I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also OR A DISCOVRSE Touching PRAYER From 1 Cor. 14. 15. Wherein is briefly discovered 1. VVhat PRAYER is 2. What it is to pray with the Spirit 3. What it is to pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding also By JOHN BUNYAN The Second Edition But we know not what we should pray for as we ought onely the Spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8. 26. London Printed for the Author 1663. I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the understanding also PRAYER is an Ordinance of God and that to be used both in Publick and Private yea such an Ordinance as brings those that have the Spirit of Supplication into great familiarity with God and is also so prevalent an action that it getteth of God both for the person that prayeth and for them that are prayed for great things It is the opener of the heart of God and a means by which the soul though empty is filled By Prayer the Christian can open his heart to God as to a Friend and obtain fresh testimony of God's Friendship to him I might spend many words in distinguishing between publick and private Prayer as also between that in the Heart and that with the vocal Voice Something also might be spoken to distinguish between the Gifts and Graces of Prayer but eschewing this method my business shall be at this time only to shew you the very heart of Prayer without which all your lifting up both of hands and eyes and voices will be to no purpose at all I will pray with the Spirit The method that I shall go in at this time shall be First To shew you what true Prayer is Secondly To shew you what it is to pray with the Spirit Thirdly What it is to pray with the Spirit and Understanding also And so fourthly to make some short Use and Application of what shall be spoken I. What Prayer is For the first What Prayer is Prayer is a sincere sensible affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God through Christ in the strength and assistance of the holy Spirit for such things as God hath promised or according to the Word for the good of the Church with submission in Faith to the Will of God In this Description are these seven things 1. It is a sincere 2. A sensible 3. An affectionate pouring out of the soul to God through Christ 4. By the strength or assistance of the Spirit 5. For such things as God hath promised or according to his Word 6. For the good of the Church 7. With submission in Faith to the Will of God For the First of these It is a sincere pouring out of the soul to God Sincerity is such a Grace as runs through all the Graces of God in us and through all the actings of a Christian and hath the sway in them too or else their actings are not any thing regarded of God and so of in Prayer of which particularly David speaketh when he mentioneth Prayer Psal. 66. 17 18. I cryed unto the Lord with my mouth he was extolled with my tongue If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer Psal. 17. 1 2 3 4. Part of the exercise of Prayer is sincerity without which God looks not upon it as Prayer in a good sense Then shall you seek me and find me when you shall search for me with your whole heart Jer. 29. 12 13. The want of this made the Lord reject their prayers in Hos. 7. 14. where he saith They have not cryed unto me with their heart that is in sincerity when they howled upon their beds But for a pretence for a shew in hypocrisie to be seen of men and applauded for the same they pray Sincerity was that which Christ commended in Nathaniel when he was under the fig-tree Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Probably this good man was pouring out of his soul to God in Prayer under the fig-tree and that in a sincere and unfained spirit before the Lord. The Prayer that hath this in it as one of the principal ingredients is the Prayer that God looks at Thus the Prayer of the Upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. And why must Sincerity be one of the essentials of Prayer which is accepted of God but because sincerity carries the soul in all simplicity to open its heart to God and to tell him the case plainly without equivocation to condemn it self plainly without dissembling to cry to God heartily without complementing I have surely heard Ephraim bemoning himself thus Thou hast chastized me and I was chastized as a bullock unaccustommed to the yoak Jer. 31. 18. Sincerity is the same in a corner alone as it is before the face of all the world It knows not how to wear two vizards one for an appearance before men and another for a short snatch in a corner but it must have God and be with him in the duty of Prayer It is not a lip-labour that it doth regard for it is the heart that God looks at and that which sincerity looks at and that which Prayer comes from if it be that Prayer which is accompanied with sincerity Secondly It is a sincere and sensible pouring out of the heart or soul. It is not as many take it to be even a few babling prating complementory expressions but a sensible feeling there is in the heart Prayer hath in it a sensibleness of divers things Sometimes sence of sin sometimes of mercy received sometimes of the readiness of God to give mercy c. First a sence of the want of mercy by reason of the danger of sin The soul I say feels and from feeling sighs groans and breaks at the heart For right Prayer bubleth out of the heart when it is over-pressed with grief and bitterness as blood is forced out of the flesh by reason of some heavy burthen that lyeth upon it 1 Sam. 1. 10. David roars cryes weeps faints at the heart fails at the eyes loseth his moisture c. Psal. 69. 3. 38. 8 9 10. Hezekiah mourns like a dove Isa. 38. 14. Ephraim bemoans himself Jer. 31. 18. Peter weeps bitterly Mat. 26. 57. Christ hath Heb. 5. 7. strong cryings and tears and all this from a sence of the justice of God the guilt of sin the pains of Hell and destruction The sorrows of Death compassed me about the pains of Hell got hold upon me and I found trouble and sorrow Then cryed I unto the Lord Psal. 116. 3 4. And in another place Psal. 77. 2. My sore ran in the night Again Psal. 38. 6. I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long In all these instances and in hundreds more that might be named you may see that Prayer carrieth it in a sensible feeling disposition and that first from a sence of sin 2dly Sometimes there is a
must the Scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26. 53 54. As who should say were there but a word for it in the Scripture I should soon be out of the hands of mine enemies I should be helpt by Angels but the Scripture will not warrant this kind of praying for that saith otherwise It is a praying then according to the word promise The Spirit by the Word must direct as well in the manner as in the matter of Prayer I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also But there is no understanding without the Word For if they reject the Word of the Lord what wisdom is in them Jer. 8. 9. 6. For the good of the Church This clause reacheth in whatsoever tendeth either to the honour of God Christ's advancement or his Peoples benefit For God and Christ and his People are so linked together that if the Good of one be prayed for to wit the Church the glory of God and advancement of Christ must needs be included For as Christ is in the Father so the Saints are in Christ John 17. 23. And he that toucheth the Saints toucheth the Apple of God's Eye Deut. 32. 10. Psal. 17. 8. Zach. 2. 8. And therefore pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and you pray for all that is required of you Psal. 122. 6. Psal. 51. 8. Isa. 62. 6 7. For Jerusalem will never be in perfect peace until she be in Heaven and there is nothing that Christ doth more desire than to have her there That also is the place that God through Christ hath given to her He then that prayeth for the peace and good of Sion or the Church doth ask that in prayer which Christ hath purchased with his Blood and also that which the Father hath given to him as the price thereof Now he that prayeth for this must pray for abundance of Grace for the Church for help against all its temptations that God would let nothing be too hard for it and that all things might work together for its good that God would keep them blameless and harmless the Sons of God to his glory in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation And this is the substance of Christ's own Prayer in the seventeenth of John And all Paul's Prayers did run that way as one of his Prayers do eminently shew in Ephes. 1. 16 to the 21. and Chap. 3. ver 14 to the 19th with Col. 1. 9 10 11 12 13. And Phil. 1. 9 10 11. he saith And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and in all judgement that ye may approve things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God But a short Prayer you see and yet full of good desires for the Church from the beginning to the end That it may stand and go on and that in the most excellent frame of spirit even without blame sincere and without offence until the day of Christ let its temptations or persecutions be what they will And because as I said Prayer doth submit to the will of God and say Thy Will be done as Christ hath taught us Matth. 6. 10. therefore the People of the Lord in humility are to lay themselves and their prayers and all that they have at the foot of their God to be disposed of by him as he in his heavenly wisdom seeth best Yet not doubting but God will answer the desire of his People that way that shall be most for their advantage and his glory When the Saints therefore do pray with submission to the Will of God it doth not argue that they are to doubt or question Gods love and kindness to them But because they at all times are not so wise but that sometimes Satan may get that advantage of them as to tempt them to pray for that which if they had it would neither prove to God's glory nor his Peoples good 1 John 5. 14 15. Yet this is the confidence we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us And if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the Petition that we ask of him that is we asking in the Spirit of grace and supplication For as I said before that Petition that is not put up in and through the Spirit it is not to be answered because it is beside the Will of God For the Spirit only knoweth that and so consequently knoweth how to pray according to that Will of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 11. But more of this hereafter Thus you see first what Prayer is Now to proceed II. I will pray with the Spirit Now to pray with the Spirit for that 's the praying man and none else so as to be accepted of God It is for a man as aforesaid sincerely and sensibly with affection to come to God through Christ c. which sincere sensible and affectionate coming must be by the working of God's Spirit There is no man nor Church in the world that can come to God in Prayer but by the assistance of the holy Spirit For Eph. 2. 18. through Christ we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father Wherefore Paul saith We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the heart knoweth the meaning of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God And because there is in this Scripture so full a discovery of the Spirit of Prayer and of mans inability to pray without it therefore I shall in a few words comment upon it Rom. 15. 16. For we Consider first the person speaking even Paul and in his person all the Apostles We Apostles we extraordinary Officers the wise Master-builders that have some of us been caught up into Paradise 1 Cor. 3. 10. 2 Cor. 12. 4. We know not what we should pray for Surely there is no man but will confess that Paul and his Companions were as able to have done any work for God as any Pope or proud Prelate in the Church of Rome and could as well have made a Common-Prayer-Book as those who at first composed this as being not a whit behind them either in grace or gifts For we know not what we should pray for We know not the Matter of the things for which we should pray neither the Object to whom we pray nor the Medium by or through whom we pray none of these things know we but by the help and assistance of the Spirit Mat.
plain terms to tell them their doom for all their hypocritical pretences And yet forsooth every cursed whoremaster thief and drunkard swearer and perjured person they that have not only been such in times past but are even so still these I say by some must be counted the only honest men and all because with their blasphemous throats and hypocritical hearts they will come to Church and say Our Father Nay further these men though every time they say to God our Father do most abominably blaspheme yet they must be compelled thus to do And because others that are of more sober Principles scruple the truth of such vain Traditions therefore they must be looked upon to be the only Enemies of God and the Nation Isa. 53. 10. when as it is their own cursed Superstition that doth set the great God against them and cause him to count them for his enemies And yet just like to Bonner that blood-red Persecutor they commend I say these wretches although never so vile if they close in with their Traditions to be good Church-men the honest subjects while God's People are as it hath alwayes been Ezra 4. 12 to 16. looked upon to be a turbulent seditious and factious people Therefore give me leave a little to reason with thee thou poor blind ignorant Sot It may be thy great prayer is to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Dost thou know the meaning of the very first words of this Prayer Canst thou indeed with the rest of the Saints cry Our Father Art thou truly born again hast thou received the Spirit of Adoption dost thou see thy self in Christ and canst thou come to God as a Member of him Or art thou ignorant of these things and yet darest say Our Father Is not the Devil thy Father John 8. 44. and dost thou not do the deeds of the flesh and yet darest thou say to God Our Father Nay art thou not a desperate Persecutor of the Children of God hast thou not cursed them in thy heart many a time And yet dost thou out of thy blasphemous throat suffer these words to come even Our Father He is their Father whom thou hatest and persecutest But as the Devil presented himself amongst the Sons or God Job 1. when they were to present themselves before the Father even our Father so is it now because the Saints are commanded to say Our Father therefore all the blind ignorant rabble in the world they must also use the same words Our Father Secondly And dost thou indeed say Hallowed be thy Name with thy heart Dost thou study by all honest and lawful wayes to advance the Name Holiness and Majesty of God Doth thy heart and conversation agree with this passage Dost thou strive to imitate Christ in all the works of Righteousness which God doth command of thee and prompt thee forwards to It is so if thou beest one that canst truly with God's allowance cry Our Father Or is it not the least of thy thoughts all the day and dost thou not clearly make it appear that thou art a cursed Hypocrite by condemning that with thy daily practice which thou pretendest in thy praying with thy dissembling tongue Thirdly Wouldest thou have the Kingdom of God come indeed and also his Will to be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Nay notwithstanding thou according to the form sayest Thy Kingdom come yet would it not make thee ready to run mad to hear the Trumpet sound to see the Dead arise and thy self just now to go and appear before God to reckon for all the deeds thou hast done in the Body Nay are not the very thoughts of it altogether displeasing to thee And if God's VVill should be done on Earth as it is in Heaven must it not be thy ruine There is never a Rebel in Heaven against God and if he should so deal on Earth must he not whirle thee down to Hell And so of the rest of the Petitions Ah! how sadly would even those men look and with what terror would they walk up and down the world if they did but know the lying and blaspheming that proceedeth out of their mouth even in their most pretended sanctity The Lord awaken you and learn your poor souls in all humility to take heed that you be not rash and unadvised with your heart and much more with your mouth when you appear before God as the wise man saith Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing especially to call God Father without some blessed experience when thou comest before God But I pass this Seventhly It must be a praying with the Spirit if it be accepted because there is nothing but the Spirit can lift up the soul or heart to God in Prayer The preparation of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. That is In every work for God and especially in Prayer if the heart run with the tongue it must be prepared by the Spirit of God Indeed the tongue is very apt of it self to run without either Fear or VVisdom But when it is the answer of the heart and that such an heart as is prepared by the Spirit of God then it speaketh so as God commands and doth desire They are mighty words of David where he saith That he lifteth his heart and his soul to God Psal. 25. 1. It is a great work for any man without the strength of the Spirit and therefore I conceive that this is one of the great reasons why the Spirit of God is called a Spirit of Supplication Zech. 12. 11. because it is that which helpeth the heart when it supplicates indeed to do it And therefore saith Paul Ephes. 6. 18. Praying with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit And so in my Text I will pray with the Spirit Prayer without the heart be in it is like a sound without life and a heart without it be lifted up of the Spirit will never pray to God Eighthly As the heart must be lifted up by the Spirit if it pray aright so also it must be held up by the Spirit when it is up if it continue to pray aright I do not know what or how it is with others hearts whether they be lifted up by the Spirit of God and so continued or no But this I am sure of First That it is impossible that all the Prayer-Books that men have made in the world should lift up or prepare the heart that is the work of the great God himself And in the Second place I am sure that they are as far from keeping it up when it is up And indeed here is the life of Prayer to have the heart kept with God in the duty Exod. 17. 12. It was a great matter for Moses to keep his hands lifted up to God in Prayer but how much more then to keep the heart in it The want
of this is that which God complains of Ezek. 33. That they draw nigh to him with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their hearts were far from him but chiefly they that walk after the Commandments and Traditions of men as the scope of Matth. 15. 8 9. doth testifie And verily may I but speak my own Experience and from that tell you the difficulty of Praying to God as I ought it is enough to make your poor blind carnal men to entertain strange thoughts of me For as for my heart when I go to pray I find it so loth to go to God and when it is with him so loth to stay with him that many times I am forced in my Prayers first to beg of God that he would take mine heart and set it on himself in Christ and when it is there that he would keep it there Psal. 86. 11. Nay many times I know not what to pray for I am so blind nor how to pray I am so ignorant onely blessed be Grace the Spirit helps our infirmities Oh the starting-holes that the heart hath in the time of Prayer none knows how many by-wayes the heart hath and back-lains to slip away from the presence of God How much pride also if enabled with expressions how much hypocrisie if before others And how little conscience is there made of Prayer between God and the Soul in secret unless the Spirit of Supplication be there to help VVhen the Spirit gets into the heart then there is Prayer indeed and not till then Ninthly The soul that doth rightly pray it must be in and with the help and strength of the Spirit because it is impossible that a man should express himself in Prayer without it when I say it is impossible for a man to express himself in prayer without it I mean that it is impossible that the heart in a sincere and sensible affectionate way should pour out it self before God with those groans and sighs that come from a truly praying heart without the assistance of the Spirit It is not the mouth that is the main thing to be looked at in Prayer but whether the heart be so full of affection and earnestness in Prayer with God that it is impossible to express their sence and desire For then a man desires indeed when his desires are so strong many and mighty that all the words tears and groans that can come from the heart cannot utter them The Spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered That is but poor prayer which is only discovered in so many words A man that truly prayes one Prayer shall after that never be able to expresse with his mouth or pen the unutterable desires sence affection and longing that went to God in that Prayer The best Prayers have often more groans than words and those words that it hath are but a lean and shallow representation of the heart life and spirit of that Prayer You do not find any words of Prayer that we reade of come out of the mouth of Moses when he was going out of Egypt and was followed by Pharoah Exod. 14. 15. and yet he made Heaven ring again with his cry But it was the unexpressible and unsearchable groans and cryings of his soul in and with the Spirit God is the God of Spirits Numb 16. 22. and his eyes look further than the ourside of any duty whatsoever 1 Sam. 16. 7. I doubt this is but little thought on by the most of them that would be looked upon as a praying people The nearer a man comes in any work that God commands him to the doing of it according to his will so much the more hard and difficult it is And the reason is because man as man is not able to do it But Prayer as aforesaid is not only a duty but one of the most eminent duties and therefore so much the more difficult Therefore Paul knew what he said when he said I will pray with the Spirit He knew well it was not what others writ or said that could make him a praying person nothing lesse than the Spirit could do it Tenthly It must be with the Spirit or else as there will be a failing in the act it self so there will be a failing yea a fainting in the prosecution of the work Prayer is an Ordinance of God that must continue with a soul so long as it is on this side glory But as I said before it is not possible for a man to get up his heart to God in Prayer so it is as difficult to keep it there without the assistance of the Spirit And if so then for a man to continue from time to time in Prayer with God it must of necessity be with the Spirit Christ tells us That men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint Luke 18. 1 2. And again tells us that this is one definition of an Hypocrite That either he will not continue in Prayer or else if he do it will not be in the power Job 27. 10. that is in the Spirit of Prayer but in the Form for a pretence only Mat. 23. 14. It is the easiest thing of an hundred to fall from the Power to the Form but it is the hardest thing of many to keep in the Life Spirit and Power of any one duty especially Prayer That is such a work that a man without the help of the Spirit cannot so much as pray once much less continue without it in a sweet praying frame and in praying so to pray as to have his Prayers to ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaoth Jacob did not only begin but held it I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Gen. 32. So did the rest of the Godly Hos. 12. 4. But this could not be without the Spirit of Prayer It is through the Spirit that we have access to the Father Ephes. 2. 18. That same is a remarkable place in Jude when he stirreth up the Saints by the Judgement of God upon the Wicked to stand fast and continue or hold out in the Faith of the Gospel as one excellent means thereto without which he knew they would never be able to do it Saith he Build up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the holy Ghost Jude 20. As if he had said Brethren as eternal Life is laid up for the persons that hold out only so you cannot hold out unless you continue praying in the Spirit The great cheat that the Devil and Antichrist deludes the World withal it is to make them continue in the form of any Duty the Form of Preaching of Hearing of Praying c. These are they that have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such turn away 2 Tim. 3. 5. Here followeth the Third Thing to wit What it is to pray with the Spirit and with understanding And now to the next thing What
11. 27. 1 Cor. 2. 9 10 11. Should we pray for Communion with God through Christ should we pray for Faith for Justification by Grace and a truly sanctified heart None of these things know we For As no man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 11. But here alas the Apostles speak of inward and spiritual things which the world knows not Isa. 29. 11. Again As they know not the Matter c. of Prayer without the help of the Spirit so neither know they the Manner thereof without the same and therefore he addeth We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities with sighs and groans which cannot be uttered Mark here they could not so well and so fully come off in the manner of performing this duty as these in our dayes think they can The Apostles when they were at the best yea when the holy Ghost assisted them yet then they were fain to come off with sighs and groans falling short of expressing their mind but with sighs and groans which cannot be uttered But here now the wise men of our dayes are so well skill'd as that they have both the Manner and Matter of their Prayers at their fingers ends setting such a Prayer for such a day and that twenty years before it comes One for Christmass another for Easter and six dayes after that They have also bounded how many syllables must be said in every one of them at their publick Exercises For each Saints day also they have them ready for the generations yet unborn to say They can tell you also when you shall kneel when you should stand when you should abide in your seats when you should go up into the Chancel and what you should do when you come there All which the Apostles came short of as not being able to compose so profound a manner And that for this reason included in this Scripture because the fear of God tyed them to pray as they ought For we know not what we should pray for as we ought Mark this As we ought For the not thinking of this word or at least the not understanding it in the spirit and truth of it hath occasioned these men to devise as Jeroboam did 1 King 12. 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33. another way of Worship both for matter and manner than is revealed in the Word of God But saith Paul We must pray as we ought and this we cannot do by all the art skill cunning and device of Men or Angels For we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit nay further it must be the Spirit it self that helpeth our infirmities not the Spirit and man's lusts What man of his own brain may imagine and devise is one thing and what they are commanded and ought to do is another Many ask and have not because they ask amiss Jam. 4. 3. and so are never the nearer the injoying of those things they petition for It is not to pray at random that will put off God or cause him to answer While Prayer is making God is searching the heart to see from what root and spirit it doth arise And he that searcheth the heart knoweth that is approveth only the meaning of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God 1 John 5. 14. For in that which is according to his Will only he heareth us and in nothing else And it is the Spirit only that can teach us so to ask it onely being able to search out all things even the deep things of God Without which Spirit though we had a thousand Common-Prayer-Books yet we know not what we should pray for as we ought being accompanied with those infirmities that make us absolutely uncapable of such a work Which infirmities although it is a hard thing to name them all yet some of them are these that follow First Without the Spirit man is so infirm that he cannot with all other means whatsoever be enabled to think one right saving thought of God of Christ or of his blessed things and therefore he saith of the wicked God is not in all their thoughts Psal. 10. 4. Unless it be that they imagine him altogether such a one as themselves Psal. 50. 20. For every imagination of the thought of their heart is only evil and that continually Gen. 6. 5. Gen. 8. 21. They then not being able to conceive aright of God to whom they pray of Christ through whom they pray nor of the things for which they pray as is before shewed how shall they be able to address themselves to God without the Spirit help this infirmity Peradventure you will say By the help of the Common-Prayer-Book but that cannot do it unless it can open the eyes and reveal to the soul all these things before touched Which that it cannot it is evident because that is the work of the Spirit only The Spirit it self is the revealer of these things to poor souls and that which doth give us to understand them wherefore Christ tells his Disciples when he promised to send the Spirit the Comforter He shall take of mine and shew unto you as if he had said I know you are naturally dark and ignorant as to the understanding any of my things though ye try this course and the other yet your ignorance will still remain the vail is spread over your heart and there is none can take away the same nor give you spiritual understanding but the Spirit The Common-Prayer-Book will not do it neither can any man expect that it should be instrumental that way it being none of God's Ordinances but a thing since the Scriptures were written patched together one piece at one time and another at another a meer mane invention and institution which God is so far from owning of that he expresly forbids it with any other such like and that by manyfold sayings in his most holy and blessed Word See Mark 7. vers 7 8. and Col. 2. vers 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. Deut. 12. 30 31 32. Prov. 30. 6. Deut. 4. 2. Rev. 22. 18. For right prayer must aswell in the outward part of it in the outward expression as in the inward intention come from what the soul doth apprehend in the Light of the Spirit otherwise it is condemned as vain and an abomination Mark 7. because the heart and tongue do not go along joyntly in the same Prov. 21. 9. Isa. 29. 13. neither indeed can they unless the Spirit help our infirmities And this David knew full well which did make him cry Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Psal. 51. 10 11. I suppose there is none can imagine but that David could speak and express himself as well as others nay
it is to pray with the Spirit and to pray with the Understanding also For the Apostle put a clear distinction between praying with the Spirit and praying with the Spirit and Understanding Therefore when he saith he will pray with the Spirit he addeth and I will pray with the Understanding also This distinction was occasioned through the Corinthians not observing that it was their duty to do what they did to the Edification of themselves and others too whereas they did it for their own commendations So I judge For many of them having extraordinary gifts as to speak with divers tongues c. therefore they were more for those mighty gifts than they were for the edifying of their Brethren which was the cause that Paul wrote this Chapter to them to let them understand that though extraordinary gifts were excellent yet to do what they did to the edification of the Church was more excellent For saith the Apostle if I will pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding and also the understanding of others is unfruitful Therefore I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also 1 Cor. 14. 4 5 12 13 14 15 c. reade the scope of the whole Chapter It is expedient then that the Understanding should be occupied in Prayer as well as the heart and mouth I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also That which is done with Understanding is done more effectually sensibly and heartily as I shall further shew anon than that which is done without it Which made the Apostle pray for the Colossians That God would fill them with the knowledge of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Col. 1. 9. And for the Ephesians That God would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes. 1. 17. And so for the Philippians That God would make them abound in knowledge and in all judgment Phil. 1. 9. A suitable understanding is good in every thing a man undertakes either Civil or Spiritual and therefore it must be desired by all them that would be a Praying people In my speaking to this I shall shew you what it is to pray with Understanding Understanding is to be taken both for speaking in our mother-tongue and also experimentally I shall pass the first and treat only on the second For the making of right Prayers it is to be required that there should be a good or spiritual understanding in all them who pray to God First To pray with Understanding is to pray as being instructed by the Spirit in the understanding of the want of those things which the soul is to pray for Though a man be in never so much need of pardon of sin and deliverance from wrath to come yet if he understand not this he will either not desire them at all or else be so cold and luke-warm in his desires after them that God will even loath their frame of spirit in asking for them Thus it was with the Church of the Laodiceans they wanted knowledge or spiritual understanding They knew not that they were poor wretched blind and naked The cause whereof made them and all their services so loathsome to Christ that he threatens to spue them out of his mouth Rev. 3. 17. Men without understanding may say the same words in prayer as others do but if there be an understanding in the one and none in the other there is Oh there is a mighty difference in speaking the very same words The one speaking it from a spiritual understanding of those things that he in words desires and the other words it only and there is all Secondly Spiritual understanding Espieth in the heart of God a readiness and willingness to give those things to the soul that it stands in need of David by this could guess at the very thoughts of God towards him Psal. 40. 5. And thus it was with the woman of Canaan Mat. 15. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28. she did by Faith and a right Understanding discern beyond all the rough carriage of Christ tenderness and willingness in his heart to save which caused her to be vehement and earnest yea restless until she did enjoy the mercy she stood in need of An understanding of the willingness that is in the heart of God to save sinners there is nothing will press the soul more to seek after God and to cry for pardon than it If a man should see a Pearle worth an hundred pounds lye in a ditch yet if he understood not the value of it he would lightly pass it by but if he once get the knowledge of it he would venture up to the neck for it So it is with souls concerning the things of God If a man once get an understanding of the worth of them then his heart nay the very strength of his soul runs after them and he will never leave crying till he have them The two blind men in the Gospel because they did certainly know that Jesus who was going by them was both able willing to heal such infirmities as they were afflicted with therefore they cryed and the more they were rebuked the more they cryed Mat. 20. 29 30 31. Thirdly The understanding being spiritually enlightned hereby there is the way as aforesaid discovered through which the soul should come unto God which gives great encouragement unto it It is else with a poor soul as with one who hath a work to do and if it be not done the danger is great if it be done so is the advantage but he knows not how to begin nor how to proceed and so through discouragement le ts all alone and runs the hazard Fourthly The enlightened Understanding sees largeness enough in the Promises to encourage it to pray which still adds to it strength to strength As when men promise such and such things to all that will come for them it is great encouragement to those that know what promises are made to come and ask for them Fifthly The Understanding being enlightned way is made for the soul to come to God with suitable arguments Sometimes in a way of expostulation as Jacob Gen. 32. 9. Sometimes in way of supplication yet not in a verbal way only but even from the heart there is forced by the Spirit through the understanding such effectual Arguments as moveth the heart of God When Ephraim gets a right Understanding of his own unseemly carriages towards the Lord then he begins to bemoan himself Jer. 31. 18 19 20. and in bemoaning of himself he useth such Arguments with the Lord that it affects his heart draws out forgiveness and makes Ephraim pleasant in his eyes through Jesus Christ our Lord. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus saith God Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoak turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou
art the Lord my God Surely after I was turned I repented and after I was instructed or had a right understanding of my self I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth These be Ephraim's complaints and bemoanings of himself at which the Lord breaks forth into these heart-melting expressions saying Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Chlld For since I spake unto him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Thus you see that as it is required to pray with the Spirit so it is to pray with the Understanding also And to illustrate what hath been spoken by a similitude Set the case there should come two a begging to your door the one is a poor lame wounded and almost starved creature the other is a healthful lusty person These two use the same words in their begging the one saith he is almost starved so doth the other but yet the man that is indeed the poor lame or maimed person he speaks with more sence feeling and understanding of the misery that is mentioned in their begging than the other can do and it is discovered more by his affectionate speaking his bemoaning himself His pain and poverty makes him speak more in a spirit of lamentation than the other and he shall be pittied sooner than the other by all those that have the least dram of natural affection or pitty Just thus it is with God There are some who out of custome and formality go and pray there are others who go in the bitterness of their spirit The one he prayes out of bare notion and naked knowledge the other hath his words forced from him by the anguish of his soul. Surely that is the man that God will look at even him that is of a humble and contrite spirit and that trembleth at his word Isa. 66. 2. Sixthly An Understanding well enlightened is of admirable use also both as to the matter and manner of Prayer He that hath his understanding well exercised to discern between good and evil and in it placed a sence either of the misery of man or the mercy of God that soul hath no need of the Writings of other men to teach him by Forms of Prayer For as he that feels the pain needs not to be learned to cry Oh! Even so he that hath his Understanding opened by the Spirit needs not so to be taught of other mens prayers as that he cannot pray without them the present sence feeling and pressure that lyeth upon his spirit provokes him to groan out his requests unto the Lord. When David had the pains of hell catching hold on him and the sorrows of hell compassing him about he needed not a Bishop in a Surplice to learn him to say O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Psal. 116. 3 4. Or to look into a Book to teach him in a Form to pour out his heart before God It is the nature of the heart of sick men in their pain and sickness to vent it self for ease by dolorous groans and complaints to them that stand by Thus it was with David in Psal. 38. to the 12. vers And thus Blessed be the Lord it is with them that are indued with the Grace of God Seventhly It is necessary that there be an enlightened Understanding to the end that the soul be kept in a continuation of the duty of Prayer The People of God are not ignorant how many wiles tricks and temptations the Devil hath to make a poor soul who is truly willing to have the Lord Jesus Christ and that upon Christ's terms too I say to tempt that soul to be weary of seeking the face of God and to think that God is not willing to have mercy on such a one as him I saith Satan thou mayest pray indeed but thou shalt not prevail Thou seest thine heart is hard cold dull and dead thou dost not pray with the Spirit thou dost not pray in good earnest thy thoughts are running after other things when thou pretendest to pray to God Away hypocrite go no further it is but in vain to strive any longer Here now if the soul be not well informed in its understanding it will presently cry out The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Isa. 45. 27. Whereas the soul rightly informed and enlightned saith Well I will seek the Lord and wait I will not leave off though the Lord keep silence and speak not one word of comfort Isa. 49. 14. He loved Jacob dearly and yet he made him wrestle before he had the blessing Gen. 32. 25 26 27. Seeming delayes in God are no tokens of his displeasure he may hide his face from his dearest Saints Isa. 8. 17. He loves to keep his People praying and to find them ever knocking at the gate of Heaven It may be sayes the soul the Lord tries me or he loves to hear me groan out my condition before him The woman of Canaan would not take seeming denyals for real ones she knew the Lord was gracious Luke 18. 1 to 6. And the Lord will avenge his People though he bear long with them The Lord hath waited longer upon me than I have waited on him And thus it was with David I waited patiently saith he That is It was long before the Lord answered me though at the last he enclined his ear unto me and heard my cry Psal. 40. 1. And the most excellent remedy for this is an understanding well informed and enlightened Alas how many poor souls are there in the world that truly fear the Lord who because they are not well informed in their understanding are oft ready to give up all for lost upon almost every trick and temptation of Satan The Lord pitty them and help them to pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding also Much of mine own experience could I here discover when I have been in my fits of agonies of spirit I have been strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer but being made to understand what great sinners the Lord hath had mercy upon and how large his Promises were still to sinners and that it was not the whole but the sick not the righteous but the sinner not the full but the empty that he extended his Grace and Mercy unto This made me through the assistance of his holy Spirit to cleave to him to hang upon him and yet to cry though for the present he made no answer and the Lord help all his poor tempted and afflicted People to do the like and to continue though it be long according to the saying of the Prophet Hab. 2. 3. And to help them to that end to pray not by the inventions of men and their stinted Forms but with the Spirit and with the Understanding also And now to answer a Query or two and
so to pass on to the next thing Query 1. But what would you have us poor creatures to do that cannot tell how to pray the Lord knows I know not either how to pray or what to pray for Answer Poor heart Thou canst not thou complainest pray Canst thou see thy misery Hath God shewed thee that thou art by nature under the Curse of his Law If so do not mistake I know thou dost groan and that most bitterly I am perswaded thou canst scarcely be found doing any thing in thy calling but Prayer breaks from thy heart Rom. 8. 28. Have not thy groans gone up to Heaven from every corner of thy house I know 't is thus and so also doth thine own sorrowful heart witness thy tears thy forgetfulness of thy calling c Is not thy heart so full of desires after the things of another World that many times thou dost even forget the things of this World Prethee reade this Scripture Job 23. 12. Query 2. Yea but when I go into secret and intend to pour out my soul before God I can scarce say any thing at all Answer Ah sweet soul It is not thy words that God so much regards as that he will not mind thee except thou comest before him with some eloquent Oration His eye is on the brokenness of thine heart and that it is that makes the very bowels of the Lord run over A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal. 51. 17. 2. The stopping of thy words may arise from over much trouble in thy heart David was so troubled sometimes that he could not speak Psal. 77. 3 4. But this may comfort all such sorrowful hearts as thou art that though thou canst not through the anguish of thy spirit speak much yet the holy Spirit stirs up in thine heart groans and sighs so much the more vehement when the mouth is hindred yet the Spirit is not Moses as aforesaid made Heaven ring again with his Prayers when that we read of not one word come out of his mouth But. 3. If thou wouldst more fully express thy self before the Lord study First Thy filthy Estate Secondly Gods Promises Thirdly The Heart of Christ. Which thou mayest know or discern 1. By his condescention and bloodshed 2. By the mercy he hath extended to great sinners formerly and plead thine own vileness by way of bemoaning Christs blood by way of expostulation and in thy prayers let the mercy that he hath extended to other great sinners together with his rich promises of grace be much upon thy heart Yet let me counsel thee 1. Take heed that thou content not thy self with words 2. That thou do not think that God looks only at them neither But. 3. However whether thy words be few or many let thine heart go with them And then shalt thou seek him and find him when thou shalt seek him with thy whole heart Jer. 29. 13. Object 1. But though you have seemed to speak against any other way of praying but by the Spirit yet here you your self can give direction how to pray Answ. We ought to prompt one another forward to Prayer though we ought not to make for each other Forms of Prayer To exhort to pray with Christian direction is one thing and to make stinted Formes for the tying up of the Spirit of God to them is another thing The Apostle gives them no form to pray withal yet directs to Prayer Ephes. 6. 18. Rom. 15. 30 31 32. Let no man therefore conclude that because we may with allowance give instructions and directions to pray that therefore it is lawful to make for each other Forms of Prayer Object 2. But if we do not use Forms of Prayer how shall we teach our Children to pray Answ. My judgement is that men go the wrong way to learn their Children to pray in going about so soon to learn them any set company of words as is the common use of poor creatures to do For to me it seems to be a better way for people betimes to tell their Children what cursed creatures they are and how they are under the wrath of God by reason of original and actual sin also to tell them the nature of God's wrath and the duration of the misery which if they conscientiously do they would sooner learn their Children to pray than they do The way that men learn to pray it is by conviction for sin and this is the way to make our sweet babes do so too But the other way namely to be busie in learning Children forms of prayer before they know any thing else it is the next way to make them cursed hypocrites and to puff them up with pride Learn therefore your Children to know their wretched state and condition tell them of hell fire and their sins of damnation and salvation the way to escape the one and to enjoy the other if you know it your selves and this will make tears run down your sweet babes eyes and hearty groans flow from their hearts and then also you may tell them to whom they should pray and through whom they should pray you may tell them also of Gods promises and his former grace extended to sinners according to the word Ah! poor sweet babes the Lord open their eyes and make them holy Christians Saith David Come ye Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord Psalm 34. 11. He doth not say I will nuzle you up in a form of Prayer but I will teach you the fear of the Lord Which is to see their sad states by nature and to be instructed in the Truth of the Gospel which doth through the Spirit beget Prayer in every one that in Truth learns it And the more you learn them this the more will their hearts run out to God in Prayer God did never account Paul a praying man until he was a convinced and converted man Acts 9. 11. no more will it be with any else Object 3. But we find that the Disciples desired that Christ would teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples and that thereupon he taught them that form called the Lord's Prayer Answ. First To be taught by Christ is that which not only they but we desire and seeing he is not here in his person to teach us the Lord teach us by his Word and Spirit for the Spirit is it which he hath said he would send to supply in his room when he went away as it is John 14. 16. and 16. 7. Secondly As to that called a Form I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer First Because he himself layeth it down diversly as is to be seen if you compare Matth. 6. with Luke 11. Whereas if he intended it as a set-form it must not have been so laid down for a set-form is so many words and no more Secondly VVe do not find that the Apostles did ever observe
it as such neither did they admonish others so to do Search all their Epistles Yet surely they both for knowledge to discern and faithfulness to practise were as eminent as any He ever since in the World which would impose it But in a word Christ by those words Our Father c. doth instruct his People what Rules they should observe in their Prayers to God 1. That they should pray in Faith 2. To God in the Heavens 3. For such things as are according to his Will c. Pray thus or after this manner Object 4. But Christ bids Pray for the Spirit This implieth that men without the Spirit may notwithstanding pray and be heard See Luke 11. 9 10 11 12 13. Answ. 1. The speech of Christ there is directed to his own vers 1. 2. Christ his telling of them that God would give his holy Spirit to them that ask him is to be understood of giving more of the holy Spirit For still they are the Disciples spoken to which had a measure of the Spirit already for he saith When ye pray say Our Father ver 2. I say unto you vers 8. And I say unto you vers 9. If ye then being evil know how to give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Christians ought to pray for the Spirit that is for more of it though God hath endued them with it already Quest. Then would you have none pray but those that know they are the Disciples of Christ Answ. Yes 1. Let every soul that would be saved pour out it self to God although it cannot through temptation conclude it self a Child of God And 2. I know if the Grace of God be in thee it will be as natural to thee to groan out thy condition as it is for a sucking Childe to cry for the breast Prayer is one of the first things that discovereth a man to be a Christian Acts 9. 12. But yet if it be right it is such Prayer as followeth First To desire God in Christ for Himself for his Holiness Love Wisdom and Glory For right Prayer as it runs onely to God through Christ so it centers in him and in him alone Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none in Earth that I desire long for or seek after besides thee Psal. 73. 25. Secondly That the soul might enjoy continual Communion with him both here and hereafter I shall be satisfied when I awake with thine Image or in thy likeness Psal. 17. 15. For in thee we groan earnestly c. 2 Cor. 5. 2. Thirdly Right Prayer is accompanied with a continual labour after that which is prayed for My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning Psal. 130. 6. I will arise now and seek him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3. 2. For mark I beseech you there is two things that provoke to Prayer One is a detestation to sin and the things of this life The other is a longing desire after Communion with God in an holy and undefiled state and inheritance Compare but this one thing with most of the Prayers that are made by men and you shall finde them but mock-prayers and the breathings of an abominable spirit for even the most of men either not pray at all or else only endeavour to mock God and the world by so doing for do but compare their prayer and the course of their lives together and you may easily see that the thing included in their prayer is the least looked after by their lives Oh sad Hypocrites Thus have I briefly shewed you 1. VVhat Prayer is 2. What it is to pray with the Spirit 3. VVhat it is to pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding also I shall now speak a word or two of Application and so conclude with 1. A word of Information 2. A word of Encouragement 3. A word of Rebuke USE I. A Word of Information For the first to inform you That as Prayer is the duty of every one of the Children of God and carried on by the Spirit of Christ in the soul So every one that doth but offer to take upon him to pray to the Lord had need be very wary and go about that work especially with the Dread of God as well as with hopes of the Mercy of God through Jesus Christ. Prayer is an Ordinance of God in which a man draws very near to God and therefore it calleth for so much the more of the assistance of the Grace of God to help a soul to pray as becomes one that is in the presence of him It is a shame for a man to behave himself irreverently before a King but a sin to do so before God And a a King if wise is not pleased with an Oration made up with unseemly words and gestures So God takes no pleasure in the sacrifice of fools Eccles. 5. 1 4. It is not long discourses nor eloquent tongues that are the things which are pleasing in the ears of the Lord but a humble broken and contrite heart Psal. 51. 17. Isa. 57. 15. that is sweet in the nostrils of the heavenly Majesty Therefore for information know that there are these Five Things that are obstructions to Prayer and even make void the requests of the creature First When men regard iniquity in their hearts at the time of their Prayers before God If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer Psal. 66. 18. For the preventing of temptation that by the misunderstanding of this may seize thy heart when there is a secret love to that very thing which thou with thy dissembling lips dost ask for strength against For this is the wickedness of man's heart that it will even love and hold fast that which with the mouth it prayeth against and of this sort are they that honour God with their mouth but their heart is far from him Ezek. 33. 31. O how ugly would it be in our eyes if we should see a beggar ask an alms with intention to throw it to the dogs Or that should say with one breath Pray you bestow this upon me and with the next I beseech you give it me not And yet thus it is with these kind of persons with their mouth they say Thy Will be done and with their hearts nothing less With their mouth say Hallowed be thy Name and with their hearts and lives they delight to dishonour him all the day long These be the prayers that become sin Psal. 109. 7. and though they put them up often yet the Lord will never answer them 2 Sam. 22. 42. Secondly When men pray for a shew to be heard and thought some body in Religion and the like These prayers also fall far short of God's approbation and are never like to be answered in reference unto eternal life There are two sorts of men that pray to this end 1. Your
he standeth at a poor Joshua's hand to resist him Isa. 66. 5. Zech. 3. 1. that is to perswade him that neither his person nor performances are accepted of God Take heed therefore of such false conclusions and groundless discouragements And though such perswasions do come in upon thy spirit be so far from being discouraged by them that thou use them to put thee upon further sincerity and restlesness of spirit in thy approaching to God Secondly As such sudden temptations should not stop thee from Prayer and pouring out thy soul to God so neither should thine own hearts corruption hinder thee It may be thou mayest find in thee all those things before-mentioned and that they will be endeavouring to put forth themselves in thy praying to him thy business then is to judge them to pray against them and to lay thy self so much the more at the foot of God in a sence of thy own viseness and rather make an argument from thy vileness and corruption of heart to plead with God for justifying and sanctifying grace than an argument of discouragement and dispair David went this way O Lord saith he pardon mine iniquity for it is great Psal. 25. USE II. A Word of Encouragement Secondly To speak a word by way of Encouragement to the poor tempted and cast-down soul to pray to God through Christ. Though all Prayer that is accepted of God in reference to eternal life must be in the Spirit for that onely maketh intercession for us according to the Will of God Rom. 8. 27. Yet because many poor souls may have the holy Spirit working on them and stirring of them to groan unto the Lord for mercy though through unbelief they do not nor for the present cannot believe that they are the People of God such as he delights in yet forasmuch as the truth of Grace may be in them therefore I shall to encourage them lay down further these few particulars 1. That Scripture in Luke 11. 8. is very encouraging to any poor soul that doth hunger after Christ Jesus In the 5th 6th and 7th verses he speaketh a parable of a man that went to his friend to borrow three loaves who because he was in bed denied him yet for his importunity-sake he did arise and give him clearly signifying that though poor souls through the weakness of their faith cannot see that they are the friends of God yet they should never leave asking seeking and knocking at God's door for mercy Mat. 7. 7 8. Mark saith Christ I say unto you Although he will not arise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity or restless desires he will arise and give him as many as he needeth Poor heart thou cryest out that God will not regard thee thou dosnot find that thou art a friend to him but rather an enemy in thine heart by wicked works Col. 1. 21. and thou ar◠as though thou didst hear the Lord saying to thee Trouble me not I cannot give unto thee as he in the parable Yet I say continue knocking crying moaning and bewailing thy self I tell thee though he will not arise and give thee because thou art his friend yet because of thy importunity he will arise and give thee as many as thou needest The same in effect you have discovered Luke 18. in the parable of the unjust Judge and the poor Widow her importunity prevailed with him And verily mine own experience tells me that there is nothing that doth more prevail with God than importunity Is it not so with you in respect of your beggars that come to your door though you have no heart to give them any thing at their first asking yet if they follow you bemoaning themselves and will take no nay without an alms you will give them for their continual begging overcometh you Are there bowels in you that are wicked and will they be wrought upon by an importuning beggar Go thou and do the like Luke 11. 11. It is a prevailing motive and that by good experience He will arise and give thee as many as thou needest 2. Another Encouragement for a poor trembling convinced soul is To consider the place throne or seat on which the great God hath placed himself to hear the petitions and prayers of poor creatures and that is a Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. The Mercy-Seat Exod. 25. 22. Which signifieth that in the dayes of the Gospel God hath taken up his Seat his abiding-place in mercy and forgiveness and from thence he doth intend to hear the sinner and to commune with him as he saith Exod. 25. 22. speaking before of the Mercy-Seat And there will I meet with thee Mark It is upon the Mercy-Seat There will I meet with thee and there will I commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat Poor souls they are very apt to entertain strange thoughts of God and his carriage towards them and suddenly to conclude that God will have no regard unto them when yet he is upon the Mercy-Seat and hath taken up his place on purpose there to the end he may hear and regard the prayers of poor creatures If he had said I will commune with thee from my Throne of Judgement then indeed you might have trembled and fled from the face of the great and glorious Majesty But when he saith he will hear and commune with souls upon the Throne of Grace or from the Mercy-Seat this should encourage thee and cause thee to hope nay to come boldly to the Throne of Grace that thou mayest obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 16. 3. There is yet another Encouragement to continue in Prayer with God and that is this As there is a Mercy-Seat from whence God is willing to commune with poor sinners so there is also by this Mercy-seat Jesus Christ who continually besprinkleth it with his blood Hence it is called The Blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 14. When the High Priest under the Law was to go into the Holiest where the Mercy-seat was he might not go in without blood Heb. 9. 7. Qu. Why so Answ. Because though God was upon the Mercy-Seat yet he was perfectly just as well as merciful The Blood was to stop Justice from running out upon the persons concerned in the Intercession of the High Priest as in Levit. 16. 13 14 15 16. To signifie that all thine unworthiness that thou fearest should not hinder thee from coming to God in Christ for mercy ☞ Thou cryest out that thou art vile and therefore God will not regard thy Prayers 'T is true if thou delight in thy vileness and come to God out of a meer pretence But if from a sence of thy vileness thou dost pour out thy heart to God desiring to be saved from the guilt and cleansed from the filth with all thy heart fear not thy vileness will not cause the Lord to stop his ear from hearing of thee The value of the blood of
Christ which is sprinkled upon the Mercy-seat stops the course of Justice and opens a flood-gate for the mercy of the Lord to be extended unto thee Thou hast therefore as aforesaid boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus that hath made a new and living way for thee thou shalt not dye Heb. 10. 19 20. Besides Jesus is there not only to sprinkle the Mercy-seat with his blood but he speaks and his blood speaks he hath audience and his blood hath audience Insomuch that God saith when he doth but see the blood he will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you c. Exod. 12. 13. I shall not detain you any longer Be sober and humble Go to the Father in the name of the Son and tell him your case in the assistance of the Spirit and you will then feel the benefit of praying with the Spirit and with Understanding also USE III. A Word of reproof This speaks sadly to you who never pray at all I will pray saith the Apostle and so saith the heart of them that are Christians Thou then art not a Christian that art not a praying person The promise is That every one that is righteous shall pray Psal. 32. 6. Thou then art a wicked wretch that prayest not Jacob got the name of Israel by wrestling with God Gen. 32. And all his Children bare that name with him Gal. 6. But the People that forget prayer that call not on the name of the Lord they have prayer made for them but it is such as this Pour out thy fury upon the heathen O Lord and upon the people that call not upon thy name Jer. 10. 25. How likest thou this O thou that art so far off from pouring out thine heart before God that thou goest to bed like a dog and risest like an hog or a sot and forgettest to call upon God What wilt thou do when thou shalt be damned in Hell because thou couldst not find in thine heart to ask for Heaven Who will grieve for thy sorrow that didst not count mercy worth asking for I tell thee the ravens the dogs c. shall rise up in judgement against thee for they will according to their kind make signs and a noise for something to refresh them when they want it but thou hast not the heart to ask for Heaven though thou must eternally perish in Hell if thou hast it not 2. This rebukes you that make it your business to slight mock at and undervalue the Spirit and praying by that What will you do when God shall come to reckon for these things You count it high Treason to speak but a word against the King Nay you tremble at the thoughts of it and yet in the mean time you will blaspheme the Spirit of the Lord. Is God indeed to be dallied with and will the end be pleasant unto you Did God send his holy Spirit into the hearts of his People to that end that you should taunt at it is this to serve God And doth this demonstrate the Reformation of your Church Nay is it not the mark of implacable Reprobates O fearful can you not be content to be damned for your sins against the Law but you must sin against the Holy Ghost Must the holy harmless and undefiled Spirit of Grace the nature of God the promise of Christ the comforter of his Children that without which no man can do any service acceptable to the Father Must this I say be the burthen of your Song to taunt deride and mock at If God sent Corah and his company headlong to hell for speaking against Moses and Aaron Numb 16. do you that mock at the Spirit of Christ think to escape unpunished Heb. 10. 29. Did you never reade what God did to Ananias and Saphira for telling but one lye against it Acts 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Also to Simon Magus for but undervaluing of it Acts 8. 18 19 20 21. And will thy sin be a virtue or go unrewarded with vengeance that makest it thy business to rage against and oppose its Office Service and Help that it giveth unto the Children of God It is a fearful thing to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace compare Mat. 12. 31. with Mark 3. 30. 3. As this is the doom of those who do openly blaspheme the holy Ghost in a way of disdain and reproach to its office and service So also it is sad for you who resist this Spirit of Prayer by a Form of man's inventing A very juggle of the Devil that the Traditions of men should be of better esteem and more to be owned than the Spirit of Prayer What is this less than that accursed Abomination of Jeroboam which kept many from going to Jerusalem the place and way of God's Appointment to worship 1 Kings 12. 26 c. And by that means brought such displeasure from God upon them as to this day is not appeased One would think that God's Judgements of old upon the Hypocrites of that day should make them that have heard of such things take heed and fear to do so Yet the Doctors of our day are so far from taking of warning by the punishment of others that they do most desperately rush into the same transgression viz. To set up an Institution of man neither commanded nor commended of God and whosoever will not obey herein they must be driven either out of the Land or the World Hath God required these things at you hands If he hath shew us where If not as I am sure he hath not Then what cursed presumption is it in any Pope Bishop or other to command that in the Worship of God which he hath not required Nay further It is not that part only of the Form which is several Texts of Scripture that we are commanded to say but even all must be confessed as the Divine Worship of God notwithstanding those absurdities contained therein which because they are at large discovered by others I omit the rehearsal of them Again Though a man be willing to live never so peaceably yet because he cannot for Conscience sake own that for one of the most eminent parts of God's Worship which he never commanded therefore must that man be looked upon as factious seditious erroneous heretical a disparagement to the Church a seducer of the people and what not Lord what will be the fruit of these things when for the Doctrine of God there is imposed that is more than taught the Traditions of men Thus is the Spirit of Prayer disowned and the Form imposed the Spirit debased and the Form extolled they that pray with the Spirit though never so humble and holy counted Phanaticks and they that pray with the Form though with that only counted the Vertuous And how will the favourites of such a practice answer that Scripture which commandeth that the Church should turn away from such as have a Form of Goaliness but deny the Power thereof 2 Tim. 3. 5. And if I should say That men that do these things aforesaid do advance a Form of Prayer of other mens making above the Spirit of Prayer it would not take long time to prove it For he that advanceth the Book of common-Common-Prayer above the Spirit of Prayer he doth advance a Form of mens making above it But this do all those who banish or desire to banish them that pray with the Spirit of Prayer while they hug and imbrace them that pray by that Form onely and that because they do it Therefore they love and advance the Form of their own or others inventing before the Spirit of Prayer which is God's special and gracious Appointment If you desire the clearing of the Minor look into the Goals in England and into the Alehouses of the same and I believe you will find those that plead for the Spirit of Prayer in the Goal and them that look after the Form of mens Inventions only in the Alehouse It is evident also by the silencing of God's dear Ministers though never so powerfully enabled by the Spirit of Prayer if they in conscience cannot admit of that Form of Common-Prayer If this be not an exalting the Common-Prayer-Book above either praying by the Spirit or preaching the Word I have taken my mark amiss It is not pleasant for me to dwell on this the Lord in mercy turn the hearts of the people to seek more after the Spirit of Prayer and in the strength of that to pour out their souls before the Lord. Only let me say It is a sad sign that that which is one of the most eminent parts of the pretended Worship of God is Antichristian when it hath nothing but Tradition of men and the strength of Persecution to uphold or plead for it The Conclusion I shall conclude this Discourse with this Word of Advice to all Gods People I. BElieve that as sure as you are in the Way of God you must meet with Temptations II. The first day therefore that thou dost enter into Christ his Congregation look for them III. When they do come beg of God to carry thee through them IV. Be jealous of thine own heart that it deceive thee not in thy Evidences for Heaven nor in thy walking with God in this world V. Take heed of the flatteries of false Brethren VI. Keep in the Life and Power of Truth VII Look most at the things which are not seen VIII Take heed of little sins IX Keep the Promise warm upon thy heart X. Renew thy acts of Faith in the Blood of Christ. XI Consider the Work of thy Generation XII Count to run with the foremost therein Grace be with thee THE END * See Mr. Fox his citation of the Mass in the last Volumn of the Book of Martyrs * See Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments Volumn 2.
as any in our generation as is clearly manifested by his word and his works Nevertheless when this good man this Prophet comes into God's Worship then the Lord must help or he can do nothing Lord open thou my lips and then my mouth shall shew forth thy praise He could not speak one right word except the Spirit it self gave utterance For we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self helpeth our infirmities But Secondly It must be a praying with the Spirit that is the effectual praying because without that as men are senceless so hypocritical cold and unseemly in their prayers and so they with their prayers are both rendred abominable to God Mat. 23. 14. Mark 12. 40. It is not the excellency of the voice nor the seeming affection and earnestness of him that prayeth that is any thing regarded of God without it Luke 18. 11 12. Isa. 58. 2 3. For man as man is so full of all manner of wickedness that as he cannot keep a word or thought so much less a piece of prayer clean and acceptable to God through Christ. And for this cause the Pharisees with their prayers were rejected No question but they were excellently able to express themselves in words and also for length of time too they were very notable but they had not the Spirit of Jesus Christ to help them and therefore they did what they did with their infirmities or weaknesses only and so fell short of a sincere sensible affectionate pouring out of their souls to God through the strength of the Spirit That is the prayer that goeth to Heaven that is sent thither in the strength of the Spirit For Thirdly Nothing but the Spirit can shew a man clearly his misery by nature and so put a man into a posture of prayer Talk is but talk as we use to say and so it is but mouth-worship if there be not a sence of misery and that effectually too O the cursed hypocrisie that is in most hearts and that accompanieth many thousands of praying men that would be so looked upon in this day and all for want of a sence of their misery But now the Spirit that will sweetly shew the soul its misery where it is and what is like to become of it also the intolerableness of that condition For it is the Spirit that doth effectually convince of sin and misery without the Lord Jesus John 16. 7 8 9. and so puts the soul into a sweet serious sensible affectionate way of praying to God according to his Word Fourthly If men did see their sins yet without the help of the Spirit they would not pray For they would run away from God with Cain and Judas and utterly despair of mercy were it not for the Spirit When a man is indeed sensible of his sin and God's curse then it is an hard thing to perswade him to pray For saith his heart There is no hope It is in vain to seek God Jer. 2. 25. Jer. 18. 12. I am so vile so wretched and so cursed a creature that I shall never be regarded Now here comes the Spirit and stayeth the soul helpeth it to hold up its face to God by letting into the heart some small sence of mercy to encourage it to go to God and hence it is called the Comforter John 14. 26. Fifthly It must be in or with the Spirit For without that no man can know how he should come to God the right way Men may easily say they come to God in his Son but it is the hardest thing of a thousand to come to God aright and in his own way without the Spirit It is the Spirit that searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. It is the Spirit that must shew us the way of coming to God and also what there is in God that makes him desireable I beseech thee saith Moses shew me thy way that I may know thee Exod. 33. 13. And Joh. 16. 14. He shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you Sixthly Because without the Spirit though a man did see his misery and also the way to come to God yet he would never be able to claim a share in either God Christ or Mercy with Gods approbation O how great a task is it for a poor soul that comes sensible of sin and the wrath of God to say in Faith but this one word Father I tell you how ever hypocrites think yet the Christian that is so indeed finds all the difficulty in this very thing it cannot say God is its Father Oh! saith he I dare not call him Father and hence it is that the Spirit must be sent into the hearts of Gods people for this very thing to cry Father Gal. 4. 6. it being too great a work for any man to do knowingly and believingly without it When I say knowingly I mean knowing what it is to be a Child of God and to be born again And when I say believingly I mean for the soul to believe and that from good experience that the work of Grace is wrought in him this is the right calling of God Father and not as many do to say in a babling way the Lords Prayer so called by heart as it lyeth in the words of the Book No here is the life of Prayer when in or with the Spirit a man being made sensible of sin and how to come to the Lord for mercy he comes I say in the strength of the Spirit and cryeth Father ☞ That one word spoken in Faith is better than a thousand prayers as men call them written and read in a formal cold luke-warm way Oh how far short are those people of being sensible of this who count it enough to teach themselves and children to say the Lords Prayer the Creed with other sayings when as Gods knows they are senceless of themselves their misery or what it is to be brought to God through Christ Ah poor souls study your misery and cry to God to shew you your confused blindness and ignorance before you be to rife in calling God your Father or learning your children either so to say And know that to say God is your Father in a way of prayer or conference without an experiment of the work of grace on your souls it is to say you are Jews and are not and so to lie You say Our Father God saith you blaspheme You say you are Jews that is true Christians God saith you lie Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie And I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 3. 9. Rev. 2. 9. And so much the greater the sin is by how much the more the sinner boasts it with a pretended sanctity as the Jews did to Christ in John 8. 41 to 45. which made Christ even in