from our littleness and weakness any thing he will draw arguments of his goodness from Yet many times we are of such a temper that we will not draw one argument to move us to do that which is pleasing in his eyes Well he is a glorious God and we are like our selves Let him lay hold on my strength Let the poor bramble go and lay hold upon the wall I have strength enough to destroy and devour them but I wish that they would lay hold of my strength There is a way that all the strength that is in God thou mayest make it for thee on thy side All the power and strength that is in God is against wicked men that receive not Christ but there is a way that thou mayest make that party on thy side thou mayest make God on thy side Take hold on him that is receive Christ and then thou art in the Covenant and all belongs to thee upon that and all the power whereby he made heaven and earth and rules the sea and every thing is thy power it is for thee And make peace with me and they shall make peace It is like the expression of some people that are wondrously given to love and peace and though other people desire to quarrell yet they will not quarrell but they will be freinds there is no neighbour so mischievous but they will be friends with them in spight of their heart so sayth God Let them make peace with me and they shall make peace It is like that expression of God I will put my spirit in their hearts and they shall keep my statutes That thy soul could creep along upon this blessed wall and make peace with him and lay hold of his promise and he saith thou shalt make peace He shall cause them that come of Iacob to take root c. You see how sweet God is in afflicting his Saints how he preserves them and hears them in whipping them Here he shewes three great differences between Three differences in the afflictions of the godly and wicked the afflictions of the godly and of the wicked The first is this saith he have I smitten him as I smote those that smote him Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him That is the Lord doth not lay such a weight of affliction upon his children as he doth upon wicked people that is one thing therefore he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind No east wind blowes on the Saints for in Scripture language that is the wrath of God All the other winds are growing but the East wind is cutting and chilling Secondly it is said God will debate with them that is besotted carnall men as Pharaoh and others he layes afflictions upon afflictions upon them and they never know why it makes him a sot and he brayes him as a fool in a Morter but I will debate with him saith God I will reason the case As a father when he whips his childe will you do so again saith he And is this handsome The Lord never whips his childe but he debates with him Thirdly the issue and fruit of it All the fruit is he doth it to take away sin he will make all the stones of the Altar as Chalk-stones he will beat them to pieces that is they shall pull down their Groves and their Altars as you do Chalk-stones when you burne them and beat them in pieces This should make us sweeten our thoughts of God he is sweet in his providence in his Ordinances in his corrections we see what a good God he is how he draws water out of the Flint he draws arguments of grace and mercy and goodnesse to save wretched creatures any way in such a way that if we were Judges we would condemn our selves The Lord sweeten your hearts and raise up your souls to apprehend his mercy Expositions and Observations on ISAIAH 28 15. Because ye have said we have made a Covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement c. We have made agreement with hell NOt that they said so but God brings in their thoughts as in Iob Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy laws That is the difference between Gods book and mens books men write books according to the words of men but the word of God is according to their thoughts Here are four or five things noted of wicked men Four things observed of wicked men 1. Their v. in conceits First we have made say they a covenant with death and with hell we are at an agreement The meaning is not that they did draw writings between them and hell for hell will make no agreement but the meaning is they were assured in their conceits that they should be delivered from hell and death and misery As a man that hath made a Covenant for his land c. and hath got witnesses to it he hath made sure he hath it in black and white so there was a foolish confidence in them they assured themselves that they should escape as if death and hell had given them an acquittance and had sealed it and there had been Covenants drawn between them and the Devill That is one thing But saith God Your Covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand That is you shall see that all those conceits are but vaine Just as if a man should go and make a Covenant with his neighbour and buy his land and he should never tell his neighbour that he would sell it this agreement would be broken and the Covenant would not stand So you build Castles in the aire you make a Covenant and agreement in your conceits that you are safe and you hope the best and God is mercifull but the day will come when all this will be done away As Iob saith it is just as a Spiders web that is a fine thing that she hath been working all the week and then the Maide comes to make clean the house and all is taken away with one stroak of a brush Another thing is the Lord compares them here to Illustrated in two comparisons Compa ∣ rison 1 people that would hide themselves by the sea side where the tide comes up As you see sometimes when the tide is low there are green medows and bushes before it be high spring and there they hide themselves and the water comes and overflowes their hiding place If they stay there a while and it may be are asleep the tide comes and drowns them all Do ye not think a man were mad that should go and hide himself in a hole of a bridge and sleep when the tide was low and then the tide come in and overwhelm him So it will be with thee if thou receive not Iesus Christ We have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Mr. Calvin saith they may be compared to little
makes them all flee and as they were fleeing God put every mans sword against his fellow and so they slew one another Do unto them as unto the Midianites that is dash their heads together make their policies to crosse one another As we have seen in our dayes all the conspiracies of the wicked turn to the ruine of themselves Thus the Bishops came to ruine God put them one against another that their own plots and policies did overthrow them Do unto them as to Sisera You shall read of him in Iudge 4. he had nine hundred Chariots of Iron going into the field and all his men were defeated and he fleeing for his life Iaell a poore woman as he was asleep in the tent comes and nailes him in the Temples and kills him Do unto them as unto Sisera that is be they never so strong and have Chariots of Iron thou canst make small meanes a naile in the hand of a silly woman to be their overthrow Do to them as to Iabin at the brook Kison which perished at Endor they became as dung for the earth That is they were so contemptible that they were left as a heap of dung upon the earth and no man to bury them and this I say is not a meer prayer but a prophesie what the end of such people will be Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb Those were princes of the Midianites you shall read in Iudge 7. how they were destroyed Yea all their Princes like Zebah and Zalmunna Those were two great Princes that were slaine by Gedeon Iudg. 8. Who said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession Those wicked men that would destroy the people of God and rule in the house of God that would take the houses of God in possession and ruine them do to them as to Zebah and Zalmunna Then he comes and speaks more plainly and desires God to punish them or to let his judgements fall upon them and those judgements he sets out by three comparisons The first is O my God saith the prophet make them like a wheele And make them as the stubble before the wind And make them as the fire that burneth the wood and as the flame that setteth the mountains on fire c. O my God make them as a wheele Some conceive the meaning is make them as a wheele going down a hill that give it but half a turne and every motion will add strength to its course the longer it runs down the stronger so the meaning is let their own devises and designes tumble them further and further into misery let every thing they do help to throw them down to hell That is true but I rather follow the Hebrew word that signifies any round uncertaine or light thing for all do not read it as a wheel So the meaning is O my God let them never solidly be able to conclude any thing but let them be so unstable that they may do and undo and say and unsay let them not prosper in any thing but do thou dash all that they do let it be as a feather or a light thing tossed up and down in the aire That is a thing that we see God many times doth he makes the counsells of the wicked though they have wise heads learned heads and number enough yet all produce but a feather and all vapours into aire Let them be as stubble before the wind That makes me think that the word wheele is so to be understood because of this expression he doth not say Make them as stubble before the fire though that be true and it is so exprest in another place but as stubble before the wind And all do not read it stubble but conceive it many be meant chaffe or any light thing I adhere to these rather and so it comes to the same thing Make them and all their designes and plots as chaffe before the wind let them not go on in a steady resolution and course but dash and confound all their projects and policies and bring them to nothing As the fire that burneth the wood and as the flame that setteth the mountains on fire That is terrible the meaning of it is as we see in the verse following Lord let thy tempest and storm make them afraid Let thy judgement come on them and devour them as the fire doth Goss or Heath or Fearne or furrs that one would think a whole mountaine were burning when a childe doth but set fire on Fures so let those terrible judgements and storms of thine take them And whereto Two ends of Gods judgements on the wicked 1. To work shame in them There are two ends for it First that it may fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name There are no people so wickedly and mischievously bent against the Saints that they should desire God to ruine and destroy them onely they may desire God to send his tempest and storme on them that they may learn to be afraid and seek the name of the Lord. As Steven when Saul and the rest stoned him saith he Lord lay it not to their charge There is nothing more improper and unbecoming a Saint then revenge and a Saint that hath been a slave and is redeemed and kept from the pit by the Lord Iesus Christ he should not desire the destruction of any creature he hath had mercy by the Gospell therefore he should have mercy on every creature And truly a man that knows his own desert and his nature and his wayes and knows how much grace and mercy God shewes to his soul he should not desire the worst man to go to hell and perish Therefore take heed least there be any spirit of revenge in any of Gods people though the wicked conspire never so much but desire that the Lord would make all stubble that they do as a wheele as a vain thing or if he will send a little fire of affliction upon them to make them seek his face this is the utmost we should desire And if God will not do this that they may be bettered yet That men may know that thou whose name alone is Iehovah art the most high over all the earth 2 To work amendment in others Some understand it as though it were meant of the same people for the word Men is not in the originall that they may know that thou whose name is Iehovah But that is not allowed and approved by the generality but they take it in generall and the originall will bear it better that the name of Iehovah may be known though they will not know it it may be God may blast their counsells and they will be at it again and God may cast fire among them and they will not be ashamed yet others will they will take notice how wicked people conspired against the people of God at such a time and in such a place and God made it as a bubble
and plagued and punished them and sent the Pestilence into their Cities and families they will not learn but there are other people that will worship Iehovah that will fear the Lord by seeing his judgements on others As David saith When the wicked are taken away as drosse my flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements When he saw the wicked took away as drosse with the fire of Gods judgements he feared Therefore learn not to desire their death onely to pray for them and to believe that all their plottings against the Saints will be as stubble and as chaff they will come to nothing And if the wicked will not learn by seeing God to crosse them as he hath crossed all their designes in our age blessed be his name yet do thou take notice how God went against such people and such a Nation that rose against God God crost and blasted them and be sure that God will do so to the end to all that rise against him and his people Only take notice of Gods ways in the world to fear him and trust in him and to wait for him to come and do what thy soul desireth Expositions and Observations on PSALM 116. I love the Lord because he hath heard my prayer and my supplications Because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live The sorrows of death compassed me c. I Promised if the Lord would give me strength to speak a word unto you this afternoone concerning the mercies of God unto us in the victories of Scotland but especially of Bristoll because we have more knowledg of it and more relation to it the most of us And therefore I would briefly from this Psalm take occasion or ground of what I have to speak to you Two things briefly I see here laid down in this Psalm The first is the Psalmist doth expresse the great mercie of God to him in some speciall deliverance And that he doth illustrate by the misery he was in for he was in a very low condition full of tears and prayers and sorrows and his feet were ready to fall so the Lord heard his prayer and delivered him out of his troubles whatsoever they were That is one thing he takes notice of the great mercie of God to him The second is he doth consider what he should do to God now God having delivered him what is his duty For it is a known lesson among us that the mercies of God require somewhat from us though all be by his grace And those are here laid down in the Psalm they are various I will love the Lord I will call upon him while I live I will walk before him in the land of the living and diverse such duties he lays upon himself in consideration of Gods great mercy to him Now I have not time and strength to go over all which are many in the Psalm and therefore I will onely tell you a few thoughts that I have concerning Gods mercie in bestowing Bristoll upon us again and that according to Davids method here which is the most naturall and the most usuall by the Saints First to take notice of Gods goodness in that mercy And secondly to consider what is our duty Concerning the first there are abundance of mercies and kindnesses couched and wrapped up together in that It was not only the taking of a Garrison but there are abundance of mercies in it and mingled with it you Gods mercy in the taking in of Bristoll considered in five respects 1. In regard of the potent opposition especially that are concerned in it and are godly you know but in my eye these are the chiefe that I see and am affected with The first is I look upon the greatnesse of the mercie I see that all were great things in and about it there was no meane inconsiderable thing in it I know it is a great City the second in the Kingdom and I know also there were great works to keep it I know there were great and strong and numerous souldiers in it There were great resolutions in those souldiers And I am sure too there was great miserie in the City among the poor people and round about the City hath been these two yeers the plague scarsity of provision and other things And no man doubts but it is of great consequence if the Lord make it a blessing to us if the Lord sanctifie it it will be of great consequence not only to those parts being the chiefe City in that part of the Kingdom but to this City and to the whole State and Kingdom I see nothing in it but great things And therefore me thinks that he that should do this for us surely he must needs be a great God that pulled down the great pride of that City and the garison in it that must throw down those Bulwarks as it were And therefore let us exalt God let us conceive of God according to his greatnesse for surely he that did that work there no man will doubt or deny that it was God and that God that did it any man that will seriously consider of the work will say he is a great God therefore let us glorifie him in his greatnesse Another thing very observable that we should take 2. In regard of the hazard in storming notice of is that the Lord hath there preserved our friends preserved our Army in such a wonderfull manner in storming that City I have no skill in war but I think there are no people that go about storming but they resolve to lose many a man therefore they will do any thing rather then storme if it may be gotten otherwise and to storme such a City such Forts such strength such a Castle double lined in some parts and to do it by no very great Army neither and that the Lord should please to preserve them that so few should be slaine or wounded it is a wonderfull mercy For truly beloved when there were but a few in the City when the other side sought it they had it not so cheap it cost them the lives of many hundreds of them but this was the Lords goodnesse to his poor people and truly we may say as David doth here he hath inclined his ear to us and heard our prayer Then a third blessing that I take notice of in it is 3. In preserving it from the Pestilence that God should preserve our friends from the pestilence We alway conceived that if they had that City they knew not what to do with it because of the pestilence that might ruine and destroy the Army after they had took it and as we hear though they be in the same houses and quarter where the sicknesse was and have lain in the beds where men have been sick yet we hear little or nothing of the infection coming among them Surely this can be no other but the finger
of God considering how hot and violent it was Then I look upon it further as to consider what 4. In that this succeeded a series of mercies mercies there had gone in a streight line before and how this comes after mercy upon mercy God adding alway greater to the lesse This hath not been Gods way with us hitherto but if God heard us in one mercy he gave us a correction presently if we did get one garrison we lost another if we have one victory we lose another Now that God that is a Zealous God should go on and not see iniquity in his people and passe by their infirmities and should go from on Fort to another and from one garrison to another and bring in this great City to the rest I speak of it because the chief thing in this City is to desire to see the glory of God as Moses did to desire above all things to see God perfect God We know God is perfect and useth not to work by halves but God hath hidden that attribute in a great measure among us He gave us many overtures of mercie but he called for them back again and so presently turned our joy into sorrow It hath been familiar in all his dispensations to us for these two or three yeers Now that the Lord should go on from one thing to another without interruption and cast nothing in by the way to imbitter our mercies and to go from lesse to greater in this manner me thinks the Lord hath shewed himself a perfect God as he did to our fathers before and that is a glorious attribute Besides it is not a little mercie that the Lord hath 5. In respect of a confiding Governour inclined the Parliament to bestow a governour upon that City that they may confide in that is a greater mercy then we can now speak of And truly if you will give me leave to tell you what I think for we may haply judge of Gods mercie in this because of our concernment further then some of you it is a great mercie in our apprehension that the Lord hath cleared his people that came thence For when they came up I remember well of all people that came from any part of the Kingdom as I apprehend pardon me if I misapprehend the Bristoll people and those parts though they received much kindnesse from this City which they are bound with thankfulnesse ever to acknowledg yet they lay under a blurr because they were looked on as faulty and defective and negligent that they lost the City and endangered the Kingdom That truly besides their losses and sufferings that you cannot imagine unlesse you had suffered with them this was not a small affliction to see so many frown on them and to add affliction to affliction as though if they had been more valiant and couragious they might have kept the City and have saved it c. I meddle not with the commanders and governours but I speak of you that are here and the good people of Bristoll that use to be here I say the Lord hath restored the poor people to their home at least though that be naked enough for them and hath taken away their reproach for though we said before that we did what we could to save the City and stood out yet it was generally thought that we might have done more but now it appears to the world that now there were many more then we had at least three for one and there were two yeers works forts and lines built more then there was then and we kept them out three dayes in storming and I hear not that they did one As soon as we lost the City we capitulated so did they as soon as they lost it I say not but that we had weaknesses and it may be from the greatest to the least wanted skill in mannaging it but I know and I should know as much as oneâ— that the people of Bristoll were valiant from the least to the greatest The Lord hath taken away the reproach for whereas all others in the Kingdome were pitied many frowned upon Bristoll men after all their sufferings There are many other things that are not now expedient to insist upon I leave it to your serious consideration And what the goodnesse of God is to us in the victory in Scotland no man though we know it but in generall can be ignorant how that Kingdom being subdued the enemy would have been over us and all the three Kingdoms would have been gone in the eye of reason but God hath sent them seasonable reliefe beyond all expectation A great mercie Now from all this I will tell you my thoughts what you and I should learn First for ever hereafter we should learn patiently to wait upon the Lord when we have made our prayers to him and he hath made his promises to us We had many promises in our eye and we made our prayers but when the Lord gave the City into their hands we thought the promises and our prayers were lost neither did we see or could understand how any thing should become of them but onely shame and reproach For we boasted of God in the Pulpits and in the streets and at our work that the Lord was our God and would help us and yet the Lord turned it against us and there were few of us that had so much grace as to wait patiently on him and to know that though nothing appeared the vision would speak and would not lie But now we are convinced of our folly and we see that God hath fully answered those prayers of Bristoll For those prayers I believe did speak loudest of all the prayers in England in getting that City And I value one of those prayers more then an hundred now for they are old prayers in store stale prayers are good And they were prayers from broken afflicted spirits and believing hearts And now you see how the Lord hath graciously provided food and raiment for his people and done the souls of many of them much good and in due season restored their dwellings and habitations to them Therefore there is a word in Rom. 10. that I did think to open The Apostle there comparing the righteousnesse together he saith ver 5. that the righteousnesse of the law is thus described by Moses The man that doth these things shall live in them That is the language of the law he that doth these things he that keeps the law shall be saved But the righteousnesse of faith the way of faith as the Apostle calls it Gal. 3. or the way of the Gospell speaketh on this wise it hath another kinde of language say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the deep But what saith it The word is nigh thee the word of faith which we Preach That is this is the language of faith that Jesus Christ hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for us And how do we
shall detain thee no longer from the matter but commend it to thy serious and judicious Consideration and it and thee to the blessing of him who onely can give increase to all good endevors and rest Thine in Christian Duty THO. SHELTON ISAIAH 9. 12 13 c. For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still c. MY intention is not to expound this Scripture but onely at this time to take occasion from the main drift of it to instruct you a little in that we are about The main drift of it is this That here the Lord by the Prophet threatens many and grievous judgments that should come upon this people you shall see who they are in the Chapter I say they were many and they were sore and grievous And the Lord doth begin as his usual maner is with some first and with the least and when the people would not turn to him that smote them then the Lord would send another plague on them For that is the meaning of that phrase His hand is stretched out still They went on in wickedness and then the Lord sends another plague His hand is stretched out still The stretching out of Gods hand is the executing of judgment upon wicked people usually So that he goes on with very fore judgments as here in this Chapter it is said A man shall eat the flesh of his own arm and yet the hand of the Lord is stretched out still A man would think that were the sorest that could be a man would think that were enough yet notwithstanding the hand of the Lord is stretched out still It is the maner of God throughout the Scripture The maner of Gods proceeding to and in judgments to defer judgments a long while before they come and when they come he sends them by degrees but when they come usually they are many and sore and it is uncertain when they will end as we see in Levit. 26. Amos 4. Isai 5. And here and in some of the Chapters following His hand is stretched out still Just so beloved it is with us at this time as I shall Application to our times shew you briefly for I told you I would not expound but take a word to quicken your hearts and mine that we may speak unto the Lord more advisedly You know a little while agone we thought that the Lord was coming to end the wars The Lord gave us victory upon victory after many corrections and judgments before and we thought they were now over but we were deceived as we were many times before You know God hath been many times about to end our miseries but he hath sent back for his mercies and so he hath done now he hath very strangely called back his mercies and loving kindness and hath stretched out his hand many ways against us God begins to raise up enemies again and to strengthen them he suffers the enemy to break in among us besides all expectation And how long or how far God will stretch out his hand that way who knoweth Let me deal plainly with you For this day we The cause of Gods judgment to be sought in our selves should deal plainly with God and our own souls and however through the week we look for Reasons and Causes of things in a natural way who followed and who were the Commanders and what were the Forces and the like yet it should be the business of this day to judg of things spiritually to see spiritual Reasons And here we see in this Chapter and many such That God stretcheth out his hand while there is some continuation of sins or some new provocation against the Lord therefore it may be God hath many more ends in it as doubtless he hath but certainly there is some strange provocation of God among us that the Lord deals so with us again And all this that we may now see that the miseries that are beginning to rise they are but the stretching out of Gods hand It is Gods Those are wilful provoking sins hand and as of private persons so of publike Nations it is not common frailties that grieve the Spirit but some wilful wickedness When a man hath sin at the slaves end and yet lets it come in to his bosome and when he sees sin through the Key-hole and yet opens the door and lets it come in So in a Nation it is not frailties and weakness there will be whoredom and drunkenness though these provoke God It is not so much this as some wicked provocations of God that are among us Therefore in a word give me leave a little to tell you what I conceive what I fear rather what is the reason why God afresh and anew stretcheth out his arme when we thought his sword was half put up yet now it comes out again and God knows how far it will go or how long it will continue Beloved we should be born with in searching our selves and beholding and confessing our sins and the sins of those that are among us especially in such days as these unlesse we will deale hypocritically with God and proclaim a fast day and come to humble your souls and no man look after his own sins and men not be allowed to bewaile the common sins I was considering that the Saints before confessed their own sins and the sins of others of their Princes and Magistrates and great ones and the true prophets were bold to tell them also of their sins Therefore though I delight not God he knoweth of any thing to speak of mens sins and if I do the Lord he knoweth I am more willing thorow his What they are among us grace to see my own then any mans sins and to speak of them and bewaile them Therefore I say I hope you will bear with me if I tell you my heart if I now were on my death-bed what I think according to this blessed book provokes the Lord that now so terribly he threatneth us again when we thought his anger was over Therefore I pray hear me I shall be brief The first thing that I fear highly provokes God among 1. A formal practice of penltential duties us and as long as we stretch out this line of sin he will stretch out the line of wrath That is our formall humiliation and repentance and fasting and such like things I do not speak neither can any man that hath charity think I speak against humiliation or repentance or fasting I desire to practise it but our humiliation and fasting and praying and repentance and these things they grow every day more formall then other that truly there is almost nothing but formality in the eye of spirituall Christians and they begin to loath it how much more the Lord who is a pure Spirit whose eyes are brighter then the Sun In Isay 1. you shall read that the Lord punished and chastised the people that there was no
them one by one by degrees He hath brought us from repetition of the word and from singing of Psalms and many from baptizing of the infants of the godly and divers from the supper of the Lord and from hearing the word of God preached and now he comes and begins to bring people from praying or calling upon the name of the Lord therefore let us do as Rehoboam did when he had lost Ten Tribes he went and strengthened the two that remained Beloved there are but a few ordinances that remaine and they are almost gone too therefore let us do our best to keep those One is praying or calling upon God which our Lord Christ divers ways by precept and example and parables c. doth exhort his Disciples to to pray alway and not to faint So that this is it that you should do well to consider that Prayer or calling upon the name of God in Christ is an ordinance and a perpetuall ordinance of God And though it may be many of you do not doubt of it and therefore you think why should I speak of it Truly no more did not I doubt of it yet I have had many thoughts of it and though we doubt not of it yet the considering of it out of the word may stir us up to do it more then we do for I am afraid though many of you doubt not of it yet many of you are slack and though you believe not what the others say yet you hearken so much to them as to slacken of what the old Saints did and of what your selves did before you do not set your selves so earnestly and so frequently and follow God so hard in prayer as you have done this I greatly fear For I find many times that the devill plays a double game that when he comes to take away an ordinance from people to cheat them of it he knowes that some are so giddy that he can gull and cheat them clearly and he knows this that those that he cannot cheat yet he can cast them into a kinde of remisnesse As for instance he hath taken away from many singing of Psalms prasing God according to that manner that the Saints have had for divers ages whereas there is no particular manner in the scriptures for the outward thing now as he hath brought many that they will not sing at all so there are many that are indifferent and so for baptising the infants of the godly and so for hearing the Word and so for praying The devil hath a dilemma if you will do so so it is or else do this so I say while some giddy heads or hearts are throwing away the Ordinance of prayer I am afraid there is a general remisness or carelesness growing upon your hearts therefore I shall shew these two things concerning prayer First I shall shew you that it is an Ordinance of God Prayer an Ordinance of God Prayer a perpetual duty that it is a duty that it is the duty of a Saint Secondly I shall shew you that it is a lasting duty a duty to be performed in all ages untill the coming of Christ and that briefly and plainly For the first That it is a duty consider any duty in the world and whatsoever you would have to prove it a duty I dare say it is clear in the Word concerning this duty of Prayer that and much more you cannot name any duty in the Book of God any external duty that is underpropped that hath such foundations such clear ground-works for it as the duty of Prayer There are four main grounds of duty and one of Four main grounds of dutie them many times is a sufficient ground for any one as First that it is a thing that the law of Nature hath 1. The 〈◊〉 of Nature written in the heart of man to call upon God it was written in the Creation There are many duties among us that are not so under the Gospel especially Now that you see in all ages all kinde of people call upon the name of their God As in the ship where Jonah was the Heathens by the dictates of Nature they awake Ionah to call on his God and they were calling on their god it is a thing in the law of Nature And by the By that is the reason why we may pray with carnal men though we may not receive the Lords Supper because the Supper of the Lord is an Ordinance by institution the other is a natural Ordinance or duty Now when a man doth a Natural duty it is supposed that it is in the heart of a wicked man and he doth but what he ought when he doth it A carnal man when he prays he sins not in that he prays much less do I sin in doing the duty with him in doing what he ought But wherein doth he sin In the maner that he prays without faith it is his fault and not mine and so an hypocrite that prayeth without faith when I do the duty I look that the thing be good but for the maner of his heart and spirit that is for him to look to So a man may pray with carnal people though he may not receive the Supper of the Lord because that is an Ordinance by institution and is onely for the Saints That by the by Secondly There is this ground for it for prayer 2. Command of the Word we have more precepts then for any other dutie Christ Jesus saith here Pray always And the Apostle 1 Thes 5. he bids us pray evermore pray alway I need not stand to prove this Then you have also presidents for it almost in every 3. President and Example Saint in the Book of God you seldom hear of a Saint but he was a praying Saint And let me tell you this that Saints and Churches or Assemblies for so the Greek word is indifferently and people that call on God with a pure heart they are Synonomies Sometimes Paul saith Grace mercy and peace to the Saints sometimes to the Churches and sometimes to those that pray and call on the name of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 1. 1. It is a thing so proper to a Saint that it is usually taken for the description of a Saint Therefore in Zech. 12. where there is a Prophesie concerning the conversion of the Iews saith God I will poure on them the Spirit of Grace and Supplication What is that That is they shall be converted To have a spirit of Supplication a praying heart is the same as conversion to convert the Iews is to give them a spirit of Grace and Supplication As soon as Paul was converted Act. 9. when Ananias inquired of him he was praying therefore you have examples enow 4. Promises entailed on it Psalm 50. And then you have Precepts for it and Promises to it all along in the Book of God Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee So in the new Testament
well as hearers There is one thing more which is here laid down in this Scripture that we must indeavor to do though when I speak of doing when we teach you any spiritual Gospel duty you must understand it in a Gospel way not as though I say we can do this or that but we through the grace of Christ may do any thing that is commanded in the Gospel Therefore go not home and say we are dead and can do nothing c. To what end are all these precepts laid on us but that we by the power of the holy Ghost may do them Therefore I say there is one thing more for us to do before we can come rightly to love the brethren truly there are many things but that that I am now upon is the foundation what is for the building of us up I meddle not with now for till we come to do this we cannot love at all we cannot go one step in this blessed work and that is it I shall indeavor to tell you now saith the Apostle Fulfil my joy and be like minded If there be any consolation in Christ or any comfort of love if there be any fellowship of the Spirit if there be any bowels and mercies The meaning is the Apostle exhorts them to these duties upon these motives to the following duties upon the foregoing motives As if he should say for the consolation sake that you feel in Christ Jesus that is sweet and dear for the comforts sake that you feel when you love how ful your souls are of comfort for the sake of that sweetness and pleasure that you have in the fellowship of the Spirit If there be any bowels of mercy in you any sweetness of the mercy of God in your souls or any workings of mercy or pity or affections in you grant me one desire at which I shall exceedingly rejoyce that is be like minded and have the same love c. The Apostle doth here as it is usually his manner when he exhorts to any thing he tells them not Do this or you shall be damned do this or else you are hypocrites or else the curse of God will fall on you for he carries that clearly in all his Epistles that there is no damnation to them that are in Christ and you are are not appointed unto wrath saith he but he presseth them unto it out of the sweetness and dearness of spiritual things that they apprehended Indeed to press them from arguments of hell or the curse that would have fastned a spirit of bondage on them To press them from worldly things those vanities would never have moved them therefore he takes the choisest things always as Iob saith I spake to my servants and to my wife and she answered not though I besought her for the children of my body that is the dearest thing between man and wife so the Apostle desires them by such things as these by the coming of the Lord Jesus that is the sweetest thing to a Saint saith he by these sweet and dear things I talk not of hell and it is in vain to talk of worldly motives but for the sweetness that is in spiritual things and for that price sake and the dearness that is of them and in them I beseech you grant me this request that is that ye Be like minded and have the same love That is mutual love each to other and be of one accord and of one minde This is the Motive that I Mutual love enjoyned shall open But how shall we come to love one another or to love mutually O saith he Let nothing be done through The means to attain it strife or vain glory but in lowliness of minde let each esteem other better then themselves I told you a man is to lay this as the foundation of his love to love because God loves him not because he is beloved of men Now that he may do so he must lay this also as a general rule in his soul by the grace of Christ that he account himself and lookt on himself as less then any other of the Saints every man must account another better then himself A man must look upon himself nay I say more he must be content that others look upon him as the least Saint or else he will never love his brethren aright Beloved this above all things I finde it may be you finde more to be the greatest enemy to love high-mindedness that you look upon your selves either as the greatest of Saints you think you are some body or else you look upon your selves as of the second form near to the greatest Therefore you shall observe by experience that when you come to love any Saint if you finde that though he love you yet if he love another better and account more of the Image of God in â—â—other then in you you alway account that love no better then hatred you say such a man hates you why so because he loves three or four better then you This is pride of heart in a man he had as lieve a man should hate him as love one Saint in the world better or before him it is a sign of a devillish heart If there be a Saint or two in the Family or a woman or a servant in the Congregation that is more respected then he he thinks such a one doth not love him he concludes I am not beloved There is such a desperate pride as pride is a desperate thing alway in spiritual and in earthly things in the heart of man that makes him so desperate that if he be not loved to the height above all others that he accounts all love hatred You will not be right till you come to this that Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. I am the least of all Saints saith he and 1 Tim. 1. 7. I am the greatest of all sinners you will never be in a right frame in a Gospel frame to love your brethren till when you look on sinners you account your selves the greatest and when you look on Saints you reckon your selves the least Therefore this is a plain short Lesson I mean not to speak much of it but truly it needs a large comment on your hearts it needs a great deal of setting home upon your spirits Therefore let us every one look to our selves in this let us consider our condition my condition that I stand in and yours where you are Is not this the frame of my soul and the disposition of your souls that you never love another nor never esteem anothers love for both go together in a proud heart unless he look principally upon you â—â—â—ve all others Beloved it is much for thee and me if we understand our selves what we are and rightly judge of our selves and our course and how things are really in us and before the eyes of him that searcheth the hearts it is much for me if the poorest Saint give me but a smile or
own mercies as Ionah saith to imbrace some lust or other either to imbrace the world or to fall to wantonness or drunkenness or any thing else and so to bargain as Esau that sold all his blessed title in the new Testament and in Jesus Christ for a mess of pottage Beware of that prophaneness for prophaneness is not onely when men commit gross evils as we say but this is a prophane man though he be a Professor and walk civilly that though but in his heart is willing to exchange the blessed estate that God hath called him to for the best happiness in the world There are many prophane men that are not whoremongers and drunkards but are ready every day if the devil come to cheapen to give up their birthright for a mess of pottage Take heed you sell it not if you did understand it rightly you would not sell it for ten thousand worlds that condition and happiness that God hath called you to All the things in the world that can be presented to you are nothing to the peace of the Kingdom of heaven be they what they will in themselves and yet you hanâ—er after ambition or lusts or somewhat and go sell your birthright for a root of bitterness for a mess of pottage for base things I say and I am sure there is no Saint here that knows what the happiness of a Christian in the new Testament is but will say so that all the glory and riches and happiness in the world is no more in comparison of the riches and happiness of a man estated in Christ in the new Testament then a mess of pottage is compared with an inheritance Therefore beware of it desire the Lord to deliver you from a prophane heart Thirdly here is another Use that the Apostle 3. To encourage weaklings makes of it therefore this should encourage poor weak Professors that are every day ready to faint Wherefore saith he lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make strait steps to your pathes least that which is lame go out of the way The meaning is poor souls that are beaten out as it were as a ship in the sea all the week with temptations and afflictions and injuries and reproaches and threatnings and persecutions that their hands almost fall that they are ready to say as David I have washed my hands in innocencie in vain This is the way to keep up thy spirit Labor as Paul prays Phil. 1. to know the riches of thy calling to understand the glorious condition that God hath called thee to here I speak not of that in heaven hereafter but the glorious estate here if thou hadst eyes to see it and a heart to judg of it then you would not be so tormented all the week long with a few temptations and afflictions and so be ready to give up as David said I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul so I shall one of these short days prove an hypocrite a prophane man I am so haunted with temptations and so followed with sins and lusts No beloved study that blessed estate what Mount Sion what the heavenly Ierusalem is that City of the living God that God hath called you to and that will support thee Then that I may conclude Lastly this is the use 4. To study peaceableness the Apostle would have us make of it to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see see God That is if you do understand aright your spiritual condition the happiness of it which is unspeakable then surely you will be peaceable people you will be at peace with all men for this is a general truth to me that our frowardness doth generally arise from some distemper of our own souls within I mean when a man sees that God is angry with him he is angry with others that is certain alway if God look strangely upon him he will look strangely upon others if God quarrel with him he will quarrel with others but if God smile upon the soul and shed his love into the heart and set his love upon him he will not be angry with any that are without I mean with a carnal anger that is the reason that when a mans ways please God the stones of the street shall be at peace with him Did you ever see the stones of the street angry with you but the meaning is when a mans ways are cross with God and he hath a guilty conscience a guilty soul hath no true peace he is ready almost to fall out with the stones in the street he quarrels with his servant with his horse with every thing because he hath an unquiet spirit within when a man pleaseth God the stones shall be at peace with him that is he shall be at peace with every thing Why so because there is an infinite unspeakable quiet in his own soul That is the reason we have so many Professors among us that are so bitter and cruel to others some they call Presbyters and some Independents and divers other Professors you may pick them out in every Congregation that are so sharp and terrible to others if they cross them or dissent from them never so little What is the reason because there are abundance of Professors that have one foot on Mount Sinai they walk by the Covenant of Works they have patched a feined rotten peace in them with God in Christ and so many times there is blackness and darkness within therefore they are ready to wrangle and quarrel with others without But God hath called us to Mount Sion where is that where the swords are turned into Pruning hooks and the speares into Ploughshares sighing and sorrow is gone away and there is no ravenous beast there meaning the glorious estate of the Saints in the purity of the light of the Gospel all our ravenous spirits shall be taken away for it is impossible that soul that hath the love of God shed into it and the peace of God rightly planted in it it is impossible but that soul should be milde and calm and meek and merciful and loving and courteous to all and be at peace with all and peaceable to all And for holiness Follow holiness saith the Apostle this would make you holy if you did understand your condition rightly O if you were perswaded that God did love you from eteruity and that his Son did die for you and that you and he are as really one as he is one with his Father and that all the treasures that are in Christ are yours c. this would inevitably work in us a holy frame of heart and disposition Therefore the Apostle usually calls on us to be holy from such motives I beseech you by the mercies of God and by the consolations of the Spirit do this and that and leave that and the other evil That is the reason we are lame in holiness because our principles are so
more and more for we are setling like the Jews in an outward formal Reformation without heart Now it would be terrible if the Lord should chuse our own administration and give us according to our own heart I hope he will not But this lay heavy upon my spirit to tell you of therefore the Lord direct you to make the best use you can that if it be his blessed will this place that is the honor and glory of the Kingdom and the refuge of the Saints that the Lord would not come against it FINIS THE TABLE  Page A  Abiding  ABiding with God in evil times 72 Actions  Saints not under the Law in their actions 157 Afflictions  Afflictions of godly and wicked how different 31 Afflictions turn to the good of Saints 119 The life of Faith in afflictions 130 Saints not under the Law in regard of afflictions 150 Afflictions not to be fainted in 194 Amend  All should amend when the wicked are punished 104 Angels  Angels pry into Gospel mysterie 201 Angels good and bad do it ibid. Apostacy  Apostacy a provoking sin 11 Assurance  Life of Faith in Assurance 130 Awake  Christians duty to awake God 86 B.  Betray  Not to betray Gods cause 88 Blasphemy  Blasphemy a provoking sin 9 Blessing see latter  Bristol  Gods mercy in recovering Bristol 107 C  Christ See cleaving  Christ makes all things amiable 192 Cleaving  Blessedness of cleaving to the Lord 70 Honor of cleaving to Christ in ill times 73 Special times of cleaving to God 77 Comfort  What should help Christians comfort 175 Conceits  Vain conceits of wicked men 33 Confidence  Ground of a Christians confidence 27 Consolation  Consolation a duty 40 Four things that hinder consolation ibid. Covenant  Spiritual understanding of the New Covenant effects of it 66 Covetousness  Covetousness a provoking sin 237 Creature  The vanity of the Creature why discovered 61 Conjunction  Conjunction of those that cleave to God 70 D.  Difference  Difference of Gods dealing with Saints 36 Difference between Saints and sinners 208 Discouraged  Weak Saints not to be discouraged 143 Distrust  Distrust in times of danger to be avoided 87 Division  Division among Saints a provoking sin 9 Duty See Consolation  Four grounds of Duty 149 E.  Enemies  Assurance of victory over enemies the effects of it 64 How God destroyes his enemies 85 Equality  Equality that should be between Saints 144 Evil see good  Example  Example of Saints a ground of prayer 150 F.  Faith  Faith the want of it what it doth 40 Faith the life of it 44 Faith how God tries it 83 Faith how the just live by it 128 See Affliction Assurance Sanctification  False  False dealing 237 Fondness  Holy fondness between God and the Saints 54 Holy fondness in five things 55 Fondness wrought four ways 61 Formality  Formality in duties a provoking sin 4 See Reformation  G.  Garison see Minde  God see Hypocrisie Persecutors  Good  To call evil good a provoking sin 11 See Afflictions Work  Gospel  Gospel precepts highest 162 Gospel Mysteries to be attended 202 Gospel riches to be admired 204 Gospels simplicity 225 Government  Government how to be affected 204 Greater  How to argue from less mercies to greater 120 Grace  Grace weak how to comfort it 45 Grace what meant by it 160 Of those that are under Grace 162 Power in Grace more then the Law 164 H.  Heart  Heart hardened 8 Hidden  Saints Gods hidden ones 90 Holiness  Holiness desired on wrong grounds 41 Right laboring for holiness 198 See Comfort  Hypocrisie  Hypocrisie hateful to God 48 Hipocrites honor creatures above God 50 Hypocrisie dishonors God ibid. I.  Judg.  Saints not to judg one another 143 Judgments  Maner of Gods proceeding to judgment 2 Cause of judgments what 3 Judgments why sent 103 Ingenuity  Ingenuity of right Saints 163 Justification  How to live by Faith in Justification 128 133 K.  Kiss  Holy Kiss what 145 L.  Latter Last  Blessing of the latter times 122 First shall be last how 138 Law  Saints under the Law how 156 See Persons Actions Afflictions Gospel  Learning  Learning humane wherein useful 211 Life see Faith Sanctification  Lord see cleaving  Love  Love of God what it works 62 To love though we be not loved 181 Mutual love how attained 184 M.  Minde  Garison of the minde what 16 Mingled  The life of a Christian mingled 133 Ministers  Ministers sins provoke God 149 N.  Nature  Duties grounded in nature 6 O.  Officers  Officers sins provoke God 8 Oppression  Sin of oppression 236 Ordinance  Prayer an Ordinance of God 149 Ordinances not to be neglected 152 Ordinances needful 153 P.  Patience see waiting  Peace  Peace to be studied by Saints 196 Perpetual see Prayer Persecutors Persecution  To cleave to God in persecution 78 Persecutors design 91 God persecuted in the Saints 93 Children of the godly may prove fierce persecutors 99 Persons  Persons of Saints how under the Law 156 Power  Power that Saints have 166 The Spirit called power how 173 See Grace  Prayer  Prayer a perpetual duty 151 Prayer whence it proceeds 169 Wants of prayer how supplied 170 See Ordinance Nature Precept Example Promise  Precept  Precepts ground of prayer 150 See Gospel  Promises  Promises ground of prayer 151 Protection  Protection of God who have right to it 21 Pride  Pride how discovered 185 R.  Reflect  Reflect acts hard to man 177 Saints to reflect on their estate 178 Reformation  Formal Reformation a provoking sin 5 Refuge  God a refuge 14 To repair to God as a refuge 17 Religion  Religion wherein it consists 211 Riches see Gospel  Revolting  Revolting a provoking sin 239 S.  Saints see Weak Sanctification  Life of Faith in Sanctification 129 131 Saintship to be prized 194 Satan  Grounds of Caution against Satan 202 Security  Security why to avoyd it 140 Self-love  Self-love a provoking sin 10 Shame  Iudgments sent to shame men 103 Simplicity  Simplicity of Religion 212 Simplicity of the Gospel 223 Sin  What sins provoke judgments 3 Carriage of Saints faln into sin 43 Saints carriage in a deluge of sin 77 Aggravations of sin 240 Silent  God silent in danger why 83 Soul  The soul of God departs from incorrigible sinners 244 Spirit  Spirit powerful in Saints 166 Spirit undervalued how 167 Spirit wherein powerful 169 Spirit differs Saints and Sinners 208 Spirit how known 210 Spirit to be labored for 213 Spirits excellency 215 Spirits grieving dangerous 220 Spirit to be prized 221 See Word Teaching Work Power  T.  Teaching  Teaching of the Spirit 170 Testament  Testaments compared 188 Trouble  Trouble in Saints whence 190 V.  Vengeance  Vengeance of God against the wicked 27 Union  Union between Christ and Christians 229 Upright  Uprightness ground of it 22 Uprightness how tried 84 W.  Waiting  Ground of waiting on God 112 Weak  Weak Saints not to be contemned 141 Weak Saints their carriage to stronger 142 Weak Saints to be encouraged 196 Word  Spirit to be advanced as speaking in the Word 168 Work  Who works in and for us 172 To be ready to every good work 206 FINIS