IV. SER M. desire in prayer, as Augustine saith, Tepida est omnis oratio, quam non prævenit inspiratio, 'Every prayer is lukewarm which is not prevented with inspiration.' Vid. ad Simp. 1. 21.] The first thing that the Spirit of God works in us is, that He inclineth our hearts to pray to God for the good which we lack, which is a thing not in our own power; and there2 Sam. 7. fore David thanks God "that he found in his heart to pray;" for when we would settle ourselves to pray, nihil tam longe abest a nobis quam orare ut decet, 'there is nothing so far from us as to pray as we ought.' 27. Now being thus untoward in ourselves, the Spirit of God comes and helps our infirmity, and as the Psalmist saith, He opens our hearts to pray. By this means it comes to pass, that a man having his affection cold shall on a sudden feel Ps. 108. 1. in himself a desire to pray, and shall say, Domine, paratum est cor meum, "O Lord, my heart is ready." Ps. 81. 10. Secondly, whereas the Lord saith, "Open thy mouth and I will fill it,” we find this infirmity in ourselves, that when we have found a heart to pray yet we cannot open our mouths, Ps. 51. 15. and therefore David saith, "Open Thou my lips;" and so must we sue to Christ that He will give us words to speak, for God hath a key both to our tongue and will. Thirdly, having begun to pray, that falls out many times Ps. 10. 12. which David complains of, Cor meum dereliquit me. Our heart will be gone, and our mind will be wandering abroad, not regarding what our tongue speaks. 4. It falls out often, that as Abraham had his sacrifice ready, Gen. 15.11. he was no sooner gone from it but the fowls of the air did Hos. 14. 2. light upon it. So while we offer up to God "the calves of our lips," and our course is past, it comes to pass through our wantonness many foul thoughts be got upon our sacrifice P3. 141. 3, and despoil it; and the remedy that the Spirit of God affords us against this infirmity is, that It calls us home and tells us we are kneeling before the Majesty of God, and therefore ought to take heed what we speak in His presence. Therefore Bernard, to keep his mind in the meditation of God, Ps. 68. 1. when he would pray began thus, "Let God arise, and let all His enemies be scattered;" and Augustine to the same Ps. 69. 1. purpose began thus, "Save me, O God, for the waters overflow." Fourthly, though we have our meditation still on God, yet we shall find in ourselves that our spirits are dull and heavy, and have no manner of vigour to help our infirmity; herein the Spirit helps and puts these meditations in our hearts, whereby It kindleth, as the Prophet saith, a fire burning [P.39.5.] within us; so that God shall be fain to say to us as He did to Moses, Dimitte Me, "Let Me alone." Ex. 32. 10. Fifthly, albeit we pray but faintly and have not that supply of fervency that is required in prayer, yet we have comfort that ever when we most faint in prayer there are of God's saints that pray for us with all instancy, by which it comes to pass that being all but one body their prayers tend to our good as well as their own, for the faithful howsoever they be many and dispersed into divers corners of the world. yet they are but one body; and as they are the members of one body, so they pray not privately for themselves but for the whole body of the Church; so that the weakness of one member is supplied by the fervent and earnest prayer of the other. Therefore when the Apostle saith, "The Spirit maketh intercession for us" gemitibus inenarrabilibus, Augustine asketh, What groanings are these? are they thine or mine? No, they are the groanings of the Church, sometime in me, sometime in thee. And therefore Samuel, to shew that the ministers of God do the people no less good when they pray for them than when they teach them, said, " God forbid I should cease 1 Sam. 12. to pray for you, and so sin against God;" for he was a help to them not only in preaching to them, but in offering burnt offerings for them. Therefore the people pray to Esay, "Lift [Isa.37.4.] thou up thy prayer for us," for as the offering of the minister 23. is to put the people in mind, so they are God's remembrancers; 2 Pet. 1.12. they are angels as well ascending upwards by their prayer in the behalf of the people, as descending to teach them the will of God. But if the spirit that quails in us do quail also in the whole Church, yet we have a supply from the tears which our Head, Lu. 19. 41. Christ, shed on His Church, and from "the strong cries" Heb. 5. 7. which He uttered to God His Father "in the days of His flesh," by which He ceaseth not to make request to God still for us; so that albeit the hardness of our heart be such as we cannot pray for ourselves nor the Church for us, yet we may say, Conqueror Tibi, Domine, lachrymis Jesu Christi. SERM. IV. Lastly, because we cannot pray κalò deî, we have two helps also in that behalf from the Spirit; first, that the Spirit teacheth us to submit our will unto God's will, because as Rom.6.19. we are men so we "speak after the manner of men." This submission we learn from the example of Christ's Mat. 26.39. prayer to God His Father: Transeat calix iste a Me, “Let this cup pass from Me, yet not My will but Thy will be 2 Sam. 15. done." So David qualified his desire: "If I have found favour with the Lord, He will bring me again; but if not, let Him do what seemeth good to Himself." 25, 26. Secondly, when we look back upon our prayer and see Isa. 42. 3. that by reason of want of fervency and zeal it is but "smoking flax," then the Spirit stirreth us up to desire God that according to His promise "He will not quench it," but that His 2 Cor. 12. grace may be sufficient for us, and that He will make perfect His strength in our weakness. 9. The other thing wherein the Spirit helpeth our infirmities* is, that He worketh in our hearts certain groans that cannot be expressed, which is a plain opposition to drowsy and sloth[S. Aug. ful prayer; for a devout prayer plus constat gemitibus quam Epist. 130. sermonibus, it is not fine phrases and goodly sentences that c. 10.] commend our prayer but the fervency of the Spirit from Whom it proceeds. 1 Cor. 14. 15. It is well if we do orare mente et spiritu, but if our prayers do draw our sighs and groanings from our hearts it is the better for them, for then it appears that our prayer is not a breath coming from the lungs but from the very depths of the Ps. 130. 1. heart, as the Psalmist says of his prayer, De profundis, "Out of the deeps have I cried to Thee, O Lord.” 27. What the Apostle meaneth by "groanings which cannot be expressed" is plain, for when the grief of the heart is greatest then are we least able to utter it, as appears by the 2 Kings 4. Shunamite. Notwithstanding, as it was God That wakened in us the desire of good things, so though we be not able to utter them in words, yet He doth hear etiam vocem in silentio. There are mutæ preces et tamen clamantes, such as are the silent prayers of Moses which he made in his heart to God Ex. 14. 15. though he expressed it not in words: to this God said, Cur clamas ad Me? Now as Martha was loath to serve alone, and therefore would have Mary to "help her;" so the Spirit doth not Lu. 10.10. pray alone, but doth ovvavrilaμßáveтai, "bears together, or helps us," whereby the Apostle gives us to understand, that man must have a co-operation with God's Spirit. So we see the saints of God, albeit they acknowledge prayer to be the work of God's Spirit in them, forasmuch as we are not able 3. to "call Jesus Lord but by the Spirit of God," yet they I Cor. 12. are not themselves idle but do add endeavour; as David, "Lord, open Thou my lips," so he affirms of himself, "I Ps. 119. have opened my lips, and drew in my breath." But that we may have the help of God's Spirit without which our endeavour is but vain, we must still think upon our 131. own weakness and humble ourselves in the sight of God, as the Publican did. So the Spirit of God will rest upon us, Lu. 18. 13. as the Lord promiseth. For this end fasting is commended Isa. 66. 2. to the Church, for it hath been an use always among the faithful, "to humble their souls with fasting." Ps. 35. 13. Secondly, as we must pray in faith, so we must also be charitably affected to our brethren, first, by forgiving them, if we will have forgiveness at the hands of our heavenly Mark 11. Father. Secondly, by giving them that need: this commended Cornelius' prayer, that he gave alms. 25. Acts 10. 4. If our prayer be thus qualified, we shall have God's Spirit to assist us in prayer; Whose help if we obtain and unto our prayer add a patient expectation, so that we be not in haste to obtain the thing we crave but we wait upon God's leisure, as the Prophet saith, Qui crediderit non festinabit, "He that Isa. 28. 16. believeth makes not haste," thus we shall find that the Lord will not cast out our prayer, A PREPARATION TO PRAYER. SERMON V. SERM. LUKE XI. 1. And so it was, that as He was praying in a certain place, when [Et factum est, cum esset in quodam loco orans, ut cessavit, dixit [And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when WHICH words do bring us to that form of invocation, to which by degrees we have been approaching: for, first, out 2 Cor. 3.5. of St. Paul we learned, that "of ourselves we are not able so much as to think" a good thought, much more unable to do that which is good; secondly, from St. James, that albeit we have no power in ourselves, yet our want may be supplied [Jas. 1.17.] by "the Father of lights;" thirdly, that therefore to the end we may obtain this ability, we are to seek for it by prayer, as Christ [Mat. 7.7.] counselleth; Petite, et dabitur vobis. But then we meet with another difficulty, and that is, as Paul confesseth, that albeit grace may be obtained at the hands of God by prayer, yet we know not how or what to Rom. 8.26. ask except "the Spirit" of God supply "our infirmities;" and therefore, as then it was said that "the Spirit of God maketh intercession for us," so here the same Spirit doth move the disciples to seek for a form of prayer of Christ; whereby we are taught, that if we know not how or what to |