acceptable Worshippers are Conscientious Dealers and inoffensive useful holy Livers They must keep their Hearts in Awful obedient Frame at All times who would find them ready for the Service of God at Prayer-Times And such as live in Gods Eye and presence and are so much Concerned and taken up with Him Dare not do the Ill things which they know would spoil all their Welcome with Him and Turn his Face against them They that would not have God's Grace Wanting to them must be careful that they be not Wanting to his Grace and not think to have what they will in their Prayers who do what they list in their Lives Nor use their Prayers to save them the Labour of doing any thing else in the Religious practice but to get Strength for the performance of all their other Offices Psal 119.145 I Cried with my whole heart Hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes He askt not leave to Offend but such Mercy as might Enable and Encourage him with an Enlarged heart To run the way of God's Commands Our Prayers being but Instrumental duties therefore our Religion does not consist only in going over our Offices of Course but is to make us Like our Heavenly Father as like as ever we can be both in Being and in Doing Good To keep up a Face of Religious Worship then and a Circulation of some Customary performances which we are got into a Road of going over and to take up with so much done discharging the work but for it 's own sake Rids no Ground makes not the least Way Nor brings us ever the Nearer to the Blessed End If we mind not further purposes to which such Exercises are Intended we use them to no purpose Nay if we make our Prayers our Saviours and Rest in them and Trust to them They do but lie in our way to hinder us from the only true Saviour When we should use them but as the Boats and Bridges to help us over to him and as the Bucket to draw out of his Infinite Fullness Not only to Evidence the Grace that we have received but to Get still More that we have need of For such indeed is the Raggedness and insufficiency of all our Services that we extreamly want a Saviour to help us out and even to Attone for the Iniquities of our Holy things after we have done our Best all which is unavailable to Salvation if the Lord Jesus be not our Strength and our Redeemer 'T is mercy therefore from the Lord to let us see the Cracks and Flaws the Frailties and Imperfections of our best Performances that we may not Erect our Plumes and be Proud of our Prayers nor Acquiesce in them nor too much Value ourselves upon them But when men only Talk of Believing in Christ but never do it And when they boldly Sin on and Trust to their Prayers and Offices and Confess and Pray for Pardon and so to it again and make their accustomed Prayers a Super-sedeas to holy Practice and the Leaves not to Heal but to Hide their Sins thinking the little Services of course must set them right still and make Amends for all Publicans and Harlots may get to Heaven before such Formalists that so Profane Prayers to Use them without so much as Minding to grow better in the Use of them For no entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees And how is it that we must Out-do them Not in Fasting oftner or Praying Longer and making more ado about Forms and Ceremonies and external Observances in which who more Critical and Exact than they But we must Exceed them in being Honester men and Aiming at Righter Ends and leading Better Lives And not do the seemingly Right and Good things from false Motives and with ill Designs But make our Prayers the Rule of our Practice Endeavouring to do what we Pray God to Enable us for the doing And as we Beg his Help so Stirring up the Grace of God that is in us and putting forth all the Strength we have to Help ourselves CHAP. VII Licentiousness concerning the Success of Prayer SOME men will Pray no longer than they taste the Sweetness of it and are Drill'd on by the Pleasure that they find in it If themselves be not Favoured their Humour fitted and their Requests granted they take Pett at Heaven and are ready to Quarrel even with God himself as if they were not duly Attended and therefore greatly Wronged Like the King of Israel who flung away in a Chafe 2 King 6.33 Saying This evil is of the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer Such Proud Beggars are many of God's Petitioners that think themselves too Good to Wait thô it be upon the Most High and must have Him at their Beck or else have not the Patience to Stay his Time and take Mercy in his Way But must Limit the Holy One and go to Ravish and Snatch the Blessing out of his hand But our Blessed Saviour hath taught us more Manners and Grace That men ought to Pray always and not to Faint Luk. 18.1 Nor think it Long to tarry his Leisure who has waited so Long for our Return If we but Know ourselves and Remember our Sins how Ill we merit to be Regarded at all We shall wonder that Ever we are Heard instead of grumbling that it is no Sooner or Better Nay we shall see occasion to turn our Complaining into Thanksgiving and not be all upon the Craving for more without Acknowledging how much we have Received and how little we have Deserved Sinful men are very Bold to Ask all before them and not remember to Humble themselves in the Confession of their Sins nor Recount the Mercies and Loving kindness of the Lord and Admire and Bless and Praise him for all that he has Already done for them But to Pray only as long as we are chear'd on with a Briskness of Spirits and find our Souls filled as with Marrow and Fatness is not to mind the Pleasing of our Lord so much as our own Pleasure It is but to follow Christ for the Loaves or Drawn only with the Savour of his Sweet Ointments Not in the Sense of Duty and our Obligation continually to wait upon him with what Face soever he is pleased to look upon us 'T is not for poor Beggars that Live all upon him and have nothing but from him Yea for Obnoxious Sinners that have Forfeited all and â—are out of Hell only thro' his Mercy to be so High and touchy and Querulous if all is not done strait to our Mind and we have not every thing just according to our Wishes It is not such a Violence that will ever take the Kingdom of Heaven But the Humble Importunity the Unwearied Waiting and Patient Continuance in Well doing And this is Pleasing in the sight of God to Follow him even when he seems Displeased with us and not Leave
Himself both God and Man I am never more Easy and free from a troublesome Concern about the Words of Prayer than when I am making use of the Lord's-Prayer And they that find fault with it as it is a Form may for the same reason quarrel all the Scriptures for being a Form of Sound words Nay they may as well reject every Conceived Prayer which is indeed as much a Form to the Hearers as if it had been penn'd or printed and then Repeated Yea I may know That to be a real Form composed by my self which some others take for an Extempore Effusion And so it may be only Ignorance in them which makes it Acceptable with them Because they take it not to be Prepared by me but to flow immediately from the Spirit in me But to think that all Set Forms are opposed to Prayer by the Spirit is such an opinion of Praying by the Spirit as I cannot comprehend No Praying indeed is true and right that is not Supplication in the Spirit i. e. Through the Help of the Spirit of God But I see not why it may not be such as well with as without a Form Nor is the Spirit Limited by such Forms Whenas indeed the Enlargement of the Heart stands not so much in the Copiousness and variety of Expressions as in the extent and Elevation of the Affections A Carnal man may have a Fluency of good Words But only the Child of God abounds with holy and heavenly Desires And those desires I may express in Others words or in my own Premeditated or Immediately formed without Stinting of the Spirit either way The one may do as well as the other No matter which I take So that I do it pertinently and affectionately For Words are but the Carkass of Prayer The Soul and Spirit lies within And the Searcher of hearts regards not so much how it is Drest as from what Heart it proceeds and how Earnest and Devout it is My words are not to Move Him but my self Not to pull the Bank to me but to bring my Vessel to the Shore And so I may use such words as I find fittest to Enflame my affections that I may stand rightly disposed to receive his Mercies Whether I pray in a Book or without is the smallest matter to Him So that I Pray at all indeed And when I use the Book am not Lazy and Formal And when I use none am not Rude and Proud but still Humble and Hearty To Pray is a great deal more than Saying of Prayers There may be all the Words without any thing of the Spirit of Prayer Whether I speak out of the Book or out of my Memory I may draw nigh to God only with my Lips Or I may so manage my Prayer as to have it Sincere and Effectual either way But when so little is done by the most at Prayer and such multitudes do live Prayerless not Calling upon the Lord at all Little need to perplex the thing or Affright any from the Throne of Grace Because they deliver not their minds just in our Rote of words To disgrace Book Prayers may be the way to discourage the most from all Prayer If they must have no Forms they could it may be make nothing of it but Ramble and Babble Trusting only to their own Abilities I think we ought rather to Hearten men on if they Own God in any way of serious Worship with Book or without For 't is according to what a man hath that God Accepteth him And he stands not so much upon a poor Christian 's Wording of his Prayers When he sees his Spirit Engaged and that he offers the Best he has doing all Heartily as in the Sight of God We make a mighty matter as to the way of some mens Wording things so much Better than others But alas what a small thing is this in the Esteem of God who Valueth and Judgeth men by somewhat else The most Elaborate and exact Expressions What wretched Barbarisms and hideous Jargon would they be found if severely Criticiz'd upon by Infinite Perfection And wo be to the best Speaker in the World if he should not be Heard and Accepted on any other account but only for the sake of his Words For how can a mouth-full of frail Breath tho Modulated with never such Art and Advantage be the Motive of all God's Mercy and Man's Salvation As much Stress as ever some are pleas'd to lay upon it 'T will not be so much enquirâ—d after in the great Day of Accounts How we used to Express ourselves in our Prayers As how our Hearts stood Affected to the Service And then the Holy Livers shall be found aforehand with the Finest Speakers And such weakness and Indecence as many a man would not Pardon The Father of Mercies will never Mention to them that Follow him and Delight in him as dear Children He equally offends God and Prophanes Prayer who either reads it Carelesly in a Book or tumbles it Rudely out of his Breast But when I find that I can be Devout in the use of a Prayer Book and that I can Exercise as much Devotion when I have no Book that I can join Profitably and Comfortably with the Church Prayers and with other Prayers I am in utramque paratus without Scruple for all Prayer that is offered with Humility and Zeal to God thrô Jesus Christ for such things as in his comprehensive Platform he has directed and encouraged us to pray for I will never believe That an Earthly Father can be Kinder than my Heavenly And if my natural Parent will take it in good part from me when I deliver my self to him as well as I can Thô I do not make a Starched Speech or read all out of a Book can he that knows our Frame and hath Compassion on our Infirmities Pitying them that fear Him as a Father pities his children fall out with me because I have not the Knack of Expressing my self as well as another When he knows I have a Careful Heart to Please him and am for serving him with the Best and do not use my own words for the high Opinion that I have of them above others But because another cannot express my wants and desires so Agreeably as I can my self Who best knowâ— where it pinches most and what I would be most glad to have And because I am afraid of being a Slothful Servant to Bury any Talent in a Napkin that my Lord hath lent me I would serve him with my Understanding and Memory and Utterance and all my faculties as well as with my Affections And if my Understanding cannot vye with some others or their Words be Better than mine Yet I think I am bound also to use my Own and to do according to the Ability that God hath given me Who I am sure will not be Harsh and Stern with the Weakest of his Children that shew their Willingness and Endeavours to please him thô they
Edificaâ—ion And I must give no Just Offence to any However some may be Offended at that which is not really Offensive Yet if I know it to be Distastful I would not offer it if I could well avoid it I would not Obtrude upon them the Food of their Souls so Cook'd as they cannot Abide it But give them the same thing in another Vehicle and Preparation And that not to be applauded by them or to Ingratiate my self with them But to be most Useful to them and best to serve the Ends of Religion upon them And upon this account I scruple not sometimes to Vary my Prayers according to the Genius and Inclination of the Company with whom I am to Pray For two Companies may be both of them Pious and well dispos'd And yet the one all for that Way which the other is as much Against And I have no Scruple of Conscience against either way If then I would not Offend but Edify them I must take the way which I perceive to be most Agreeable That they may heartily Concur with me and that my Prayers may not be an Exercise of their Patience but of their Devotion CHAP. III. The Liberty of Praying as to the Time SECT I. The Liberty of Praying at Any Time THE Scripture-Command is To Seek the Lord while he may be Found and to Call upon him while he is Near. And the Time when he will be Found is All day long For as long as he Stretches forth his Hands to Receive us we may Lift up our Hands to Receive of Him And the whole Day of Grace is the Hour of Prayer And whenever we have a Heart to Pray God hath an Ear to attend it Earthly Kings it 's true are not always to be spoken with Courtiers themselves cannot have the Princes Ear when they Will. He can never Hear all his Subjects Cries and it is but rarely that he Hears any And sometimes when he doth He is only Exasperated at the Petitioners and had rather they would let him alone And we our selves use to put off the Beggars that press often upon us Telling them how Lately they have been with us and twitting them with the Courtesies they have so many times Received from us We make that which we have done already an Excuse to hold our Hands Such is the Imperfection of Mortals and the Indigence of Creatures that we are Tired out to be Long Urged And our stock will be Exhausted by frequent Distribution But God whose Understanding Power and Love are as Infinite as Himself is ever at Leisure to Hear us and can receive no manner of Disturbance from all the Throngs of Seekers Thô every Creature all over the Vniverse should Call upon him at the same Moment as by their Wants and continual Need of him they all do His Ears are still Open to them All. For as all the World is no more trouble to him than if it were but One man So every particular Man is as much Minded by Him as if that man were all the World And equal to his Knowledge of all our Wants is his Ability and Inclination to do for all his Petitioners Come as oft as we will He will look the Sweeter upon us At any Time he is Ready for us To receive our Suits and give Audience to what we have to say Nay he makes his Gifts the Motives of more and goes on to do because he has done much Already So that his Experienced Bounty is his Peoples Argument to Speed And even from what they have had they Plead for what they would have Gen. 32.10 11. Mercy and Truth thou hast shewed to thy Servant Deliver me I pray thee And Psal 27.9 Thou hast been my Help Leave me not neither Forsake me O God of my Salvation We have no Excuse then ever to keep off from God As we are shy of Visiting our Friends too thick least they should be Sick of us and Weary to do us Good God hath not only certain Times of Hearing As Sabbaths and Holy-days and such and such Critical Junctures appointed for the purpose No Time is Unseasonable to Visit Heaven with our Prayers Evening and Morning Noon and Midnight the Gates lye open to us If we be there every Day and every Hour we shall find no Repulse but still the better Welcome If All day long our Heart is in our Knee Herb. We are not Limited Go as oft as we will it is no oftner than we are Called For the Word is Pray without Ceasing SECT II. Of Praying Without Ceasing THE Injunction 1 Thes 5.17 seems to Infringe the Liberty of Prayer instead of Enlarging it For if we must be Always Praying The Time is not at our Disposing nor have we the Liberty ever to Leave off Nay instead of offering us a gracious Liberty This Text seems to Load us with a hard Necessity that carries in it an Impossibility For how can any man in the world â—ray Always I answer The Apostle cannot here be understood as enjoyning us so to Pray that we should do Nothing else Because one Duty must not Interfere with another nor Justle out all the rest And we have many other things to do besides Praying Therefore it must be softened so as to require of us only what we can well perform And that is To keep our selves still in a Frame and disposition for Prayer that we may be Ready upon all Occasions to fall into it For as Bp. Hall instructs us Devout Soul p. 10. Devotion is not only an Act of Vocal Prayer But the Habitual disposition of a holy Soul sweetly conversing with God in all the Forms of a heavenly yet awful Familiarity and a Constant entertainment of ourselves here below with the God of Spirits in our sanctified thoughts and affections 'T is true The Sacrifice must not be evermore Actually in the offering But the Fire of Devotion ever Burning on the Altar of the heart And no day must we Intermit our Times of Praying but go on in a Course of Prayer without Fainting and let its Returns be as Constant as our Meals And as after our Dinner we have done Eating for that Time But should we Cease to Eat we must Cease to Live So Prayer being a part of our Spiritual Sustenance we are every day to make our Meals of it but never have done with it till we have no Sins to be Pardoned No Wants to be supplied That is till we have attained to such Persection as is not in this Life Attainable We must not Give over thô we have not straight every thing that we Ask. But keep our suits on the File Depending at the Throne of Grace And as some Denial and drawing back does but Whet the importunate Suiters Request So if the Lord seems sometimes to Cast us away in Displeasure Yet we must take no Denial nor be Weary of well-doing But renew and Double our Requests For in Due time we shall reap if we Faint not
Clefts of the Rocks in the Secret place of the Stairs Cant. 2.14 In such Retirements he uses most freely to Impart Himself And there should we cast and covet to Meet Him whom our Souls Love And not think it any hard Put upon us but the most sweet and blessed Advantage to leave even the best and Dearest Company to go to God our Exceeding Joy What care I for Chatting with Friends on earth said Bishop Hall shut up in the Tower when I may talk familiarly with the God of Heaven As our Saviour gave a discharge even to his own Disciples Mat. 26.36 Tarry ye here while I go and Pray yonder So get sometimes out of the Crowd and Hurry of worldly Avocations and distractions that thou maist find a full Vacation and happy Freedom to wait upon thy God And when so taken up with Him in Secret bethink thy self what main Grievance it is thou hast to make thy moan of What especial Favour thou hast to Beg What Sin that lieth hardest upon thy Conscience to be Pardoned What noisom Corruption to be Healed What most Wanted Grace or Good thing to be Desired And there tell all as having the fairest Opportunity to be Bold And put on hard as one that will not be Denied Abraham Retired into his Grove Isaac to the Field Jacob Wrestled with God upon the Way Elijah Prayed under the Juniper-Tree Jeremiah in the Dungeon Daniel in the Lions Den Jonah in the Whales Belly Our Saviour in the Garden and often in the Mount St. Peter on the House-Top No matter what is the Place so it minister to our Devotion and help us indeed to Draw nigh to God Which is not to be done with the Body and shifting of Places but in the Elevation of the Heart and Fervor of Affections Non Passibus sed Precibus itur ad Deum Aug. Prayer is the Messenger that doth our Errand there where Flesh cannot come And wherever a man is or however taken up even in the midst of his Worldly occasions His Soul may fly out and steal away to God Or send up Secret Ejaculations that shall pierce the Heavens and find as sure a Conveyance as if they had bounded from the Temple However then we should be Glad to to go into the House of the Lord when Opportunity serves Yet when we have a Motion to Prayer any where we must not withhold it for want of a Better Place from whence to send it up CHAP. V. The Liberty of Prayer as to the Persons Praying SECT I. The Liberty that All Sorts have to Pray EVery one that is Godly shall Pray unto thee ô Lord. Psal 32.6 No Godly man but will do it And all manner of Persons as they have Need So they are Allowed to do it Only the Priest of old entred the Holy Place Now he that hath Loved and Redeemed us and wash'd us from our Sins in his own Blood hath made us all Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 God is no Respecter of Persons The Poorest shall have as fair and full a Hearing with Him as the Biggest man in the World Tho he be the most High yet the Lowest are not beneath his Notice If they are Low in their own eyes and Poor in Spirit as well as of Low Estate and Poor in the World They are indeed the Nearer to his Acceptance Who hath Respect unto the Lowly And to this man will Look that is Poor and of a Contrite Spirit and Trembles at his Word Isa 66.2 This Poor man cried and the Lord Heard him and saved him out of all his Troubles Psal 34.6 From the Height of his Sanctuary he looks down even upon the most Abject wretches on Earth Even such as are Rejected of men and just ready to be Thrust out as not fit to Live in the World To hear the groaning of the Prisoner To loose those that are Appointed to death Psal 102.20 He will Regard the Prayer of the Destitute and not despise their Prayer v. 17. The Lord sees not as man sees To Regard men according to their Garb and Dresses but according to their Faith and Graces Yea according to their Cries and Necessities And even that Abjection and Beggary for which others Overlook and Scorn them is the very Motive of God's Inclining to them and taking Notice of them Do thou for me O God the Lord for thy Names sake because thy mercy is good Deliver thou me For I am Poor and Needy Psal 109.21 For the Oppression of the Poor for the Sighing of the Needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him at Liberty Psal 12.5 Tho God that hath Chosen the Poor of this World is not Fond of a man only for this reason because he is Poor For there may not be more Wicked men than many Poor men Yea such as are fain to Beg their Bread of Men may yet be none of Gods Beggars and so none of his Favourites This not for their Bodily wretchedness but for their Souls Ungodliness because matters are not so Ill with their Bodies but they are Worse with their Souls Yet caeteris paribus No Poor man shall be ever the less Welcome with God for his Poverty but be as soon Heard and as much Respected by Him as His Excellency or His Highness the most Eminent and Mighty who look to be Observed of all and that every one else must be Silent when they Speak Such are often too High to be God's Humble Servants Like the Wicked Psal 10.4 Who thrô the Pride of his Countenance will not Seek after God Tho there is none so Rich and well-provided but they stand in continual need of God's Alms And they that abound in the World 's Good must yet beg of him their Daily Bread and have need of all men to Pray hard That they may not be put off with their Portion in this Life and be Tormented when Lazarus shall be Comforted Let not the Rich man rejoice so much in his Riches as that he may go to God to save him from the Danger of them And let him not Pray the Less but the More That thrô so many Temptations he may get Safe into the Kingdom of God Let not any Nobles Gentlemen or Ladies ever fear it will Debase their Dignity to Cringe to Him that has far greater than any Kings or Queens on Earth for his daily Attendants If they are too Goodly to be Godly they will be too High to be Saved Prayer is Man well Drest Herb. The finest Creature is best Adorned when most Humbled And when the Knees are Bowed the Mouth Confessing the Hands Smiting the Eyes Blubbered the Cheeks bedewed Nothing in the sight of Heaven is more Becoming and Recommending Ephraim was heard so Bemoaning himself And presently it follows Is Ephraim my dear Son is be a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still I will surely have mercy on him saith the Lord. Jer. 31.18 19 20.
But if the King of Heaven will admit of the Poorest mans Request and such as should not be suffered to speak to their Prince shall be Heard speaking as much and as often as they will to their God O! how Unwise and Wicked then are those Poor that will not thus Ingratiate and prefer themselves to be as Great with God as they are Despicable in the World That they may not Lose both Worlds but Pray themselves into a better Kingdom than all the Kingdoms on Earth Let the Afflicted Pray That they may not Perish in their Troubles And let the Prosperous Pray That they may not be Destroyed by their very Prosperity Let the Idle Pray because they have Leisure And let the Buisy Pray to Hallow their Imployments Spare time can never be better Bestowed And the Soul amidst Multiplicity of Business can never be better Secured Let the Learned Pray because they Know How And let the Ignorant Pray That they may be Taught of God to Know more The best Scholars are they that have Learned to be Readiest at their Prayers And such as best Know themselves will be most forward to Humble themselves before the Lord and know how Good it is for them to Draw nigh unto God And none must forbear their Prayers because they be not fine Speakers But If any man lack Wisdom let him ask it of God who giveth to all men Liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Jam. 1.5 The Silliest wretch by this means may come to Know enough to do his Business to make him Wise to Salvation Let the Aged Pray much because they have but a Little Time till their Mouths will be stopt And Cry mightily to God before they go down into the Silence of the Grave Let them Beg of Him that knows their Frame to have Compassion on their Infirmities and not Cast them away in the time of their Old Age nor Forsake them when their Strength fails them Let them go Praying out of this World that they may come Praising into the Next Let Children in their youth Remember who Made them and Pray That as they grow in Age and Stature they may also grow in Wisdom and Grace and Favour with God and men Let them learn to Pray Betimes that Use may get them a Habit and facility of Praying And if their Prayers be well meant tho Childish He will not Despise the Young Childrens Prayer who gives even to the Young Ravens that Cry Psal 147.9 Let the Weak and crasy Pray for Power from on High to Him that giveth Power to the Faint and increaseth Strength to them that have no Might And let the Strong and Lusty Exert their Strength and mettle in this Spiritual Conflict and Struggle and not be Slothful in the Work of the Lord but do it with all their might Because they know not what a Day may bring forth to Disable and pull them down Let the Infirm Christians Pray to be Healed and the Fallen to be Recovered the Doubtful and wavering to have their Faith increased And let the Faithful and established Pray That they may be Thankful to God and Helpful to men and go on to Abound in the Work of the Lord. In a word let men of all Ranks and Estates Pray Because they May and because they Need it Because they are Nothing and Have nothing but of the Divine Bounty And can do nothing without God's Heavenly Grace and are Presumptuous to look for that Grace without their Prayers They deserve to go for ever without it and justly do perish for Want of it who will not be at so much trouble as to Seek but Lose all for want of Asking All the Noise and Bustle in this World at the last will Centre and be summâ—d up in Prayer And every one that is not Stupid or Mad will covet to go Praying off the present Stage Whatever else then a man has to do he is but an impertinent Trifler whoever he be that doth not every day addict and use himself to this Service to make one of the number of God's constant Orators SECT II. What Liberty have Sinners to make their Prayers THat God Heareth not Sinners is true of all Impenitent Resolved Sinners so persisting For why should he be at their beck to Hear them calling upon Him for Mercy who make no Conscience to Hearken to Him calling on them for Duty Quantum à praeceptis tantum ab Auribus Dei Tertul. He that turneth away his ear from Hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be Abomination Prov. 28.9 More Noisom to God than any Stinking Breath to us He will not Hear when the Hands are full of Blood They must be Holy hands lifted up to fetch down Heavenly Blessings Nor will he Hear when the Heart is full of Pride Who is inclinable to Give to a Proud Beggar Any allowed Wickedness bars against us the best and only Refuge in the world When our Hearts Condemn us for Regarding Iniquity in them it Damps our Spirits and Confounds our Faces and Blasts all our Hopes of Speeding The Prayer is like then to Return as void of Success as it went empty of Sincerity For should God Hear us when we do not Hear our selves Yea when we hear all his Enemies rather than Him We must not think he is so obliged to our Party or Charmed with our Forms of Address tho we may seem to Pray as we Ought when we take no care to Live as we Pray And yet it cannot be meant of Sinners in general without Exception That God will not Hear them For then he must Hear never a Servant of his that he has upon Earth seeing all the World stands Guilty before him And there is not a Just man upon earth that doth Good and Sinneth not Who are they but Sinners that he bids Pray every day Forgive us our Trespasses He will Forgive many that know not how to Forgive themselves And Hear even such as are ready to Despair of Audience Psal 31.22 I said in my haft I am cut off from before thine eyes Nevertheless thou Heard'st the voice of my Supplications when I cried unto thee How is it then God will Hear some Sinners and some he will not Presumptuous Hardned Sinners that Go on still in their Trespasses He will not Hear Nor Regard their Prayers who Regard not his Word but make the Prayers only a Cloak for their Sins instead of a Mawl to break them off But Repenting and Returning Sinners shall not therefore fail of Audience because they fail in their performance Nor be Denied every thing which they Would Because they discharge not every thing as they Ought Tho we cannot say We have no Sin or are without offence Yet if we Fear to offend He will Fulfil the desire of them that Fear him Psal 145.19 And tho we cannot make so streight paths for our Feet as never to tread Awry Yet if as to the main we walk in the Vprightness of our
Hearts No good thing will he withhold from them that walk Vprightly Psal 84.11 Still there will be room enough left for his Pardon even when we have done our Best Yet will he not for that stop his Ears but Hear in Heaven and when he Hears Forgive Elias I know was an Extraordinary Person Tho the Apostle tells us he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 James 5.17 Passible as we are and that with Frailty of Mind as well as Body For so the Venerable Bede glosses upon it Et mentis Fragilitate Carnis Yet he Prayed and was Heard in what he Asked Some Inherent Holiness indeed we must have to give us Confidence towards God and to speak our Interest in the Holy prevailing Advocate Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him Because we keep his Commands and do those things that are Pleasing in his Sight 1 Joh. 3.22 Yet we cannot ground our Hopes all upon our own Holiness But must have a better Name and Righteousness than any in ourselves wherewithal to Appear before the Lord and Bow our selves to the most High God And He upon whose Interest and Mediation we go is pleas'd to call to Him the Labouring and Heavy-Laden They that feel themselves Burthened with their Sins are the fitter to make their Prayers The Sense of Sin is both the Weight to Humble them and also the Goad to Quicken them That they may think Ill of themselves and be in good Earnest with God Prayer is the Pillar of Smoak in which the Soul ascends out of this Wilderness to God Above Which tho it be Black as Smoak for manifold Infirmities still adhering Yet having a Principle of Energy and Spirit to carry it upward The Devout Soul ascends therein and by a humble Familiarity Converses and Parlies with God even as Abraham and Moses did Yea when our Sins are felt and Bewailed we may draw even from them a Plea why God should Hear us for his Glory For that he should Hear in Heaven and do and Grant the desires of Sinful Dust and Ashes who can claim nothing as due at his hands That he should Forgive us who have so Provoked him we deserve rather to be Abhorred than Pardoned Reward Vnprofitable Servants Yea Regard Ill-deserving Sinners O how much does this redound to the Honour of his Name and illustrate his Glory And what Encouragement have we even when Discouraged by our own Sinful Vileness to go and Strive and Plead with God in our Prayers by the things which he most Prizes and Loves That is to Move him with his own Glory to take the Motive from Himself and to be Merciful to us Sinners for his Names sake And Arise and Help and Deliver us for his Honour What Mean then the Faint Hands and Feeble Knees when the God so Greatly Offended will be so Easily intreated And expects not that we should come to him without our Sins But only with a Sorrowful Concernment for them and a pious Resolution against them And so even Fools corrected with their own Wickedness are Heard Psal 107.9 And the Wicked whose very Prayer is called Abomination are yet put upon Praying However they want Ability they are not Disengaged from paying the Debt because that Inability is only thro their own Fault And if they are Sinful even in their Prayers To leave them off will not Amend the matter but they would be yet more Sinful without them They may Pray and Escape But if they Pray not they are sure to Perish And therefore St. Peter bid Simon Magus who was in the Gall of bitterness and the Bonds of iniquity Repent and Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of his heart might be Forgiven him Acts 8.22 23. If there be but any Peradventure it is good to be Adventurers here Jehoahaz did Evil in the Sight of the Lord and yet he Sought the Lord and the Lord Hearkened to him 2 King 13.4 And what hath been may be As the Hand of God is not Shortened So neither is his Mercy Abated but still they are the Same as ever they were And Praying being the using of Gods Means In that very Vse both our Persons and our Prayers may be Sanctified But they that are not sensible enough of their Adoption to cry Abba Father must yet repair to God as the Common Father of all for a better Title and beg the Regenerating and Witnessing Spirit of Him as the faithful Creator with whom the Fatherless find Mercy And however Unworthy we are The Lord our Righteousness who is Infinitely Worthy maketh intercession for the Transgressors Isa 53. last v. And his Interceding is not by way of Petition but as an Advocate Pleading for his Client of Justice Because we have no Sins hanging upon us but what he to the full has Satisfied for And so they can be no Bar to our Prayers when we are Interested in his Merits And thus the way to the Throne of Grace is Open to All manner of Persons And Sinners even the Worst are not Excluded if they resolve not to Continue in their Sins but are on the Penitent Key and on the Parting Point He that Confesseth and Forsaketh his Sins shall have Mercy To which I may add He that Fears and Prays shall not Feel what he Fears and Prays against God will never condemn that earnest Supplicant who Deprecates the Evil which he dreads and from a sensible Heart thus pleads for the Life of his poor Soul From thy Wrath and from Everlasting Damnation Good Lord deliver me What profit is there in my Blood The Damned nothing but Blaspheme and Curse thee O let me live that I may Bless and Praise thy Name Let none then Debar himself of the Liberty which our Lord Allows us all But may every one lay hold of the blessed Priviledge and be a Petitioner waiting on the Lord our God till he answer him in the Wishes of his heart And O that we might have that once to say of every Vnconverted Sinner which was given as an Argument of St. Paul's Conversion Act. 9.11 Behold he Prayeth Lord I have Invited all And I shall Still Invite still Call to Thee For it seems but just and right In my sight Where is All there all should be Herb. CHAP. VI. The Liberty of Prayer as to the Persons Prayed for SECT I. The Liberty of Praying For All. OUR Blessed Lord in the first Word of his Prayer teacheth us to Pray in Love as well as in Faith and to take in Others together with ourselves And here we are to go as Wide as before None is Debarred from Praying And we must Leave out None in our Prayers If we do not still Name yet we must Intend them And Make Prayers and Intercessions for All men 1 Tim. 2.1 Not only men of all Orders and Sorts but All the men of every order and sort Our Charity should be as Extensive even as the whole Race of Mankind Like Fellow-Members of the same Body Every Member should have
all Blessings from Above to make all that dwell on this Mighty Ball Gainers by his Commerce with that Kingdom where all the Treasure lyes Yea thus the poorest Subject may make his King and Countrey Beholden to him for Deprecating Judgments and Praying down Mercies upon the Publick Thus the Supplicants that Wait upon Gods Throne not only Deliver their own Souls but help to Save Nations 2 Chron. 7.14 If my People that are called by my Name shall Humble themselves and Pray and seek my Face and turn from their wicked ways then will I Hear from Heaven and Forgive their Sins and will Heal the Land Such a man the Lord sought for Ezek. 22.30 That should make up the Hedge and Stand in the Gap before him for the Land that he should not Destroy it And because he found none And then the Case is Sad indeed when we are left to complain as Isai 64.11 There is none that Calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee Therefore he Pour'd out his Indignation and Consumed them v. 31. By which it appears both how Acceptable such Intercession is to God He Seeks for the Intercessor and does not Blame a Poor Creature for taking so much upon him And also how Availahle is the Righteous mans Prayer not only for himself but for all his Neighbours far and wide Elias the Chariot and Horsemen of Israel with the Opening of his Mouth could Shut and Open Heaven Jam. 5.17 18. And upon the earnest Intreaty of Moses in behalf of a provoking People 'T is said Exod. 32.14 The Lord Repented of the Evil which he thought to do to his People This is the best of all Friendship to our Friends To be thus Concerned and Imployed for them Yea thus we may do Good for Evil to them that will not Thank us for it Praying for them that Despightfully use and Persecute us And so lay up for ourselves better Rewards than their good Words And thus we shall be the most Welcome Physicians and dearest Comforters to the Sick and Miserable and get them that Help from Above which all the World cannot Give In the failing of all other Means thus we may Engage Him to come in to their Succour that Knows how to Deliver and is never at a Loss to do whatever he pleases in Heaven and in Earth Such a Latitude and Liberty is allowed to our Prayers even as Wide as the World So easie may we take in All with ourselves and in so doing Benefit them without Impoverishing ourselves For he whom we Pray to hath Infinitely more than to Supply us all And if there were Thousands of Millions more to be Saved Heaven would be as much to them every One as if each had All to Himself This is the true Christian Spirit Not only to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem but to Seek the Enlargement of Christ's Kingdom and to Pray that it may Come in the Best and Fullest sense But such as glory most in the big Catholick Name yet shew the Least and Narrowest Souls in Confining Salvation only to their own Sect. And instead of Praying for their Neighbours Cursing and Damning all the World beside themselves Wherein the Papists are even with the Profane Hectoring Ruffians who have no Prayer so common as God Damn ye But for ought I know the Curses are as good as the Prayers of such an Vnchristian Church and Spurious Mother that is all for Dividing the Child and Destroying the Lives and Souls which Christ came to Save Yet however they Curse Let us Pray First for our selves That we may be Saved from them and not be Like them And then for Them That they may once get from under the Yoke of their wilful Bondage so contrary to the Liberty of the Gospel wherein Christ hath set us Free And not be so Stingy and Penurious in their Charity but let the Damning alone for their own Sakes as well as ours Lest as they Judge they find the Judgment turned against themselves by Him to whom Vengeance and the Pronouncing of Final Sentences belongs SECT II. The Liberty of Praying for Wicked Men. THE Lord of Love who Breath'd out his Soul in Praying for the cruel Enemies that shed his Blood Yet held back his Prayers for many that seem'd as much to Need them Joh. 17.9 I Pray not for the World saith He. That is The World as opposed to them whom the Father Gave him out of the World And so far we are to be Followers of Christ herein as not to Pray for Pardon and Heaven to the Impenitent and Vnbelieving so Continuing Nor to ask for them those same things which belong only to the Elect and dear Children of God But yet we must not Exclude all out of our Offices whom God hath Excluded the Book of Life Tho Christ might Because he Knew who they were but we do not And all the Psalmists Imprecations against his and Gods Enemies If we read them in the Imperative Mood which the Learned observe may be read in the Indicative and then they are Predictions of what should Befall them and not Prayers for such Curses to light upon them They are no Rules to us because we have not the Spirit of Prophesy as that Eminent Servant of God had to Foresee the End of such men The like may be said of St. Paul's Imprecation on Alexander 2 Tim. 4.14 The Lord Reward him according to his Works Dr. Hammond says the best Manuscripts read 'A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord Will Reward him And so the Syriack and St. Aug. according to Estius And if otherwise Then it was a Denouncing of God's righteous Judgments upon an Incorrigible Offendor in a Notorious case of which the Apostle had Assurance And till we can attain to the like Knowledge of any We must be Cautious how we make so Bold If any man see his Brother Sin a Sin which is not unto Death He shall ask and he shall give him Life for them that Sin not unto death There is a Sin unto Death I do not say that he shall Pray for it 1 Joh. 5.16 This looks like a Prohibition of our Prayers for some Sinners And sure we are not to ask God's Pardon for any Impenitent Sinner so Persisting But upon Condition of that Repentance which we are to Pray that God would give them Nor should we be unkind to Ungodly men did we Pray That they might find such Shame and Affliction as God knows Conducing to their Conversion The seeming Bad Wish is the Happiest thing that could befall them And that Evil day would be the Best Day that ever came over them But tho we are not to ask God's Pardon for such as finally Persist to Sin in Despight of the Spirit of Grace and without Repentance if so be that we Know it For that were to ask what his Word assures us shall never be Yet where we cannot Know this without Revelation We had need be Wary. And
better far to Err in the charitable Extream than in the other All Sin in its own Nature is Deadly But yet all that is Mortal doth not Kill thro the Divine Mercy And it proves Not unto Death thro Christ's Remedy No Sin so Deadly but shall be Pardoned to the Penitent And therefore we must Pray for all as Pardonable till we are sure of the Contrary as to any Our rash Censoriousness may as much Wrong others as Harm ourselves But our kind Prayers even for such as they can do no Good yet will do us no Hurt Yea we shall be the Better for our Charity tho they be never the Better for it Thro a Bar which themselves put in the Way Let us not then scruple to Extend our Litany as far as ever there is a man Alive to receive the Benefit Beseeching the Good Lord That it would please him to have Mercy upon All men The Close of the First Part Justifying the Liberty pleaded for THUS for the Matter and Manner Time Place and Persons we are at Liberty for Prayer Not tied up to move only as Puppets in a Frame but may walk at Large as the Lord 's Free men Let Papists call us Libertines because we challenge a Share in our Blessed Saviour's Purchase made for us We are not at Liberty so to Part with our Liberty But must rather Resist unto Blood than make ourselves Vnderlings to Unreasonable and Cruel men Such as would bind us under pain of Damnation As to Believe all that their Church Says So to do all as their Church Requires tho God's Word as well as our own Reason tell us we are Misled Those of a Bigotted Humor void of the truly Pious Temper shew little or no Religion but in the blind Hair-brain'd Hectoring for the Shells and Shadows of Religion For that Formal Religion which at best is but like the fine Birds Skin stuffed without any Life in it When as indeed the Heavenly Beauty of Religion is Within however the Outward Dress is not to be Wild and Slattering Yet it must not be so Strait lac'd to bind and Fetter us instead of Expediting our Motions in Drawing nigh to God It is not Christianity but Bigottery to Neglect the most Weighty things of God's Law as if Indifferent And the while to Plead for things Indifferent as All in All. Like those whom Socrates the Historian tells us of that held Fornication a thing Indifferent Lib 5. c. 21. But Tugg'd for a Holy-day as if their Lives had lain upon it Our hearts may be Free in spight of all Assuming Powers in the World Nor need we so much Perplex our Consciences about the Ritual Religion As if by Strictness in such Lesser matters we thought to Compound for our Carelesness in the One thing Necessary Never must we set any Humane Laws to Rival and Top the Divine Tho Submission to Just Authority in all Lawful things is no Infringement of our Christian Liberty Which we are not so to Dote upon neither as if we thought even our own Cloaths Abridg'd it But may preserve it still Good and fair to Ourselves even then when Prudence holds us in from Flourishing with it Before men As long as we do not tie up ourselves to the Observation of Humane Institutions as things in themselves Absolutely Necessary We may obey for Conscience Sake and yet keep our Consciences as Free in the Sight of God as if we did none of the things Prescribed by men While we make them no Parts of our Religion nor believe them Necessary to Salvation And yet thô we know the things to be Indifferent we look not upon our Obedience as Indifferent when as nothing is Commanded contrary to what God has Commanded And being thus Right in our Opinion and Apprehension of things and not Slaves to our own Conceits We are at Liberty still Enjoyed to ourselves for all our Deference to Ecclesiastical Appointments for Decorum and Order in the Church Our Thoughts and Judgment are Free even when our Practice is under some Restraint And thô we do the same things as others It is at our Liberty whether it shall be with the same Mind None can hinder but we may Think as we please Now in all this my Endeavour has been to Open and Smooth the way to the Throne of Grace That no Well-disposed Pious Soul may be discouraged in its Approaches to that Sweet Retreat but find all Encouragement Freely and Cheerfully to Draw Nigh to God without a Servile Dread Discharged from those fluctuating Doubts and Entangling Conceits wherewith so many are turmoil'd and kept under Hatches even all their days To Interrupt them in the course of their Religion to make their Offices their Torment to disturb the Serenity and Quiet of their Minds and to spoil all the Comfort and Sweetness of their Devotion While they drag on so Heavily as Strangers to the Spirit of Adoption and have a Hundred Rubs and Frights in the way When as their Prayers should be their Free-will Offering and the Festival Entertainment of their Lives and their Souls should run as oiled Wheels upon the least Touch of God's Attraction when he Moves them to Seek his Face For tho' he Draws he doth not Drag but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Carries such along as are Willing to Run after him and do Give themselves to Prayer Not as Compell'd but in Love to the Work and Delighting to do the will of God The End of the First Part. THE LIBERTY OF PRAYER Guarded from LICENTIOVSNESS PART II. Si de Veritate Scandalum sumitur utilius Scandalum nasci permittitur quà m Veritas relinquatur Greg in Ez. PART II. The TRANSITION To obviate Bigots and prevent Mistakes I have offered to the Worshippers of God all the Liberty that can reasonably be Desired And yet no more than I take the Gospel of our Lord to have Given and Granted No more than the Liberty of the children of God Who are to move Freely as an Ingenuous Generation and a Willing People and not to be hamper'd like Slaves under the Yoke of Bondage But from men of Narrow Souls and Stingy Principles that are under the power of false Notions and bound up in Superstitious Fetters I expect hideous Outcries of Loose Doctrine and a door opened to all Abomination I hear and Smile when I know some of the great Libertines in Practice to be the most Nice and Straight-lac'd men for certain Modes and Opinions They can make bold to take all Loose Liberties in their Conversation and Manners and go so far this way that they must be men of Large Consciences indeed and have as Little of God's holy Fear that dare venture to Follow them And yet at the same time and in the midst of all their Rants and Excesses who more hasty to find great fault with much Better than themselves And make heavy Complaints and Tragical Exclamations of the insufferable Boldness and Laxity of all that are