A DISCOURSE Concerning the Qualifications OF PRAYER By J. BVERDSELL M. A. late Fellow of Brase-nose College Oxon. The Third Edition London Printed for J. Smith on London-Bridge A Discourse concerning the Qualifications of Prayer Ephes Chap. VI. ver 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Suplication in the Spirit AS Religion is the Life of the Soul so is Prayer the vital Spirit of Religion without which it can neither live nor move nor have its Being This is the chief Branch of the worship of God requir'd of all who acknowledge Him to be and most reasonable for all who own the World to be govern'd by his Providence and themselves to stand in need either of his Grace or his Pardon or who hope for his Rewards or fear his Punishments in a future State And as it is thus a very necessary Duty so if exactly practic'd is it a difficult one too For it is a Discoursing with God and for Man who is but of yesterday to correspond with the Almighty who inhabits Eternity must emply the utmost force of all his powers and Faculties For if the Cherubim and Seraphim who were always without Spot or Blemish and in whom was never found any Guile cover their Faces while they are Praising and Adoring the infinite Perfections of God what Gesture can be humble enough for Man who composes himself to Pray to him laden with his Sins and whose Iniquities have gone over his Head If those glorious Spirits are describ'd in Scripture as shifting from place to place while they are worshiping their Creator as conquer'd and over-power'd by the Purity of his Nature with what Confusion must Man appear before Him who was conceiv'd in Sin and born in Iniquity What attention and application of Thought What modesty of Expression What submissiveness of Behaviour What Love and Admiration What warmth of Affection must be us'd to make our Sacrifices acceptable to our Maker And certainly as it had been the highest Presumption to have offer'd to have entertain'd any entercourse with the Almighty had not He Himself encourag'd it so since he has vouchsafed to do it it is our most excellent Glory that we can address our supplications to Him But still the Obligation abides to put them up with all the Devotion and Fervency of Spirit which our Imperfections are capable of to prepare our selves with the nicest diligence that we may Pray always with all Prayer and Suplication in the Spirit By Praying always is not meant a constant or continued exercise of the Act of Prayer so as to be alwas invoking the Name of God For this would be inconsistent with our other relative Duties For there are Virtues to be practic'd which more immediately regard our Neighbour and our selves as well as those which solely respect God and we are oblieg'd to Justice Charity and Humanity as well as to Pray Praise and Adore But by Praying always is to be understood such a Godlike Frame and Temper of Spirit accompany'd with such an Innocence of Life and relish of Heavenly Things that we may be ever dispos'd for this Duty when fit Opportunities shall call for it By Praying in the Spirit whatsoever the Enthusiasts pretend seems to be only imply'd that our Prayers ought to have the Qualifications before-mention'd so that they ought to be put up rather for things Spiritual than Temporal for God's Assistance to enable us to persevere in Goodness for the removal or averting of Temptations for all Graces needful for us and Means for the securing or encreasing of them which are styl'd the Gifts or Privileges of the Holy Spirit And this too falls under the former Head and is a Qualification necessary to make us Pray aright since there can be no better Argument that we are well qualified for Prayer than that we pray for Blessings of the most noble Importance the most momentous Concern So that in the Text are couch'd the Qualifications requir'd to make us successful Petitioners at the Throne of Grace For the reason why so many Prayers are not heard by Heaven after those Promises which are annex'd to the Performance of this Duty is because we are not duly accomplish'd to be Candidates for its Mercies And it is easy for us in this Case to vindicate the Faithfulness of God and to make an Apology for our Maker in our Maker's own Words which are that We ask and receive not because we ask amiss In order therefore to make us fit Supplicants to the God of Glory and to put our Souls into such a Temper that they may be constantly and habitually fitted for the Discharge of this Duty there are several Qualifications needful I shall therefore consider First What Qualifications are necessary to prepare us for Prayer or before we pray and in order to it Secondly What is requir'd in the very time or act of our Praying when our Devotions are on the Wing and our Lips are touch'd with a Coal from the Alter Thirdly What must be done after we have Pray'd to make our attecedent Prayers duly effectual Fourthly What Acts are to be continued and extended through each of these both before in and after our Prayers First therefore what Qualifications are necessary to prepare us for Prayer or before we Pray and in order to it Now the First Qualification necessary to prepare us for Prayer is the Purity of our Hearts or the direction of our Lives by the Commandments of God For if our Affections are impure or our ways unrighteous it is invain to make our Applications to God For we know that God heareth not Sinners but if any Man is a worshiper of God and doth his Will him he heareth For the Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers alone For without Godliness what soever Antinomian Schemes some Persons may draw whether it consists in Innocence or sincere Repentance our Prayers can never mount up to the presence of God because the Burden of our Sins will certainly keep them from ascending to that Holy Place where nothing but what is compleatly so can appear And it would be Presumption to hope that our spotless Saviour should present so unacceptable a Sacrifice to his Father as the Petitions of a Supplicant who declares himself to be in a state of Hostility against both of them by an avow'd complying with what they most abhor Nay it is the most unwarrantable Insolence for him who still retains a Love for his Sins and yields to them upon the general returns of Temptation to approach his Maker in any Holy Office For it is only an honouring Him with his Lips while his Heart is far from Him and seems to be what the Apostle calls a Lying to God a professing himself his most devoted most obedient Servant while his own Conscience by a reflection on his Actions will tell him that he is his open and inveterate Enemy 'T is a colluding with him who tries the Heart and the
Reigns and to whose Eyes all things are naked and open as if Omniscience could be impos'd on by Pretences or a Religious Pageantry was tantamount to Solid Virtue and Piety or saying of Lord Lord would excuse for the not doing the Will of our Father which is in Heaven So that tell we are free from all known and wilful Sin 't is no purpose to make any Supplication to God He will not hear will not regard our Prayers They are like unhallowed Fire offer'd to Him and are an abomination in his sight for of him who is not resolv'd to part with his Sins the very Prayers are sinful That Duty which draws other nigher to God cast him at a greater distance from him That Ordinance which sanctifies others serves only to aggravate his deplorable State and to render his Condition more insufferable But neither on the other hand is he less criminal if he does not Pray at all For he is not excus'd from this Duty by being unqualify'd for it but he becomes guilty not only of those Sins which are the hindrances of his Devotion but of that Inability to Devotion which they have caus'd and so hard are his Circumstances that he is likely to suffer not only for making his Duty impossible by sinning but even for not discharging it while it is thus impossible And this justly enough too because this Impossibility was wlfully superinduc'd an act of his own choice and free election and for which he has none to blame besides himself and his own wild Passions So that while his Case continues thus he is on all accounts unqualify'd for Prayer and yet is guilty too if he does not pray till by hearty Repentance he has freed himself from his Sins So indispensibly necessary is Purity from Sin to prepare us for Prayer But as there are different kind of Sins so is there the greatest necessity that we should be innocent of those Sins which are most oppos'd to the Spirit of Prayer for they are not all of them equally destructive of it But these are malice ill will or hatred of our Brother Now as these Vices commence two manner of ways either by Injuring our Brother or by receiving an Injury from him so we may be suppos'd in either Case to be guilty of them and therefore on all Regards unqualify'd for Prayer if we do not contribute our utmost towards the suppressing of them As for Instance If I have injur'd my Brother and given him any umbrage to hate me I am in a great measure guilty of the Sin and therefore am unqualify'd for Prayer if I do not endeavour a speedy Reconcilement with him For if my Gift is before the Altar and I there remember that my Brother has ought against me any just cause of complaining that I have injur'd him I am oblig'd to leave my Gift before the Altar and go and first be reconciled to my Brother So on the other hand when we are injur'd by our Brother we are guilty of the Malicc and the Sin lies at our door and so our Prayers become ineffectual if we express an eager Desire to revenge our selves if we shew an Aversion and Vnwillingness to forgive him if we neglect his Proposals of Peace and Accommodation For how can we expect that God should pardon our Sins of the blackest Character if we will not forgive our Fellow-servant the least Offence And has not our Blessed Lord taught us that we cannot pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses unless we forgive them that trespass against us And as often as we use this sacred Prayer of our Saviour's if we do not forgive those who have offended us from the bottom of our Hearts we desire that God would not forgive us that He would remember and revenge our Sins against Him as we purpose to revenge those which our Brother has committed against us So that in effect we turn the best Prayer that ever was into Sin and use the Words of our Saviour who spake as never man spake to our own Damnation So that Purity from Sin especially from Malice Hatred or Ill-will is the first Qualification in order to prepare us for Prayer The Second preparatory Qulafication for Prayer is a Consideration of the Nature of our own Wants and of the Manner by which God has promis'd to supply them that we may know what to pray for and what Method to take to have our Prayers answer'd And in taking an Estimate of our own Wants we are to consider our selves as Creatures whose chief Interest depends on a future State whose greatest Necessities are those which regard the Soul As to what concerns this Life we are to resign that over to our heavenly Father's good Providence with a Father not my Will but thine be done But as to spiritual Wants concerning these we are to sue with the greatest and most unconditionate Importunity and a pious Violence is to be done to Heaven till we find our selves successful in what we pray for But then Secondly we must reflect on the Terms on which God has undertaken to assist these Wants and to resolve to comply with them are they never so uneasy Thus do we ask for a Pardon for Sins we know the Terms on which this must be granted are provided we repent and forsake them We are therefore to resolve to set our selves about this Repentance and Amendment before we pray for the Pardon Thus because Grace and Virtue cannot be compast without the use of good and wise endeavours we are to resolve on these before we petition for those For the Promises of God tho' infallible in regard to any Grace ought nevertheless to encourage us to travel with more Ardour and Fidelity to merit the Effects of them And if we ask after this manner it shall be given us for every one who asketh in this wise receiveth The Third Qualification prepatory to Prayer is Faith or a Trust in God that he will grant us what we pray for according to our Saviour's Promise All things whatsoever ye ask in Prayer believing ye shall receive Now we may be said to be qualify'd with this Grace when sensible of our own Wants we commend our selves to God by Prayer relying on his Divine Goodness and Power that he will give us what we sue for that is as was before hinted if we are careful of performing the Conditions on which he stipulated to give if we ask for Pardon for Sins in reforming them for virtuous Endowments in industriously seeking after them for the Assistance of God's Spirit in concurring with it and making good use of it for Health or Ease or any other prosperous Turns of Providence and outward things with a due Submission to God's will join'd with the use of lawful Means to attain them For to trust that God will hear us without these is not Faith but an unwarrantable Confidence not Hope but presumption Fourth Qualification preparatory for Prayer is a good Intention to use
our Alms We render him if I may so speak our Debtor and pardon the boldness of the Expression we may in some measure according to the promises made to this Duty appeal to his Justice as well as to his Goodness to make suitable Requitals which he will most ceatainly perform though not in kind yet in what will be much more for our Advantage and will consult tho' not our present satisfaction yet our lasting Benefit On Observation therefore of God's returns to our Prayers Thanksgiving for his Grants and Denials a due Value of the privilege of Prayer a correcting our prayers for the future by our past disappointments and lastly Alms-giving are necessary after we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual So that I shall proceed to enquire into Lastly what Acts are to be continued and extended through each of these both before in and after our prayers And First we ought to be possest with a great sense of our Imperfections in the discharge of this weighty Duty This must run thro' all the parts of it but ought more particularly to be exprest both before and after our Devotions At both these times we ought solemnly to entreat God's pardon for the Errors that we have or may commit for the stragling of our Thoughts which the best of Men can more easily bewail than prevent since the most watchful and steady Mind cannot hinder all the disorders of roving Fancy in the midst of our most serious devotions for our earnest begging of Blessings of a trival nature or for our want of any of the former Qualification in that Measure which is expedient The next Qualification is a very comprehensive one and which takes in all the rest and yet withal a very necessary one too and that is universal Holiness and Sanctity For our praying in a short time will make us leave off our Sins or our Sins our prayers So that this will be an effect as well as a Qualification of our Devotion For tho' the former Qualifications may be sufficient for a new Convert and for one who has but lately had the sense and conviction of Religion upon his mind yet from a proficient in this Duty nothing will be accepted less than a general a compleat and uniform Obedience to all God's Commands For tho' the prayers of one who begins to leave his Sins and yet sometimes upon the prevalency of Custom or the surprize of a violent Temptation relapses into â—em may be heard upon his Repentence yet this state of Sinning and Repenting must not continue long A general piety must be superinduc'd or else it is a sign that his prayers have not had their due efficacy if they do not conquer all sin at least so that it may not reign in us if they do not give us some sort of foretast of the Joys of that place to which they are directed and make our Souls sympathize and conform themselves with the Virtue and Innocence of its blessed Inhabitants So that the summ of all is That Purity a Consideration of our Wants a Trust in God a good Intention are necessary to prepare us for Prayer Humility Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance in the time of praying On Observation of God's providence a Vaine of our privilege to pray a Reforming of our prayers by our Disappointments and Alms-giving are requir'd after we have pray'd And a sense of our own Imperfections and an Universal piety are to run through all the periods of this Duty A prayer which is put up to Heaven after this Method is surely more suitable for a reasonable Creature to present before his Almighty Maker than what is utter'd by or rather impress'd upon a Soul cast into a purely passive state or posture into a State of expectation of the Divine Exmanations to enlighten the Mind as that Duty has been model'd by some late Enthusiasts Which is but what had been before advanc'd by Enthusiasts of our own Nation for thus an Author of great Character amongst the most irregular Sect which ever oppos'd this Church allows of no use of our own Intellectual powers of our passions Imaginations or Wills in the exercise of this Duty Because says he God will be serv'd with his own alone and not with any thing in Man which is come in since the fail so the Imaginations Thinkings and Conceivings are shut out And these Qualifications before hinted at seem much more intelligible James Naylor's Love to the Lost pag. 13. more adapted to the Oeconomy of our Devotion that the taking hold of essential Truth nakedly as it is in it self than the applying the Mind to the intelligible World the World of Truth than the addressing to the Ideal World than the Union with God the seeing of all things in God Terms in some measure invented by two refin'd and curious Thinkers the one of our own the other of a Neighbouring Kingdom And here I cannot but See Norris 's Reflections on the Conduct of Hamane life c. Sect 11. reflect on a dangerous Error of a Mystick Writer of note who seems to exclude Vertue from the state of transform'd Souls as he styles them and those wrapt up in the highest Transports of Devotion But that Virtue is not only a preparation for Devotion but also a compleating of it has been shewn in this Discourse and not only so but that it is practic'd by the blessed by whom Devotion is exercis'd in its most exalted flights was made out tho' far below the Majesty of the Subject in another Effay But to close all Furnish'd with the former Qualifications we may be justly said to pray always and in the Spirit Yet such Prayers as were before describ'd will never fail of success till God shall cease from being true and our Almighty's strength from being Merciful Such prayers as these will be acceptable Sacrifices to the Heavenly Altar will procure pardon for Sin and Encrease of Grace and at length Eternal Life and will at last expire into everlasting Thanksgiving When we shall need to pray no more but this Duty as some fancy of Faith and Hope shall cease and we shall have nothing to do for ever but to give Thanks Adore and Praise A Prayer to be used in secret O Lord look down from Heaven with an Eye of Favour and come passion upon me thy poor Creature who in and through Jesus Christ do look up unto thee for Mercy I am a Sinner by Nature and by practice who deserve to be cast into everlasting Fire But do thou deliver me from all my Sins Give me thy grace that I may not harbour any vain or wicked thoughts in my Heart that I may not lye or swear or take thy holy Name in vain or any other way offend thee with my Tongue suffer me not to be guilty of stealing or any deceit but grant that I may be true and faithful and diligent in the place where thou art pleased to set me knowing thine All seeing Eye observes me in the most secret Corner and that my own Conscience is more than a Thousand Witnesses Inable me to flee Youthful Lusts and to follow after Godliness and suffer me not to be a Lover of pleasures more than of God prepare me for Death and Judgment and cause me so to live in thy Fear and favour while I am here that whenever it shall please thee to remove me hence I may be received into a Mansion in Heaven and the full Enjoyment of that Glory which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard nor hath ever entred into the Heart of Man to conceive Bless these Nations our King and all that are in Authority Bless all thy Ministers all my Friends and Relations and all thy people Bless this Family and make me a blessing in it Comfort those that mourn and suppyly their wants And now O Lord as thou hast been good unto me this Day or Night past so bless me this Night or Day continue thy Mercies unto my Soul and Body and give me thy Grace that i may be truly thankful for them and careful to make a good use of them Above all i bless thy glorious Name for Jesus Christ Grant that i may imbrace him in a right manner and for his sake do thou accept of me and my poor prayers which I conclude as he himself hath taught me to pray unto thee Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Eatth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the power and the Glory for ever and ever FINIS