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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…
The saints daily exercise A treatise concerning the whole duty of prayer. Delivered in five sermons upon I Thess. 5.17. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, Master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.The saints daily exercise A treatise concerning the whole dutie of prayer. Delivered in fiue sermons vpon I Thess. 5.17. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by W. Jones, 1629London: printed by W. Iones, 1629
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, though you use the means, and 1pray both, yet you must so use the means, that your confidence be in your prayers: for it is one thing to use the means, and it is another thing to have confidence in them. And therefore we say to you in this case, that you must do as he 2that useth the light of the Sun; he so useth the light, that he hath an eye upon the Sun from whom that light co•nes; for, he knows, that if the Sun were set, the light would be gone. Or as he that takes water in a Cistern, or River, he 3so takes it, as that he hath an eye to the fountain, he knows if the fountain were stopped, the River would be quickly dried up: So you should think with your selves, if I use any means, any creature, any instrument to bring things to pass, mine eye must be upon God: for all the help that we have from the creature, it is but as a beam to the help that comes from God himself. And therefore you must do, in this case, as Physicians are wont to do, they put many ⟨p. 96⟩4ingredients into a thing, but it is one principal ingredient, amongst the rest, that he makes account will cure the disease: So do, in this case, make use, both of the prayer, and of the means, yet you must know, that prayer is the principal effecter of the thing, and the principal means, it is that, wherein your confidence is to be: for, indeed, it is God that doth bring every thing to pass: There is no good in the City, nor no evil, but he doth it; you know he takes all to himself. All the means, by which Good, and Ill is conveyed to you, they do not do the thing, they are but the v•ls, they are but the Instruments, as the beer, and the wine, wherein the physic is taken, but it 5is the physic, the medicine that cures: So all the means cannot do it, it is the help, and the power of God, the efficacy, that comes from him, that brings things to pass; therefore, that must be remembered, use the means, that you use, with dependence upon God, with an eye upon him, that your hearts rest not upon them: for, if they do, it is an inordinate use of them.