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A53961
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A practical discourse upon prayer by Edward Pelling ...
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Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing P1088; ESTC R9437
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29,107
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80
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which were used in the Primitive Ages and some of them the very same Forms that were throughly digested and put together by the great Men at the time of Reformation Great for their Learning Great for their Wisdom Great for their eminent Zeal and Piety and Love of Truth and the Greater still because afterwards they suffered for this Work by the hands and fury of the Romanists and some of them settled it at the stake with their last Blood In Composing that Book they did not consider how they might gratifie particular Fancies but how they might answer the necessities and provide for the real good of the whole Church And accordingly such Prayers were after much deliberation pitched upon as were most Profitable most significant and most moving And 't is observable of them that as they are generally short and therefore easie to be Learned and Remembred so they are very full too and so comprehensive for matter and signification that there is nothing needful for Soul or Body but what there are Petitions for and those too rellishing of such a Spirit of Piety as is enough to affect and move the dullest Hearts if our Minds do but go along with them and without that all the Prayers in the World will not work upon us VII In all our Prayers we must be sure to be Charitable When our Saviour gave his Church a Prayer of his own Composing he directed us to pray in the Plural number even at our private Devotion When thou Prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret And after this manner pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us our trespasses And lead us not into temptation Matth. 6. 6 9 11 12 13. Next to our serving God all our business in this World is to do our selves and others all the good we can and because the condition of our nature is so scanty and weak that it is not in our power to do all that is needful with our own hands therefore we must apply our selves to him from whom every good and perfect gift cometh that he may supply all Mens wants out of his own infinite and inexhaustible treasures Every one therefore must have a share in our Prayers because every one of us is in some want or other I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men saith St. Paul in 1 Tim. 2. 1. For Kings and for all that are in Authority for one another saith St. James Jam. 5. 16. For them that despitefully use you and persecute you saith our Blessed Saviour himself Matth. 5. 44. Indeed this last direction about praying for ones Enemies is commonly look'd upon as a hard saying but the only reason is because there is so much ill nature in the World The Lord Jesus and his first Martyr St. Stephen did both go out of the World praying for their barbarous and blood-thirsty Enemies the very worst of Men. And that our Prayers may be as theirs were Holy and Efficacious they must proceed from sedate Minds from Hearts full of Gentleness Goodness and Compassion There are two things especially which infect all Prayer and turn it into Abomination The first is unreasonable Anger when Mens Passions are suffered either to start without just and sufficient cause ot to rise unto an immoderate Height or to last an undue time Such Heats are sinful and consequently as noisom Fuel in the Heart as the fire and brimstone of Hell Therefore St. Paul requires us to lift up holy hands without wrath 1 Tim. 2. 9. And this is one reason of that other command Ephes 4. 26. Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath because the Evening was wont to be a constant time for solemn Devotion Anger at best is a weak Passion in us an Argument of great infirmity in our Nature that shews how near of kin we are to the Beasts that perish Therefore amidst all Resentments we should govern our selves by God's Example whose Wrath moves with a very slow pace and endureth but the twinkling of an Eye Psal 30. 5. But when we approach to God we must be sure to keep out the Brutal part from mingling with our Devotion to bring our Minds to a right Christian temper and to speak unto the Author of Love and Peace without Coals in our Bosom and without any Warmth but that of Zeal and Charity 2. The other thing which corrupts all Prayer is Malice when that which ought to be a transient Passion settleth and fixeth into a wicked Habit so that the Mind becomes Implacable Irreconcilable and Revengeful This is utterly inconsistent with the Spirit of Christ's Religion which commands us to forgive a Brother that sinneth even till seventy times seven Math. 18. 22. That is as often as he sinneth and repents of it All that God himself requires at our hands is Prayer and Repentance And if this be the price of his favour surely we sinful wretched Men should think it enough to purchase each others Charity What Man is he that liveth and sinneth not And how can any of us expect Mercy if we shew none How can we hope with our crys and importunities to move the Bowels of God as long as we have no Bowels our selves Or which is the same thing none but what we shut up from our fellow Creatures It is a peremptory Sentence Matth. 6. 15. If ye forgive not Men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses It is observable that our Saviour took hold of frequent occasions to inculcate the necessity of mutual Charity and Mercifulness as one great Characteristical note of a Christian indeed And that we might continually remember it and be afraid to neglect it He inserted it into that Prayer which we are to use as daily as we need our Bread Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And with what confidence can an uncompassionate and uncharitable Man look up to the Father of Mercies with that or any other Prayer in his Mouth What is this but to bring a Curse upon himself instead of a Blessing What is this but a ready way to have all his Prayers flung back upon his face with Indignation and Scorn since it is the rule of God's proceedings that he shall have judgment without mercy who hath shewed no mercy Jam. 2. 13. VIII To all these necessary Qualifications of Prayer I must add in the last place that we must Pray with Reverence For though this be the least considerable thing because it is an external bodily gesture which bears no proportion to the necessary dispositions of the Soul yet it is of such moment that if we pray not in an humble manner it looks as if we did not consider or know what a weighty business we are about A cover'd Head a heavy Eye a stiff Neck
God hath not some way or other and in some measure or other promised And tho' he hath absolutely promised us all things which pertain to Eternal Life and Godliness yet there are other things which appertain to this present Life which he hath promised with some limitations that is if such and such things be Necessary or Profitable or Convenient for us Seeing then all the promises of God are not of equal Extent and seeing ones Faith can go no farther than the promise goes we cannot firmly believe that we shall have every particular thing granted us because we cannot certainly tell whether this or that in particular will be Beneficial or Proper for us Whatever we may imagine or conceive in our own thoughts it is God alone that knows that infallibly and therefore we cannot be assured that God will give it us We are to understand the matter thus then that when we Pray we must be firmly persuaded in our minds that God knoweth how to grant the thing we beg of him and that he is able and ready to do it if he sees it Necessary or good for us There must be no doubt of God's Power and Goodness nor of his Care for us He that cometh to him must believe not only that he is but also that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. When therefore we are preparing our selves for Prayer that we may prepare our Hearts aright we should entertain our Minds with the serious consideration of God's Attributes and Perfections that his Mercy reacheth over all his Works that he is the faithful God that he cannot Lie that with him there is no variableness or shadow of Change that his promises are Yea and Amen that he is nigh unto all who call upon him faithfully and that he will one way or other fulfill the desires of them that fear him Such Considerations as these will enliven and envigorate our Prayers with an active Faith and in the strength thereof we may draw near and fall low in full assurance that his Ear is open and his Hand ready to give us the very things we long for or something else which in his infinite Wisdom he knoweth to be better for us IV. In our Prayers we must with all humbleness of Mind evermore submit our selves to God's Will and Pleasure Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven is a part of that Prayer which our Blessed Lord himself formed for our Daily use And tho' those words do primarily mean such an active chearful and universal Obedience ro God's Commands as the Angels of Heaven express Yet in a Secondary sense they signifie too such Patience and Submission to God's Providence as was so eminent in the Lord of Life and Glory who in his last Agonies resigned up himself into his Fathers hands with this holy request Not my Will but thy Will be done Because we are so ignorant of those things which are really for our good it is very reasonable we should leave it unto God to determine for us and it is for good reasons that he doth sometimes deny even his faithful Servants the request of their Lips Though the matter of their Prayers or the thing they desire to have may be Lawful enough in it self yet accidentally and in the consequence it may be hurtful or very dangerous tho' they do not think it and in such a case it is a Favour and Kindness if God gives them such a denial as the Lord Jesus gave James and John when they put their Mother upon asking that they might sit the one on his Right Hand and the other on his Left in his Kingdom Ye know not what ye ask saith our Saviour Matth. 20. 22. Or perhaps the thing they pray against may be indeed for their good tho' they be not sensible of it for the present and then God is their Friend in suffering them to labour under it especially if he grants their desires another way as he never faileth to do in such cases you know St. Paul complaind of a Thorn in his Flesh a Messenger of Satan sent to Buffet him 2 Cor. 12. 7. Divines cannot certainly tell what the particular thing was which he compared to a Thorn whether it was some acute Disease in his Body or some persecution outwardly Questionless it was some sharp Affliction or other which touched him to the quick and St. Chrysostom's opinion is very probable that it was some very harsh usage he received from some opposers of the Truth who were the Devils Instruments to imprison beat and scourge the Apostle Whatever that Thorn in his Flesh was notwithstanding all his prayers it was not drawn out He besought the Lord thrice that is often saith St. Chrysostom that it might depart from him But his Prayers could not prevail because whatever the Devils Instruments intended God intended it in Mercy to him that he might not be exalted above measure through the abundance of his Revelations However his Prayers did not return empty instead of Deliverance from Pain he received Divine assistance and support from above My Grace said God is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness and that was far better than if he had had his Prayers answered in kind And from this single instance we learn whatever our Condition and whatever our own desires may be still to submit to the will and pleasure of God who best knows what is fit for us Tho' we have not the very thing we pray for yet God will give us that which will do us more good if we be but mindful of our Duty to him And tho' he lets us go about with Thorns in our Flesh yet his Grace is as sufficient for us as it was for St. Paul and as long as we receive a sufficient measure of Humility Patience and Meekness together with a Mortified Temper and a Christian frame of Heart we have reason to bless God for such a plentiful and rich return of our Prayers and to adore his Goodness that we have much more than we deserve and much better things than we desire V. Prayer must be accompanied with great attention I mean a settled and composed Temper a staid Mind with our Thoughts gathered together into a Centre and all of them fix'd upon the solemn business we are about Men cannot expect that God will mind those Prayers which they do not mind themselves or that he will open his Ears to those who are not serious before him and with him The Text bears a farther Construction 1 Cor. 14. 15. But yet in this sense we are to pray with the Understanding to consider and mind well what is uttered in time of Prayer not to offer the Sacrifice of Fools who run by rote and at all adventures but with recollected thoughts to ponder and attend to what we say unto the Majesty of Heaven When we are at Prayer we should call home our Fugitive Thoughts and