condition whereunto they are taken upon their Faith in Christ Jesus They are made Children of God by Adoption and it is meet they be taught to carry themselves as becomes that new Relation Because ye are Sons he hath given you the Spirit of his Son without which they cannot walk before him as becometh Sons He teacheth them to bear and behave themselves no longer as Foreigners and Strangers nor as Servants only but as Children and Heirs of God Rom. 8. 15. He endoweth them with a frame and disposition of heart unto Holy filial obedience For as he takes away the distance making them to be nigh who were Aliens and far from God so he removes that fear dread and bondage which they are kept in who are under the power of the Law 2 Tim. 1. 7. For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind Not the Spirit of fear or a Spirit of bondage unto fear as Rom. 8. 15. that is in and by the efficacy of the Law filling our minds with dread and such considerations of God as will keep us at a distance from him But he is in the Sons on whom he is bestowed a Spirit of Power strengthening and enabling them unto all Duties of Obedience This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that whereby we are enabled to Obedience which the Apostle gives thanks for 1 Tim. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Christ that enableth me that is by his Spirit of Power For without the Spirit of Adoption we have not the least strength or Power to behave our selves as Sons in the Family of God And he is also as thus bestowed a Spirit of Love who worketh in us that Love unto God and that delight in him which becometh Children towards their Heavenly Father This is the first genuine consequent of this Relation There may be many Duties performed unto God where there is no true Love to him at least no love unto him as a Father in Christ which alone is genuine and accepted And lastly he is also a Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a modest grave and sober mind Even Children are apt to wax wanton and curious and proud in their Fathers House but the Spirit enables them to behave themselves with that Sobriety Modesty and Humility which becometh the Family of God And in these three things spiritual Power Love and Sobriety of mind consists the whole deportment of the Children of God in his Family This is the State and Condition of those who by the effectual working of the Spirit of Adoption are delivered from the Spirit of Bondage unto fear which the Apostle discourseth of Rom. 8 15. Those who are under the Power of that Spirit or that efficacious working of the Spirit by the Law cannot by virtue of any Aids or Assistance make their Addresses unto him by Prayer in a due manner For although the means whereby they are brought into this State be the Spirit of God acting upon their Souls and Consciences by the Law yet formally as they are in the State of Nature the Spirit whereby they are acted is the unclean Spirit of the World or the influence of him who rules in the Children of disobedience The Law that they obey is the Law of the Members mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 7. The Works which they perform are the unfruitful works of darkness and the fruits of these unfruitful Works are Sin and Death Being under this Bondage they have no power to approach unto God and their Bondage tending unto fear they can have no Delight in an access unto him Whatever other provisions or preparations such Persons may have for this Duty they can never perform it unto the Glory of God or so as to find acceptance with him With those who are delivered from this State all things are otherwise The Spirit whereby they are acted is the Spirit of God the Spirit of Adoption of Power Love and a sound mind The Law which they are under Obedience unto is the Holy Law of God as written in the fleshly Tables of their Hearts The Effects of it are Faith and Love with all other Graces of the Spirit whereof they receive the Fruits in peace with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Thirdly An Instance is given of his effectual working these things in the adopted Sons of God in the Duty of Prayer crying Abba Father 1. The Object of the especial Duty intended is God even the Father Eph. 2. 18. Abba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abba is the Syriack or Chaldee name for Father then in common use among the Jews And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the same name amongst the Greeks or Gentiles So that the Common Interest of Jews and Gentiles in this Priviledge may be intended Or rather an holy boldness and intimate confidence of Love is designed in the Reduplication of the name The Jews have a saying in the Babylonian Talmud in the Treatise of Blessings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servants and handmaids that is Bondservants do not call on such a one Abba or Imma Freedom of State with a Right unto Adoption whereof they are uncapable in regard unto this Liberty and confidence God gives unto his adopted Sons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a frèe Spirit Psal. 51. 14. a Spirit of gracious filial ingenuity This is that Spirit which cryes Abba that is the word whereby those who were adopted did first salute their Fathers to testify their affection and obedience For Abba signifies not only Father but my Father For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Father in the Hebrew is rendred by the Chaldee Paraphrast only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abba see Gen. 19. 34. and elsewhere constantly To this purpose speaks Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being willing to shew the ingenuity that is in this Duty he useth also the language of the Hebrews and says not only Father but Abba Father which is a word proper unto them who are highly ingenuous And this he effecteth two ways 1. By the Excitation of Graces and Gracious Affections in their Souls in this Duty especially those of Faith Love and Delight 2 By enabling them to exercise those Graces and express those Affections in Vocal Prayer For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes not only crying but an earnestness of mind expressed in Vocal Prayer It is praying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is said of our Saviour Math. 27. 50. For the whole of our Duty in our Supplications is expressed herein Now we are not concerned or do not at present enquire what course they take what means they imploy or what helps they use in Prayer who are not as yet Partakers of this priviledge of Adoption It is only those who are so whom the Spirit of God assists in this Duty And the only question is What such Persons are to do in complyance with his Assistance or what it is that they obtain thereby And we may compare the different expressions
the force of this Testimony some one at least would have this Intercession of the Spirit to be the Intercession of the Spirit in Christ for us now at the right Hand of God so that no Work of the Spirit it self in Believers is intended Such irrational Evasions will men sometimes make use of to escape the convincing Power of Light and Truth For this is such a Description of the Intercession of Christ at the Right Hand of God as will scarcely be reconciled unto the Analogy of Faith That it is not an humble oral Supplication but a blessed Representation of his Oblation whereby the efficacy of it is continued and applied unto all the particular occasions of the Church or Believers I have elsewhere declared and it is the common Faith of Christians But here it should be reported as the labouring of the Spirit in him with unutterable groans the highest expression of an humble burthened sollicitous Endeavour Nothing is more unsuited unto the present Glorious condition of the Mediator It is true that in the Days of his Flesh he prayed with strong cryes and tears in an humble deprecation of Evil Heb. 5. 7. But an humble prostration and praying with unutterable groans is altogether inconsistent with his present state of Glory his fulness of Power and Right to dispense all the Grace and Mercy of the Kingdom of God Besides this Exposition is as adverse to the context as any thing could be invented Ver. 15. It is said that we receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which Spirit God sends forth into our Hearts Gal. 4. 6. And the blessed Work of this Spirit in us is further described v. 16 17. And thereon v. 23. having received the first-fruits of this Spirit we are said to groan within our selves to which it is added that of our selves not knowing what we ought to pray for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that very Spirit so given unto us so received by us so working in us makes intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered Wherefore without offering violence unto the Context here is no place for the Introduction of the Intercession of Christ in Heaven especially under such an expression as is contrary to the nature of it It is mentioned afterwards by the Apostle in its proper place as a consequent and fruit of his Death and Resurrection ver 34. And there he is said simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Spirit here is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies an additional supply unto what is in our selves Yet to give countenance unto this uncouth Exposition a force is put upon the beginning of both the verses 26 27. For whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth constantly in the Scripture denote any kind of infirmity or weakness spiritual or corporal it is said here to be taken in the latter sense for diseases with troubles and dangers which latter it no where signifies For so the meaning should be That in such conditions we know not what to pray for whether wealth or health or Peace or the like but Christ interceeds for us And this must be the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet in the Text doth plainly denote an help and assistance given unto our weaknesses that is unto us who are weak in the discharge of the Duty of Prayer as both the words themselves and the ensuing reasons of them do evince Wherefore neither the Grammatical sence of the words nor the Context nor the Analogy of Faith will admit of this new and uncouth Exposition In like manner if it be enquired why it is said that he who searcheth the Heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit which plainly refers to some great and secret Work of the Spirit in the Heart of man if the Intercession of Christ be intended nothing is offered but this Paraphrase And then God that by being a searcher of Hearts knoweth our wants exactly understands also the desire and intention of the Spirit of Christ. But these things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have no dependance the one on the other Nor was there any need of the mentioning the searching of our Hearts to introduce the Approbation of the Intercession of Christ. But to return That is wrought in the Hearts of Believers in their Duty which is pervious to none but him that searcheth the Heart This frame in all our Supplications we ought to aim at especially in time of Distress Troubles and Temptations such as was the season here especially intended when commonly we are most sensible of our own infirmities And wherein we come short hereof in some measure it is from our Unbelief or carelesness and negligence which God abhors I do acknowledge that there may be that there will be more earnestness and intention of mind and of our natural Spirit therein in this Duty at one time than another according as outward occasions or other motives do excite them or stir them up So our Saviour in his Agony prayed more earnestly than usuall not with an higher exercise of Grace which always acted it self in him in perfection but with a greater vehemency in the working of his natural faculties So it may be with us at especial seasons But yet we are always to endeavour after the same Aids of the Spirit the same actings of Grace in every particular Duty of this kind Thirdly The Holy Spirit gives the Soul of a Believer a Delight in God as the Object of Prayer I shall not insist on his exciting moving and acting all other Graces that are required in the exercise of this Duty as Faith Love Reverence Fear Trust Submission Waiting Hope and the like I have proved elsewhere that the exercise of them all in all Duties and of all other Graces in like manner is from him and shall not therefore here again confirm the same Truth But this Delight in God as the Object of Prayer hath a peculiar consideration in this matter For without it ordinarily the Duty is not accepted with God and is a barren burthensome task unto them by whom it is performed Now this Delight in God as the Object of Prayer is for the substance of it included in that description of Prayer given us by the Apostle namely that it is crying Abba Father Herein a Filial Holy Delight in God is included such as Children have in their Parents in their most affectionate addresses unto them as hath been declared And we are to enquire wherein this Delight in God as the object of Prayer doth consist or what is required thereunto And there is in it 1. A Sight or prospect of God as on a Throne of Grace A prospect I say not by carnal Imagination but spiritual Illumination By Faith we see him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. For it is the Evidence of things not seen making its proper Object evident and present unto them that do believe Such a sight of God on a Throne of Grace is necessary unto
this Delight Under this consideration he is the proper object of all our Addresses unto him in our Supplications Heb. 4. 16. Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need The Duty of Prayer is described by the subject matter of it namely Mercy and Grace and by the only object of it God on a Throne of Grace And this Throne of Grace is further represented unto us by the place where it is erected or set up and that is in the Holiest or most Holy Place For in our coming unto God as on that Throne we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Heb. 10. 19. And hereby the Apostle shews that in the expression he had respect or alludes unto the Mercy-Seat upon the Ark covered with the Cherubims which had a Representation of a Throne And because of Gods especial Manifestation of himself thereon it was called his Throne And it was a Representation of Jesus Christ as I have shewed elsewhere God therefore on a Throne of Grace is God as in a readiness through Jesus Christ to dispense Grace and Mercy to suppliant Sinners When God comes to execute Judgment his Throne is otherwise represented See Dan. 7. 9 10. And when Sinners take a view in their minds of God as he is in himself and as he will be unto all out of Christ it ingenerates nothing but Dread and Terror in them with foolish Contrivances to avoid him or his displeasure Isa. 33. 14. Mic. 6. 7 8. Rev. 6. 16. All these places and others testifie that when Sinners do ingage into serious thoughts and conceptions of the Nature of God and what entertainment they shall meet with from him all their Apprehensions issue in Dread and Terror This is not a frame wherein they can cry Abba Father If they are delivered from this fear and bondage it is by that which is worse namely carnal boldness and presumption whose Rise lyeth in the highest Contempt of God and his Holiness When men give up themselves to the customary performance of this Duty or rather saying of their Prayers I know not out of what Conviction that so they must do without a due Consideration of God and the Regard that he hath unto them they do but provoke him to his Face in taking his name in Vain Nor however they satisfie themselves in what they do have they any Delight in God in their approaches unto him Wherefore there is required hereunto a Prospect of God by Faith as on a Throne of Grace as exalted in Christ to shew Mercy unto Sinners So is he represented Isa. 30. 18. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious and therefore will he be exalted that he may have Mercy Without this we cannot draw nigh to him or call upon him with Delight as becometh Children crying Abba Father And by whom is this discovery made unto us Is this a fruit of our own Fancy and Imagination So it may be with some to their ruine But it is the Work of the Spirit who alone in and through Christ revealeth God unto us and enableth us to discern him in a due manner Hence our Apostle prays for the Ephesians that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that the Eyes of their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Chap. 1. 17 18. All the Acquaintance which we have with God in a way of Grace is from the Revelation made in us by his Spirit See Col. 2. 1. 2. By him doth God say unto us That Fury is not in him and that if we lay hold on his Arm that we may have peace we shall have peace Isa. 29. 4 5. Secondly Unto this Delight is required a sense of Gods Relation unto us as a Father By that name and under that Consideration hath the Lord Christ taught us to address our selves unto him in all our Supplications And although we may use other Titles and Appellations in our speaking to him even such as he hath given himself in the Scripture or those which are Analogous thereunto yet this Consideration principally influenceth our Souls and minds that God is not ashamed to be called our Father that the Lord Almighty hath said that he will be a Father unto us and that we shall be his Sons and Daughters 2 Cor. 6. Wherefore as a Father is he the ultimate object of all Evangelical Worship of all our Prayers So is it expressed in that Holy and Divine Description of it given by the Apostle Eph. 2. 18. Through Christ we have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father No Tongue can express no mind can reach the Heavenly placidness and Soul-satisfying Delight which are intimated in these words To come to God as a Father through Christ by the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit revealing him as a Father unto us and enabling us to go to him as a Father how full of sweetness and satisfaction is it Without a due Apprehension of God in this Relation no man can pray as he ought And hereof we have no sense herewith we have no Acquaintance but by the Holy Ghost For we do not consider God in a general manner as he may be said to be a Father unto the whole Creation but in an especial distinguishing Relation as he makes us his Children by Adoption And as it is the Spirit that bears witness with our Spirit that we are thus the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. giving us the highest and utmost Assurance of our Estate of Sonship in this World so being the Spirit of Adoption it is by him alone that we have any Acquaintance with our interest in that Priviledge Some may apprehend that these things belong but little and that very remotely unto the Duty of Prayer and the Assistance we receive by the Spirit therein But the truth is those who are so minded on Consideration know neither what it is to pray nor what doth belong thereunto There is nothing more essential unto this Duty than that in the performance of it we addresse our selves unto God under the Notion of a Father that is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our Father also Without this we cannot have that Holy Delight in this Duty which is required in us and the want whereof ordinarily ruines our design in it And this we can have no spiritual satisfactory sense of but what we receive by and from the Spirit of God Thirdly There belongeth thereunto that Boldness which we have in our Access into the Holy Place or unto the Throne of Grace Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 19 22. Where there is on men a Spirit of
Fear unto Bondage they can never have any Delight in their Approaches unto God And this is removed by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication Rom. 8. 15. For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again unto fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father These things are opposed and the one is only removed and taken away by the other And where the Spirit of Bondage unto fear abides there we cannot cry Abba Father or pray in a due manner But where the Spirit of God is there is Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 18. And this as we render the Word consists in two things 1. in orandi libertate 2. in exauditionis fiducia 1. There is in it an Enlarged Liberty and freedom of speech in Prayer unto God So the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Freedom to speak all that is to be spoken a Confidence that countenanceth men in the freedom of speech according to the Exigency of their state condition and cause So the word is commonly used Eph. 6. 19. Where there is servile fear and dread the Heart is straitned bound up knows not what it may what it may not utter and is pained about the Issue of all it thinks or speaks or it cannot pray at all beyond what is prescribed unto it to say as it were whether it will or no But where this Spirit of Liberty and Boldness is the Heart is enlarged with a true genuine Openness and Readiness to express all its concerns unto God as a Child unto its Father I do not say that those who have this Aid of the Spirit have always this Liberty in Exercise or equally so The exercise of it may be variously impeded by Temptations spiritual Indispositions Desertions and by our own negligence in stirring up the Grace of God But Believers have it always in the Root and Principle even all that have received the Spirit of Adoption and are ordinarily assisted in the use of it Hereby are they enabled to comply with the blessed advice of the Apostle Phil. 4. 6. Be careful in nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God The whole of our concern in this World is to be committed unto God in Prayer as that we should not retain any dividing cares in our own minds about them And herein the Apostle would have us to use an holy Freedom and Boldness in speaking unto God on all occasions as one who concerns himself in them hide nothing from God which we do what lyeth in us when we present it not unto him in our Prayers but use a full plain-hearted open Liberty with him In every thing let your requests be made known unto God He is ready to hear all that you have to offer unto him or plead before him And in so doing the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ v. 7. which is ordinarily the condition of those who are found in diligent obedience unto this Command 2. There is also in it a Confidence of Acceptance or being heard in Prayer that is that God is well pleased with their Duties accepting both them and their Persons in Jesus Christ. Without this we can have no Delight in Prayer or in God as the Object of it which vitiates the whole Duty When Adam thought there was no Acceptance with God for him he had no confidence of access unto him but as the first effect of folly that ensued on the entrance of Sin went to hide himself And all those who have no Ground of spiritual Confidence for Acceptance with Christ do in their Prayer but endeavour to hide themselves from God by the Duty which they perform They cast a mist about them to obscure themselves from the Sight of their own Convictions wherein alone they suppose that God sees them also But in such a frame there is neither Delight nor Enlargement nor Liberty nor indeed Prayer it self Now this Confidence or Boldness which is given unto Believers in their Prayers by the Holy Ghost respects not the Answer of every particular Request especially in their own understanding of it but it consists in an Holy perswasion that God is well pleased with their Duties accepts their Persons and delights in their Approaches unto his Throne Such Persons are not terrified with Apprehensions that God will say unto them What have you to do to take my name into your mouths or to what purpose are the multitude of your Supplications when you make many Prayers I will not hear Will he saith Job plead with me with his great Power no but he will put strength in me Chap. 23. 6. Yea they are assured that the more they are with God the more constantly they abide with him the better is their Acceptance For as they are commanded to Pray always and not to faint so they have a sufficient Warranty from the Encouragement and Call of Christ to be frequent in their spiritual Addresses to him so he speaks to his Church Cant. 2. 14. Oh my Dove let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy Voice for sweet is thy Voice and thy Countenance is comely And herein also is comprized a due Apprehension of the Goodness and Power of God whereby he is in all conditions ready to receive them and able to relieve them The Voice of Sinners by Nature let presumption and superstition pretend what they please to the contrary is that God is austere and not capable of Condescension or compassion And the proper acting of Unbelief lyes in limiting the most Holy saying Can God do this or that thing which the Supplies of our necessities do call for are they possible with God So long as either of these worketh in us with any kind of prevalency it is impossible we should have any Delight in calling upon God But we are freed from them by the Holy Ghost in the Representation he makes of the ingaged goodness and Power of God in the Promises of the Covenant which gives us Boldness in his presence Fourthly It is the Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer to keep the Souls of Believers Intent upon Jesus Christ as the only way and means of Acceptance with God This is the fundamental Direction for Prayer now under the Gospel We are now to ask in his name which was not done expresly under the Old Testament Through him we Act Faith on God in all our Supplications By him we have an Access unto the Father We enter into the Holiest through the new and living Way that he hath consecrated for us The various Respect which Faith hath unto Jesus Christ as Mediator in all our Prayers is a matter worthy a particular enquiry but is not of our present consideration wherein we declare the Work of the Spirit
things that had some low and mean Resemblance of what was intended in the Words suggested unto him by the Holy Spirit as he was a Type of Christ yet the Depth of the Mysteries contained therein the principal Scope and Design of the Holy Ghost was in a great measure concealed from himself and much more from others Only it was given out unto the Church by immediate Inspiration that Believers might search and diligently inquire into what was signified and foretold therein that so thereby they might be gradually led into the Knowledge of the Mysteries of God according as he was pleased graciously to communicate of his Saving Light unto them But withal it was Revealed unto David and the other Prophets that in these things they did not minister unto themselves but unto us as having Mysteries in them which they could not which they were not to comprehend But as this Gift is ceased under the New Testament after the finishing of the Canon of the Scripture nor is it by any pretended unto So was it confined of old unto a very few inspired Persons and belongs not unto our present enquiry for we speak only of those things which are common unto all Believers And herein a preference must in all things be given unto those under the New Testament If therefore it could be proved which I know it cannot be that the Generality of the Church under the Old Testament made use of any Forms of Prayers as mere Forms of Prayer without any other end use or mystical Instruction all which concurred in their Prophetical Composures for the sole end of Prayer yet would it not whatever any pretend or plead thence follow that Believers under the New Testament may do the same much less that they may be obliged always so to do For there is now a more Plentiful and Rich Effusion of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication upon them than was upon those of old And as our Duty is to be regulated by Gods Commands so Gods Commands are suited unto the Dispensation of his Grace For Persons under the New Testament who are Commanded to Pray not to make use constantly in their so doing of the Gifts Aids and Assistance of the Spirit which are peculiarly dispensed and communicated therein on pretence of what was done under the Old is to reject the Grace of the Gospel and to make themselves Guilty of the highest Ingratitude Wherefore although we may and ought to bear with them who having not received any thing of this promised Grace and Assistance nor do believe there is any such thing do plead for the use of Forms of Prayer to be composed by some and read by others or themselves and that only in the Discharge of this Duty Yet such as have been made Partakers of this Grace and who own it their Duty constantly to use and improve the promised Aids of the Spirit of God will be careful not to admit of any such principles or practice as would plainly annihilate the Promise Thus much then we may suppose our selves to have obtained in the Consideration of this Testimony That God hath promised under the New Testament to give unto Believers in a plentiful manner or measure the Spirit of Grace and Supplication or his own Holy Spirit enabling them to pray according to his mind and will The way and manner of his Work therein shall be afterwards declared And it may suffice to oppose in General this one Promise unto the open reproaches and bold Contempts that are by many cast on the Spirit of Prayer whose Framers unless they can blot this Text out of the Scripture will fail at last in their design We shall not therefore need to plead any other Testimony to the same purpose in the way of Promises Only we may observe that this being expresly assigned as a part of the Gracious Work of the Holy Spirit as promised under the New Testament there is no one Promise to that purpose wherein this Grace is not included Therefore the known Multiplication of them addeth strength unto our Argument CHAP. III. Gal. 4. 6. Opened and Vindicated THE next general Evidence given unto the Truth under Consideration is the Account of the Accomplishment of this Promise under the New Testament where also the Nature of the Operation of the Holy Spirit herein is in general expressed And ' this is Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son crying Abba Father An Account as was said is here given of the Accomplishment of the Promise before explained And sundry things may be considered in the Words First The Subject on whom he is bestowed and in whom he worketh are Believers or those who by the Spirit of Adoption are made the Children of God We receive the Adoption of Sons and because we are Sons he sendeth his Spirit into our Hearts And this priviledge of Adoption we obtain by Faith in Christ Jesus John 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Secondly There is an especial Appellation or Description of the Spirit as promised and given unto this purpose He is the Spirit of the Son That the Original ground and Reason hereof is his Eternal Relation to the Son as proceeding from him hath been elsewhere evinced But there is something more particular here intended He is called the Spirit of the Son with respect unto his Communication to Believers There is therefore included herein that especial Regard unto Jesus Christ the Son of God which is in the Work mentioned as it is an Evangelical Mercy and Priviledge He is therefore called the Spirit of the Son not only because of his eternal Procession from him But 1. Because he was in the first place given unto him as the Head of the Church for the Unction Consecration and Sanctification of his humane Nature Here he laid the Foundation and gave an example of what he was to do in and towards all his Members 2. It is immediately from and by him that he is communicated unto us and that two ways 1. Authoritatively by Virtue of the Covenant between the Fatherand him whereon upon his Accomplishment of the Work of the Mediation in a State of Humiliation according to it he received the Promise of the Spirit that is Power and Authority to bestow him on whom he would for all the ends of that Mediation Acts 2. 33. Chap. 5. 31. 2 Formally in that all the Graces of the Spirit are derived unto us from him as the Head of the Church as the spring of all spiritual Life in whom they were all treasured and laid up unto that purpose Col. 2. 19. Eph. 4. 16. Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. Secondly The Work of this Spirit in general as bestowed on Believers is partly included partly expressed in these words In general which is included He enables them to behave themselves suitably unto that state and
God and the Duty of Prayer to imagine that the matter of them so as to suit the various conditions of Believers can be pent up in any one Form of mans devising Much of what we are to pray about may be in general and doctrinally comprized in a Form of Words as they are in the Lords Prayer which gives directions in and a boundary unto our requests But that the things themselves should be prepared and suited unto the condition and wants of them that are to pray is a fond imagination 3. There is a vast difference between an objective Proposal of good things to be prayed for unto the consideration of them that are to pray which men may do and the implanting an acquaintance with them and Love unto them upon the mind and Heart which is the Work of the Holy Ghost 4. When things are so prepared and cast into a form of Prayer those by whom such forms are used do no more understand them than if they had never been cast into any such form unless the Spirit of God give them an understanding of them which the form it self is no sanctified means unto And where that is done there is no need of it 5. It is the Work of the Holy Spirit to give unto Believers such a comprehension of promised Grace and Mercy as that they may constantly apply their minds unto that or those things in an especial manner which are suited unto their present daily wants and occasions with the frame and dispositions of their Souls and Spirit This is that which gives spiritual beauty and order unto the Duty of Prayer namely the suiting of Wants and Supplies of a thankful disposition and Praises of Love and Admiration unto the excellencies of God in Christ all by the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost But when a Person is made to pray by his Directory for things though good in themselves yet not suited unto his present state frame inclination wants and desires there is Spiritual Confusion and disorder and nothing else Again What we have spoken concerning the Promises must also be applied unto all the Precepts or Commands of God These in like manner are the matter of our Prayers both as to Confession and Supplication And without a right understanding of them we can perform no part of this duty as we ought This is evident in their apprehension who repeating the words of the Decalogue do subjoyn their acknowledgments of a want of Mercy with respect unto the Transgression of them I suppose and their desires to have their hearts inclined to keep the Law But the Law with all the Commands of God are Spiritual and inward with whose true sense and importance in their extent and latitude we cannot have an useful Acquaintance but by the enlightning instructing efficacy of the Grace of the Spirit And where this is the mind is greatly supplied with the true matter of Prayer For when the Soul hath learnt the Spirituality and Holiness of the Law its extent unto the inward frame and disposition of our Hearts as well as unto outward Actions and its requiring absolute Holiness Rectitude and Conformity unto God at all times and in all things then doth it see and learn its own discrepancy from it and coming short of it even then when as to outward Acts and Duties it is unblameable And hence do proceed those Confessions of Sin in the best and most holy Believers which they who understand not these things do deride and scorn By this means therefore doth the Holy Spirit help us to pray by supplying us with the due and proper matter of Supplications even by acquainting us and affecting our hearts with the Spirituality of the Command and our coming short thereof in our dispositions and frequent inordinate actings of our Minds and Affections He who is instructed herein will on all occasions be prepared with a fulness of matter for Confession and Humiliation as also with a sense of that Grace and Mercy which we stand in need of with respect unto the Obedience required of us Thirdly He alone gides and directs Believers to pray or ask for any thing in order unto right and proper Ends. For there is nothing so excellent in it self so useful unto us so acceptable unto God as the matter of Prayer but it may be vitiated corrupted and Prayer it self be rendred vain by an application of it unto false or mistaken Ends. And that in this case we are relieved by the Holy Ghost it is plain in the Text under consideration For helping our infirmities and teaching us what to pray for as we ought he maketh Intercession for us according unto God that is his mind or his will v. 27. This is well explained by Origen on the Place Velut si magister suscipiens ad Rudiment a Discipulum ignorantem penitus literas ut eum docere possit instituere necesse habet inclindre se ad Discipuli rudimenta ipse prius dicere nomen literae ut respondendo discipulus discat sit quodammodo Magister incipienti Discipulo similis ea loquens ea meditans quae incipiens loqui debeat ac meditari It a Sanctus Spiritus ubi oppugnationibus carnis perturbari nostrum Spiritum viderit nescientem quid orare debeat secundum quod oportet ipse velut Magister orationem praemittit quam noster spiritus si tamen Discipulus esse Sancti Spiritus desiderat prosequatur ipse gemitus ossert quibus noster spiritus discat ingemiscere ut repropitiet sibi Deum To the same purpose speaks Damascen lib. 4. Ch. 3. and Austin in sundry places collected by Beda in his Comment on this He doth it in us and by us or enableth us so to do For the Spirit himself without us hath no Office to be performed immediately towards God nor any Nature inferiour unto the Divine wherein he might intercede The whole of any such Work with respect unto us is incumbent on Christ he alone in his own Person performeth what is to be done with God for us What the Spirit doth he doth in and by us He therefore directs and enableth us to make Supplications according to the mind of God And herein God is said to know the mind of the Spirit that is his end and design in the matter of his requests This God knows that is approves of and accepts So it is the Spirit of God who directs us as to the design and end of our Prayers that they may find Acceptance with God But yet there may be and I believe there is more in that expression God knoweth the mind of the Spirit For he worketh such high holy spiritual desires and designs in the minds of Believers in their Supplications as God alone knoweth and understandeth in their full extent and latitude That of our selves we are apt to fail and mistake hath been declared from James 4. 3. I shall not here insist on particulars but only mention two general
alone And this is a part of it that he keeps our Souls intent upon Christ according unto what is required of us as he is the Way of our Approach unto God the Means of our Admittance and the Cause of our Acceptance with him And where Faith is not actually exercised unto this purpose all Prayer is vain and unprofitable And whether our Duty herein be answered with a few words wherein his name is expressed with little spiritual regard unto him is worth our Enquiry To enable us hereunto is the Work of the Holy Ghost He it is that glorifies Jesus Christ in the Hearts of Believers John 16. 14. And this he doth when he enableth them to act Faith on him in a due manner So speaks the Apostle expresly Eph. 2. 18. For through him we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father It is through Jesus alone that we have our Access unto God and that by Faith in him So we have our Access unto him for our Persons in Justification Rom. 5. 2. By whom we have an Access by Faith unto this Grace wherein we stand And by him we have our actual Access unto him in our Supplications when we draw nigh to the Throne of Grace But this is by the Spirit It is he who enables us hereunto by keeping our minds spiritually intent on him in all our Addresses unto God This is a genuine Effect of the Spirit as he is the Spirit of the Son under which Consideration in an especial manner he is bestowed on us to enable us to pray Gal. 4. 6. And hereof Believers have a refreshing Experience in themselves Nor doth any thing leave a better savour or relish on their Souls than when they have had their Hearts and minds kept close in the exercise of Faith on Christ the Mediator in their Prayers I might yet insist on more Instances in the Declaration of the Work of the Holy Ghost in Believers as he is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication But my design is not to declare what may be spoken but to speak what ought not to be omitted Many other things therefore might be added but these will suffice to give an express understanding of this Work unto them who have any spiritual Experience of it and those who have not will not be satisfied with Volumes to the same purpose Yet something may be here added to free our passage from any just Exceptions For it may be some will think that these things are not pertinent unto our present purpose which is to discover the Nature of the Duty of Prayer and the Assistance which we receive by the Spirit of God therein Now this is only in the Words that we use unto God in our Prayers and not in that Spiritual Delight and Confidence which have been spoken unto which with other Graces if they may be so esteemed are of another Consideration An. 1. It may be that some think so and also it may be and is very likely that some who will be talking about these things are utterly ignorant what it is to pray in the Spirit and the whole nature of this Duty Not knowing therefore the thing they hate the very name of it as indeed it cannot but be uncouth unto all who are no way interessed in the Grace and priviledge intended by it The objections of such Persons are but as the stroaks of Blind-men whatever strength and violence be in them they always miss the mark Such are the fierce arguings of the most against this Duty they are full of Fury and Violence but never touch the Matter intended 2. My design is so to discover the Nature of Praying in the Spirit in general as that therewith I may declare what is a furtherance thereunto and what is an hindrance thereof For if there be any such Ways of Praying which men use or oblige themselves unto which do not comply with or are not suited to promote or are unconcerned in or do not express those workings of the Holy Ghost which are so directly assigned unto him in the Prayers of Believers they are all nothing but means of Quenching the Spirit of disappointing the Work of his Grace and rendring the Prayers themselves so used and as such unacceptable with God And apparent it is at least that most of the ways and modes of Prayer used in the Papacy are inconsistent with and exclusive of the whole Work of the Spirit of Supplication CHAP. VII The nature of Prayer in General with respect unto Forms of Prayer and Vocal Prayer Eph. 6. 18. Opened and Vindicated THE Duty I am endeavouring to express is that injoyned in Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all Perseverance and Supplication for all Saints Some have made bold to advance a fond Imagination as what will not Enmity unto the Holy ways of God put men upon that praying in the Spirit intends only praying by vertue of an extraordinary and miraculous Gift But the use of it is here enjoyned unto all Believers none excepted men and Women who yet I suppose had not all and every one of them that extraordinary miraculous Gift which they fansie to be intended in that Expression And the Performance of this Duty is enjoyned them in the manner prescribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always say we in every season that is such just and due seasons of Prayer as Duty and our Occasions call for But the Apostle expresly confines the exercise of extraordinary Gifts unto some certain seasons when under some Circumstances they may be needful or useful unto Edification 1 Cor. 14. There is therefore a praying in the Spirit which is the constant Duty of all Believers and it is a great reproach unto the Profession of Christianity where that name it self is a matter of Contempt If there be any thing in it that is Foolish Conceited Fanatical the Holy Apostle must answer for it Yea he by whom he was inspired But if this be the Expression of God himself of that Duty which he requireth of us I would not willingly be among the number of them by whom it is derided let their pretences be what they please Besides in the Text all Believers are said thus to pray in the Spirit at all seasons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all Prayer and Supplication that is with all manner of Prayer according as our own Occasions and Necessities do require A man certainly by vertue of this Rule can scarce judge himself obliged to confine his performance of this Duty unto a prescript form of Words For a Variety in our Prayers commensurate unto the various occasions of our selves and of the Church of God being here enjoyned us how we can comply therewith in the constant use of any one Form I know not those who do are left unto their Liberty And this we are obliged unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diligently watching unto this very
the state of Grace in one whereof every man is supposed to be there are certain Heavenly sparks suited unto each condition the main Duty of all men is to stir them up and encrease them Even in the Remainders of lapsed nature there are Coelestes igniculi in-notices of Good and Evil Accusations and Apologies of Conscience These none will deny but that they ought to be stirred up and encreased which can be no otherwise done but in their sedulous exercise Nor is there any such effectual way of their Exercise as in the Souls application of it self unto God with respect unto them which is done in Prayer only But as for those whom in this matter we principally regard that is professed Believers in Jesus Christ there is none of them but have such Principles of spiritual Life and therein of all obedience unto God and communion with him as being improved and exercised under those continual supplies of the Spirit which they receive from Christ their Head will enable them to discharge every Duty that in every Condition or Relation is required of them in an acceptable manner Among these is that of an Ability for Prayer and to deny them to have it supposing them true Believers is expresly to contradict the Apostle affirming that because we are Sons God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts whereby we cry Abba Father But this Ability as I have shewed is no way to be improved but in and by a constant exercise Now whether the use of the Forms enquired into which certainly taketh men off from the Exercise of what Ability they have do not tend directly to keep them still low and mean in their Abilities is not hard to determine But suppose these spoken of are not yet real Believers but only such as profess the Gospel not yet sincerely converted unto God whose Duty also it is to pray on all occasions These have no such principle or Ability to improve and therefore this Advantage is not by them to be neglected I answer that the matter of all spiritual Gifts is spiritual Light according therefore to their measure in the Light of the knowledge of the Gospel such is their measure in spiritual Gifts also If they have no spiritual Light no insight into the knowledge of the Gospel Prayers framed and composed according unto it will be of little use unto them If they have any such Light it ought to be improved by Exercise in this Duty which is of such indispensible necessity unto their Souls 5. But yet the Advantage which all sorts of Persons may have hereby in having the matter of Prayer prepared for them and suggested unto them is also insisted on This they may be much to seek in who yet have sincere desires to pray and whose Affections will comply with what is proposed unto them And this indeed would carry a great Appearance of Reason with it but that there are other ways appointed of God unto this End and which are sufficient thereunto under the Guidance conduct and assistance of the Blessed Spirit whose Work must be admitted in all parts of this Duty unless we intend to frame Prayers that shall be an abomination to the Lord. Such are mens diligent and sedulous consideration of themselves their spiritual state and condition their wants and desires a diligent consideration of the Scripture or the Doctrine of it in the Ministery of the Word whereby they will be both instructed in the whole matter of Prayer and convinced of their own concernment therein with all other Helps of coming to the knowledge of God and themselves all which they are to attend unto who intend to pray in a due manner To furnish men with Prayers to be said by them and so to satisfy their Consciences whilst they live in the neglect of these things is to deceive them and not to help or instruct them And if they do conscientiously attend unto these things they will have no need of those other pretended helps For men to live and converse with the World not once enquiring into their own ways or reflecting on their own hearts unless under some charge of Conscience accompanied with fear or danger never endeavouring to examine try or compare their state and condition with the Scripture nor scarce considering either their own wants or Gods Promises to have a Book lye ready for them wherein they may read a Prayer and so suppose they have discharged their Duty in that matter is a course which surely they ought not to be countenanced or encouraged in Nor is the perpetual Rotation of the same words and Expressions suited to instruct or carry on men in the knowledge of any thing but rather to divert the mind from the due consideration of the things intended and therefore commonly issues in Formality And where men have words or Expressions prepared for them and suggested unto them that really signify the things wherein they are concerned yet if the Light and knowledge of those Principles of Truth whence they are derived and whereinto they are resolved be not in some measure fixed and abiding in their Minds they cannot be much benefited or edisied by their Repetition 6. Experience is pleaded in the same case and this with me where Persons are evidently conscientious is of more moment than an hundred notional Arguments that cannot be brought to that Trial. Some therefore say that they have had spiritual Advantage the Exercise of Grace and Holy Entercourse with God in the use of such Forms and have their Affections warmed and their Hearts much bettered thereby And this they take to be a clear Evidence and token that they are not disapproved of God Yea that they are a great advantage at least unto many in Prayer Answ. Whether they are approved or disapproved of God whether they are Lawful or Unlawful we do not consider but only whether they are for spiritual Benefit and Advantage for the good of our own Souls and the Edification of others as set up in competition with the Exercise of the Gift before described And herein I am very unwilling to oppose the Experience of any one who seems to be under the conduct of the least beam of Gospel Light Only I shall desire to propose some few things to their consideration As 1. Whether they understand aright the difference that is between natural Devotion occasionally excited and the due actings of Evangelical Faith and Love with other Graces of the Spirit in a way directed unto by Divine Appointment All men who acknowledge a Deity or Divine Power which they adore when they address themselves seriously to perform any Religious Worship thereunto in their own way be it what it will will have their Affections moved and excited suitably unto the Apprehensions they have of what they worship Yea though in particular it have no Existence but in their own Imaginations For these things ensue on the general notion of a Divine Power and not on the
a Gracious Ability for the discharge of it in a due manner These therefore must belong unto and do comprise his Efficiency as a Spirit of Supplication Both of them are included in that of the Apostle The Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8. 26. Those who can put any other sense on this Promise may do well to express it Every one consistent with the Analogy of Faith shall be admitted so that we do not judge the Words to be void of sense and to have nothing in them To deny the Spirit of God to be a Spirit of Supplication in and unto Believers is to reject the Testimony of God himself By the ways mentioned we affirm that he is so nor can any other way be assigned 1. He is so by working gracious Inclinations and Dispositions in us unto this Duty It is he who prepareth disposeth and inclineth the hearts of Believers unto the Exercise thereof with delight and Spiritual Complacency And where this is not no Prayer is acceptable unto God He Delights not in those cryes which an unwilling mind is pressed and forced unto by Earthly desires distress or misery James 4. 5. Of our selves naturally we are averse from any converse and entercourse with God as being alienated from living unto him by the Ignorance and vanity of our minds And there is a secret Alienation still working in us from all duties of immediate Communion with him It is he alone who worketh us unto that frame wherein we Pray Continually as it is required of us Our Hearts being kept ready and prepared for this Duty on all Occasions and Opportunities being in the mean time acted and steered under the Conduct and Influence of those Graces which are to be exercised therein This some call the Grace of Prayer that is given us by the Holy Ghost as I suppose improperly though I will not contend about it For Prayer absolutely and formally is not a peculiar Grace distinct from all other Graces that are exercised in it But it is the Way and Manner whereby we are to exercise all other Graces of Faith Love Delight fear Reverence self Abasement and the like unto certain especial Ends. And I know no Grace of Prayer distinct or different from the exercise of these Graces It is therefore an Holy commanded Way of the exercise of other Graces but not a peculiar Grace it self Only where any Person is singularly disposed and devoted unto this Duty we may if we please though improperly say that he is Eminent in the Grace of Prayer And I do suppose that this part of his Work will not be denied by any no not that it is intended in the Promise If any are minded to stand at such a distance from other things which are ascribed unto him or have such an abhorrency of allowing him part or interest in our Supplications as that we may in any sense be said to Pray in the Holy Ghost that they will not admit of so much as the Work of his Grace and that wrought in Believers by virtue of this Promise they will manage an Opposition unto his other Actings at too dear a rate to be gainers by it 2. He is so by giving an Ability for Prayer or communicating a Gift unto the minds of men enabling them profitably unto themselves and others to exercise all his Graces in that especial way of Prayer It will be granted afterwards that there may be a Gift of Prayer used where there is no Grace in exercise nor perhaps any to be exercised that is as some improperly express it the Gift of Prayer where the Grace of Prayer is not But in declaring how the Spirit is a Spirit of Supplication we must take in the Consideration of both He both disposeth us to pray that is to the Exercise of Grace in that especial way and enableth us thereunto And where this Ability is wholly and absolutely wanting or where it is rejected or despised although he may act and exercise those very Graces which are to be exercised in Prayer and whose Exercise in that way is commonly called the Grace of Prayer yet this Work of his belongs unto the General head of Sanctification wherein he preserves excites and acts all our Graces and not unto this especial Work of Prayer nor is he a Spirit of Supplication therein He is therefore only a Spirit of Supplication properly as he communicates a Gift or Ability unto Persons to exercise all his Graces in the way and Duty of Prayer This is that which he is here promised for and promised to be poured out for that is to be given in an abundant and plentiful manner Whereever he is bestowed in the accomplishment of this Promise he both disposeth the hearts of men to pray and enableth them so to do This Ability indeed he communicates in great variety as to the Degrees of it and usefulness unto others in its exercise but he doth it unto every one so far as is necessary unto his own Spiritual Concernments or the discharge of his Duty towards God and all others But whereas this Assertion contains the Substance of what we plead for the farther confirmation of it must be the Principal Subject of the ensuing Discourse That this is the sense of the place and the mind of the Holy Ghost in the Words needs no other Demonstration but that it is expressive of their proper Signification neither can any other sense tolerably be affixed on them To deny the Holy Spirit to be denominated a Spirit of Supplication because he enclineth disposeth and enableth them to pray unto whom he is promised and on whom he is bestowed as such is to use a little too much Liberty in Sacred things A Learned man of late out of hatred unto the Spirit of Prayer or Prayer as his Gift hath endeavoured to deprive the Church of God of the whole benefit and comfort of this Promise Amyrald praefat in Psal. For he contends that it belongs not unto the Christian Church but unto the Jews only Had he said it belonged unto the Jews in the first place who should be converted unto Christ he had not gone so wide from the Truth nor from the sense of other Expositors though he had said more than he could prove But to suppose that any Grace any Mercy any Priviledge by Jesus Christ is promised unto the Jews wherein Gentile Believers shall be no Sharers that they should not partake of the same kind whoever hath the Prerogative as to Degrees is fond and impious For if they also are Children of Abraham if the Blessing of Faithful Abraham do come upon them also if it is through them that he is the Heir of the World his Spiritual Seed inhabiting it by Right in all places then unto them do all the Promises belong that are made unto him and his Seed And whereas most of the Exceeding great and precious Promises of the Old Testament are made to Jacob and Israel to Hierusalem and
Zion it is but saying that they are all confined unto the Jews and so at once despoil the Church of God of all Right and Title to them which Impious folly and Sacriledge hath been by some attempted But whereas all the Promises belong unto the same Covenant with all the Grace contained in them and exhibited by them who ever is interessed by Faith in that Covenant is so in all the Promises of God that belong thereunto and hath an equal Right unto them with those unto whom they were first given To suppose now that the Jews are rejected for their Unbelief that the Promises of God made unto them whilst they stood by Faith are ceased and of no use is to overthrow the Covenant of Abraham and indeed the whole Truth of the New Testament But the Apostle assures us that all the Promises of God are in Christ Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us that is in their Accomplishment in us and towards us 2 Cor. 1. 20. So also he positively affirms that all Believers have Received those Promises which Originally were made unto Israel 2 Cor. 6. 16 17 18. Chap 7. 1. And not only so but he declareth also that the Promises which were made of old unto particular Persons on especial Occasions as to the Grace Power and Love contained in them and intended by them do yet belong unto all individual Believers and are applicable by them unto all their especial Occasions Heb. 13. 5 6. And their Right unto or interest in all the Promises of God is that which those who are concerned in the Obedience of Faith would not forego for all that this World can supply them withal This therefore is only a particular Instance of the Work and Effect of the Spirit as he is in general promised in the Covenant And as we have declared the Promises of him as a Spirit of Grace and Holiness in the Covenant belong unto the Believers of the Gentiles also If they do not they have neither share nor Interest in Christ which is a better Plea for the Jew than this peculiar Instance will afford But this Promise is only an especial Declaration of what in one case this Spirit shall do who is promised as a Spirit of Grace and Holiness in the Covenant And therefore the Author of the Evasion suspecting that the fraud and Sacriledge of it would be detected betakes himself to other Subterfuges which we shall afterwards meet with so far as we are concerned It may be more soberly objected that the Spirit of Grace and Supplication was given unto Believers under the Old Testament and therefore if there be no more in it if some Extraordinary Gift be not here intended how comes it to be made an Especial Promise with Respect unto the times of the New Testament It may therefore be supposed that not the Ordinary Grace or Gift of Prayer which Believers and especially the Officers of the Church do receive but some Extraordinary Gift bestowed on the Apostles and first Converts to the Church is here intended So the Prophecies concerning the Effusion of the Spirit on all sorts of Persons Joel 2. is interpreted by Peter and applied unto the sending of the Holy Ghost in Miraculous Gifts on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2. Answer 1. I have elsewhere already in General obviated this Objection by shewing the prodigious folly of that Imagination that the Dispensation of the Spirit is confined unto the first times of the Gospel whereof this Objection is a Branch as Enmity unto the matter treated of is the Occasion of the whole 2. We no where find Grace and Prayer the things here promised to be reckoned among the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit under the New Testament Prayer indeed in an Unknown Tongue was so but Prayer it self was not so no more than Grace which if it were the whole present Church is Graceless 3. The Promise in Joel had express Respect unto the Extraordinary Gifts of Prophecy and Visions and therefore had its Principal Accomplishment in the Day of Pentecost This Promise is quite of another nature 4. That which is Necessary for and the Duty of all Believers and that always is not an Extraordinary Gift bestowed on a few for a season Now if there are any who think that Grace and Prayer are not Necessary unto all Believers or that they may have Abilities and exercise them without any Aid of the Holy Spirit I will not at present contend with them for this is not a place to plead with those by whom the principles of the Christian Faith are denyed Divine Commands are the Rule of our Duty not mans Imaginations 5. If this be not an Especial Promise of the New Testament because the matter of it or Grace Promised was in some Degree and measure enjoyed under the Old then is there no Promise made with Respect unto that Season For the Saints under the Old Testament were really made Partakers of all the same Graces with those under the New Wherefore 6. Two things are intended in the Promise with Respect unto the times of the Gospel 1. An Ampliation and Enlargement of this Grace or Favour as unto the Subjects of it Extensively It was under the Old Testament confined unto a few but now it shall be communicated unto many and diffused all the World over It shall be so poured out as to be shed abroad and imparted thereby unto many That which before was but as the watering of a Garden by an especial hand is now as the Clouds pouring themselves forth on the whole Face of the Earth 2. An Increase of the Degrees of Spiritual Abilities for the performance of it Tit. 3. 5 6. There is now a Rich Communication of the Spirit of Grace and Prayer granted unto Believers in comparison of what was enjoyed under the Old Testament This the very Nature of the Dispensation of the Gospel wherein we Receive from Jesus Christ Grace for Grace doth evince and confirm I suppose it needless to prove that as unto all Spiritual supplies of Grace there is brought in an abundant Administration of it by Jesus Christ the whole Scripture testifying unto it There were indeed under the Old Testament Prayers and Praises of God dictated by a Spirit of Prophecy and Received by immediate Divine Revelation containing Mysteries for the Instruction of the Church in all Ages These Prayers were not suggested unto them by the Aid of the Spirit as a Spirit of Supplication but dictated in and to them by the Spirit as a Spirit of Prophecy Nor did they themselves comprehend the mind of the Holy Spirit in them fully but inquired diligently thereinto as into other Prophecies given out by the Spirit of Christ which was in them 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. An Instance whereof we may have in Psal. 22. A Prayer it is with thanksgiving from first to last Now although David unto whom it was given by Inspiration might find in his own Condition
used by the Apostle in this matter whereby the general Nature of the Work of the Spirit herein will further appear In this place he saith God hath sent forth into our Hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of his Son crying Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. He saith we have received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of the Son given us because we are Sons whereby or in whom we cry Abba Father His acting in us and our acting by him is expressed by the same word And the enquiry here is how in the same Duty he is said to cry in us and we are said to cry in him And there can be no Reason hereof but only because the same Work is both his and ours in divers Respects As it is an Act of Grace and Spiritual Power it is his or it is wrought in us by him alone As it is a Duty performed by us by virtue of his Assistance it is ours by him we cry Abba Father And to deny his actings in our Duties is to overthrow the Gospel And it is Prayer formally considered and as comprizing the Gift of it with its outward Exercise which is intended The mere excitation of the Graces of Faith Love Trust Delight Desire Self-abasement and the like animating Principles of Prayer cannot be expressed by crying though it be included in it Their actual Exercise in Prayer formally considered is that which is ascribed unto the Spirit of God And they seem to deal somewhat severely with the Church of God and all Believers who will not allow that the Work here expresly assigned unto the Spirit of Adoption or of the Son is sufficient for its end or the discharge of this Duty either in private or in the Assemblies of the Church There is no more required unto Prayer either way but our crying Abba Father that is the making our Requests known unto him as our Father in Christ with Supplications and Thanksgivings according as our State and occasions do require And is not the Aid of the Spirit of God sufficient to enable us hereunto It was so of Old and that unto all Believers according as they were called unto this Duty with respect unto their Persons Families or the Church of God If it be not so now it is because either God will not now communicate his Spirit unto his Children or Sons according to the Promise of the Gospel or because indeed this Grace and Gift of his is by men despised neglected and lost And the former cannot be asserted on any safe grounds whatever the latter is our interest to consider This two-fold Testimony concerning the Promise of the Communication of the Holy Spirit or a Spirit of Supplication unto Believers under the New Testament and the accomplishment of it doth sufficiently evince our general Assertion that there is a peculiar Work or special gracious operation of the Holy Ghost in the Prayers of Believers enabling them thereunto For we intend no more hereby but that as they do receive him by vertue of that Promise which the World cannot do in order unto his Gracious efficiency in the Duty of Supplication so he doth actually incline dispose and enable them to cry Abba Father or to call upon God in Prayer as their Father by Jesus Christ. To deny this therefore is to rise up in contradiction unto the express Testimony of God himself and by our unbelief to make him a Lyar. And had we nothing farther to plead in this cause this were abundantly sufficient to reprove the petulant folly of them by whom this Work of the Holy Ghost and the Duty of Believers thereon to Pray in the Spirit if we may use the despised and blasphemed expressions of the Scripture is scorned and derided For as to the Ability of Prayer which is thus received some there are who know no more of it as exercised in a way of Duty but the outside shell and appearance of it and that not from their own Experience but from what they observed in others Of these there are not a few who confidently affirm that it is wholly a Work of Fancy Invention Memory and Wit accompanied with some Boldness and Elocution unjustly fathered on the Spirit of God who is no way concerned therein And it may be they do perswade many no better skilled in these things than themselves that so it is indeed Howbeit those who have any Experience of the real Aids and Assistances of the Spirit of God in this Work and Duty any Faith in the express Testimonies given by God himself hereunto cannot but despise such fabulous Imaginations You may as soon perswade them that the Sun doth not give Light nor the Fire Heat that they see not with their Eyes nor hear with their Ears as that the Spirit of God doth not enable them to pray or assist them in their Supplications And there might some probability be given unto these pretences and unto the total Exclusion of the Holy Ghost from any concernment herein if those concerning whom and their Duties they thus judge were generally Persons known to excel others in those Natural Endowments and acquired Abilities whereunto this Faculty of Prayer is ascribed But will this be allowed by them who make use of this pretence namely that those who are thus able to pray as they pretend by virtue of a Spiritual Gift are Persons excelling in Fancy Memory Wit Invention and Elocution It is known that they will admit of no such thing but in all other Instances they must be represented as dull stupid ignorant unlearned and brutish Only in Prayer they have the advantage of those natural Endowments These things are hardly consistent with common Ingenuity For is it not strange that those who are so contemptible with respect unto natural and acquired Endowments in all other things whether of Science or of Prudence should yet in this one Duty or Work of Prayer so improve them as to out-go the Imitation of them by whom they are despised For as they do not as they will not pray as they do so their own Hearts tell them they cannot which is the true Reason why they so despitefully oppose this praying in the Spirit whatever Pride or Passion pretends to the contrary But things of this nature will again occurr unto us and therefore shall not be here further insisted on Having therefore proved that God hath promised a plentiful dispensation of his Spirit unto Believers under the New Testament to enable them to pray according unto his mind and that in general this Promise is accomplished in and towards all the Children of God It remaineth in the second place as to what we have proposed that we declare what is the Work of the Holy Ghost in them unto this end and purpose or how he is unto us a Spirit of Prayer or Supplication CHAP. IV. The nature of Prayer Rom. 8. 26. Opened and Vindicated PRayer at present I take to be a Gift Ability
themselves in our Supplications are innumerable And there is nothing so excellent in its self so useful unto us so acceptable unto God in the matter of Prayer but it may be vitiated corrupted and Prayer it self rendred vain by an Application of it unto false or mistaken Ends. And what is the Work of the Spirit to guide us herein we shall see in its proper place CHAP. V. The Work of the Holy Spirit as to the matter of Prayer THese things are considerable as to the matter of Prayer and with respect unto them of our selves we know not what we should pray for nor how nor when And the first Work of the Spirit of God as a Spirit of Supplication in Believers is to give them an understanding of all their wants and of the supplies of Grace and Mercy in the Promises causing a sense of them to dwell and abide on their minds as that according unto their measure they are continually furnished with the matter of Prayer without which men never pray and by which in some sense they pray always For 1. He alone doth and he alone is able to give us such an understanding of our own wants as that we may be able to make our thoughts about them known unto God in Prayer and Supplication And what is said concerning our wants is so likewise with respect unto the whole matter of Prayer whereby we give Glory to God either in Requests or Prayers And this I shall manifest in some instances whereunto others may be reduced 1. The Principal matter of our Prayer concerneth Faith and Unbelief So the Apostles prayed in a particular manner Lord increase our Faith and so the poor man prayed in his distress Lord help thou my unbelief I cannot think that they ever pray aright who never pray for the pardon of Unbelief for the removal of it and for the encrease of Faith If Unbelief be the greatest of Sins and if Faith be the greatest of the Gifts of God we are not Christians if those things are not one principal part of the matter of our Prayers Unto this end we must be convinced of the nature and guilt of Unbelief as also of the nature and use of Faith nor without that conviction do we either know our own chiefest wants or what to pray for as we ought And that this is the especial Work of the Holy Ghost our Saviour expresly declares John 16. 9. He convinceth the World of Sin because they believe not on him I do and must deny that any one is or can be convinced of the nature and guilt of that Unbelief either in the whole or in the remainder of it which the Gospel condemneth and which is the great condemning Sin under the Gospel without an especial Work of the Holy Ghost on his mind and Soul For Unbelief as it respecteth Jesus Christ not believing in him or not believing in him as we ought is a Sin against the Gospel and it is by the Gospel alone that we may be convinced of it and that as it is the ministration of the Spirit Wherefore neither the Light of a natural Conscience nor the Law will convince any one of the guilt of Unbelief with respect unto Jesus Christ nor instruct them in the nature of Faith in him No innate Notions of our Minds no Doctrines of the Law will reach hereunto And to think to teach men to pray or to help them out in praying without a sense of Unbelief or the remainders of it in its Guilt and Power the nature of Faith with its necessity use and efficacy is to say unto the naked and the hungry be ye warmed and filled and not give them those things that are needful to the Body This therefore belongs unto the Work of the Spirit as a Spirit of Supplication And let men tear and tire themselves Night and Day with a multitude of Prayers if a Work of the Spirit of God in teaching the nature and Guilt of Unbelief the nature efficacy and use of Faith in Christ Jesus go not with it all will be lost and perish And yet it is marvellous to consider how little mention of these things occurreth in most of those compositions which have been published to be used as Forms of Prayer They are generally omitted in such endeavours as if they were things wherein Christians were very little concerned The Gospel positively and frequently determines the present Acceptation of men with God or their Disobedience with their future Salvation and Condemnation according unto their Faith or Unbelief For their Obedience or Disobedience are infallible consequents thereon Now if things that are of the greatest Importance unto us and whereon all other things wherein our spiritual Estate is concerned do depend be not a part of the subject matter of our daily Prayer I know not what deserveth so to be Secondly The matter of our Prayer respects the Depravation of our natures and our wants on that account The Darkness and Ignorance that is in our Understandings our unacquaintedness with heavenly things and Alienation from the Life of God thereby the secret workings of the Lusts of the mind under the shades and Covert of this darkness the stubbornness obstinacy and perverseness of our Wills by nature with their reluctancies unto and dislike of things spiritual with innumerable latent guiles thence arising all keeping the Soul from a due conformity unto the Holiness of God are things which Believers have an especial regard unto in their Confessions and Supplications They know this to be their Duty and find by experience that the greatest concernment between God and their Souls as to Sin and Holiness do lye in these things And they are never more jealous over themselves than when they find their Hearts least affected with them And to give over treating with God about them for Mercy in their pardon for Grace in their removal and the daily Renovation of the Image of God in them thereby is to renounce all Religion and all designs of living unto God Wherefore without a knowledge a sense a due comprehension of these things no man can pray as he ought because he is unacquainted with the matter of Prayer and knows not what to pray for But this knowledge we cannot attain of our selves Nature is so corrupted as not to understand its own depravation Hence some absolutely deny this Corruption of it so taking away all necessity of labouring after its cure and the Renovation of the Image of God in us And hereby they overthrow the Prayers of all Believers which the Antient Church continually pressed the Pelagians withal Without a sense of these things I must profess I understand not how any man can pray And this knowledge as was said we have not of our selves Nature is blind and cannot see them it is proud and will not own them stupid and is senseless of them It is the Work of the Spirit of God alone to give us a due conviction of a spiritual insight
the Holy Spirit And the nature of the thing it self that is the Duty of Prayer doth manifest it For all that the Spirit of God works in our Hearts with respect unto this Duty is in order unto the Expression of it for what he doth is to enable us to pray And if he gives not that Expression all that he doth besides may be lost as to its principal End and Use. And indeed all that he doth in us where this is wanting or that in fixed Meditation which in some particular cases is equivalent thereunto riseth not beyond that frame which David expresseth by his keeping Silence whereby he declares an Estate of trouble wherein yet he was not freely brought over to deal with God about it as he did afterwards by Prayer and found Relief therein That which with any Pretence of Reason can be objected hereunto namely that not any part only but the whole Duty of Prayer as we are commanded to Pray is an effect in us of the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication or that the Grace of Prayer and the Gift of Prayer as some distinguish are inseparable consists in two unsound Consequents which as is supposed will thence ensue As 1. That every one who hath the Grace of Prayer as it is called or in whom the Holy Spirit worketh the Gracious Disposition before described hath also the Gift of Prayer seeing these things are inseparable And 2. That every one who hath the Gift of Prayer or who hath an Ability to pray with Utterance unto the Edification of others hath also the Grace of Prayer or the actings of saving Grace in Prayer which is the thing intended But these things it will be said are manifestly otherwise and contrary to all Experience Ans. 1. For the first of these Inferences I grant it follows from the Premises and therefore affirm that it is most true under the ensuing Limitations 1. We do not speak of what is called the Grace of Prayer in its Habit or Principle but in its actual Exercise In the first respect it is in all that are sanctified even in those Infants that are so from the Womb. It doth not hence follow that they must also have the Gift of Prayer which respects only Grace in its Exercise And thus our meaning is that all those in whom the Spirit of God doth graciously act Faith Love Delight Desire in a way of Prayer unto God have an Ability from him to express themselves in Vocal Prayer 2. It is required hereunto that such Persons be found in a way of Duty and so meet to receive the influential Assistance of the Holy Spirit Whoever will use or have the Benefit of any Spiritual Gift must himself in a way of Duty stir up by constant and frequent Exercise the Ability wherein it doth consist Stir up the Gift of God that is in thee 2 Tim. 1. 6. And where this Duty is neglected which neglect must be accounted for it is no wonder if any Persons who yet may have as they speak the Grace of Prayer should not yet have the Gift or a faculty to express their Minds and Desires in Prayer by Words of their own Some think there is no such Ability in any and therefore never look after it in themselves but despise whatever they hear spoken unto that purpose What Assistance such Persons may have in their Prayers from the Spirit of Grace I know not but it is not likely they should have much of his Aid or help in that wherein they despise him And some are so accustomed unto and so deceived by pretended helps in Prayer as making use of or reading Prayers by others composed for them that they never attempt to pray for themselves but always think they cannot do that which indeed they will not As if a Child being bred up among none but such impotent Persons as go on Crutches as he groweth up should refuse to try his own strength and resolve himself to make use of Crutches also Good Instruction or some sudden Surprizal with fear removing his prejudice he will cast away this needless help and make use of his Strength Some Gracious Persons brought up where Forms of Prayer are in general use may have a Spiritual Ability of their own to Pray but neither know it nor ever try it through a Compliance with the Principles of their Education Yea so as to think it impossible for them to pray any otherwise But when Instruction frees them from this Prejudice or some suddain surprizal with fear or Affliction cast them into an Entrance of the Exercise of their own Ability in this kind their former Aids and Helps quickly grow into disuse with them 3. The Ability which we ascribe unto all who have the Gracious Assistance of the Spirit in Prayer is not absolute but suited unto their Occasions Conditions Duties Callings and the like We do not say that every one who hath received the Spirit of Grace and Supplication must necessarily have a Gift enabling him to pray as becomes a Minister in the Congregation or any Person on the like solemn occasion no nor yet it may be to pray in a Family or in the Company of many if he be not in his Condition of life called thereunto But every one hath this Ability according to his Necessity Condition of Life and Calling He that is only a private Person hath so and he who is the Ruler of the Family hath so and he that is a Minister of the Congregation hath so also And as God enlargeth mens Occasions and Calls so he will enlarge their Abilities provided they do what is their Duty to that End and Purpose For the slothful the negligent the fearful those that are under the Power of Prejudices will have no share in this Mercy This therefore is the summ of what we affirm in this particular Every Adult Person who hath received and is able to exercise Grace in Prayer any saving Grace without which Prayer it self is an Abomination if he neglect not the improvement of the Spiritual Aids communicated unto him doth so far partake of this Gift of the Holy Spirit as to enable him to pray according as his own occasions and Duty do require He who wants mercy for the Pardon of Sin or Supplies of Grace for the Sanctification of his Person and the like If he be sensible of his Wants and have gracious desires after this supply wrought in his Heart will be enabled to ask them of God in an acceptable manner if he be not wofully and sinfully wanting unto himself and his own Duty Secondly As to the second Inference namely that if this Ability be inseparable from the gracious assistance of the Spirit of Prayer then whosoever hath this Gift and Ability he hath in the exercise of it that Gracious Assistance or he hath received the Spirit of Grace and hath saving Graces acted in him I answer 1. It doth not follow on what we have asserted
better But for evident reasons we will not be bound to stand unto the Testimony of those men although they shall not here be pleaded In the mean time we know that from him which hath not is taken away that which he had And it is no wonder if Persons endowed sometimes with a Gift of Prayer proportionable unto their Light and Illumination improving neither the one nor the other as they ought have lost both their Light and Gift also And thus suitably unto my design and purpose I have given a delineation of the Work of the Holy Ghost as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication promised unto and bestowed on all Believers enabling them to cry Abba Father CHAP. IX Duties inferred from the preceding Discourse THE issue of all inquiries in these things is How we may improve them unto Obedience in the Life of God For if we know them happy are we if we do them and not otherwise And our practice herein may be reduced unto these two heads 1. A due and constant returning of Glory unto God on the account of his Grace in that free Gift of his whose Nature we have enquired into 2. A constant Attendance unto the Duty which we are graciously enabled unto thereby And 1. We ought continually to bless God and give Glory to him for this great priviledge of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication granted unto the Church This is the principal means on their part of all holy entercourse with God and of giving Glory unto him How doth the World which is destitute of this fruit of divine bounty grope in the dark and wander after vain imaginations whilst it knows not how to manage its convictions nor how at all to deal with God about its concerns That World which cannot receive the Spirit of Grace and Truth can never have ought to do with God in a due manner There are by whom this Gift of God is despised is reviled is blasphemed and under the shades of many pretences do they hide themselves from the Light in their so doing But they know not what they do nor by what Spirit they are acted Our Duty it is to pray that God would pour forth his Spirit even on them also who will quickly cause them to look on him whom they have pierced and mourn And it appears two ways how great a Mercy it is to enjoy and improve this priviledge 1. In that both the Psalmist and the Prophet pray directly in a Spirit of Prophecy and without limitation that God would pour out his fury on the Families that call not on his name Psal. 79. 6. Jer. 10. 25. and 2. In that the whole work of Faith in Obedience is denominated from this Duty of Prayer For so it is said that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10. 13. For Invocation or Prayer in the Power of the Spirit of Grace and Supplications is an infallible evidence and fruit of saving Faith and Obedience and therefore is the Promise of Salvation so eminently annexed unto it Or it is placed by a Synecdoche for the whole Worship of God and Obedience of Faith And it were endless to declare the benefits that the Church of God and every one that belongeth thereunto hath thereby No Heart can conceive that Treasury of Mercies which lye in this one priviledge in having Liberty and Ability to approach unto God at all times according unto his Mind and Will This is the Relief the Refuge the Weapons and assured Refreshment of the Church in all Conditions 2. It is a matter of Praise and Glory to God in an especial manner that he hath granted an Ampliation of this Priviledge under the Gospel The Spirit is now poured forth from above and enlarged in his dispensation both intensively and extensively Those on whom he is bestowed do receive him in a larger measure than they did formerly under the Old Testament Thence is that Liberty and boldness in their access unto the Throne of Grace and their crying Abba Father which the Apostle reckons among the great priviledges of the Dispensation of the Spirit of Christ which of old they were not partakers of If the difference between the Old Testament State and the New lay only in the outward letter and the Rule thereof it would not be so easily discerned on which side the advantage lay especially methinks it should not be so by them who seem really to preferr the Pomp of Legal worship before the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel But he who understands what it is not to receive the Spirit of Bondage to fear but to receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father and what it is to serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter understands their difference well enough And I cannot but admire that some will make use of Arguments or a pretence of them for such helps and Forms of Prayer as seem not compliant with the Work of the Spirit of Supplication before described from the Old Testament and the practice of the Church of the Jews before the time of our Saviour though indeed they can prove nothing from thence For do they not acknowledge that there is a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit on the Church under the New Testament than of the Old To deny it is to take away the principal difference between the Law and the Gospel And is not the performance of Duties to be regulated according to the supplies of Grace If we should suppose that the People being then carnal and obliged to the observation of carnal ordinances did in this particular stand in need of Forms of Prayer which indeed they did not of those which were meerly so and only so nor had that we know of any use of them doth it follow that therefore Believers under the New Testament who have unquestionably a larger portion of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication poured on them should either stand in need of them or be obliged unto them And it is in vain to pretend a different dispensation of the Spirit unto them and us where different fruits and effects are not acknowledged He that hath been under the Power of the Law and hath been set free by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus knows the difference and will be thankful for the Grace that is in it Again it is extensively enlarged in that it is now communicated unto Multitudes whereas of old it was confined unto a few Then the dews of it only watered the land of Canaan and the Posterity of Abraham according to the Flesh now the showrs of it are poured down on all Nations even all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours In every Assembly of Mount Zion through the World called according to the mind of Christ Prayers and Supplications are offered unto God through the effectual working
of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication unless he be despised And this is done in the accomplishment of that great Promise Mal. 1. 11. For from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure Offering for my name shall be great among the Heathens saith the Lord of hosts Prayer and Praises in the Assemblies of the Saints is the pure Offering and that Sacrifice which God promiseth shall be offered unto him And this Oblation is not to be kindled without the Eternal Fire of the Spirit of Grace No Sacrifice was to be offered of old but with fire taken from the Altar Be it what it would if it were offered with strange fire it was an Abomination Hence they were all called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firings of the Lord. And this was in a Resemblance of the Holy Ghost Whence Christ is said to offer himself to God through the eternal Spirit And so must we do our Prayers In the fruits and effects of his Workslyes all the Glory and Beauty of our Assemblies and Worship Take them away and they are contemptible dead and carnal And he carrieth this Work into the Families of them that do believe Every Family apart is enabled to pray and serve God in the Spirit and such as are not do live in darkness all their Dayes He is the same to Believers all the World over in their Closets or their Prisons They have all where ever they are an Access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2. 18. And for this enlargement of Grace God justly expects a revenue of Glory from us 3. It is assuredly our Duty to make use of the Gift of the Spirit as that which is purchased for us by Christ and is of inestimable advantage unto our Souls There are two ways whereby men may be guilty of the neglect of this heavenly favour 1. They are so when the Gift it self is not valued nor sought after nor endeavoured to be attained And this is done under various pretences some imagine that it is no Gift of the Spirit and so despise it others think that either by them it is not attainable or that if it be attained it will not answer their labour in it and diligence about it which it doth require and therefore take up with another way and means which they know to be more easy and hope to be as useful By many the whole Duty is despised and consequently all Assistance in the performance of it is so also None of those do I speak unto at present But 2. We are guilty of this neglect when we do not constantly and diligently on all Occasions make use of it for the End for which it is given us yea abound in the exercise of it Have you an Ability to pray always freely given you by the Holy Ghost why do you not pray always in private in Families according to all occasions and opportunities administred Of what concernment unto the Glory of God and in our Life unto him Prayer is will be owned by all It is that only single Duty wherein every Grace is acted every Sin opposed every good thing obtained and the whole of our Obedience in every instance of it is concerned What difficulties lye in the way of its due performance what discouragements rise up against it how unable we are of our selves in a due manner to discharge it what Aversation there is in corrupted nature unto it what Distractions and Weariness are apt to befall us under it are generally known also unto them who are any way exercised in these things Yet doth the Blessedness of our present and future Condition much depend thereon To relieve us against all these things to help our Infirmities to give us Freedom Liberty and Confidence in our Approaches to the Throne of Grace to enable us as Children to cry Abba Father with Delight and Complacency is this Gift of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication given unto us by Jesus Christ. Who can express how great a folly and Sin it is not to be found in the constant exercise of it Can we more by any means grieve this Holy Spirit and endamage our own Souls Hath God given unto us the Spirit of Grace and Supplication and shall we be remiss careless and negligent in Prayer Is not this the worst way whereby we may quench the Spirit which we are so cautioned against Can we go from day to day in the neglect of Opportunities occasions and just seasons of Prayer How shall we answer the Contempt of this gracious Aid offered us by Jesus Christ Do others go from day to day in a neglect of this Duty in their Closets and Families blame them not or at least they are not worthy of so much blame as we They know not how to pray they have no Ability for it But for those to walk in a neglect hereof who have received this Gift of the Holy Ghost enabling them thereunto making it easy unto them and pleasant unto the inner man how great an Aggravation is it of their Sin Shall others at the tinkling of a Bell rise and run unto prayers to be said or sung wherein they can have no spiritual interest only to pacify their Consciences and comply with the prejudices of their Education and shall we be found in the neglect of that Spiritual Aid which is graciously afforded unto us How will the blind Devotion and Superstition of multitudes with their diligence and pains therein rise up in Judgment against such negligent Persons We may see in the Papacy how upon the ringing of a Bell or the lifting up of any Ensign of Superstition they will some of them rise at Midnight others in their Houses yea in the Streets fall on their knees unto their Devotions Having lost the conduct of the Spirit of God and his gracious Guidance unto the performance of Duty in its proper seasons they have invented ways of their own to keep up a frequency in this Duty after their manner which they are true and punctual unto And shall they who have received that Spirit which the World cannot receive be treacherous and disobedient unto his Motions or what he constantly inclines and enables them unto Besides all other Disadvantages which will accrew hereby unto our Souls who can express the horrible Ingratitude of such a Sin I press it the more and that unto all sorts of Prayer in private in Families in Assemblies for that end because the Temptations and Dangers of the daies wherein we live do particularly and eminently call for it If we would talk less and pray more about them things would be better than they are in the World at least we should be better enabled to bear them and undergo our portion in them with the more satisfaction To be negligent herein at such a Season is a sad token of such
turn what they read into Prayer or Praise unto God whereby the Instructions unto Faith and obedience would be more confirmed in their Minds and their Hearts be more engaged into their practice An example hereof we have Psal. 119. wherein all Considerations of Gods will and our Duty are turned into Petitions 3. A due Meditation on Gods glorious Excellencies tends greatly to the cherishing of this gracious Gift of the Holy Spirit There is no example that we have of Prayer in the Scripture but the entrance into it consists in Expressions of the Name and most commonly of some other glorious Titles of God whereunto the Remembrance of some mighty acts of his Power is usually added And the nature of the thing requires it should be so For besides that God hath revealed his Name unto us for this very purpose that we might call upon him by the Name which he owns and takes to himself it is necessary we should by some external description determine our minds unto Him to whom we make our Addresses seeing we cannot conceive any Image or Idea of him therein Now the End hereof is twofold 1. To ingenerate in us that Reverence and Godly fear which is required of all that draw nigh to this infinitely Holy God Lev. 10. 3. Heb. 12. 29. The most signal incouragement unto Boldness in Prayer and an Access to God thereby is in Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. with Chap. 4. 16. Into the Holy place we may go with Boldness and unto the Throne of Grace And it is a Throne of Grace that God in Christ is represented unto us upon But yet it is a Throne still whereon Majesty and Glory do reside And God is always to be considered by us as on a Throne 2. Faith and confidence are excited and acted unto a due Frame thereby For Prayer is our betaking our selves unto God as our shield our Rock and our Reward Prov. 18. 10. Wherefore a due previous consideration of those Holy properties of his Nature which may encourage us so to do and assure us in our so doing is necessary And this being so great a part of Prayer the great Foundation of Supplication and Praise frequent Meditation on these holy Excellencies of the Divine Nature must needs be an excellent preparation for the whole Duty by filling the Heart with a sense of those things which the Mouth is to express and making ready those Graces for their exercise which is required therein 4. Meditation on the Mediation and Intercession of Christ for our Encouragement is of the same importance and tendency To this End spiritually is he proposed unto us as abiding in the discharge of his Priestly Office Heb. 4. 15 16. Chap. 10. 19 20 21 22. And this is not only an Encouragement unto and in our Supplications but a means to increase and strengthen the Grace and Gift of Prayer it self For the Mind is thereby made ready to exercise it self about the effectual Interposition of the Lord Christ at the Throne of Grace in our behalf which hath a principal place and consideration in the Prayers of all Believers And hereby principally may we try our Faith of what Race and kind it is whether truly Evangelical or no. Some relate or talk that the Eagle tries the Eyes of her young ones by turning them to the Sun which if they cannot look steadily on she rejects them as spurious We may truly try our Faith by immediate Intuitions of the Sun of Righteousness Direct Faith to act it self immediately and directly on the Incarnation of Christ and his Mediation and if it be not of the right kind and race it will turn its Eye aside unto any thing else Gods essential Properties his Precepts and Promises it can bear a fixed consideration of but it cannot fix it self on the Person and Mediation of Christ with steadiness and satisfaction There is indeed much profession of Christ in the World but little Faith in him 5. Frequency in Exercise is the immediate way and means of the Increase of this Gift and its improvement All spiritual Gifts are bestowed on men to be imployed and exercised For the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 7. God both requireth that his Talents be traded withal that his Gifts be imployed and exercised and will also call us to an account of the discharge of the trust committed unto us in them see 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. Wherefore the Exercise of this and of the like Gifts tends unto their improvement on a double account For 1. whereas they reside in the mind after the manner and nature of an Habit or a Faculty it is natural that they should be encreased and strengthned by Exercise as all Habits are by a multiplication of Acts proceeding from them So also by desuetude they will weaken decay and in the issue be utterly lost and perish So is it with many as to the Gift of Prayer They were known to have received it in some good measure of usefulness unto their own Edification and that of others But upon a neglect of the Use and Exercise of it in publick and private which seldome goes alone without some secret or open enormities they have lost all their Ability and cannot open their mouths on any Occasion in Prayer beyond what is prescribed unto them or composed for them But the just hand of God is also in this matter depriving them of what they had for their abominable neglect of his Grace and Bounty therein 2. The Encrease will be added unto by vertue of Gods blessing on his own appointment For having bestowed their Gifts for that End where Persons are faithful in the discharge of the trust committed unto them He will graciously add unto them in what they have This is the eternal Law concerning the dispensation of Evangelical Gifts Unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Mat. 25. 29. It is not the meer having or not having of them that is intended but the using or not using of what we have received as is plain in the Context Now I do not say that a man may or ought to exercise himself in Prayer meerly with this design that he may preserve and improve his Gift It may indeed in some cases be lawful for a man to have Respect hereunto but not only As where a Master of a Family hath any one in his Family who is able to discharge that Duty and can attend unto it yet he will find it his Wisdom not to omit his own performance of it unless he be contented his Gift as to the use of his Family should wither and decay But all that I plead is that he who conscientiously with respect unto all the ends of Prayer doth abound in the exercise of this Gift he shall assuredly thrive and grow in it or at least preserve it
immediately enquire But this Examination of it by the Light of Nature will be looked on as most absurd and impertinent For if we must try all matters of Spiritual Communion with God and that in those things which wholly depend on Divine supernatural Revelation by this Rule and Standard our measures of them will be false and perverse And I say no doubt they would Wherefore we call only that concern of it unto a Trial hereby whose true notion is confessedly fixed in the Light of Nature Without extending that line beyond its due bounds we may by it take a just measure of what is Prayer and what is not for therein it cannot deceive nor be deceived And this is all which at present we engage about And in the pursuit of the same enquiry we may bring it also unto the Scripture from which we shall find it as foreign as from the Light of Nature For as it is described so far as any thing intelligible may be from thence collected it exceeds or deviates from whatever is said in the Scripture concerning Prayer even in those places where the Grace and priviledges of it are most emphatically expressed and as it is exemplified in the Prayers of the Lord Christ himself and all the Saints recorded therein Wherefore the Light of Nature and the Scripture do by common consent exclude it from being Prayer in any kind Prayer in the Scripture-representation of it is the Souls Access and Approach unto God by Jesus Christ through the Aids of his Holy Spirit to make known its requests unto him with Supplication and Thanksgiving And that whereon it is recommended unto us are its external Adjuncts and its internal Grace and efficacy Of the first sort Earnestness fervency importunity constancy and perseverance are the principal No man can attend unto these or any of them in a way of Duty but in the Exercise of his mind and understanding Without this whatever looks like any of them is bruitish fury or obstinacy And as unto the internal form of it in that description which is given us of its nature in the Scripture it consists in the especial exercise of Faith Love Delight Fear all the Graces of the Spirit as occasion doth require And in that Exercise of these Graces wherein the Life and Being of Prayer doth consist a continual regard is to be had unto the Mediation of Christ and the free Promises of God through which means he exhibits himself unto us as a God hearing Prayer These things are both plainly and frequently mentioned in the Scripture as they are all of them exemplified in the Prayers of those holy Persons which are recorded therein But for this contemplative Prayer as it is described by our Author and others there is neither precept for it nor Direction about it nor Motive unto it nor Example of it in the whole Scripture And it cannot but seem marvellous to some at least that whereas this Duty and all its concernments are more insisted on therein than any other Christian Duty or priviledge what ever that the Height and Excellency of it and that in comparison whereof all other kinds of Prayer all the actings of the mind and Soul in them are decried should not obtain the least intimation therein For if we should take a view of all the particular places wherein the nature and excellency of this Duty are described with the Grace and priviledge wherewith it is accompained such as for instance Ephes. 6. 18. Phil. 4. 6. Heb. 4. 16. Chap. 10. 19 20 21 22. there is nothing that is consistent with this contemplative Prayer Neither is there in the Prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ nor of his Apostles nor of any Holy men from the beginning of the World either for themselves or the whole Church any thing that gives the least countenance unto it Nor can any man declare what is or can be the Work of the Holy Spirit therein as he is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication nor is any Gift of his mentioned in the Scripture capable of the least exercise therein so that in no sense it can be that praying in the Holy Ghost which is prescribed unto us There is therefore no Example proposed unto our imitation no mark set before us nor any direction given for the attaining of this pretended Excellency and perfection Whatever is fancied or spoken concerning it it is utterly forraign to the Scripture and must owe it self unto the deluded imagination of some few Persons Besides the Scripture doth not propose unto us any other kind of Access unto God under the New Testament nor any nearer approaches unto him than what we have in and through the Mediation of Christ and by Faith in him but in this pretence there seems to be such an immediate Enjoyment of God in his Essence aimed at as is regardless of Christ and leaves him quite behind But God will not be All in all immediately unto the Church until the Lord Christ hath fully delivered up the Mediatory Kingdom unto him And indeed the silence concerning Christ in the whole of what is ascribed unto this contemplative Prayer or rather the Exclusion of him from any concernment in it as Mediator is sufficient with all considerate persons to evince that it hath not the least interest in the Duty of Prayer name or thing Neither doth this Imagination belong any more unto any other part or exercise of Faith in this World and yet here we universally walk by Faith and not by sight The whole of what belongs unto it may be reduced unto the two heads of what we do towards God and what we do enjoy of him therein And as to the first all the actings of our Souls towards God belong unto our Reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. more is not required of us in a way of Duty But that is no part of our Reasonable service wherein our Minds and understandings have no concernment Nor is it any part of our Enjoyment of God in this life For no such thing is any where promised unto us and it is by the Promises alone that we are made partakers of the Divine Nature or have any thing from God communicated unto us There seems therefore to be nothing in the Bravery of these affected expressions but an endeavour to fancy somewhat above the measure of all possible attainments in this life falling unspeakably beneath those of future Glory A kind of Purgatory it is in Devotion somewhat out of this World and not in another above the Earth and beneath Heaven where we may leave it in Clouds and darkness CHAP. XI Prescribed forms of Prayer Examined THERE are also great Pleas for the use of prescribed limited Forms of Prayer in opposition to that spiritual Ability in Prayer which we have described and proved to be a Gift of the Holy Ghost Where these Forms are contended for by men with respect unto their own use and practice only as suitable to their Experience and
Application of them to such Idols as indeed are nothing in the World There will be in such Persons Dread and Reverence and Fear as there was in some of the Heathen unto an unspeakable Horror when they entred into the Temples and meerly imaginary presence of their Gods the whole Work being begun and finished in their Fancies And sometimes great joys satisfactions and delights do ensue on what they do For as what they so do is suited to the best Light they have and men are apt to have a complacency in their own inventions as Micah had Judg. 17. 13. and upon inveterate prejudices which are the Guides of most men in Religion their Consciences find Relief in the discharge of their Duty These things I say are found in Persons of the Highest and most dreadful Superstitions in the World yea heightened unto inexpressible Agitations of Mind in Horror on the one side and Raptures or Ecstasies on the other And they are all tempered and qualifyed according to the mode and way of Worship wherein men are ingaged but in themselves they are all of the same nature that is natural or effects and impressions upon Nature So it is with the Mahumetans who excel in this Devotion and so it is with Idolatrous Christians who place the Excellency and Glory of their profession therein Wherefore such Devotion such affections will be excited by Religious offices in all that are sincere in their use whether they be of Divine Appointment or no. But the actings of Faith and Love on God through Christ according to the Gospel or the Tenour of the New Covenant with the effects produced thereby in the Heart and Affections are things quite of another kind and nature and unless men do know how really to distinguish between these things it is to no purpose to plead Spiritual Benefit and Advantage in the use of such Forms seeing possibly it may be no other but of the same kind with what all false Worshippers in the World have or may have Experience of 2. Let them diligently enquire whether the effects on their Hearts which they plead do not proceed from a precedent preparation a good design and upright Ends occasionally excited Let it be supposed that those who thus make use of and plead for Forms of Prayer especially in publick do in a due manner prepare themselves for it by Holy Meditation with an endeavour to bring their Souls into an holy Frame of Fear Delight and Reverence of God let it also be supposed that they have a good End and design in the Worship they address themselves unto namely the Glory of God and their own spiritual Advantage the Prayers themselves though they should be in some things irregular may give occasion to exercise those Acts of Grace which they were otherwise prepared for And I say yet farther 3. That whilest these Forms of Prayer are cloathed with the general notions of Prayer that is are esteemed as such in the minds of them that use them are accompained in their use with the Motives and Ends of Prayer express no matter unlawful to be insisted on in Prayer directing the Souls of men to none but lawful Objects of Divine Worship and Prayer the Father Son and Holy Spirit and whilest men make use of them with the true design of Prayer looking after due assistance unto Prayer I do not judge there is any such evil in them as that God will not communicate his Spirit to any in the use of them so as that they should have no holy Communion with him in and under them Much less will I say that God never therein regards their Persons or rejects their praying as unlawful For the Persons and Duties of men may be accepted with God when they walk and act in sincerity according to their Light though in many things and those of no small importance sundry irregularities are found both in what they do and in the manner of doing it Where Persons walk before God in their Integrity and practise nothing contrary to their Light and conviction in his Worship God is merciful unto them although they order not every thing according to the Rule and measure of the Word So was it with them who came to the Passover in the Days of Hezekiah they had not cleansed themselves but did eat the Passover otherwise than it was written 2 Chorn. 30. 18. For whom the good King made the Solemn Prayer suited to their occasion The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his Heart to seek the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary and the Lord hearkened unto Hezekiah and healed the People ver 18 19 20. Here was a Duty for the substance of it appointed of God but in the manner of its performance there was a failure they did it not according to what was written which is the sole rule of all Religious Duties This God was displeased withal yet graciously passed by the offence and accepted them whose Hearts were upright in what they did In the mean time I do yet judge that the use of them is in it self obstructive of all the principal Ends of Prayer and sacred Worship Where they are alone used they are opposite to the Edification of the Church and where they are imposed to the absolute exclusion of other Prayer are destructive of its Liberty and render a good part of the purchase of Christ of none effect Things being thus stated it will be enquired whether the use of such Forms of Prayer is lawful or no. To this Enquiry some thing shall be returned briefly in way of Answer and an End put unto this discourse And I say 1. To compose and write Forms of Prayer to be Directive and Doctrinal helps unto others as to the matter and method to be used in the right discharge of this Duty is lawful and may in some cases be useful It were better it may be if the same thing were done in another way suited to give direction in the case and not cast into the Form of a Prayer which is apt to divert the mind from the due consideration of its proper End and use unto that which is not so But this way of Instruction is not to be looked on as unlawful meerly for the Form and method whereinto it is cast whilest its true use only is attended unto 2. To Read Consider and Meditate upon such written Prayers as to the matter and Arguments of Prayer expressed in them composed by Persons from their own Experience and the Light of Scripture directions or to make use of Expressions set down in them where the Hearts of them that read them are really affected because they find their state and Condition their wants and desires declared in them is not unlawful but may be of good use unto some though I must acknowledge I never heard any expressing any great benefit which they had received thereby But it is possible