170 / 808
i,3
.phefians,Chap.t,
V
E
thus
to
exercife
our
fan
&ity, faith, patience ; thus to trie whether
our
requeft come
from
unfetled
humour, or from poverty
of
fpirit,
and
thirfting
defire.
Thus
he
doth
prepare
us
to
receive
the things
we
aske
in
greater meafure; for the wider the
foule
is
inlarged
in
defire,
the
more
abundantly
God meaneth
to
fill
it in his
time. Againe,by
this
mean
he
doth
make
us
poffeffe his
bleflings
with more
delight,
and
carefulneffe,
then otherwife we would
:
not
to
mention
that
we
in
our
firft feeking
things
areunfit
often to receive
them.
But here
two
queftions
(hall
be briefly anfwered.
Fir
; whether
it
be
finne,
alwayes to
ceafe
from
asking this
or that. Secondly,
whether
all
ceafing
to go on
in
Prayer, doth
make our
former Prayer
fruitleffe.
To
the
firft
I
anfwer,Not
all
ceafing,but
ceafing
out
of
unbeliefe,
or
impenitencie,
is
¡intuit; firft,when
we have
obtained
this
or
that,wemay
ceafe
to begge
any
longer
as
we did
before:
Even
as
the body
refleth,
when
it is
now come to
the
place
to
which
it
mooveth
;
fo
the
foule
when
it
bath
attained
that,to
which it went by
unfained defire.
Secondly,when
we finde
the thing
not
to
be profitable
for us,or
other.
wife not plcafing
to
God. Thus
Paul was
taught to
fee
the
ufe
of
that
buffeting
remaining
with
him
:
Thus
when
Ieremy
learned
that
God
had
not to
give, nor would not be intreated for the profperiry
of
the
people,
hee
did defift, though
he
did
well before
in
asking
of
it
:
for
that
revealed
will,
and not the fecret,
is
that towhich
our
anions
molt
be conformed
:
Though
here
is
fomething extraordinary
in
thefe
ex.
amples,
yet God doth
often let
his
children
fee
that
they
did
affeéi
things not good for them, by
leading them into fuller knowledge
of
their
owne hearts, and by
letting
them find. the
fruit
of
fome
out-
ward diflurbances, the removall whereof they fought earneffly,
fo
that
they
correEt
themfelves,
and no
more
feeke
to
be free
from
that
which they
finde
fo
neceffary
by
good
experience
:
this defifting
is
holy
and
good. Thirdly,there
is
a
defining overtaking Gods children,
when
God
Both locke
up
their hearts that they
have
not power to
feeke
the good
of
fome perfons
or Churches
as
heretofore they
have
done;
which when
it
is
not
contraf
ed
or
caufed
by
fome
finfull indifpofition
in
the party,but from
a
fecret
ofGod
not
mooving the
fpirit
in
this
kind,
that
fo
way may be made for
his
judgements,
it
is
filch a ceafing
as
cannot be condemned for
finne,
though
it may alwayes be
bewai
led,
as
a
fecret defertion
,
which doth foretell
heavie
things
infuing.
Fourthly, Wee
ceafe
to pray
as
before
for
things,
without
finne,
when now God hath,
as
it
were,
fpoken
within our fpirits, that
wee
(hall have
the
thing we have asked,and
bid
our
foules
after
a
fort
retorne
to
reff
:For
from whence we
find
God
thus good unto us, we
follow
not with
our accuftomed
fervency,though
execution delayed may
caufe
us
fometime
feeke
the
feafonable performance of it, the foule
is
more
in
joyfull expeftance,
leffe
then before
in
careful!
petition.
The
ceafing
therefore forbidden
is,
when before
we receive
things,we doe
through
unbeliefe and
impatience, give overeither for
a
time, which beflleth
Gods children,
or
altogether.
The