ac and Greek word
signifying one thing, expressing the tender affection and love of God
towards them that come to him. "He that cometh to God must believe that he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently." So he
that cometh to God must believe that he hath the bowels and compassion of
a Father, and will be more easily inclined with our importunate cries,
than the fathers of our flesh. He may suffer his children to cry long, but
it is not because he will not hear, but because he would hear them longer,
and delights to hear their cry oftener. If he delay, it is his wisdom to
appreciate and endear his mercies to us, and to teach us to press our
petitions and sue for an answer.

Besides, this is much for our comfort, that from whomsoever, and
whatsoever corner in the world, prayers come up to him, they cannot want
acceptance. All languages, all countries, all places are sanctified by
Jesus Christ, that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord, from the
ends of the earth, shall be saved. And truly it is a sweet meditation to
think, that from the ends of the earth, the cries of souls are heard; and
that the end is as near heaven as the middle; and a wilderness as near as
a paradise; that though we understand not one another, yet we have one
loving and living Father that understands all our meanings. And so the
different languages and dialects of the members of this body make no
confusion in heaven, but meet together in his heart and affection, and are
one perfume, one incense, sent up from the whole catholic church, which
here is scattered on the earth. O that the Lord would persuade us to cry
this way to our Father in all our necessities!

FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

Or, Twenty-Eight Sermons on the First Epistle of John, Chapters I. and II.
Wherein The True Ground And Foundation Of Attaining The Spiritual Way Of
Entertaining Fellowship With The Father And The Son, And The Blessed
Condition Of Such As Attain To It, Are Most Succinctly And Dilucidly
Explained. To The Sincere Seeker After Fellowship With God, And Seriously
Heaven-Ward-Tending Christian.

Preface.

DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED FRIEND,

As thou art in thyself a rare jewel, a most precious stone, one of a
thousand, yea, of ten thousand, being compared with the many thousands of
common stones, I mean, external professors in the visible church, who rest
on a bare name, and of whom that is verified in every nation, which our
Saviour