A Treatise of Prayer, Treatise · Chapter 3
CHAP. III
THe firſt Query is, Whether a wicked man may ſay the Lords Prayer. Now becauſe it is Queſtioned by ſome whether a wicked man ought to pray at all; Wee will cleare this firſt, That h…w wicked ſoever the man be, yet he ought to pray; whereof that holy and learned Mans words, in the place forequoted upon the Title page, make full proofe; Prayer, ſaith he, is a Naturall acknowledgement of God, That every man is everlaſtingly and indiſpenſably obliged unto by virtue of the Law of Creation, though the matter of it be▪ varied according to the ſeverall ſtates and conditions whereinto we fall, or are brought. Every one, that lives in dependency on God, and hath his ſupplyes from Him, is by virtue of that dependance, obliged to this Dutie, as much as he is to own God for his God. That excellent Expoſitor upon Job 22. p. 264. ſpeakes the ſame thing; Wee owe prayer to God as His Creatures, or in regard of our naturall dependance upon Him, much more as New Creatures, or in regard of our ſpirituall dependance upon Him.
And this might ſuffice; but becauſe we intend the inſtruction of the ſimple, ſuch as we our ſelves are, we intend to be larger here in ſhewing what the Dutie of every man is, how wicked ſoever, though he be wholy unable to performe that dutie. Firſt then
We would ſhew whom we meane by the wicked man? Not every man in the horrid ſtate of nature, lying in his blood; for there wee all were for as much as wee all were wicked: But that wicked man wee meane, who lyeth in his blood in his wickedneſſe (for our blood is as we thinke was ſaid, our wickedneſſe, as our Lords blood is our righteouſneſſe▪) in that evill▪ one, under the Dominion ofMath. 1. 23. 5. 2. Acts 26. 18. 1 John 5. 19. an uncleane ſpirit within, and that other without, which rules in him, as he doth in the darkneſſe of the world, in the children of diſobedience there. And hee is beſt content it ſhould be ſo, for in his blood he lyeth as on a pillow of Downe, or bed of Roſes, never better content than now that God hath made a puniſhment of his ſinne, giving him up to his owne hearts luſts, and laying him in the lap of his own will, to commit ſin with greedineſſe, as the hungry beaſt eateth it's meate, or the thirſty, ſwalloweth downe water, a very Epicure in both, paſt-feeling now, and voyd of judgement, pride hath ſo covered his eyes, and drawne ſuch a thicke skinne over his heart, that it makes him forget all God and all, Hee is not in all his thoughts; hee forgets all ſave himſelfe. And this his remembrance of himſelfe ſerves him onelyonly to cloath and garniſh, feed and pamper that Idol his fleſh, and then to Glory in it when he hath ſo done; hee is out of Chriſt, and ſlighteth the meanes, the great Appointment of God, wherby to diſcover this his horrid condition unto man, and to deliver him out of it. Thoſe he hath ſlighted, turned his backe upon them, while he was ſitting under them, with full conſent of mind, withdrawing his heart from obedience, when, in ſhew, his eare gave audience; hating to be reformed; Zach. 7. 11. Pſal. 50. 16.fully reſolved, as a man built-up upon the bottom of his confidence, that he will not forſake his way, nor his thoughts, norJer. 2. 30. will he returne unto the Lord; he hath no need of Him, being a Lord, and a God to himſelfe. This is the wicked man (he is a legion) twice dead; the Goſpell hath been to him a ſavour ofJud. 12. death unto death; unto the death they are involved in, and are obnoxious to by nature, they adde a ſecond death, or rather ſealeSee Dr Owen pag. 356. Mr Caryl on Job 8. 19. 116. Dr K. Ch. 5. 63. up their ſoules under the power, and miſery of the other, by contempt of the meanes of life, and recovery; We will adde but this for the compleating of this mans miſery, out of Learned Dr Rainolds (and all this wee have ſaid in the deſcription of this man, and his miſery tends to this, that wee might heare and feare and not doe as he doth praeſumptiouſly, for) theſe men, that Tre. with us, pag. 25.doe their utmoſt to keep themſelves out of Chriſt, and by conſequence under the curſe, as their perſons, ſo their poſſeſſions are under the ſame curſe; as their conſciences, ſo their eſtates are ſtill uncleane, they eat their meate like ſwine rowled up in the dirt of their owne ſin and of Gods curſe.
Notwithſtanding thus wicked though they are, and are reſolved ſo to be, yet pray they ought, though pray they cannot, but as a Dear roares, becauſe of ſome paine upon the fleſh; or as a dogge howles; or if there be no paine upon them, then they pray as a Parret ſpeakes: Yet, as wee were ſaying, pray they ought, though they be in praying, as they are in being, and their prayers are as their perſons are, an abomination to the Lord; for ſuch is Gods Law unto them; yet pray they ought, that is their duty, and the Homage they are to give unto the Lord, as was ſayd. The Counſell that Daniell gives to Nebuchadnezzar, Chap. 4. 27. and the direction Peter gives to Symon Magus, Acts 8. 22. cleares this unto us, that a wicked mans duty is to repent and pray, and doe the workes of righteouſneſſe, though he is no more able, of himſelfe to doe it, than a mountaine can moove and teare it ſelfe up by the roots and mount up into the Moone; or a bramble yeeld grapes; or a Thiſtle figgs; or a Serpent ſpit pearles; naturall impotency can give no excuſe to willfull neglect; A wicked mans neceſſitie of ſinning, muſt not nullifie the Law of God, which requireth the doing of theſe things, though not with ſuch an uncleane heart as he doth them. The impotency of man muſt not eyther prejudice Gods authoritie, or Diminiſh his own dutie; Theſe are the words of our Learned Rainolds in his Treat: pag, 246 247. where the Reader may meet with much more, giving reſolution to the ſame caſe with this, that a wicked man ought to pray, it is his dutie. And oh! that he could pray for a ſight of his ſinne, and ſence of that wrath, which he is treaſuring-up every day againſt the day of wrath, being buſily imployed every houre of the day in damning himſelfe; that ſo he might looke after Him, whome the Father ſanctified and ſent into the world to be a propitiationJoh. 6. 36. 1 Joh. 2. 2. for the ſinnes thereof; and oh that he would pray againſt the Grand deluſion of his deſperately wicked heart, which will perſwade him to beleeve that he lookes after Chriſt Jeſus the Lord for life and immortalitie from Him, while yet he lookes not after the meanes, but turnes his backe upon the Glorious Goſpell, whereby He is declared to the world to be a Prince, and a Saviour, all ſalvation in Him, and none other Name given among Men Acts ….under Heaven, whereby we might be ſaved; The deſperate heart of man will perſwade to turne the Back upon all this, The Goſpell of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and yet he ſhall have Salvation by Him, though not receiving His Word.
To our ſeeming now this is fully proved, That a wicked Man ought to pray, though he doth not pray, neither can he, nor will he, unleſſe as Pharoah did, take away the plague, remove this evill of puniſhment. And then perhaps he will crie Lord, Lord, for poſſibly he ſees death, ſinne and judgement, not as formerly at a diſtance, but neare at hand, and upon him; and then with Balaam he may ſay, My God; And oh! that I may dye the death of the Righteous; Therefore he that liveth like a Devill would die like a Saint, and ſo he may pray at the houre of his death, when his time is gon, and the time of Gods patience is ſpent, and the houre of judgement is come, but then it will be too late, no remedie now but a Torment; He muſt live to God, that prayes to God, walke with Him, and before Him, who lookes for ſpeciall mercy from Him. For if we expect God ſhould come to us in wayes of mercy, we muſt attend upon Him in wayes of Dutie, dealing with us as Creatures endued with Reaſon, underſtanding, wills, affections. But becauſe all theſe are miſerably depraved, he deales with us as ſuch, and ſo depraved, wholy diſ-inabled in our ſelves for the uſeing or improving any the forementioned without ſpeciall Grace from Him, which He beſtowes upon us in the uſe of meanes He vouchſafeth to us. But though wicked men doe none of this, nor is it poſſible, as his eſtate now is, that he can doe it; nay it is the abhorring of his ſoule to doe it, for he abhorr's the Lord; yet he ought to doe it, That is the point, and we thinke cleared, he ought to pray, it is his dutie.