The first thing we ascribe unto the Spirit herein is, that he sup- plieth and furnisheth the mind with a due comprehension of the matter of prayer, or what ought, both in general and as unto all our particular occasions, to be prayed for. Without this I suppose it will be granted that no man can pray as he ought ; for how can any man pray that knows not what to pray for? Where there is not a comprehension hereof, the very nature and being of prayer is destroyed. And herein the testimony of the apostle is express: Rom. viii. 26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
It is that expression only which at present I urge, " We know not what we should pray for as we ought." This is generally supposed to be otherwise, — namely, that men know well enough what they ought to pray for; only they are wicked and careless, and will not pray for what they know they ought so to do. I shall make no excuse or apology for the wickedness and carelessness of men; which, without doubt, are abominable. But yet I must abide by the truth asserted by the apostle, which I shall farther evidence immediately, — namely, that without the especial aid and assist- ance of the Holy Spirit no man knoweth what to pray for as he ought.
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But yet there is another relief in this matter, and so no need of any work of the Holy Ghost therein. And we shall be accounted impudent if we ascribe any thing unto him whereof there is the least colourable pretence that it may be otherwise effected or pro- vided for. So great an unwillingness is there to allow him either place, work, or office in the Christian religion or the practice of it ! Wherefore, it is pretended that although men do not of themselves know what to pray for, yet this defect may be supplied in a pre- script form of words, prepared on purpose to teach and confine men unto what they are to pray for.
We may, therefore, dismiss the Holy Spirit and his assistance as unto this concernment of prayer ; for the due matter of it may be so set down and fixed on ink and paper that the meanest capacity can- not miss of his duty therein ! This, therefore, is that which is to be tried in our ensuing discourse, — namely, that whereas it is plainly affirmed that " we know not" of ourselves " what we should pray for as we ought" (which I judge to be urjiversally true as unto all persons, as well those who prescribe prayers as those unto whom they are prescribed), and that the Holy Spirit helps and relieveth us herein, whether we may or ought to relinquish and neglect his assistance, and so to rely only on such supplies as are invented or used unto that end for which he is promised; that is, plainly, whether the word of God be to be trusted unto in this matter or not.
It is true, that whatever we ought to pray for is declared in the Scripture, yea, and summarily comprised in the Lord's Prayer ; but it is one thing to have what we ought to pray for in the book, an- other thing to have it in our minds and hearts, — without which it will never be unto us the due matter of prayer. It is out of the " abundance of the heart" that the mouth must speak in this matter, Matt. xii. 34. There is, therefore, in us a threefold defect with re- spect unto the matter of prayer, which is supplied by the Holy Spirit, and can be so no other way nor by any other means; and therein is he unto us a Spirit of supplication according to the pro- mise.
For, — 1. We know not our own wants ; 2. We know not the sup- plies of them that are expressed in the promises of God; and, 3- We know not the end whereunto what we pray for is to be directed, which I add unto the former. Without the knowledge and under- standing of all these, no man can pray as he ought ; and we can no way know them but by the aid and assistance of the Spirit of grace. And if these things be manifest, it will be evident how in this first instance we are enabled to pray by the Holy Ghost.
First, Our wants, as they are to be the matter of prayer, may be referred unto three heads, and none of them of ourselves do we
CEIAP. IV.] THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 273
know aright, so as to make them the clue subject of our supplica- tions, and of some of them we know nothing at all : —
1. This first consists in our outward straits, pressures, and diffi- culties, which we desire to be delivered from, with all other temporal things wherein we are concerned. In those things it should seem wondrously clear that of ourselves we know what to pray for. But the truth is, whatever our sense may be of them and our natural de- sires about them, yet how and when, under what conditions and limitations, with what frame of heart and spirit, [with] what submis- sion unto the pleasure of God, they are to be made the matter of our prayers, we know not. Therefore doth God call the prayers of most about them " howling," and not a crying unto him with the heart, Hos. vii. 14. There is, indeed, a voice of nature crying in its distress unto the God of nature, but that is not the duty of evan- gelical prayer which we inquire after; and men ofttimes most miss it when they think themselves most ready and prepared. To know our temporal wants so as to make them the matter of prayer accord- ing to the mind of God requires more wisdom than of ourselves we are furnished withal; for "who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow?" Eccles. vi. 12; and ofttimes believers are never more at a loss than how to pray aright about temporal things. No man is in pain or distress, or under any wants, whose continuance would be destructive to his being, but he may, yea, he ought to make deliverance from them the matter of his prayer. So in that case he knows in some measure, or in general, what he ought to pray for, without any peculiar spiritual illumination. But yet the circumstances of those things, and wherein their respect unto the glory of God and the supreme end or chiefest good of the persons concerned doth stand (with regard whereunto they can alone be made the matter of prayer acceptable unto God in Christ), are that which of themselves they cannot understand, but have need of an interest in that promise made to the church, that "they shall be all taught of God;" and this is so much more in such things as belong only unto the con- veniences of this life, whereof no man of himself knows what is good for him or useful unto him.