A Soul-Searching Catechism, Catechism 1 · Part 4
Concerning Prayer.
Q. WHat is prayer?
A. A pouring forth of the Soul to God, 1 Sam. 1. Pſalm 62.8.
Q. What are the parts of prayer?
A. They are three:
1. Confeſſion of ſins: ſo Daniel, c. 9.6, 7, 8, &c. and Nehemiah, c. 1, 6.7.
2. Petition for grace, Mat. 6.9.
3. Thankſgiving for benefits, 1 Tim. 2.1. Phil. 4.6.
Q. What qualifications are requiſite, that we may pray comfortably?
A. 1. We being bankrupt in Heaven, muſt come in the name of Chriſt, Iohn 16.23, 24.
2. For things according to Gods will, 1 Iohn 5.14.
3. With a heart purpoſing againſt all ſin, Pſal. 66.18. Iohn 9 41. Iob. 11.13.
4. With a fervent heart, Iam. 5.16. crying mightily to God, Jon. 3. as a Malefactor doth for life before a Judge.
5. In Faith, Jam. 1.6, 7. believing we ſhall have from God ſo far as his promiſe reacheth; as a begger never goes from a door, ſo long as he believes he ſhall have an Almes, Mat. 7.7. & 21.22. to perſons praying in faith, the thing deſired is done, or elſe its better for them not to be done.
6. With an humble and broken heart, Pſal. 34.17. content not your ſelves with prayers void of humiliation and melting of heart; ſo Abraham, Gen. 18.27. the Prodigal, Luk. 15.18. If Satan fright thee from prayer, becauſe thou art unworthy, ſay then, Nay, but I will pray, becauſe I am unworthy.
7. With watchfulneſs againſt diſtractions, both thoſe that come from Satan, Zach. 3. and thoſe which come from ſpiritual fluggiſhneſs eſpecially, Col. 4.2. and watchfulneſs againſt drouzineſs, Luk. 21.36. as a begger is all awake when he begs, ſo muſt we be when we beg of God.
8. With ſighes and groanes, though words anſwer very barely, Rom. 8.26. Gal. 4.6. God anſwers not that which is in the froth of wolds alone; but that which is in the ſigh or groan, Pſalme 145.19.
9. Pray with the Spirit, Jude 20. Epheſ. 6.18. which is not onelyonly to have the gift of Prayer, (which artificial Chriſtians may have, and not without ſome ſhow of ſpiritual life, being full of fit expreſſions from abundance of notions) but alſo to have the grace of prayer, whereby the ſoul hath many ſighes againſt the ſproutings of luſts, and wraſtlings for the removals of corruptions; and ſecret ſpringings of heart upon the receipt of ſpiritual bleſſings, Pſal. 103.1. that ſuch Prayers come from the Spirit, appears, becauſe when the Spirit intermits or forbears working, the ſouls of the beſt become dull, Rom. 8.15.
10. Let thy Perſon be holy, Pſal. 86. 2 John 15.7. no natural man can pray acceptably, John 9.13. yet may there be paſſions in a ſoul, and yet that ſoul holy, and that Prayer accepted, as in Elia's Caſe. Jam. 5.16.
Q. How ſhall a poor ſoul know whether God hears his Prayers?
A. He ſhall know it by theſe ſigns.
1. When he hath the thing granted, he prayed for; the Church prayed for Peter, and had him given when they were praying, Act. 12.5. Hanna prayed for a ſon, and had one, 1 Sam. 1.27. ſee for this, Gen. 20.17. Jud. 13.8. 1 Kings 3.9. & 12. 1 Chron. 4.10. but becauſe temporal bleſſings may be ſevered from the good will of God, therefore we muſt judge of the anſwers of our Prayers, from the grants we have in ſpiritual bleſſings; as when we pray for a melting heart, or a thirſting heart, and have one given to us; and we may judge of temporal bleſſings to be the fruits of Prayers anſwered, when thoſe bleſſings are uſed to a ſanctified end.
2. By the enlargement of the heart to holy deſires, Pſal. 10.17. Thou haſt prepared their heart, thou wilt cauſe thine ear to hear; when a man hath a bag, and he falls to ſtretching of it, its a ſigne he means to fill it: ſo God enlarging the heart with more hunger and thirſt, longings and breathings, then ordinary; Its a ſign he means to hear that prayer.
3. When we behold the face of God in Prayer. God ſometimes anſwers the Prayers of his People, with a caſt of his countenance; ſee Pſal. 27.7, 8, 9. alſo 22.24. as Petitioners may oft read their ſpeeding, in the amiable countenance of thoſe they petition. Job gaves an undeniable reaſon, why God was his ſalvation, Job. 13.16. which was, becauſe an hypocrite did not come before him as Job did: though every Creature come into his omnipreſence, yet into his ſpecial preſence, to behold his face in prayer, and to come within the liſt of his countenance, onelyonly upright men come, ſee Pſal. 104.13.
4. When the Conſcience is able to commend the Prayer, ſetting aſide the infirmities; Jobs Conſcience commended his Prayer to be pure, Job 16.17. If thy conſcience tell thee, thy Prayers are rotten, thy ſins not purged, thy heart not upright, it is the voice of God in thy ſoul; but if thy heart condemn thee not, then haſt thou confidence towards God, 1 John 3.21. onelyonly note, ſometimes the Conſcience may be miſinformed under a temptation, to think God doth not hear them when he doth, Job 30.20. Pſal. 22.1, 2. Lam. 3.8. ſometimes they were perſwaded God heard their prayer, as verſe 46, 57. ſometimes they doubted thereof as verſe 44.
5. When though God denies us what we ask, yet God gives us a better thing; Abraham prayed that Iſhmael might live, and God gave him a better, even Iſaac, Gen. 17.18, 19. David prayed for the life of the Child he had by Bathſheba, and God gave him a better, even Solomon, 2 Sam. 12.22.
6. By Gods drawing neer unto us in our Prayer. God draws nigh to the Soul,
1. By removing diſcouragements, Lam. 3.57. Thou draweſt neer in the day that I cryed unto thee; thou ſaidſt, Fear not. When God ſhall raiſe up the ſoul againſt diſcouragements from former ſcandalous ſins, from Gods juſtice, from its own unworthineſs, from dumbneſs and barrenneſs of expreſſions, from the ſinning againſt knowledge, from relapſes, from ſecret deſpair, Pſal. 31.22. this drawing nigh argues an anſwer.
2. God draws nigh by working, meltings, and brokenneſs of heart upon the ſoul, ſo that as in old time, God was wont to give anſwer to the prayers of his Servants, by ſending fire from Heaven to conſume their Sacrifices, 1 King. 18.24. 1 Chron. 21.26. 2 Chron. 7.1. ſo doth he now teſtifie by his holy Spirit, who was typified by that fire, Mat. 3.11. working in prayer many paſſionate meltings, that the heart melts under the diſpleaſing ſuch a loving God, and the eye melts into tears, Pſal. 6.8. bleſſed be God who hath heard the voice of my weeping: how knew he he was heard? why, becauſe he poured out weeping prayers to God, Pſa. 39.12. hold not thy peace at my tears. Iſa. 38.5. I have heard thy prayers and ſeen thy tears. Jer. 31.9. I will lead them along with weeping and ſupplication. Alſo Chriſt when he was heard offered up ſtrong crying with tears, Heb. 7.5. the like did Nehemiah, when he prayed that God would give him favour in the ſight of the King, he wept in his prayer, Nehem. 1.4, 11. alſo Jacob wept and made ſupplication, and found the Lord in Bethel, Hoſ. 12.3, 4. yea the Saints of God generally have been thus crowned with anſwers in their prayers, as Ezra, c. 10.1. Iob, c. 16, 16: Ioſiah, 2 Chron. 34.27. Paul, Acts 20.31. Ier. 9.1. & 13.17. Hannah, 1 Sam. 1.10. Peter, Mar. 14.72. not as if God did not draw nigh in other prayers wherein the eye melts not into tears; for if the ſoul hath other ſigns of its prayers heard, it ought not to be diſcouraged; but this I ſay, prayers poured out thus with inward meltings of heart, ſo that the eye ſhall weep in prayer, ſeem to me to be crowningly anſwered. And ſo much the more, when a perſon is not inclining to weep in other Caſes, as many women, and ſome men are out of natural ſoftneſs. To conclude, conſider whether it be ſafe to be without ſuch a frame of heart and eye in prayer, as ſo many of the Saints in the word are recorded to have had, and wherein they found ſuch comfort and ſucceſs.
3. God draws nigh by chearing and inward comforting of the heart, Phil. 4.6, 7. inwardly warning it with the ſoul of his preſence. Now all theſe approaches of God to gracious ſouls are not alike; for ſometimes he gives a ſtronger ſenſe of his favour in one prayer more then another, and ſometimes in ſome one or more Petitions of the ſame prayer, then in other Petitions thereof; yet when God draws nigh to thy ſoul in a particular requeſt, it is not certain that that requeſt ſhall be granted in that manner you deſired, (as when a man prays for the life of a ſick friend, and God draws nigh in that Petition, and yet the friend dies) but it is evidential to thee, that thy prayer is heard, and that the thing thou askeſt is according to the approving will of God, though not according to his decreeing will.
All theſe drawings nigh to the ſoul evidence the hearing of prayers, as appears, Pſal. 69.17. hear me ſpeedily; but what ſigne doth he deſire? why verſe 18. he ſaith, Draw nigh to my ſoul.
7. Thou mayeſt know thy prayers are anſwered, by having a ſpirit of perſeverance in prayer, Pſal. 66.20. & 138.3. when a Petitioner comes to a Prince or Nobleman, if the Prince embolden him in his ſpeech, and let him ſpeak all he would, its a ſign the Prince means to grant that man his Petition, becauſe otherwiſe he would not have endured to have heard him ſo long, but would have commanded him to be gone: ſo when the ſoul comes to God in prayer, if God diſpatch it out of his preſence, that the ſoul hath no heart to continue its ſuit, and prayes deadly and dully, and is glad it hath ſaid its prayers and hath done; its a fearful ſign that God anſwers not thoſe prayers (though poured out by a godly man) but if thou prayeſt, and God gives thee a ſpirit to hold out in prayer; if thou prayeſt and haſt not done in thy prayers; but God doth further and further put in thee a warmth and heat of affection, that thy heart is emboldened in its Petitions, and thou deſireſt further Communion with God, that thou art as it were loath to leave off the words of prayer, much leſs the ſuits of prayer, it is a ſigne God will grant thy prayer to thee.
8. Thou mayeſt know thy prayers are heard, when in the cloſe of thy prayer thou haſt ſome comfortable anſwer ſuggeſted unto thee from God; for example, God by his Spirit comes to ſome, ſuggeſting on this wiſe, when they pray powerfully, viz. I will be thy God, I will not fail thee nor forſake thee, I will do thee much good, I will be an everlaſting God unto thee; ſo God ſuggeſted to Paul at the end of his prayer, 2 Cor. 12.9. My grace is ſufficient for thee. Lam. 3.5.7. when the Church was diſcouraged out of ſence of her unworthineſs, God drew neer and ſaid, Fear not: ſo Luther in Gen. c. 44. ſaith, O that I could call upon God with the ſame fervency, as oft as I would; for when I pray in this manner, (meaning fervently) this anſwer ſeems ſenſibly to be given unto me, Fiat quod petis, let the thing be done which thou deſireſt. No man (ſaith he) can contemn this prayer which proceeds from inward bowels and affection; much leſs can it be in vain with God; for this laſt ſigne, I am confident ſome of Gods Children have it; but whether all have it, I leave it to further enquiry.
9. The manner of the falling out of things evidenceth prayer-hearing, when God brings a thing to paſs through many difficulties, contriving all the paſſages in a buſineſs, whereof if any of them had been wanting, the buſineſs had not been effected; ſo when the Church was delivered in anſwer to the Prayers of Eſther and Mordecai; ſo when Peter was brought out of priſon, beyond expectation, it plainly appears it was the fruit of prayer: when God makes the way eaſie and plain after prayer, and the courſe of things begins to change, and we meet with comforts in ſtead of former croſſes, it appears it is from prayers anſwered, Eſth. 4.16. Acts 12.12, 13.