earth no word no commandement no threatning condemnes him But if thy conscience condemne thee and tell thee thou lettest sin lie at the dore rapping at thy conscience day after day and month after month telling thee that yet thou art without Christ that yet thou never hadst any true faith in the Lord Jesus that yet thou hast not truely repented and turned from thy sinnes this will at last drive thy soule into heavie discouragements if not into finall despaire O beloved religion and piety and the power of godlinesse goe downe the winde every where What is the reason of it but because of these discouragements that men live and go in Men pray and pray and their prayers profit them not men run up and downe and come to the Church and heare the Word and receive the Sacraments and use the meanes of grace but to no end they are unprofitable to them they remaine in their sinnes still the ordinances of God bring them not out of their lusts and corruptions hereby they disgrace and discredit the ordinances of God in the eyes and account of the men of the world making them thinke as if there were no more power nor force in the Ordinances of God then these men manifest There is no life in many Christians mens spirits are discouraged these secret discouragements in their hearts take away their spirits in the use of the meanes that though they use the meanes yet it drives them to despaire of reaping good or profit by them Beloved I could here tell you enough to make your hearts ake to heare it First all your complaints they are but winde Job 6. 26. doe you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are as winde Jobs friends taking Job to be a man of despaire they accounted all his words but as winde Doest thou nestle any discouragement in thy heart thou maist complaine of sinne as much as thou canst yet all thy complainings are but as winde thou maist cry out against thy corruptions with weeping and teares and pray and fight against them and yet all thy weeping mourning and praying is but as the winde thou maiest beg grace thou maist seeke after God thou maist heare the Word receive the Sacraments and yet all will be to thee as wind all will vanish be unprofitable not regarded Secondly discouragements drive us from the use of the meanes If ever we meane to come out of our sinnes if ever we meane to get grace and faith and assurance and zeale we must constantly use the meanes 1 Sam. 27. 1. David saith there is nothing better for me then that I should speedily escape into the Land of the Philistims and Saul shall despaire of me to seeke me any more David thought in himselfe if I can make him out of hope of finding me certainely he will give over seeking of me So when the soule hath any secret despaire of finding the Lord that soule will quickly be drawne from seeking of the Lord in the use of the meanes What ever you doe then O be not discouraged lest you be driven from the use of the meanes if you be driven from the use of the meanes woe is to you you will never finde God then Be not driven from praier nor driven from holy conference nor driven from the Word nor driven from the Sacrament nor from meditation nor from the diligent and strict examination of thy selfe of thy heart and of all thy waies for these are the waies of finding the Lord If you nourish any thoughts and feares of despaire in you if you be discouraged you will be driven from the use of the meanes which is a lamentable thing therefore be not discouraged Thirdly discouragements will make you stand poaring on your former courses thus I should have done and that I should have done woe is me that I did it not it will make a man stand poaring on his sinnes but never able to get out of them So it was like to be with them in the Ship with Paul Acts 27. 20. In the tempest at Sea they were utterly discouraged from any hope of safety now indeed Paul told them what they should have done if they had been wise Sirs you should have hearkned to me and not have loosed ver. 21. as if he had said you should have done thus and thus but now doe not stand poaring too much on that you should have hearkned to me and not have launched forth c. but that cannot be holpen now therefore I exhort you to be of good cheare c. So beloved when the soule is discouraged upon these thoughts I should have prayed better I should have heard the Word of God better and with more profit I should have repented better I should have performed this and that religious and good dutie better but ah wretch that I am I have sinned thus and thus it is alwaies looking on this sinne and that sinne this imperfection and that failing when now I say the soule is discouraged it will be alwaies poaring upon sinne but it will never come out of its sinne alwaies poaring upon its deadnesse and unprofitablenesse but never able to come out of it O beloved be of good cheare and be not discouraged it is true you should have prayed better you should have heard the Word of God better heretofore you should have been more carefull and circumspect of your wayes then you were but now you cannot helpe it these things and times are gone and cannot be recalled such a one hath been a drunkard a swearer a worldling c. but he cannot helpe it now True he might have helped it and because he did not his heart shall bleed for it if he belong to God but doe not stand poaring too much upon it but consider now what you have to doe now you are to humble your selfe now you are to strive with God in all manner of prayer for more grace and more power of obedience and assurance and be not discouraged Fourthly if the soule be discouraged it will breed nothing but sorrow What is the reason that many Christians are alwaies weeping and mourning and sighing and sobbing from day to day all their life time and will not be comforted because of these discouragements 1 Thes. 4. 13. Sorrow not saith the Apostle as those that have no hope as if he had said sorrow if you will but do not sorrow as they that have no hope How is that it is a sorrow with nothing but sorrow from which they have no hope of inlargement or freedome O then my brethren suppose you have dead hearts suppose you want zeale you want assurance suppose it be so yet labour to attaine these graces sorrow and spare not weepe and mourne and powre out whole buckets of teares for your sinnes if you can but sorrow not with nothing but sorrow be not discouraged suppose that thou hast a dead heart that thou art an hypocrite that thou hast a rotten heart it is a heavie thing and a fearefull case indeed for which thou hast great cause of humiliation and sorrow but yet sorrow not desperately as men without hope be not wholly discouraged but as you sorrow for your sins so also labour with incouragement to get out and be rid of your sins Fifthly discouragements breed and procure a totall perplexity They leave the soule in a maze that it knowes not whether to turne it selfe When men come to be discouraged Oh what shall I doe saith one I am utterly undone saith another I know not what will become of me saith a third Oh I am utterly lost I shall perish one day one day God will discover me and be avenged on me for this and that sin I were as good go to hell at the first as at the last for that will be the end of me I have gon to prayer but that doth not helpe me I have gone to Sacraments but I finde no helpe still my soule lies under the power of sinne still my sinnes are as strong in me as ever Thus the soule is discouraged and cryes out Oh what shall I doe I know not what to doe What shall I doe sayest thou Alas thou hast things enough to doe if thou wert not discouraged Utterly undone No man thou mightest see that thou art not utterly undone but that thou art discouraged Dost thou not know what will become of thee yea poore soule there is mercy grace and peace for thee if thou wilt not be discouraged Sixthly discouragements whisper within a man a sentence of death and an impossibility of escaping As far as the discouragement of life goeth so farre goeth the sentence of death We despaired of life and had the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 8. 9. he despaired of life in himself and therefore had the sentence of death in himselfe this was good but he did not despaire of life in God for then he should have had likewise the sentence of death from God in his conscience If you despaire in the Lord you have the sentence of death and damnation from God in your conscience take heed of this my beloved be not discouraged in God do not despaire in the Lord that will worke a miserable effect in your soules it will secretly whisper a sentence of damnation in your soules It is strange to consider how many poore soules rub on with these whispering sentences in their bosomes suffering their consciences day by day to tell them that they are rotten to tell them that they were never yet converted to tell them that they are yet in the state of damnation and yet they will not root out these discouragements O goe to the Throne of grace beg for grace and for mercy and for power against sinne and be not discouraged What wilt thou carry thy owne sentence of death in thy brest if thou wilt not rouze up thy soule and pray with more affection and confidence and shake off discouragements take heed lest thou carry the sentence of thy own death and damnation in thy bowels O therefore once more let me beseech you to take heed of these discouragements and now hearken to the voice of God which calleth upon you feare not Thou drewest nigh in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not FINIS Object Answ Use Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Doct. Quest Answ
looke up unto God p. 191. 2. Doct. Sinne and disobedience against the Law of God is that which brings downe punishments and judgements upon a Nation Church or People ibid. Use 1. To discover the weaknesse of our Land in what a poore condition it is by reason of sinne p. 193. 2. To shew who be the greatest Traytors to a Kingdome p. 194. 3. To teach all of us to set hand and heart Prayers and tears a worke against sinne p. 195. Especially it concernes those that are in places of Authority p. 197. 3. Doct. The Lord often times brings fearfull and unavoydable judgements and punishments upon his owne professing people p. 200. Foure signes of Judgement a comming 1. When the Ministers of God with one voyce foretell judgements to come p. 202. 2. When sinnes of all sorts doe abound ib. 3. When the Divell and wicked men cast in bones of dissention p. 203. 4. When all mens hearts begin to faile p. 204 Three Directions what is to be done in such times 1. Let us shake off the love of all things here below p. 206. 2. Let us lay our heads upon the block and be willing that God should doe what he will with us p. 208. 3. Let us pray and cry mightily to God before we dye even all the time we have to live for mercy peace and truth ibid. The Church of England like the ship of Jonah p. 209. The Authors Admonition to the People ib. p. 210. c. More then ordinary Faith requisite for these times of danger p. 211. 212. c. A DISCOURSE OF the nature of prevalent Prayer together with some helps against discouragements in Prayer LAMENT. 3. VER. 57. Thou drewest neare in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not THis Book of the Lamentations doth plainely shew what miseries and distresses sinne is the cause of Now this people of the Jewes because of their Idolatries their contempt of Gods Ordinances their slighting and misusing the Prophets c. Their Cities were taken the Temple burned their liberties confiscated themselves banished out of their countrey and deprived of the ordinances of their God and the signes of his presence before they were rebellious but now they sought God a long time they prayed but God would not heare In so much that many poore soules amongst them were discouraged and almost ready to despaire That had not the Lord put in some incklings of hope they had utterly fainted Now whilst these poore soules were praying and crying and groaning and now ready to give over for discouragement that God will not hear them presently the Lord flings in comfort and beckens to their hearts not to be discouraged but to pray on and feare not Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not the words containe in them three properties of effectuall prayer First the unsatiablenesse of it till it bee heard Secondly the sensiblenesse of it whether it be heard or noe Thirdly the supplies it hath from dangers and discouragements that it is in First the unsatiablenesse of it All the praiers of this people though they had beene of many yeares yet they counted them as the prayers of one day in the day that I called upon thee They account all their thousands of supplications and prayers as one suite never had they done their prayers till God did heare them Secondly the sensiblenesse of it whereby it is able to know whether God doe heare it or no Thou drewest neere in the day that I called upon thee Thirdly the supplyes it hath against dangers and discouragements God slings in comfort into their hearts giving them incklings of hope to support them agaynst their discouragements thou saidst feare not from the first of these observe That an effectuall prayer is an unsatiable prayer A man that prayes effectually sets down this in himself as his first conclusion never to cease nor to give over praying till he speed This is the first and prime thing that a godly heart lookes at as David in his prayers He begins in this manner Heare my crie O God attend unto my prayer Psal. 61. 1. So Give eare unto my prayer O God and hide not thy selfe from my supplications Psal. 55. 1. Hear my voyce O God in my prayer Psal. 64. 1. As if he should say Lord now I come to call upon thee now that I come to thee to begge these and these graces that my soule wants I beseech thee to heare me for I am resolved never to give over my suit never to give thee rest but for to continue my prayers and supplications till thou give a gratious answer to my soul and heare me This is the first and prime thing that the soule looks after it being the very end of prayer to be heard it is not with prayer as with Oratory the end of oratory is not to perswade but to speake perswasively for a man may use all the perswasions that may be and use all the perswasive arguments that the wit of man can invent and speake as cuttingly as perswasively as may be and yet the heart may be so intractable as not to be perswaded it is not so with prayer The end of prayer is to prevaile with God Beloved there is difference between the end and office of prayer the office of prayer is to pray the end of prayer is to prevaile There is many a man that doth the office of prayer and yet never gets the end of prayer A man hath never gotten the end of his prayers till he hath gotten that he prayed for It is not with prayer as with a Physician that may give the best physick under heaven and yet the Patient may die under his hands and therefore one gives counsell that a Physician never meddle with a desperate man But if the soule be an effectuall suitor with God it can never faile of its suite because it is an unsatiable Suitor that never leaves his prayer till it terminates the end of it I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill Selah Jerom translates it for ever Psal. 3. 4. never doth a child of God pray but he prayeth so as that his praier and Gods eare may be joyned together I cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard me This also sheweth how the Prophet cried and praied namely so as his crying and Gods hearing were coupled together But some may object How can a man be unsatiable in his praiers til he speed must a man be alwaies a praying God calls men to other duties of his worshippe and of his owne particular calling after morning I must have done till noone after noone I must have done till night whether God heare me or no must I be alwaies a praying till I speed then I should doe nothing else but pray how then are we to continue our praiers till God heare us and give the grace that we pray for
To the Christian Reader HAving been informed upon very good grounds that the former Sermons of Mr William Fenner have found good acceptance both in regard of the worthinesse of the Author and also in regard of the usefulnesse of the Sermons I could not but give my approbation to these ensuing Sermons of the same Authour and desire that they may find the like acceptance with all Godly wise Christians and that they may become profitable to the Church of God Imprimatur EDM CALAMY THE SACRIFICE OF THE FAITHFULL OR A TREATISE shewing the nature property and efficacy of Zealous Prayer together with some Motives to Prayer and Helps against discouragements in Prayer To which is added seven profitable Sermons 1. The misery of the Creature by the sinne of man on Rom. 8. 22. 2. The Christians imitation of Christ on 1 Ioh. 2. 6 3. The enmity of the wicked to the light of the Gospel on John 3. 20 4. Gods impartiality on Esay 42. 24. 5. The great Dignity of the Saints on Heb. 11. 28. 6. The time of Gods grace is limited on Gen. 6. 3. 7. A Sermon for spirituall Mortification on Col. 3. 5. By William Fenner Minister of the Gospel Fellow of Pembrok Hall in Cambridge and Lecturer of Rochford in Essex LONDON Printed for John Stafford and are to be sold at his House over against Brides Church in Fleet-Street 1648. The CONTENTS of the first Treatise on Lament. 3. 5. 7. THE opening of the words in which are three properties of effectuall Prayer pag. 1. 1. The unsatiablenesse of it till it be heard 2. The sensiblenesse of it whether it be heard or no 3. The supply it hath against danger and discouragement p. 2. 1. Doct An effectuall prayer is an unsatiable prayer p. 3. Quest Must a man alwayes pray Ans. A man must give over the act of prayer for other duties but he must never give over the suit of Prayer p. 5. Rules to know whether our Prayers be unsatiable or no 1. It is an earnest begging Prayer p. 6. 2. It is constant Prayer p. 8. A godly mans Prayer is not out of his heart till the grace he prayed for be in p. 9. 3. It is a Prayer that is ever a beginning ib. 4. It is a proceeding Prayer it windes up the heart higher and higher ibid. 5. It is a Prayer that purifieth the heart p. 10. It is more and more fervent p. 11. And more and more frequent p. 12. It will take time from lawfull recreations and from the lawfull duties of our calling p. 13. And it will adde humiliation and fasting to Prayer p. 14. Use To condemne those who pray for grace and yet sit downe before grace is obtained p. 15. Such Prayers are 1. Endlesse p. 16. 2. Fruitlesse p. 17. 2. Doct A godly soule is sensible of Gods hearing or not hearing his Prayer p. 19. Quest How can the soule know whether it speed in Prayer or no Answ. 1. When God gives a soule further and further ability to pray it is a signe that God heares it p. 20. But if the soule have no heart to continue its suit it is a signe that God never meanes to heare that mans Prayer p. 21. 2. The preparednesse of the heart to Prayer is a signe that God means to heare p. 21. 3. Gods gracious looke is a signe that he will heare for sometimes God answers his people by a cast of his countenance p. 22. 4. The conscience of a man will answer him whether God heares his Prayer or no p. 26. But a mans conscience may be misinformed p. 27. A wicked man may have a truce though no true peace in his conscience p. 28. 5. The getting of the grace that a man prayes for is a signe that God heares his Prayer p. 29. But God may give many temporall blessings and common graces yet not in love but in wrath ibid. 6. If a man have Faith giuen him to beleive it is a signe that God heares him p. 30. Good works are good signes of Faith but they are but rotten grounds of Faith p. 31. Object Every Promise runs with a condition ibid. Ans. 1. The Promise is the ground of Faith and the way to get the Condition p. 32. 2. Faith is the enabling cause to keep the Condition p. 33. Two things doe much hurt in Prayer 1. Groundlesse incouragement 2. Needlesse discouragement p. 36. 3. Doct. God would not have any Christian soule to be discouraged in Prayer p. 39. A definition of discouragement ibid. 4. Reasons 1. Because discouragement hinders the soule in prayer p. 42. 2. Discouragement takes away the strength of the soule in Prayer p. 43. 3. If we have fearfull apprehensions of our sins so as to thinke they will never be forgiven we can never pray aright p. 45. 4. If we have any secret despaire we can never pray to purpose p. 46. There is a double desperation 1. Of infirmity which draws the soul from God 2. Of extremity which puts life into a mans Prayers and endeavours p. 47. A man never prayes well till he feeles himselfe undone p. 49. We should take heed of discouragements for 1. Discouragements breed melancholinesse in the soule p. 53. 2. They breed hard thoughts of God p. 54. 3. They will cause a man to thinke that God hates him p. 56. 4. They will bring a man to despaire p. 57. Ministers should not preach the pure Law without the Gospel p. 58. Secret discouragements in the heart 1. They take away the Spirit in the use of the meanes p. 62. 2. They drive us from the use of means p. 63. 3 They make a man continually to pore on his sins so as he shall never be able to get out of them p. 64. 4. They breed nothing but sorrow p. 66. 5. They leave the soule in a maze that it knows not whether to turne it selfe p. 67. 6. They whisper into a man a sentence of Death and an impossibility of escaping p. 68. The conclusion of the whole p. 69. The Contents of that Sermon ROM. 8. 22. EVery creature hath a three-fold goodnesse in it 1. A goodnesse of end p. 70. 2. A goodnesse of nature p. 71. 3. A goodnesse of use ibid. There be foure evils under which every Creature groaneth p. 73. 1. The continuall labour that the creature is put unto ibid. 2. The creature sometimes partakes of the plagues of the ungodly ib. 3. The Creature hath an instinctive fellow-feeleing of mans wretchednesse p. 74. 4. Because they are rent and torne from their proper Masters ibid. Doct. Every Creature groaneth under the slavery of sinne p. 75. Not only under the slavery of sinfull men but so far as they minister to the flesh of the Saints they groane under them ibid. Object Did ever any man heare any unreasonable creature groane under sin Answ. It is spoken Hyperbolically to declare the great misery the creatures are into serve sinfull man p. 76. 2. Analogically in regard of a
then he comes a third day and findes his two former dayes worke standing then he proceeds to a third dayes worke and makes walls to it and so he goes on till his building be finished So prayer it is the building of the soule till it reach up to heaven therefore a godly heart praies and reacheth higher higher in praier till at last his prayers reach up to God It is a signe of a wicked man to pray and to let his prayers fall downe againe upon him And here I appeale to the consciences of wicked men if it be not so with them they pray and pray but their hearts are as dead and deceitfull as proud and vaine as ignorant blockish and rebellious as if they had never praied Thirdly it is more and more a fervent praier if a little praier will not serve the turne if he speeds not to day then he will pray more earnestly to morrow and if that will not serve the turne he will adde more As a man in winding up of a bucket if two or three windings will not fetch it up he will winde it up higher and higher till it comes up for if he should onely winde up once or twise and no more but hold it just at the same pin the bucket would never come up So if a man praies and praies and windes not up his heart higher but holds it just at the same pegge it was praies in the same fashion he did grace will never come up Marke then how thou prayest examine thy heart dost thou pray to day as yesterday with no more zeal nor feeling affection nor sencible desire thou praiest not unsatiably No thou restrainest thy praying from growing an excellent discription of an hypocrite Iob 14. 4. though falsly applied to Job Thou restrainest prayer before God in some translations it is Thou keepest thy prayers from growing thou restrainest thy praiers as a dwarffe is restrained from growing so thou restrainest thy praiers from being more and more earnest and effectuall and fervent unsatiable praier is growing in zeale and affection Fourthly it is a more and more frequent praier so that if twice a day will not serve the turne he will pray three times a day Psal. 55. 17. and if that will not prevaile he will pray seven times a day Psal. 119. 164. and when that is not enough he will be even ever a praying hardly broken off day or night Psal. 88. 1. he cares not how often he praies it may be that thou hast been a suitor for strength and grace against corruptions and hast put up many praiers to the same purpose If now thou stickest at any praiers thy praiers are not unsatiable an unsatiable soul never resteth though it have made ten thousand praiers till it have gotten the grace it is so with other things and therefore we neede not wonder at it when a man doth his worke one day he will do it another and so on as long as he lives till his worke be done so must we doe for heaven and for grace Fifthly it is ever more and more a backt praier if ordinary praiers will not serve the turne a godly heart will cut off time from his recreations and pleasures though in themselves lawfull Beloved it may be with thy soule in its wrastlings and strivings for grace and power against corruptions that ordinary praiers will not satisfie it but it will be necessary to give over even lawfull delights and give that time to praier so a man will doe for the world if he have a businesse of importance that will bring him in gaine he will be content to part with his delights and recreations and pleasures to follow after it so a man must doe for his soule and if that be not enough then lay aside the duties of thy calling to take time from that If a man have two houses on fire both together the one his mansion dwelling house the other some backe roome or stable if he can he will save both but if he see that by spending his time on quenching the fire on the stable that his great mansion house will burne downe he will then neglect the other and let it burne if it will and imploy himselfe about his house So when the soule is in misery under the want of grace that it cannot live under but must perish eternally if it have it not then the soule being better then the body rather then that the soule miscarry we will neglect the body sometime And if this will not serve abstaine from meate and drinke fast it out thus the people of God are faine to doe many times their lust and corruptions being even as the devill himselfe which cannot be cast out but by praier and fasting there is an excellent place Joel 2. 12. Therefore now turne unto the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning rent your hearts c. Therefore now now your sinnes are so divelish now your sinnes are so deepely rooted in your soules now your corruptions are come to be such plague soares within you doe you not thinke that your ordinary repentance and ordinary praiers and humiliations will serve the turne but now backe them with fasting and mourning Here now thou mayst examine thy soule whether it have praied effectually unsatiably yea or no hath it ever a begging praier that thou praiest as if thou hadst never praied before is it evermore a proceeding praier that thou doest every day draw neerer to God then other is it more and more a backt praier a fervent and frequent praier hast thou taken from thy recreations from thy calling to give to it yea from thy belly and backe and used all meanes for a prevailing with God then are thy praiers effectuall and unsatiable This then condemnes the praiers of most men in the world they pray and pray for grace and their praiers come to an end and cease before they have it the angrie fretchard praies for patience and meeknesse and yet sets downe without it the covetous worldling praies to be weaned from the world and his praiers are done before he is so so the lukewarmeling deadhearted and vaine-thoughted professor praies for better thoughts for more zeale and yet comes to his be it so before he have it and so every wicked man praies and he is come to his Amen before the grace is given let all such men know that such praiers first they are endlesse secondly they are fruitlesse First they are endlesse The Philosopher said that that for which a thing is that is the end of the thing now praier is for the speeding with God and therefore he whose praiers speed not with God his praiers are endlesse thou hast praied against thy pride but art as proude still thou hast praied against thy choler and art as teachy still thou hast praied against earthlines and worldlines and art earthly and worldly still thou hast praied against security and deadnes of heart and lukewarmenesse in Gods service
and art lukewarm dead hearted and secure still to what end are all thy praiers when thou enjoyest not the end of thy praiers to what end is plowing of thy ground if it be not fallow when thy plowing is done to what end is the worke of thy servant if thy businesse be not done and dispatched when all is done As good never pray as pray to no end as good that thou never hadst begun to pray as to cease and to give over thy praiers before thou hast obtained the grace thou prayest for The prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. that is the praiers of a wicked man that continues in his wickednesse when his praiers are done praiers are an abomination to the Lord but the praiers of the upright though he were before he praied never so wicked yet if it be the praier of an upright and godly man when his praiers are done that his praiers rid him of his sin and make him an upright man his praiers are Gods delight Beloved many pray against distrust in Gods providence Infidelity in Gods promises Impatiency under Gods corrections c. and yet have never the more trust and affiance in God never the more patience under the hand of God all these praiers are endlesse Secondly thy praiers are fruitlesse to what purpose is a beggers begging of an almes if he be gone before the almes be bestowed his begging is fruitlesse so all thy praiers are lost if thou art gone from the Throne of grace before grace is given thee for if such a praier be endlesse then is it also fruitlesse it will never do thee any good what is a fruitlesse tree good for but to be cut down what is a fruitlesse Vine good for but to be burned So all thy praiers are lost all thy beginnings of grace are lost we know saith the man that was borne blind John 9. that God heareth not sinners we know it Why may some say how do you know that God heares not sinners why we know it by eâ—perience by examples A drunkard prayeth to God to cure him of his drunkennes yet he doth not leave his ill company all the world may see that God hears not the drunkards praier because he cures him not but lets him go on in his sin and so for all other sins seest thou a man goe on in his sinnes thou mayest see that God heareth not his praiers if a man should be sicke on his death bed and send for the Physicians and Apothecaries in the Country and send for his Father Mother and for all his friends to come to him to minister to him yet I know he is not cured by them so long as I see his deadly disease remaines upon him so if I see a mans pride hypocrisie security deadnesse of heart his lust anger c. lie upon him notwithstanding all his praiers I know God heares not his praiers he prayes to be cleansed from his sinnes and to be purged from his lust and to be redeemed from his vaine conversation if now God let his sinnes continue in him and lets him goe on in them we see plainely God heares not him O what a pittifull and miserable case are such men in that pray and pray and yet all their praiers are endlesse and fruitlesse is not that man in a pittifull case that all physick all cost and charges is lost upon him when his cating and drinking his sleeping and winding and turning from this side to that side do him no good do we not say of him that he is a dead man so if a mans praiers and supplications to God be endlesse and fruitlesse that man must needs be a dead and a damned man so long as he goeth on in that case Now we come to the second part of the Text the sensiblenesse of the godly soule whether it speed or no the soule that praies aright that praies unsatiably it is able to say the Lord doth heare me the Lord doth grant me the thing that I praied to him for Thus saith Jonah I cried unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardst my voice Jonah 2. 2. How could Jonah say God heard his voice if he had not known it therefore he knew it But against this some may object How can this be how can the soule know that God heares it we have no Angels nor voices from Heaven now to tell men as the Angel told Cornelius that his praiers were accepted and come up before God or to say as Christ to the woman in the Gospell Be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee I know God heares me with his All-hearing eare and therefore I have a good beliefe in God but how shall I know that God heares my praiers in mercy so as to grant that I pray for There be sixe wayes to know whether the soule shall speed in prayer yea or no The first is the having of a Spirit of further and further praying When God gives the soule a further and further ability to pray when God opens a way for the soule to the Throne of grace and gives him a free accesse to the gate of mercy and a spirit to hold out in prayer It is a signe that God meanes to hear it When a Petitioner hath accesse to the King and presents his Petition If the King imbolden him in his speech and let him speak all that he would speak it is a signe that the King meanes to grant that man his petition because otherwise the King would never have endured to have heard him so long but would have commanded him to be gone So it is with the soule at the Throne of grace if it come with a petition and prayer to God if God dispatch the soule out of his presence so that the soul hath no heart to pray nor to continue its suite but praies deadly and dully and is glad when he hath said his prayers and hath done it is a fearefull signe that God never means to heare that mans prayers but if thou praiest and praiest and hast not done in thy praiers but God by casting in a spirit of prayer and zeale and fervency in prayer imboldens thy heart in its petitions it is a signe that God will heare thee and grant thee thy prayers Blessed be God saith the Prophet that hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me How could the Prophet say that the Lord did not turne away his mercy from him How because he turned not away his prayer from him Many Expositors expound it of not turning away his prayer from his heart as if he should say Lord thou continuest my heart to pray thou hast not taken away my prayer from my heart therefore I know that thou continuest thy mercy unto me Secondly the preparednesse of the heart to pray is a signe that God
means to heare When the Merchant stretcheth his bagge wider and wider it is a signe that he means to put something in it so when God opens the heart of a poore soule it is a signe that he means to fill it when God prepares the soule with more hunger and thirst after grace with more longings and breathings it is a signe that God hath already prepared his eare to heare that prayer it is a signe that heart shall speed with God in prayer Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine eare to heare First God prepares the heart to pray and then he bows his eare to heare Examine thy soule then art thou more and more prepared to pray hath God spoken with a powerfull voice to thy soule to open it selfe wide it is a signe that God meanes to fill thy soul with his graces But if thou canst rush into Gods presence and leave thy preparednesse behind thee leavest thy soule and thy thoughts and thy affections behinde thee and comest with a straightned heart in thy deadnesse and lukewarmenesse this is a fearefull signe that God will not heare thee Thirdly Gods gracious looke is a signe that he will heare thee for sometimes beloved God answers his people by a cast of his countenance with a gratious smile of his face Psal. 22. 24. he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cryed unto him he heard Hereby was the Prophet able to know that God did heare his prayer because he did not hide his face from him when his poore soule saw God smile on him and set a favourable eye upon him this made him say that God heard his cry This is a riddle to the world If you should aske the men of the world what the meaning of Gods gracious countenance is or what they see of it alas they can say nothing of it they know not what it meanes onely the godly man understandeth Psal. 34. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open unto their cry These two goe together their prayers enter into Gods eares and they know it why because they see it in his countenance upon them as a Petitioner may read his speeding with the King by his countenance towards him so a poore soul may see how prayers prevaile by Gods countenance and look upon him If thou then art a stranger to Gods countenance if God never admitted thee into his presence to see his face and countenance it is a signe that God little regards thy prayers and hath no minde to heare thee A wicked man is like a varlet that stands without dores and begges an almes but is not suffered to goe into the Gentlemans presence and therefore knowes not how he speeds whether the Gentleman will give him an almes or whether he be providing a cudgell to beat him away so a wicked man prayes and puts up his petitions to God but he is not able to come before God he cannot see whether God looke as if he meant to heare his prayers yea or no he knows not but that God may be providing a curse and plague for him in stead of a blessing But a child of God comes within the list of Gods countenance he can tell when God smiles on him and when he takes another looke he is able to come into Gods presence Job 13. 16. He also saith Job shall be my salvation for an hypocrite shall not come before him A strange verse Job saith God is his salvation and he gives this reason why he was able to say so for an hypocrite shall not come before him One would think that this were no reason but yet it is an undeniable reason as if Job had said I come into his presence and he lookes like a Saviour a Redeemer upon me but an hypocrite shall not come before him he stands like a rogue and begs without the gate Indeed a wicked man comes into Gods presence in regard of Gods Omnipresence but this is not enough thy Oxe and thine Asse stands in Gods presence yea so the very Devils themselves are in Gods presence But if thou come not into Gods presence of grace if God doe not admit thy soule into the list of his Throne it is a signe that God heares thee not Men should therefore examine their consciences what face or presence of God they come into or see when they pray in their prayers whether they come before God yea or no Beloved no wicked man under heaven can come before God this is made the marke of a godly man onely Psal. 140. 13. The upright shall dwell in thy presence marke here dwelling in Gods presence is onely determined to the righteous the upright shall dwell in thy presence And here I appeale againe to the hearts and consciences of wicked men what presence of God doe they finde in their prayers they see their Pews and the walls or hangings c. before them they see the heavens and the clouds above them they are like rogues that know nothing within dores Doe they see Gods presence and countenance no it is the upright man onely that dwels in Gods presence He sees how God lookes on him how his face smiles on him and therefore it is not a wicked mans coming to Church and falling on his knees and uttering the words of prayer that is a coming into Gods presence then this would be a false saying of the Prophet For a wicked man may go to Church and fall upon his knees c. but never come before God This presence is to see the face of God Fourthly the conscience of a man doth answere him whether God heare him yea or no As it was with the high Preist whensoever the high Preist came into Gods presence to inquire of him though God did not appeare visibly unto him yet he might reade Gods answer in his Vrim and Thummim he might there know Gods minde so a mans conscience is his Urim and Thummim When he comes before God his own conscience gives him an inckling whether he speede or no 1 Ioh. 3. 20 21. If our hearts condemne us God is greater then our hearts knoweth al things Belived if our hearts condemne us not then have we confidence towards God If a mans conscience tell a man that his praiers are rotten that his humiliation is rotten that his heart is not upright that yet he is not purged from his sinnes that his seeking of God is fained and hypocritical it is the very voice of God in his soule and if our consciences condemne us God saith the Apostle is greater then our consciences There no is condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. as if he should say those that are in Christ God doth not condemne them they have not that condemnation nay their owne conscience doth
even in the depth of miserie plunged over head and eares so that now I sinke and perish if thou helpe not Lord hear my praier This desperation a Christian must have this quickens up his Spirits and puts life into him but take heede of the desperation of Infidelity Saint Austen saith it is the murtherer of the soule the spice of it will eate out the heart of a man and kill the strength of all his endeavours I should now come to apply this doctrine but I feare me there be many amongst us that never come so farre towards heaven as to know what these discouragements meane This is lamentable It is true discouragements are hideous cases in praier and a man may perish and goe to hell that hath them but yet they are some-what profitable signes that a man doth at the least looke a little towards God or else he could not know what they are But there are abundance that never have attained so farre in religion as to understand what they meane but goe on in drinking whoring carding and dicing hating and malicing fretting and chafing mocking coveting swearing and blaspheming in security in hardnes of heart and impenitencie they are more carefull for their doggs for their potts and for their tables and for their shops then they are of their soules And which is enough to astonish any that is godly these men scarce finde any discouragements in praier O they have a good courage to pray at all times O say they God forbid that any man should be discouraged in praier I thanke God I have a good hope in God God hath given me a good heart of grace to call upon him and I make no question but that God heares me God would never bid us to pray if he did not meane to heare us Beloved these men that are so bold in the goodnes of their hearts to call upon God they never as yet praied in all their lives all the praiers of the wicked are indeede no praiers Daniel confessing the sinnes of wicked Judah saith though all this evill be come upon us yet made we not our prayer to turne from our wicked wayes Dan. 9. 13. all the time of those seventy yeares Daniel saith they never made praier to God yet they fasted every yeare and praied every day twise every day at the least which would amount in that time to 50000 and 100 prayers how then could Daniel say they never made one praier I answer and pray marke it because they never did quite turne from their evill waies Though thou makest never so many praiers though thou boastest of the goodnesse of thy condition and snatchest at the Promises of God yet if thou turnest not from thine iniquities thou never as yet mad'st any praier by the Judgement of God himselfe Paul made many thousand praiers before his conversion he could not have beene a Pharise else but they were never accounted praiers to him therefore as soon as ever he was converted behold saith God he prayeth Acts 9. A wicked man a carnall Christian though he have the righteousnesse of Saint Paul before his conversion of living blamlesse unreproveable in respect of the outward righteousnesse of the Law yet he can never make an acceptable prayer till he be truely converted his praiers are no better then howling of dogs or lowing of Oxen yea the Lord abhorrs them O what poore incouragements canst thou have seeing the Lord never tallies downe any of thy prayers wicked men are like Ulysses who wept more for the death of his dogge then of his wife so wicked men weepe and mourne for the losse of their corne and their cattle hawkes and houndes cardes and dice but never for the losse of their praiers So long as thou continuest in thy prophanesse and impenitency thou losest all thy praiers there is not one of them that God tallies downe or reckons for a praier Here we might have a great deale of matter if time would suffer me But it will not onely let me tell you I speake onely to those whose hearts God hath awakened out of their sinnes but who are oft discouraged take heede of these discouragements For first they will drive thee to melancholy Beloved there are a great many melancholy men in the world and this is the cause of it men are contented to be converted by halves because they are discouraged in the worke If thou suffer thy selfe to be discouraged it will care up thy spirit and thou wilt be like a silly dove without a heart Prov. 7. 11. A dove is a melancholy creature that hath no heart to any thing so Ephraim hath no heart to call upon God no heart to returne unto God and this is the cause that men and women goe whineing and mourning under the burden of sin and are not able to come out because of discouragements all the policie of hell is lesse then this policy of the divell in driving men to despair or discouragements this doth more hurt then al the rest of hel besides Secondly if you doe not take heede of them they will bring you to speake against God I have prayed but the Lord will not heare me I have called and the Lord will not answer but hath turned away his eares from me Now thou speakest against God Num. 21. 4 5. The soule of the people was much discouraged and the people spake against God and against Moses saying Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wildernesse for here is neither bread nor water and our soule loatheth this light bread So beloved if we suffer our soules to be discouraged we shall soone come to murmure against God wherefore hath he brought me up to this strictnes and precisensse when I was a drunkard a worldling when I followed the lust of my flesh and Liberty then I enjoed onnions garlicke and the flesh-pots of Egypt pleaures and delights for my soule then I had a good hope in God and a good perswasion that my soul should goe to heaven and then Preachers told me that if I would give over such and such sinnes and looke after Heaven a little more and doe such and such things O then I should come to a Land flowing with milke and honey then I should not misse of glory and salvation But alas I see nothing but Gyants and Anakims I am in a wildernesse now now I see a man have a great deal of repentance and yet be a cast-away A man may have a great deal of faith yet be but a reprobate A man may give over a great many sins and yet perish in hell now I see a man may live civilly and well and have do a great many good things and yet be damned when he hath done all A man may even goe to Heaven Gates and yet the gates be shut against him and he turned into hell Alas my poore soule is in a wildernesse now I know not which way to goe I am ready
to lose my selfe I see nothing here now but huge Gyants the sonnes of Anack strong corruptions inclining and forcing me to evill most fearefull and violent suggestions and temptations of the Devill ready to thrust me into the gulfe of wickednesse and despaire And now the soule begins to thinke that it is good for it to returne again into Egypt to fall to its old courses againe for certainly God lookes for no such matter he requires no such strictnesse and precisenesse And so it falls a whining and repining at the Word and Ministers of God that have call'd men to it and laid it upon them and hath no heart now to do thus and thus any longer And thus it falls into discouragements because of the way and into a thousand quandaries whether it may not goe back againe or no And all these murmurings and repinings are because men suffer themselves to be discouraged Thirdly discouragements will cause thee to thinke that God hates thee When the soule like Baals Priests hath been crying from morning to noone ten twenty thirty yeeres it may be and yet hath no answer now it will begin to thinke if God did love me then he would grant me my petitions Then hereupon comes into a mans secret thoughts and feares that God hardly loves his soule So was it with Israel when they were discouraged they said because the Lord hated us therefore he brought us out of the Land of Egypt Deut. 1. 27. Because that they were discouraged and because that their Brethren that went for spies had disheartned them therefore they were apt to say the Lord hated them Beloved it is a miserable thing when the soule calls the love of God into question Consider that as thou canst not have a friend if thou beest suspitious and jealous of his love to thee So thou canst never have the love of God settled on thy heart so long as thou art jealous of his love to thee Fourthly If thou root them not out it is to be feared that they will bring thee to despaire Melancholy thoughts and feares and discouragements drive the soule to despaire For when the soule sees it selfe still disappointed of its hopes at the last it grows hopelesse If it have waited one day and the next day too if it have praied this weeke this month this yeare and yet still it seeth it selfe held off and disappointed it will at last grow hopelesse Take heed therefore I beseech you of all needlesse discouragements to fear be ause that thou findest not that that thou wishedst or prayedst for to day or to morrow in thine own time that therefore thou shalt never get it that now thou shouldest for ever despaire of the grace and love of God and thinke that now God will never heare thee that thou shalt never get grace and power over thy corruptions Men thinke that the preaching of the Word of God brings men to despaire the preaching of such strict points and the urging such precise doctrines makes men despaire men are loth to be at the paines to root out their discouragements It is rather a cold or dead preaching of the Word that is the cause of this for when the soule is instructed by holinesse humbled by holinesse converted by holinesse at the last when it comes to be thorowly awakened when it sees that this and this is required in a true conversion of the soule to God that herein true repentance must declare and demonstrate it selfe by these and these fruits or else it is but false and rotten Why now the soul must needs be brought to despaire because it seeth that though it have been thus and thus humbled though it have praied fasted and mourned in this and this manner yet it sees it hath not a soundnesse of grace There is such a grace in it such a worke and such a fruit of Gods Spirit in it that yet he could never finde in himselfe this makes the soule to despaire Indeed Preachers may be too blame if they speake and preach onely the terrours and condemnations of the Law without the promises of the Gospel for these should be so tempered that every poore broken soule may see mercy and redemption for him upon his sound and unfeined repentance and humiliation But if men doe despaire they may thanke themselves for it their owne sinnes for it their owne discouragements for it because they suffer these to continue in them Cain his heart grew sad his countenance fell he was wroth and disquieted in his minde and heavily discouraged why Gen. 4. Sin lay at the dore what dore the dore of his conscience rapping and beating upon his heart Beloved when the soule lets sinne lie at the dore drunkenesse pride and worldlinesse security hardnes and deadnes of heart lie at the dore when a man lets his negligent and fruitlesse hearing of the word lie at the dore when a man lets his vaine and dead praying his temporizing and fashionary serving of God lie at the dore of conscience to tell him that all his hearing of the word of God profits him nothing that his praiers are dead and vaine that his mourning fasting and all his humiliation is counterfeit and rotten and that he hath no soundnesse of grace in him but that for all this he may fall into hell when sinne lyeth thus at the dore thus rapping at the conscience it is no wonder if the soule fall into desperation Cain let his sinne lie at the dore there it lay rapping and beating and told him that his carelesenesse and negligent sacrificing to God was not accepted and therefore no marvell if Cain be so cast down in his countenance and that he fall to despaire O beloved when sinne lieth bouncing and beating at the dore of thy heart when thy sinne whatsoever it is search thy heart and finde it out lies knocking and rapping at the dore of thy conscience day by day and month by month and thou art content to let it lie and art unwilling to use meanes to remove it and art loth to take the paines to get the bloud of Christ to wash thy soule from it or the Spirit of Christ to cleanse thee from it then thy soule will despaire either in this world or in the world to come But let us take heede then that our conscience condemne us not in any thing or course that we allow in our selves for if that doe then much more will God who is greater then our consciences and knowes all things The Apostle hath an excellent Phrase Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. As if he should say there is not one condemnation there is none in Heaven God doth not condemne them there is none in earth their owne heart and conscience doth not condemne them he that is in Christ Jesus that walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit there is none no not one condemnation to him none neither in Heaven nor in