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There is no hypocrific, dulness, darkness, errours, self-conceitedness, pride, divifion, faction, or uncharitable contention: Oh how they burn in Love to God? and how sweet that Love 13 to themselves? and how those fouls work up in heavenly Joyes to the face of God, in all his praifes. Labour as it were to joy your felves by faith with them, and as far as standeth with your different cafe, to imitate them. They are more imitable and amiable, than the pureft Churches upon earth.. Their love and bleffed concord is more lovely, than our uncharitable animofities, and odious factions and divifions

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And remember alfo the time when you must meet all those upright fouls in Heaven, whofe manner of Worship you vilified, and spake reproachfully of on earth, and from whofe communion you turned away: And only confider how far they should be difowned, who must be dear to Chrift and you for ever.

The open difowning and avoiding the ungodly and fcandalous, is a great duty in due feafon, when it is regularly done, and is necessary to caft Shame on fin and finners, and to vindicate the bonour of Chriftianity before the world. But otherwife it is but -made an inftrument of pernicious pride, and of divisions in the Church, and of hindering the fucceffès of the Gospel of

Chrift.

CHAP. XXII.

How to pray in Faith.

PAffing by all the other particular parts of Worship as handled elsewhere (in my Chriftian Directory) I fhall. only briefly touch the duty of prayer; cfpecially as in pri

vate.

Direct. 1. Let your heart lead your tongue, and be the fountain of your words; and fuffer not your tongues in a customary vɔlubility to over-run your hearts. Defire first, and pray next; and remember that defire is the foul of prayer; and that the heartfearching God doth hate hypocrific, and will not be mocked, Matth. 6. 1,3,4.

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Disect. 2. Tet do not forbear prayer, because your defires are not so earnest as you would have them. For 1. Even good defires are to be begged of God: 2. And fuch defires as you have towards God, must be exercised and expreffed. 3. And this is the way of their ufual increafe. 4. And a prophane turning away from God, will kill thofe wear defires which you have, when drawing near him in prayer, may revive and cherish them.

Direct. 3. Remember ftill that you pray to a beavenly Father, who is readier to give, than you are to receive or ask. If you knew his Fulnefs and Goodness, how joyfully would you run to him, and cry Abba, Father? John 20. 17. Luke 12. 30, 32. Mark 11. 25. Matth. 6. 8, 32.

Dixca. 4. Go boldly to him in the Name of Chrift alone. Remember that he is the only Way and Mediatour. When guilt and confcience would drive you back, believe the fufficiency of his facrifice and attonement. When your weakness and unworthinefs would difcourage you, remember that no one is fo worthy, as to be accepted by God on any other terms, than Chrifts Mediation. Come boldly then to the Throne of Grace, by the new and living way, and put your prayers into his hand, and remember that he still livetb to make interceffion for you, and that he appeareth before God in the bigbeft, in your caufe, Heb. 10:19. Ephef.3.12. Rom.5.2. Heb.9.24. & 7. 25, 26.

Direct. 5. Defire nothing in your bearts which you dare not pray for, or which is unmeet for prayer: Let the Rule of Prayer, be the Rule of your Defires. And undertake no bufinefs in the world, which you may not lawfully pray for a bleffing on.

Direct. 6. Defire and pray to God, first, for God himself, and nothing lower; and next for all these spiritual bleffings in Chrift, which may fit you for communion with him. And lastly, for corpoval mercies, as the means to thefe, Matth. 6.33. Pfal.42.1,2,3, &c. Pfal. 73. 25, 26.

Dirca. 7. Pray only for what is promised you, or you are · commanded to pray for: And make not promifes to your felves, and then look that God fhould fulfil them, because you confidently believe that he will do it; and do not fo reproach God, as to call fuch felf-conceits and expectations, by the name of a particular Faith: For where there is no word, there is no faith. Dirc&.

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Direc. 8. What God hath promised,confidently expect, though you feel no answer at the prefent. For most of our prayers are to be granted (or the things defired to be given) at the harveft time, when we fhall have all at once. your felves the better at prefent for prayer, or not; believe that Whether you find a word is not in vain, but you fhall reap the fruit of all in feafon, Luke 18. 1, 7, 8. James 5.7, 8.

Direct. 9. Let the Lords Prayer be the Rule, for the matter and method of your defires and prayers. But with this difference : It must alwaies be the Rule which your defires must be formed to, both in matter and method. You must alwaies firft, and moft defire the ballowing of Gods Name, the coming of bis Kingdom, and the doing of his will on Earth as it is in Heaven, before your own being, or well-being: But this is only a Rule for your General Prayers (which take in all the parts :) For when you either intend to pray only, or chiefly for fome one particular thing, you may begin with that, or be most upon it.

Therefore all Chriftians fhould fpecially labour to underftand the true fenfe and method of the Lords Prayer (which God willing, I hope elsewhere to open.)

Direct. 10. Be more careful in fecret of your affections, than of the order of your words (yet chufing fuch as are apteft to the matter, and fitteft to excite your hearts) But in your families or with others, be very careful to speak to God, in words wbick are apt, and orderly, and moving; and to do all with fuch skill, and reverence, and ferioufnefs, as tendeth (not to encrease,but) to cure the dulnefs, hypocrific and unreverence of others, Ecclef. 5. 1, 2. Matth. 6. 7, 8, 9, 10, &c.

Direct. 11. Pray as earnestly as if God himself were to be moved with your prayers: Yet fo as to remember, that the change is not to be made upon him, but upon you. As when the Boat-man layeth hold upon the bank, he draweth the Boat to it, and not the bank unto the Boat, Prayer fitteth you to receize the mercy; both naturally as it exciteth your defires after it, and morally as it is a condition on which God hath promised to give it: when you pray you tell God nothing which before he knew not better than you: But you tell him that in conf:ffion and petition, which be will bear from your own mouths, bcfore he will judge you meet for the mercies which you are to pray for.

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In fumm, pray, because you believe that praying Believers fhall have the promised bleffing: And believe particularly and abfe lutely, that you fhall have that promised blessing through Chrift, because you are praying Believers, and therefore the perfons to whom it is promised.

CHAP. XXIII.

How to live by Faith towards Children, and other Relations.

Direct. 1.DElieve Gods Promifes made to Believers and their (of which have written at large in my trea

tife of Infant-baptifm.) And labour to understand how far tho c promifes extend, both as to the perfons and the blessings. There was never an age of the world, in which God did not diftinguish the boly feed, even Believers and their Children, from the rest of the world, and take them as those that were specially in his Covenant.

Direct. 2. Let not your conceits of the bare birth-priviledge, make you omit your ferici, folemn and believing Dedication of them unto God, and entering them into hu Covenant.

For the reafon why your feed is called Holy, and in a better cafe than the feed of Infidels, is not meerly because they are the fffpring of your bodies, and have their natures from you; much lefs as deriving any grace or vertue from you by generation: But because you are perfons your felves who have dedisated your felves with all that you have,abfolutely toGod by Chrift: And they being your own, and therefore at your difpofal, your wills are taken for their wills, fo far as you act in their names, and on their behalf: And therefore when you dedicate them to God, you do but that which you have both power and command to do: And therefore God accepteth what you so dedicate to him. And Baptifm is the regular may in which this dedication fhould be folemnly made: But if through the want of a Minifter, or water, or time, this be not done, your believing dedication of your child to God, without Baptifm fhall be accepted. For it is the fubftance, and not the fign, the will, and not the water, which God requireth in this casc.

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Qeft. But what then shall we think of the children of godiy Anabaptifts, whofe Judgement is against such dedication?

Anfm. Many whofe Judgement is against baptizing them, is not against an offering or dedicating them to God. And thofe who think that they are not allowed folemnly to enter them into Covenant with God, yet really do that which is the fame thing: For they cannot be imagined, to be unwilling, to dedicate them to God, to the utmost of that intereft and power, which they understand that God hath given them: and doubtless they moft carneftly defire that according to their capacity, they may be the children of God, and God will be their God in Chrift. And this vertual dedication feemeth to be the principal requifite condition.

But yet as the unbaptized are (ordinarily) without the vifible Church and its priviledges; fo if any be fo blind, as neither explicitely nor vertually to dedicate their feed to God; I know no promife of their childrens falvation, any more than of the feed of Infidels.

Direct. 3. If the children of true Chriftians dedicated by the Parents will to God, through Chrift, fhall die before they come to the use of reafon, the Parents bave no caufe to doubt of their fal

vation.

It is the conclufion of the Synod of Dort in Artic, 1. And the reafon is this.

If the Parent and child be in the fame Covenant, then if that Covenant pardon and adopt the Parent, it doth pardon and adopt the child: But the Parent and child are in the fime Covenant: Therefore, &c.

God hath but one Covenant on his part, which is fealed by baptifm (as I have proved at large to Mr. Blake.) Indeed fome are only externally in Covenant with him on their part, that is, they did covenant only with the tongue, and not the heart! And confequently God is no further in covenant with them, than to allow and command bis Minifters to receive them into the Vifible Church, and give them its priviledges; and is not as a Promifer in Covenant with them at all himself, either for inward, or for outward bleffings. He hath not one Covenant which giveth outward, and another which giveth inward bleffings.

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