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
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
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
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