The Nature Parts and Kinds of Prayer, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. The Text opened.
THeſe words contain the third part of this Chapter, and the eighth part of Chriſts Sermon on the Mount, and they divide themſelves into two main parts.
1. A precept for the practiſe of Prayer: Ask,] Seek,] knock.]Tria verba addit, quae inſtantiam ſignificant; petite, quaerite, pulſate. Ferus in loc.
2. A reaſon to enforce and urge us to the performance of it, from the promiſe of audience, in theſe words; it ſhall be given you,] ye ſhall find,] it ſhall be opened unto you.] We muſt ask, ſeek, knock.] Ask with the mouth; Seek with the heart; Knock with the hand.
foreign. D. …layfer in hunc locum.1. Ask with the mouth: One obſerveth of Joachim, father of the virgin Mary, that going to the wilderneſſe to pray, he ſaid thus: Prayer ſhall be my meat and drink: where by, ſaith he, it is evident, that a meat and drink (the naturall foo… of the body) muſt goe in at th… mouth; ſo on the other ſide, Praye… (the ſpirituall food of the ſoul) mu… goe out of the mouth: which is th… reaſon why Pythagoras required h… diſciples to pray aloud; not that h… thought, God could not otherwiſ… hear: but to inſtruct us, as Cleme… of Alexandria noteth,Clemens Alexandr. Stromat. 4. Sic vive cum hominibus tanquàm Deus videat: Sic loquere cum Deo tanquàm homines audiant. Seneca. Auguſt. ad Probam. Epiſt. 121. that as or dealing with men muſt be, as in th… ſight of God, ſo our prayers to Go… muſt be as if in the hearing of me… Men therefore ask of God, whatſ… ever they ſtand in need of, ſaith A… guſtine, not to teach him their neceſſities (for who can inſtruct th… Lord: but to exerciſe themſelves i… prayers, and that they may be capable of thoſe things which he doth willingly give them, and that thereby it may appear that he is the giver of all good things, and that the effects and events of things depend wholly upon him, that all good things are to be looked for from his heavenly Majeſty, and we thereby inſtructed to behave our ſelves more thankfully & dutifully toward him.
2. Seek with the heart.] They which vainly hope, or fooliſhly wiſh, to find God without ſeeking (or as ſhe was in the Poet, Quae nòn inventa reperta eſt,) what do they elſe but expect, or petition a juſt Prince to grant them contrary to his own Laws and Statutes? for ſo ſtrait a dependance hath the God of nature ordained between the means and the end, that Logick (the art that teaches us to underſtand things aright) makes it an infallible demonſtration from the one to the other: and therefore, though ſome have ſought and not found, yet none ever found which have not ſought. Seek the things which are above, ſaith the Apoſtle, Col. 3.1. and if ſpirituall things muſt be ſought for, much more God himſelf, who bleſſeth us with all ſpirituall bleſſings in heavenly things in Chriſt. Theſe muſt be ſought,
Ratione difficultatis.
Ratione dignitatis.
1. By reaſon of the difficulty of obtaining them; we muſt firſt quaerere before we ſhall acquerere; without ſeeking they will not be had.
2. In regard of the dignity of them: Plato tells us, what is excellent cannot be gotten with eaſe, and ſhall we think that he that is in ſingularity excellent, infinite, great, and infinitely good, yea greatneſs and goodneſs it ſelf, will be found without ſeeking? Away then with the vain conceits of thoſe, who think that God and his bleſſings are to be had without ſeeking, that hope to have him, though they never look after him: Now (as Chriſt addeth in the next verſe) he that ſeeketh findeth; ſo as certain it is, he that ſeeketh him not, findeth him never: Indeed! if we reſpect the firſt overture that is made in this buſineſs, and compare the time preſent with the time already by paſt, then is it moſt true what the Lord himſelf averreth, Iſa. 65.1. I am found of them that ſought me not: becauſe to the Gentiles (who were heretofore ſo far from finding him, that they never ſo much as lookt after him) now he hath given an heart to ſeek, and power to find what they ſeek, for we are loſt by nature: A thing is not ſaid to be found unleſs it were firſt loſt. The Saints are compared to ſheep that are apt to be loſt, Iſa. 53.6. firſt then we muſt pray with David, Lord ſeek thy ſervant; and aftterwards learn of him, being his ſervant, to ſeek the Lord; ſo ſhall we have the Lord to be good to us: The Lord is good to him that truſteth in him, and to that ſoul that ſeeketh him, Lam. 13.25.Si Deus tam bonus quaerenti, quid invenienti. Bernard. If God be ſo good (ſaith Bernard on theſe words of the Prophet) to him that ſeeketh him, what will he be to him that findeth him? But a ſtrange matter it is, as he ſaith, (continuing his ſpeech) that no man can ſeek God before he hath found him: God will be ſought that he may be found of us, and he will be found, that he may further be ſought of us: Men cannot ſeek him, ſaith he, unleſs they have found him: and, certain it is, that they have not yet found him who never ſought him, or that do not ſtill conſtantly and continually ſeek him.
There is a twofold vocation on Gods part, and a twofold diſquiſition or ſeeking on our part. 1. There is an externall, generall, or common vocation, when God offereth us the means, which doth not alway take effect: ſo, many are called, but few are choſen, Matth. 20.16. 2. The other is an internall, ſpeciall, and peculiar vocation, when Gods bleſſing doth accompany thoſe means, which can not be without taking effect: for thoſe whom he calleth, he juſtifieth, and whom he juſtifieth he alſo glorifieth, Rom. 8.30. Now as the calling on God's part is twofold; ſo on our part, there is a twofold ſeeking; and that is firſt outward, in uſing the means, and in taking pains about them, which doth not alwaies take effect; ſo ſaith the Prophet, Hoſe. 5.16. They ſhall go with their flocks, and their herds to ſeek the Lord, but they ſhall not find him. Our Saviour alſo ſaith, Many ſhall ſeek to enter in, but ſhall not be able. The other inward, when by the gracious aſſiſtance of Gods Spirit throughly working upon their hearts they ſeek after God: of which the Pſalmiſt ſaith, Bleſſed are they that ſeek him with their whole heart. And God by his Prophet ſaith, They ſhall ſeek me, and find me, becauſe they ſhall ſeek me with their whole heart, and this is the ſeeking of which our Saviour here ſpeaketh.
3. Knock] that is with the hand. It was a proverbial verſe of old, among the Lacedemonians, that a man ſhould ſet his heart on prayer, and his hand on work both together: We are all beggars full of ſores, and muſt knock hard at the gate of mercy. Macarius …,Macar. Homil. 1. p. 17. Luther ſaith, Vitam hominis nihil aliud niſi orationem, deſiderium, gemitum, ſuſpirium, ad miſericordiam Dei eſſe oportere. that God made not mans body … …hat nature, that it might have meat, drink, and apparell of it ſelf: nor his ſoul, that it might have life eternall of it ſelf, and in its own power; but appointed them of other matter, that being without themſelves, and the gifts of God, they might beg, ſeek, and knock hard for them aliundè; a man that knocks not at heavens gate, is like him that prayed in the Poet, Labra movet, metuens audire, moving his lips, as though he were afraid to be heard.Da mihi caſtitatem, & continentiam, ſed noli modo: timebam enim, ne me citò audires, & ſanares a morbo concupiſcentiae, &c. Aug. confeſſ. lib. 8 cap. 7. S. Auſtin tells us before his converſion, that he prayed againſt his ſins coldly, and faintly, Lord give me chaſtity and continency, but not yet; for I did fear, leſt thou ſhouldeſt quickly hear me and cure me of the diſeaſe of concupiſcence: when through the ſtrength of conviction he prayed for continency with his lips, he prayed againſt it in his heart; he turned not a deaf ear to his old luſts, but gave them leave to parly with him, and pull him by the ſleeve, and ſay, Dimittiſnè nos? & a momento iſto, non erimus tecum ab aterno? What? wilt thou leave us? from this moment ſhall we have no more to do with thee for ever? Therefore ſaith the Church, Lament. 3.41. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens; they ſay not, let us lift up our hearts alone, but let us lift up our hearts with our hands; let us not onelyonly ſeek with our hearts, but alſo knock with our hands; and theſe hands that muſt be lifted up, muſt be holy, or pure hands, ſaith the Apoſtle, 1 Tim. 2.8. One obſerveth, of the pretious ſtone Diacletes, though it hath many ſoveraign vertues in it, yet it loſeth them all, if it be put into a dead mans hand: ſo Prayer (which is the onelyonly Jewell of a Chriſtian) though it hath many choice vertues in it, yet it loſeth them all, if it be put into the mouth or heart of a man that is dead in ſin: He gets nothing at the beautifull gate, that knocks not with a pure hand, but is ſent empty away.
Thus much concerning the meaning of the precept, Ask, ſeek, knock: the ſucceſs followeth, or reaſon of the precept: it ſhall be given you; you ſhall find; it ſhall be opened unto you. God requiring a condition to be performed, ſet out under three forms of ſpeech, Ask, ſeek, knock, promiſeth to give us all good things whatſoever: all which is no more than this, pray and ye ſhall be ſure to ſpeed hence I ſhall draw this doctrinall concluſion:
Doctrine. That devout importunity is never diſmiſſed, and ſent away empty: or, Praye… is a powerfull means which God hath appointed us for the obtaining of his bleſſings: it is that long arm whereby we may reach even from earth t… heaven. A learned Divine of our calleth it canalem gratiae, Hoard's Souls miſery, chap. 4a channel or conduit pipe by which the ful… ſtream of all neceſſary graces is derived and brought home to us: bu… of this I ſhall ſpeak more largely hereafter.