with thee." Mark, it is upon the mercy-seat:

'There will I meet with thee, and there will I commune with thee, from above the mercyseat." Poor souls! they are very apt to entertain strange thoughts of God and his carriage towards them; and suddenly conclude that God will have no regard unto them, when yet he is upon the mercy-seat, and hath taken up his place on purpose there, to the end he may hear and regard the prayers of poor creatures. If he had said, I will commune with thee from my throne of judgment, then indeed you might have trembled and fled from the face of the great and glorious Majesty; but when he saith he will hear and commune with souls upon the throne of grace, or from the mercyseat, this should encourage thee and cause thee to hope, nay, "to come boldly to the throne of grace, that thou mayest obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." 3. There is yet another encouragement to continue in prayer with God, and that is this:

As there is a mercy-seat from whence God is willing to communicate with poor sinners, so there is also by this mercy-seat Jesus Christ, who continually besprinkleth it with his blood. Hence it is called the blood of sprinkling. When the high priest under the law was to go into the holiest, where the mercy-seat was, he might not go in without blood.

Why so? Because, though God was upon the mercy-seat, yet he was perfectly just as well as merciful. Now the blood was to stop justice from running out upon the persons concerned in the intercession of the high priest, as in Lev. xvi. 13-17, to signify that all thine unworthiness that thou fearest should not hinder thee from coming to God in Christ for mercy. Thou criest out that thou art vile, and therefore God will not regard thy prayer; it is true if thou delight in thy vileness and come to God out of a mere pretence. But if from a sense of thy vileness thou do pour out thy heart to God, desiring to be saved from the guilt and cleansed from the filth with all thy heart, fear not, thy vileness will not cause the Lord to stop his ear from hearing of thee. The value of the blood of Christ which is sprinkled upon the mercy-seat stops the course of justice, and opens a floodgate for the mercy of the Lord to be extended unto thee. Thou hast therefore, as aforesaid, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, that hath made a new and living way for thee; thou shalt not die.

Besides, Jesus is there, not only to sprinkle the mercy-seat with his blood, ut he speaks and his blood speaks; he hath audience and his blood hath audience, insomuch that God saith when he doth but see the blood, "he will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you," &c.

I shall not detain you any longer. Be sober and humble; go to the Father in the name of the Son, and tell him your case, in the assistance of the Spirit, and you will then feel the benefit of praying with the Spirit and the understanding also.

Use 3. A word of reproof.

1. This speaks sadly to you who never pray at all.

I will pray, saith the apostle, and so saith the heart of them that are Christians. Thou, then, art not a Christian that art not a praying person. The promise is, "That every one that is righteous shall pray." Thou, then, art a wicked wretch that prayest not. Jacob got the name of Israel by wrestling with God, and all his children bear that name with him. But the people that forget prayer, that call not on the name of the Lord, they have prayer made for them, but it is such as this, "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, O Lord, and upon the people that call not upon thy name." How likest thou this, O thou that art so far off from pouring out thine heart before God that thou goest to bed like a dog and risest like an hog or a sot, and forgettest to call upon him? What wilt thou do when thou shalt be damned in hell because thou couldst not find in thine heart to ask for heaven? Who will grieve for thy sorrow that didst not count mercy worth asking for? I tell thee the ravens, the dogs, &c., shall rise up in judgment against thee, for they will, according to their kind, make signs and a noise for something to refresh them when they, want it; but thou hast not the heart to ask for heaven, though thou must eternally perish in hell if thou hast it not.

2. This rebukes you that make it your business to slight, mock at, and undervalue the Spirit, and praying by that. What will you do when God shall come to reckon for these things? You count it high treason to speak but a word against the king, nay, you tremble at the thoughts of it, and yet in the mean time you will blaspheme the Spirit of the Lord. Is God indeed to be dallied with, and will the end be pleasant unto you? Did God send his Holy Spirit into the hearts of his people to

that end that you should taunt at it? Is this to serve God, and doth this demonstrate the reformation of your Church? Nay, is it not the mark of implacable reprobates? O fearfil! can you not be content to be damned for your sins against the law, but you must sin against the Holy Ghost?

Must the holy, harmless, and undefiled Spirit of grace, the nature of God, the promise of Christ, the Comforter of his children, that without which no man can do any service acceptable to the Father-must this, I say, be the burden of your song, to taunt, deride, and mock at? If God sent Korah and his company headlong to hell for speaking against Moses and Aaron, do you that mock at the Spirit of Christ think to escape unpunished? Did you ever read what God did to Ananias and Sapphira for telling but one lie against it? Also to Simon Magus for but undervaluing of it? And will thy sin be a virtue or go unrewarded with vengeance that maketh it thy business to rage against and oppose its office, service, and help that it giveth to the children of God? It is a fearful thing to do despite unto the Spirit of grace. Compare Matt. xii. 31 with Mark iii. 20.

3. As this is the doom of those who do openly blaspheme the Holy Ghost in a way of disdain and reproach to its office and service, so also it is sad for you who resist this Spirit of prayer by a form of man's inventing. A very juggle of the devil, that the traditions of men should be of better esteem and more to be owned than the Spirit of prayer! What is this less than that accursed abomination of Jeroboam, which kept many from going to Jerusalem, the place and way of God's appointment, to worship, and by that means brought such displeasure from God upon them as to this day is not appeased? One would think that God's judgments of old upon the hypocrites of that day should make them that have heard of such things take heed and fear to do so. Yet the doctors of our day are so far from taking warning by the punishment of others that they do most desperately rush into the same transgression-viz., to set up an institution of man, neither commanded nor commended of God—and whosoever will not obey therein, they must be driven either out of the land or the world.

Hath God required these things at your hands? If he hath, show us where. If not, (as I am sure he has not,) then what cursed presumption is it in any pope, bishop, or other

to command that in the worship of God which he hath not required? Nay, further, it is not that part only of the form which is several texts of Scripture that we are commanded to say, but even all must be confessed as the divine worship of God, notwithstanding those absurdities contained therein, which, because they are at large discovered by others, I omit the rehearsal of them. Again, though a man be willing to live never so peaceably, yet because he cannot for conscience' sake own that for one of the most eminent parts of God's worship which he never commanded, therefore must that man be looked upon factious, seditious, erroneous, heretical, a disparagement to the Church, a seducer of the people, and what not? Lord, what will be the fruit of these things when for the doctrine of God there is imposed (that is, more than taught) the traditions of men? Thus is the Spirit of prayer disowned and the form imposed; the Spirit debased and the form extolled; they that pray with the Spirit, though never so humble and holy, counted fanatics, and they that pray with the form, though with that only, counted the virtuous? And how will the favourites of such a practice answer that Scripture which commandeth that the Church should turn away from such as have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof? And if I should say that men that do these things aforesaid do advance a form of prayer of other men's making above the Spirit of prayer, it would not take long time to prove it. For he that advanceth the book of common prayer above the Spirit of prayer, he doth advance a form of men's making above it. But this do all those who banish, or desire to banish, them that pray with the Spirit of prayer, while they hug and embrace them that pray by that form only, and that because they do it. Therefore they love and advance the form of their own or others' inventing before the Spirit of prayer, which is God's special and gracious appointment.

If you desire the clearing of the minor, look into the jails in England and into the alehouses of the same, and I trow you will find those that plead for the Spirit of prayer in the jail, and them that look after the form of men's inventions only in the alehouse. It is evident also by the silencing of God's dear ministers, though never so powerfully enabled by the Spirit of prayer, if they in conscience cannot admit of that form of common prayer. If this be not an exalting the common payerbook above either praying by the Spirit of

preaching the word, I have taken my mark amiss. It is not pleasant for me to dwell on this. The Lord in mercy turn the hearts of the people to seek more after the Spirit of prayer, and in the strength of that to pour out their souls before the Lord! Only let me say, it is a sad sign that that which is one of the most eminent parts of the pretended worship of God is antichristian when it hath nothing but the tradition of men and the strength of persecution to uphold or plead for it.

I shall conclude this discourse with this word of advice to all God's people: 1. Believe that as sure as you are in the way of God you must meet with temptations. 2. The first day

therefore that thou dost enter Christ's congre gation look for them. 3. When they do come, beg of God to carry thee through them. 4. Be jealous of thine own heart, that it deceive thee not in thy evidences for heaven nor in thy walking with God in this world. 5. Take heed of the flatteries of false brethren. 6. Keep in the life and power of truth. 7. Look most at the things which are not seen. 8. Take heed of little sins. 9. Keep the promise warm upon thy heart. 10. Renew thy acts of faith in the blood of Christ. 11. Consider the work of thy regeneration. 12. Count to un with the foremost therein. Grace be with you!

The relation of my imprisonment in the month of November, 1660, when, by the good hand of my God, I had for five or six years together, without any great interruption, freely preached the blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and had also, through his blessed grace, some encouragement by his blessing thereupon: the Devil, that old enemy of man's salvation, took his opportunity to inflame the hearts of his vassals against me, insomuch that at the last I was laid out for by the warrant of a justice, and was taken and committed to prison. The relation thereof is as followeth.

UPON the 12th of this instant, November, 1660, I was desired by some of the friends in the country to come to teach at Samsell, by Harlington, in Bedfordshire; to whom I made a promise, if the Lord permitted, to be with them on the time aforesaid. The justice, hear- | ing thereof, (whose name is Mr. Francis Wingate,) forthwith issued out his warrant to take me and bring me before him, and in the mean time to keep a very strong watch about the house where the meeting should be kept, as if we that were to meet together in that place did intend to do some fearful business, to the destruction of the country, when, alas! the

room.

But had I been minded to have played the coward, I could have escaped and kept out of his hands; for when I was come to my friend's house there was whispering that that day I should be taken, for there was a warrant out to take me; which when my friend heard, he being somewhat timorous, questioned whether we had best have our meeting or not, and whether it might not be better for me to depart, lest they should take me and have me before the justice, and after that send me to prison, (for he knew better than I what spirit they were of, living by them.) To whom I said, No, by no means; I will not stir, neither will I have the meeting dismissed for this. Come, be of good cheer, let us not be daunted; our cause is good, we need not be ashamed of it; to preach God's word, it is so good a work that