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<DATE>2008-2-05</DATE>
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<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>GODS DELIVERANCE OF MAN by <HI>PRAYER.</HI>
AND <HI>Mans Thankefulne&s;&s;e to GOD in PRAYSES.</HI></P>
<P>In a Sermon, by rea&s;on of the Lecturers ab&s;ence in the Church of Saint <HI>Bartholmewes</HI> EXCHANGE, on <HI>A&s;h-Wende&s;day,</HI> at the Generall Fa&s;t, propo&s;ed.
But at that time, by a Company of CHURCH Intruders very rudely oppo&s;ed.
And now at this time, for the publike &s;atisfaction of All men faithfully in Print expo&s;ed.</P>
<P>By <HI>I. G. D. D.</HI> Rector there.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Thomas Paybody,</HI> dwelling in Queenes Head COURT in <HI>Pater-No&s;ter</HI> ROVV. 1642.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
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<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO My Pari&s;hioners of St. <HI>Bartholmews</HI> Exchange <HI>London,</HI> Re&s;pective, or Di&s;re|&s;pective, all manner Salutation.</HEAD>
<P>_ON our Fa&s;t Day (doubly, a Fa&s;t Day, by Ancient u&s;e, by Recent Authority) The Curate, by the throng of people in the Church, not able to get in, I be|gan Prayers. The <HI>Exhortation,</HI> and <HI>Confe&s;sion</HI> were endured; But, the <HI>Ab&s;olution</HI> entred on, A P&s;alme was confu&s;edly began. I read, They &s;ang (rather howled.) Such was the rudene&s;&s;e of the &s;wervers from their owne Congregation; and Di|&s;turbers of all Congregations, whether they in|trude.</P>
<P>Intreated I was, to be take me to the Pulpit; I yeelded, The Lecturer being not come, as I concei|ved. In the Pulpit I was outfaced; in every cor|ner of the Church, di&s;gracefully nicknamed; out|prated, rudely and &s;avagely. Having got through my Prayer, I propounded my Text: Such were the
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Yellings, they would not endure the reading of it; for all my deep charge, and citing of the di&s;turbers to the Lords Tribunall. Well, downe I came, and <HI>Ma&s;ter A&s;h</HI> (The Lecturer, then come) went up, rebuked the di&s;order, orderly Preached, and &s;ound|lie; In the after-noone I fini&s;hed my worke; And here You have it to review; Which, my Prayer is may be to your Aedification in the &s;erious way of Right Chri&s;tianity,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>The loving Pa&s;tour of you All,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED><HI>Iohn Grant</HI> D. D.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
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<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>PSALM. 50. 15</BIBL>
<Q>Call upon mee in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou &s;halt glorifie me.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN the forenoone few Auditors of tho&s;e many had the patience &s;o much as to heare my Text named, I hope to finde you in a better temper this afternoone, however here I am againe to doe my duty, and from the Lord of Hoa&s;ts is my me&s;&s;age; It is the charge of that &s;upreme Generall to all; <HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble, I wil deliver thee</HI> &amp;c. A heavy loade of <HI>trouble</HI> is on our &s;houlders; yea, on our &s;oules, a loade for us un&s;upportable; we have long burdened our God which our &s;innes, and his judgements have we felt many wayes to our &s;mart, I would I could once &s;ay, to our amendment. Wee are now under a generall humiliation, a fa&s;t by pub|lique authority enjoyned the whole Kingdome, and the fir&s;t day falls on <HI>A&s;h. Wedne&s;day,</HI> a &s;olemne day of fa&s;ting in the Church of Antiquity, in the
<PB N="2" REF="4">
purer times of the Go&s;pell; when <HI>Ionah</HI> the Prophet and Me&s;&s;enger of the Highe&s;t to <HI>Niniveh,</HI> the great, the Head City of Nations began to enter therein (as his Commi&s;&s;ion &s;erved him) he cryed, and &s;aid; <HI>yet forty dayes, and Niniveh &s;hall be overthrowne, Ionah</HI> 3. 4. what followed? <HI>&s;o the people of Niniveh beleeved God and proclaimed a Fa&s;t, and put on Sackcloth from the greate&s;t to the least of them: For the word came to the King of Niniveh, and he aro&s;e from his throwne, and hee laid his robe from him, and he covered him with &s;ackcloth and &s;ate in a&s;hes, and he cau&s;ed it to be proclaimed and publi&s;hed through Niniveh, &s;aying; Let neither man, nor bea&s;t, heard, nor flock, ta&s;t any thing, let them not feed, nor drinke water, but let man, and bea&s;t be covered with &s;ackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; Yea let them turne every one from his evill way, and from the violence that is in their hands; Who can tell if God will turne, and repent, and turne away from his fierce anger that we peri&s;h not? And God &s;aw their workes, that they turned from their evill way, and God repented of the evill that he had &s;aid that he would doe unto them, and he did it not.</HI> Our danger is as neere (for ought we know) and as great (we may feare) as was that by <HI>Ionah</HI> threatned unto <HI>Niniveh;</HI> Nay Gods judgments have beene, and are upon us in much Variety; we are all a publique <HI>Fa&s;t,</HI> a <HI>Fa&s;t</HI> by the highe&s;t authority over us on earth &s;olemnly proclaimed, and &s;adly enjoyned: O let it not be a <HI>mock&punc;fa&s;t</HI> in a bulru&s;hed <HI>Popi&s;hne&s;s</HI> or <HI>Phari&s;aicall</HI> di&s;|figured-n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s; what ever our outward garments, deportments, ab&s;tinence be, betake we our &s;elves to ardent prayers, and unfained re&s;olutions to &s;hake off all our exorbitances, and &s;acrilegious actions, and
<PB N="3" REF="4">
intentions; god-robbers can be no right fa&s;ters, neither the robbers of the honour due to his great name, nor of his Church revenews, the maintenance of tho&s;e &s;et a part to the admini&s;tration of duties holy, and of Gods owne appointment for the be&s;t wellfare of his people; Gods &s;word is drawne, and will not be &s;heathed till we be amended, Gods wrath is out, and will not be recalled in, till our &s;ins be ca&s;t out, the troubles on us &s;hall not be mitigated, but multiplied; not remitted, but increa&s;ed; not away removed, but with armies of new ones aggravated till we be not humerous, but ingenuous, in our hu|miliations.</P>
<P>Soon, and ea&s;ily may we be deceaved, and deceave each others, but God is not, cannot, will not be moc|ked by any of us all; he is &s;erious, be not wee ludi|crous, regular be out approaches, and addre&s;&s;es un|to him, and the ble&s;&s;ing of our text will come home into our bo&s;omes, God will make us a yet more happy nation then ever we have beene, and we &s;hall be the trumpeters of Gods pray&s;es all the world o|ver.</P>
<P>The Contents, and extents of our pre&s;ent text are the&s;e. A deep <HI>Invocation;</HI> A &s;ea&s;onable <HI>exaudition;</HI> A due returne of <HI>Thankfulne&s;se. Call upon me in the day of trouble;</HI> there is the <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> the deepe <HI>Invocation. I will deliver thee;</HI> there is the next, a &s;ea&s;onable <HI>Exaudition. And thou &s;halt glorifie mee;</HI> there is the la&s;t, of <HI>thankefulne&s;&s;e</HI> a due returne; a glorifying of the deliverour out of troubles in trophyes of pray&s;es</P>
<P><HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble;</HI> a deep <HI>Invocation. Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee O Lord,</HI> is the
<PB N="4" REF="5">
P&s;almi&s;ts expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>P&s;alme</HI> 130. He was plunged in the depths of &s;innes, and in the depths of Cala|mities for &s;innes committed. None can &s;inne and e&s;|cape unpuni&s;hed, bee they never &s;o high in worldly e&s;tate, or in the favour of the highe&s;t; pre&s;umpti|ons have precipitations, and heights of &s;inne, have their depths of puni&s;hment. Gods owne people are not priviledged from mi&s;eries, when again&s;t God they doe harden their hearts, provoke him, tempt him, grieve him with their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions; when they doe erre in their hearts, and will not know his wayes. <HI>I&s;rael</HI> like troubles upon troubles involve even them, and till they humble them&s;elves in re|pentance unfainedly, no hope of entrance is there at all into his re&s;t: When &s;inne, one depth, hath plun|ged us into mi&s;ery, another depth, and mi&s;ery into &s;orrow, another depth; it is then high time to take hold on the encouragement in our Text, <HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble.</HI> Had not wee this gratious warrant, with &s;mall comfort &s;hould wee life up our drooping heads out of the&s;e depths; by &s;olemne Covenant, we Chri&s;tians are the &s;elected people of God, drawne out of the Ma&s;&s;e of corruption, to be the heyres of &s;alvation.</P>
<P>The &s;cope of our faith, and the ayme of our Chri|&s;tian hope is to be joyned unto the God whom wee &s;eeke to be undi&s;tractedly, and un&s;eparably his for ever in the <HI>Lord Ie&s;us;</HI> this life of ours is but mo|mentany: the life beleeved, and expected is the life of eternity, this is but a breathing: after that now, in our attendance by faith, and hope on that ble&s;&s;ed day of eternitie, which &s;hall not have any nights in|terpo&s;ition.</P>
<P><PB N="5" REF="5">God hath not left us to our &s;elves, but communi|cates him&s;elfe to us, to uphold us in that attendance, by His Word addre&s;&s;eth He Him&s;elfe to us, and by our Invocation, is he unto us open; <HI>Seeke ye my face,</HI> is His expre&s;&s;ion to us; <HI>thy face wee doe &s;eeke,</HI> is our hearts, faiths returned an&s;wer, and practice; a ble&s;&s;ed harmony in harmonious ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>P&s;alm.</HI> 27. 8. In the prophe&s;ie of <HI>Ho&s;ea,</HI> we find this in an accurate way of expre&s;&s;ion &s;et downe, <HI>Thou &s;halt call me I&s;hai, and not Baali,</HI> chap. 2. ver. 16. <HI>I&s;hai,</HI> not <HI>Baali,</HI> My Husband, not my Idolized Lord; God will have us intire, not divided, halfe his, halfe not his, halfe the Idoll of our hearts, what ever that Idol bee: mungrell Religion, is to the onely true God abominable. Now goe wee on with the Prophet, ver&s;e 18. and &s;o forward; <HI>for I will take away the name of Baalim out of her mouth; And they &s;hall no more bee remembred by their name: And in that day will I make a Covenant for them, with the Bea&s;ts of the field, and with the fowles of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; And I will breake the bow, and the &s;word, and the battle of the earth, and will make them to lye downe &s;afely,</HI> (and here comes in the Cordialne&s;&s;e of the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e) <HI>I will betroth thee unto mee for ever; yea I will betroth thee unto mee in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and in judgement, and in lo|ving kindne&s;&s;e, and in mercy. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulne&s;&s;e, and thou &s;halt know the Lord. And it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e in that day, I will heare (&s;aith the LORD) I will heare the Heavens, and they &s;hall heare the earth, and the earth &s;hall heare the corne, and the Wine, and they &s;hall heare Iezreel, and I will &s;ow her to mee in the earth, and I will have mercy upon</HI>
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<HI>her that had not obtained mercy, and I will &s;ay to them which were not my people; Thou art my people, and they &s;hall &s;ay, thou art my God.</HI> Gods promi&s;es and our prayers thence make &s;ure worke indeed, none like it. Without the Word of God, and that &s;ounding, and re&s;ounding in our eares with the mini&s;teriall applica|tion thereof to our hearts by the &s;pirits operation wee &s;hould live and dye in the gro&s;&s;ene&s;&s;e of igno|rance: and without <HI>Prayer</HI> al&s;o in humble, and fi|duciall manner put up unto our God in the merits, and mediation of <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> wee &s;hould be hope|le&s;&s;e, helple&s;&s;e, de&s;titute altogether of the con&s;ola|tions from above, the heavenly con&s;olations in the times of afflictions, di&s;turbances, feares. That <HI>prayer</HI> is a mo&s;t important part of our Religious &s;ervice to God ward, appeares in this mo&s;t clearely, that the &s;acred booke of God under tho&s;e appellations of <HI>prayer,</HI> and <HI>Invocation</HI> comprehendeth even the whole &s;ervice of God: Let that among the re&s;t be deepely weighed, and pondred in our hearts, <HI>Who|&s;oever &s;hall call on the Name of the Lord &s;hall be &s;aved, Acts</HI> 2. 21. Gods whole wor&s;hip is contained un|der this one phra&s;e, to call upon God, no duty of godline&s;&s;e is to him more acceptable, no &s;acrifice in better part taken, then is that: the <HI>calling on the name of the Lord is,</HI> the open profe&s;&s;ion of him without dantedne&s;&s;e, <HI>Gen.</HI> 4. 26. Where ever <HI>Abraham,</HI> the Father, and patterne of the faithfull, where ever he came, there erected he an Altar, and <HI>called upon the Name of the Lord, Gen.</HI> 12. 7, 8. The hou&s;e of <HI>prayer</HI> is the name of Gods hou&s;e, and God gave it that name by his Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> and our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> ratifies it; Preaching we have here, and Sacraments
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we have here; but <HI>prayer</HI> gives it the denomination, as the major &s;ervice of God, and both implying, and including all the re&s;t, needs mu&s;t we all if there bee any ingenuity of <HI>Chri&s;tianity</HI> in us, needs mu&s;t wee acknowledge <HI>prayer</HI> to bee a matter of the greate&s;t con&s;equence even upon this con&s;ideration deeply volved, and revolved in our hearts, that every &s;oule to heaven-ward &s;etled makes the recommendation of his &s;pirit into the hands of God, his practice un|ce&s;&s;ant, as being in no hands late but his; that of <HI>Davids</HI> is by frequency made his. <HI>Into thy hands I commend my &s;pirit, thou ha&s;t redeemed, me O Lord God of truth, P&s;al.</HI> 31. 5. Gods promi&s;es are the faith|fulls encourgaments, and in them pre&s;enting them|&s;elves to God, acceptance is to them confidently a&s;&s;ured.</P>
<P>Prayer is that hand which we reach, and &s;tretch forth unto our mercifull God, to receive from him all his <GAP DESC="foreign">, Saint <HI>Iames</HI> calls them, all his <HI>givings,</HI> and all his <HI>good gifts,</HI> his <HI>good givings,</HI> and his <HI>perfect gifts;</HI> In the hand of faith <HI>prayer</HI> is a key, Heaven it openeth unto us, and from Heaven enricheth us with the be&s;t of trea&s;ures, our wounds layes it open to the right curer of them, the binder up, and exqui&s;ite healer of them all, up carrieth it, and di&s;preads before our piteous God the &s;obbings and groanings of our di&s;turbed hearts in an humble, and holy familiarity, that will have no denyall, no repul&s;e: of that force it is with God, when put forth a right, that it makes the rods and &s;courges of Gods correcting hand even fall there out, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ words"> power|fully his fatherly affections, and removeth his ju&s;tly conceived indignations.</P>
<P><PB N="8" REF="7"><HI>Prayer</HI> in parties, and in Families well ordered is the cu&s;tomary &s;acrifice, is the Morning, and Evening perfume of the devoutly Religious: <HI>Let my prayer,</HI> (writes <HI>David) bee &s;et forth before thee as incen&s;e and the lifting up of mine hands as an Evening &s;acrifice, P&s;alm.</HI> 141. 2.</P>
<P><HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> utters it thus, pray <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>without cea&s;ing,</HI> without <HI>fainting,</HI> 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 5. 17. What ever the troubles be. Our Saviour thus; <HI>Watch, and pray that yee enter not into tentation, Matth.</HI> 26. 41. As ju&s;tly wee may, and &s;ufficiently wee cannot, admire the goodne&s;&s;e of our God daigning his word to addre&s;&s;e him&s;elfe in &s;peech to our capacities; So are we to e&s;teeme like|wi&s;e, that as an high, and honourable favour, that he will heare us in <HI>prayer,</HI> and <HI>pray&s;es</HI> approaching unto him, giving way to our importunities; nay even commanding us expre&s;ly to be importunate; to &s;uch <HI>prayers,</HI> yea only to &s;uch are his eares opened, and his Fatherly affections chayned; And marke it, he wills us to call upon him importunately, but &s;o re&s;t|eth not; hee pre&s;cribeth us formes of <HI>prayer</HI> in his &s;acred word, puts the matter into our hearts and the very words, and tearmes into our mouths. Hence it is, that the &s;pirit by the Prophet is called the <HI>Spirit</HI> of <HI>grace,</HI> and of <HI>&s;upplication: Zach.</HI> 12. 10. Hence that al&s;o of the holy Apo&s;tle, <HI>The Spirit helpeth our infir|mities, for we know not what wee &s;hould pray for as wee ought, but the Spirit it &s;elfe maketh interce&s;sion for us with groaning which cannot bee uttered; And hee that &s;earcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spi|rit, becau&s;e he maketh interce&s;sion for the Saints accor|ding to the will of God, Rom.</HI> 8&punc; 26, 27. Ala&s;&s;e, faulty
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and guilty are wee all of us, and dur&s;t not without warrant and enablement approach unto our God; the troubles on us would even overwhelm us, and as it were keepe us from &s;o much as looking up, were we not thus amiably invited thereunto, <HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble.</HI></P>
<P>What <HI>troubles</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">te have the&s;e three kingdoms under one Soveraigne been ca&s;t into? Nay &s;till are in, and under? Our &s;i&s;ter Nation <HI>Ireland</HI> even wel|treth in bloud, and burneth in mutuall enragements: none there &s;ecured of&punc; his life, &s;carce for a moment: and are not we, or we ought to be &s;urely even drow|ned in teares for them? for them: Yea, and for our &s;elves too, who are in mutuall enragements and va|rious &s;uddaine uproares through our mi&s;affections, and mi&s;interpretations, and mi&s;con&s;tructions of e|very thing; bloudy mindedne&s;&s;e takes place in the mo&s;t, and the ca&s;ting about how to entrap, and en|wrap one another in mi&s;eries, is the common mi&s;ery of us all; what calumniations are vented, printed, uncen&s;ured, unpuni&s;hed? what jealou&s;ies each gain&s;t others are every where clo&s;ely fomented? Charity the badge of Chri&s;tianity, and coverer of what may be covered is from us exiled, and who can bee mo&s;t of all uncharitable, is the thing every where laboured after. <HI>By this &s;hall all men know</HI> (&s;aith the patterne, and Patron of Charity our <HI>Lord Ie&s;us) even by this &s;hall all men know that yee are my Di&s;ciples, if yee love one another, Iohn</HI> 13. 35. But with &s;orrow, and &s;hame enough too may it now be &s;aid, All men by this may know; We are none of Chri&s;ts Di&s;ci|ples, that wee hate one another; So raging, &s;o out|ragious, &s;o notorious is our mutuall hatred. Many
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knotts tye us, none will hold us being one to another eye-&s;oares, if not heart-&s;oares: As &s;trangers are our enter-viewers not as compatriots, our conferences, differences; our <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Moaning the practice of Se|parati&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> prote&s;tations, dete&s;tations; Re|formation is intended, deformation even in our Church a&s;&s;emblies, and mo&s;t remarkably there, and unblu&s;hingly practi&s;ed; O! into what Schi&s;mes do we runne? Into what Sects are we di&s;&s;ected? A&s;|&s;under are we rent, one from the other; yea where men rope together, it is but in a &s;andy manner, the lea&s;t motion di&s;&s;ipateth, parteth the &s;andily roped together, and commotions not u&s;uall in this age <HI>Am|&s;terdam, England.</HI> Beloved who &s;o is not <HI>troubled</HI> with the&s;e <HI>troubles,</HI> hath no life, no &s;oule of Chri|&s;tianity at all left in him.</P>
<P>The&s;e and the like con&s;iderations, as diver&s;e o|thers there are, ought to incite us unto con&s;tant, and in&s;tant <HI>prayer</HI> amid&s;t them all, in throngs upon us of the&s;e Nations at this time; let us, I &s;ay, <HI>pray</HI> that from us they may yet timely be removed, that the full, and finall blow from heaven decide not our controver&s;ies in &s;o much rancor &s;teeped.</P>
<P>O! that it were come to the Character of the Church, Chri&s;tians Primitive age, <HI>Corunum, via una.</HI> One heart, one way, and till it come to that, <HI>troubles</HI> will involve us; and when it comes to that to all the world about us may we be a Pre&s;ident, and an encouragement thereunto; mee thinkes the many, manifold, and manife&s;t pre&s;ervations of our God &s;hould frame us all as one Man to bring this a|bout, to bee exemplary Chri&s;tians to the whole world round about us; I &s;hall recite but a few, yet the&s;e pregnant, and of fre&s;h memory, and remark|able
<PB N="11" REF="8">
ob&s;ervation: Can that <HI>Octoge&s;simus octavus mi|rabilis annus&punc;</HI> that wondrous yeare of 88. ever be forgotten? It was the yeare of <HI>Englands</HI> pre&s;erva|tion, and of <HI>Spaines,</HI> and <HI>Romes</HI> aba&s;ement, <HI>trouble</HI> was on us, and we rid of <HI>trouble,</HI> ere we knew it was &s;o neare: nor mu&s;t the yeare 97. pa&s;&s;e unremem|bred, <HI>Spaine</HI> then had a &s;econd blow, and <HI>England,</HI> a &s;econd triumph; As formerly the <HI>Armado,</HI> &s;tiled <HI>invincible</HI> was ruined; &s;o then were their forces, and policies too &s;hamefully defeated, and the <HI>Eng|li&s;h</HI> fleete for another purpo&s;e de&s;igned, brought up|on them by the windes to &s;inke them into the wa|ters, or bring them Captivated unto our Land: Tho&s;e fell out in the dayes of the Maiden Queene, famous <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> for peace at home, and victory abroad, renowned.</P>
<P>The next fell out in King <HI>Iames</HI> his Reigne, in the yeare 1605. The powder Trea&s;on was an helli&s;h plot, contrived mo&s;t &s;trangely; Heaven went be|yond hell in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and providence outreach|ed divelli&s;hne&s;&s;e, entangled them who long had the trap ready to have ruinated <HI>Prote&s;tancy</HI> for ever: In the yeare 1639. were not the&s;e two Nations in one <HI>I&s;land,</HI> under one King (the pre&s;ent breath of our No&s;trils) put upon a mutuall internecion? and is not that turned into a mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed reunion? We are both the wonder, &amp; the envie of <HI>Popi&s;h</HI> Territories; God even then pre&s;erving us when we were ready to be &s;eized on as a prey unto mercile&s;&s;e teeth, and to the Sepulcher throates of the <HI>Pontifician</HI> genera|tion among&s;t us; no &s;tories can more repre&s;ent the vigilancy of mercy over any people then can ours, as <HI>David</HI> when hee was to encounter Goliah, the
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&s;tripling &s;hepheard (that Tower of fle&s;h loaden with Armes, and In&s;truments of death) &s;aid, <HI>He that de|livered me from the Lion, and the Beare, will likewi&s;e from this uncircumci&s;ed Phili&s;tine deliver me;</HI> &s;o may we &s;ay, He that delivered us from &s;uch, and &s;uch <HI>troubles,</HI> is the &s;ame &s;till, is willing, and ready to deli|ver us from our troubles incumbent, and imminent, all the&s;e intricacies we are in, and all the hovering and &s;urrounding mi&s;chiefes what ever. If our pray|ers can but lay hold on Gods promi&s;es, no <HI>troubles</HI> can <HI>trouble</HI> us.</P>
<P><HI>Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deli|ver thee.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Will deliver thee.</HI> Gods promi&s;es are as good as performances, they are <HI>Yea,</HI> and <HI>Amen</HI> in <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> un|to Gods glory, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1. 20. <HI>Yea</HI> in the giving forth, <HI>Amen</HI> in the performance, certaine, con&s;tant, mo&s;t firmly firme for evermore. Our welfare, and <HI>Gods</HI> glory are enwrapped in them: No marvaile then is it that <HI>Prayer</HI> is &s;o effectuall with God, when by the heart, hand, mouth of faith unto him pre&s;ented in the Name of Our <HI>Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> when thus we are enabled to <HI>pray&punc;</HI> no marvaile that our <HI>prayer</HI> is to purpo&s;e effectuall; No marvaile, that God hea|ring Him&s;elfe in us, upon that audience giveth us deliverance in a way, and manner to the whole world remarkeable: And ob&s;erve with mee that the Commandement, <HI>Call upon me,</HI> includeth the very promi&s;e of GOD therein. Beloved, God never calls us to <HI>call</HI> upon him as humble, and faith|full &s;utors, to &s;end us from him empty away, un&s;up|plyed. Can we not be when our re&s;orts are unto <HI>God</HI> warrantable, regular, orderly? Our hearts, Eyes,
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hands are unto him never lifted up in vaine, never un|an&s;wered, but for the mo&s;t part above our thoughts and beyond even our hopes too an&s;wered.</P>
<P><HI>Of prayers</HI> effectualne&s;&s;e memorable are the ex|amples we have in the booke of God, and recorded they are for our clo&s;e imitation and encouragement to that weighty and mo&s;t u&s;efull duty. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the Man of God, &s;tood often in the breach betweene God enraged, and the people madde in their open rebellions again&s;t him. We reade of <HI>Io&s;huahs</HI> prayer that made a &s;tay of the Sunne, and Moone in the fir|mament, that he might cut off the malitious enemies of God, and the Church. <HI>Ionah</HI> his prayer moun|ted powerfully, and prevailingly mounted out of the Whales belly, (which hee calls hell) unto GODS Throne of Mercies, and Glories in the highe&s;t Heavens, Chapter 2. ver&s;e 2. <HI>Eliah</HI> by prayer both &s;tayed, and procured raine, kept clo&s;e and opened tho&s;e cloudy bottles. And <HI>Daniel</HI> there|by kept the affami&s;hed Lions pawes, and jawes from doing him the lea&s;t harme amid&s;t them. Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|call &s;tories mention, that the Chri&s;tian Souldiers were <HI>Legio fulminatrix,</HI> the lightning and thundring legion of <HI>Aurelius</HI> the <HI>Roman</HI> Emperor; by their <HI>prayers</HI> were the enemies thundered to de&s;truction, and the whole Campe whereof they were a part with a &s;upply of raine in their extremity of drought refre&s;hed.</P>
<P>Sweetely remarkeable is that pa&s;&s;age, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 65. 24. <HI>Before they call, I will an&s;wer, and while they are yet &s;peaking, I will heare.</HI> A preventing God often, and a God timely &s;uccouring is our God ever, none waite, none depend upon him in vaine; He that &s;up|plyes
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the Lions, and Ravens in their affami&s;hments (as the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> relateth) will not bee wanting in ex|tremities to the redeemed with his Sons bloud, and by his &s;pirit in them, calling in prayer on him. Even that unju&s;t Judge importun'd by the oppre&s;&s;ed Wi|dow righted her: much more will <HI>God</HI> help them that &s;uffer wrong, much more will hee avenge the cau&s;e of his cho&s;en in all their tentations, tribulati|ons, per&s;ecutions, in&s;tantly <HI>calling</HI> upon him. Say not, Often have I <HI>prayed</HI> in trouble, but &s;till in trou|bles am entangled; <HI>prayed</HI> I have for my King, for my Country, for a reunion of all our di&s;tractions, but the worke comes on &s;lowly, hath many pull|backes, and various interruptions; I have <HI>prayed</HI> for friends in Captivity, but &s;till they are unfettered, for friends on their &s;ick beds, but their death beds have they proved; again&s;t the Churches open, and clo&s;e Enemies have I <HI>prayed,</HI> but more, and more are they prevalent; <HI>prayed</HI> for peace, but behold Warre in his di&s;mall colours; Nay that favourite of God; holy <HI>Paul prayed</HI> to God to bee rid of <HI>Sathans</HI> buf|feting: yet mu&s;t re&s;t in this, <HI>My grace is &s;ufficient for thee, for my &s;trength is in weakene&s;se perfected.</HI> To the&s;e and the like objections might this be an unre|plyable an&s;wer: <HI>Yee aske, and receive not, becau&s;e yee aske a mi&s;&s;e, that yee may con&s;ume it upon your lu&s;ts.</HI> Saint <HI>Iames</HI> gives us that, Chapter 4. ver&s;e 3. how may wee &s;ay, and &s;ay truly, God not hearing us, heares us the more? Hurtfull things demanded, and received would be a cur&s;e on us not a ble&s;&s;ing, would be to us as were the <HI>Quailes</HI> to the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> not bli&s;&s;|full, but banefull; <HI>Plato</HI> the Heathen Philo&s;opher could fay, <HI>O God give us good things though wee aske</HI>
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<HI>them not, give us not evill things though we aske them;</HI> but to that of Saint <HI>Iohn,</HI> I refer you, and in that may we all re&s;t as a direction, and as an encouragement, God hath given to us eternall life, and this life is in<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5. 11.</NOTE> his Son. <HI>By believing on the name of the Son of God we may know that we have eternall life,</HI> v. 13 Marke now his inference, v. 14. and 15. <HI>And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we aske any thing according to his wil he heareth us,</HI> &amp; if we know, that he heare us what&s;oever we aske, we know, that we have the peti|tions that we de&s;ired of him, eternal life, &amp; the things thereunto directly tending are the proper object of our faith Chri&s;tian. The Creed Apo&s;tolicall is clo|&s;ed up with that, and for that have wee an ab&s;olute warrant to <HI>pray,</HI> and are enjoyned not to waver in expectation thereof: heare the Apo&s;tle; <HI>Let us draw neere with a true heart in full a&s;&s;urance of faith,</HI> Heb. 10. 22. <HI>hold we fa&s;t the confidence, and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end,</HI> Chapter 3. 6. 14. Where we have an Implication of their condemnation who &s;o in a proud humility, and in a mode&s;ty impudent enough teach men to hold the life eternall and their &s;alvation by the <HI>Lord Ie&s;us</HI> in a doubtfull tenure. What doe they other, then labour to be faithle&s;&s;e with rea&s;on? Methinks clo&s;ely, thus they &s;eem to be &s;peake God; We find our&s;elves unworthy to pitch our credence on thy Word, unworthy to believe what thou promi&s;e&s;t, the life eternall in <HI>Christ Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e doe make the Go&s;pells doctrine, a doct|rine of un&s;etledne&s;&s;e, of di&s;tru&s;tfulne&s;&s;e, of di&s;tra|ction, which is the only &s;etler of a waving and wa|vering Con&s;cience; no re&s;t hath this Dove, but in this Arke; yet the&s;e not relyers on eternall life by
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<HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> a rockie foundation and a building an&s;wera|ble are ridiculou&s;ly per&s;waded to relye on their own &s;andy merits, in which no marvaile is it that they do &s;inke into di&s;tru&s;tfulne&s;&s;e, and are &s;wallowed up in the gulfe of de&s;peration. Leave we the Popi&s;h gene|ration to their rotten ab&s;urdities, and be we clo&s;e in our mutuall and &s;pirituall edification of one another to Heaven-wards, in that faith which was once deli|vered unto the Saints, in Saint <HI>Iudes</HI> words, ver&s;e 3. of his Epi&s;tle; On that faith, mo&s;t holy faith build we up our &s;elves, <HI>praying in the Holy Gho&s;t, and keep|ing our &s;elves in the love of God, looking for the mer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">y of our Lord Ie&s;us unto eternall life,</HI> ver. 20. 21. of the &s;ame Epi&s;tle. It is <HI>prayer</HI> that holdeth us in acquain|tance with God, the peace making acquaintance, yet in this acquaintance, we mu&s;t in the next place, in our <HI>prayer</HI> approaches to him both remember what he is, and what we are, he our <HI>God,</HI> we his dependant &s;ubjects, not able one moment to &s;ub&s;i&s;t without his protection and &s;uppliance of good givings and per|fect gifts, from whom they all de&s;cend, <HI>Iames</HI> 1. 17. he <HI>Iehovah</HI> the eternall, we mortalls, and mi&s;erables, in our &s;elves vanity, <HI>yea lighter than vanity it &s;elfe, dust and a&s;hes, borne in &s;infull, and ha&s;tning to &s;hamfull corruption in the &s;lime-pits, our graves; Wormes meate and our &s;elves wormes mo&s;t contemptibly contemptible.</HI> As tho&s;e who addre&s;&s;e them&s;elves often to the Po|tentates of the Earth, Princes, Kings, Emperors, Monarchs, cloath them&s;elves the more neately, and more heedfully order their language then others doe; So he that frequently betakes him&s;elfe to God in <HI>prayer,</HI> the duty of every Chri&s;tian mu&s;t com|po&s;e him&s;elfe aright, and bee ever readier to heare
<PB N="17" REF="11">
than to offer the &s;acrifice of fooles, babling, raw, undige&s;ted prayers unto the GOD of awe, and order.</P>
<P>In the third place know, that <HI>prayers</HI> rightly mo|delled and moulded up will frame us to avoyd that defiler of all good exerci&s;es, ba&s;e hypocri&s;ie. It is before God, that wee appeare in <HI>prayer,</HI> whether it be in private, or in publike, alone in our clo&s;ets, or with others in our Families, or in Church A&s;&s;em|blies, God &s;ees us, heares us, ob&s;erves us, there's no dallying with him, no deluding of him. The Copy of a faire countenance, and looks demurely compo|&s;ed cannot in his &s;ight bee availeable, who&s;e eyes pierce all darkne&s;&s;e even that of hell, and doe &s;ee through, and through the thicke&s;t mantles, and co|verture of the clo&s;e&s;t hypocri&s;ie, even that which hypocrites in the very cabinets of their hearts can|not them&s;elves di&s;cerne.</P>
<P>Further <HI>Prayer</HI> in con&s;cience bindeth us that u&s;e it, not to wrong any, no not the ea&s;ie&s;t to be wronged; to quit our hands &s;peedily of what is others, not our own; Nay it importunes us to dete&s;t and ab|horre even as hell, all ravenous, greedy, oppre&s;&s;ing cour&s;es; None of which in whom&s;oever can po&s;|&s;ibly &s;tand with the right profe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Chri&s;tianity;</HI> ob&s;erve that expre&s;&s;ion of God in his Prophet, <HI>I&s;ai. 1. 15. When you &s;pread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, yea when you make many prayers, I will not heare: your hands are full of bloud.</HI> In that con&s;ideration religious <HI>David</HI> &s;aid, <HI>I will wa&s;h mine hands in innocency; &s;o will I compa&s;&s;e thine Altar O Lord, P&s;alme</HI> 26. 6. Hence that exqui&s;ite coun&s;ell of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> advi&s;ing us to <HI>pray every where lifting up</HI>
<PB N="18" REF="12">
<HI>holy hands without wrath or doubtings, I Timothy</HI> 2. 8.</P>
<P>Further yet <HI>prayer</HI> advi&s;eth us to be rich to God|wards in the relievance of his poore Saints, as now the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed and di&s;&s;ipated <HI>Iri&s;h</HI> Prote&s;tants: The able&s;t in power, honour, wealth is, or ought to be a daily begging &s;uitor unto God. And can any think of God to be heard and an&s;wered in his petitions, that &s;uffers the godly to peri&s;h for want of their re|dundancies? Suffers bleeding <HI>Ireland,</HI> which makes our Kings heart bleed, &s;till to wallow, and welter in bloud, without &s;tenching that bloudy i&s;&s;ue? Who &s;o peri&s;h through want of our timely compa&s;&s;ionate remedy, their bloud, (I feare me) will be put on our accompts again&s;t the reckoning day of the Doome finall. Can our <HI>prayers</HI> worke our deliverance, our eares and hearts rejecting the &s;uites of bleeding Prote&s;tants, or not &s;ea&s;onably relieving their al|mo&s;t de&s;perate condition, and humanely forlorne hopes? The &s;entence is peremptory, <HI>Prov. 21. 13. Who &s;o &s;toppeth his eares at the cry of the poore, hee al&s;o &s;hall cry him&s;elfe, and &s;hall not be heard.</HI> On the con|trary, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the mercifull</HI> (evermore ble&s;&s;ed) <HI>for they &s;hall obtaine mercy, Matth.</HI> 5. 7. Nothing &s;o &s;ure as their deliverance out of what ever trou|bles, dangers, cares, feares.</P>
<P>In the fifth place, <HI>Prayer</HI> it is that obligeth to dili|gence in hearing Gods Word, and u&s;ing aright the Sacraments of his Ordination. For how thinke we that God will regard our prayers, if we bee overly in the ob&s;ervation of his &s;erious enjoyments? will he receive our demands, if we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">light over his com|mands? if wee waite not con&s;tantly in his San|ctuary,
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on his &s;acred behe&s;ts and appointments?</P>
<P>Sixthly, <HI>Prayer</HI> doth bind us all to the good behavi|our, one towards another, nay more to the Recipro|cation of enterchangeable Reconciliation in the occurrences of what ever differences and offences. That pa&s;&s;age is full and faire, <HI>Matth. 5. 23, 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, and there remembre&s;t that thy brother hath ought again&s;t thee, leave there thy gift before the Altar, and goe thy way; fir&s;t be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.</HI> If wee &s;erve not one another in love, which is an enjoyment Apo&s;tolicall, neither our per&s;ons, nor our prayers can plea&s;e God. When our Saviour had pre&s;cribed us a forme of Prayer he rea&s;&s;umeth and reinforceth that Petition in it, <HI>Forgive us our debts as wee forgive our debtors,</HI> for, &s;aith he, <HI>If ye forgive men their tre&s;|pa&s;&s;es, your heavenly Father will al&s;o forgive you, but if yee forgive not men their tre&s;pa&s;&s;es; Neither will your Father forgive your tre&s;pa&s;&s;es, Matth.</HI> 6. 14, 15. We have it thus related by Saint <HI>Marke,</HI> chap. 1. ver&s;e 25. 26. <HI>When yee &s;tand praying, forgive if yee have ought again&s;t any, that your Father al&s;o which is in Hea|ven may forgive you your tre&s;pa&s;&s;es.</HI> Hold we to this, and we &s;hall be happy in deliverances; but if thus cordially and really we pecce not up, in peeces &s;hall we be like a Potters ve&s;&s;ell gracele&s;&s;e, u&s;ele&s;&s;e, in all troubles remedile&s;&s;e, which God avert, and bring us all into the right tune and temper of Chri&s;tianity, and regular charity.</P>
<P>I now pa&s;&s;e on to the la&s;t parcell in our&punc; Text;</P>
<Q>Our due returne of glory to our deliverer out of all troubles.</Q>
<P><PB N="20" REF="13">We are never right till God ingenuou&s;ly bee ac|knowledged by us, to bee <GAP DESC="foreign">, the remover of evills, and of what&s;oever is good the gratious be|&s;tower. What we do mu&s;t all be done to the glory of God, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 31. To this end were all things made, in all creatures God &s;ets forth his <HI>glory,</HI> and in them all will he be <HI>glorified;</HI> light cannot be hid, and God of lights is the Father, and in them all is repre&s;ented; to be <HI>glorified</HI> by Men, the Sonne of God became man; he is God manife&s;ted in the fle&s;h, and for that manife&s;tation never can we men <HI>glorifie</HI> our God enough. By this hath God made his wi&s;|dome manife&s;t in finding out a way to &s;atisfie his Ju|&s;tice exactly, without the lea&s;t prejudice at all to his Mercy.</P>
<P>Nay, His Mercy is mo&s;t evident in his Ju&s;tice, his Sonnes death on the Cro&s;&s;e was the price of our Re|demption, and the purcha&s;e of Heaven for us who had merited hell by the heinou&s;ne&s;&s;e of our tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ions. To be <HI>glorified</HI> will God againe &s;end his Sonne, and in our nature too, but <HI>glorified.</HI> To bee judged and to death &s;entenced for our offences was his fir&s;t comming; to bee the vi&s;ible Judge both of quicke and dead &s;hall his &s;econd comming be. To be <HI>glorified,</HI> God &s;ets up, and takes downe whom hee plea&s;eth, Kings and Kingdomes are at his di&s;po&s;all; to the Kings of the earth is hee terrible (writes the P&s;almi&s;t) <HI>P&s;alm.</HI> 76. 12. And the Courtly Prophet is plaine; <HI>The Nation and Kingdom that will not &s;erve thee &s;hall peri&s;h; yea tho&s;e Nations utterly &s;hall be wa&s;ted E&s;ay</HI> 60. 12. To be <HI>glorified,</HI> God remarkeably puni|&s;heth his owne tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing people, and at his owne hou&s;e many times begins his judgement, but ends in
<PB N="21" REF="13">
The ruine of his enemies. Wee &s;ee that in part ful|filled, and to the height at la&s;t &s;hall it be made full; <HI>As truely as I live all the earth &s;hall bee filled with the glory of the Lord, Num.</HI> 14. 21. Yet thinke not here, beloved, that God &s;tands in need of being <HI>glorified</HI> by men, or felt in him&s;elfe a titillation from men; No, no, before we were, before the world was, <HI>glo|rious</HI> was he above our thoughts. Stood hee in need of <HI>Glory,</HI> the Angels are abler, and readyer to ex|toll him then all the whole race of Mortalls po&s;&s;ib|ly can.</P>
<P>As we are le&s;&s;e than the very lea&s;t of all his mer|cies, &s;o his pray&s;es are to him an abatement, to us onely an advancement; our very thank&s;givings are beggings, and our owne Intere&s;t and improvements in his various ble&s;&s;ings, the foundation of our ex|alting his Name. It is a mo&s;t Gratious vouch|&s;afement of our God that hee will by us bee <HI>glo|rified.</HI></P>
<P>I might expatiate here, but my weake and &s;pent lungs pre&s;&s;e me to abreviate, and to contract much, which I purpo&s;ed largely to have di&s;cour&s;ed of into a narrow compa&s;&s;e of time. Thus then wee are to <HI>glorifie</HI> God.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, by &s;peaking of his &s;upreme Maje&s;tie with all due &s;ubmi&s;&s;ivene&s;&s;e and reverence; All collogu|ings, all di&s;&s;emblings, all hypocri&s;ies mu&s;t here bee farre, farre from us; this, this it is to give <HI>glory</HI> unto God, to &s;peake the truth though it be again&s;t a mans &s;elfe: <HI>Give God the glory,</HI> (&s;aid <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> to <HI>Achan.</HI>) That giving of <HI>glory</HI> was the open confe&s;&s;ion of his clo&s;e &s;inne, <HI>Io&s;h.</HI> 7. 19. It is the acknowledgement that of all hearts God is the &s;earcher, and the ju&s;t
<PB N="22" REF="14">
avenger of wickedne&s;&s;e, though never &s;o palliated. We mu&s;t not &s;hrinke from confe&s;&s;ion in the ca&s;e of Gods honour although it be to our owne temporall confu&s;ion; It was <HI>Achans</HI> ca&s;e, and in every oath and &s;olemn prote&s;tation we make and take, it is ours. Juggle wee not with our all knowing God, equivo|cations, mentall re&s;ervations, and other cunning eva|&s;iions, may deceive, elude, and delude men, and bee we not deceived; <HI>God can we not deceive, hee will not be mocked: as we &s;ow, we &s;hall reape, or corruption or life everla&s;ting, Gal.</HI> 6. 7, 8. If we hide our &s;innes, we &s;hall not pro&s;per, God will not lo&s;e his <HI>glory,</HI> but if we confe&s;&s;e them and for&s;ake them, God &s;hall have the <HI>glory,</HI> and we &s;hall have the comfort; <HI>Hee that confe&s;&s;eth, and for&s;aketh them &s;hall have mercy, Prov.</HI> 28. 13.</P>
<P>Againe wee doe <HI>glorifie</HI> God when his promi&s;es even in all our troubles are laid hold on by our faith. We reade of <HI>Abraham,</HI> of all in the Faith the Fa|ther, that he <HI>&s;taggerd not at the promi&s;e, through un|beliefe, but was &s;trong in faith giving glory to God, Rom.</HI> 4. 20. The Receiver of Chri&s;ts te&s;timony hath &s;et to his Seale, that God is true (as Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t</HI> hath it) in the Go&s;pell by Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> cha. 3. 33. When God hath made knowne his will unto us in his Word, good rea&s;on it is that every one of us &s;hould thereunto give our full a&s;&s;ent and con&s;ent, we mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e it ingenuou&s;ly, &amp; profe&s;&s;e it open|ly never be a&s;hamed thereof. And this is as a &s;etting too of our Seale, that God is true, and in &s;o doing, we doe <HI>glorifie</HI> our God, and it is a chiefe point of honour which of us he requireth, and indeed to re|pent, and believe the Go&s;pell is the &s;umme and &s;ub|&s;tance
<PB N="23" REF="14">
of the Go&s;pell, the full of a Chri&s;tian, of <HI>God</HI> accepted for mans Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <HI>Marke</HI> 1. 15. <HI>Rom.</HI> 4. 3.</P>
<P>Thirdly, wee doe <HI>glorifie</HI> God in a perpetuated cour&s;e of good workes; So our Saviour plainely and expre&s;ly. <HI>Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven, Matth.</HI> 5. 16.</P>
<P>Fourthly, we then doe <HI>glorifie</HI> our God when we doe pro&s;trate our &s;elves in the truth of humility, and and humiliation before God. That of <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> to the proud generation of the Phari&s;ees is remark|ably ob&s;ervable. <HI>How can yee beleeve which receive honour one from another, and &s;eeke not the honour that commeth from God only? Iohn</HI> 5. 44. An u&s;uall and a ju&s;t cour&s;e is it with God to aba&s;e the lifted up, and to lift up the aba&s;ed in their owne eyes, to ca&s;t down the mighty from their &s;eates, and to exalt the hum|ble and meeke; As the not givers of <HI>glory</HI> unto <HI>God</HI> &s;hall be <HI>unglorious</HI> at the la&s;t for ever; &s;o the <HI>glori|fiers</HI> of God in the right way of humblene&s;&s;e &s;hall after petty di&s;regards and di&s;graces here from un|advi&s;ed men be &s;hining &s;tars above in <HI>glory.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, wee doe <HI>glorifie</HI> our God in our clo&s;e de|fending the cau&s;e of God, where ever and however oppo&s;ed and vilified in the &s;cornefull world, and in being &s;eriou&s;ly tran&s;ported with a regular zeale un|to the <HI>glory</HI> of our God, not regarding at all our di&s;|e&s;teeme in the world in that regard. In this frozen age variou&s;ly humerous this is rarely practi&s;ed, the lea&s;t, very lea&s;t word that toucheth our owne repu|tation, goes as a dagger to our hearts; but God in horrid oaths and execrations is every where lewd|lic
<PB N="24" REF="15">
and lewdly bla&s;phemed: his Church &s;ervants by the mo&s;t vilified and &s;corned, and it troubles not our hearts at all, yea &s;carce our eares. O times, O man|ners!</P>
<P>Ala&s;&s;e! how few <HI>Lots</HI> are there in this <HI>Sodome,</HI> the pre&s;ent evill world? <HI>Lot vexed his righteous &s;oule day by day, in &s;eeing and hearing the unlawfull deeds of that City where he &s;ojourned.</HI> 2. <HI>Pet</HI> 2. 8. Wee &s;ee and heare enough the like every day, and every night, and all houres and moments of both: God is di&s;honoured impudently every where, his ordinances abu&s;ed, his holy name and attributes odiou&s;ly polluted with rotten language, out of their reeking Sepulcher throat vented, and poy&s;oning where it is with de|light entertained: no &s;in ab&s;tained from, yea even with greedine&s;&s;e una&s;hamedly committed. It may be &s;aid of the mo&s;t of both &s;exes in this age which the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> uttereth of <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> and <HI>Iudah, Their tongue, and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory, the &s;hew of their counte|nance doth witne&s;&s;e again&s;t them, and they declare their &s;inne as Sodome; they hide it not, woe unto their &s;oule, for they have rewarded evill unto them&s;elves, E&s;ay</HI> 3. 8, 9. We may adde with the Prophet <HI>Ezechiel,</HI> and paralell this Nation with that. <HI>Behold this was the ini|quity of thy &s;i&s;ter Sodome. Pride, fulne&s;&s;e of bread, and abundance of Idlene&s;&s;e was in her daughters, neither did &s;he &s;trengthen the hand of the poore and needy; And they were haughty and committed abomination before mee, therefore I tooke them away as I &s;aw good, Ezek.</HI> 16&punc; 49, 50. That our &s;elves prove not an Hi&s;tory in this kind let the recorded Hi&s;tories of <HI>Sodom, Gomorra, Ieru&s;alem</HI> be our forewarning, their plagues will be|fall
<PB N="25" REF="15">
us, if by &s;erious and timely repentance we break not off our cour&s;es in the very &s;ame kinde and de|grees of &s;inning. Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;pirit was exceedingly &s;tirred in him, when he &s;aw the City of <HI>Athens</HI> whol|ly given to Idolatry, <HI>Acts</HI> 17. 16. And do not &s;ome doate on Images with the <HI>Romani&s;ts,</HI> and others on Imaginations with <HI>Factioni&s;ts?</HI> How few are right in the right way of Gods pre&s;criptions? which is <HI>Iehovah Elohenu, Iehovah Echad,</HI> the Lord our God is one Lord, <HI>Deut.</HI> 6. 4. Out of him all is but a ficti|on; and no Religion &s;ound and &s;olid, but what wee have from the dictates of his holy &s;pirit. This Lord our God, this one Lord hath <HI>made all things for him|&s;elfe, even the wicked for the day of evill, Prov.</HI> 16. 4. A&s;&s;uredly God will be <HI>glorified</HI> if not by us, then on us; if not for his mercies in our deliverance&punc; Surely then for his judgements in our &s;entencing to hell, ac|cording to that in the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t, The wicked &s;hall be tur|ned into hell, and all the Nations that forget God.</HI> He that will not voluntarily <HI>glorifie God</HI> as the Father of mer|cies, in the rigour of ju&s;tice will our God <HI>glorifie</HI> him&s;elfe in his eternall ruine. If wee prove not the Heralds of his glory; examples &s;hall we be of his ju&s;t indignation. <HI>When his wrath is kindled but a little, O ble&s;&s;ed are they that in him repo&s;e their tru&s;t, P&s;al.</HI> 2. 12. accur&s;edne&s;&s;e &s;hall enfetter all others in the chaines of everla&s;ting darkne&s;&s;e. O! my beloved in the Lord; What ever we have been heretofore, be this hence forward to the end of our <HI>pilgrimage,</HI> and war|fare on earth, our maine&s;t care never any more to re|ceave the grace of God in vaine, never turn the &s;ame into la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, which Saint <HI>Iude</HI> fitly calls, <HI>the denying of the only Lord God, and our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI>
<PB N="26" REF="16">
improve wee rather with all manner of alacrity and indu&s;triou&s;ne&s;&s;e the talents thereof unto us concre|dited to the <HI>glory</HI> of our God, upon our receiving the end of our faith, even our endle&s;&s;e &s;alvation.</P>
<P>By words; by works, in our lives and at our deaths &s;et wee forth the pray&s;es of our gratious deliverer, with the <HI>P&s;almist</HI> from the ground of our hearts, &s;ay|ing; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord God, who daily loadeth us with his benefits, even the God of our &s;alvation,</HI> he that is our God, is the God of our &s;alvation, <HI>And unto God the Lord belong the i&s;sues from death, P&s;alme</HI> 68. 19, 20. Endangered is the Church of God at this day every where in the world, and in this I&s;land, from the world divided endangered among&s;t Athei&s;ts, Pa|pi&s;ts, Sectaries, in troubles are all right Chri&s;tians involved; O! now is the time of in&s;tant prayer for their gratious deliverance out of them all; Call we heartily upon our God, and his bowell mercies will tenderly reach us, and &s;avingly relieve us, wee &s;hall find and feele his timely &s;uccours, there is yet balm in <HI>Gilead,</HI> yet mercies and the plenteous redemption with our God; He, he it is that &s;hall redeeme <HI>I&s;rael</HI> from all his iniquities, bring all his people every where out of all their depths of &s;ins, &s;orrowes, mi&s;e|ries, <HI>P&s;a.</HI> 130. Vtterly will he never for&s;ake his own people, the I&s;rael of God, but upon their unfained repentance and faith without hypocri&s;ie, &s;ettle them unremovably in him&s;elfe, and let them &s;ee even their full de&s;ires on al their malicious enemies, and ungra|tious oppo&s;ers; for, &s;eeing God for the love of his Church made the world; Sathan who labours the worlds ruine cannot with all his forces and devices ruinate the Church. The eternall God, the Lord of
<PB N="27" REF="16">
Armies, and Mercies, who from that roaring, and circuiting Lion, hath many times and many wayes delivered us from the hands of men his Captives, and in&s;truments how ever malitiou&s;ly bent again&s;t us will &s;till and &s;till deliver us. Our Petitions &s;hall be prevalent with him for us, and again&s;t them. And after he hath given us deliverance, upon deliverance here on earth, he will po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e us in Heaven with our inheritance there, our Inheritance <HI>immor|tall, undefiled, and that can never fade away,</HI> 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 4. to this inheritance the King of glory bring us that there wee may for evermore glorifie him und<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tractedly.</P>
<CLOSER>AMEN.</CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>Po&s;t-Script <HI>W. A. D. D. Minor invidi&acirc; I. G. D. D. Major contemptu.</HI></HEAD>
<LG>
<L>Le&s;&s;er than Envie; greater than contempt;</L>
<L>From th' One, and th' other, let me be exempt:</L>
<L>I wi&s;h not Much; with little am content:</L>
<L>So let My Yeares runne on; My Life be &s;pent.</L>
</LG>
<P>There are &s;ome words mi&s;-printed, others mi&s;-placed; and the pointing here and there, unob&s;erved. Pardon, and amend, friendly; then peru&s;e, curteou&s;ly.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="prayer">
<PB REF="17">
<PB REF="17">
<HEAD>The LORDS Prayer enlarged. The PREFACE.</HEAD>
<P>GRatious and glorious <HI>Father,</HI> all good, all migh|tie thou art, with us alwayes pre&s;ent; but thy Ma|je&s;tie principally demon&s;trates it &s;elfe in and from <HI>Heaven;</HI> in thee do we live, move, and have our being; as thou ha&s;t created us of nothing, &s;o doe&s;t thou nouri&s;h, maintaine, defend us in the order, and ranke of our creati|on. We have our gratious enjoyment to betake our &s;elves in prayer unto thee, who&s;e title is the hearer and an&s;werer of prayers, the helper of us to pray aright&punc; and the &s;uccou|rer of us too in right prayer to thy glory in our &s;alvation.</P>
<P><HI>Petion 1.</HI> O! cau&s;e thy <HI>Name</HI> and thy <HI>Selfe</HI> to bee made known upon Earth, and thy &s;aving health among all nations, manife&s;t thy &s;elfe yet more &amp; more in and to the habitable world, and be thou, holy and heavenly <HI>Father,</HI> by all of all conditions and &s;orts of Mankind <HI>honoured,</HI> and <HI>glorified</HI> in the thoughts of our hearts, in the words of our mouthes, in the deeds of our holy lives and conver|&s;ations even upon earth, heavenly.</P>
<P><HI>Petition 2.</HI> O! grant that the Scepter of thy King|dome, the word of thy power, and the power of thy Word may bee efficacious and prevalent all the world over; let us receive it humbly, retaine it in our hearts clo&s;ely, grow up thrivingly by it in the cleare knowledge of thee and thy Chri&s;t day by day. O let all Chri&s;tian Churches agree in the truth of thy holy and lively word, and be &s;trengthened in grace by it, and fitted by degrees for glory.</P>
<P><PB REF="18"><HI>Petition 3.</HI> What thou <HI>wille&s;t</HI> be that accompli&s;hed, and all the oppo&s;ers of thy <HI>will</HI> confuted really, and ever|lastingly confounded. O be thy revealed <HI>will</HI> the rule of our thoughts, words, actions, and thy very lea&s;t becke, our &s;way, as it is of all thy holy <HI>Angels</HI> thy mini&s;tring &s;pirits by thee &s;ent forth to mini&s;ter for them, who &s;hall bee the heyres of thy &s;alvation.</P>
<P><HI>Petition 4.</HI> What is <HI>needfull</HI> for this outward man let thy divine providence &s;upply us withall, and on that let our dependance be alwayes and in all things, and teach us that le&s;&s;on, in what e&s;tate &s;o ever we are with thine al|lotments to re&s;t contented, and in every thing to bee unto thy Maje&s;ty unfainedly thankfull.</P>
<P><HI>Petition 5.</HI> O! look not &s;everely upon our innume|rous <HI>errors, tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, &s;ins,</HI> but <HI>cover</HI> them, <HI>par|don</HI> them, ca&s;t them all into the Seas bottome, never to ri&s;e thence again&s;t us unto condemnation, and &s;eparation from thee, and give us all mutually <HI>forgiving</HI> hearts in the ca&s;e of ari&s;ing differences, and offences.</P>
<P><HI>Petition 6.</HI> We are in the mid&s;t of &s;nares, O let us never bee <HI>en&s;nared,</HI> uphold us in thy feare, and deliver us from the feare of all thine and our enemies, Sathan, &s;in, death, hell, de&s;truction.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Doxologie.</HEAD>
<P>WE are in thy <HI>Kingdom,</HI> O with thy golden Scep|ter <HI>rule</HI> us: we are under thy <HI>power,</HI> O &s;helter us from all adver&s;ary forces, we breath after the propagation of thy <HI>glory</HI> in our eternall &s;alvation, O manife&s;t the &s;ame in thy due time, and that in all clearene&s;&s;e and ful|ne&s;&s;e to our redeemed &s;oules. <HI>Amen,</HI> So be it is our prayer. <HI>Amen,</HI> be it &s;o, will be thy ratification, thou art faithfull, and we are happie.</P>
<CLOSER>Amen, Amen.</CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
