back this I knâ—…w for God is for me Psal. 86. 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me In the merits of Christ whereby we are accepted and in his intercession whereby our prayers are made acceptable Heb. 10. 22. And in this sense also we are to pray in the name of Christ that is not onely with desire that for Christs sake we may be heard but also with perswasion and some measure of assurance that for Christs sake we shall be heard John 16. 23. To call upon God in the name of Christ implyeth two things 1. To desire that for Christs sake we may be heard 2. To believe that for Christs sake we shall be heard That we are thus to pray in faith appeareth both by testimonies reasons Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed Heb. 11. 6. Without faith it is impossible to please God For as Bernard saith How shall be please God whom God doth not please for he that believeth not maketh God a liar 1. God is to be worshipped with a willing mind and chearfull heart 1. Chron. 28. 9. which cannot be done in prayer unlesse we be perswaded that our prayers are accepted of God 2. There is no accesse unto God but by Christ John 14. 6. nor to Christ but by faith To come unto God Heb. 11. 6. and unto Christ is to believe in him John 6. 35. Through Christ we have boldnesse and entrance with confidence but it is by faith in him 3. What benefit we reap by Christ we receive by faith For which cause the same benefits which we have by Christ are ascribed to faith And therefore as without Christ we can do nothing John 15. 5. nothing belonging to a spirituall life which may be acceptable to God so without faith we can do nothing and much lesse pray as we ought For without faith we are without Christ and by faith we are ingrafted into him I believed and therefore I spake that is with faith I called upon God Psal. 116. 10. 4. It is the prayer of faith which is available and acceptable Jam. 5. 15 16. 5. The promises made to prayer are to be understood with the condition of faith Matth. 21. 22. If ye believe Which may be understood of this more generall faith or the speciall This is hard to be performed by a sinfull man c. impossible to be performed by a Papist without speciall revelation For he cometh in his own worthinesse yet knoweth not whether he be worthy or not Qualis erit ista oratio O Domine ego quidem an exaudire me velis dubius sum sed quia anxietate premor ad te confugio si dignus sum mihi succurras What a kind of prayer is this O Lord I am doubtfull whether thou wilt heare me or no But because I am pressed with anxietie I flie unto thee and if I be worthy help me Vide Calv. Instit. 3. 20. 12. But we know that in our selves we are unworthy and yet believe that in Christ we are accepted Our faith is grounded not on our own worthinesse in our selves but on the love and promises of God and on the merits and intercession of Christ. For though we be sinners in our selves yet believing in Christ God the Father justifieth us Though we know not how to pray or what to ask as of our selves yet God the Spirit maketh intercession for us in helping our infirmities and teaching us to pray according to God And though our praiers be unperfect and unworthy to be offered to God yet Christ our Saviour sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession for us Rom. 8. 26 27 33 34. and perfuming the incense that is the prayers of the faithfull with the odours of his own sacrifice Revel 8. 3. CHAP. XIX Of Humility required in prayer HItherto we have spoken of the mind Now we are to enquire what is required in the heart In the heart three things are requisite humilitie reverence and heartinesse The first respecting our selves the second God the third the things for which we do invocate For the first That properly is said to be humile which is even with the ground Where therefore it is required that we should humble our selves before the Lord when we call upon him it is meant that we should abase our selves as it were to the ground to which purpose the faithfull were wont in the Eastern Churches to cast themselves down to the ground when they called upon God laying aside all manner of conceit of our own worthinesse whereby we might be lifted up in our selves and acknowledging our own nullitie and unworthinesse in our selves to appear in the presence of God For compared unto God we are as nothing or as lesse then nothing Isa. 40. 17. And therefore when our Saviour took upon him our nature he is said as it were to have annihilated himself Phil. 2. 7. For this cause prayer in Hebrew is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath affinitie with the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which fignifieth to fall or cast down our selves To teach us to humble our selves before God when we call upon him And to the same purpose Augustine defineth prayer thus Oratio est mentis devotio i. conversio in Deum per pium humilem affectum Prayer is the devotion of the mind that is a conversion unto God by an holy and humble affection How necessary and profitable this is to be indued with humility when we call upon God may appear both by the testimonies of Gods word and examples of the godly Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hearest the prayer of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilâ—… cause thine eare to heare Psal. 7. 12. He forgetteth not the cry of the humble Luke 18. 9. our Saviour telleth us a parable of a Pharisee and a Publicane which went to pray The Pharisee cometh in a conceit of his own worthinesse the Publicane in conscience of his sinfulnesse The Pharisee in a brave manner thanketh God that he was not a sinner like other men the Publicane in most humble manner acknowledgeth himself to be a sinner and craveth pardon for his sin But what was the issue of their prayer Which speedeth better the humble sinner or the proud justitiarie The Publicane goeth home justified the Pharisee remaineth in his sin according to that John 9. 41. And the reason is because as our Saviour saith every one that exalteth himself shall be brought low and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted To this accordeth Psal. 138. 6. The Lord is high yet he beholdeth the lowly but the proud he knoweth a farre off Psal. 51. 17. The sacrifices of the Lord that is that which he esteemeth above all sacrifices are a contrite spirit a broken and contrite heart he will not despise meaning that he doth in speciall manner
the offenses of their brethren For if we do forgive we may be assured that we are forgiven Matth. 6. 14. If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you For which cause our Saviour Christ pronounceth the mercifull to be blessed because they shall obtein mercy Matth. 5. 7. And undoubtedly the true love of our brother for Gods cause which is especially to be seen in forgiving offenses is an evident argument of the love of God The love of God is a fruit of faith for we love him because we are perswaded that he loved us first and where faith is there is justification and remission of sinnes by imputation of Christs righteousnesse apprehended by faith III. The last use is a reproof of those which using this prayer notwithstanding retein hatred against their brother or purpose of revenge And they are to be reproved both for their hypocrisie and folly their hypocrisie because they not forgiving their neighbours but reteining malice against them are not ashamed to lie unto the Lord saying For even we also forgive c. Their folly because using this prayer Forgive us as we forgive not forgiving but purposing and desiring revenge in stead of craving pardon they desire God to be revenged on them for their sinnes as they desire to be revenged on their neighbour Of both which hypocrisie and folly our lustie gallants especially our chevaliers and hacksters are guilty who think it the greatest disparagement that may be which the holy Ghost esteemeth to be the glory of a man to put up an injury and therefore will die upon a man rather then suffer the least offense unrevenged But these men must know that not onely they are carnall men and remain in their sinnes but also that in seeking private revenge they are satanicall and devilish And therefore when Abishai stirred up David to revenge himselfe upon Shimei David answered What have I to do with you ye sonnes of Zeruiah that ye are this day to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in stead of Satan 2. Sam. 19. 22. to teach us that they are inspired of Satan that breathe after revenge Yea but saith one I know how to avoid both this hypocrisie and folly and yet I will be even with mine enemie too For either I will leave out this petition or use some other sorm of prayer where this clause is not or else I will not pray at all Yea but the sentence of our Saviour whether we use these words or no standeth sure If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Matth. 6. 5. 18. 33. and therefore those that use such shifts do but mock God and deceive themselves Remember the parable Matth. 18. and the saying of Tertullian Quid est ad pacem Dei accedere sine pace ad remissionem debitorum cum retentione injuriarum Quomodo placabit patrem iratus in fratrem c. What is it to come unto God to seek peace without peace for remission of our debts with retention of wrongs How shall he please the Father that is angry with his brother Vers. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil OF the order of this petition and the coupling it with the former I have spoken before For whereas in the former we begged the grace of justification and remission of sinnes in this we crave the grace of sanctification and the spirit of fortitude whereby we may prevent sinne and be enabled to resist the tentations of the devil flesh and the world provoking us unto sinne In the former we asked freedome from the guilt of sinne In this we crave deliverance from the evil and corruption of sinne and strength against tentations alluring us thereunto But as touching the order we are taught to ask first justification freedome from the guilt of sinne and then sanctification and freedome from committing sinne because justification in order of nature goeth before sanctification And as touching the coupling of this with the former signified in the first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we are taught this dutie That as we are to desire freedome from the guilt of sinne so we should be desirous carefull to forsake and prevent sinne and to avoid the occasions thereof Forsaking of sinne is a companion of the forgivenesse of sinne And whosoever hath faith and believeth the forgivenesse of sinne hath also a care to prevent sinne and an endeavour to resist it and the provocations thereof Art thou washed from sinne take heed thou be not again defiled therewith As the Spouse saith in the Canticles chap 5. 3. I have washed my feet how should I again defile them Hath Christ justified and freed thee from the curse of thy sinne stand fast in this liberty which Christ hath purchased for thee and be not again intangled in this yoke of bondage Gal. 5. 1. For he that committeth sinne is a servant of sinne Far be it from us to abuse this liberty as an occasion to the flesh Gal. 5. 13. as though being freed from sinne we might sinne more freely No we are taught the contrary 1. Pet. 2. 24. Luke 1. 74. Neither may we think as secure men do that because we are perswaded that our sinnes are forgiven by Christ we are safe from sinne and need not fear the allurements thereof and therefore not stand upon our watch and ward but live in security For tentation unto sinne is a consequent of remission of sinne Whom the Lord loveth the devil hateth whom the Lord draweth unto himself and pulleth into the kingdome of grace him the devil laboureth to pluck back again by all means Therefore if a man be not tempted at all it is a fearfull signe that the strong man possesseth still his hold because all is in quiet Whereas contrariwise to be troubled with tentations is an argument of Gods favour if also we have grace to resist them Satan fighteth not with those that be under his bondage and fight as it were in his camp but those that are souldiers under the banner of Christ they must look to be assaulted They that be true members of the militant Church must acknowledge their whole life to be a spirituall warfare wherein they are daily to fight against the assaults of Satan the corruption of their own flesh and allurements of the world Such as are Christs Satan desireth to winnow and to sift them as wheat Luke 2. 31. to such he sendeth his messenger to buffet them 2. Cor. 12. 7. Our Saviour therefore knowing his faithfull servants whom he loveth to be most subject to tentation in this place teacheth them to use this prayer and elsewhere commandeth them to watch and pray that they enter not into tentation Mark 14. 38. The necessitie of which prayer is further to be enforced by consideration of our enemies likenesse to overcome and our own weaknesse
profit and necessity of those things which we crave that so our affections may be inflamed with a desire thereof as also of the necessity of Gods help that except the Lord heare us and help us our case is desperate So David prayeth Psal. 28. 1. and 143. 6 7. Heare me O Lord and hide not thy face else I shall be like to them that go down into the pit Fourthly we are upon extraordinary occasions to joyn fasting with our prayers as we are directed in many places of the Scripture For fasting as it causeth the hunger of the body so it is an effectuall means to stirre up and increase the hunger of the soul. For which cause the Fathers call fasting orationis alas the wings of prayer CHAP. XXX Of Faith which is chiefly required in prayer BUt the chief thing which maketh prayer effectuall is Faith whereof Fervency it self is a fruit And therefore our Saviour attributeth the earnestnesse and importunity of the woman of Syrophenicia's prayer to the greatnesse of her faith Matth. 15. 28. For that prayer which S. James chap. 5. 16. calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 15. verse he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prayer of saith Now in prayer there is a double faith required The one more generall apprehending the promises of the Gospel concerning salvation by Christ by which we are in some measure perswaded that we and our prayers are accepted of God in Christ Of which I have spoken before in the general doctrine Rom. 10. 14. Heb. 11. 6. Ephes. 3. 12. The other more speciall giving speciall assent to the promise made to our prayer whereby we are perswaded that our particular requests shall be granted unto us according to Gods gracious promise in this behalf Matth. 7. 7 8. John 14. 13 14. and 16. 23 24. To pray effectually therefore is to pray faithfully For what things soever saith our Saviour ye desire when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them And it is usuall with our Saviour Christ to dismisse his suiters with this answer As thou believest so be it unto thee On the other side he prayeth not effectually who doubteth whether he shall be heard or not Wherefore as S. James saith chap. 1. 5. If any man want wisdome let him ask it of God and it shall be given him But let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed to and fro Neither let that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. So S. Paul 1. Tim. 2. 8. would have men pray without doubting Examples Psal. 4. 3. and 55. 16 17. And the Apostle S. John saith This is our confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him 1. John 5. 14 15. Wherefore seeing in Christ we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him Ephes. 3. 12. we ought as we are exhorted Hebr. 4. 16. to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtein mercy and find grace to help in time of need and draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith Heb. 10. 19 22. But here a distinction is to be used In matters spirituall necessary to salvation as we are to ask them absolutely as being perswaded that God hath subordinated our salvation to his own glory so are we absolutely to believe that the Lord will grant them unto us Yea this may be added for our comfort that if God hath given us grace unfeignedly and earnestly to desire any saving grace the same grace is begun in us In matters temporall or spirituall which are not necessary to salvation as 2. Cor. 12. as we are to ask them conditionally so far forth as they may stand with Gods glory and the good of our selves and our brethren so are we to believe that he will so far forth grant them and therefore that he will either grant our desire or that which is better For which cause in such requests we are most willingly with our Saviour Christ to submit our will and desires to the will and pleasure of God Matth. 26. 39 42. who as he knoweth what is good for us better then our selves so he is most ready to give good things unto us Matth. 7. 11. and therefore we are alwayes to believe that our requests being rightly conceived shall be granted unto us I would believe that I should be heard were it not for mine unworthinesse and my wants in prayer Indeed thou mayest be such an one and such may be thy prayers as thou canst have no hope to be heard that is if thou be an impenitent and unbelieving sinner God will not heare thee or if thou pray in hypocrisâ—…e and dissimulation the Lord will not heare thy prayer But if thou art a penitent and believing sinner yea if thou dost unfeignedly desire to believe and repent and dost pray unto the Lord in truth with unfeigned lips thou oughtest to pray with assurance to be heard and this thy faith and assurance must not be grounded on thine own worthinesse or dignitie of thy prayer but on the undoubted promises of God and on the merits and mediation of Christ in whom both we our prayers are accepted of God As for the sense of thine unworthinesse if it be in truth and joyned with unfeigned desire of grace it ought to make thee the rather to pray in faith for such as I have shewed our Saviour calleth with promise to heare and help them And such he pronounceth blessed Matth. 11. 28. John 7. 37. Matth. 5. 4 5 6. Now for the helping of our faith we are in our preparation to meditate of these things especially First of the power of God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we do ask or think Eph. 3. 20. Secondly of his fatherly good will who will deny us nothing that is good Matth. 7. 11. The consideration of both which our Saviour hath prefixed before the Lords prayer when he teacheth us to call upon God as our Father therein noting his love good will which is in heaven therein noting his power Psal. 111. 3. that being perswaded that God is both able and willing to grant our requests we might pray in faith and assurance that our prayer shall be heard Thirdly of his gracious promises made unto prayer as Matth. 7. 7 8. John 16. 23 24. which if we cannot find in our hearts to believe we are not to pray for in not believing we make God a liar Lastly and especially of the merits and mediation of our Saviour Christ who sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession for us Though our prayer must be fervent and confident
away the offense of our brother how much more shall the multitude of his mercies wash away our offenses And our Saviour reasoneth elsewhere Matth. 7. 11. If yee which are evil can give good things to your children how much more c. If therefore our consciences do testifie unto us the truth of the assumption That we are readie to forgive them that offend us we may also be assured of the truth of the conclusion That God also forgiveth our sinnes 2. Whereas many abuse the mercy of God whereof they presume for the pardoning of their sinnes dealing unthankfully with God in cruelty revenge exercised upon their brethren and so deceive themselves with a conceit of faith and assurance of the pardon of their sinnes when indeed their sinne is not pardoned therefore our Saviour Christ would have this protestation added that it may be a touchstone to trie whether we have remission of sinne and assurance thereof For as our Saviour saith that he to whom much is forgiven loveth much Luke 7. 47. and he that loveth God truly cannot but love his brother for Gods cause For as John saith 1. Epist. 4. 20. If any say that he loveth God and hateth his brother he is a liar c. and chap 5. 1. Every one that loveth him that hath begotten doth also love him that is begotten of him And Love covereth the multitude of offenses Prov. 10. 12. Therefore if we will not forgive our brethren that offend against us it is an evident argument that we do not love them If we love not our neighbour certain it is that we love not God If we love not God it is a certain signe that we do not believe in him nor are perswaded of his love towards us in the forgiving of our sinnes If we believe not this Christs righteousnesse and merits are not imputed unto us to our justification and remission of our sinnes And therefore if we be not willing and ready to remit offenses committed against us it is a certain signe that our sinnes are not forgiven of God As contrariwise our brotherly love in remitting offenses is a sure token of the forgivenesse of our sins For as our Saviour saith Matth. 6. 14 15. If ye forgive men their offenses then will your heavenly Father also forgive you Some expound these words as if in them we did alledge a cause why God should forgive us or as though our forgiving of our brethren did merit forgivenesse of sinnes at the hands of God As the Papists also expound that speech of our Saviour Luke 7. 47. Many sinnes are forgiven her for she loved much Whereas in truth the love either of God or of our neighbour for Gods cause is an effect and so a signe of Gods love towards us in forgiving our sinnes We love God because he loved us first 1. John 4. 19. And so doth our Saviour in that place argue not from the cause to the effect but from the effect to the cause as also appeareth by the opposition in the latter part of that verse but to whom lesse is forgiven he loveth lesse and by the parable of the two debtours ver 41. whereof he loved more to which more was forgiven So that our love is not the cause of forgivenesse but the forgivenesse of our sinnes is the cause of our love and therefore our love an effect fruit and signe of the forgivenesse of our sinnes Again our justification and remission of sinnes is free proceeding from the mere love of God without any desert of ours Rom. 3. 24. howbeit it is deserved through the merits of Christ. And surely if our forgiving of offenses were the cause why our sinnes be forgiven then may we thank our selves for our justification neither should we need to pray that God would forgive us for Christs merits but for our own deserts And lastly the Apostle Paul exhorteth us to forgive our brethren as to a fruit and effect of Christs forgiving us Ephes. 4. 32. Col. 3. 13. Forgiving one another even as Christ hath freely forgiven you In these words therefore is not set down the cause of the forgivenesse of our sinnes but an argument from the lesse to the greater to confirm our faith in the assurance of the forgivenesse of our sinnes that lesse being also an undoubted fruit and sure signe of the remission of our sinnes But now let us consider the words particularly and so come to the uses By our debters is meant such as have offended or wronged us or as the Apostle speaketh Col. 3. 13. against whom we have any quarrel But what debters am I to forgive may some body say I can be content sometimes to put up an injury at the hands of my better but I cannot brook that my equall should crow over me or that mine inferiour should be too sawcie with me I can be content to remit some offenses but great indignities I cannot put up Answ. Our Saviour speaketh indefinitely and generally without difference of debters so that whosoever is our debter we must forgive him if we would have assurance that God hath forgiven our sinnes But this is more plainly expressed Luke 11. For even we also for give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that is indebted to us So that our love must not be partiall neither is it if it be indeed for Gods cause in whom we are to love our friends and for whom we are to love our enemies May not a man therefore require and exact his debts of his debter if he would have God forgive his debts Our Saviour doth not speak of the debts of money or goods but of trespasses offenses and wrongs which in the Chaldee and Syriack tongue are called debts c. As for due debts of money and goods them thou mayest exact of those which are able to pay 〈◊〉 so that it be done without using rigour or seeking extremities What is meant by we forgive We forgive God alone forgiveth sinnes how then can we be said to forgive our debters We must distinguish both of the debt which is forgiven and also of forgiving In every offense committed against the neighbour two parties are offended God mediately and the neighbour immediately And so it may be considered either as a transgression of the law of God and so it is properly called sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it 〈◊〉 or hindreth the neighbour and is called an injury or wrong As therefore it is a transgression of the law of God no man can remit it but as it is an injury or wrong done to a man he may remit it Again God is said to forgive a sinne when he is content not onely to forget the fault but also to forgive the punishment for the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to the sinner Man is said to forgive an 〈◊〉 not when he remitteth the punishment due unto it by the law of God for that is not in