human learning can give; devotional expressions become familiar; the
Spirit of adoption leads them with deep solemnity to approach the
Infinite Eternal as a father. Private prayer is so essentially
spiritual that it cannot be reduced to writing. “A man that truly prays
one prayer, shall after that never be able to express with his mouth,
or pen the unutterable desires, sense, affection, and longing that went
to God in that prayer”. Prayer leads to “pure religion and undefiled,”
“to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,” and to
preserve us “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Blessed indeed are
those who enjoy an abiding sense of the Divine presence; the
Christian’s divine life may be measured by his being able to “pray
without ceasing,” to “seek God’s face continually.” Men ought “always
to pray,” and to “continue in prayer.” This does not consist in
perpetually repeating any form of prayer, but in that devotional frame
of mind which enables the soul to say, “For me to live is Christ.” When
David was compassed about with the sorrows of hell, he at once
ejaculates, “O Lord, I beseech thee deliver my soul.” When the
disciples were in danger they did not recite the Lord’s Prayer, or any
other form, but at once cried, “Lord, save us, we perish.” Bunyan,
speaking of private prayer, keenly inquires, will God not hear thee
“except thou comest before him with some eloquent oration?” “It is not,
as many take it to be, even a few babbling, prating, complimentary
expressions, but a sensible feeling in the heart.” Sincerity and a
dependence upon the mediatorial office of Christ is all that God
requires. “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him—IN TRUTH”
(Psa 145:18). In all that related to the individual approach of the
spirit to its heavenly Father, our pious author offended not; but
having enjoyed communion with God, he was, as all Christians are,
desirous of communion with the saints on earth, and in choosing the
forms of public worship, he gave great offence to many by rejecting the
Book of Common Prayer.
To compel or to bribe persons to attend religious services is
unjustifiable, and naturally produces hypocrisy and persecution. So it
was with the decree of King Darius, (Dan 6); and so it has ever been
with any royal or parliamentary interference with Christian liberty.
“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he
standeth or falleth” (Rom 14:4). “EVERY ONE of us shall give account of
himself to God” (Rom 14:12). All the solemnities of the day of judgment
point not merely to the right, but to the necessity of private decision
on all questions of faith, worship, and conduct, guided solely by the
volume of inspiration. Mansoul, in its regenerate state, is the temple
which the Creator has chosen for his worship; and it is infinitely more
glorious than earthly edifices, which crumble into dust, while God’s
temples will be ever glorious as eternity rolls on.
Bunyan, to the sixteenth year of his age, had, when he attended public
worship, listened to the Book of Common Prayer. At that time an Act of
Parliament prohibited its use under severe and unjust penalties, and
ordered the services to be conducted by the rules of a directory. In
this an outline is given of public thanksgivings, confessions, and
petitions; but no form of prayer. In the preface the Puritans record
their opinion, that the Liturgy of the Church of England,
notwithstanding all the pains and religious intentions of its
compilers, hath proved an offence; unprofitable ceremonies hath
occasioned much mischief; its estimation hath been raised by prelates,
as if there were no other way of worship; making it an idol to the
ignorant and superstitious, a matter of endless strife, and of
increasing an idle ministry. Bunyan had weighed these observations, and
recollected his former ignorance and superstition, when he counted all
things holy connected with the outward forms, and did “very devoutly
say and sing as others did.”4 But when he arose from the long and dread
conflict with sin, and entered upon his Christian life, he decidedly
preferred emancipation from forms of prayer, and treated them with
great severity. He considered that the most essential qualification for
the Christian ministry is the gift of prayer. Upon this subject learned
and pious men have differed; but the opinions of one so eminently
pious, and so well-taught in the Scriptures, are worthy of our careful
investigation. Great allowances must be made for all that appears harsh
in language, because urbanity was not the fashion of that day in
religious controversy. He had been most cruelly imprisoned, with
threats of transportation, and even an ignominious death, for refusing
conformity to the Book of Common Prayer. Being conscientiously and
prayerfully decided in his judgment, he set all these threats at
defiance, and boldly, at the risk of his life, published this treatise,
while yet a prisoner in Bedford jail; and it is a clear, concise, and
scriptural discourse, setting forth his views upon this most important
subject.
Any preconceived form would have fettered Bunyan’s free spirit; he was
a giant in prayer, and commanded the deepest reverence while leading
the public devotions of the largest congregations. The great question
as to public prayer is whether the minister should, relying upon Divine
assistance, offer up prayer to God in the Saviour’s name, immediately
conceived under a sense of His presence; or whether it is better, as it
is certainly easier, to read a form of prayer, from time to time,
skillfully arranged, and with every regard to beauty of language? Which
of these modes is most in accordance with the directions of the Sacred
Scriptures, and most likely to be attended with spiritual benefit to
the assembled church? Surely this inquiry does not involve the charge
of schism or heresy upon either party. “Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind.” Nor should such differences lead us to
despise each other. Let our first inquiry be, whether the Saviour
intended a fixed form of prayer? And if so, did he give His church any
other than that most beautiful and comprehensive form called the Lord’s
Prayer? And did he license any one, and if so, who, to alter, add to,
or diminish from it? On the other hand, should we conclude that “We
know not what we should pray for as we ought, only as the Spirit
helpeth our infirmities,” then must we rely, as Bunyan did, upon the
promised aid of that gracious Spirit. Blessed, indeed, are those whose
intercourse with heaven sheds an influence on their whole conduct,
gives them abundance of well-arranged words in praying with their
families and with the sick or dejected, and—whose lives prove that they
have been with Jesus, and are taught by him, or who, in Scripture
language, “pray with the spirit and with the understanding also.”
GEO. OFFOR.
ON PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.
“I WILL PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT, AND I WILL PRAY WITH THE UNDERSTANDING
ALSO”—(I Cor 14:15).
PRAYER is an ORDINANCE of God, and that to be used both in public and
private; yea, such an ordinance as brings those that have the spirit of
supplication into great familiarity with God; and is also so prevalent
in action, that it getteth of God, both for the person that prayeth,
and for them that are prayed for, great things.5 It is the opener of
the heart of God, and a means by which the soul, though empty, is
filled. By prayer the Christian can open his heart to God, as to a
friend, and obtain fresh testimony of God’s friendship to him. I might
spend many words in distinguishing between public and private prayer;
as also between that in the heart, and that with the vocal voice.
Something also might be spoken to distinguish between the gifts and
graces of prayer; but eschewing this method, my business shall be at
this time only to show you the very heart of prayer, without which, all
your lifting up, both of hands, and eyes, and voices, will be to no
purpose at all. “I will pray with the Spirit.”
The method that I shall go on in at this time shall be, FIRST. To show
you what true prayer is. SECOND. To show you what it is to pray with
the Spirit. THIRD. What it is to pray with the Spirit and understanding
also. And so, FOURTHLY. To make some short use and application of what
shall be spoken.
WHAT PRAYER IS.
FIRST, What [true] prayer is. Prayer is a sincere, sensible,
affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ,
in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as
God hath promised, or according to the Word, for the good of the
church, with submission, in faith, to the will of God.
In this description are these seven things. First, It is a sincere;
Second, A sensible; Third, An affectionate, pouring out of the soul to
God, through Christ; Fourth, By the strength or assistance of the
Spirit; Fifth, For such things as God hath promised, or, according to
his word; Sixth, For the good of the church; Seventh, With submission
in faith to the will of God.
First. For the first of these, it is a SINCERE pouring out of the soul
to God. Sincerity is such a grace as runs through all the graces of God
in us, and through all the actings of a Christian, and hath the sway in
them too, or else their actings are not any thing regarded of God, and
so of and in prayer, of which particularly David speaks, when he
mentions prayer. “I cried unto him,” the Lord “with my mouth, and he
was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear” my prayer (Psa 66:17,18). Part of the exercise of prayer
is sincerity, without which God looks not upon it as prayer in a good
sense (Psa 16:1-4). Then “ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall
search for me with all your heart” (Jer 29:12-13). The want of this
made the Lord reject their prayers in Hosea 7:14, where he saith, “They
have not cried unto me with their heart,” that is, in sincerity, “when
they howled upon their beds.” But for a pretence, for a show in
hypocrisy, to be seen of men, and applauded for the same, they prayed.
Sincerity was that which Christ commended in Nathaniel, when he was
under the fig tree. “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”
Probably this good man was pouring out of his soul to God in prayer
under the fig tree, and that in a sincere and unfeigned spirit before
the Lord. The prayer that hath this in it as one of the principal
ingredients, is the prayer that God looks at. Thus, “The prayer of the
upright is his delight” (Prov 15:8).
And why must sincerity be one of the essentials of prayer which is
accepted of God, but because sincerity carries the soul in all
simplicity to open its heart to God, and to tell him the case plainly,
without equivocation; to condemn itself plainly, without dissembling;
to cry to God heartily, without complimenting. “I have surely heard
Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou has chastised me, and I was
chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke” (Jer 31:18).
Sincerity is the same in a corner alone, as it is before the face of
the world. It knows not how to wear two vizards, one for an appearance
before men, and another for a short snatch in a corner; but it must
have God, and be with him in the duty of prayer. It is not lip-labour
that it doth regard, for it is the heart that God looks at, and that
which sincerity looks at, and that which prayer comes from, if it be
that prayer which is accompanied with sincerity.
Second. It is a sincere and SENSIBLE pouring out of the heart or soul.
It is not, as many take it to be, even a few babbling, prating,
complimentary expressions, but a sensible feeling there is in the
heart. Prayer hath in it a sensibleness of diverse things; sometimes
sense of sin, sometimes of mercy received, sometimes of the readiness
of God to give mercy, &c.
1. A sense of the want of mercy, by reason of the danger of sin. The
soul, I say, feels, and from feeling sighs, groans, and breaks at the
heart. For right prayer bubbleth out of the heart when it is
overpressed with grief and bitterness, as blood is forced out of the
flesh by reason of some heavy burden that lieth upon it (I Sam 1:10;
Psa 69:3). David roars, cries, weeps, faints at heart, fails at the
eyes, loseth his moisture, &c., (Psa 38:8-10). Hezekiah mourns like a
dove (Isa 38:14). Ephraim bemoans himself (Jer 31:18). Peter weeps
bitterly (Matt 26:75). Christ hath strong cryings and tears (Heb 5:7).
And all this from a sense of the justice of God, the guilt of sin, the
pains of hell and destruction. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and
the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.” Then
cried I unto the Lord (Psa 116:3,4). And in another place, “My sore ran
in the night” (Psa 77:2). Again, “I am bowed down greatly; I go
mourning all the day long” (Psa 38:6). In all these instances, and in
hundreds more that might be named, you may see that prayer carrieth in
it a sensible feeling disposition, and that first from a sense of sin.
2. Sometimes there is a sweet sense of mercy received; encouraging,
comforting, strengthening, enlivening, enlightening mercy, &c. Thus
David pours out his soul, to bless, and praise, and admire the great
God for his loving-kindness to such poor vile wretches. “Bless the
Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.6 Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy
life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and
tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy
youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psa 103:1-5). And thus is the
prayer of saints sometimes turned into praise and thanksgiving, and yet
are prayers still. This is a mystery; God’s people pray with their
praises, as it is written, “Be careful for nothing, but in every thing
by prayer, and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be
made known unto God” (Phil 4:6). A sensible thanksgiving, for mercies
received, is a mighty prayer in the sight of God; it prevails with him
unspeakably.
3. In prayer there is sometimes in the soul a sense of mercy to be
received. This again sets the soul all on a flame. “Thou, O lord of
hosts,” saith David, “hast revealed to thy servant, saying I will build
thee an house; therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to
pray—unto thee” (II Sam 7:27). This provoked Jacob, David, Daniel, with
others—even a sense of mercies to be received—which caused them, not by
fits and starts, nor yet in a foolish frothy way, to babble over a few
words written in a paper; but mightily, fervently, and continually, to
groan out their conditions before the Lord, as being sensible,
sensible, I say, of their wants, their misery, and the willingness of
God to show mercy (Gen 32:10,11; Dan 9:3,4).
A good sense of sin, and the wrath of God, with some encouragement from
God to come unto him, is a better Common-prayer-book than that which is
taken out of the Papistical mass-book,7 being the scraps and fragments
of the devices of some popes, some friars, and I wot not what.
Third. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, and an AFFECTIONATE pouring out
of the soul to God. O! the heat, strength, life, vigour, and affection,
that is in right prayer! “As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psa 42:1). “I have longed after
thy precepts” (Psa 119:40). “I have longed for thy salvation” (ver
174). “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God” (Psa 84:2). “My
soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all
times” (Psa 119:20). Mark ye here, “My soul longeth,” it longeth, it
longeth, &c. O what affection is here discovered in prayer! The like
you have in Daniel. “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and
do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God” (Dan 9:19). Every syllable
carrieth a mighty vehemency in it. This is called the fervent, or the
working prayer, by James. And so again, “And being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly” (Luke 22:44). Or had his affections more and
more drawn out after God for his helping hand. O! How wide are the most
of men with their prayers from this prayer, that is, PRAYER in God’s
account! Alas! The greatest part of men make no conscience at all of
the duty; and as for them that do, it is to be feared that many of them
are very great strangers to a sincere, sensible, and affectionate
pouring out their hearts or souls to God; but even content themselves
with a little lip-labour and bodily exercise, mumbling over a few
imaginary prayers. When the affections are indeed engaged in prayer,
then, then the whole man is engaged, and that in such sort, that the
soul will spend itself to nothing, as it were, rather than it will go
without that good desired, even communion and solace with Christ. And
hence it is that the saints have spent their strengths, and lost their
lives, rather than go without the blessing (Psa 69:3; 38:9,10; Gen
32:24,26).
All this is too, too evident by the ignorance, profaneness, and spirit
of envy, that reign in the hearts of those men that are so hot for the
forms, and not the power of praying. Scarce one of forty among them
know what it is to be born again, to have communion with the Father
through the Son; to feel the power of grace sanctifying their hearts:
but for all their prayers, they still live cursed, drunken, whorish,
and abominable lives, full of malice, envy, deceit, persecuting of the
dear children of God. O what a dreadful after-clap is coming upon them!
which all their hypocritical assembling themselves together, with all
their prayers, shall never be able to help them against, or shelter
them from.
Again, It is a pouring out of the heart or soul. There is in prayer an
unbosoming of a man’s self, an opening of the heart to God, an
affectionate pouring out of the soul in requests, sighs, and groans.
“All my desire is before thee,” saith David, “and my groaning is not
hid from thee” (Psa 38:9). And again, “My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? When I
remember these things, I pour out my soul in me” (Psa 42:2,4). Mark, “I
pour out my soul.” It is an expression signifying, that in prayer there
goeth the very life and whole strength to God. As in another place,
“Trust in him at all times; ye people,—pour out your heart before him”
(Psa 62:8). This is the prayer to which the promise is made, for the
delivering of a poor creature out of captivity and thralldom. “If from
thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou
seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deut 4:29).
Again, It is a pouring out of the heart or soul TO GOD. This showeth
also the excellency of the spirit of prayer. It is the great God to
which it retires. “When shall I come and appear before God?” And it
argueth, that the soul that thus prayeth indeed, sees an emptiness in
all things under heaven; that in God alone there is rest and
satisfaction for the soul. “Now she that is a widow indeed, and
desolate, trusteth in God” (I Tim 5:5). So saith David, “In thee, O
Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me
in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline thine ear to me,
and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually
resort:—for thou art my rock and my fortress; deliver me, O my God,—out
of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O
Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth” (Psa 71:1-5). Many in a
wording way speak of God; but right prayer makes God his hope, stay,
and all. Right prayer sees nothing substantial, and worth the looking
after, but God. And that, as I said before, it doth in a sincere,
sensible, and affectionate way.
Again, It is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart
or soul to God, THROUGH CHRIST. This through Christ must needs be
added, or else it is to be questioned, whether it be prayer, though in
appearance it be never so eminent or eloquent.
Christ is the way through whom the soul hath admittance to God, and
without whom it is impossible that so much as one desire should come
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (John 14:6). “If ye shall ask
anything in my name”; “whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, I
will do it” (John 14:13,14). This was Daniel’s way in praying for the
people of God; he did it in the name of Christ. “Now therefore, O our
God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause
thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s
sake” (Dan 9:17). And so David, “For thy name’s sake,” that is, for thy
Christ’s sake, “pardon mine iniquity, for it is great” (Psa 25:11). But
now, it is not every one that maketh mention of Christ’s name in
prayer, that doth indeed, and in truth, effectually pray to God in the
name of Christ, or through him. This coming to God through Christ is
the hardest part that is found in prayer. A man may more easily be
sensible of his works, ay, and sincerely too desire mercy, and yet not
be able to come to God by Christ. That man that comes to God by Christ,
he must first have the knowledge of him; “for he that cometh to God,
must believe that he is” (Heb 11:6). And so he that comes to God
through Christ, must be enabled to know Christ. Lord, saith Moses,
“show me now thy way, that I may know thee” (Exo 33:13).
This Christ, none but the Father can reveal (Matt 11:27). And to come
through Christ, is for the soul to be enabled of God to shroud itself
under the shadow of the Lord Jesus, as a man shroudeth himself under a
thing for safeguard (Matt 16:16).8 Hence it is that David so often
terms Christ his shield, buckler, tower, fortress, rock of defence,
&c., (Psa 18:2; 27:1; 28:1). Not only because by him he overcame his
enemies, but because through him he found favour with God the Father.
And so he saith to Abraham, “Fear not, I am thy shield,” &c., (Gen
15:1). The man then that comes to God through Christ, must have faith,
by which he puts on Christ, and in him appears before God. Now he that
hath faith is born of God, born again, and so becomes one of the sons
of God; by virtue of which he is joined to Christ, and made a member of
him (John 3:5,7; 1:12). And therefore, secondly he, as a member of
Christ, comes to God; I say, as a member of him, so that God looks on
that man as a part of Christ, part of his body, flesh, and bones,
united to him by election, conversion, illumination, the Spirit being
conveyed into the heart of that poor man by God (Eph 5:30). So that now
he comes to God in Christ’s merits, in his blood, righteousness,
victory, intercession, and so stands before him, being “accepted in his
Beloved” (Eph 1:6). And because this poor creature is thus a member of
the Lord Jesus, and under this consideration hath admittance to come to
God; therefore, by virtue of this union also, is the Holy Spirit
conveyed into him, whereby he is able to pour out himself, to wit, his
soul, before God, with his audience. And this leads me to the next, or
fourth particular.
Fourth. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate, pouring out of the
heart or soul to God through Christ, by the strength or ASSISTANCE OF
THE SPIRIT. For these things do so depend one upon another, that it is
impossible that it should be prayer, without there be a joint
concurrence of them; for though it be never so famous, yet without
these things, it is only such prayer as is rejected of God. For without
a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart to God, it
is but lip-labour; and if it be not through Christ, it falleth far
short of ever sounding well in the ears of God. So also, if it be not
in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, it is but like the sons
of Aaron, offering with strange fire (Lev 10:1,2). But I shall speak
more to this under the second head; and therefore in the meantime, that
which is not petitioned through the teaching and assistance of the
Spirit, it is not possible that it should be “according to the will of
God” (Rom 8:26,27).