of fervency striving endeavour to goe on though thou feelest but litle or no comfort these be true flames of the Spirit which were never kindled in the least measure in the breast of any Hypocrite will an Hypocrite with all his painted flames hold out No they will murmure if God heare them not but the godly will trust in him though hee slay them Let every one then stirre up the gift that is in him whatsoever it be and the Lord will be with us ere we be aware The sixt evidence of the Spirit of Prayer is that godly traine of all-saving graces garding it strengthning it and attending upon it Hee that can doe an errand to God is destitute of no gift as Paul saith of the Corinthians that Embassie is guarded with all the graces of God in some measure as first it ariseth from that impregnable pallace of faith which ascendeth like a Cloud with Prayer in it never ceasing but still increasing the motion till it come to heaven In and from this Pallace Prayer is armed with an irresistible violence and commeth forth like a valiant Champion beating all down-right before it that standeth between God it Innumerable instances of this in Gods servants put that immediate principle of the Spirit out of all Question Whatsoever yee shall aske in Prayer believing yee shall receive David and all the Saints make ever this foundation of their Prayer Vnto thee will I pray Iehovah thou shalt heare my voice Secondly as Prayer is grounded from faith so it is under-propped by Hope I will looke unto the Lord saith Micha and I will waite for the God of my Salvation My God will heare me This place expresseth also the Christian patience wherewith the Prayer of the Saints is seasoned and also that perseverance whereby the Charriot of faith is drawne These set the soule upon the watch-Tower as Habacuk speaketh and maketh her waite and hearken what the Lord will answer David's Praier in his distresse was thus qualified I will looke out saith the Prophet Further Prayer made in the Spirit is attended with Preparation Opportunity and Diligence Preparation maketh ready the Charriot of faith awaketh Prayer attireth it with a holy disposition of heavenly position Opportunity as a guide taketh it the nighest way and Diligence as the driver of the Charriot driveth more nimbly then Iehu the sonne of Nimshi All these attend David's Prayer I will direct my Prayer unto thee or I will orderly addresse unto thee there is his Preparation In or at the morning that is early there is his opportunity I will looke out or else espy there is his diligence or I will pray that is still doe pray and cease not Try then or let thy Prayer be tried by these clouds of witnesses whether it be of the spirit or no for the Prayer of the Hypocrite hath none of these witnesses or attendants as it is said of faithlesse hearers that the Word heard did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith They may make a faire shew in seeming to lay hold on God deceiving others their own hearts they will leane upon the Lord saith the Prophet and say is not the Lord among us c. But they build upon the sand and hence are their ruines neither is their hope any better then Hypocrites hope which shall perish as for their patience wherwith their Prayer should be seasoned If God attend not their pleasure in answering of their desires it is quickly turned into murmuring In this they are like that gracelesse servant of that godlesse King because this evill is of the Lord why should I waite for the Lord any longer As for the attendants of Prayer namely Preparation Opportunity and Diligence the Hypocrite is not acquainted with them the counterfeit shews or shadowes of these he may have but the things themselves in the true nature of them he neither hath nor desireth to have The Hypocrite rusheth into Gods presence without premeditation of Gods most glorious presence and without consideration of his own vilenesse and unworthinesse to speake to so glorious and great a God His best Preparation is but a vizard of Prepation or outward shew of seeming holinesse in the position of the body Their best opportunity is base and by respect and their diligence carrieth the duty no further then customary performance or so farre as it is in request with the times So never an Hypocrite you see can be an Embassadour to God for he wanteth both the Commission of the Spirit and that traine of attendants that doe accompany the Commission It is no-wonder then that their Prayer be converted into sinne for they are Traytors to God in taking upon them his Embassie without his Cōmission Let them pray then that can pray yea it standeth us all upon to looke to it whether we pray or prate or bable For Lord Lord a multitude of faire words and faire shewes will not serve An Embassadour with a gilded coach of temporary faith will not serve the turne yea though it were full of miracles attended with a many imbrodered Lackeyes of smooth words courtly complements and eare-pleasing musick shall never have admittance to God nor audience of God look to it then that thou be an Embassadour indeed that thou hast thy Commission sealed and art sent by the Spirit and that thy traine be such as may be heartily welcome to God and make thee welcome In the first place make triall of thy faith and that by the inward acts of purifying the heart uniting it to God by victory over temptations casting thy selfe upon the Lord by contentment of thine estate also by the extensive worke of love first to God for himselfe then to thy neighbour in him and for him The heart so purified by faith is a fit lymbeck for Prayer Out of this the Prophet David was bold to presse his Prayer upon God Hearken to my Prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips or without lips of deceipt by which is meant the syncerity of the heart agreeing with the words of the mouth Nothing so much adorneth the heart as faith nothing commendeth faith more then Prayer and nothing graceth Prayer more then syncerity This with the proud Pharisee all Hypocrites want drawing nigh God with their mouth and honouring him with their lips but their hearts be far from him or as the Psalmist they flatter or flatteringly allured him with their mouth with their tongue lied to him for their heart was not right with him or not firmly prepared with him And this especially maketh the Praier of the Hypocrites of an evill savour in Gods Nostrills for as he is the hearer of the heart as one saith and not of the voice so he loveth the syncerity of the heart and hateth the hollownesse and rottennesse thereof in Prayer above all things because they
God was put by God in the Clift of the rock and covered with his hand till he passed by that he might see his back parts so thou and thy prayers must be put in the Rock Christ Iesus if ever thou com'st to see the face of God in favour As they that would make an echo repaire to some rocky place whereupon the words resound so they that will have an answer from God must either ply their prayers upon the Rock Christ Iesus or no ccho no answer at all As they that are dim-sighted make the object more apparant by the use of spectacles or as some speak through a trunck that they may bee the better heard So the Saints look through Christ speake through Christ that they may see God and heare God giving a gracious answer As some glasse maketh things presented by it to be the same colour So God looking upon us in Christ seeth us to be of the colour of his Son and wee looking on God through Christ see God reconciled to us in Christ Therefore whatsoever wee offer to God let us present it to him through Christ set alwaies Christ betweene thee and him and whatsoever God giveth to thee labour to entertain it alwaies through Christ herein comfort shall abound to thee honour to God As by some kind of Perspectives a man may bring two objects together So by the Perspective of faith directing the prayer to God in and by Christ thou maist bring God and Christ all the promises home to thy soule at one sight The tenth evidence that a man prayeth by the Spirit is the betaking of himselfe to it in the time of trouble as to a rock of defence or the making of it his especiall remedy in the time of misery For this indeed is the very best as David said of Goliah's there is none like this so there is no sword like unto the sword of the Spirit This is a true Panacea to heal all maladies a balm for the wounded conscience a precious medicine for all diseases of the body a plaister for all sores a cordiall against all discomforts armes invasive defensive against all enimies The Apostle delivereth all this in few words If any bee afflicted let him pray It is the safest guard against all evills of sin and evills of punishment it is the onely best meanes of deliverance from both these witnesse first that great Physitian God himselfe for so hee calleth himselfe I am Iehovah that healeth thee or I am thy healer or Physitian Now what receipt giveth he thee this is it call on mee in the day of distresse Secondly look but on the soveraigne nature of the medicine it self where in it differenceth it selfe from all other meanes of life and godlinesse All other meanes are sanctified by this but this is the immediate motion of the spirit of an unexpressible vertue and irresistible force Thirdly what glorious things in Gods book are spokē of this inestimable peece of spirituall armes witnesse S. Iames for all the rest laying downe the excellency of prayer first in generall termes The effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much then hee instanceth it in the prayers of Elias what great effects were wrought by it The devout Ancients hardly satisfie themselves in commending this excellent peece There is nothing saith one so sensibly sweet to the soule nothing doth weane the minde so much from the loue of all this world nothing stirreth up a man to the exercise of all and every grace nothing prevaileth so much against evill of sin and evill of punishment whether for preservation or deliverance nothing standeth in better steed for the increase of Gods kingdome by the conversion of soules For as prayer brake Peters fetters set open the prison doore so it shaketh the chaines of sin in peeces openeth or breaketh up the iron gates of a sinners heart offers violence to heaven for the enterance of a sinner One of the Ancients doth attribute Pauls conversion to Stevens prayer Had not Steven prayed for Paul saith he the Church should never have had Paul for a teacher In a word nothing maketh a man so amiable to his God so deare and faithfull to his friend so formidable to his foe so contentfull to himselfe and so profitable to the place where he liveth Fourthly all the people of God in all their straits have made this their Master-peece and prospered by plying it were it famine pestilence sword captivity contempt persecution or any other evill to be feared or inflicted yea or evill of sin whereby God was offended or the soule troubled did they not alwaies fall hard on the worke of petitioning and did they ever in sincerity so doe went away without a gracious answer Instance Iacob Moses Iehosophat Ezekias Manasses Samuel Eliah the Cananitish woman the Publican the Theefe upon the Crosse with many others known to the meanest reader of the book of God What was Moses his best fight when Amaleck charged Israel Prevailed not this sword of prayer more then the sword of Ioshuah If this bee so then of the excellency and efficacy of prayer why doe not men run to it and trust to it in the time of need Because the spirit dwelleth not in them Every one that hath but a shew of profession yea prophane men too wil acknowledge the theory or speculative truth thereof but a woe it is to see how few confirme it by their practise The worser sort of men cannot do this if they would and the better sort will not doe it to their shame be it spoken in that measure and manner they should and as the troublesome times require it and for the hypocrite when hee commeth into any strait hee maketh a faire shew in the flesh at the first onset bearing the world in hand that hee esteemeth prayer aboue all the meanes in the world but first his heart can tell him that he relieth more upon subordinate meanes which may and ought to be used in their time and place and useth prayer only for a triall of a conclusion which if it prove not according to their expectation then farewell prayer they will have no more to doe with it they look for good of it and finde none and not being acquainted with the vertue of it they say of it as the ignorant say of Christ What is this so much extolled medicine more then another medicine we have tried it found no good in it but rather hurt by neglecting the meanes therefore wee will use the meanes that most prevails amongst men for prayer we will not altogether cast it out of doores but wee will lay it up in some by-corner of the house reserve it till it come in request we will peruse it now and then but this is not time to trust to it In this the hypocrite is like one labouring of an inveterate disease
the way may goe on with comfort and they that never came into the way who yet suppose themselves to be in the way may if it be possible be brought into the way For Method and memories sake the subject of this litle Treatise containes in it or divideth it selfe into these particulars In the first there is a description of Prayer In the second are discovered the marks of the Spirit of Prayer The third directeth us how to attaine to the sence of the Spirit of Praier The fourth sheweth how a man should hold on the duty of Prayer without the sence of the Spirit The fift and last directeth men that want the Spirit of Prayer how to labour for it Of these and of their proper particulars in order and first briefly of the first because the manner of true Prayer doth discover fully the nature of Prayer The School-men and Fathers have diverse Descriptions in which for me to be curious standeth neither with the nature of the Treatise nor with the scope or my intent And for my owne part as one said in another case I had rather pray powerfully then define Prayer accurately The summe of all these The summe of all Descriptions may be comprised in this namely That Praier is a spirituall Ability infused into the heart whereby the soule expresseth it selfe familiarly and immediately to God in the name of Iesus Christ with confidence in the promises It is called by some the pious affection of the speaker to God by others the manifestation of the heart to God and the assent of the soul to God This definitiō is made good by diverse places of the Scripture compared together First the Spirit maketh intercession for us with Groans Secondly the heart is the seate c. Lord before thee is all my desire and my sighing is not hid from thee This must be done immediately to God for thou that hearest Prayers saith the Psalmist unto thee shal all flesh come and that in the Name of Christ If yee aske any thing in my name I will doe it Neither doth Christ his Mediatourship make ours not to be immediate for he is God as well as man and is appointed our Mediatour as the place quoted testifieth I will doe it Lastly with confidence in the promises and this is the confidence that we have in him that if wee aske any thing according to his will he heareth us First that Prayer is not an naturall acquired ability Secondly it cōsisteth not in words though they be ornat or well set forth with seeming holynesse but in the powring out of the heart by sighes and groanes inexpressible Thirdly It is no Prayer at all that is not made in and by Christ Fourthly Lastly without faith it is impossible to pray Of these Conclusions more fully in the second particular to which now I proceed 2 How a man may know when hee prayeth in the Spirit AS Prayer is the special gift of God so all men have it not that can talk well or that seeme to have it I will poure out my Spirit saith the Lord upon all flesh that is upon all his own he promiseth no such thing to the wicked Pray alwaies saith the Apostle Try we therefore whether wee have this or not for good words except they be the words of the Spirit will not serve Would you then know whether you pray by the Spirit or no try your Prayer by these particular evidences The first evidence of the Spirit of Praier is our Adoption or Sonship wherein wee are interrested Bastards and strangers yea meere servants cannot pray they learne not nay cannot learne the language of the house as children can doe they cal not upon God they may get some broken language or termes of Art wherewithall to serve their necessities as for meat prefentment and esteeme among Gods people yea for some words they may come to be admired but in the true pronounciation of Shiboleth they are to seeke and so they come short of that language But the sonnes and daughters be they never so weake yea but babes or Infants in Christ yet they can speake the language of their Father truly though not througly nor eloquently All this the Apostle proveth in that Phrase to the Romans Yee have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby yee cry Abba Father Where observe first who cryeth namely Sonnes and they only Secondly what they cry namely Father which if they can speake truly if with litle children they can say litle more yet they pray truly speaking the language of the Spirit A second note that one prayeth by the Spirit is an earnest desire and endeavour to take the Spirit along with them They will not goe willingly without the evidence of the Spirit witnesse the same Apostle the Spirit maketh request for us Where wee must understand that the Spirit is said to make request for us after an other manner then the sonne is said to make request for us v. 34. namely by the vertue and power of his merit But the Spirit maketh request by stirring us up and putting us on to make request The Spirit as one saith by that annointing power teacheth and frameth us to frame our petitions In this wee must be like Moses If the Lords presence goe not with us let us not goe from hence The best of Hypocrites can be content to have an Angell goe before them give the Angellicall stile cōming from lips touched with a coale of strange fire moved by no internall principle except it be from some common gift at the best it is enough and in this they please themselves and gaine admiration from others but their praise is but of men and not of God but this will not serve the children of Prayer they will not stirre without the Spirit of their Father neither can they doe it Wee know not saith the Apostle what to pray as we ought we have neither thought to conceive nor will to consent nor art to perfect of our selves As the Spirit of God did move or flutter upon the waters for the inclining of that vast body by a powerfull and procreative heate so the heate of Gods Spirit must either quicken us to the duty or wee and it are no better then a deed Carcasse or at the fairest but like a specious Picture The people of God doe now and then neglect I must confesse this duty the taking their guide with them they weigh not so attentively nor watch so seriously after this first mover as they should As a man forgetteth to set his watch or to take his guide with him And this is a main cause why they seek and find not yea why they walke not in the strength of the Spirit Againe the people of God may be without the sence and feeling of the Spirit yet the Spirit be there they not being aware howsoever they are very sensible of their insensibility and much
desire of the heart which in the unregenerate longeth and lamenteth after good though it have many shrewd rubs in the way through the remainders of sin but in the unregenerate it is carried with full sway toward sinne without any resistance though it may stumble now and then upon the sting of conscience neither would I haue any by presuming to abuse this cause of Paul to sinne for none can benefit by this but such as have Pauls feelings desires and endeavours in some measure but let al such as are fervent in spirit serving the Lord though with much opposition litle or no feeling of the evidence of the spirit lay home this case to their comfort The latter particular wherein the guidance of the spirit consisteth is the quickning and increasing of grace for as by the spirit the deeds of the body are mortified so by the same spirit the graces of the soul are quickned therefore is the spirit called the spirit of grace Now the spirit of grace is joyned with the spirit of supplication as the Cause and the convertible Effect the state the demonstrative evidence of the state I will poure out saith the Lord by Zachary in the place quoted the spirit of grace and supplication or deprecation Where by the spirit of grace is meant the gracious spirit of regeneration proceeding from the grace of God guiding and quickning his own in all the waies of grace by the spirit of deprecation that spirituall immediatly infused ability as I have shewed whereby his penitents doe beg and obtain pardon of sin and all other things conducing to Gods glory and their own good Between this spirit of grace and deprecation there is a mutuall strengthning or corroboration As health is the cause of walking and by walking is strength assured and increased so grace is the internall immediate conjunct cause of prayer and is also quickned and strengthned by prayer Or as the heat of the sun reflecting upon some solid or impenetrable body is made more forcible So the radiant beames of grace exercising themselves upon that firmly framed object of prayer by a gracious reflection they become out of measure gracious If thou wouldst then excell in grace labour to excell in that eminent ability of prayer which doth not consist as I have shewed in the excellēcy of words but in the heigtht depth of the grones of the spirit which no words are able to expresse Try also by the gage or land-mark of prayer the ebbing or floing of the tide of grace for so much as thy soule is taken up with the true strain of prayer so much dost thou gain in the rich traffique of grace and so much as thou loosest in the faculty of this heavenly Oratory so much thou loosest in the stocke of grace Therefore for the keeping of both stock and interest on foot it shall be good in my judgement to put these two particular observations in practice First look what particular sin either of person or calling thou art most addicted unto in what patticular grace thou art most deficient labour to countermand and subdue the particular sin by the opposite grace and to quicken strengthen the weak and decaied grace by the speciall or proper remedies This is the wisest policy the highest point of war the richest trade and the proper imployment of our precious talent Another remarkable observation to be practised is this Let no day passe thee wherein thou dost not call thy selfe to a strict accompt of the well imployment ill imployment or misimployment of the day record as neer as thou canst thy commissions and omissions in thy calling or out of thy calling in thought word or deed against piety equity or sobriety recall thy company and conference thine or others profiting thereby or unprofitablenesse recompt the favours the frownings the cherishments or chastisements mercies or judgements towards thee and others as nigh as thou canst observe what corruption hath prevailed against thee or in what particular grace thou gettest any better footing This course deserveth neither obloquie from the wicked nor should it seem unnecessary strict or impossible to professours For the very Heathens by the guide nature have given order for it in their morals namely that wee should not suffer our eyes to sleep nor our eye-lids to slumber till wee had recompted all the passages of the former day But alas they had but a leaden rule to walke by turning all their strictest most glorious actions into glistring sinnes but we have a golden rule of trial which by a true touch will indeed turn us and our actions into the purest gold It is a double shame therefore that they in this should shame us this same point was a particular of Moses his Petition So teach us to number our daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome There is no better waies to thriue than for a man to be a good accomptant to observe well his losses and his gaines his receits and his layings out what is owing to him what he oweth to others This gaines a wise heart or a heart of wisdome saith Moses which is more worth then all the wealth in the world This is the only meanes whereby to redeem the time in which phrase the Apostle implieth the calling a mans self to accompt and his actions as thrifty Merchants doe the Apostles words looke both backe to the time past advising us to make good one time what wee lose at another which cannot be done without reckoning with our selves and also forward to the time to come injoyning us to take all occasion and opportunity of serving the Lord with more strictnesse sincerity and alacrity then heretofore we have done suppose it be with temporall losse or incommodityt he very word Redeeme includeth this evidently that for our profits ease and pleasing of others we put off or altogether neglect the casting up of our accompts now if wee will redeeme that losse wee must be content to part with all these to become good accomptants not that men hereby should neglect their callings for this wil make them more strict sincere and diligent in their callings but as to this strict course and the attending it many incommodities are incident For you must know the Divell World Flesh and it may be some of the houshold are no friends to it So we must accompt all are for Cyphers for the furthering our accompts These strict accomptants must make this a part of their reckoning that the Crosse will follow them for the bearing whereof they must resolve upon selfe-denyall with the hatred of father and mother wife and children and life it selfe which shall be no disadvantage to them for Christs sake and life and death is to such advantage Of the necessity of our summoning up of ourselves and our wayes the Apostle gives good reasons First wee must walke strictly not declining a haires
let him goe until I brought him into my mothers house which is no other but to bring him into the heart where hee dwelleth by Faith As the Conduit-pipe bringeth home water from the Fountaine to the Cisterne so the Conduit of Faith bringeth home the Fountaine of living water even Christ himselfe to the Cisterne of the heart As the eye of Faith in Prayer looketh for Christ so the hand of faith bringeth him home for faith is a thrifty grace bringing all riches home to the soule The want of this thrifty course maketh want of sense in our suits to God for as the light of Gods truth bringeth home to the soul the Mountaine of his holinesse so the Spirit of Prayer bringeth home the Lord to the soule of an humbled sinner If a man could fill the Censer with odors and the heavens with Groanēs and labour not in particular for this Vnion or Contract between God his Soule God may be there with litle or no immediate sense of his presence Look then to the plying of this for this will make thee to remove every thing that may displease the faithfull witnesse or weaken sense A fift Mean to procure sense is a due notice-taking of God our selves in Prayer The knowledge of our selves Moral Naturall and Spirituall casteth us quite out of our selves and leadeth us as one saith as it were by the hand to the knowledge of God by which reflection or circular knowledge we come to be vile in our owne eyes It casteth out and keepeth out sin making the Spirit rejoyce to beare witnesse with our Spirits that our Prayers are as odors of incense in his nostrills Againe the Spirituall knowledge of Gods Excellency Soveraignty Al-sufficiency of all his Attributes and workes worketh a lively sense in the Suiter because the bare naturall or supernaturall knowledge of God be it as may be will never beget any sense without that anointing eye-salve This knowledg then of Gods Excellency will countervail the sense of thine owne unworthinesse his Soveraignty will command the rebellion thereof His All-sufficiency supplyeth thy wants all his attributes yea even his Iustice in Christ serveth for thy good This knowledge giveth thee not only with the heathen some light to see God in his Creatures The truth of this passage appeareth plainly in Abraham his suite to God for Sodome I have taken upon me or begun to speak unto the Lord and I am dust and ashes whereby a reflective knowledge of God upon him selfe hee seeth and acknowledgeth himselfe to be nothing yet by this is not discouraged but rather encouraged to continue his request renuing it to the number of nine times which hee could never have done without the sense of the Spirits approbation Our comming short herein maketh us come short of sense in Prayer for either we examine not our selves and empty not our selves of our selves as we should till we be vile in our own eyes therefore the Lord will not let us know that hee taketh notice of us till we take better notice of our selves or on the contrary wee fixe both our eyes upon our owne unworthinesse vilenesse and insufficiency where finding no matter of feeling wee drench our selves in teares of despair with S. Iohn because there is nothing found in us worthy to give testimony But we looke not up to the Lyons power nor the worth of the Lambes blood by which the sealed evidence of the Fathers good will is opened or broken up to us by whom the Odors or Prayers of the Saints are carried up to the Father and to the Fathers presence and evidence of his presence is brought down into the soule And this is the means to make us sing that new song with triumphant joy and melody in ovr heart having God in Christ to be all in all unto us though wee be nothing of our selves The sixt and last sense-procuring Meane is a close and constant holy walking with God in all our Thoughts Words Actions both in our generall and particular calling The guidance of the Spirit Praying by the Spirit and Evidence of the Spirit in some measure goe usually together I say usually because sometime the two first may be without the last and that for causes best knowne to God as some sinne past prevention of some sinne as spirituall pride or the like or for the tryall of the patience of the Saints and their continuance in Prayer trusting in the Lord although hee should kill them And truly I may say for the comfort of such that though it be not so sweet a condition as that which is joyned with sense yet it is as happy as sure a condition as that which is carried by sense if all meanes for sense be used Hither may I apply that saying of our Saviour to Thomas Thou beleevest because thou seest blessed are those that have not seen and yet have beleeved So blessed are those that continue in Praier though they want the sense of assurance in Prayer But to the matter in hand close obedience out of Prayer bringeth good Evidence in Prayer not only as the effect or as the fruit evidenceth the tree but it challengeth the Spirit of promise to be with us in Prayer to give Evidence and Approbation to his owne Worke For as remisse walking in a Christian though not absolutely loose doth in some sort quench the Spirit and damp the evidence thereof in Prayer so a close strict and holy walking with God doth quicken and rejoyce the Spirit for that it is ready with cheerfulnesse to give joyfull evidence when wee goe about its particular businesse of Prayer This walking with God for which the Patriarchs and Saints were commended is nothing else as the Author to the Hebrewes expoundeth it but a pleasing of God by faith and obedience Now when we thus please him hee according to his covenant made to Ahraham and his seed is with us in our requests by giving us contentment of assurance But our want of this maketh weaknesse of Prayer and want of assurance Many mens affections are led captive and their judgments wee presume our wayes to be Gods wayes when they are none of his by being strict in one of the Tables we take liberty to transgresse the other The harmony of the Spirit is distempered by our disordered passions we beare false witnesse against God in denying the Saints their due out of a partiall humour and therefore it is just with God to withdraw his testimony from our requests though we eagerly desire it Lastly the hearts of the most professing are so overcharged with the cares of this life that the Spirit also is overcharged with the dulnesse deadnesse of their Prayers whereby the duty hath small force with it and the evidence is suppressed Therefore looke to thy walking in every particular if ever thou meanest to attaine to assurance in thy Prayer Other meanes I might deliver for the obtaining of sense as due Preparation to
THE GROANES OF THE SPIRIT OR THE TRIALL of the Truth of PRAYER 1 Ioh. 3. 21. 22. Beloved if our hearts condemne us not then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever wee aske we receive of him Cor in thuribulo Oratio pura OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield are to be sold by Iohn Allen in Lecester An Dom. 1639. TO THE NOBLE AND much honoured Company of HIERVSALEM'S ARTILLERY all increase of skill Successe and Valour AS the Saints were not after the flesh so the weapons of their warfare are not carnall but mighty through God to bring downe all the strong holds and mighty imaginations of divels and men plotted cunningly against the Israelites of God yea all the forces of the flesh and the world must faint and fly upon the use of these Armes Of this compleate glorious Armature Prayer is a speciall part yea it is the very evergetical manifestatiō of the pow-of all the rest Jt putteth on all the other parts it keepeth the whole armature close to a man it sanctifieth all the rest to their several uses it guardeth all the rest of the golden furniture from theeves and robbers it daunteth the Divell and the Divels limbs it carrieth the armed Souldier through out all forces and furies as a victorious Conquerour And hence is that saying of the Ancients Supplications and Teares are the Armes of the Saints As the power and excellency of this spirituall peece is unexpressible by tongues of men or Angels so am I the least of all to be called of so high heavenly a faculty but since it hath pleased him that hath mercy on mee to teach mee the use of it though in much weaknesse and to guide mee as a weake pensill in his draught of the truth of it to whom should J then commend it both for the Touch Tuition but to the Military Forces of the new Hierusalem who are experimētally acquainted with this peece of proofe To you then my deare thrice noble Fellow-Souldiers the Trained Band of heaven the Artillery men of the most High I dedicate my selfe and this litle Treatise accompting it my only happinesse if I be but a door-keeper of the Company bear with the feeblenesse of my hands in the unsheathing of this Sword man you it with a holy and undaunted courage and it will maintain you Times call you all to the breach stand close one to another hold fast what yee have and let no man take your Crowne Lay about you with this fiery shaking blade upon all within you without you that oppose Christ his Kingdome Walk worthy of so high a gift make not this good commodity to be ill spoken of part not with your Armes and you shall overcome If these my poor pains may adde any thing to your skil the greatest recōpence I crave is to have a share in your cūning Your fellow-Souldier and Servant in love GEORGE FOXLE TO THE READER AS there was never more sleight in venting bad commodities under false glosses nor never more falsehood in counterfeiting of coine to make it goe currant then in these our daies so never more cheating tricks in the venting of shews and shapes of holy performances under the colour of true and essentiall duties in this selfe-cosening age of ours Instance in this duty of prayer under the shadowes and shew whereof the Divell masketh himself even as an Angell of light All that are of any religion wil seem to pray but a few pray indeed It is an easie thing under the meanes especially of quick wits to drawe a faire picture or dumbe shew of prayer but the Spirit only can make a living prayer As nothing is liker true friendship then flattery so nothing liker Piety then Hypocrisie nothing liker Prayer then painted words but words without quickning power of the Spirit are no prayer at all All that are of any knowledge within the pale of the Church will acknowledge the indigested prayer of the brutish ignorant to be but babling and also the prayers of such as worship a strange God or the true God after a false manner to bee but sin but that a man may have fit wordes a fluent phrase patheticall expressions yet no prayer that seemeth a Paradox but that so it may be I have shewed at large in this Treatise wherein I have endeavoured to cleare by proper and distinct notes the true Being of Prayer from all Semblances of prayer And where the comfort in prayer ariseth from the sense of the spirit in prayer I have delivered as I may the meanes of attaining the sense of the Spirit together with incouragements and motives to goe on in prayer though sense be not present And lastly I give directions how they that want the Spirit of supplication shall labour for it Though my insufficiency in every particular may appeare to an Artist in the faculty yet to Gods glory bee it spoken I have gone along by the light and feeling of some sparkles of the Spirit but with matter of much sorrow for my shallownesse in the duty Take heed then Christian Reader how thou prayest for it is Sathans main imposture to get thy heart to deceiue thee in this duty which is the lock and key of all other duties read and consider impute the failings to me and give God the Glory if any thing pleaseth Yours to use in Christ G. FOXLE THE CONTENTS of this Treatise WHat Prayer is 2 How a man may know when hee prayeth in the Spirit 3 How the sense of the Spirit in Prayer may be attained 4 How a man should hold on in the duty without the sense of the Spirit 5 How they that want the Spirit of Prayer should labour for it THE GROANES OF THE SPIRIT 1. What Prayer is AS there is no evill of sinne nor plague of punishment more feareful dangerous then the Spirit of slumber so there is no better preservation against it and medicine for the cure of it then the Spirit of Prayer The best of Gods people are taken with some dregs of this I sleepe saith the spouse but my heart waketh All had need therefore to be awaked and there is no better meanes to awake us then to hear God speaking to us and to set our selves a talking to God These be the two meanes indeed that abandon all that breake off familiarity with God and keepe and increase acquaintance with God let that counsell of our Saviour ever be with us watch and pray It is the best meanes for watchmen to keepe themselves awake by talking and so rouse their Spirits by conference This Prayer is the best medicine the safest refuge the truest messenger and the most mighty prevailer with God To stirre us up then to so excellent and necessary a duty in so dangerous secure and backsliding time I have made bold to hang out a litle light that they that have erred from the way as who doth not may returne they that are in
humbled for their neglect The third evidence that we pray by the Spirit is a sensibility of our owne inability As the Spirit helpeth our infirmities so it discovereth the infirmity of the understanding the will the memory the affections yea the Spirit discovereth all indisposition sloathfulnesse impatiency inconstancy and too much making hast flesh and blood cannot discover these Indeed flesh blood will discover want of readinesse or of an outward frame of words or for want of some supernaturall heate to inliven the outward action which the hypocrite may take for the true heate of the Spirit but the want of that coelestiall heate or true quickning motion of the Spirit it neither discovereth nor bewaileth But the godly out of knowledge of these infirmities are exceeding humbled whereupon there is roome made for the Spirit to rest in for repairing of those ruines yea the child of God by the knowledg of these his wants commeth to speed best when in his owne conceipt he prayeth worst yea when he can say nothing with Moses and is to himselfe as it were breathlesse and speechlesse yet out of the sensibility of his prolixity he cryeth hardest of all and God is nighest to him when he conceiveth him to be farthest off If then thou findest or feelest not in Prayer that comfort that thy heart desireth be not discouraged but rather comfort thy selfe upon the feeling of thy wants and humiliation for them because it is a worke of the Spirit goe on then and rather then thou pray not at all cast thy selfe before the Lord look up to heaven if thou canst but cry like a litle child cease not till thou make the Echo of the Rock to resound The fourth evidence of the guidance of the Spirit is a sensible helping of us in some measure against the aforesaid infirmities of Vnderstanding Will Memory and Affections The Spirit helpeth our infirmities It teacheth for what and how to pray It strengthneth memory with motives out of the which the understanding frameth arguments as judgments mercies precepts promises renuednesse ranking every one in his due place and causing the soule to pick some good out of of every one of them So the Spirit bringeth the wil in Praier contrary to its disposition to be subject to the Will of God and to make choice of that which God willeth as the very best in this our Saviour Christ is a perfect patterne in his heavy and dreadfull conflict saying often and againe Not as I will but as thou wilt Father The Spirit doth not only correct and change the aversenesse and deadnesse of the affections as feare love joy and sorrow but it sets them on with a high and heavenly temper upon their proper objects As that the soule in Prayer should love nothing in comparison of God and his countenance hate nothing so much no not the Divell or Hell it selfe as his owne sinne grieve at nothing so much as the grieving of God fear nothing as the God of his feare Lastly the Spirit helpeth the stupidity and benummednesse of the conscience making it tender and pliable and also impartiall in the applying home of the particulars to the present seate of the soule which is the proper function of the conscience As for instance it either excuseth by application of mercy the fruit whereof is present peace or accuseth by application of Iudgment the present fruit whereof is trouble and terror yet it bringeth forth and begetteth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse for upon the judging of our selves by the afflicting of our selves God ceaseth to judge us Try then what helpe thou findest of the Spirit in strengthning thy weaknesse in the seeking of his face for assuredly wee all find the lesse helpe for want of this triall But some will say wee find no helpe at all Our understanding is darker our memories weaker our wills more perverse our affections deader our consciences heavier then ever they were I answer first there may be a neglect of the triall of the performance by the severall notes and also such a carelessenesse to walke by the rule of Prayer that the duty is fallen into a custome so that because we look not to take the Spirit along with us and cast not our selves and the duty upon the helpe of it we come to want the helpe thereof when we would because we looked not for it when we should Againe it may be answered for some that sence is no true Iudge For as some may conceive of help from the Spirit that never had any and conceipt of sound and well ordered parts in Prayer that have nothing but rottennesse in their inward parts for all their painted oratory glozing words so some may be unsensible of the aforesaid helpe for some mistakings or some disorder in the course yea by Gods hiding his presence of sence and yet he helped mightily by God which may be instanced and proved by these two particulars First the sence of those infirmities in Prayer is the worke and evidence of a praying Spirit Secondly the going on with sighes and groanes under the burden of these infirmities is word for word to take us up as it were by the hand and to goe with us against our infirmities If the spirit in these two be with us it is not want of sense that can nullifie his presence Elisha's servant while his eies were shut could not see the armies of the Lord but his eyes being open he saw clearely that there were more with him then against him So let the soule of such goe on and wait upon the Lord without censuring the Lords work for want of feeling and let them for their better stay view and try all the points of the evidence for if one hold all the rest will in some measure make for them Yea but others will say they are so farre from help against their infirmities that the infirmities of earthly and idle thoughts doe strive into the very duty whereby the worke of the Spirit for the time is quenched the soul beaten off and the heart stoln away For answer I must confesse it is a shrewd incounter and a dangerous infirmity arising out of the loosenesse of the heart the atheisme of the mind the deadnesse of the conscience the corruption of the memory and earthly condition of the affections whereby wee let slip forget with whom we have to deale and what we have to doe Here is want of devotion want of attention It is mad folly saith one to thy selfe great iniury to another when thou wilt neither attend him nor look to thy selfe yet for all this it is no other temptation but such as may and doth overtake the children of God but with this difference from that vagrancy in the hearts of the unregenerate men be they never so smooth First the same spirit whose worke for a time recoileth at length like a great sole conquering
peremptorily condemneth but this sacred fire of fervency cleareth the clouds of the understanding so that the formes of divine motions are more quickly and purely framed in the passive faculty thereof and are more soundly and judicially wrought on by the active faculty so the fire be compact so that you see this fire is of a heavenly operation and from heaven well may it bee compared with that divine fire which came out from before Iehovah and consumed the burnt offering upon the Altar But the strange fire in the seeming zealous hypocrite is nothing like for first it is but a supernaturall cōmon gift of the spirit at the most againe it is rather an inflāmation of the brain arising from the rapture of some vainglorious conceipt deceiving the heart and running all along like a devouring wild-fire rather I say then any true fire warming and quickning the life of supplication Secondly this true celestiall fire hath no fuell but the spirit but the strange fire hath either private injury or publike applause for the fuell Thirdly this true fire hath for the end or object Gods glory and the salvation of those that are heated with it cōsuming every thing that stands in the way of either of these The spouse speaking of the nature of this zeale telleth us that the coales thereof are coales of fire which hath a most vehement flame Of this David saith the zeale of thy house hath eaten me up and in another place my zeale hath consumed me or suppresseth me because mine enimies have forgotten thy words But counterfeit zeale in prayer hath for its end or object the ravishing of mens conceipts the glory of applause the gaining of some worldly commodity so far as the sun shine of Gods glory is adored by the times and state so much will hypocrisie seem to advance it like cloudes they will follow the Sun and seem to carry Gods glory right on before them but when the current crosseth it they goe no further with it but like a running hound they cast up and with an open mouth they run another way Fourthly this true fire though it set all on fire within and without and turneth all that it toucheth into the nature of fire carrying all upward with it according to the proportiō of fire yet it humbleth the soul exceedingly and maketh it vile in its own eyes for by this true fervency the stubble and rubbish of mens corruptions and interposition being removed and consumed Gods excellēcy mans meanes Gods mercy and mans misery the more appeareth which be the meanes and motives of mans humiliatiō But with the strange fire-workmen it is not so for as Cookes by unnaturall heat of the fire extinguishing the naturall heat and exhausting the radicall moisture and by excesse of drinking become hydropicks so these are puffed up with a swelling conceipt of themselves by the unnaturall or adventitious heat of this strange fire crying in effect with Iehu come with me and see my zeale for the Lord yea if these counterfeits of true zeal be not admired they are all off the hinges they count their charges and paines to be lost Their zeale is like to the vertues of the Heathens from which if you separate as one saith the splendor of glory vertue it selfe will goe bitter to them So take from the zeal of seeming zealous Hypocrites the swelling cloud of puffing up applause their fervency falleth presently into an atrophie or pining away under abūdance of means so that their pride not maintained with applause either like a handfull of gun-powder carrieth fire and fuell and all that lieth in the way out of the chimney top or like a dropsie by peecemeale it consumeth the naturall heat and drinketh up the radicall moisture But the heat of the truly zealous is like the harth of the Altar hallowed by humility for the receit of Gods fire and for the keeping and increasing of the heat thereof Fiftly and lastly the true fire of fervency is never extinguished it is for divers causes more intense or remisse higher or lower in the best of Gods children yea the sparkles may lye very low overlaid with ashes notwithstanding it is true fire though it be never so litle or never so weake in nature alwaies like the fire upon the Altar which burneth continually and shall not bee put out to the which the spirit affordeth the fuell stirring blowing it up for the consuming of the sacrifice But the strange fire is but a flash quickly out and unorderly kindled like a fit of an Ephemera or diary feaver and is as quickly extinguished either by the oyle of prosperity or by the water of adversity yea like a rotten sulphurous fiery squib it cracks and flashes stinks and dieth Let every soule examine its own fervency in prayer by the particulars by which examination if they can finde in the least measure these notes of fervency they may assure themselves to their exceeding great comfort that they can pray in the holy Ghost But some distressed soule will say they can finde no life of fervency in their prayers they are takē in the duty with syncopes or many fainting and sounding fits of the heart many a cold sweat goeth over them they are taken with many Lethargies of the understanding mad melancholy aberiations in the imagination much forgetfulnesse in the memory yea with a cold astonishing stupefaction of the whole man what fire of the Spirit can be here Surely say they none at all Conclude not so for true fire may be raked up in the ashes of neglect or distemper though it doe not appeare Againe the sence and sorrow of and for the overswaying suppressmēts must needs arise from the light and heat of true fire be it never so weake or litle for the common gifts and most glorious excellency in counterfeit Prayer cannot truly and ingeniously discover an essentiall defect in Prayer Againe the sparkles of life that the most distressed and daunted of Gods people finde in Prayer now and then make the strongest kind of demonstration that the Fire of Gods Spirit inlivens their Prayer For where there is action there is life and where is life there is heat for life consisteth in heat As the Spirit of faith in the Disciples was very weake when they counted the relation of the Resurrection but as an idle tale so that they would not believe it yet the Spirit of faith was not extinguished witnesse the burning of their hearts within them while he talked with them in the way to Emaus which arose from the quickning of the Spirit which lay as it were quenched in them even so the fervency of the Spirit of Prayer may seeme to be quenched yet the flames bursting out now and then in sighs and Groanes that cannot be expressed argueth heavenly fire to inspire thy Prayer howsoever thou wilt not be perswaded of it Lastly observe thy earnest desire
goe about to deceive him denying him in effect to be the discerner of the heart otherwise they would never deal so with him Try also thy hope in Prayer namely by clearing of thy Author and casting it within the vaile The nature of hope is to keepe thee from shame by the repulse of thy desires because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost in such abundant measure and unspeakable manner that he cannot deny us the things hoped for Try also thy Prayer by patience waiting on the Lord and going on in Prayer in the time of distresse This an Hypocrite as I have shewed cannot nor will not doe In the time of affliction they wil set very freshly upon the duty so farre as great words will carry it but if they be brought to any strait or put to any hard shift like white-livered souldiers they die down-right in their owne ayre or element or else fling away their arms and run from their Colours It is much to be feared that our nations woefull experience shall teach the truth of this in one as wel as the other But God giveth his owne another heart namely to overtop the height of their affections with the height of their Prayers and never give over till by patience and importunity they possesse the gates of their enemies and become more then Conquerors The Scripture to this purpose affordeth abundance of remarkable instances for a touch whereof take these two Steven the first Martyr being cast out of the City and stoned for his worthy Sermon as the stones were flying about his eares in the midst of all the mischiefe that they could doe him by the power of the holy Ghost called upon God and that with cryes kneeling upon his knees This lesson no doubt hee learof his Master Christ the best and only pattern that any man can follow He though a Sonne learned obedience by afflictions in the dayes of his flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications withstrong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death was heard in that he feared where observe what force feare and afflictions added to our Saviours Prayers which as swelling seas make well growne fish and thundring and lightning cleereth the ayre and the nipping frost maketh the fire the hotter So the afflictions of the Saints addeth force to their Praiers they cry more mightily to God then ever they did yea where they could not speake before now they cry and that day and night saith the Spirit though he beare long with them where observe the patience of the Saints they beare long in Gods bearing with their enemies Then observe their instant continuance they cry day and night to the same effect the Lord speaketh by his Prophet I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as gold is tryed they shall call upon my name and I will hear them Affliction maketh the wicked impatient driveth them from God because they are a burnished blade of terror in the hand of the Almighty as the pearle in oysters by thunder vanisheth so doth the Prayer of the Hypocrite by affliction but the triall of the godly bringeth forth patience driveth them nigher to God because their afflictions are but trialls indeed and at the worst they are but as a rod in the hand of a loving Father In a word as the Saints extremities are Gods opportunities so the same extremities are whetstones to the Saints importunities Lastly as for preparation labour to set thy heart in frame consider what thou art about and with whom thou hast to deale As God bid Moses put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou staÌ„dest is holy ground whereby is meant the putting off of earthly and carnal affections preparing the mind to spiritual and heavenly duties Endeavour to come before the Lord with a simple and naked heart and with affections duly prepared for so great a presence As for Opportunity endeavour alwaies to be fit upon every occasion and feaâ—â— to choose the best occasion not omitting it at any hand for Diligence know this that use maketh an Artist or Tradesman To conclude this particular If thou callest upon the Lord in truth that is in faith syncerity earnestnesse and constancy the Lord will be nigh unto thee which is both the cause and evidence that thou prayest by the Spirit The seventh evidence of Prayer made by the Spirit is the guidance of the Spirit in all other actions For as he that is born of the Spirit is Spirit so he is spirituall in all his parts faculties and actions because the Spirit is of an all renuing nature though many remainders of the flesh and much reluctation be intermixed therewith throughout all the parts faculties and actions To this effect is that of the Apostle As many as are led by the Spirit they be the sonnes of God where observe hee saith not they that have received the Spirit or live by the Spirit or pray by the Spirit or doe any other action as he saith other where but that they are led by the Spirit intimating thereby the inclining disposition and ever-ruling power of the Spirit whereby the whole spirituall man is guided in all his waies as a ship by a pilot or a horse by his rider the place alludeth to a blind man or a man wanting strength who is wholly guided or carried by another so Gods supplicants as they pray by the spirit so they wholly resign themselves over in all their waies to the guidance of the spirit The guidance of the spirit in all a petitioners waies doth manifest it selfe in these two particulars First in the subdueing of the whole body of sin for though the remnans of sin remain in the best of Gods Saints yet no sin beareth dominion in theÌ„ for then should they not be led by the spirit who are led by the spirit saith one but they whose counsells and actions have nothing to doe with sin Sathan according to that of the Apostle Hee that is borne of God sinneth not or commiteth not sin viz. he serveth not sin hee delighteth not in sin he maketh not a trade of it nor lyeth not in it giveth not way to it but resisteth it and hateth it it is an intolerable burthen to him he cannot beare it But on the contrary he that committeth sin is of the Divel that is he that loveth sin loveth and obeyeth it in the lusts thereof Now where this sin-subduing power of the spirit beareth sway there the prayers bee the prayers of the spirit For as divers gifts come from one spirit so where there is one true gift of the spirit there bee all the gifts of the spirit but on the coÌ„trary where one sinne beareth sway there is not the guidance of the spirit and where the spirit is not the guide there the prayer is not the prayer of
breadth from the marke Secondly the way is hard and difficult that is also implied in the words Thirdly the dayes are evill nay sure never worse Many stumbling blockings rubbes much opposition both on the right hand and on the left within and without when Trading groweth hard Wares grow slight Pirats abound Merchants cheat their Chap-men Chapmen fill the earth with bankrupts and the Prisons with black smoke and beastlinesse is it not very hard for a faire trader to walk with a streight foot to give every man his owne and to make good his stock and maintaine his family yes sure every man averreth it How much harder is it in these wofull times to make good this spirituall traffick wherein the Parents will defraud the children the children cheat the parents the husband the wife the wife the husband the brother the brother yea a man will cheat and cozen his own soule It standeth every one therefore upon it to look to his own accompts because every one must give an account for himselfe This taske I must confesse is somewhat hard to set upon the rather because it will not stand with neglect or intermission but assuredly the constant use of it shall make a man see better and more comfortable dayes then ever heretofore he hath seene By this course he shall be brought to see himselfe often as in a glasse and by the sight of his failings he shall be brought to softnesse of heart to tendernesse of conscience to deprecate the evil of commission and omission and to supplicate for power against future assaults This shall make him watchfull over his waies wary of his company strict in his carriage zealous for his God and holy and profitable in all manner of conversation In a word the experimentall utility of this practice will shew such necessity of it that thou wilt not believe it till thou try it Try then and hold fast the practice it shal never repent thee To this daily accompt joyn thy weekly accompt and thy accompt of more weekes before thou goe to the sacrament and by use of time thou maist become an excellent accomptant The more thou attendest it the lesse thou shalt have to doe yea by the practising by it thou shalt be the more willing to attend it though thou canst not be like that Emperour that attended suits till he had no suiters for thou shalt alwaies find enough to doe yet thou shalt find thy selfe by Gods mercy much inabled to goe cheerfully through with the worke and if thou art faithfull in thine accompts thou shalt every time find thy selfe a gainer The eighth particular of the Spirit 's evidence in Prayer is from that infallible ground of the faith of the Saints viz. The precious promises of God The same Spirit called the Spirit of supplication is also called the Spirit of promise which doth not only signifie to us the residence of the Spirit in the Saints whereby they are distinguished and discerned from the wicked but also after an Hebraisme or Hebrew Phrase the assuring of them of those great and precious promises or things promised is understood on which the Prayers of the Saints make their stand and rise These were the supporters of David's faith Remember thy word to thy servant upon which thou hast caused mee to hope wherein is well observed by the Ancient that David in all his supplications had recourse to the promises of God And now Lord God saith the same Prophet the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant establish it And againe thou art God and thy words are true whereupon shall the weake sights of a weary and overladen soule and the heavy groans of a loaded conscience cast themselves but upon that sweet and comfortable promise of our Saviour Come unto me all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I will refresh you How shall the poore distressed selfe condemning bankrupt presse home his earnest suit upon God with any confidence of discharge but by putting God to his promise of the new Covenant I am he I am he saith the Lord that blotteth out thine iniquities for my names sake and will not remember thy sinnes The soule in Prayer may put God to remembrance of his promise not to remember sinne Also how should the soule tyrannized over by the body of some corruptiō ever look by Prayer to prevaile against the power of it but upon the promise of God to put the power of the word into the heart whereby the heart is changed from a stony and rebellious dispsition into a soft pliable and obedient disposition How shal the fainting soule support her supplication in the day of distresse or how should she wrestle with God in the time of calamity when God by contending desireth not only to be gone but in sence is already departed except they have at hand that promise Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee Lastly how shall ever the soule attaine by Prayer to rest it selfe upon the hope of glory but by interessing it selfe into the promise of the Crowne of Glory laid up for him and all them that love the appearing of the Lord Iesus Christ So that these promises are like Aaron and Hur holding up the hands strengthning the heart of Prayer yea as the remembrance and application of these faileth or increaseth so the Spirit of Prayer faileth or increaseth And here lyeth a main difference of the Prayers of the regenerate and unregenerate The Prayers of the former are upholden and supported from an externall principle namely the promises of God that cannot faile but the Prayers of the later lean upon the broken reed of something within thēselves namely some workes of charity equity or out-side pietie the worth of their Prayer it selfe or the mud-wall of civill honesty all which are but as a rotten wall whereupon the best Praiers that they build are but straw and stubble and both foundation and building being naught they must be burnt with fire If any object that Nehemiah desireth the Lord againe and againe to remember his workes of Piety and Iustice and that he would not wipe out the good deeds he had done for the house of his God and for the offices thereof So King Ezekias in his Praier desireth the Lord to remember his walking before the Lord his integrity of heart and doing good before the Lord. I answer that neither the zealous Ruler nor the godly King did presume any whit upon the worth of their works as though thereby they should make their Prayers of acceptance with God but if the places be well observed they cast themselves wholly upon the mercies of God and not upon the merit of their Prayers desiring God out of his promise made to respect the integrity of the heart and the righteousnesse of the actions to make good his promise like unto that in
Iob He shall call upon God and he will be favourable to him and hee shall see his face with joy For he will render unto man his righteousnesse False and forged then is that glosse of the Doctors of Doway upon that place of Nehemiah Ajust man that hath merited by good works may pray with great confidence of reward Further if any object If Prayer depend upon promises what need men pray since God will acknowledge his promises without our Prayers for all his promises are Yea and Amen For answer briefly he that hath promised to heare hath commanded us also to pray and without praying no promise to heare yea the Son of God himselfe who doubted not of his glorification did notwithstanding pray Father glorifie thy Son Try then thy interest to the promises by the laying hold or desiring to lay hold on the promises thereby thou maist know whether thou praiest in the Spirit or no keep alwaies thine eye upon the promises for as the load stone keepeth alwaies the point of the needle towards the north-pole so the load-stone of Gods promises keepeth alwaies the point of the Prayer touched therewith directly towards the Mercy seat of God But as the unregenerate man hath no portion in the promises so the promises are no point of that Compasse whereby his Prayers are guided It is true indeed that a wicked man out of the darknesse of his thoughts may charge God with such a promise as God never made by misconstruing of the promise as for instance Call upon me in the day of distresse and I will release thee This promise a wicked man may thus urge Thou hast bound thy selfe by promise Lord to deliver all those that are troubled and call upon thee but I am in trouble and call upon thee therefore thou hast bound thy selfe by the promise to deliver mee and so from thee I seeke for deliverance The Argument is a sophisme as wee speake from the homonumie or diverse significations of the word all which in the former proposition must be taken for calling upon the Lord in truth but in the later in cannot be so taken for the wicked may prate and bable but hee calleth not upon the Lord as I have shewed therefore he hath no interest in the promise Hee leaveth out the maine evidence namely the Glorifying of God which a wicked man never doth so that he presumeth himselfe to doe that he doth not and God to promise that which he never meant Againe a wicked man may obtaine that which he payeth for as successe honour wealth temporall deliverance and the like whereupon hee presumeth of some interest to the premises but it doth not follow For as God heareth not in every thing or alwaies the children of the promise because they are not fitted or it is not good for them or the the time is not come so he often giveth the wicked things they crave in his wrath they having no ground to aske or receive any thing from him as a promise to them for they are none of the children of the promise They have neither promise of the things of this life nor a better neither doe they with patience waite the Will of God that they may receive the promise but the childrens only care is to make good to themselves some interest to the promises and that by cleansing themselves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and by doing the Will of God waiting with patience for the promises endeavouring to bring them home by faith and supplication without ceasing The ninth Evidence of the Spirit of Prayer is the directing of Prayer to God in the name of Christ we are commanded thus to doe for what is it to seek the Face of God according to his owne appointment but to seeke him in the Face of his anointed Drawing neare unto God in Christ hath only the promise of hearing witnesse Christ himselfe binding it with an asseveration Verily verily I say unto you what soever yee shall aske the Father in my name that will I doe By no other nor in no other can wee speed but in and by him what other can appease the wrath of God against us Dare man by any other shew his face in Gods presence In the worth of Christ only our Prayers find acceptance with God in him as in a golden Censor all the Prayers of the Saints come to be fragrant and sweet-smelling odors He is the only mediatour as well of Intercession as Redemption He is the Priest the golden Altar by whose vertue our Prayers come to be a Sacrifice Did there ever any prevaile with God but in his name Is there any way or accesse but by his name Hee is that high Priest going into the Sanctuary carrying on his shoulders and also on his breast the twelve precious stones representing the twelve Tribes or all the faithful Hence it is cleare that Papists goe not to God going in the name of Saints and Angels sometime in the name of Traytors and godlesse persons In the name I say of their own worth and merit neither doth any reprobate goe to God in the name of Christ for Christ is no Intercessor for him I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast granted me for they are thine A great rabble of the unregenerate as Hypocrites carnall Gospellers meere civill men will tell you they defie Popery they hold it foolery and madnesse to pray to Saint or Angell and also robbery to goe to God by them and therefore they scorne it they acknowledge no other mediatour of Intercession but Christ Iesus All this is wel spoken but what availeth this them They will tell you further in Christ his name they dayly make their Prayers to God This is not so for they have no interest to take his name in their mouths or to make mention of it hating to be renued It is true they may speake of his name and so egregiously abuse it as they that will alleage it in the great day that they prophesyed and cast out Divels in his name of whom he will professe that is openly proclaim he knew them not viz. he never acknowledged thē for his yea he detesteth them and biddeth them away as workers of iniquity so shall it bee with all corrupt pleaders usurping the name of Christ They onely that know this name as the Psalmist saith can trust in it and fly unto it as a strong tower They know the Lords name the Lord knoweth theirs My people saith the Prophet shall know my name c. And because hee hath set his love upon me or cleaveth to mee as the Psalmist speaketh therefore I will deliver him I will set him on high because hee knoweth my name He shall call upon me and I will answer him Look then to it in all thy supplications to look towards God in Christ As Moses desiring to see the face of
Praier a Habit of holy ejaculations but I have already spoke of the former and will only adde this Withdraw thy selfe from all impediments prepare thy selfe with a reverent awe to meet thy God And for the later These holy breathings as ayre keepe and cleere the fire upon the hearth whereby sense is kindled when thou settest upon the worke Also for helpe in this particular the frequent use of secret Prayer will doe well David as I have shewed sought the Lord three times a day we should of necessity be twice a day with God at the least besides going unto him upon other occasions as hearing of the Word or others remembirng also to double our Sacrifice on the Lord's Day And so much for the Meanes which if the Lord dispose thy heart to use conscionably thou canst not but obtain some good measure of assurance that thou praiest by the Holy Ghost 4 How a man should hold on in the duty without the sense of the Spirit THe fourth particular head of of this Treatise shall be the satisfying a demand If one feele not the assurance of the Spirit in Prayer with what comfort or encouragement shall that party hold on in Prayer or should hee resolve to give over Prayer as Ieremy resolved to give over preaching For answer let such a one neither resolve so nor doe so As for motives of encouragement thereunto First thou must doe it in conscience to the commandement joyned with a promise Call upon me in the day of trouble and I wil deliver thee What greater trouble then to be without sense of assurance in Prayer and when is deliverance nigher then in great trouble Secondly remember that hee to whom thou goest is a loving kind and compassionate Father who pittieth his children and will not suffer them to cry alwaies without an answer he will not hide his face for ever If evill parents wil give good things to their children yea and that to evil children much more wil he who is goodnesse it selfe give better things to such as hee hath made partakers of his goodnesse Thirdly take encouragement from earnest desire of Gods face that he hath put into thy heart which hee never meaneth to frustrate for hee granteth the desires of his children Thou art as surely happy as I have shewed though not so sensibly happy in hungring and thirsting after sense as though thy soule were filled with sense These desires are his owne and he will crowne his owne works with mercy tender compassion keep then but open thy mouth and heart in Prayer and assuredly as he hath promised he wil fil them with good things Fourthly comfort thy selfe with this thy desertion or want of sense it may be it is not yet Gods opportunity to shew himselfe in the Mount it may come in an houre which thou never didst looke for Fiftly let the Wisdome of God stay thee in thy course who hath all times and seasons in his hands who knoweth when to shut and when to open By which drawing his presence hee maketh thee to long the more after it and the more thou wilt value it when thou hast it Sixtly let the examples of all Gods children in this comfort thee didst thou ever know or heare that ever any of them perished but at length they found the thing they sought for Lastly let thine owne experience teach thee to run thy race with patience till thou dost obtain For though thou hast not the sense of his presence yet thou hast other fruits of his presence as Holinesse Humility Patience Brotherly-love Softnesse of heart Tendernesse of conscience Feare to displease a Reverent awe of God Hunger and Thirst after all righteousnesse These it may be or some of these thou hast in a greater measure thē some that have sense But howsoever these be the harbingers of sense where they take up the heart there sense of assurance wil be sure to lodge Thou hast already that witnesse in thy selfe namely the Spirit and that Spirit will make thee know the things that are of God 5 How such as want the the Spirit of Prayer should labour for it THE fift and last particular of this Treatise is how men that want this Spirit of Prayer shall attain unto it For all men have it not not the elect till they be converted although most thinke that every man in the face of the Church can pray yet nothing lesse It is true indeed that our blessed Saviour maketh intercession by his presence for the Elect even before their conversion witnesse himselfe neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall beleeve on me through their word where the ancients observe that Christ prayed not only for those that should hear the Apostles for neither Abraham nor the Theife heard but hee prayed for all them that from the beginning of the world had beleeved or should beleeve yet for all this hee prayeth in none before they have the Spirit Though Paul an elect vessell before his conversion had the Prayer of Christ yet he prayed not for himselfe till hee was transformed by the Spirit into the Image of Christ by whose Spirit he began to pray of the truth of whose Prayer Christ giveth this testimony behold he prayeth Vnregenerate men may perhaps peruse this draught of Prayer whereby as they come to see the necessity of Prayer so they may discerne the falacy of the flesh and Sathans suggestions in perswading men that they pray when they doe nothing lesse hereupon they come to enquire how they may attaine to the true gift of Prayer For answer let them understand first that Praier is no acquired gift by the industry of man but an infused ability of the Spirit as I have shewed which God out of the free motive of his love powreth upon all and every one of his chosen when hee worketh that glorious change in them by the power of the Gopell The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it commeth nor whither it goeth So is every one that is borne of the Spirit As this is spoken of the free and forcible mystery of mans conversion incomprehensible by mans capacity yet understood of faith so this Spirit of supplication maketh free and forcible entry upon the heart of a convert neither acquired nor truly desired nor understood by the best man in his naturall estate or most compleate endowments before his conversion Further since thou doest enquire also in thy case with those that came to Iob what thou shouldst doe I answer thou must know ingeniously confesse that thou canst not pray at all for men conceit that they can pray when they can doe nothing lesse And this reachcheth not only to carnall professours who hold it a heresie to doubt that they cannot pray to God but also to close and formall hypocrites yea temporary professours in the highest degree whose hearts fouly deceive