so to pass on to the next thing Query 1. But what would you have us poor creatures to do that cannot tell how to pray the Lord knows I know not either how to pray or what to pray for Answer Poor heart Thou canst not thou complainest pray Canst thou see thy misery Hath God shewed thee that thou art by nature under the Curse of his Law If so do not mistake I know thou dost groan and that most bitterly I am perswaded thou canst scarcely be found doing any thing in thy calling but Prayer breaks from thy heart Rom. 8. 28. Have not thy groans gone up to Heaven from every corner of thy house I know 't is thus and so also doth thine own sorrowful heart witness thy tears thy forgetfulness of thy calling c Is not thy heart so full of desires after the things of another World that many times thou dost even forget the things of this World Prethee reade this Scripture Job 23. 12. Query 2. Yea but when I go into secret and intend to pour out my soul before God I can scarce say any thing at all Answer Ah sweet soul It is not thy words that God so much regards as that he will not mind thee except thou comest before him with some eloquent Oration His eye is on the brokenness of thine heart and that it is that makes the very bowels of the Lord run over A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal. 51. 17. 2. The stopping of thy words may arise from over much trouble in thy heart David was so troubled sometimes that he could not speak Psal. 77. 3 4. But this may comfort all such sorrowful hearts as thou art that though thou canst not through the anguish of thy spirit speak much yet the holy Spirit stirs up in thine heart groans and sighs so much the more vehement when the mouth is hindred yet the Spirit is not Moses as aforesaid made Heaven ring again with his Prayers when that we read of not one word come out of his mouth But. 3. If thou wouldst more fully express thy self before the Lord study First Thy filthy Estate Secondly Gods Promises Thirdly The Heart of Christ. Which thou mayest know or discern 1. By his condescention and bloodshed 2. By the mercy he hath extended to great sinners formerly and plead thine own vileness by way of bemoaning Christs blood by way of expostulation and in thy prayers let the mercy that he hath extended to other great sinners together with his rich promises of grace be much upon thy heart Yet let me counsel thee 1. Take heed that thou content not thy self with words 2. That thou do not think that God looks only at them neither But. 3. However whether thy words be few or many let thine heart go with them And then shalt thou seek him and find him when thou shalt seek him with thy whole heart Jer. 29. 13. Object 1. But though you have seemed to speak against any other way of praying but by the Spirit yet here you your self can give direction how to pray Answ. We ought to prompt one another forward to Prayer though we ought not to make for each other Forms of Prayer To exhort to pray with Christian direction is one thing and to make stinted Formes for the tying up of the Spirit of God to them is another thing The Apostle gives them no form to pray withal yet directs to Prayer Ephes. 6. 18. Rom. 15. 30 31 32. Let no man therefore conclude that because we may with allowance give instructions and directions to pray that therefore it is lawful to make for each other Forms of Prayer Object 2. But if we do not use Forms of Prayer how shall we teach our Children to pray Answ. My judgement is that men go the wrong way to learn their Children to pray in going about so soon to learn them any set company of words as is the common use of poor creatures to do For to me it seems to be a better way for people betimes to tell their Children what cursed creatures they are and how they are under the wrath of God by reason of original and actual sin also to tell them the nature of God's wrath and the duration of the misery which if they conscientiously do they would sooner learn their Children to pray than they do The way that men learn to pray it is by conviction for sin and this is the way to make our sweet babes do so too But the other way namely to be busie in learning Children forms of prayer before they know any thing else it is the next way to make them cursed hypocrites and to puff them up with pride Learn therefore your Children to know their wretched state and condition tell them of hell fire and their sins of damnation and salvation the way to escape the one and to enjoy the other if you know it your selves and this will make tears run down your sweet babes eyes and hearty groans flow from their hearts and then also you may tell them to whom they should pray and through whom they should pray you may tell them also of Gods promises and his former grace extended to sinners according to the word Ah! poor sweet babes the Lord open their eyes and make them holy Christians Saith David Come ye Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord Psalm 34. 11. He doth not say I will nuzle you up in a form of Prayer but I will teach you the fear of the Lord Which is to see their sad states by nature and to be instructed in the Truth of the Gospel which doth through the Spirit beget Prayer in every one that in Truth learns it And the more you learn them this the more will their hearts run out to God in Prayer God did never account Paul a praying man until he was a convinced and converted man Acts 9. 11. no more will it be with any else Object 3. But we find that the Disciples desired that Christ would teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples and that thereupon he taught them that form called the Lord's Prayer Answ. First To be taught by Christ is that which not only they but we desire and seeing he is not here in his person to teach us the Lord teach us by his Word and Spirit for the Spirit is it which he hath said he would send to supply in his room when he went away as it is John 14. 16. and 16. 7. Secondly As to that called a Form I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer First Because he himself layeth it down diversly as is to be seen if you compare Matth. 6. with Luke 11. Whereas if he intended it as a set-form it must not have been so laid down for a set-form is so many words and no more Secondly VVe do not find that the Apostles did ever observe
sweet sence of mercy received encouraging comforting strengthening enlivening enlightening mercy c. Thus David pours out his soul to bless and praise and admire the great God for his loving kindness to such poor vile wretches Psal. 103. 1 2. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases and crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who redeemeth thy life from destruction who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed as the Eagles And thus is the Prayer of Saints sometimes turned into praise and thanksgiving and yet are Prayers still This is a Mystery God's people pray with their praises as it is written Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer with supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God A sensible thanksgiving for mercies received is a mighty Prayer in the sight of God it prevails with him unspeakably 3dly In Prayer there is sometimes in the soul a sence of Mercy to be received This again sets the soul all on a flame Thou O Lord God saith David 2 Sam. 7. 27. hast revealed unto thy Servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy Servant found in his heart to pray unto thee This provoked Jacob David Daniel with others even a sence of Mercies to be received as you may see Gen. 32. 9 10 11 12. Dan. 9. 2 3 4. which caused them not by fits and starts nor yet in a foolish frothy way to babble over a few words written in a paper but mightily fervently and continually to groan out their conditions before the Lord as being sensible sensible I say of their wants their misery and the willingness of God to shew mercy A good sence of sin and the wrath of God with some encouragement from God to come unto him is a better Common Prayer-Book than that which is taken out of the Papistical Mass-Book being the Scraps and Fragments of the devices of some Popes some Friars and I wot not what 3. Prayer is a sincere sensible and an affectionate pouring out of the soul to God O the heat strength life vigor and affection that is in right Prayer As the heart panteth after the Water-brooks so longeth my soul after thee O God Psal. 42. 1. I have longed for thy Precepts I have longed after thy Salvation Psal. 119. 40. My soul longeth yea fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Psal. 84. 2. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy Judgements at all times Psal. 119. 20. Mark ye here My soul longeth it longeth it longeth c. Oh what affection is here discovered in Prayer The like you have in Daniel Dan. 9. 19. O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thy Names sake O my God Every syllable carrieth a mighty vehemency in it This is called the fervent or the working Prayer by James Jam. 5. And so again Luke 22. 44. And being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly or had his affections more and more drawn out after God for his helping hand Oh how wide are the most of men with their Prayers from this Prayer that is Prayer in God's account Alas the greatest part of men make no conscience at all of the duty and as for them that do it is to be feared that many of them are very great strangers to a sencere sensible and affectionate pouring out their hearts or souls to God but even content themselves with a little lip-labour bodily exercise mumbling over a few imaginary Prayers When the Affections are indeed engaged in Prayer then then the whole man is engaged and that in such sort that the soul will spend it self to nothing as it were rather than it will go without that good desired even communion and solace with Christ. And hence it is that the Saints have spent their strengths and lost their lives rather than go without the blessing Psal. 69. 3. Psal. 38. 9 10. Gen. 32. 24 25 26. All this is too too evident by the ignorance prophaness and spirit of envy that reigns in the hearts of those men that are so hot for the Forms and not the Power of prayer Scarce one of forty among them know what it is to be born again to have communion with the Father through the Son to feel the power of Grace sanctifying their hearts but for all their prayers they still live cursed drunken whorish and abominable Lives full of Malice Envy Deceit Persecuting of the dear Children of God Oh what a dreadful after-clap is coming upon them which all their hypocritical assembling themselves together with all their prayers shall never be able to help them against or shelter them from Again It is a pouring out of the Heart or Soul There is in Prayer an unbosoming of a man's self an opening of the Heart to God an affectionate pouring out of the Soul in requests sighs and groans All my desires are before thee saith David Psal. 38. 9. my groanings are not hid from thee And again My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God When shall I come and appear before God When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me Psal. 42. 2 3. Mark I pour out my Soul It is an Expression signifying that in Prayer there goeth the very life and whole strength to God As in another place Psal. 62. 8. Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your hearts before him This is the Prayer to which the Promise is made for the delivering of a poor Creature out of captivity and thraldom If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thou shalt find him if thou seekest him with all thy heart and with all thy soul Deut. 4. 29. Again It is a pouring out of the heart or soul to God This sheweth also the Excellency of the Spirit of prayer it is the great God to which it retires When shall I come and appear before God And it argueth that the Soul that thus prayeth indeed sees an emptiness in all things under heaven That in God alone there is rest and satisfaction for the Soul Now she that is a Widow and desolate trusteth in God 1 Tim. 5. 5. So saith David In thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be put to confusion deliver me in thy Righteousness and cause me to escape incline thine ear to me and save me be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort For thou art my rock and my fortress deliver me O God out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man For thou art my hope O Lord my God thou art my trust from my mouth Many in a wording way speak of God but right Prayer makes God
of this is that which God complains of Ezek. 33. That they draw nigh to him with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their hearts were far from him but chiefly they that walk after the Commandments and Traditions of men as the scope of Matth. 15. 8 9. doth testifie And verily may I but speak my own Experience and from that tell you the difficulty of Praying to God as I ought it is enough to make your poor blind carnal men to entertain strange thoughts of me For as for my heart when I go to pray I find it so loth to go to God and when it is with him so loth to stay with him that many times I am forced in my Prayers first to beg of God that he would take mine heart and set it on himself in Christ and when it is there that he would keep it there Psal. 86. 11. Nay many times I know not what to pray for I am so blind nor how to pray I am so ignorant onely blessed be Grace the Spirit helps our infirmities Oh the starting-holes that the heart hath in the time of Prayer none knows how many by-wayes the heart hath and back-lains to slip away from the presence of God How much pride also if enabled with expressions how much hypocrisie if before others And how little conscience is there made of Prayer between God and the Soul in secret unless the Spirit of Supplication be there to help VVhen the Spirit gets into the heart then there is Prayer indeed and not till then Ninthly The soul that doth rightly pray it must be in and with the help and strength of the Spirit because it is impossible that a man should express himself in Prayer without it when I say it is impossible for a man to express himself in prayer without it I mean that it is impossible that the heart in a sincere and sensible affectionate way should pour out it self before God with those groans and sighs that come from a truly praying heart without the assistance of the Spirit It is not the mouth that is the main thing to be looked at in Prayer but whether the heart be so full of affection and earnestness in Prayer with God that it is impossible to express their sence and desire For then a man desires indeed when his desires are so strong many and mighty that all the words tears and groans that can come from the heart cannot utter them The Spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered That is but poor prayer which is only discovered in so many words A man that truly prayes one Prayer shall after that never be able to expresse with his mouth or pen the unutterable desires sence affection and longing that went to God in that Prayer The best Prayers have often more groans than words and those words that it hath are but a lean and shallow representation of the heart life and spirit of that Prayer You do not find any words of Prayer that we reade of come out of the mouth of Moses when he was going out of Egypt and was followed by Pharoah Exod. 14. 15. and yet he made Heaven ring again with his cry But it was the unexpressible and unsearchable groans and cryings of his soul in and with the Spirit God is the God of Spirits Numb 16. 22. and his eyes look further than the ourside of any duty whatsoever 1 Sam. 16. 7. I doubt this is but little thought on by the most of them that would be looked upon as a praying people The nearer a man comes in any work that God commands him to the doing of it according to his will so much the more hard and difficult it is And the reason is because man as man is not able to do it But Prayer as aforesaid is not only a duty but one of the most eminent duties and therefore so much the more difficult Therefore Paul knew what he said when he said I will pray with the Spirit He knew well it was not what others writ or said that could make him a praying person nothing lesse than the Spirit could do it Tenthly It must be with the Spirit or else as there will be a failing in the act it self so there will be a failing yea a fainting in the prosecution of the work Prayer is an Ordinance of God that must continue with a soul so long as it is on this side glory But as I said before it is not possible for a man to get up his heart to God in Prayer so it is as difficult to keep it there without the assistance of the Spirit And if so then for a man to continue from time to time in Prayer with God it must of necessity be with the Spirit Christ tells us That men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint Luke 18. 1 2. And again tells us that this is one definition of an Hypocrite That either he will not continue in Prayer or else if he do it will not be in the power Job 27. 10. that is in the Spirit of Prayer but in the Form for a pretence only Mat. 23. 14. It is the easiest thing of an hundred to fall from the Power to the Form but it is the hardest thing of many to keep in the Life Spirit and Power of any one duty especially Prayer That is such a work that a man without the help of the Spirit cannot so much as pray once much less continue without it in a sweet praying frame and in praying so to pray as to have his Prayers to ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaoth Jacob did not only begin but held it I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Gen. 32. So did the rest of the Godly Hos. 12. 4. But this could not be without the Spirit of Prayer It is through the Spirit that we have access to the Father Ephes. 2. 18. That same is a remarkable place in Jude when he stirreth up the Saints by the Judgement of God upon the Wicked to stand fast and continue or hold out in the Faith of the Gospel as one excellent means thereto without which he knew they would never be able to do it Saith he Build up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the holy Ghost Jude 20. As if he had said Brethren as eternal Life is laid up for the persons that hold out only so you cannot hold out unless you continue praying in the Spirit The great cheat that the Devil and Antichrist deludes the World withal it is to make them continue in the form of any Duty the Form of Preaching of Hearing of Praying c. These are they that have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such turn away 2 Tim. 3. 5. Here followeth the Third Thing to wit What it is to pray with the Spirit and with understanding And now to the next thing What
art the Lord my God Surely after I was turned I repented and after I was instructed or had a right understanding of my self I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth These be Ephraim's complaints and bemoanings of himself at which the Lord breaks forth into these heart-melting expressions saying Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Chlld For since I spake unto him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Thus you see that as it is required to pray with the Spirit so it is to pray with the Understanding also And to illustrate what hath been spoken by a similitude Set the case there should come two a begging to your door the one is a poor lame wounded and almost starved creature the other is a healthful lusty person These two use the same words in their begging the one saith he is almost starved so doth the other but yet the man that is indeed the poor lame or maimed person he speaks with more sence feeling and understanding of the misery that is mentioned in their begging than the other can do and it is discovered more by his affectionate speaking his bemoaning himself His pain and poverty makes him speak more in a spirit of lamentation than the other and he shall be pittied sooner than the other by all those that have the least dram of natural affection or pitty Just thus it is with God There are some who out of custome and formality go and pray there are others who go in the bitterness of their spirit The one he prayes out of bare notion and naked knowledge the other hath his words forced from him by the anguish of his soul. Surely that is the man that God will look at even him that is of a humble and contrite spirit and that trembleth at his word Isa. 66. 2. Sixthly An Understanding well enlightened is of admirable use also both as to the matter and manner of Prayer He that hath his understanding well exercised to discern between good and evil and in it placed a sence either of the misery of man or the mercy of God that soul hath no need of the Writings of other men to teach him by Forms of Prayer For as he that feels the pain needs not to be learned to cry Oh! Even so he that hath his Understanding opened by the Spirit needs not so to be taught of other mens prayers as that he cannot pray without them the present sence feeling and pressure that lyeth upon his spirit provokes him to groan out his requests unto the Lord. When David had the pains of hell catching hold on him and the sorrows of hell compassing him about he needed not a Bishop in a Surplice to learn him to say O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Psal. 116. 3 4. Or to look into a Book to teach him in a Form to pour out his heart before God It is the nature of the heart of sick men in their pain and sickness to vent it self for ease by dolorous groans and complaints to them that stand by Thus it was with David in Psal. 38. to the 12. vers And thus Blessed be the Lord it is with them that are indued with the Grace of God Seventhly It is necessary that there be an enlightened Understanding to the end that the soul be kept in a continuation of the duty of Prayer The People of God are not ignorant how many wiles tricks and temptations the Devil hath to make a poor soul who is truly willing to have the Lord Jesus Christ and that upon Christ's terms too I say to tempt that soul to be weary of seeking the face of God and to think that God is not willing to have mercy on such a one as him I saith Satan thou mayest pray indeed but thou shalt not prevail Thou seest thine heart is hard cold dull and dead thou dost not pray with the Spirit thou dost not pray in good earnest thy thoughts are running after other things when thou pretendest to pray to God Away hypocrite go no further it is but in vain to strive any longer Here now if the soul be not well informed in its understanding it will presently cry out The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Isa. 45. 27. Whereas the soul rightly informed and enlightned saith Well I will seek the Lord and wait I will not leave off though the Lord keep silence and speak not one word of comfort Isa. 49. 14. He loved Jacob dearly and yet he made him wrestle before he had the blessing Gen. 32. 25 26 27. Seeming delayes in God are no tokens of his displeasure he may hide his face from his dearest Saints Isa. 8. 17. He loves to keep his People praying and to find them ever knocking at the gate of Heaven It may be sayes the soul the Lord tries me or he loves to hear me groan out my condition before him The woman of Canaan would not take seeming denyals for real ones she knew the Lord was gracious Luke 18. 1 to 6. And the Lord will avenge his People though he bear long with them The Lord hath waited longer upon me than I have waited on him And thus it was with David I waited patiently saith he That is It was long before the Lord answered me though at the last he enclined his ear unto me and heard my cry Psal. 40. 1. And the most excellent remedy for this is an understanding well informed and enlightened Alas how many poor souls are there in the world that truly fear the Lord who because they are not well informed in their understanding are oft ready to give up all for lost upon almost every trick and temptation of Satan The Lord pitty them and help them to pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding also Much of mine own experience could I here discover when I have been in my fits of agonies of spirit I have been strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer but being made to understand what great sinners the Lord hath had mercy upon and how large his Promises were still to sinners and that it was not the whole but the sick not the righteous but the sinner not the full but the empty that he extended his Grace and Mercy unto This made me through the assistance of his holy Spirit to cleave to him to hang upon him and yet to cry though for the present he made no answer and the Lord help all his poor tempted and afflicted People to do the like and to continue though it be long according to the saying of the Prophet Hab. 2. 3. And to help them to that end to pray not by the inventions of men and their stinted Forms but with the Spirit and with the Understanding also And now to answer a Query or two and
Trencher-Chaplains that thrust themselves into great mens Families pretending the Worship of God when in truth the great business is their own Bellies which were notably painted out by Ahab's Prophets 1 King 18. 19. and also Nebuchadnezzars wise men Dan. 2. who though they pretended great devotion yet their lusts and their bellies were the great things aimed at by them in all their pieces of devotion 2. Them also that seek repute and applause for their eloquent terms and seek more to tickle the ears and heads of their hearers than any thing else These be they that pray to be heard and seen of men and have all their reward already Mat. 6. 5. These persons are discovered thus 1. They eye only their Auditory in their expressions 2. They look for Commendations when they have done 3. Their hearts either rise or fall according to their praise or enlargement 4. The length of their Prayer pleaseth them and that it might be long they will vainly repeat things over and over Matth. 6. 7. They study for enlargements but look not from what heart they come They look for returns but it is the windy applause oâ— men and therefore they love not to be in a chamber but among company and if at any time conscience thrust them into their closet yet hypocrisâ— will cause them to be heard in the streets and when their mouthes have done going their prayers are ended for they wait not to hearken what the Lord will say Psal. 85. 8. Thirdly A third sort of prayer that will not be accepted of God it is When either they pray for wrong things or if for right things yet that the thing prayed for might be spent upon their lusts and laid out to wrong ends Some have not because they ask not saith James and others ask and have not because they ask amiss that they may consume it upon their lusts James 4. 2 3 4. Ends contrary to God's Will is a great Argument with God to frustrate the Petitions presented before him Hence it is that so many pray for this and that and yet receive it not God answereth them onely with silence they have their words for their labour and that is all Object But God heareth some persons though their hearts be not right with him as he did Israel in giving Quails Psal. 106. 14. though they spent them upon their lusts Answer If he doth it is in Judgment not in Mercy He gave them their desire indeed but they had better have been without it for he sent leanness into their souls Psal. 106. 15. Wo be to that man that God answereth thus Fourthly Another sort of prayers there are that are not answered and those are such as are made by men and presented to God in their own persons only without their appearing in the Lord Jesus For though God hath appointed Prayer and promised to hear the Prayer of the creature yet not the prayer of any creature that comes not in Christ. If you ask any thing in My Name c. John 14. 13. And Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ Col. 3. 17. If you ask any thing in my Name I will do it Joh. 14. 14. Though you be never so devout zealous earnest and constant in prayer yet it is in Christ only that you must be heard and accepted But alas the most of men know not what it is to come to him in the Name of the Lord Jesus which is the reason they either â—ive wicked pray wicked and also â—ie wicked Or else 2. That they attain to nothing else but what a meer natural man may atâ—ain unto as to be exact in word and â—eed betwixt man and man and only with the righteousness of the Law to â—ppear before God Fifthly The last thing that hindreth Prayer is The Form of it without the Power It is an easie thing for men to be very hot for such things as Forms of Prayer as they are written in a Book but yet they are altogether forgetful to enquire with themselves whether they have the Spirit and Power of Prayer These men they are like a painted man and their Prayers are like a false voice they in person appear as Hypocrites and their Prayers are an Abomination Prov. 28. 9. VVhen they say they have been pouring out their souls to God he saith they have been howling like dogs Hos. 7. 14. VVhen therefore thou intendest or art minded to pray to the Lord of Heaven and Earth consider these following Particulars 1. Consider seriously what thou wantest do not as many who in theiâ— words onely beat the air and ask foâ— such things as indeed they do not de sire nor see that they stand in need thereof 2. When thou seest what thou wantest keep to that and take heed thou pray sensibly Object But I have a sence of nothing Then by your Argument I must not pray at all Answer First If thou findest thy self sensless in some sad measure yet thou canst not complain of that senslesness but by being sensible There is a sense of senslesness according to thy sense then that thou hast of the need of any thing so pray Luke 8. 9. and if thou art sensible of thy senslesness pray the Lord to make thee sensible of what-ever thou findest thine heart sensless of This was the usual practice of the holy men of God Lord make me to know mine end saith David Psal. 39. 4. Lord open to us this Parable said the Disciples Luke 8. 9. And to this is annexed the Promise Call upon me and I will hear thee and shew thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not Jer. 33. 3. that thou art not sensible of But Secondly Take heed that thine heart go to God as well as thy mouth let not thy mouth go any further than thou strivest to draw thine heart along with it David would lift his heart and soul to the Lord and good reason for so far as a man's mouth goeth along without his heart so far it is but lip-labour only and though God calleth for and accepteth the calves of the lips yet the lips without the heart argueth not only senslesness but our being without sense of our senslesness and therefore if thou hast a mind to enlarge in Prayer before God see that it be with thy heart Thirdly Take heed of affecting expressions and so to please thy self with the use of them that thou forget not the Life of Prayer I shall conclude this Use with a Caution or two First Take heed thou do not throw off Prayer through sudden perswasions that thou hast not the Spirit neither prayest thereby It is the great work of the Devil to do his best or rather worst against the best prayers He will flatter your false dissembling hypocrites and feed them with a thousand fancies of well-doing when their very duties of Prayer and all other stink in the nostrils of God When
Christ which is sprinkled upon the Mercy-seat stops the course of Justice and opens a flood-gate for the mercy of the Lord to be extended unto thee Thou hast therefore as aforesaid boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus that hath made a new and living way for thee thou shalt not dye Heb. 10. 19 20. Besides Jesus is there not only to sprinkle the Mercy-seat with his blood but he speaks and his blood speaks he hath audience and his blood hath audience Insomuch that God saith when he doth but see the blood he will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you c. Exod. 12. 13. I shall not detain you any longer Be sober and humble Go to the Father in the name of the Son and tell him your case in the assistance of the Spirit and you will then feel the benefit of praying with the Spirit and with Understanding also USE III. A Word of reproof This speaks sadly to you who never pray at all I will pray saith the Apostle and so saith the heart of them that are Christians Thou then art not a Christian that art not a praying person The promise is That every one that is righteous shall pray Psal. 32. 6. Thou then art a wicked wretch that prayest not Jacob got the name of Israel by wrestling with God Gen. 32. And all his Children bare that name with him Gal. 6. But the People that forget prayer that call not on the name of the Lord they have prayer made for them but it is such as this Pour out thy fury upon the heathen O Lord and upon the people that call not upon thy name Jer. 10. 25. How likest thou this O thou that art so far off from pouring out thine heart before God that thou goest to bed like a dog and risest like an hog or a sot and forgettest to call upon God What wilt thou do when thou shalt be damned in Hell because thou couldst not find in thine heart to ask for Heaven Who will grieve for thy sorrow that didst not count mercy worth asking for I tell thee the ravens the dogs c. shall rise up in judgement against thee for they will according to their kind make signs and a noise for something to refresh them when they want it but thou hast not the heart to ask for Heaven though thou must eternally perish in Hell if thou hast it not 2. This rebukes you that make it your business to slight mock at and undervalue the Spirit and praying by that What will you do when God shall come to reckon for these things You count it high Treason to speak but a word against the King Nay you tremble at the thoughts of it and yet in the mean time you will blaspheme the Spirit of the Lord. Is God indeed to be dallied with and will the end be pleasant unto you Did God send his holy Spirit into the hearts of his People to that end that you should taunt at it is this to serve God And doth this demonstrate the Reformation of your Church Nay is it not the mark of implacable Reprobates O fearful can you not be content to be damned for your sins against the Law but you must sin against the Holy Ghost Must the holy harmless and undefiled Spirit of Grace the nature of God the promise of Christ the comforter of his Children that without which no man can do any service acceptable to the Father Must this I say be the burthen of your Song to taunt deride and mock at If God sent Corah and his company headlong to hell for speaking against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. do you that mock at the Spirit of Christ think to escape unpunished Heb. 10. 29. Did you never reade what God did to Ananias and Saphira for telling but one lye against it Acts 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Also to Simon Magus for but undervaluing of it Acts 8. 18 19 20 21. And will thy sin be a virtue or go unrewarded with vengeance that makest it thy business to rage against and oppose its Office Service and Help that it giveth unto the Children of God It is a fearful thing to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace compare Mat. 12. 31. with Mark 3. 30. 3. As this is the doom of those who do openly blaspheme the holy Ghost in a way of disdain and reproach to its office and service So also it is sad for you who resist this Spirit of Prayer by a Form of man's inventing A very juggle of the Devil that the Traditions of men should be of better esteem and more to be owned than the Spirit of Prayer What is this less than that accursed Abomination of Jeroboam which kept many from going to Jerusalem the place and way of God's Appointment to worship 1 Kings 12. 26 c. And by that means brought such displeasure from God upon them as to this day is not appeased One would think that God's Judgements of old upon the Hypocrites of that day should make them that have heard of such things take heed and fear to do so Yet the Doctors of our day are so far from taking of warning by the punishment of others that they do most desperately rush into the same transgression viz. To set up an Institution of man neither commanded nor commended of God and whosoever will not obey herein they must be driven either out of the Land or the World Hath God required these things at you hands If he hath shew us where If not as I am sure he hath not Then what cursed presumption is it in any Pope Bishop or other to command that in the Worship of God which he hath not required Nay further It is not that part only of the Form which is several Texts of Scripture that we are commanded to say but even all must be confessed as the Divine Worship of God notwithstanding those absurdities contained therein which because they are at large discovered by others I omit the rehearsal of them Again Though a man be willing to live never so peaceably yet because he cannot for Conscience sake own that for one of the most eminent parts of God's Worship which he never commanded therefore must that man be looked upon as factious seditious erroneous heretical a disparagement to the Church a seducer of the people and what not Lord what will be the fruit of these things when for the Doctrine of God there is imposed that is more than taught the Traditions of men Thus is the Spirit of Prayer disowned and the Form imposed the Spirit debased and the Form extolled they that pray with the Spirit though never so humble and holy counted Phanaticks and they that pray with the Form though with that only counted the Vertuous And how will the favourites of such a practice answer that Scripture which commandeth that the Church should turn away from such as have a Form of Goaliness but deny the Power thereof 2 Tim. 3. 5. And if I should say That men that do these things aforesaid do advance a Form of Prayer of other mens making above the Spirit of Prayer it would not take long time to prove it For he that advanceth the Book of Common-Prayer above the Spirit of Prayer he doth advance a Form of mens making above it But this do all those who banish or desire to banish them that pray with the Spirit of Prayer while they hug and imbrace them that pray by that Form onely and that because they do it Therefore they love and advance the Form of their own or others inventing before the Spirit of Prayer which is God's special and gracious Appointment If you desire the clearing of the Minor look into the Goals in England and into the Alehouses of the same and I believe you will find those that plead for the Spirit of Prayer in the Goal and them that look after the Form of mens Inventions only in the Alehouse It is evident also by the silencing of God's dear Ministers though never so powerfully enabled by the Spirit of Prayer if they in conscience cannot admit of that Form of common-Common-Prayer If this be not an exalting the Common-Prayer-Book above either praying by the Spirit or preaching the Word I have taken my mark amiss It is not pleasant for me to dwell on this the Lord in mercy turn the hearts of the people to seek more after the Spirit of Prayer and in the strength of that to pour out their souls before the Lord. Only let me say It is a sad sign that that which is one of the most eminent parts of the pretended Worship of God is Antichristian when it hath nothing but Tradition of men and the strength of Persecution to uphold or plead for it The Conclusion I shall conclude this Discourse with this Word of Advice to all Gods People I. BElieve that as sure as you are in the Way of God you must meet with Temptations II. The first day therefore that thou dost enter into Christ his Congregation look for them III. When they do come beg of God to carry thee through them IV. Be jealous of thine own heart that it deceive thee not in thy Evidences for Heaven nor in thy walking with God in this world V. Take heed of the flatteries of false Brethren VI. Keep in the Life and Power of Truth VII Look most at the things which are not seen VIII Take heed of little sins IX Keep the Promise warm upon thy heart X. Renew thy acts of Faith in the Blood of Christ. XI Consider the Work of thy Generation XII Count to run with the foremost therein Grace be with thee THE END * See Mr. Fox his citation of the Mass in the last Volumn of the Book of Martyrs * See Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments Volumn 2.