A Godly and Learned Treatise of Prayer, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Whether by prayer we alwayes obtein our desire.
THe second, Whether we do alway obtein our desire. The promises are generall as you have heard, Matth. 7. 7, 8. John 16. 23. Notwithstanding some ask and do not receive, Psal. 22. 2. some seek and do not find, Cant. 3. 1. some knock toA threefold limitation of Gods promise to heare. whom it is not opened, Luke 13. 25. Wherefore the promises are to be understood with a threefold limitation; in respect of the Person, Prayer, and Thing. Of all which we are hereafter to speak more fully.
For first, if the party be an impenitent sinner, the1. God heareth not the impenitent sinners. Lord hath not promised to heare such, John 9. 33. Examine therefore thy self whether thou dost lie in any sinne unrepented of: for that doth make a separation between God and thee, Isa. 59. 2. and that being repented of, God will heare thee, Isa. 1. 15, 18.
The second limitation in regard of prayer is, That2. That we must pray according to Gods will. it be according to Gods will, 1. John 5. 14. in regard of the manner or the end. For the manner: In generall it is required that it be foreign, Jam. 5. 16. that is, efficax, effectuall.
To be effectuall and to avail is all one: and so weObject. shall make S. James say, that prayer which availeth doth avail.
There is duplex actus, foreign, or foreign: the firstAnsw. inward, as being the form or nature of a thing: the second outward, as the motion or effect. And as in respect of the latter, the word foreign is of an active signification, as Gal. 5. 6. Ephes. 3. 20. Col. 1. 29. so in regard of the former it is passive, as 2. Cor. 1. 6. In which sense they are said to be foreign who are acted by a spirit either good or bad: So prayer is foreign when it hath the inward foreign, it being acted and effectuated by the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, and teacheth us to pray foreign, Rom. 8. ingenerating this inward efficacie in our prayers which we in our selves are not able to give them. So that the oration of an oratour is efficax in respect of the inward efficacie, when therein is performed what art requireth; in respect of the outward, when it perswadeth; and that efficacie dependeth on the hearers pleasure. But prayer which is effectuall in it self, alwayes prevaileth with God.
In particular, that we pray in truth, fervencie,What in particular is required to …ffectuall prayer. and faith. In truth: for to that is the promise restrained, Psal. 145. 18. In fervencie, Jam. 5. 16. In faith, Mark 11. 24. Jam. 1. 5, 6, 7. Without the first prayers are dead: without the second, cold: without the third, uneffectuall: for it is the prayer of faith which is effectuall, Jam. 5. 15.
For the end: Jam. 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amisse, that ye might consume it on your lusts. The end must be good or the prayer is bad. The end must be that God may be glorified, Psal. 50. 15.
The third limitation is in respect of things. GodThe third limitation, in respect of the things prayed for. hath promised to give good things to them that ask, Matth. 7. 11. But if the thing which thou desirest be not good, either in it self, as if it be unlawfull, or not to thee, as if it be unprofitable, it is not within the compasse of the promise, nor ought to be within the compasse of thy desire. Or if it be good, perhaps it is not yet good for thee to have it, but in due time thou shalt find grace. In the former case the Lord seemeth to denie, in the letter to delay our suits; and yet in both he doth grant our prayer, if it be rightly conceived. For first, we must not circumscribe God, or prescribe unto him the time and means, but so desire that our request may be granted as he shall judge most fit both for his glorie and our good. Secondly, when as the good things which we ask are either necessarie to salvation or otherwise; the former we are to ask absolutely, and absolutely we are to believe that we shall obtein them. Yea, know this for thy comfort, that if God hath given thee grace to ask spirituall and saving graces effectually, thou hast alreadie obteined: for the … desire of any grace is the beginning of that grace which is so desired. But those blessings which are not necessary to salvation, whether spirituall or …emporall, we are not to ask absolutely, but with condition if the obteining thereof may be for Gods glory and our good. So shall we be sur… to obtein our desires of the Lord, who alwayes heareth his children, if not ad voluntatem, according to their will, yet ad …, for their profit (as wise parents deal with their children) seeming many times to denie to his children in fatherly love that which in anger and indig…ation he gran…eth to others. Perhaps therefore, as Augustine saith, negat tibi propitius quod allis conc…dit iratus, In merciemercy he denieth that to thee which in anger he granteth unto others. And therefore the hearing of our prayers is not to be measured by sense but by faith.