stablishment and consolation of the righteous under such tryals as this we are upon again and again inculcateth this lesson Trust in the Lord Psal 37.3 8 27 34. and do good Fret not thy self in any wise to do evil Depart from evil and do