ὡς συντεταμένης ψυχῆς ἐδὲ χήματΘ, ἀλλὰ φρανήματα for it requires not the Voice, but the Mind, not the ftretching of the Hands, but the intention of the Soul; not any outward Shape or Carriage of Body, but the inward Behaviour of the Understanding. How then can it flacken your Worldly Bufiefs and Occafions, to mix with them Sighs and Groans, which are the most effectual kinds of Prayer?

And let this fuffice concerning the firft meaning of the words; I will briefly fpeak concerning the fecond meaning, which I told you was the fenfe and intended by the Holy Ghoft, when he wrote, and it is an Exhortation to a Religious Importunity in our Prayers, not to let our Suits fall, because they are not prefently granted, but never to leave folliciting till we have prevailed, and fo take the Bleffing of God by violence: Gratiffima vis, this Force, this Violence is a thing most welcome unto God; for if the importunity of Efau's falfe, feigned, and malicious Tears drew a Bleffing from his Father Ifaac, who yet had no greater ftore of Bleffings, as it feems; how much more fhall the true Religious importunity of zealous Prayer, pull a Bleffing out of the hands of God, who is rich in Bleffings above the Sands of the Sea in multitude? It is the Courtiers Rule, That over modeft Suitors feldom speed: Beloved, we muft follow the fame Rule in the Court of Heaven intempeftive Bafhfulness gets nothing there. Qui timide rogat, docet negare, Faint asking does invite a Denial Will you know the true Name of the Behaviour which prevails with God? St. Luke in his xi. Chapter calls it avdelar, and St. Chryfoftom fpeaking of the Behaviour of the Canaanitish Woman in the xxv. of St.Marther, tells us, καλὴν ἀπην αιχύντεσε τὴν ἀναιχυντία· ἀναιδια, avarna, Improbity, Importunity, Impudency, these be the Names of that Perfon and Behaviour which you must put on, if you mean to prevail in your Suits with God.

N 4

And

And indeed, if we confider that Habit and Manner that God is wont to put on, when his Children do become Suitors unto him, how he puts on a rigid, rough, and untractable Carriage, even towards his dearest Children, even then when he means them most Good, we shall plainly fee, we must ufe fuch kind of Behavior, if we will prevail with him: for the more effectually to exprefs this Demeanor of God towards his Children, and to affure us it is fo, and to teach us Importunity, our Saviour Christ, that great Mafter of Requests, may feem to have done himfelf fome Wrong; firft, by drawing in a manner odious Comparisons, and likening the Behaviour of God in these cafes to a flothful Friend, that is loth to leave his warm Bed to do his Friend a pleafure; and here in my Text to an unjust Fudge, that fears neither God nor Man: and fecondly, by his own Behaviour toward the Cananitish Woman. It is ftrange to obferve, how, though he were the meekest Person that ever was upon Earth, yet here he strives, as it were, to unnaturalize himself, and lay by his natural sweetness of Difpofition, almoft to forget common Humanity, and puts on a kind of fullen and furly Perfon of purpose to deter her you fhall not find our Saviour in all the New Teftament in fuch a Mood, fo bent to contemn and vilifie a poor Suitor. St. Austin comparing together St. Matthew and St. Mark, who both of them record the fame Story, and gathering together the Circumstances out of them both, tells us, that firft fhe follows our Saviour in the Street, and that our Saviour takes House, as it were, to fhelter himself from her; but fhe comes after, and throws her felf at his Feet; and he, as offended with her Importunity, again quits the House to be rid of her, and all this while deigns her not a word. If any Behavior could have dafh'd a Suit, and broken the Heart of a poor Suitor, this had been enough; but here's not all, we have a civil Precept, that if we be not difpofed

:

difpofed to pleasure a Suitor, yet to give him good Words, and fhape him a gentle Answer, it is hard if we cannot afford a Suitor a gentle Word; We read of Tiberius the Emperor, (as I remember) that he would never fuffer any man to go fad and difcontented from him; yet our Saviour feems to have forgot this part of Civility, being importun'd to answer her, gives her an Anfwer worfe than filence, and fpeaks Words like the piercing of a Sword, as Solomon fpeaks, I may not take the Childrens Bread and caft it unto Dogs: And yet after all this ftrange Copy of Countenance, he fully fubfcribes to her Request. Beloved, God hath not only express'd thus much in Parables, and practised these strange De lays upon Canaanitish Women, but he hath acted it indeed, and that upon his dearest Saints. David, one of the worthieft of his Saints, yet how paffionately doth he cry out, How long, Lord, wilt thou forget me? How long Shall I feek Counsel in my Soul, and be fo vexed in my heart? Not only the Saints on Earth, but even those in Heaven do feem to partake in this Demeanor of God: We read in the Book of the Revelation, that when the Souls of the Martyrs under the Altar cryed out, How long, Lord, Fuft and Holy, doft thou not avenge our Blood from off the Earth? they received this Anfwer, Have patience yet a little while. It is ftoried of Diogenes, that he was wont to fupplicate to the Statues, and to hold out his Hands and beg of them, that fo he might learn to brook and de vour Denial, and tedioufnefs of Suit. Beloved, let us but meditate upon thefe Examples which I have related, and we shall not need to practise any of the Cynick's Art. For if the Saints and bleffed Martyrs have their Suits fo long depending in the Courts of Heaven,then good reason that we fhould learn to brook Delays, and arm our felves with Patience and Expectation, when we find the ears of God not fo open to our Requests. When Jofeph's Brethren came down to buy Corn, he gave them but a

courfe

yet

courfe Welcome, he fpake roughly unto them, he laid them in Prison; yet the Text tells us, that his Bowels melted upon them, and at length he opened himself, and gave them courteous Entertainment. Beloved, when we come unto God, as it were to buy Corn, to beg at his Hands fuch Bleffings as we need, though he fpeak roughly, though he deal more roughly with us, let us know he hath ftill Jofeph's Bowels, that his Heart melts towards us, and at length he will open himself, and entertain us lovingly: and be it peradventure that we gain not what we look for, yet our Labour of Prayer is not loft. The bleffed Souls under the Altar, of which I fpake but now, though their Petition was not granted, yet had they long white Garments given them. Even fo, Beloved, if the Wisdom of God fhall not think it fit to perform our Requefts, yet he will give us the long white Garment, fomething which fhall be in lieu of a Suit; though nothing elfe, yet Patience and Contentment, which are the greatest Bleffings upon Earth.

John

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187

John xviij. 36.

Jefus answered, My Kingdom is not of this World: If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my Servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, &c.

A

S in the Kingdoms of the World, there is an Art of Courtship, a Skill and Mystery teaching to manage them: So in the Spiritual Kingdom of God and of Chrift, there is an Holy Policy, there is an Art of Spiritual Courtship, which teaches every Subject there, how to demean and bear himself. But, as betwixt their Kingdoms, fo betwixt their Arts and Courtship, betwixt the Courtier of the one, and the Courtier of the other; there is, as 4braham tells the Rich Man in St. Luke, μiza záöμa, a great distance, a great difference, and not only one, but many. Sundry of them I fhall have occafion to touch in the Procefs of my Difcourfe; mean while I will fingle out one, which I will ufe as a Prologue and way unto my Text. In the Kingdoms of earthly Prin ces, every Subject is not fit to make a Courtier; yea, were all fit, this were an Honour to be communicated only unto fome: Sic opus eft mundo. There is a neceffity of Difproportion and inequality between Men and Men; and were all Perfons equal the World could not confift: Of men of ordinary Fafhion and Parts, some must to the Plough, fome to their Merchandize, fome to their Books, fome to one Trade, fome to ano ther only quieres exci, as Ariftotle calls them, men of more than common Wit and Ability, active Choice,