"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)

 On Prayer

by Henry Venn

 Excerpted from his book The Complete Duty of Man

(first published in 1763)


CHAPTER XXXIV
THE OBJECT, NATURE, AND SUBJECT OF PRAYER

Whenever the practice and tempers essential to believers in Christ Jesus are explained, many, instead of attempting to rise up to them, object: If these be absolutely requisite, who then shall be saved? But there is really no place for this desponding objection in the Christian scheme, because, though the natural weakness and corruption of man is much greater than such objectors believe, still all the obedience required as the fruit of faith grows from a root which is able to produce it: for such light, power, and consolation are promised by God to all who properly seek them, as are very adequate to maintain all Christian tempers in the measure indispensably required.

The means, which must be used diligently in order to obtain the continuance of these supernatural supplies, are by way of distinction called devotional duties: and they are so essential to religion, that it cannot subsist without them. Their importance is indeed generally allowed, yet through sad abuse these exercises are frequently turned into a mere religious formality, by which God is dishonoured, nominal Christians lulled into a false peace, and the profane hardened in their contempt of devotion.

To guard against this error, so pernicious to the Christian church, I shall treat at large on the nature of devotional duties, and the proper method of discharging them; principally confining myself to treat of secret prayer, and reading the word of God; leaving it to the reader to apply what is said of them to the public ordinances and means of grace.

1. With respect to prayer, the object of it is God only. The end of prayer is, to obtain deliverance or preservation from evil, or the possession and continuance of good. Our application therefore must be made to him, who is the almighty Source of every good and perfect gift; who orders all things according to the counsel of his own will; who, in spite of all opposition, can completely bless us; and without whose favour every being in the whole creation, though leagued in our defence, could afford us no protection. He also to whom prayer is addressed must be omniscient and omnipresent. Otherwise, how is it possible that amidst so many constant supplicants none should be overlooked; amidst so many millions of petitions offered up in the same instant throughout the world, none be lost; amidst such a numberless variety of complicated cases, the things best for each individual, and those only, should be conferred. The most transcendent mercy and love also ought to be inherent in him to whom we offer our prayers, in order to forgive our sins, to overcome our fears, and to encourage our petitions, conscious as we must be of our own vileness, when we are most fit to pray.

It thus appears from the nature of things, that God alone can, on account of his essential perfections, be the object of true prayer. We find him therefore constantly represented in Scripture under this most glorious character: “Praise waiteth for thee, 0 God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” (Psalm 65:1-2) “I am the Lord thy God … thou shalt have none other gods but me: thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God,” (Exodus 20:4-5).

A truth this so plain, so important, and so often repeated in Scripture, that it calls for our astonishment as well as our lamentation to see the monstrous corruption of worship introduced by popish innovations. The papists, instead of making God the only object of their trust, have besides him, innumerable angels and saints in heaven, in whom, they tell us, we are to repose confidence; to whom we are to address our prayers, not only for temporal blessings, but for the pardon of our sins, for our increase of grace, and even for the gift of eternal life. They tell us that there are in heaven, particular advocates for all exigencies and occasions, protectors against all sorts of dangers, and diseases, and patrons for all graces and virtues. They tell us, that we are to apply to these patrons, so as not to trouble God, and the Redeemer who is God over all blessed for ever, by presuming upon every occasion to make our immediate address to him.

In full confutation of this horrid superstition, it is enough to know what perfections are requisite in him who is the proper object of our prayer. For, if almighty power, omniscience, omnipresence, and the most transcendent mercy, be essential to such an object, then what can be more absurd or more impious than to call on those for help, who by nature are no gods; who are so limited in the excellencies imparted to them, as to be necessarily incapable of knowing what we lack, or of bestowing what we ask?

To follow exactly the Scripture plan, as we ought to do, the tenor of our prayer should be generally* addressed to the Father, in dependence upon the merit and intercession of the Son, and the influence and grace of the Holy Spirit.

By this manner of address the distinct part which each person of the blessed and undivided Trinity bears in the salvation of sinners is justly acknowledged; and the inviolable holiness of God, and our guilt, even after all we have done or received, are most forcibly represented. These are points of such moment that all Scripture labours to impress them on our minds.

* I say generally, for there are numerous instances of prayer addressed to Jesus Christ. The disciples prayed to him, “Lord, increase our faith.” The dying malefactor, to save his soul. Stephen, with his dying breath, commended himself into his hands. Paul besought him thrice to take away the thorn in his flesh, and styles him Lord over all rich in mercy to all that call upon him; for, whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. These are precedents (never to be set aside) proving that each member of the Christian church may and will say as Thomas did unto Jesus, “My Lord, and my God.”

2. Now as God is the only object of prayer, so its nature consists in offering up to him the desires of the heart. Without this, the best chosen petitions, punctually repeated morning and evening out of a book, or the most fluent addresses in language of our own conception, are no more than the mimickry of prayer: a sort of devotion, which pride and self-sufficiency can practise; on which formality and superstition can erect their absurd pretences to religion, whilst the spirit and the truth of prayer are unexperienced and neglected. For as the needy only can stoop to ask the relief of an alms, so then only can we begin to pray when we feel ourselves necessitous creatures; when we long to receive from God what we beg of him, knowing that without the gift of it we must be miserable.

This sensibility of our real need, both scriptural representations and scriptural examples prove essential to true prayer. The scriptural representations instruct us thus; “If thou shalt seek the Lord, thou shalt find him; if thou seek him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). “Trust in God at all times; ye people, pour out your hearts before him” (Psalm 62:8). “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). When the inspired Solomon exhorts us to pray for spiritual wisdom, he takes care to mark, with the utmost energy of expression, the need we must at the same time feel of it in our hearts: “If thou criest,”says he, “after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures” (Proverbs 2:3-4). The same feeling of our needs our Lord points out as essential to prayer, describing it by the united terms of asking, seeking, knocking; terms most expressive of an urgent need of immediate succour. And St. James leads us to the very same conception of the thing, by ascribing success to “fervent” prayer (James 5:16).

What the scripture thus defines to be prayer, is fully illustrated by the practice of the most approved servants of God. They were penetrated with a feeling of their necessities when they came before the throne of grace. “With my whole heart,” says one, “have I sought thy favour. At evening, and at morning, and at noon-day will I cry unto thee, and that instantly,” says David, “and thou shalt hear me.” Another makes his supplication with all the heartfelt importunity of a distressed petitioner; “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.” In the address also of Daniel the greatly beloved, every syllable breathes a sense of need, which scarce knows how to bear with denial or delay; “O Lord,” says he, “hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken and do, defer not for thy name’s sake, O my God.”

From this scriptural representation of prayer, that it is the want of the heart offered up to God, it appears plain, that all men naturally stand upon a level with respect to their ability of praying truly. Outward circumstances in this case make no difference. The ignorant clown and the polished scholar, those who have been most piously trained, and those who have been miserably neglected in their education, those who have been restrained from sinful excesses, and those who have plunged the deepest into them, remain alike incapable, without the grace of God, of real prayer. Notwithstanding the grossest ignorance, the worst education, and the most profligate life, yet as soon as ever the guilt, the strength, and tyranny of sin, are felt to oppress the soul, we shall flee to God for refuge; and prayers and cries, like incense, will ascend up before him from the troubled and the humbled heart. On the contrary, if the guilt, the strength, and defilement of sin are not felt and lamented, neither learning, nor the most pious education, nor abstinence from every gross vice, though united, can create the least measure of the spirit of prayer. In many instances these advantages flatter and blind with their specious appearance, instead of producing any just sensibility of the guilt of sin, or any alarming apprehension of its issue, unless pardoned and subdued. In fact, all true knowledge, and just apprehensions of sin, wherever found, are owing to an infinitely higher cause: they are the effect of a firm belief in God’s word declaring the sinfulness of sin, and of a heart humbled so as to plead guilty to the charge of it. But this firm belief of God’s word, and this conviction of sin, are in no instance the fruits of education, much less the effect of learning, but the inestimable gift of God; gifts no sooner received than all impediments to prayer are removed. Need will immediately make the stammering tongue of the most unlearned, or of those who have been in time past the most abominably wicked, speak plain enough in the ears of God. Need will make the heart, which was before too gross to receive any excellency in the things of God, seek after them with strong cries and lasting importunity. And whatever difference a good understanding, a pious education, or general abstinence from vice (which are, on other accounts, invaluable blessings) may make in the matter of confession, in the degrees of guilt, or in the choice of devout phrases; still the prayer, by which God is honoured and the soul blessed will be exactly the same in the lesser sinner as in the greater, in the poor as in the rich, in the very lowest and weakest of the people, as in the most accomplished preacher of God’s truth.

May this scriptural account of the nature of true prayer undeceive those who presume that they stand accepted with God, merely on account of their multiplying exercises of devotion; whilst at the same time, instead of feeling themselves the poor, guilty, impotent creatures their own prayers represent them to be, they swell with conceit of superior excellence, or fancy themselves righteous, because they pray so punctually after their formal manner! May this encourage all who are humble and contrite, to pour out their complaints before God when they feel their own vileness, though their utterance and their knowledge may be in the sight of man very contemptible, and their past lives may have been awfully profligate! May this also convince the poor, that there can be no excuse more frivolous than to pretend they cannot pray, because destitute of book-learning: since, in fact, nothing but contempt of God’s written word, nothing but a denial of the truth of our own condition as represented in it, can leave either learned or unlearned under such hardness of heart, as to feel no lack of the grace, mercy, and salvation of God; and, consequently, to remain incapable of real prayer.

We may observe further, from the very nature of prayer, as it means the offering up the desires of the heart to God, that whenever there is any real concern for salvation, it cannot be confined only to certain set and stated times. It will be found in the midst of our business, and when we are in company, as well as when we are alone, and have retired to our closet: frequent ejaculations, known only to him who searcheth the heart, will discover where our treasure is, and will prove that we feel the lack of the one thing needful.

3. From the nature of prayer we are led to consider the subject of it, or what it is we are to ask of God. Certainly it must be what it becomes him to supply, what we are warranted by his own word to request, and assured by his own promise either absolutely, or with some limitation, that he will grant.

We may ask temporal blessings: for instance, ease when we are racked with pain, health when taken off from our employment by languishing sickness, or maintenance when we are left destitute. We may ask the continuance of our own lives and those of our dearest relations when sick, or in danger of death. For each of these benefits, prayer may be made to God, because instances of each kind are recorded in Scripture; because by prayer for them God is exalted as the sovereign Lord both of life and all its comforts; our dependence upon him as such is confirmed, and our gratitude towards him is increased.

But though we may pray for any of these benefits, we must always do it with entire submission to the will of God, whether he sees it best to give, to continue, or remove them. We should always remember that things of this kind are not promised without limitation, but only upon condition that they are for our good, and for the glory of God. We should ask for them with a sense upon our hearts, that ease, health, maintenance, friends, and life itself, are things unspeakably mean, compared to spiritual and eternal blessings.

Blessings of a spiritual and eternal nature must therefore make up the principal subject matter of the prayer of Christians. They must ask for more knowledge of the Lord that bought them, for more dependence upon his name, for pardon of their sins through his blood, mortification of their vile affections through his Spirit, and a more perfect conformity to his example.

These are the things in general of which all Christians feel their deficiency; which they pursue with a persevering ardour of mind, and wait daily upon God to receive from him in a more abundant measure.

But besides this general matter of prayer, common to the whole church of Christ, each private believer finds from the appointments of God’s providence in his external condition. Every alteration in each of these particulars produces some inward, correspondent change in the man. By consequence, as real prayer is the want of the heart offered up to God, the matter of prayer which may be very proper today, may be quite unsuitable to our case tomorrow; and those petitions which in certain circumstances were sufficient, in opposite ones will be found deplorably defective. The private matter therefore of prayer in Christians, must take its mould from the objects and occurrences around us, and the impressions these make upon us. For, as different temptations present themselves, different will be the inward actings of corruption: sometimes they will be felt in the risings of pride, envy, and self-preference; at others in discontent and peevishness; now in a propensity to lust and impurity; then in the love of money or of praise, in evil surmisings or uncharitable censures. According to these frequent and most important variations, our petitions must be adapted for pardon, and the immediate succours of grace.

Particular assistances are also needful according to our station in life, and the peculiar snares to which we are from thence exposed. The rich and the noble are liable to dangers peculiar to themselves: men of trade and merchandize have very much to fear from their employments; whilst pastors and teachers, in order to be innocent and pure from the blood of those committed to their charge, stand in need of extraordinary wisdom, zeal, and love. It is therefore by no means sufficient that we ask chiefly for spiritual blessings, or seek in general for the things we are taught to ask, and which God has promised to give, unless we also particularly specify what we need; unless we derive our petitions, not only from the Bible, or a knowledge of the things necessary for men, but from our own sense and feeling: for if the state of our hearts does not thus dictate the matter of our secret prayer, there is little reason to believe that our corruptions give us any real concern, or that they are confessed with true humiliation. If they were, we should so feel them as to make a particular mention of them, and implore forgiveness; and little ground is there to hope those iniquities will be subdued in us, which do not appear odious enough to ourselves to excite particular requests to God to be delivered from them.

Besides, we cannot take a more effectual method to guard against formality in prayer, than by making its contents arise out of our present condition; than by making it a simple constant application to God for the supply of our own peculiar deficiencies and necessities. And though very few, comparatively speaking, have ability to adapt the matter of prayer to their particular circumstances in the presence and hearing of others, yet every one is sufficiently qualified to do this alone before his God, who seeth in secret: because in this case frequent hesitations are not in the least either detrimental or inconvenient; nor phrases, at which men might be apt to take offence, improper when meant well. The same God, who prepares the heart to call upon him, will hearken thereto. (see prayer XIII at the bottom of this page)


CHAPTER XXXV
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER

The object, the nature, and the subject of true prayer have already been considered: but ignorance, alas! in this case is but the weakest obstacle with which we have to contend; the natural profaneness of the human heart, and its aversion to every truly spiritual exercise, are far more difficult to overcome. However for this purpose let us consider in what manner the holy Scripture expresses the necessity of prayer.

It is enforced there by the practice of the most venerable persons; it is laid down as the indispensable means of obtaining grace; it is required by the express command of the Lord God Almighty.

It is enforced by the most venerable names; for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David, Daniel, Peter, and Paul, in a word, all those who stand the highest of the human race for their excellency in the sight of God, were most eminent and abundant in the exercise of prayer: by this their graces were enlivened and brightened to superior lustre. Now their diligence in prayer is recorded, not for their sakes, to give them the trifling honour of a posthumous fame, but for substantial use, as patterns which we are to copy: that if we hope to be with them in the kingdom in the end, we should walk in their good paths, and be “followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” So that whilst we have any real reverence for the word of God, it is impossible we should neglect, and think slightly of, a duty which was of such unspeakable importance in the judgment of the chief saints of God.

But if the example of all the Scripture saints proves the necessity of prayer, how much more the practice of the Saviour; before the brightness of whose glory, prophets, apostles, and martyrs are eclipsed, as the stars in the firmament by the rising sun. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; nevertheless prayer still employed a considerable portion of his time. Fatigued as he was wont to be with travelling from place to place to preach the Gospel, and thronged by crowds who pressed upon him to hear the gracious words which proceeded out of his lips, always therefore in need of the rest of the whole night; yet would he sometimes rise up a great while before it was day, to retire to a mountain or solitary place apart to pray; sometimes the moon and the stars beheld him, through the whole night, an earnest supplicant and devout intercessor; whilst the rest of the world were taking their full rest in their beds.

After this record can anyone, professing himself a Christian, admit a doubt of the absolute necessity of prayer? If the master of the house, who had no guile, nor slightest stain of depravity, prayed, how much more must they of his household, who are both weak and wicked? If the Lord from heaven, when he took upon him our flesh, lifted up his eyes and prayed, how much more must his servants? Should any one imagine himself excused from this duty, what stronger reproof need to be given to his audacious impiety, than to reply—The prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, Jesus himself, our Redeemer, prayed; whom makest thou thyself?

Further, the universal necessity of prayer will appear still more evident by proving it to be the indispensable means of obtaining mercy and grace. Houses and possessions, honours and titles, health and long life, with all the glittering advantages the world covets, are given promiscuously, as much to those who never bend the knee to God, as to those who diligently seek him. But it is not so with any blessing pertaining to the life and salvation of the soul. God never, in any one instance, pardons sin, or delivers from its accursed tyranny, till prayer is made for such inestimable benefits. The unchangeable ordinance of heaven runs thus, “If thou shalt pray unto God, he shall be favourable unto thee” (Job 33:26). “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy”—but observe to whom; not to all persons indiscriminately, not to the profane, not to the self-sufficient, but—“unto all them that call upon thee” (Psalm 86:5).—Omniscient and full of compassion as the Lord Jehovah is, he takes no cognizance of our spiritual necessities to supply them, or of our dangers to interpose and save us from them, till by prayer and supplication we make our requests known unto him. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). Our Redeemer in the fullest manner teaches us that prayer is the necessary means of obtaining mercy and finding grace to help, when he gives us this exhortation; “Ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you,” which is as much as to affirm, that without asking, seeking, and knocking, we can receive of God no spiritual blessing. By consequence, not to pray, and to remain utterly destitute of any share in the blessings which accompany salvation, is one and the same thing.

Everyone therefore who despises this channel, in which God sees fit to convey to the soul its necessary supplies for eternal life, through a confidence in the sufficiency of his own strength, in the excellencies of his virtues, or in the finished work of Christ, must unavoidably remain under the power and guilt of sin. His fancied goodness, in which he confides, will necessarily be scanty and partial; some ruling passion will still prevail over him, witnessing the impossibility of attaining real righteousness without divine aid. Thus you may frequently observe a profane man, who prides himself in his moral worth, and pours contempt upon devotional duties, miserably chagrined by every trifling disappointment, or for the least fancied provocation breathing revenge. You may frequently observe a contemner of prayer, who is much caressed, and self-applauded for good nature and humanity, studiously injuring virgin innocence, for the gratification of merely animal appetites. Too often also you may see a warm advocate for the doctrines of grace, and the honour of Christ, deceitful, covetous, and a slave to sin, through an habitual neglect of prayer. The truth is, that the union of all virtues is wholly owing to the grace of God given to the prayer of faith; therefore he only of all the children of men can pay an uniform obedience, who goes out of himself, and places his dependence upon the aids of grace promised and given to him that asks for them.

Lastly, The absolute necessity of prayer is put out of all doubt by the plain command of God. No man is left at liberty whether he will pray or no; or can neglect prayer, without suffering much more than the loss of those supplies he might procure by it. For he who does not pray, contracts additional guilt, and sets at defiance the ordinance of God; since he has not more expressly required us to shew mercy to our fellow-creatures, than to worship himself. We are taught, “Men ought always to pray,” and to “continue in prayer.” In vain therefore do we plead a strict regard to the substantial duties of temperance, of justice, and of mercy, as any exemption from the obligation of prayer. To neglect prayer is actually to live in the commission of the basest theft,—defrauding our God of his due, by refusing to render to him that tribute which he demands. With equal reason, and with as little affront to him, may we refuse to obey his law in being just to men, as refuse to honour him by real prayer.

Regarding the holy duty of prayer in this light, none will be safe from the contagion of the world, which either totally neglects prayer, or deplorably trifles and dissembles with God in it. You will perceive the neglect of it to be the most odious species of injustice, though often lurking under the captivating appearance of great integrity of morals, and of high pretences to honour; you will regard it as a violation of one of the most important duties; a duty immediately resulting from the relation of the creature to the Creator, and enjoined by all the authority of the one Lawgiver, able to save and to destroy.

Now this contempt of God, expressed by neglecting prayer for his favour, grace, and Spirit, is a sin, which no excellencies that the world applauds, can at all compensate. Like rebellion in the state, wherever it is, it cancels all pretences to any good qualities. As the kings of the earth do not acquit a rebel, though rebellion may be his only crime, much less does the King of kings, whose name is jealous, overlook contumely thrown upon himself, because the person guilty of it abstains from all fraud and injustice towards men. To imagine that God will overlook such an affront, is to entertain the most frivolous idea of the divine character; it is with the Epicureans of old, to enthrone God in heaven indeed, but at the same time to regard him as quite indifferent whether he is held in reverence or in contempt on earth. But such a god is no more like the God of the Christians, than Baal or Moloch. The God of Christians is a God jealous and terrible: jealous, not to allow his honour to be given to another, or denied to himself; terrible, to avenge himself of his adversaries, who withhold that homage which appertains to him as the Lord of the universe, in whom we all live, and move, and have our being. This God hath commanded his servants and messengers, by every form of expression that can engage the attention, to teach men that to serve him with godly fear and reverence is the one thing needful. By consequence, a despiser and neglecter of prayer, though adorned with all the amiable qualities the world can admire, still lacks that which must hallow his generosity, his benevolence, and all that is extolled as virtue. For though social good qualities are idolized by the multitude, they weigh nothing in the balance of the sanctuary, unless they spring from religious affections: “For them that honour me,” says the Almighty, “I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 2:30). In other words, nothing shall excuse or palliate the guilt of attempting to supersede the necessity of devotional duties, by affecting to magnify moral honesty and social virtues as the sum and substance of man’s duty.

The profane indeed attempt to vindicate themselves in a neglect of prayer, by pretending to sublimer ideas of true religion than those who are governed by the simple declarations of God’s own word. “The Supreme Being,” say they, “knows all things; what need is there then for us to tell him our wants? He is loving unto every man; therefore he will give us, without our request, that which is upon the whole best for us. He lays not a stress on our making many prayers; pure and undefiled religion before him, is to do justice and love mercy.”

From the confidence of this assertion one would be tempted to suppose that the persons who make it perfectly knew the mind of God; when, in fact, it is not probable that they should have any just knowledge of it. For as skill in human sciences is only to be acquired by application to them, so the knowledge of God is only to be obtained by prayer, and by meditation on his own revelation of himself; both which such persons totally neglect: therefore professing themselves wise, they betray the most stupid ignorance in these objections against the necessity of prayer. If indeed we were called upon to pray in order to inform God of what he knew not before, or to excite in him a benevolence to which his heart was a stranger till our petitions gave it birth, then the objections would be as pertinent and conclusive as they are common in the mouths of the profane. But how vain do they appear when it is considered that our very encouragement to pray is the previous assurance that God knows all our needs, and that because he loves us, therefore he will hear us.

The absolute necessity, then, of prayer remains indisputable on the grounds already mentioned, namely, as having been the practice of the saints of God and of the Saviour himself,—as the indispensable means of obtaining grace,—as being enjoined by God’s express command. To these may be added one argument more, that there is no other way to preserve upon our minds a clear knowledge of our own needs, a lasting sense of our entire dependence upon God, or a lively gratitude for his mercies, than by such a solemn constant representation of our desires and necessities before him, as is always done in real prayer. The conclusion therefore is evident, that neither the multiplicity of business, nor the practice of social duties must be pleaded, either in justification of a contempt of prayer, or in excuse for praying seldom or coldly. Prayer must be habitually fervent and persevering. Whatever the world at large may do, thus must every real believer in Jesus worship and serve the God of his salvation. (see prayer XIII at the bottom of this page)


CHAPTER XXXVI
THE REQUISITES OF TRUE PRAYER AND ITS SUCCESS

We have taken a view of the object, the nature, the matter, and the necessity of prayer: what further relates to this important subject respects the requisites of true prayer, and its infallible success, where they are found.

1. The first requisite in all acceptable prayer, is a real intention to observe and do what God commands. For if, out of regard to worldly interest, or for the sake of some evil gratification, we refuse to submit to his authority, flattering ourselves that multiplied devotions, or obedience in all points except where our beloved iniquity interferes, is sufficient; then our prayers, instead of finding acceptance, will be resented as the highest provocation. For what can be more base than for a man to pretend to honour God by prayer, whilst he is giving the most substantial proof of real contempt of him in his wilful disobedience? What can be more offensive than to pretend to implore pardon when we are determined not yet to give up sin; or to intreat to be set at liberty, as if we were unwillingly enslaved, when we really love our bondage? If we thus “regard iniquity in our heart,” though we make many prayers, the Lord will not hear us; though we are most passionate in our devotions, he will hide his face from us: “for God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”

It must however be observed with peculiar caution in this place, that no one, though in actual subjection to sin, ought on this account to be discouraged from praying, provided he longs for deliverance from it; for at the throne of grace it is that he must receive this blessing. Nor is any one unqualified to make acceptable prayer to God, though during his first seeking his favour the combat with old sins is severe and dubious; and he may be once and again hurried into his former wickedness. In this case, if the sinner finds shame, sorrow, and self-abhorrence,—with a desire, notwithstanding the dreadful power of his corruptions, to serve God in truth, he is immediately to make his complaint to him more bitterly, and to bewail his miserable bondage more deeply: and then he will know there is a God, who looketh down from heaven to hear the groanings of such as are in captivity to their sins, and to deliver the souls in their own apprehension appointed unto death. Nay, where relapses are frequent, though it is indeed a deplorable condition, yet let not prayer be discontinued: for this would be forsaking our remedy and giving up all hope. Wherever any really strive against sin, with undissembled prayer for deliverance as well as mercy, I would encourage such to maintain the fight, and to persevere in their humiliations, for they have assurance from the promises of God, that he will hear their cry, and will help them.

2. A second requisite in prayer is humility. We must pray under a sense of our guilt and of our depravity, as well as of our weakness and deficiencies. We must pray with self-abasing sentiments, conscious that we are not worthy to lift up our eyes to God, much less to receive from him pardon, peace, and salvation; we must pray as mere suppliants for mercy, who would have no cause at all to complain of injustice, if our sins were avenged upon us. Great stress is laid in Scripture upon this humiliation in prayer: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18).—And when the divine Majesty is described with all possible sublimity, this requisite of an acceptable worshipper is specified: “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15). St. James also very strongly urges the necessity of this humiliation: he addresses himself to those who were formalists in devotion; constant enough in their prayers, but very easy and thoughtless about their guilt. After reproving them therefore for asking amiss, that they might consume it upon their lusts, he directs them to a successful manner of praying: “God,” says he, “resisteth the proud; but giveth grace unto the humble. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,”—that is, with the lowest prostration and self-abasement confess your guilt and your desert in his sight,—“and he shall lift you up,” (James 4:9-10).

3. This sense of our own vileness must accompany our prayer, in opposition to Pharisaic self-conceit; and in proof of our abiding consciousness that we can never be justified before God through our own works. But with this humiliation must be joined a confidence in God, and a holy boldness in approaching him. When we ask, we must not fluctuate between hope and despondency, but assure ourselves that we shall be as certainly succoured, and as certainly enriched with all that our souls need, as if the power and blessings we implore were already in our possession. For instance, when we confess our sin with sorrow, shame, and humiliation, begging for mercy through the atonement, we must be fully persuaded that we do obtain mercy. When we pray for the mastery over our natural corruptions, we must assure ourselves they shall be subdued. When in perplexity of mind and in great tribulation, we beg of God support and deliverance, we must not entertain a fear that perhaps he will not hear us. For by giving way to distrust, questioning, and jealousies whether God will perform the gracious promises which he hath made to the poor and needy, we greatly dishonour him; and in the very act of solemn address to him as the Almighty, betray a disbelief of his veracity, or power, or love to them that call on his name.

For this cause we are warned in Scripture to take heed, that when we come to God in prayer we resist every doubt that may arise about his relieving our deficiencies. “Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God,” that is, depend upon his almighty power for the performance of everything that he encourages you to expect from him: “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith;” that is, how great soever any difficulty may seem, which you have to overcome in the way of duty, even though it were as unlikely to be effected as that you should root up a mountain by a word of command, it shall be brought to pass, provided that ye have an humble and unshaken trust in the divine power and promises, (Mark 11:22-23). And in proof that this confidence in prayer was not to be peculiar to the apostles, but a necessary requisite in all Christians, St. James gives this unchangeable direction to the Christian church; “If anyone of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (James 1:5-7).

From these passages it appears that certitude in God is a principal requisite in acceptable prayer; that we ought to have recourse to God with the same liberty and confidence as to a father, a brother, or a bosom friend. The delightful communion carried on between him and believers is therefore thus emphatically expressed: “We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God:” that is, the law of worship and submission to the eternal Majesty is softened into a holy familiarity: and converted, through the abundant manifestations of his grace, into a sweet and childlike dependence upon his care and love for us (Romans 8:15-16).

4. It is indeed difficult to conceive how such confidence in God, such assurance of receiving from him whatever we ask for the good of our souls, can consist with a consciousness of our own vileness; or how we can conquer the fear that must arise from a sense of the multitude of our defects, so as not to ask with a faltering tongue. This difficulty is removed by another grand requisite of prayer, without which it can have no success; I mean the offering it up to God in dependence on the sacrifice, righteousness, and intercession of Jesus, as the great High-priest of his church.

By this we acknowledge that our own duties are so far from having any merit to procure for us a favourable regard from God, that we do not even presume to offer to him his due homage without having respect to our accepted surety, the all perfect Mediator between God and man. By this we confess, that the death of Jesus for our transgressions in vindication of the justice of God, and his appearance in heaven as our intercessor, are our encouragement to draw nigh to God in full assurance of faith, notwithstanding the absolute purity of his nature, and the tokens of his indignation against sin.

And when Jesus is thus our hope, and his atoning blood and righteousness all our confidence, there is no room for confusion or distrust, notwithstanding our own vileness. He is ordained of God for this very purpose to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Both by office and by love he stands engaged to mediate in favour of all that come to God by him, and to accomplish all their just and lawful desires. The command from heaven therefore is express that we should, in consideration of his character and office, “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

The offering up of our prayers in the name of Christ is so necessary a requisite, that to omit it, is a capital offence in the sight of God. Should any man dare to say or think thus with himself: “The essential mercy of God is a sufficient encouragement to me to pray: I esteem it a disparagement to his goodness to apply to him by a mediator: I need no one to intercede for me, nor will I be beholden to anything but my own good qualities and fitness for pardon to make my peace with God, and to give acceptance to my devotions.” Prayer offered up by him upon such principles, would be as bad as if he had blessed an idol. It would be an open censure of the divine constitution in the method of saving sinners and rebels: it would be a dethroning, as far as lies in man’s power, the Son of God from that high office of unspeakable benevolence which he sustains and discharges in heaven for his church: it would be loading the revelation of God with scorn: because the most conspicuous and important doctrine in it, is undoubtedly this, that Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, an Advocate for us with the Father, and a propitiation for sin through faith in his blood, that God might be just, and yet the justifier of all that believe in Jesus.

There is an absolute necessity therefore that in all our approaches to God, we “should honour the Son even as we honour the Father;” that we should solemnly express our need of his favour, and of an interest in his righteousness and intercession, as the way to partake of the Father’s love. Nor is it sufficient that we ask merely as disciples of Christ; that is, as those who receive him as a prophet sent from God, without an humble and cordial trust in his atonement and intercession; for such an address, instead of meeting with acceptance, will be rejected as the effect of pride and infidelity reigning in our hearts. For nothing but pride and infidelity can lead us directly to contradict the scriptures, which peremptorily affirm that there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved but that of Jesus; and no way of coming to the Father but by him. Nothing but pride and infidelity can lead men to suppose they may come before God in their own name, provided they really intend to practise moral righteousness, and may be sure that they shall be accepted of God. Were such a doctrine universally to prevail, it must in a short time root the gospel out of the earth. No wonder therefore that so much stress is laid in holy writ on this as a grand requisite in acceptable prayer, that it be offered up to God in the name of Jesus.

From what has now been laid before you, it appears that a real intention to obey God, an humble sense of our own polluted condition before him, a firm assurance that we shall be heard, and a constant dependence upon the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, are requisites which must unite in all acceptable prayer. In fact they are found in the prayer of all real believers, though in different degrees: at first faintly, afterwards more distinctly perceptible, and, as they grow in grace, they are more and more conscious that in this manner they worship the God of their salvation. With the same spirit of true devotion they acknowledge it is their duty, and they make it their practice to worship God in public as well as in private; at church as well as in the closet: and in every ordinance in which God has promised to meet his faithful people, and to bless them.

Believers are encouraged diligently to use all these means of grace, from the knowledge they have of that certain success of prayer. The infallible grounds on which this knowledge is built, are these which follow: the source of prayer in the heart of fallen man; the promises of God; the intercession of his Son; and the experience of all the obedient children of God.

1. The success of true prayer is most certain from considering the source of it in the heart of fallen man. We are taught in scripture that we are not sufficient to think a good thought of ourselves; it follows therefore, that no one can feel a real intention to glorify God by uniform obedience, or a holy shame and sorrow for sin;—no one can come to God as a child in need to his heavenly Father, or trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,— without an actual gift of grace, without a divine influence and drawing from the Father. Now can it be supposed that this gift is bestowed in vain? Can it be thought that any one will be so much enlightened from above, as to desire to be kept from every willful offence, to know, and to live in obedience to the gospel, and that he will be stirred up in prayer to make request unto God, that he may have power to do so;—and yet not be heard? Can such a supplicant fall down on his knees before God, only to rise up covered with confusion at the rejection of his suit? Certainly not. God, gracious and merciful, is not wont thus to grieve the contrite spirit, or to disappoint the holy expectations excited in the heart by his own divine agency. On the contrary, a real desire of receiving spiritual mercy, is a pledge of obtaining it: for since “every good and every perfect gift,” in every degree of it, “cometh from above, from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness; neither shadow of turning, who of his own will begot us by the word of his truth;” we must assuredly conclude, that if he hath inclined our hearts to seek him, he will be found of us (James 1:17-18).

    2. This most comfortable truth is positively established, by many declarations of God’s delight to hear and answer all that call upon him. Thus in one place he describes himself as looking into the inmost recesses of the heart, waiting to see the first dawning of prayer, and to answer it before it has put on the direct form of a petition: “And it shall come to pass before they call. I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). In another, he commands one of his prophets to publish the immediate acceptance of his own petition, the moment he steadfastly purposed to offer it unto him: “I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord, and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). And that we might harbour no suspicion of the success of prayer, our Redeemer compares the readiness of God to succour the poor and needy who call upon him, to that which parents feel with regard to their own offspring: “What man is there,” says he, “of you, whom if his son ask bread, will give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil” (corrupt and vitiated in your nature) are still by the force of instinct drawn gladly to supply the necessities of your children, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him?”

    3. If it should be objected, that the undutifulness which the very best men too often manifest towards their heavenly Father, and their violations of his law in time past, may well justify doubts, whether God can hear them consistently with the honour of his perfections; this perplexity is removed by the assurance that Jesus appears with his own blood, in the presence of God, as an intercessor for all who call upon him in his name. He appears as an advocate in the behalf of the guilty, alleging what satisfies the law, and absolves the humbled delinquent. The memorial of his abundant kindness in dying on the cross is perpetually represented in the presence of God; and the Mediator declares it to be his no less earnest than just request, that, for his sake, the penitent acknowledgments of those who believe on him, and their prayers, should be accepted; their sins blotted out, and increase of grace bestowed upon them; for “he ever liveth to make intercession.”

    In the book of the Revelation, (chapter 8:1-5.) there is a most magnificent representation of this truth, so very interesting to every member of the church of Christ. The beloved John, we there read, was favoured with a vision of the things which are done in heaven: in this vision he perceived that all the melodious choir of angels ceased from uttering their heart-felt Allelujahs; “There was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour.” But wherefore do the praises, forever and forever due, cease to ascend before the throne? The evangelist who saw the vision, teaches us it was that their whole attention might be fixed on the angel, the messenger of the covenant; who, just as the high-priest on the great day of atonement, was wont to carry a more than usual quantity of incense in a golden censer, and burn it in the holy of holies before the Lord; so now Jesus, the glorious angel of God’s presence, appeared as the High-Priest of his church, standing in a ministering posture before the altar of burnt-offering to signify the atonement he had made by his blood. “And there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, out of the angel’s hand.” That is, as the perfuming smoke of incense, composed of the finest spices, ascended up like a cloud to heaven with the prayers of the congregation of Israel that were offered at the same time; so a representation was made here of the virtue of Christ’s sacrifice, which mingled, like the most fragrant odour, with the prayers of holy worshippers; and, like the incense which passed through the hands of the High-priest, was presented together with them before God by the Mediator, to cover their imperfections, and to procure for them the divine audience and acceptance.

    And what makes this magnificent representation of our great High-priest a still more encouraging proof of the infallible success of true prayer, is this: It is purposely introduced just before the most desolating judgments are going to be poured out on the apostate unbelieving world. God thus assuring us that when he whets his glittering sword, and cries, “Aha! I will rid myself of my adversaries,”—there is not one supplicant, who approaches him by Jesus Christ, who shall have cause to fear his prayers are not answered. How dishonourable then, how injurious both to the Father and the Son, to doubt of the success of prayer! For if, as Jesus declared to his first and immediate followers, “The Father loveth you because ye have loved me, and believed that I came forth from him;” how much more shall those who possess the same precious faith assure themselves they shall be regarded, when there is all the interest and intercession of Jesus, at the right hand of God, employed in favour of those prayers suggested by the influence of the Holy Ghost!

    4. To strengthen our assurance of the success of prayer, nothing further can possibly be added than the confirmation of fact and experience. If all who have made their prayer to God in the way he has himself appointed, and for the blessings he has promised, have ever received the things they asked for from him, then there cannot be a more complete demonstration of any truth, than of the infallible success of prayer. Now the word of God abounds with proofs of the Almighty’s pleasure to make his power as it were tributary to the prayer of his faithful people. Thus the prayer of Joshua stopped the sun in his course; and that of Elijah, though a man of like passions with ourselves, opened and shut the springs which water the earth. The prayer of the three children preserved them in the fiery furnace from being hurt; and that of Daniel saved him from the devouring lions. The time indeed would fail to mention what we find recorded in scripture of the wonders wrought through the power of prayer. Now if, in extraordinary cases, for the vindication of God’s truth and manifestation of his glory, the effect of prayer was thus miraculous; how much more may we conclude it to be effectual, when it only seeks deliverance from sin, and the gift of those graces by which God may be glorified on earth?

    There is indeed no age without a cloud of witnesses of the infallible efficacy of prayer. Ask those distinguished persons in our generation, who really conform to the Christian rule, and copy the example of their Lord, what has given them such mastery over their passions, such sweet complacency and good-will towards all men, such a readiness to be directed and governed by the word of God through unfeigned love to him and delight in his service; and they will unanimously declare;—that not by their own power, wisdom, or resolution, not through any original better formation of their temper, or the advantage of education, but through the grace of God obtained by prayer, they are what they are. They began in earnest, they persevered with importunity, in calling upon the Lord, and according to his promise he heard them; they made their application to him, and were not disappointed. *

    On the other hand, there is not a slave to sin within the pale of the Christian church; not one defiled by the lust of uncleanness or the love of money; not one tyrannized over by angry, peevish, or turbulent dispositions, who is not condemned in his own conscience either as an utter despiser of prayer, or as a mere formal trifler in it: such a one, therefore, experiences no deliverance from the power of evil tempers, nor gains the least ground against them.

    Real Christians therefore must value prayer, and be constant and unwearied in it; so will the same bountiful God, whose ears are ever open to the prayers of his faithful people, open, in the end, heaven to receive their persons. He will give them an abundant entrance into that kingdom, where petitions will be no more; because neither weakness, nor want, fear, nor trial, will remain; but every feeling of the soul be perfect felicity, and every expression of it perfect praise. (see prayer XIII below)

    *Many illustrious confirmations of the prevalence of Christian prayer with God, are to be found in the lives of the excellent of the earth: but a more pleasing and honourable one is scarce to be met with, than that recorded in the life of the most celebrated physician Boerhaave. A friend of his who had often admired his patience under the greatest provocations, asked him by what means he had so entirely suppressed that impetuous ungovernable passion, anger? The Doctor answered, with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that naturally he was quick of resentment, but by daily prayer he attained that mastery over himself.—Bourton’s Life of Boerhaave

    It was his custom, never violated, to spend the first hour of every day in prayer, though patients from every country in Europe applied to him for advice.


    PRAYER XIII
    FOR A SPIRIT OF PRAYER

    Most merciful and gracious God, who hast promised to fulfill the desire of them that fear thee, and to give to every one that asketh of thee; who, for our encouragement to come boldly to the throne of grace, hast given thy Son to be a merciful and faithful High Priest; draw us, we beseech thee, by thy Holy Spirit to the devout exercise of prayer. Convince us deeply of our guilt and weakness, of our blindness and depravity, that so with great earnestness and constancy we may cry unto thee, the God of our life and of our strength, to enable us to perform every Christian duty, to fill us with all knowledge and with all goodness.

    Let not our prayer be a mere service of the lips, or be offered up only to pacify conscience. May it be the hunger and thirst of our souls after thyself, and after all those spiritual blessings, without which we must perish for ever. Create and maintain in us, O God, a sensibility of the infinite worth of spiritual blessings, and a dread of spiritual evils, that we may pray always, and not faint. Let our insufficiencies be so pressing as to force us to pray. May we understand that thy ear hearkens to the most stammering tongue, and to the groaning of all that bewail their captivity to sin. And that we may never be at a loss for matter of supplication, confession, and thanksgiving, teach us to observe narrowly the various workings of our evil nature, to know our peculiar duties and temptations, and to remember the daily mercies of our God to us sinners.

    And as thou knowest the great corruption of our hearts: how apt we are, from the practice of the world and the suggestions of Satan, lightly to esteem the all-important duty of prayer; O Lord, impress with power upon our hearts the example of all thy honoured and glorified saints, and the practice of thy dear Son our only Saviour in the days of his flesh. Let their diligence and earnestness in prayer make us always ashamed and self-condemned for any backwardness we feel to the exercise of this duty. Give us an understanding to know that the prayer of faith is the only appointed means of obtaining the blessings which enrich the soul; the only instrument of preserving the connection of all the graces of the divine life; and that no higher affront can be offered to thy name than to live without prayer.

    Do thou, O God, who requirest men to come before thee with such dispositions as shall ascribe to thee the honour due to thy most holy name, prepare our hearts to pray, with a determined opposition to the whole body of sin, with a steadfast purpose to cast away all our transgressions, and to have respect to all thy commandments. Convince us, O Lord, that if we regard iniquity in our heart, thou wilt not hear us; but if we call upon thee in truth, thou wilt hear us, and bless us in our deed.

    In all our addresses to thee, may we draw nigh with a contrite heart and with an humble spirit. May a sense of our defilement, and our sin, a knowledge of thine infinite purity, and a conviction of the distance between sinners and the eternal God, fill our souls with humility and self-abasement.

    Deliver us, O God, from turning our very prayers into sin, and provoking thy wrath by daring to approach thee in our own name, trusting in our own goodness. To Jesus, who endured the cross, and ever liveth to make intercession, may we always look in all our prayers, and bring every offering unto him, as the only person in heaven or earth, for whose sake and at whose hands it becomes thee to receive our requests.

    And grant us full assurance of the success of all our prayers which have thy glory for their aim, an humble heart for their root, and the intercession of Christ engaged for their success. In all our devotions may we through Christ and the Spirit’s influence have access to thee with a firm dependence, and with an increasing delight in this holy exercise. And we beseech thee, O God, to fill our hearts with such conceptions of the truth of thy promises, made to all who call upon thee; such faith in the name and power of Christ employed in behalf of all believing supplicants who approach thee; and such a remembrance of the happy fruits of prayer experienced by all the generations of thy children, that we may esteem prayer our highest privilege, and be more and more fervent and diligent in the use of it, till all our prayers shall be completely answered, and changed into everlasting praise.

    And as we beg for the spirit of prayer, so we request also what is equally necessary for us, the love of thy blessed word. Thou hast caused all holy scripture to be written for our reproof, for our correction, for our instruction in righteousness, oh! teach us, we beseech thee, the true meaning and interpretation thereof. Let us not go wrong out of the way of thy commandments, by leaning to our own understanding, or by calling any man master. Give us to delight in reading thy word and pondering it in our hearts. And as we read, may we drink deep into its spirit, be moulded by it in all our sentiments, tempers and practice; that in the end we may enjoy that eternal life, which is revealed in thy word, and promised to all them that obey it. Hear our prayers, and do abundantly for us above all we can ask or think, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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