Chapter 5

The Work of the Holy Spirit as to the matter of Prayer.

THese things are considerable as to the matter of Prayer; and with respect unto them, of ourselves we know not what we should pray for, nor how, nor when. And the first Work of the Spirit of God, as a Spirit of Supplication in Believers, is to give them an understanding of all their wants, and of the supplies of Grace and Mercy in the Promises, causing a sense of them to dwell and abide on their minds; as that, according unto their measure, they are continually furnished with the matter of Prayer, without which men never pray, and by which, in some sense, they pray always. For,

(1.) He alone does, and he alone is able to give us such an understanding of our own wants, as that we may be able to make our thoughts about them known unto God in Prayer and Supplication. And what is said concerning our wants, is so likewise with respect unto the whole matter of Prayer, whereby we give Glory to God, either in Requests or Prayers. And this I shall manifest in some instances, whereunto others may be reduced.

(1.) The Principal matter of our Prayer concerns Faith and Unbelief. So the Apostles prayed in a particular manner, Lord increase our Faith; and so the poor man prayed in his distress, Lord help you my unbelief. I cannot think that they ever pray aright, who never pray for the pardon of Unbelief, for the removal of it, and for the increase of Faith. If Unbelief be the greatest of Sins, and if Faith be the greatest of the Gifts of God, we are not Christians, if those things are not one principal part of the matter of our Prayers. Unto this end we must be convinced of the nature and guilt of Unbelief, as also of the nature and use of Faith; nor without that conviction do we either know our own chiefest wants, or what to pray for as we ought. And that this is the especial Work of the Holy Ghost, our Saviour expresly declares, John 16:9. He convincs the World of Sin, because they believe not on him. I do, and must deny, that any one is or can be convinced of the nature and guilt of that Unbelief, either in the whole or in the remainder of it, which the Gospel condemns, and which is the great condemning Sin under the Gospel, without an especial Work of the Holy Ghost on his mind and Soul. For Unbelief as it respects Jesus Christ, not believing in him, or not believing in him as we ought, is a Sin against the Gospel, and it is by the Gospel alone that we may be convinced of it, and that as it is the ministration of the Spirit. Wherefore neither the Light of a natural Conscience, nor the Law, will convince any one of the guilt of Unbelief with respect unto Jesus Christ, nor instruct them in the nature of Faith in him. No innate Notions of our Minds, no Doctrines of the Law will reach hereunto. And to think to teach men to pray, or to help them out in praying, without a sense of Unbelief, or the remainders of it in its Guilt and Power, the nature of Faith with its necessity, use and efficacy, is to say unto the naked and the hungry, be ye warmed and filled, and not give them those things that are needful to the Body. This therefore belongs unto the Work of the Spirit as a Spirit of Supplication. And let men tear and tire themselves Night and Day with a multitude of Prayers, if a Work of the Spirit of God in teaching the nature and Guilt of Unbelief, the nature, efficacy and use of Faith in Christ Jesus, go not with it, all will be lost and perish. And yet it is marvellous to consider how little mention of these things occurrs in most of those compositions, which have been published to be used as Forms of Prayer. They are generally omitted in such endeavours, as if they were things, wherein Christians were very little concerned. The Gospel positively and frequently determines the present Acceptation of men with God, or their Disobedience, with their future Salvation and Condemnation according unto their Faith or Unbelief. For their Obedience or Disobedience are infallible consequences thereon. Now if things that are of the greatest Importance unto us, and whereon all other things, wherein our spiritual Estate is concerned, do depend, be not a part of the subject matter of our daily Prayer, I know not what deservs so to be.

Secondly, The matter of our Prayer respects the Depravation of our natures and our wants on that account. The Darkness and Ignorance that is in our Understandings, our unacquaintedness with heavenly things, and Alienation from the Life of God thereby, the secret workings of the Lusts of the mind under the shades and Covert of this darkness; the stubbornness, obstinacy and perverseness of our Wills by nature, with their reluctancies unto, and dislike of things spiritual, with innumerable latent guiles thence arising, all keeping the Soul from a due conformity unto the Holiness of God, are things which Believers have an especial regard unto in their Confessions and Supplications. They know this to be their Duty, and find by experience, that the greatest concernment between God and their Souls, as to Sin and Holiness, do lye in these things. And they are never more jealous over themselves, than when they find their Hearts least affected with them. And to give over treating with God about them, for Mercy in their pardon, for Grace in their removal, and the daily Renovation of the Image of God in them thereby, is to renounce all Religion, and all designs of living unto God.

Wherefore without a knowledge, a sense, a due comprehension of these things, no man can pray as he ought, because he is unacquainted with the matter of Prayer, and knows not what to pray for. But this knowledge we cannot attain of ourselves. Nature is so corrupted, as not to understand its own depravation. Hence some absolutely deny this Corruption of it, so taking away all necessity of labouring after its cure, and the Renovation of the Image of God in us. And hereby they overthrow the Prayers of all Believers, which the Antient Church continually pressed the Pelagians withal. Without a sense of these things I must profess, I understand not how any man can pray. And this knowledge, as was said, we have not of ourselves. Nature is blind, and cannot see them; it is proud, and will not own them; stupid, and is senseless of them. It is the Work of the Spirit of God alone, to give us a due conviction of, a spiritual insight into, and sense of the Concernment of these things. This I have elsewhere so fully proved, as not here again to insist on it.

It is not easy to conjecture, how men pray, or what they pray about, who know not the plague of their own Hearts. Yea, this Ignorance, want of Light into, or conviction of the depravation of their nature, and the remainders thereof, even in those that are renewed, with the Fruits, Consequences and Effects thereof, is the principal cause of mens Barrenness in this Duty, so that they can seldome go beyond what is prescribed unto them. And they can thence also satisfie themselves with a set or frame of well composed words, wherein they might easily discern that their own condition and concernment are not at all expressed, if they were acquainted with them. I do not fix measures unto other men, nor give bounds unto their understandings; Only I shall take leave to profess for my own part, that I cannot conceive or apprehend how any man does or can know what to pray for as he ought, in the whole compass and course of that Duty, who has no Spiritual illumination enabling him to discern in some measure the Corruption of his nature, and the internal Evils of his Heart. If men judge the faculties of their Souls to be undepraved, their minds free from vanity, their Hearts from Guile and deceit, their Wills from perverseness and carnality, I wonder not on what Grounds they despise the Prayers of others, but should do so, to find real Humiliation, and fervency in their own.

Hereunto I may add the irregularity and disorder of our Affections. These I confess are discernible in the Light of Nature, and the rectifying of them, or an attempt for it, was the principal end of the old Philosophy. But the chief respect that on this principle it had unto them, is, as they disquiet the mind, or break forth into outward expressions, whereby men are defiled, or dishonoured, or distressed. So far natural Light will go, and thereby in the working of their Consciences, as far as I know, men may be put to pray about them. But the chief depravation of the Affections lyes in their aversation unto things spiritual and Heavenly.

They are indeed sometimes ready of themselves to like things spiritual under false Notions of them, and divine Worship under Superstitious Ornaments and meretricious dresses, in which respect they are the spring and life of all that Devotion, which is in the Church of Rome. But take Heavenly and Spiritual things in themselves with respect unto their proper Ends, and there is in all our Affections, as corrupted, a dislike of them and aversation unto them, which variously act themselves, and influence our Souls unto Vanities and disorders in all Holy Duties. And no man knows what it is to pray, who is not exercised in Supplications for mortifying, changing and renewing of these Affections as spiritually irregular. And yet is it the Spirit of God alone, which discovers these things unto us and gives us a sense of our concernment in them. I say the Spiritual irregularity of our Affections, and their Aversation from spiritual things, is discernible in no Light, but that of supernatural illumination. For if without that, Spiritual things themselves cannot be discerned, as the Apostle assures us they cannot, 1 Corinthians. 2. it is impossible that the disorder of our Affections with respect unto them, should be so. If we know not an object in the true nature of it, we cannot know the actings of our minds towards it. Wherefore although there be in our Affections an innate universal aversation from spiritual things, seeing by nature we are wholly alienated from the life of God, yet can it not be discerned by us in any Light but that which discovers these spiritual things themselves unto us. Nor can any man be made sensible of the Evil and Guilt of that disorder, who has not a Love also implanted in his Heart unto those things, which it finds obstructed thereby. Wherefore the Mortification of these Affections and their Renovation with respect unto things Spiritual and Heavenly, being no small part of the matter of the Prayers of Believers, as being an especial part of their Duty, they have no otherwise an acquaintance with them or sense of them, but as they receive them by Light and Conviction from the Spirit of God. And those who are destitute hereof must needs be strangers unto the Life and Power of the Duty of Prayer it self.

As it is with respect unto Sin, so it is with respect unto God and Christ, and the Covenant, Grace, Holiness and Privileges. We have no spiritual conceptions about them, no right Understanding of them, no insight into them, but what is given us by the Spirit of God. And without an Acquaintance with these things, what are our Prayers, or what do they signifie? Men without them may say on to the World's end, without giving any thing of Glory unto God, or obtaining of any Advantage unto their own Souls.

And this I place as the first part of the Work of the Spirit of Supplications in Believers, enabling them to pray, according to the mind of God, which of themselves they know not how to do, as is afterward in the place of the Apostle insisted on. When this is done, when a right apprehension of Sin and Grace, and of our concernment in them, is fixed on our minds, then have we in some measure the matter of Prayer always in readiness, which words and expressions will easily follow, though the Aid of the Holy Spirit be necessary thereunto also, as we shall afterwards declare.

And hence it is, that the Duty performed with respect unto this part of the Aid and assistance of the Spirit of God, is of late by some (as was said) vilified and reproached. Formerly their exceptions lay all of them against some Expressions or weakness of some Persons in conceived Prayer, which they liked. But now scorn is poured out upon the matter of Prayer it self, especially the humble and deep confessions of Sin, which on the discoveries before mentioned, are made in the Supplications of Ministers and others. The things themselves are traduced as absurd, foolish and irrational, as all Spiritual things are unto some sorts of men. Neither do I see how this disagreement is capable of any Reconciliation. For they who have no Light to discern those respects of Sin and Grace, which we have mentioned, cannot but think it uncouth to have them continually made the matter of mens Prayers. And those on the other hand who have received a Light into them, and Acquaintance with them by the Spirit of God, are troubled at nothing more, than that they cannot sufficiently abase themselves under a sense of them, nor in any words fully express that impression on their minds which is put on them by the Holy Ghost; nor cloath their desires after Grace and Mercy, with words sufficiently significant and emphatical. And therefore this difference is irreconcileable by any but the Spirit of God himself. Whilst it does abide, those who have respect only unto what is discernible in the Light of Nature or of a natural Conscience in their Prayers, will keep themselves unto general expressions and outward things, in words prepared unto that purpose by themselves or others, do we what we can to the contrary. For men will not be led beyond their own Light, neither is it meet they should. And those who do receive the Supplies of the Spirit in this matter, will in their Prayer be principally conversant about the spiritual internal concernments of their Souls in Sin and Grace, let others despise them and reproach them whilst they please. And it is in vain much to contend about these things, which are regulated not by Arguments but by Principles. Men will invincibly adhere unto the capacity of their Light. Nothing can put an end to this difference, but a more plentiful Effusion of the Spirit from above, which according unto the Promise we wait for.

Secondly, We know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Holy Ghost acquaints us with the Grace and Mercy which are prepared in the Promises of God for our Relief. That the Knowledge hereof is necessary to enable us to direct our Prayers unto God in a due manner, I declared before; and I suppose it will not be denied. For what do we pray for? What do we take a prospect and design of in our Supplications? What is it we desire to be made Partakers of? Praying only by saying or repeating so many words of Prayer, whose sence and meaning those who make use of them, perhaps understand not, as in the Papacy; or so as to rest in the saying or Repetition of them without an especial design of obtaining some thing or things which we make known in our Supplications, is unworthy the Disciples of Christ, indeed of rational Creatures. Deal thus with your Governour, Will he be pleased with you or accept your Person? as Malachi 1:8. neither Ruler nor Friend nor Neighbor would accept it at our hands, if we should constantly make solemn addresses unto them, without any especial design: We must pray with our understanding; that is, understand what we pray for. And these things are no other but what God has promised, which if we are not regulated by in our Supplications, we ask amiss. It is therefore indispensably necessary unto Prayer, that we should know what God has promised, or that we should have an understanding of the Grace and Mercy of the Promises. God knows our wants, what is good for us, what is useful to us, what is necessary to bring us unto the enjoyment of himself, infinitely better than we do ourselves; Yea, we know nothing of these things but what he is pleased to teach us. These are the things which he has prepared for us, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Corinthians. 2:9. And what he has so prepar'd, he declars in the Promises of the Covenant. For they are the declaration of the Grace and good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. And hence Believers may learn, what is good for them and what is wanting unto them in the Promises, more clearly and certainly than by any other means whatever. From them therefore do we learn what to pray for as we ought. And this is another Reason, why men are so barren in their Supplications, they know not what to pray for, but are forced to betake themselves unto a confused Repetition of the same requests; namely their ignorance of the Promises of God, and the Grace exhibited in them. Our inquiry therefore is, by what way or means we come to an Acquaintance with these Promises, which all Believers have in some measure, some more full and distinct than others, but all in an useful sufficiency. And this we say is by the Spirit of God, without whose Aid and Assistance we can neither understand them, nor what is contained in them.

I do confess, that some by frequent reading of the Scripture, by the only help of a faithful Memory, may be able to express in their Prayers the Promises of God, without any spiritual Acquaintance with the Grace of them, whereby they administer unto others, and not unto themselves. But this Remembrance of Words or Expressions belongs not unto the especial Work of the Holy Ghost in supplying the Hearts and minds of Believers with the matter of Prayer. But this is that which he does herein; He opens their Eyes, he givs an understanding, he enlightens their minds, so that they shall perceive the things that are of God prepared for them, and that are contained in the Promises of the Gospel; and represents them therein in their beauty, Glory, suitableness and desirableness unto their Souls. He maks them to see Christ in them, and all the Fruits of his Mediation in them, all the effect of the Grace and Love of God in them, the Excellency of Mercy and Pardon, of Grace and Holiness, of a new Heart, with Principles, dispositions, Inclinations and Actings, all as they are proposed in the Truth and Faithfulness of God. Now when the mind and Heart is continually filled with an Understanding and due Apprehensions of these things; it is always furnished with the matter of Prayer and praise unto God, which Persons make use of according as they have actual assistance and utterance given unto them. And whereas this Holy Spirit together with the knowledge of them, does also implant a Love unto them upon the minds of Believers, they are not only hereby directed what to pray for, but are excited and stirred up to seek after the enjoyment of them, with ardent Affections and earnest Endeavours, which is to pray. And although among those on whose Hearts these things are not implanted, some may (as was before observed) make an appearance of it, by expressing in Prayer the words of the Promises of God retined in their memories, yet for the most part they are not able themselves to pray in any tolerable useful manner, and do either wonder at, or despise those that are so enabled.

But it may be said, that where there is any defect herein, it may be easily supplied. For if men are not acquainted with the Promises of God themselves in the manner before described, and so know not what they ought to pray for, others who have the understanding of them may compose Prayers for their use according to their Apprehensions of the mind of God in them, which they may read, and so have the matter of Prayer always in a readiness.

I answer, (1.) I do not know that any one has a Command, or Promise of Assistance, to make or compose Prayers to be said or read by others as their Prayers; and therefore I expect no great matter from what any one shall do in that kind. The Spirit of Grace and Supplication is promised, as I have proved, to enable us to pray, not to enable us to make or compose Prayers for others.

(2.) It savours of some unacquaintance with the Promises of God, and the Duty of Prayer, to imagine that the matter of them so as to suit the various conditions of Believers, can be pent up in any one Form of mans devising. Much of what we are to pray about, may be in general and doctrinally comprised in a Form of Words, as they are in the Lords Prayer, which gives directions in, and a boundary unto our requests: But that the things themselves should be prepared and suited unto the condition and wants of them that are to pray, is a fond imagination.

(3.) There is a vast difference between an objective Proposal of good things to be prayed for, unto the consideration of them that are to pray, which men may do; and the implanting an acquaintance with them and Love unto them upon the mind and Heart, which is the Work of the Holy Ghost.

(4.) When things are so prepared and cast into a form of Prayer, those by whom such forms are used, do no more understand them, than if they had never been cast into any such form, unless the Spirit of God give them an understanding of them, which the form it self is no sanctified means unto. And where that is done, there is no need of it.

(5.) It is the Work of the Holy Spirit to give unto Believers such a comprehension of promised Grace and Mercy, as that they may constantly apply their minds unto that or those things in an especial manner which are suited unto their present daily wants and occasions, with the frame and dispositions of their Souls and Spirit. This is that which gives spiritual beauty and order unto the Duty of Prayer; namely, the suiting of Wants and Supplies, of a thankful disposition and Praises, of Love and Admiration unto the excellencies of God in Christ, all by the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost. But when a Person is made to pray by his Directory for things though good in themselves, yet not suited unto his present state, frame, inclination, wants and desires, there is Spiritual Confusion and disorder and nothing else.

Again, What we have spoken concerning the Promises, must also be applied unto all the Precepts or Commands of God. These in like manner are the matter of our Prayers, both as to Confession and Supplication. And without a right understanding of them, we can perform no part of this duty as we ought. This is evident in their apprehension who repeating the words of the Decalogue, do subjoyn their acknowledgments of a want of Mercy, with respect unto the Transgression of them, I suppose, and their desires to have their hearts inclined to keep the Law. But the Law with all the Commands of God are Spiritual and inward, with whose true sense and importance in their extent and latitude, we cannot have an useful Acquaintance, but by the enlightning, instructing efficacy of the Grace of the Spirit. And where this is, the mind is greatly supplied with the true matter of Prayer. For when the Soul has learnt the Spirituality and Holiness of the Law, its extent unto the inward frame and disposition of our Hearts, as well as unto outward Actions, and its requiring absolute Holiness, Rectitude and Conformity unto God at all times, and in all things; then does it see and learn its own discrepancy from it, and coming short of it, even then when as to outward Acts and Duties, it is unblameable. And hence do proceed those Confessions of Sin in the best and most holy Believers, which they who understand not these things, do deride and scorn. By this means therefore does the Holy Spirit help us to pray, by supplying us with the due and proper matter of Supplications, even by acquainting us and affecting our hearts with the Spirituality of the Command, and our coming short thereof in our dispositions, and frequent inordinate actings of our Minds and Affections. He who is instructed herein, will on all occasions be prepared with a fulness of matter for Confession and Humiliation; as also, with a sense of that Grace and Mercy, which we stand in need of with respect unto the Obedience required of us.

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 it self, so useful unto us, so acceptable unto God, as the matter of Prayer, but it may be vitiated, corrupted, and Prayer it self be rendred vain, by an application of it unto false or mistaken Ends. And that in this case we are relieved by the Holy Ghost, it is plain in the Text under consideration. For helping our infirmities, and teaching us what to pray for as we ought, he maks Intercession for us according unto God, that is his mind or his will, v. 27. This is well explained by Origen on the Place, Velut si magister suscipiens ad Rudiment a Discipulum, & ignorantem penitus literas, ut eum docere possit & instituere, necesse habet inclindre se ad Discipuli rudimenta, & ipse prius dicere nomen literae, ut respondendo discipulus discat, & sit quodammodo Magister incipienti Discipulo similis, ea loquens & ea meditans, quae incipiens loqui debeat ac meditari; It a & Sanctus Spiritus, ubi oppugnationibus carnis perturbari nostrum Spiritum viderit, & nescientem quid orare debeat secundum quod oportet, ipse velut Magister orationem praemittit, quam noster spiritus (si tamen Discipulus esse Sancti Spiritus desiderat) prosequatur, ipsegemitus ossert quibus noster spiritus discat ingemiscere, ut repropitiet sibi Deum. To the same purpose speaks Damascen, lib. 4. Ch. 3. and Austin in sundry places collected by Beda in his Comment on this. He does it in us, and by us, or enabls us so to do. For the Spirit himself without us, has no Office to be performed immediately towards God, nor any Nature inferiour 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 performs what is to be done with God for us. What the Spirit does, he does in and by us. He therefore directs and enabls 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 expression; God knows the mind of the Spirit. For he works such high, holy, spiritual desires and designs in the minds of Believers in their Supplications, as God alone knows and understands in their full extent and latitude. That of ourselves we are apt to fail and mistake has been declared from James 4:3.

I shall not here insist on particulars, but only mention two general Ends of Prayer which the Holy Spirit keeps the minds of Believers unto in all their Requests, where he has furnished them with the matter of them according to the mind of God. For he does 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 Gods Glory. Without his especial Aid and Assistance we should aim at Self only and ultimately in all we do. Our own profit, case, 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 Supplications 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 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 Supplications. 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 works in us, if he works in us any thing at all. And this is the first part of the Work of the Spirit towards Believers as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication; He furnishs and fills 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.

The work of the Holy Spirit as to the matter of prayer.

These are the things to consider with respect to the matter of prayer; and in all of them we do not of ourselves know what we should pray for, how, or when. The first work of the Spirit of God as a Spirit of supplication in believers is to give them an understanding of all their needs and of the supplies of grace and mercy in the promises — causing a sense of these things to settle and abide on their minds, so that, according to their measure, they are continually furnished with the matter of prayer. Without this people never pray; with it, in some sense, they pray always. For:

(1) He alone gives, and He alone is able to give, us such an understanding of our own needs that we are able to make our thoughts about them known to God in prayer and supplication. What is said concerning our needs applies equally to the whole matter of prayer by which we give glory to God, whether in requests or praises. This I will demonstrate through several examples, to which others may be related.

(1) The principal matter of our prayer concerns faith and unbelief. So the apostles prayed in a particular way, "Lord, increase our faith"; and so the distressed man prayed, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." I cannot think that those ever pray rightly who never pray for the forgiveness of unbelief, for its removal, and for the increase of faith. If unbelief is the greatest of sins, and if faith is the greatest of the gifts of God, we are not Christians if these things are not a principal part of the matter of our prayers. To this end we must be convinced of the nature and guilt of unbelief, as also of the nature and use of faith; without that conviction we know neither our greatest need nor what to pray for as we ought. That this is the special work of the Holy Spirit, our Savior expressly declares in John 16:9: "He convicts the world of sin, because they do not believe in Me." I do and must deny that anyone is or can be convicted of the nature and guilt of that unbelief — either fully or in any remaining measure — which the Gospel condemns, which is the great condemning sin under the Gospel, without a special work of the Holy Spirit on his mind and soul. For unbelief as it concerns Jesus Christ — not believing in Him, or not believing in Him as we ought — is a sin against the Gospel, and it is only by the Gospel that we may be convicted of it, and only as it is the ministry of the Spirit. Therefore neither the light of a natural conscience nor the law will convict anyone of the guilt of unbelief with respect to Jesus Christ, nor instruct them in the nature of faith in Him. No innate notions of our minds, no doctrines of the law can reach this far. To think to teach people to pray, or to assist them in praying, without a sense of unbelief — or of its remaining guilt and power — and without understanding faith's nature, necessity, usefulness, and effectiveness, is to say to the naked and hungry, "Be warm and filled," and not give them what the body needs. This therefore belongs to the work of the Spirit as a Spirit of supplication. And let people wear themselves out day and night with many prayers — if a work of the Spirit of God in teaching the nature and guilt of unbelief and the nature, effectiveness, and use of faith in Christ Jesus does not accompany them, all will be lost and come to nothing. And it is remarkable how little mention of these things appears in most of the compositions that have been published as forms of prayer. They are generally omitted as if they were matters of little concern to Christians. Yet the Gospel positively and frequently determines the present standing of people with God — their obedience or disobedience — and their future salvation or condemnation, according to their faith or unbelief, since their obedience or disobedience follows inevitably from it. Now if the things of the greatest importance to us — on which all other things concerning our spiritual state depend — are not part of the subject matter of our daily prayer, I do not know what deserves to be.

Second, the matter of our prayer concerns the corruption of our nature and our needs on that account. The darkness and ignorance in our understanding, our unfamiliarity with heavenly things and alienation from the life of God because of it, the secret workings of the lusts of the mind under the cover of this darkness, the stubbornness and perverseness of our wills by nature with their resistance to and dislike of spiritual things, and the countless hidden dangers arising from all of this — all of which keep the soul from true conformity to the holiness of God — are things believers pay special attention to in their confessions and supplications. They know this to be their duty, and find by experience that the greatest issues between God and their souls, as to sin and holiness, lie in these things. And they are never more watchful over themselves than when they find their hearts least affected by them. To stop dealing with God about these things — seeking mercy for their forgiveness, grace for their removal, and the daily renewal of the image of God in them — is to renounce all religion and all intention of living to God.

Therefore, without knowledge, a sense, and a proper understanding of these things, no one can pray as he ought, because he is unacquainted with the matter of prayer and does not know what to pray for. But this knowledge we cannot attain of ourselves. Human nature is so corrupted that it cannot understand its own depravity. Hence some absolutely deny this corruption, removing the need to seek its cure and the renewal of God's image in us. In doing so they overthrow the prayers of all believers, which the ancient church continually pressed against the Pelagians. Without a sense of these things, I must confess I cannot understand how any person can pray. And this knowledge, as was said, we do not have of ourselves. Nature is blind, and cannot see these things; it is proud, and will not own them; it is numb, and has no feeling of them. It is the work of the Spirit of God alone to give us a proper conviction of, a spiritual insight into, and a sense of their importance. This I have proved so fully elsewhere that I will not repeat the argument here.

It is not easy to imagine how people pray, or what they pray about, who do not know the condition of their own hearts. Indeed, this ignorance — this lack of light into, or conviction of, the depravity of human nature and its ongoing remains even in those who are renewed, along with its fruits, consequences, and effects — is the principal cause of people's poverty in this duty, so that they can seldom go beyond what has been prescribed for them. From this same source they can satisfy themselves with a set frame of well-composed words that, if they were acquainted with their own condition, they would easily see does not express it at all. I do not presume to set limits for other people, nor to define the extent of their understanding. I will only take the liberty of saying for my own part that I cannot conceive or understand how any person knows what to pray for as he ought — throughout the whole course and scope of that duty — who has no spiritual illumination enabling him to discern in some measure the corruption of his nature and the inward evils of his heart. If people judge the faculties of their souls to be uncorrupted, their minds free from vanity, their hearts from guile and deceit, their wills from perverseness and carnality, I do not wonder that they despise the prayers of others — but I would expect real humiliation and fervency to be very difficult to find in their own.

To this I may add the irregularity and disorder of our affections. These, I grant, are discernible by natural light, and the rectifying of them — or the attempt at it — was the principal aim of ancient philosophy. But its chief concern with them was as they disturb the mind or break out in outward expressions by which people are defiled, dishonored, or distressed. Natural light will go this far, and through the working of conscience, as far as I know, people may be prompted to pray about these things. But the chief corruption of the affections lies in their aversion to things spiritual and heavenly.

The affections are indeed sometimes ready on their own to be drawn to spiritual things under false representations of them, and to divine worship under superstitious ornaments and enticing outward forms — which is why they are the spring and life of all the devotion found in the Church of Rome. But take heavenly and spiritual things as they are in themselves, with respect to their proper ends, and in all our affections, as corrupted, there is a dislike of them and aversion from them, which variously manifests itself and leads our souls into vanities and disorders in all holy duties. No one knows what it is to pray who is not exercised in supplications for the mortifying, changing, and renewing of these affections as spiritually irregular. Yet it is the Spirit of God alone who reveals these things to us and gives us a sense of our involvement in them. The spiritual irregularity of our affections, and their aversion from spiritual things, is discernible in no light other than that of supernatural illumination. For if without that light spiritual things themselves cannot be discerned — as the apostle assures us they cannot in 1 Corinthians 2 — it is impossible for the disorder of our affections with respect to them to be discernible either. If we do not know an object in its true nature, we cannot know the workings of our minds toward it. Therefore, although there is in our affections an innate universal aversion from spiritual things, since by nature we are wholly alienated from the life of God, this aversion cannot be discerned by us in any light other than that which first reveals those spiritual things to us. Nor can any person become sensitive to the evil and guilt of that disorder who does not also have a love implanted in his heart for those things which he finds obstructed by it. Therefore, since the mortification of these affections and their renewal with respect to spiritual and heavenly things is no small part of believers' prayers — being a special part of their duty — they have no acquaintance with or sense of these things except as they receive them through the light and conviction of the Spirit of God. Those who lack this will inevitably be strangers to the life and power of the duty of prayer itself.

As it is with respect to sin, so it is with respect to God and Christ, and the covenant, grace, holiness, and privileges. We have no spiritual understanding of them, no right conception of them, no insight into them, except what is given us by the Spirit of God. And without familiarity with these things, what are our prayers, and what do they amount to? Without them, people may keep saying words to the world's end without giving any glory to God or gaining any benefit for their own souls.

This I place as the first part of the work of the Spirit of supplications in believers, enabling them to pray according to God's mind — which of themselves they do not know how to do, as is affirmed by the apostle in the passage already referred to. When this is done — when a right understanding of sin and grace, and of our involvement in them, is settled on our minds — then we have in some measure the matter of prayer always in readiness, and words and expressions will easily follow, though the Holy Spirit's aid is necessary for that too, as we shall declare afterward.

And it is here that the duty — as it is performed with respect to this part of the Spirit's aid and assistance — has recently been vilified and reproached by some. Formerly their objections all concerned some expressions or weaknesses in certain people's free prayer that they disliked. But now scorn is being poured out on the very matter of prayer itself, especially the humble and deep confessions of sin which, in the light of the discoveries mentioned, are made in the supplications of ministers and others. The things themselves are denounced as absurd, foolish, and irrational — as all spiritual things are to certain kinds of people. Nor do I see how this disagreement is capable of any resolution. For those who have no light to discern those aspects of sin and grace that we have described cannot help but find it strange to have them continually made the matter of people's prayers. And those on the other side who have received light into these things and familiarity with them through the Spirit of God are troubled by nothing more than their inability to sufficiently abase themselves under a sense of them, or to fully express in any words the impression put on their minds by the Holy Spirit, or to clothe their desires for grace and mercy in words sufficiently significant and emphatic. Therefore this difference is irresolvable by any but the Spirit of God Himself. While it persists, those who attend only to what is discernible by natural light or a natural conscience in their prayers will keep to general expressions and outward things in words prepared for that purpose by themselves or others — do what we will to change it. For people will not be led beyond their own light, nor is it fitting they should be. And those who do receive the Spirit's supplies in this matter will, in their prayers, be principally occupied with the spiritual, internal concerns of their souls in sin and grace — let others despise and reproach them as they please. It is useless to contend much about things that are governed not by arguments but by principles. People will irresistibly hold to what their own light can reach. Nothing can end this difference but a more plentiful outpouring of the Spirit from above, which according to the promise we wait for.

Second, we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Holy Spirit acquaints us with the grace and mercy prepared in God's promises for our relief. That knowledge of this is necessary to enable us to direct our prayers to God in a proper manner I declared before, and I suppose it will not be denied. For what do we pray for? What outcome do we aim at in our supplications? What do we desire to receive? Praying only by saying or repeating words of prayer whose meaning those who use them perhaps do not understand — as in the papacy — or resting in the mere saying or repetition of them without any specific aim to obtain something made known in the supplications, is unworthy of the disciples of Christ, indeed of rational beings. "Deal thus with your governor — will he be pleased with you or accept your person?" (Malachi 1:8). Neither a ruler, a friend, nor a neighbor would accept it if we constantly made solemn addresses to them with no specific purpose; we must pray with our understanding, that is, understand what we pray for. And these things are nothing other than what God has promised; if our supplications are not regulated by them, we ask with wrong motives. It is therefore indispensable to prayer that we know what God has promised — that we have an understanding of the grace and mercy of the promises. God knows our needs, what is good for us, what is useful to us, what is necessary to bring us to the enjoyment of Himself, infinitely better than we do; indeed, we know nothing of these things but what He is pleased to teach us. These are the things He has prepared for us, as the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 2:9. And what He has so prepared, He declares in the promises of the covenant. For they are the declaration of the grace and good pleasure He has purposed in Himself. From them therefore believers may learn what is good for them and what they need, more clearly and certainly than from any other source whatsoever. From them, therefore, we learn what to pray for as we ought. And this is another reason why people are so poor in their supplications and are forced to repeat the same requests in confusion — their ignorance of God's promises and the grace offered in them. Our inquiry therefore is, by what way or means we come to an acquaintance with these promises, which all believers have in some measure — some more fully and clearly than others, but all in a sufficiency that is useful. And we say this is through the Spirit of God, without whose aid and assistance we can neither understand the promises nor what is contained in them.

I admit that some people, through frequent Bible reading and a good memory, can recite God's promises in their prayers without any real spiritual understanding of those promises — supplying words for others rather than drawing on something genuinely their own. But that kind of memory work is not what the Holy Spirit does when He supplies believers' hearts and minds with the matter of prayer. What the Spirit does is this: He opens their eyes, gives them understanding, and enlightens their minds so that they perceive the things God has prepared for them and that are contained in the promises of the Gospel — presenting those promises in all their beauty, glory, suitableness, and desirableness to their souls. He enables them to see Christ in those promises, along with all the fruits of His mediation, all the effects of God's grace and love, the excellence of mercy and pardon, of grace and holiness, of a new heart with renewed principles, dispositions, inclinations, and actions — all as they are set forth in the truth and faithfulness of God. When the mind and heart are continually filled with understanding and proper appreciation of these things, a person is always furnished with material for prayer and praise to God, which they draw on according to the actual assistance and expression given to them. And because the Holy Spirit, along with this knowledge, also implants love for these things in the hearts of believers, they are not only directed what to pray for but are stirred up to seek after those things with earnest affection and effort — which is what it means to pray. Among those in whom these things have not been implanted, some may — as noted before — imitate prayer by reciting the words of God's promises from memory. But for the most part they are not able to pray in any genuinely useful way themselves, and they either marvel at or look down on those who are so enabled.

But someone might say: where there is a deficiency in this area, it can easily be supplied. If people are not acquainted with God's promises in the way described, and therefore do not know what they ought to pray for, others who do understand them can compose prayers for their use — prayers shaped by their own understanding of God's mind — which those people can read, giving them the matter of prayer always ready at hand.

I answer: first, I do not know that anyone has been commanded or promised divine assistance to compose prayers to be read by others as their own prayers. I therefore expect little of real value from whatever anyone does in that kind. The Spirit of grace and supplication is promised — as I have shown — to enable us to pray, not to enable us to compose prayers for others.

Second, it reflects some unfamiliarity with God's promises and the duty of prayer to imagine that the matter of prayer, suited to the varied conditions of believers, can be contained in any one form of human devising. Much of what we are to pray about may in general terms be included in a form of words — as in the Lord's Prayer, which gives direction and sets boundaries for our requests. But to think that those words can be prepared and suited to the specific condition and needs of every person who prays is a foolish notion.

Third, there is a vast difference between objectively presenting good things to be prayed for to the consideration of those who are to pray — which human beings can do — and actually implanting understanding of and love for those things in the mind and heart, which is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Fourth, when things are arranged into a form of prayer, those who use such forms understand them no better than if they had never been put into that form — unless the Spirit of God gives them understanding, and a composed form is not a means God has sanctified for that purpose. And where the Spirit does give that understanding, the form is unnecessary.

Fifth, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to give believers such a grasp of promised grace and mercy that they can consistently direct their minds, in a particular and fitting way, to those things that match their present daily needs, circumstances, and the current frame of their souls. This is what gives prayer its spiritual beauty and order — the matching of needs with their corresponding supplies, of a thankful heart with praise, of love and wonder to the excellencies of God in Christ, all by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. But when a person is directed by a prayer guide to pray for things that, though good in themselves, are not suited to his present condition, frame, inclinations, needs, and desires, the result is spiritual confusion and disorder, and nothing more.

What has been said about God's promises must also be applied to all of God's commands. These likewise form the matter of our prayers, both in confession and supplication. Without a right understanding of them, we cannot fulfill any part of this duty as we ought. This is evident in the approach of those who recite the words of the Ten Commandments and then add acknowledgments of failure to keep them, along with requests for mercy and for hearts inclined to obey. But the law and all of God's commands are spiritual and inward, and we cannot gain a truly useful acquaintance with their full meaning and extent without the enlightening and instructing work of the Spirit of grace. When the Spirit does this work, the mind is greatly furnished with the true matter of prayer. When the soul has learned the spirituality and holiness of the law — its reach into the inward frame and disposition of the heart as well as outward actions, and its demand for absolute holiness, righteousness, and conformity to God at all times and in all things — it sees its own failure to measure up, even when its outward conduct appears blameless. From this come the confessions of sin found in the best and most holy believers, which those who do not understand these things mock and deride. This, then, is one way the Holy Spirit helps us to pray — by supplying us with the proper matter for supplication through acquainting us with the spirituality of God's commands and moving our hearts with a sense of how far we fall short in our dispositions and in the frequent disordered workings of our minds and affections. Whoever is instructed in these things will always have an abundance of material for confession and humility, as well as a sense of the grace and mercy we need in light of the obedience required of us.

Third, the Holy Spirit alone guides and directs believers to pray for things with right and proper ends in view. There is nothing so excellent in itself, so useful to us, or so acceptable to God as the matter of prayer, that cannot be corrupted and prayer itself rendered worthless by directing it toward false or mistaken ends. That the Holy Spirit relieves us in this is clear from the passage under consideration. In helping our weaknesses and teaching us what to pray for as we ought, He makes intercession for us according to God — that is, according to God's mind and will (Romans 8:27). Origen explains this well: just as a teacher taking on a student who is learning to read must stoop to the student's level and first speak the name of the letter so that the student learns by responding, becoming in some way like the beginner in speaking and thinking what the beginner must speak and think — so also the Holy Spirit, when He sees our spirit troubled by the assaults of the flesh and not knowing what it ought to pray as it should, goes before as Teacher with a prayer that our spirit (if it desires to be a disciple of the Holy Spirit) may follow, offering groans by which our spirit learns to groan, so that it may win God back to itself. Damascene and Augustine say the same thing, as collected by Bede in his commentary on this passage. The Spirit does this in us and through us, or enables us to do it. For the Spirit Himself, apart from us, has no office to perform directly toward God, nor any nature inferior to the divine in which He might intercede. Everything of that kind, with respect to us, is the role of Christ alone — He alone in His own person does what must be done with God on our behalf. What the Spirit does, He does in and through us. He therefore directs and enables us to make supplications according to God's mind. In this, God is said to know the mind of the Spirit — that is, the Spirit's purpose and design in the requests He prompts. God knows — that is, approves of and accepts — this. So it is the Spirit of God who directs us as to the purpose and end of our prayers, so that they may find acceptance with God.

Yet there may be — and I believe there is — more in that expression: God knows the mind of the Spirit. For He works such high, holy, and spiritual desires and purposes in the minds of believers during their supplications that God alone fully knows and understands their extent and depth. That we ourselves are apt to fail and go wrong in this has been shown from James 4:3.

I will not go into particulars here, but will mention two general ends in prayer that the Holy Spirit keeps believers' minds focused on in all their requests — wherever He has supplied them with the matter of prayer according to God's mind. For He not only makes intercession in them according to God's mind with respect to the matter of their requests, but also with respect to the end they are aiming at, so that it may be accepted by God. The Spirit therefore guides them to aim for the following.

First, that the fulfillment of all their petitions and prayers would directly tend to the glory of God. It is the Spirit alone who enables them to subordinate all their desires to God's glory. Without His particular help and assistance, we would aim at self alone and ultimately in everything we do. Our own benefit, comfort, satisfaction, blessings, peace, and deliverance would be the final end to which we would direct all our supplications — and that would corrupt them entirely, making them abominable.

Second, He also keeps them to this aim: that the result of their supplications would be the growth of holiness in them, and through that, their conformity to God and their drawing nearer to Him. Where these ends are absent, the matter of prayer may be good and in accordance with God's word, and yet our prayers remain an abomination. We may pray for mercy and grace and the best promised fruits of God's love, and yet for lack of these right ends find no acceptance in our supplications. Keeping us to these ends is the Spirit's work, because it consists in driving out all self-centered aims and bringing all natural desires into submission to God — which He works in us, if He works anything in us at all. This is the first part of the Spirit's work toward believers as a Spirit of grace and supplication: He furnishes and fills their minds with the matter of prayer, thereby teaching them what to pray for as they ought. Where this has not been worked in some measure and degree, there is no praying according to God's mind.