Thirdly, To pray in a right manner, is to pray intensely, fervently, earnestly. So James v. 16, ' The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much ;' or, as the Greek hath it, ' the working prayer,' that is, such prkyer as sets the whole man a-work.' The word signifies such a working as notes the liveliest activity that can be. As physic kills the body if it work not, so doth prayer the soul, if it be not work- ing-prayer. As a painted fire is no fire, a dead man no man, so a cold prayer is no prayer. In a painted fire there is no heat ; in a dead man there is no life ; so in a cold prayer there is no omnipotency, no devo- tion, no blessing. It is not cold but working prayer that can lock up heaven three years, and open heaven's gate at pleasure, and bring down the sweetest blessings upon our heads, and the choicest favours into our hearts. Cold prayers are as arrows without heads, as swords without edges, as birds without wings : they pierce not, they cut not, they fly not up to heaven. Cold prayers do always freeze before they reach to heaven. So Jacob was earnest in his wrestling with God : ' Let me alone,' says God. ' I will not let thee go except thou bless me/ says Jacob, Gen, xxxii, 24-27. Jacob, though lamed and hard laid at, will not let the Lord go without a blessing, Jacob holds with his hands when his joints were out of joint, and so, as a prince, prevails with God. Jacob prays and weeps, and weeps and prays, and so prevails with God : Hosea xii. 4, * Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed : he wept and made supplication unto him,' &c.^ It is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart ; it is not the pouring forth a flood of words, but the pouring out of the soul, that makes a man a prince, a prevailer with God. A man that would gain victory over God in prayer, must strain every string of his heart ; he must, in beseeching God, besiege him, and so get the better of him ; he must strive in prayer even to an agony ; he must be like importunate beggars, that will not be put off with frowns, or silence, or sad answers. Those that would be masters of their requests, must with the importunate widow press God so far as to put him to the blush ; they must with a holy impudence, as Basil speaks, make God ashamed to look them in the face, if he should deny the importunity of their souls.^ An importunate soul will never cease till he speed ; he will devour all discouragements ; yea, he will turn dis- couragements into encouragements, as the woman of Canaan did, till Christ says, ' Be unto thee, O soul, as thou wilt.' As a body without a soul, much wood without fire, a bullet in a gun without powder, so are words in prayer without fervency of spirit. The hottest springs send forth their waters by ebullitions.*
I have read of one who, being sensible of his own dulness and cold- ness in prayer, chid himself thus : ' What ! dost thou think that Jonah prayed thus when he was in the belly of hell? or Daniel, when he was
' hi^yavfiivn. Faith is an omnipotent grace. It works wonders in heaven, in the heart, and in the earth. Such working prayer as sets all the faculties of the soul, and all the graces in the soul, at work, always speeds ; it fails not of winning the day, of carrying the crown.
* The Jews have a saying, that since the destruction of Jerusalem, the door of prayers hath been shut ; but the door of tears was never shut, saith one.
' Rpm. XV. 80, rvyayuviffarSai. The word signifies to strive to the shedding of blood, Luke xviii. 6, wcr<w<r/a{»i, buffet me, or beat me down with her blows, as wrestlers beat down their adversaries with their fists or clubs.
* Oratio bretfis penetrat caelum, saith one.
494 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [KOM. VIII. 32-34.
in the lions' den 1 or the thief, when he was upon the cross ? and T may add, or the three children, when they were in the fiery furnace ? or the apostles, when they were in bonds and prisons. Oh ! that Chris- tians would chide themselves out of their cold prayers, and chide them- selves into a better and a warmer frame of spirit when they make their supplications before the Lord. An importunate soul in prayer is like the poor beggar that prays and knocks, that prays and waits, that prays and works, that knocks and knits, that begs and patches, and will not stir from the door till he hath an alms.' And verily he that is good at this will not be long a beggar in grace. God will make his heart and his cup to overflow.
FouHhly, To pray in a right manner, is, to pray assiduously, con- stantly, as well as fervently. Luke xviii. 1, ' And he spake a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint ;' or as it is in the Greek, not to ' shrink back,' as sluggards in work or cowards in war.'* Now men pray always, first, when their hearts are always prepared to pray, or in a praying frame ; secondly, when they do not omit the duty, when it is to be performed, or when they take hold on every opportunity, to pour out their souls before the Lord, 1 Thes. V. 17, ' Pray without ceasing.' A man must always pray habitually, though not actually ; he must have his heart in a praying disposition in all estates and conditions, in prosperity and adversity, in health and sickness, in strength and weakness, in wealth and wants, in life and death.^ So in Eph. vi. 18, * Praying always with all prayer and suppli- cation in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints. Our daily weaknesses, our daily wants, our daily fears, our daily dangers, our daily temptations, &c., bespeak our daily prayers. Rom. xii. 12, * Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulations, continuing instant in prayer,' "ir^oaxa^Ti^ovvTii, It is a metaphor taken from dogs that hunt, that will not give over the game till they have got it A dog, of all creatures, is best able to endure hunger ; he will run from place to place, and never leave it till he hath got his prey. So a child of God in his hunting after God, Christ, grace, peace, mercy, glory, never gives over till he hath found his heavenly prey. Cant. iii. 4, ' At length I found him whom my soul loved ; I held him, and would not let him go.' The spouse never left hunting after her beloved, till she had found him.* Gracious souls reckon that they have nothing till they speed in the things they sue for ; they pray as if they had never prayed, and think that they have done nothing till they have done the deed.* It is observed by some of Proteus, that he was wont to give certain oracles ; but it was hard to make him speak and deliver them, but he
* The Jews write upon the walls of their synagogues this sentence, that prayer, with- out the intention of the mind, is but as a body without a soul. You know how to apply it Jerome speaks of certain holy women in his time, that they seemed in their fervent affections to join with the holy company of heaven.