deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, than formerly they have had. Isa. xxvi. 16, ' Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.' ' They poured out their still prayer/ 1 The Hebrew word Laxihus signifieth properly a soft or low kind of muttering which can hardly be heard. The prophet hereby would intimate to us, that in their great troubles and deepest distresses they sighed or groaned unto God, and prayed in a still and silent manner. Saints never visit God more with their prayers, than when he visits them most with his rod. Saints never pray with that seriousness, that spiritualness, that heavenliness, that humbleness, that brokenness, that fervency, that frequency, as they do when they are under the mighty hand of God ; and all this is from that signal presence of God, that it is with them in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, &c. When it was a day of great trouble, of great distress, of great danger to the people of God in Germany, God poured out a very great spirit of prayer upon Luther ; at length he comes out of his closet triumphantly, saying to his fellow-labourers and friends, ' Vicimus, vicimus, We have overcome, we have over- come ; ' at which time it is observed that there came out a proclama- tion from Charles the Fifth that none should be further molested for the profession of the gospel. In days of troubles and distress Luther was so warm, zealous, and powerful in prayer, that made one of his best friends say, Iste vir potuit, quod voluit, That man could have of God what he pleased. Being once very warm in prayer, he let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring faith. Fiat mea voluntas, Let my will be done ; and then falls off sweetly, Mea voluntas, Domine, quia tua. My will, Lord, because thy will. It is reported in the life of Luther, that when he prayed it was tantd reverentid ut si Deo, et iantd fiducid ut si amico. It was with so much reverence as if he were praying to God, and with so much boldness as if he had been speak- ing to his friend. I have read of a fountain that at noonday is cold, and at midnight it grows warm ; so many Christians are cold in pray- ing, in hearing, &c., in the day of prosperity, but yet are warm and lively in praying and wrestling with God in the day of adversity.^ Manasseh got more by prayer in his iron chains than ever he got by his golden crown. Afflictions are like the prick at the nightingale's breast that awakens her, and that puts her upon her sweet and de- lightful singing. A sincere Christian never prays so sweetly as when under the rod. One reports of Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary, that he would often say, Cibus et potus mihi erit oratio. Prayer is my meat and drink. When a Christian is in trouble, then prayer is his meat and drink. Oh, what a spirit of prayer was upon Jonah when he was in the whale's belly; and upon Daniel when he was among the lions ; and upon David in his wilderness- state ; and upon the thief when he was on the cross ; and upon Je- hoshaphat, when Moab and Ammon and others came against him to battle ; and upon Hezekiah, when Sennacherib had invaded Judah ;
^ Before they would say a prayer, but now they poured out a prayer.
* 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-13; Jonah ii. ; Dan. vi. ; Ps. viii. 4; Luke xxiii. 42; 2 Chron XX. 1-13; Isa. xxxvii. 14-22 ; Gen. xxxii. 6-13, and ver. 24-31. Now he oils the key of prayers with tears, Hosea xii. 4.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 491
and upon Jacob, when his brother Esau came to meet him with four hundred bloody cut-throats at his heels ! As there be two kinds of antidotes against poison — viz., hot and cold ; so there are two kinds of antidotes against all the troubles of this life — viz., fervent prayer and holy patience, the one hot, the other cold ; the one quenching, the other quickening. When a Christian under great troubles, deep dis- tresses, and most deadly dangers, prays more for the sanctification of affliction than the removal of affliction ; when he prays more to get off his sins than to get off his chains ; when he prays more to get good by the rod than to get free from the rod ; when he prays more that his afflictions may be a refining fire than a consuming fire, and that his heart may be low and his graces high, and that all his troubles may wean him more from this world, and ripen him the more for the glory of that upper world, — it is a great demonstration of the signal presence of God with him in all his troubles and deep distresses. But,
(11.) ^Eleventhly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deep- est distresses, and most deadly dangers, by drawing the hearts of his people nearer and closer to himself, by all the afflictions, troubles, dis- tresses, and dangers tliat do attend them in this world : Ps. cxix. 67, * Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.' God brought David nearer to himself by Weeping-Cross, [Chrysostom.] Affliction is a tire to purge out our dross, and to make virtue shine. It is a potion to carry away ill humours, better than all the benedicta medicamenta, as physicians call them. Master Ascham was a good schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth, but affliction was a better, &c. By afflictions God humbles the hearts of his people, and betters the hearts of his people, and draws the hearts of his people nearer and closer to himself: ver, 71, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted.' The Lacedemonians of old grew rich by war, and were bettered by it, when all other kingdoms were undone by it. The saints gain by their crosses, troubles, and distresses. Their graces are more raised, their experiences are more multiplied, and their comforts are more aug- mented, and their communion with God is more heightened, Rom, v. 3, 4 ; 2 Cor. i. 3-5 ; Hosea ii. 14. The waves did but lift Noah's ark nearer to heaven, and the higher the waters grew the more the ark was lifted up to heaven. The troubles and distresses that the saints meet with do but raise them in their fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit, Ps, Ixxiii. 13, 14, 28. When Thibazus, a noble Persian, was arrested, at first he drew out his sword to defend himself ; but when they charged him in the king's name, and informed him that they came from the king to carry him to the king, he yielded will- ingly. So when afflictions arrest a noble Christian, he may murmur and struggle at the first ; but when he considera it is sent from God, to bring him to the sight of God, the King of glory, he willingly and readily submits to the rod, and kisses the rod. All the stones that came thick about Stephen's ears did but knock him the closer to Christ the corner-stone, Acts vii. 55, 60. Tiburtius saw paradise when he walked upon burning coals, l If there be any way to heaven ^ Clarke, as before, p. 35. — G.
4i)2 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD