their faces, Isa. i. 11-16, and Iviii. 1-7 ; their very prayers are sinful, and therefore they were better neglect prayer till God shall work graciously and savingly upon them, than to pray, and so to sin as often as they pray, &g. To this I answer,
(1.) First, The prayers of the wicked may be materially good, when they are not formally good, yea, when they are theologically evil, 2 Chron. xxv. 2. Amaziah did that which was perfect in the sight of the Lord, as to the matter, but not with a perfect or sincere heart. He failed not in the matter, but in the manner. He did not do that good he did from principles of faith, love, &c., nor to a right end, divine glory. Many unsanctified persons may have the gift of prayer, that have not the spirit of prayer, nor the grace of prayer, Mat. vii. 21, and xxiii. 14.1 Now certainly where God gives such a gift, he requires the use of it. The gift of prayer is from the Spirit, as well as the grace of prayer ; and who can tell but that upon the use of the gift of prayer, the Spirit may give the grace of prayer ? However, it is dangerous to neglect a gift. The slothful servant was not cast into utter darkness for rioting out his talent, but for not improving of his talent, Mat. xxv. 30. That the prayers of a wicked man are not formally good, must be granted, yea, that they are abominable and ineffectual, cannot be denied ; they are like the precious stone Diac- letes, which though it hath many excellent sovereignties in it, yet it loseth them all if it be put in a dead man's mouth ; so prayer, though it hath many virtues and excellencies in it, yet it loseth them all when it is performed by a man that is spiritually dead — that is, dead God-wards, and Christ-wards, and heaven-wards, and holiness-wards ; but if you consider the matter of a wicked man's prayers, so they may be good, yea, so good as that they may prevail with a good God for much temporal good, as I shall shew you before I close up all my answers to this objection. But,
(2.) Secondly, It is a less sin for an unholy person to do a religious duty, than it is to omit it. Now of two sins, whereupon, not God, but a man's self hath inevitably put him to commit one of them, he must choose the least, he must choose rather to sin in the manner, in not doing of it so well as he should, than to fail in the matter, and so quite neglect the duty itself. For this is most certain, when God commands a duty absolutely to be done, it is a greater sin not to do it at all, than to do it amiss, and the reason is evident, because our disobedience is total in not doing at all, and but only partial in doing it otherwise than we ought. As for a man wilfully and peremptorily to refuse to hear the word, is a greater and fouler fault than to hear it with a forgetful or disobedient heart, there being more hope of the latter than of the former ; for some that have come to catch, have been caught by the word, John vii. 46. And therefore ' come,' saith Latimer, ' to the word ; though thou comest to sleep, it may be God may take thee nap- ping.' When Mr Henry Sulphen was preacher at Bremen,^ several Roman Catholics sent their chaplains to trap him in his words ; but the power of God was so wonderfully seen in his preaching, that the greatest part of them that came to ensnare him were converted by
1 Ps. Ixxviii. 36, 37 ; Prov. i. 27, 28; Isa. Iviii. 1-4. ^ Joh. Sleidani. Comment.
232 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
him. It is good to come to the word, though a man comes with an ill intent ; to come, though he should come with a purpose to catch, for in so coming he may be catched, as Augustine was by Ambrose. Without doubt there is no disobedience to that which is total. Partial disobedience is no disobedience to that which is total. That wife that totally disobeys her husband, and that child that totally disobeys the father, and that servant that totally disobeys his master, is much more to blame, and do much more provoke, than those that are only partial in their disobedience ; and so it is between God and sinners, &c.
(3.) Thirdly, If there were any strength in this objection, it would lie as strong against a ivicked man's civil actions, as it does against his religious actions : Prov. xxi. 4, ' The ploughings of the wicked is sin;' not only the prayers of the wicked, but also the ploughings of the wicked are sin, not only the spiritual but also the natural and civil actions of a wicked man are sin ; and therefore, according to their arguing, a wicked man must not exercise himself in his caUing, in his ploughing and sowing, &c. , because that his civil actions are sinful as well as his religious ; and it is as impossible for him to please God in the one, as it is to please him in the other ; but surely all men that are in their wits, will either sigh or laugh at such kind of reasonings. But,
(4.) Fourthly, This objection lies as strong against wicked men's natural actions-^xiz., their eating, drinking, and sleeping, &c. — as it does against their praying. When a wicked man eats, he is to eat to divine glory, and when he drinks, he is to drink to divine glory, 1 Cor. X. 31 ; and when he recreates himself, he is to recreate himself to divine glory ; and when he sleeps, he is to sleep to divine glory ; in all these natural and common actions, he is to make the glory of God his supreme scope. Now there is not a wicked man on earth that does or can eat or drink, &c., to divine glory ; he does not nor cannot set up the glory of God as the chief and ultimate end of his natural and common actions. Now who but fools in folio will reason thus : wicked men are to eat and drink, &c., to divine glory, but this they cannot do, Titus i. 15 ; and therefore wicked men must neither eat nor drink, &c. But,
(5.) Fifthly, The force and spirit of this objection, if there were any in it, lies as flat and full against all other religious duties, as it does against prayer. It lies as strong against hearing, reading, and medi- tating on the word, &c., as it does against prayer ; and who but such who are sadly left of God, and woefully blinded by Satan, will be so wretched as to say, wicked men must neither hear the word, nor read the word, nor meditate on the word, because they cannot do these actions in faith, * and whatsoever is not of faith is sin,' Kom. xiv. 23. But,
(6.) Sixthly, There are those that can say by experience, that the first special work of God tliat ever they perceived 07i their own hearts, was ivhile they were pleading with God at the throne of grace. There are those that have brought proud hearts to the throne of grace, but have returned with hearts humbled, and that have brought hard hearts, but have gone away with hearts graciously broken and melted, and that have brought carnal hearts, but returned with spiritual
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 233