Thirdly, He alone guides and directs believers to pray or ask for any thing in order unto right and proper ends : for there is nothing so excellent in itself, so useful unto us, so acceptable unto God, as the matter of prayer; but it may be vitiated, corrupted, and prayer itself be rendered vain, by an application of it unto false or mistaken ends. And that in this case we are relieved by the Holy Ghost, is plain in the text under consideration ; for helping our infirmities, and teaching us what to pray for as we ought, he " maketh inter- cession for us according to God," — that is, his mind or his will, Rom. viii. 27. This is well explained by Origen on the place: " Velut si magister suscipiens ad rudimenta discipulum, et ignorantem peni- tus literas, ut eum docere possit et instituere, necesse habet inclinare se ad discipuli rudimenta, et ipse prius dicere nomen literas, ut re- spondendo discipulus discat, et sit quodammodo magister incipienti discipulo similis, ea loquens et ea meditans, quae incipiens loqui de- beat ac meditari; ita et Sanctus Spiritus, ubi oppugnationibus carnis perturbari nostrum spiritum viderit, et nescientem quid orare debeat secundum quod oportet, ipse velut magister orationem prsemittit,
286 WORK OF THE HOLT SPIRIT IN PRAYER. [BOOK VII.
qtiam noster spiritus (si tamen discipulus esse Sancti Spiritus desi- derat) prosequatur, ipse gemitus offert quibus noster spiritus discat ingemiscere, ut repropitiet sibi Deum." To the same purpose speaks Damascen, lib. iv. chap. 3; and Austin in sundry places, collected by Be da, in his comment on this He doth it irj us and by us, or enableth us so to do ; for the Spirit himself without us hath no office to be performed immediately towards God, nor any nature inferior unto the divine wherein he might intercede. The whole of any such work with respect unto us is incumbent on Christ; he alone in his own person performeth what is to be done with God for us. What the Spirit doth, he doth in and by us. He therefore directs and enableth us to make supplications " according to the mind of God." And herein God is said to " know the mind of the Spirit;" that is, his end and design in the matter of his requests. This God knows; that is, approves of and accepts. So it is the Spirit of God who directs us as to the design and end of our prayers, that they may find acceptance with God.
But yet there may be, and I believe there is, more in that ex- pression, "God knoweth the mind of the Spirit;" for he worketh such high, holy, spiritual desires and designs in the minds of believ- ers in their supplications as God alone knoweth and understandeth in their full extent and latitude. That of ourselves we are apt to fail and mistake hath been declared from James iv. 3.
I shall not here insist on particulars, but only mention two gene- ral ends of prayer which the Holy Spirit keeps the minds of be- lievers unto in all their requests, where he hath furnished them with the matter of them according to the mind of God; for he doth not only make intercession in them, according unto the mind of God, with respect unto the matter of their requests, but also with respect unto the end which they aim at, that it may be accepted with him. He guides them, therefore, to design, —
1. That all the success of their petitions and prayers may have an immediate tendency unto the glory of God. It is he alone who enables them to subordinate all their desires unto God's glory. With- out his especial aid and assistance we should aim at self only and ultimately in all we do. Our own profit, ease, satisfaction, mercies, peace, and deliverance, would be the end whereunto we should direct all our supplications; whereby they would be all vitiated and become abominable.
2. He keeps them unto this also, that the issue of their supplica- tions may be the improvement of holiness in them, and thereby their conformity unto God, with their nearer access unto him. Where these ends are not, the matter of prayer may be good and according to the word of God, and yet our prayers an abomination. We may
CHAP. VI.] THE DUE MANNER OF PRAYER. 287
pray for mercy and grace, and the best promised fruits of the love of God, and yet for want of these ends find no acceptance in our sup- plications. To keep us unto them is his work, because it consists in casting out all self ends and aims, bringing all natural desires unto a subordination unto God, which he worketh in us if he worketh in us any thing at all.
And this is the first part of the work of the Spirit towards believ- ers as a Spirit of grace and supplication, — he furnisheth and filleth their minds with the matter of prayer, teaching them thereby what to pray for as they ought; and where this is not wrought in some measure and degree, there is no praying according to the mind of God.
CHAPTER VI.
The due manner of prayer, wherein it doth consist.
The Holy Spirit having given the mind a due apprehension of the things we ought to pray for, or furnished it with the matter of prayer, he moreover works a due sense and valuation of them, with desires after them, upon the will and affections ; wherein the due man- ner of it doth consist. These things are separable. The mind may have light to discern the things that are to be prayed for, and yet the will and affections be dead unto them or unconcerned in them ; and there may be a gift of prayer founded hereon, in whose exercise the soul doth not spiritually act towards God, for light is the matter of all common gifts. And by virtue of a perishing illumination, a man may attain a gift in prayer which may be of use unto the edifica- tion of others ; for " the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal." In the meantime, it is with him that so prayeth not much otherwise than it was with him of old who prayed in an unknown tongue : " his spirit prayeth, but his understanding is unfruitful." He prayeth by virtue of the light and gift that he hath received, but his own soul is not benefited nor improved there- by. Only sometimes God makes use of men's own gifts to convey grace into their own souls; but prayer, properly so called, is the obe- diential acting of the whole soul towards God.