The Day and the Work of the Day, Proposition 1 – Proposition 2
PROPOSITION I.
PRAYER to God is a Duty to be by no means Restrained among the Children of men. As for Prayer, 'tis indeed such a Moral Duty, that they who are sunk into the deepest Abyss of Immorality, will scarce utter or mutter an Objection against it.
There is not only the Light of Scripture, Enforcing this Duty, but there is the Light of Nature too. 'Tis said, in Jer. 10.25. Pour out thy Fury on the Heathen, that know thee not, and on the Families that call not on thy Name. So that the Heathen themselves, who Know not God aright, yet Sin against the Light of what Knowledge they have, when they do not Call on the Name of God. It is the Law of our Creation, that we should pray to God as our Preserver, no less than our Creator; and so Engraven is this Law in the Heart of every Rational Creature, that the most Lawless Nations of men, count it the most Rational Thing imaginable for them, to wait upon their Creator with their Devotions.
It will only be expected that we now answer two Enquiries.
The First Enquiry. What is the Prayer that must have no Restraint?
I Answer, PRAYER, is the presenting of our Desire to God in Christ, for His Mercy, in his Time and His Way, and His Measure, to be obtained. That we may speak yet more distinctly.
First, The Object of Prayer, is GOD in CHRIST. It were a detestable Idolatry to make a proper Prayer, (which is, The Acknowledgment of a first cause) unto any besides that God, whose Name alone is JEHOVAH, the Infinite and Eternal First Cause of all Things; a Daniel would sooner be torn to pieces with Hungry Lions, and the Children of God would sooner broil to Death in the Furnace heated by the Type of Antichrist, than commit such an Idolatry. It is the Rule in Math. 4.10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only thou shalt serve; and the Devil himself could not gainsay that Rule. Who should be the Object of Prayer, but the Hearer of Prayer? Now the Hearer of Prayer, must needs be an Omnipresent One, able at once to receive the Supplications of many Thousands from all Quarters of the Universe; and He must be an Omnipotent One, able to Rescue all, to Supply all, the miserable. But there is none besides our God, Who fills Heaven and Earth; none besides our God, For whom nothing is too hard; and hence This our God challenges it as His Title, in Psal. 65.2. O Thou Hearer of Prayer! Why so? Because 'tis He alone, to whom we may say, O Thou Helper of men! Yea, but This God is not now to be Addressed from sinful men, but in and by and through the Lord Jesus …HRIST. He that is the Truth, hath with it said unto us, in Joh. 14.6. I am the VVay; no man comes unto the Father but by me. As the Lord of Egypt said unto the Sons of Jacob, Ye shall not see my Face, except ye bring your Brother with you: So does the King of Heaven say to all the Seed of Jacob, I mean, The Generation of them that seek Him; He saith, I will not Look upon you, unless you bring your Jesus with you. What are we to do with our Prayer? we have an Angel in Heaven, the Great Uncreated Angel of the Covenant, unto whom we must carry and commit the Incense of our Prayer; yea, our Prayer will be no Incense, but the rank, filthy, lothsome Nidor, of the Flesh, which attends all our Sacrifices, will make our Prayer become an Abomination unto Him who dwells in the Holy of Holies, except this Blessed Angel perfume it, with his Intercessions. We read in Rev. 8.4. The Smoke of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God, out of the Angels Hand. Prayer was of old made with an Eye towards the Temple; Why, 'tis the Lord Jesus Christ who is the true Temple of God; it is in Him that there dwells the Fulness of the God-Head Bodily.
Secondly, For the Nature of Prayer, 'Tis, A presenting of our Desire. In every Prayer, there is the Desire of some Good Thing; yea, but something more than such a Desire is also requisite; it must be a Desire some how brought forth unto the Lord. Prayer is that, whereof 'tis said in Phil. 4.6. Let your Requests be made known unto God. Sometimes the Desire becomes a Prayer only in our Minds: the silent out-goings of the Soul and Will to God, are a most speaking Prayer. A Prayer may be made with Unuttered Groans, yea, with Unutterables. Thus 'tis said, in Lam. 3.41. Let us Lift up our Heart unto God in the Heavens. This is indeed the main Ingredient of every Prayer; 'tis the most Ominous Defect of any Prayer, when the Heart shall be found wanting there. But sometimes also the Desire becomes a Prayer in our Mouths: the Arrows of Prayer are shot into Heaven with the Bowe of the Tongue. A Prayer should often be a Cry, and this, Going out from Unfeigned Lips. Thus 'tis said in Hos. 14.2. Take with you words, and Turn Turn unto the Lord: Prayer should frequently become Articulate; and indeed a main part of the Homage due to God, from and for the Organs of Speech which He has given us, is to Articulate Prayer unto Him.
Thirdly, For the Matter of Prayer, 'Tis Mercy to be obtained according to the pleasure of God. The Outcry of Prayer, is, for Mercy; the Language of it, is that in Psal. 51.1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy Loving Kindness. But the Mercies of God for which our Prayer is to be concerned, are more particularly what the Scriptures of God have taught us to Implore. We are to Pray by Book; but it is the Bible that is our Prayer-Book. And the more special Platform of Prayer which our Lord has given us, in this Book; that I mean, which is commonly called, The Lords Prayer; 'tis that which we are to make the more special Directory of our Prayers. We are a…vised in 1 John 5.14. If we ask any thing according to his Will, He Heareth us. The Preceptive Will of God, must in all our Prayers be attended unto; about all the Commandments of that, our Prayers are to be, O that my wayes were directed to keep them; about all the Promises and all the Threatnings which ratify those Commandments, our Prayer is to be, That we may not miss the one, or meet the other! But then, the Providential Will of God, must also be submitted unto, in all our Prayers. We should in our Prayers be content that God bestow His Blessings upon us, When He will, and, How He will, and, In what proportion He will: Our Prayers are to be Beggings, wherein we must own, 'Tis not for us to know the Times or Seasons, nor may we Limit the Holy One of Israel!
This is PRAYER. Hac petitur Caelum via! But then,
The Second Enquiry.
What is the Restraint of this Prayer?
I Answer, The Restraint of Prayer, is the Omitting or Abating of such Prayer, as we are obliged unto.
Prayer is Restrained, when it is altogether Omitted. They Restrained Prayer, to whom it was by the Apostle said, in Jam. 4.2. Ye Ask not. And Prayer is Restrained when it is Abated of what it either hath been, or should be. When the People of God had so Restrained Prayer, it was by the Prophet said, in Dan. 9.13. We have not made our Prayer before the Lord our God. The Restraint of Prayer, is the Neglect of such Prayer as is required in the Rule of Prayer. Men do Restrain Prayer, when their Prayer, for the Quality of it, is not according to that Rule, in Jam. 5.16. The Prayer of a Righteous man, made with an Inwrought vehemency. Men do Restrain Prayer, when their Prayer, for the Duration of it, is not according to that Rule, in Luc. 18.1. That men ought always to Pray, and not to Faint. Men do R…strain Prayer, when all the sorts and kinds of Prayer, are not performed by them, according to that Rule, in Eph. 6.18. Praying always, with all Prayer, and Supplication, in the Spirit, and watching thereunto, with all perseverance, and Supplication for all Saints. But why is this called, A Restraint? A Restraint notes, The keeping in of a Thing, that would fain break out. There are two Things that would cause Prayer to break forth; namely, Gods Command, and mans Conscience. The Command of God would fetch it out. It is the Edict of Heaven, in Isa. 55.6. Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call ye upon Him, while He is near. Indeed, it is the Command lying every where, the whole Bible over; That the Eternal God should be Eternally Prayed unto. You'l see Prayer bespoke, in the Sacred Pages, dip where you will. But then, the Conscience of man would would also push it out. There is mention of some, in Rom. 1.18. Who h…ld the Truth in Unrighteousness. Altho' many a man be so Unrighteous, as to Live without Praying unto God, yet his Conscience within him, holds this for a Truth, It should be otherwise: even a Pagan Plato, a Pagan Proclus, have written Treatises, Entituled, Concerning Prayer. So, when Prayer is Neglected, there is a Violence done, to hinder both of these Motives, from having of their Efficacy; thus Prayer is Restrained in the Neglect. But,
PROPOSITION II.
There should be a Gracious an… a Devout FEAR in our Soul, … be the Spur of our Prayer to o… God; a Fear that must not be Rejected. We have two things here to Think upon.
The First Question.
What is that Prayer-quickning Fear, which must not be Rejected?
For Answer, What Fear, but the Fear of God? even that Fear, which is in the Oracles of Wisdom, so often Celebrated as, The Beginning of VVisdom? We read in Psal. 111.10. The Fear of the Lord, is the Beginning of Wisdom, and a good Understanding, have all they that do His Commandments. Among the Things Commanded by our God, there is none more Notable than that of Prayer; now 'tis the Fear of God, which helps men unto the Understanding, to do such a Thing. When it is here said, Thou hast cast off Fear, it is by some Translated so, Thou hast cast off Religion. The Fear of God, is a principle of Religion in the Heart of man; a principle of Respect unto the Commands and Praises of the Great God. It is an Old Testament Name, for the whole of Religion; but this Fear of God, includes a Love to God, a Faith on God, a Joy in God, as well as a Fear of Him. This is the Fear, that must not be Rejected. More particularly, This Fear imports, A dread of those Mischiefs that follow upon a Distance from God. This is a thing of such universal Mixture and Figure in Religion, that all Religion receives a Denomination from it; what said the Psalmist, in Psal. 78.27, 28. Lo, They that are far from thee, shall perish; but it is good for me to draw near unto God. We should have such a Fear of Perdition, in being far from God, as to Resolve that we will Draw Near, and Get Near, and Keep Near, unto Him all our Dayes. This is the true Fear of God! Briefly, we should have a Filial Fear of those Rods wherewith our God chastises them that break His Laws. When the Laws of God were given unto His Israel, then Moses Hearing the Thunders and the Trumpets, and seeing the Lightnings, and feeling the Earth-quakes, which gave a shadow of the Fiery Day; whereas God will Avenge the Violations of those Laws, he cry'd out, I exceedingly Fear and Quake. We should accordingly Entertain the Laws of God; with an Exceeding Fear of such Fiery Plagues, as we may foresee likely to fall upon those who Transgress the Laws, that are so Holy, and Just and Good. Here is the Fear that should Inflame our Prayer to our God! But then,
The Second Question.
VVherein appears the Influence of this Fear, upon the Non-Restraint of Prayer?
For Answer, First, To Restrain Prayer is to Despise the End of Prayer; but the Fear of God, will not let a man Despise a Thing so Transcendently, so Superlatively Glorious.
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