The saints daily exercise A treatise concerning the whole duty of prayer. Delivered in…The saints daily exercise A treatise concerning the whole dutie of prayer. Delivered in…

for the increase of the bondage, increased Pharaohs sin, and made him ripe for destruction: again, it increased the peoples humility, it made them to pray harder, and to cry more fervently to God for deliverance, and so it made them more fit for it; and at the last, Moses was more fitted to be a deliverer, after he was so long trained up, and was so much humbled; so that when God seems to go a clean contrary way, yet it is the next ⟨p. 58⟩way, to bring it to pass. […], it is a common thing with us, we pitch upon a certain particular means, we thing such a man must do it, or such a course must do it, when the Lord intends nothing less. And the reason often is, because, if we should have deliverance, many times, by such means, by such men, and by such ways, we would attribute too much to the means: therefore, we see, when […] had a great army, the Lord would not do it, it was too great for him, and therefore we see to what a small number he brought it: so, oft times, men think, oh if I had such a mans help▪ or if I had such a means, it would do the thing, it would bring the enterprise to pass: when we make too much account of it, the Lord, it may be, casts away that, which seemed most probable, and (even as he doth most of his works, as he builds his own Kingdom by the most foolish, and improbable means of all other, so) often he doth our business by such means, that we least dream of: therefore be not discouraged. Suppose we pray, that such a great Prince should raise the Churches, that such a wa•e, that such an enterprise, and project may do it; put the case the Lord will not do it so; are we then presently undone? and is there no help, because such a battle is overthrown, because such a King did not succeed, because such a General had not success, acing to our expectation? It may be, that is not the way, the Lord will help ⟨p. 59⟩the Church after another manner, that we dream not of; and so for a mans self, he hath business to be done, or he is in distress, and would have deliverance, and he thinks, this is the way or none, and therefore he is earnest to have it done: now it is good, in this case, to leave it to the Lord, to make our requests known to him; and, when we have done that, to be no further careful, but leave it to the Lord, to do it his own way: he is skilful.¹