Go now and bring thy straw and stubble, thy drowsy and sluggish devotion, thy fickle and flattering repentance, thy formal and demure services into the fire, tó the law to measure them, to the Judge to censure them; nay, now carry them to thine own conscience, and tell me whether that will not pass the Father's verdict upon them; that which is fair in thine eye, is filthy in God's.

Lastly: this serves for exhortation unto these particular duties.

[1.] Unto patience and meekness under any evil that God may bring upon us, and that not barely, because he doth us good in other things, which was Job's argument, Shall we receive good from the Lord, and not evil?" Job ii. 10. But further, because the very evils that come upon us, are oftentimes by him intended for good, as Joseph told his brethren, Gen. 1. 20. We are not angry with the physician when he lances, diets, and restrains us of our will: he denies us our will, that we may have our will; a sick man is many times most faithfully served, when he is crossed. I lop my trees, bruise my grapes, grind my corn, to fit it to the ends whereunto it tendeth. God's end is merciful when his hand is heavy, as John's roll was "sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly," Rev. x. 9. so troubles may be bitter to the palate, but profitable to the conscience; like hot spices that bite the tongue, but comfort the stomach.

And as it dictates patience in suffering evil, so in doing our duties, though we suffer contempt and reproaches for it. If we were to receive our rewards from men, their frowns might discourage us; but when we have done God's will, God himself will be our reward, and make his promises a comfort unto us.

Moses and Aaron, though their whole employments were for the good of Israel, were yet repaid with murmuring and discontent, and the people, like children, repined at the food which their prayers obtained for them, yet nothing dismayed them from their duty. The woman of Canaan prays on when she is denied, and Jacob holds with his hands when his thigh is lamed; our first care must be to be in our way, to be doing our duties, and then, though (as Solomon speaks) we should meet a lion in our way, we must not be dismayed; for angels are stronger than lions, and he hath "given his angels charge over us, to bear us in our ways," Psal. xci. 11. Yea, "whilst we are with him, he himself is with us," 2 Chron. xv. 2. so that the way of the Lord is the surest and safest walk that any man can have, "The way of the Lord is strength to the upright," Prov. x. 29. [2.] Unto humility. If thou art a vessel of gold, and thy brother but of wood, be not highminded, it is God that maketh thee to differ; the more bounty God shows, the more humility he requires. Those mines that are richest are deepest, those stars that are highest seem smallest, the goodliest buildings have the lowest foundations; the more God honoureth men, the more they should humble themselves; the more the fruit, the lower the branch on which it grows; pride is ever the companion of emptiness. Oh how full was the apostle, yet how low was his language of himself "least of saints, last of apostles, chief of sinners, no sufficiency to think, no abilities to do;" all that he is, he is by grace: thus humility teaches us in our operation, to draw strength from God, not from ourselves; in our graces to ascribe their goodness to God, and their weakness to ourselves.

[3.] Unto dependence and continual recourse to God, as the Fountain of all good, to keep an open and unobstructed passage between him and our soul. Say not, I have light enough in my house, I may now shut up my windows, for light within hath dependence upon immediate supplies from the sun without, and so hath grace upon continual supplies from the Sun of righteousness. God teacheth even the husbandman to plough and thresh, Isa. xxviii. 26. In these things his direction is to be implored: meddle not then with great and high affairs without recourse unto him. His name is Counsellor, and his testimonies are counsellors; let them be the rule and square of all your debates. It is recorded for the honour of Scipio, that he went first to the capitol, and then to the senate. But you have more noble examples. David is put to flight, he flies and prays. Hezekiah is at a

stand in all his counsels, he sends to the prophet and prays; Jehoshaphat is in great distress, and knows not what in the world to do, but he prays; Nehemiah is sore afraid, and hath a petition to make to the king, but first he makes one to God, and prays; whenever we are in great need, and there is no strength at all in us, all the world cannot furnish you with such another help as prayer, and recourse to God,—it hath delivered even graves of their dead. Therefore let me beseech you, whenever you meet with such difficulties as put you to a stand, that you know not what to advise or resolve upon, go to your closets, prostrate yourselves at His throne, whose honour it is to be seen in the mount, beg counsel of him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Let it appear that you seek his face to direct you, and his glory as the supreme end and design of all your consultations; and then try whether he is not a present

help in trouble, and whether he will not magnify the wisdom of his counsel in the perplexity of yours.

[4.] Unto fidelity, in the use of any good which God bestows upon us: for God gives not talents to men, barely to enrich men, but to employ them; therefore as the vessel hath one passage to let the wine into itself, and another to pour it out into the flagon, so we should not only fill ourselves by dependence upon God, but should supply others by love and service unto our brethren.

Right honourable, this nation hath put into your hands all that is outwardly dear unto them, their persons, posterities, liberties, estates. In these sad and woful distractions, they look upon you as binders, and healers, and standers in the gap, and repairers of waste places; God hath called you unto an high and a great trust; and men call upon you, like the man of Macedonia, in St. Paul's vision, Acts xvi. 2. Come and help us. Now in this great strait stir up the graces of God in you, call together all that is within you to call upon his name, improve the uttermost of your interests in him for the state of his church, manage every one of his gifts to the closing of those miserable breaches which threaten an inundation of calamity upon us all; wisdom, and learning, and piety, and prudence, are healing things. Remember (and O that God would put it into the hearts of this whole kingdom, from the throne to the plough, to remember) the fate of a divided kingdom from the mouth of truth itself. O that we would all remember that misunderstandings, and jealousies, and divisions of heart are a high evidence of God's displeasure; and that through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, a land is darkened, and as it were infatuated, when "Manasseh is against Ephraim, and Ephraim

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against Manasseh, and every man eateth the flesh of his own arm," Isa. ix. 9. 21. O let us all remember what it cost Shechem and Abimelech, what it cost Benjamin and the other tribes, even the loss of threescore and five thousand men: remember Babylon will clap their hands; no such time for Shishak the Egyptian to trouble Jerusalem, as when Israel is divided, 2 Chron. xii. 2. Let it never be said of God's own people, that they are fallen into the curse of Midianites, and Amorites, and Edomites, and Philistines, to help forward the destruction of one another. O that God would give this whole nation hearts to consider these things; that he would put a spirit of peace and resolved unity into the minds of this whole people, to be true to their own happiness; and by how much the greater are the subtleties of men to divide them, to be so much the more firmly united in prayers to God, and in concord between themselves, that they may not expose their persons, estates, posterity, and (which is dearest of all) their religion, to the crafty and bloody advantages of the enemies of the protestant churches, who in human view could have no way to overthrow them, but by their own dissensions.

2. I shall now conclude all with a very few words of the next point, which is drawn from the scope and connexion of the prayer suggested to the judgment threatened. It is this:

When temporal judgments are felt or feared, God's people should pray for spiritual mercies. Human sorrows cannot overcome where the joy of the Lord is our strength. Thus the Lord seems to have taught his apostle he was under some pressing discomfort, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him; he prays for particular deliverance, and God answers him, not