Chapter 1 (continued, part 58)
fig-tree in Jotham's parable, Shall I forsake my sweetness, and the good fruit I have found in communion with my God! I will never do it.
DIVISION SIXTH.—THE COMPREHENSIVENESS OF PRAYER.
'And supplication for all saints.'
These words contain the sixth and last branch in the apostle's directory for prayer, and that is, the comprehensiveness of the duty, or the persons that are to be the subject of our prayers—'supplication for all saints.' But what! would he have us pray for none but saints? Thus cannot be the apostle's meaning, it being so contrary to the mind of Christ, from whom he hath his message. Christ both bids us pray for our enemies, and is himself our pattern for it; yea, Paul himself teacheth contrary doctrine to this: 'I exhort therefore, that, first of all, prayers and supplications be made for all men,' I Tim. 2:1, that is, all sorts of men, faithful and infidels, friends and enemies. So then saints are not here named as the adequate and only subject of our prayers, but as a principal species, a sort of persons whom we are in an especial manner to carry in our prayers to God, whom if we do but remember, we shall not easily forget to pray for others also; because, as Augustine saith, numerus sanctorum de numero impiorum semper est auctus —the saints' number is increased and taken out of the number of the wicked. In praying for Babylon, we pray for Jerusalem. The more that are prayed out of sin, the more are prayed into Christ. We shall wind up our discourse upon this subject upon these THREE PROPOSITIONS or bottoms. FIRST. We
must show a public spirit in prayer, by praying for others as well as ourselves. SECOND. Of all whom we remember in our prayers, saints must not be forgot. THIRD. In praying for saints, we must be careful to comprehend and encircle all saints.
FIRST PROPOSITION.
[A PUBLIC SPIRIT must be shown in prayer.]
We must show a public spirit in prayer, by praying for others as well as ourselves. This is a duty of common interest, in which others are to share with ourselves. Like the buckets that hang in our houses, which are for the use of the whole town when any house is on fire, the spirit of prayer is a public treasure, though laid up in some few hands. All cannot pray, therefore all should be prayed for. I say it is the saints' duty, not a favour upon courtesy, which may ad libitum—at pleasure, be done or left undone. We sin and transgress the law of prayer if we do it not. 'God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you,' I Sam. 12:23. Paul writes himself a debtor to his brethren in this respect, 'We are bound to thank God always for you,' II Thes. 1:3. He acknowledges it due debt. In another place he 'thanks God that he hath them in remembrance always.' So sensible he was of the weight of this duty, that he thanks God for giving of him a heart to perform it.
[WHY a public spirit must be shown in prayer.]
First. It is one end why the Spirit of prayer is given us. The gifts of the Spirit are to be employed according to the mind and intent of the Donor. If a man bequeaths house and land to another, but charges the estate with such a payment for the use of the poor, he forfeits his
legacy that fulfills not the will of the dead. God intends the good of others in all his gifts to particular saints; the way to lose our gift is to hoard it up, and not lay it out for the end it was given. 'The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,' I Cor. 12:7. How should we profit others by this gift of the Spirit, if not by praying for them? That Spirit which stirs us up to pray for ourselves, will, if we quench it not, send us on the same errand for others; yea, in some cases, for others before ourselves—for their spiritual good, before our own temporal; for the public good of a community, before the private good of our single person; as in Moses' case, who would not be taken off praying for Israel to be made great upon their ruins. Indeed that offer from God, 'Let me alone, and I will make of thee a great nation,' was only probatory, to try whether Moses would prefer his own stake before the people's, and God was highly pleased with his self-denial.
Second. The law of love binds it as a duty upon us. We are commanded to 'love our neighbour as ourself.' That 'as' imports a parity for kind, though not for proportion; for manner, though not for measure. I must love my neighbour as truly, though not as strongly, as myself. Now, how do we show real love to ourselves, if we pray not for ourselves? Our Saviour expounds our love to our enemy by praying for him: 'Love your enemies,' and 'pray for them which despitefully use you,' Matt. 5:44. We may give an alms to an enemy, and not love him. It is easier to draw out our purse than to draw out our soul to the hungry; as the prophet phraseth it, in prayer we draw out our souls. If a man ever speaks or does anything sincerely, surely it is when he directs his speech to God in prayer, saith Lucas Brugens, upon the place. Therefore, God chooseth this of praying for our enemies as the surest testimony for our loving of them. And truly he that wisheth well only to himself may well be reckoned among the most degenerate of mankind. One well
compares such a self-lover to the hedgehog, that laps himself with his own soft down, and turns out bristles to all the world besides.
Use. This shows the largeness of God's bountiful heart. He gives his children not only leave to ask for themselves, but for others. This is not the manner of men; we count it too much boldness to beg for themselves and others also. If a poor man, when he hath got his alms, should then beg for all his neighbours, where should he find the man that would bid him welcome? But behold here the immensity of divine goodness, who gives us leave to bring our neighbour's pitcher with our own to his door, yea commands it, and then takes it ill when we steal to prayer upon our own private errand, and leave the thought of others' necessities behind us. Why shouldst thou, Christian, stand in doubt whether God will supply thy own wants, when he commands thee to intercede for others?
[Lamentation for the want of
a public spirit in prayer.]
A lamentation may be taken up for the narrowness of our spirits in prayer. Some, indeed, are so far from praying for others, that they have not learned to show so much mercy to themselves; yea, live in such an estate of alienation from God, wherein they cannot pray for themselves or their dearest relations. O how many prayerless fathers have we that are cruel to their own flesh! husbands to the wives of their own bosom! Ask whether they love them; they will tell you, Yes, that they do as their own souls. And you may believe them, for they serve them no worse than they do their own souls. A time is coming wherein they will know, one hearty prayer found upon the file for their relations would speak more for their love they pretend towards them, than all the bags of money which they fill for them. Others, if they show a little natural affection to
their own flesh and domestic relations, yet their love hath much ado to get over their own thresholds, to inquire how it fares with others. O how little do they feel their neighbours' pains! how seldom do they spread them with any real sense upon their hearts before the Lord! Or, if their eye affects their heart with what is presented so near unto them in the afflictions of their next-door neighbour, yet how few discover such a public spirit as to carry upon their hearts the miseries of those that are at further distance, so as to be faithful remembrancers to the Lord for them? Blessed Paul was afflicted with, yea, had 'a great conflict for, those that had never seen his face in the flesh.' Even among those that are Christian, O what a decay is there of this public spirit! There is great complaint in the world among men of their great losses in our late times of confusion; but I think the saints are the greatest losers, who have lost so much of their love and charity. One saith the world was once destroyed with water, propter ardorem cupidinis—for the heat of lust which had set it on a flame; and shall be once again destroyed with fire, propter teporem charitatis—for the coldness of love and charity. Love is to the soul what natural heat is to the body—it gives vigour, and enables for the performance of all offices of life. But alas! how is this kindly heat decayed among Christians in this old age of the world! This was long ago foretold by our Saviour, 'The love of many shall wax cold,' Matt. 24:12, and no wonder, when self-love, that predatory fire, waxes so hot; foretold also by the apostle, 'In the last days men shall be lovers of themselves,' II Tim. 3:2. And what a black regiment follows this captain sin, is there to be seen! If once a man make self the top of his aim, farewell loving of or praying for others. Charity cannot dwell in so narrow a house as the self-lover's heart is; yea, it is diametrically opposed to it: 'Love seeks not her own,' I Cor. 13:5.
But to turn lamentation into exhortation: labour for a public spirit in prayer. Is there none, O man, that needs the mercy of God
besides thyself? Wouldst thou have none saved in another world, nor provided for in this with thee? Now, in remembering others, God will give thee leave thy love should begin at home, though he would not have it end there. Look into thy family; canst thou forget them a day, if thou rememberest thyself? Shall a believer turn worse than an infidel? He provides for his house; and thou hast light that tells thee all thy providing for them is nothing, except God say amen. When thou hast paid thy duty to them, still widen thy charity and take up thy neighbours into thy thoughts. O consider what is doing in the streets and neighbourhood! How many mayest thou there soon find pouring out their precious souls as a drink-offering to Satan, the god of this world, in their horrid abominations? O pray that God would stay their bloody hand before they have irrecoverably made away themselves! Then take a further walk in thy meditations to view the public state and posture of the nation. See what mercies are writ with the golden pen of Providence upon its forehead, and pay thy humble thanks; what prognostics of judgments coming thou canst observe in the face of the times, and get into the gap before the wrath begins. Did Abraham so plead for a Sodom, though himself was far enough from the danger of the storm, and not thou for thy own nation, who art like to be taken in it if it fall in thy days, or thy posterity to rue it, if the cloud impending be not scattered by the prayers of the faithful? Nay, let not the sea that divides thee and the other parts of the earth make thee think thou art not concerned in their happiness or misery. Let thy prayers walk over the vast ocean, and bring matter for thy devotions, like the merchant's ship her freight from afar. Visit the churches of Christ abroad; yea, the poor Indians and other ruins of mankind that lie where Adam's sin threw them with us, without any attempt made as yet upon them by the gospel for their recovery, and carry their deplored condition before the Lord. Our Drake is famous for compassing the earth with his
ship in a few years; thou mayest by thy prayers every day, and make a more gainful voyage of it too than he did.
[Considerations to induce to
a public spirit in prayer.]
Take two or three quickening considerations to set thee the more feelingly to this work.
1. Consideration. Thou canst not pray in faith for thyself, if only for thyself. The Lord Jesus taught his disciples this piece of charity in the form of prayer he gave them: 'When ye pray, say, Our Father.' Pater est verbum fidei; noster est verbum charitatis— 'father' is a word of faith and confidence; 'our father' imports love and charity, two necessary graces in prayer. We live by faith, and faith works by love. No prayer can be without faith, nor faith without charity. Christ sends him in the gospel from the altar, to reconcile himself to his brother before he offered his gift. And why, but that he might be as ready and willing to pray for his brother as himself? If we have not charity to pray for our brother, we cannot expect welcome when we pray for ourselves.
2. Consideration. You do not else make good the character and report which God gives of his children. He speaks of them to be a blessing to the persons and places about them: Israel 'a blessing in the midst of the land of Assyria,' Isa. 19:24. They are compared to a fountain, which is a common benefit to serve a whole town; to stop or trouble which is a wrong to all that draw their water thence, Prov. 25:26. Now, one way wherein the godly are eminently serviceable to others, is by the interest they have in God and the prevalency of their prayers with him. 'By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted,' Prov. 11:11; that is, by their fervent prayers, which draw down a
blessing from heaven upon it. God blesseth imperatoriè—by command: 'he commanded the blessing, even life for evermore,' Ps. 133:3. The saints bless when they pray: 'On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee,' Num. 6:23, 24.
3. Consideration. God gives a signal testimony of his favour to his saints' prayers for others.
(1.) He doth great things at their request for others. How oft did Moses reverse divine plagues that were executed on Egypt? even as oft as Pharaoh had a heart to beg his prayers. How low did Abraham beat the market for Sodom's preservation? he brought it down to 'ten righteous men.' Could that wicked place have but afforded that number, it had not been turned to ashes.
(2.) When their prayers obtain not a mercy for the people, then nothing else can help them. Therefore God, to express his peremptory resolution and irreversible decree to punish Israel, tells them, 'Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people,' Jer. 15:1, thereby intimating their case desperate. If the prayers of such holy men could not prevent the fall of that cloud of his wrath impending, much less could they with their own power or policy shift it off. Indeed when God is fully set upon a vindictive way, he takes them off from praying: 'Pray not thou for this people,...for I will not hear thee,' Jer. 7:16. And even in this he shows at what a rate he values his people's prayers, which makes him loath they should bestow their pains in vain. 'Pray not thou for this people'—as if he had said, Let them pray if they will, I can without any regret reject their motion; but I am unwilling thou shouldst pray in an unaccepted time for that which I have no mind to give.
(3.) When the saints' prayers bring not back with them the mercy for others that is their express errand, yet God is careful that his people should not have the least suspicion that the denial proceeds from any disrespect he hath to their persons or prayers, and therefore he sometimes gives the thing they desire, only he changes the subject. Thus, when God denied Abraham for Ishmael he gave him abundantly in Isaac. Sometimes, again, what he denies them for others he grants to themselves. Thus David's prayers for his enemies 'returned into his own bosom.' Now in praying for others:
(a) Get thy heart deeply affected with their state and condition for whom thou prayest. God loves mercy better than sacrifice. To draw out our souls in giving and alms is greater charity than to draw out our purse. So in prayer, be sure thy soul be poured out, or else thou art a deceiver; thou wrongest both God and him also thou prayest for. Before Christ prayed for Lazarus he troubled himself. 'Behold how he loved him!' said those about him who were witness to the groans he fetched and tears he shed. Then thou wilt pray fervently for others when thy heart is warmed into sympathy for them. A lawyer may show more rhetoric in pleading a man's cause, but a brother or dear friend that carries the sense of his condition upon their hearts must needs discover more affection.
(b) Prefer spiritual blessings in thy prayers for others before temporal. Is it a sick friend on whose errand thou goest? If health be all thou beggest for him, thou art not faithful to thy friend. He may have that and be the worse for it. Ask of Christ grace and glory for him, and then thou dost something to purpose. Surely this our Saviour meant in his method of causing the palsied man to be cured of his disease: 'Be of good cheer,' saith Christ, 'thy sins are forgiven,' Matt. 9:2. He first brings him the news of a pardon, as a mercy {of} infinitely more worth than life or limbs, thereby tacitly reproving his
friends, who took more care to have his body healed than his soul saved. Is it the nation thou art praying for? Aim at more than deliverance from outward judgments and plagues. The carnal Jews could say, 'Give us water that we may drink,' Ex. 17:2; but thought not of their sin, to beg repentance for and pardon of it. That was the cry of the creature—a beast can low and bellow in a drought; but this is the voice of a saint.
(c) Be not discouraged in your prayers for others though an answer doth not presently overtake them. Thou prayest for a rebellious child, or carnal friend, who yet continue to be so; take heed thou dost not presently think them past grace, and give over the work. Samuel saw the people he prayed for mend but slowly, yet hear what he saith: 'God forbid that I should cease praying for you,' I Sam. 12:23. I have heard of some that have been laid forth, yea buried, before they were dead, by their overhasty friends. Be not thou thus cruel to the souls of thy relations or neighbours. Lay them not out of thy prayers, bury them not in thy thoughts for reprobates, because thou canst not perceive any sign of spiritual life in them, though thou hast many a time stretched thy hands in prayer over them; their souls thou seest are yet in their bodies, and so long it is not too late for God to breathe the life of grace into their souls. Again, is it for the public thou prayest? Draw not in thy stock of prayer, though thou hast not so quick a return in thy trade with heaven for it as thou desirest. The father's labour is not lost if his son receives the benefit of it. He may be dies before the ship comes home he sent forth, but his child lives to have the gains of that adventure paid into his purse. Thus one generation sows prayers for the church, and another reaps the mercy prayed for.
SECOND PROPOSITION.
[SAINTS must be specially remembered in prayer.]
In praying for others, of all we remember, saints must not be forgot. The apostle hints this, by making them the instance for all, as the species famosa—or chief rank of men, for whom we are to pray; and it suits well with Paul's doctrine elsewhere. We are here bid 'As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto them who are of the household of faith,' Gal. 6:10. Now this of prayer I take to be one of the most eminent ways of doing them good. What greater kindness can a man do for his sick friend than to go to the physician for him. By other acts of charity we give a little out of our own purse; but, by praying for the poor saints, we open God's treasury for them. If one should meet a beggar, and out of his purse throw him a few pence; but another tells him, I have no money of my own to give, yet I will go to court, and open your necessitous condition to the king my master; it were easy to tell which of these does the poor man the greatest kindness. A poor saint may thus do more for another, though, as Peter told the cripple, he hath neither silver nor gold to give, than he who hath the largest purse of his own. That of Araunah is observable, where we have his bountiful offer to king David: 'Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt-sacrifice,' II Sam. 24:22. This was much, and showed his heart to be noble and large, as it follows, 'All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king,' ver. 23. Yet one thing he did amounted to more than all this, which was his hearty prayer to God for David's acceptance: 'And Araunah said to the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.' He might have done all the other for fear; a subject sometimes gives his prince, because he knows he may take though he gives it not. But by his praying for him he discovered his hearty affection to him. There are several weighty reasons for this duty. First. From God. Second.
From Satan. Third. From the saints prayed for. And, Fourth. From the saints praying.
[WHY believers are to be specially
remembered in prayer.]
First. There is a reason taken from God.
1. They are the special object of his love; his heart is set upon them, his thoughts and providence are at work continually for them. Others indeed do partake of divine bounty, but they may thank the saints' company and neighbourhood for it. When the gardener waters his beds of flowers, some runs down into the alleys, but had he no flowers he would save that pains. When once God hath got his whole family of saints home to himself in heaven, it will quickly be seen what God will do with the rest of the world. God dispenseth the same providence to them both, but not with the same affection, not to the same end. 'He is the Saviour of all men, but especially of those that believe,' I Tim. 4:10. He saves the saints with saving purposes; the wicked he saves temporally, to destroy them eternally. He saves them from a present sickness or danger that they may ripen for hell; as we save our young wood for greater growth, and then cut it down for the fire. Now what shall be done for those whom God declares so much love? We cannot do less than pray for them. By this we comply with God, and show our content in his choice.
2. God hath made them the proper heirs of all his promises. Now promises are the ground of prayer. We are to pray for others, though wicked, not knowing but God may have a secret purpose of doing them good. But when there is grace, hic se asperit decretum— here God breaks open his decree. The fountain of his electing grace, which ran hitherto underground, now bursts forth; so that now you
may with fuller confidence pray for such a one. When Paul begs prayers, to encourage his friends at the work for him, he assures them of his sincerity: 'Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly' Heb. 13:18. As if he had said, You pray for one that God will not chide you for mentioning. It is an encouragement for a merchant to adventure when he puts his stock into a good bottom.
3. They are a generation that alone honour God in the world. Indeed God honours himself upon others in their present lusts and future damnation. He makes their wrath praise him here, and his wrath poured on them shall praise him hereafter; but no thanks to them for all this, for they do their utmost to lay the honour of God in the dirt. But the saints are a people who are not merely passive but active in the praising of God; it is their mother-language to bless the name of God. Whatever is their work, this is their end and aim —'whether they eat or drink,' to 'do all to the glory of God.' Now, upon this account, we are to pray for saints above others. The first thing our Saviour teacheth us to pray for is, that the name of God may be hallowed, in order to which he directs us in the very next words to pray for his church and saints, as those who alone can hallow it—'thy kingdom come.'
Second. There is a reason from Satan. His great spite is against the saints. God owns them; therefore he hates them, and spits fire and brimstone at them. Where God is of one side you may be sure to find the devil on the other; indeed they are the only company that stand in his way. As for the wicked, he takes himself to be advanced when they are exalted in the world; the father is honoured when the child is preferred. But the saints' rising portends his fall; this makes him bend all his force, by temptation or persecution, to procure their ruin. these are the stars he would stamp under his feet. The first
murder in the world was of a saint; and Cain will kill Abel to the end of the world. In all broils and confusions of nations these are the threatened party, therefore they need our prayers most.
Third. There is a reason taken from the saints prayed for.
1. They exceedingly desire prayers. The wicked, I confess, may do this also, but it is by fits—in a pang of fear or fright. Thus Pharaoh sends in all haste for Moses when the plagues of God are in his house and fields. The carnal Jews pray Samuel to pray for them that they die not; but it was when terrified with dreadful thunder and rain that fell, I Sam. 7. Yea, Simon Magus himself, smitten with horror at Peter's words, begs his payers, 'that none of those things which he had spoken might come upon him.' But at another time these wretches cared neither for the saints nor for their prayers. Pharaoh, who desired Moses at one time to pray for him, at another time chases him out of his presence with a charge never to come at him more. But now, the saints are very covetous, yea ambitious, of the auxiliary prayers of their brethren, and those not the meanest among them neither. Indeed, as any is more eminent in grace, so more greedy of his brethren's help. The richer the tradesman is, the more he sets at work for him. Paul himself is not ashamed to beg this boon of the meanest saint. 'Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,' Rom. 15:30. Did you ever hear a beggar at your door, or prisoner at the gate, beg more passionately?—for the Lord Jesus' sake, for the Spirit's sake. If ever you felt any warmth in your hearts from the blood of Christ, or love of the Spirit comforting you, strive FL"(T\.,2,, wrestle with me till we together have the victory, prevailed with God for this mercy.
2. As the saints are covetous of prayers, so they lot upon it that you do pray for them; yea, take up comfort beforehand from the expectation of what they shall receive by them. 'I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers,' Php. 1:19. 'I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you,' Phm. 22. Where,
(1.) Observe Paul's modesty. He sinks and drowns his own prayers, and expresseth his faith on theirs.
(2.) His confidence. He doubts not but they will pray, neither does he question the happy return of them into his bosom. As if he had said, If ye be faithful ye will pray for me. So that we break our trust, and disappoint our brethren, if we forget them.
3. Saints are the honest debtors we can deal with; they will pay you in their own coin. He that shows any kindness to a saint is sure to have God for his paymaster; for it is their way to turn over their debts to God, and engage him to discharge their score to man. Onesiphorus had been a kind friend to Paul, and what does Paul for him? To prayer he goes, and desires God to pay his debts. 'The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,' II Tim. 1:16.
Fourth. There is a reason taken from the saints praying. There is no duty God commands but he pays the Christian well for the performance, and leaves him a loser that neglects it. There is enough in this duty we are speaking to that may make it lovely and desirable in our eye. The best of saints have accounted it a great privilege to be admitted into this noble order. Paul thanks God that 'without ceasing he had Timothy in remembrance in his prayers night and day.' But wherein lies this mercy to have a heart to pray for our brethren?
1. It is a singular mercy to be instrumental to the grace or comfort of any saint, much more to be instrumental for the glorifying of God. This a gracious heart prizeth highly, though it costs him dear to promote it. Now in praying, though but for one single saint, thou dost both. 'Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf,' II Cor. 1:11. Paul, begging prayers, enforceth his request with a double argument.
(1.) From the prevalency of joint prayers. When twenty pull at a rope, the strength and force of every one is influential to the drawing of it; so in prayer, where many concur, all help. God looks at every one's faith and fervency exerted in the duty, and directs the answer to all.
(2.) From the harmony of joint praises. The fuller the concert in praises, the sweeter the music in God's ear. Joint prayers produce social praises. He that concurs to a prayer, and not in returning praise, is like one that helps his friend into debt, but takes no care to bring him out.
2. By praying for others we increase our own joy. When Paul saw the prayers which he had sown for the Thessalonian saints, I Thes. 1, come up in their faith and zeal, he is transported with joy, as an incomparable mercy bestowed upon himself: 'What thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God?' I Thes. 3:9. He had watered them with his prayers; God gives increment to their grace. From this his joy flourisheth, and his heart is so ravished, that he knows not what thanks to God are enough for the mercy he receives through his hands. Truly, the reason why we gain no more from the graces of our brethren, is because we venture no more prayers upon them.
3. This would be an undoubted evidence to prove ourselves saints—could we but heartily pray for them that are such. Love to the brethren is oft given as a character of a true saint. Now, no act whereby we express our love to saints stands more clear from scruples of insincerity than this of praying for them. Will you say you love the saints because you frequent their company, show kindness to their persons, stand up ion their defence against those that reproach them, or because you suffer with them? All this is excellent, if sincere; yet how easy is it for vainglory, or some other carnal end, to mingle with these! But if thou canst find thy heart in secret—where none of these temptations have such an advantage to corrupt thee—let out to God for them with a deep sense and feeling of their sins, wants, and sorrows, this will speak more for the sincerity of thy love, than all the former without this.
[Use or Application.]
Use First. Must we pray above all for saints? Woe then to those who, instead of praying for them, had rather with those, Isa. 59:15, make 'a prey' of them; that, instead of praying for them, can curse them, and drink to their confusion. Haply it is not under the plain name of saints, but as wrapped up in the bearskin of fanatic, puritan, or some other name of scorn, invented to cover their malice, so they can devour and tear them in pieces. The saints are a sort of people that none love but those that are themselves such. It is a good gloss of Jerome, estote sancti, ut oratis pro sanctis—be saints, and then you will pray for saints. The righteous is an abomination to the wicked: it is a sect everywhere spoken against. The feud began at first between Abel and Cain, and so spread over the whole world; one generation takes up the cudgel against them, as another lays it down. Hamilcar bequeathed his hatred against the Romans to his son Hannibal when he died. So is the feud transmitted by the wicked from one
generation to another against the saints. Nothing can quench their wrath or take up the quarrel;—no moral perfections, which, were they in others, would be thought lovely. Let the saint be never so wise, meek, affable, and bountiful, yet this, that he is a Christian, is a 'but' that will blot all in the wicked world's thoughts. Bonus vir Cajus Sejus, sed malus tantum quod Christianus, was the language in Tertullian's age —Cajus Sejus had been a good man if he had not had that without which he could not be good. No near relation can wear off their spite. Michal cannot bite in her scornful spirit, but jeers her husband to his face for his zeal before the Lord.
In a word, no benefit which accrues to the wicked by the saints' neighbourhood—and that is not a little—can make them lay down their hatred. They are the only bail which God takes to keep a nation, when under his arrest, out of prison. They are the cause of blessings to the families, towns, and kingdoms they live in; yet the butt at which their envenomed arrows are levelled against. The whole city is against Lot; not a man among them to take his part, so true and constant are the wicked to their own side. Tertullian tells us of some heathen husbands that liked their wives, though loose and wanton, and lived with them, when such, before they were converted to Christianity, but when once they had embraced the faith, and thereby were made chaste, they put them away; fathers that could bear undutiful rebellious carriages in their children, when once converted and these amended, they turned them out of doors. Ut quisque hoc nomine emendatur, offendit—as any were reformed in their lives by turning Christian, so he became an offender. It were will if this were only the heathens' sin; but by woeful experience we find that the true Christian hath not more cruel enemies in the whole world than some be that are of his own name. The sharpest persecutions of the church have been by those that were in the church. O what a dreadful will such have to make in the great day,
who profess the name of Christ, yet hate his nature in the saints!— who call Christ Lord, yet persecute his best servants and destroy his loyalest subjects! These are the men that above all other shall feel the utmost of the Lord's fiery wrath in the day when he shall plead his people's cause and avenge himself on their adversaries.
Use Second. Be exhorted tot his duty of praying for saints; you cannot do that which God will take more kindly at your hands. He himself puts this petition into our mouths: 'Ask me of things to come concerning my sons,' Isa. 45:11. Courtiers frame their petitions according to their prince's liking. They are careful not to ask that which he is unwilling to give; but when they perceive he favours a person or business, then they are ambitious to present the petition. Joab knew what he did in sending the woman of Tekoah to David, with a petition wrapped up in a handsome parable for Absalom the king's son. He knew the king's heart went strongly after him, and so the motion could not but be acceptable. And is not the Lord's heart gone after his saints? Thy prayer for them, therefore, must needs come in a good time, when it shall find the heart of God set upon the very thing thou askest. This was it that God was so pleased with in Daniel, ch. 9:22, 23. Now, in your prayers for the saints, among other things that you pray for them, forget not these:
1. Pray for their lives. They are such a blessing when they live, that they seldom fall but the earth shakes under them. It is commonly a prognostic of an approaching evil when God takes them away by death. Jeroboam had but one son in whom some good was found; he must die, and then the ruin of his father's family follows, I Kings 14:7. When Augustine died, then Hippo falls into the enemy's hands. If the wise man be gone that preserved the city, no wonder if its end hastens. God makes way to let his judgments in upon the world by taking the saints out of the world. When God chambers his
children in the grave, a storm is at hand, Isa. 26. It is, you see, of concernment to do our utmost to keep them among us, especially when their number is so few and thin already, that we may say, as once the prophet concerning Israel, 'I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage,' Micah 7:1. Did we indeed see them come up as thick in our young ones as they fall in the old, we might say a blessing is in them. These would be as hope-seeds at least for the next generation. But when a wide breach is made and few to step into it, this is ominous. At Moses' death, Joshua stood up in his place, and it went well with Israel's affairs. But when Joshua died, and a generation rose up that had not seen the wonders God had done for his people, and so rebelled, then they to wrack apace, Judges 2:9, 10.
2. Pray for their liberty and tranquility. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee,' Ps. 122:6. Jerusalem was the place for their public worship, 'whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord,' ver. 4; so that, by praying for Jerusalem's peace, is meant such serene times wherein the people of God might enjoy his pure worship without disturbance. The church hath always had her vicissitudes; sometimes fair and sometimes foul weather, but her winter commonly longer than her summer; yea, at the same time that the sun of peace brings day to one part of it, another is wrapped up in a night of persecution. Universal peace over all the churches is a great rarity; and where it is in any part of it enjoyed, some unkind cloud or other soon interposeth. The church's peace therefore is set out by a half-hour's silence, Rev. 8:1. When God gave the poor Jews 'a reviving,' after a tedious captivity, by moving Cyrus to grant them liberty to go and rebuild the house of God, how soon did a storm rise and beat them from their work! One prince furthers them, another obstructs the work. The gospel church Acts 9, had a sweet breathing
time of peace; but how long did it last? this short calm went before a sudden hurricane of persecution that falls upon them, Acts 12. Thus have the politic rulers of the world used the saints, as their carnal interest seemed to require; one while to countenance, another while to suppress, them. No sort of people in the world can expect less favour from the world than the church; their only safety therefore lies to engage God to espouse their cause.
3. Pray for their love and unity among themselves. The persecutor's sword—blessed be God!—is not at the church's throat among us. But are not Christians at daggers' drawing amongst themselves? The question in our days hath oft been asked, Why the word preached—being as frequent, clear, and powerful as any former age ever enjoyed in this nation —hath been no more effectual to convert the wicked or to edify the saints? I will not say this is the sole reason, but I dare deliver it as none of the least causes—and that is the woeful divisions and rents amongst those that have made greatest profession of the truth.
(1.) For the saints. It is no wonder they should thrive no more under the word, for the body of Christ is edified in love, Eph. 4. So long as there is a fever upon the body it cannot nourish. The apostles themselves, when wrangling, got little good by Christ's sermon, or the sacrament itself administered by Christ unto them. One would have thought that such was a meal in the strength whereof, as so many Elijahs, they might have gone a long journey. But, alas! we see how weak they rise from it. One denies his master, and the rest in a fright forsake him; so unfit were they in such a temper to make a spiritual advantage of the best of means.
(2.) Again, for the wicked. It is no wonder that the word prevails no more on them. The divisions and scandals that have
arisen among those that call themselves saints have filled their hearts with prejudice against the holy truths and ways of God. Christ prays for his people's unity: 'That the world may believe,' saith he, 'that thou hast sent me,' John 17:21. What is oftener in the mouths of many profane wretches than this—We will believe them when they are all of one mind, and come over to them when they can agree among themselves? Who loves to put his head into a house on fire? This should, methinks, stir up all that wish well to the gospel to pray, and that instantly, for the reunion of their divided hearts. Hot disputes will not do it; prayer, or nothing can. Pliny saith of the pearls called uniones, that their nature, though they be engendered in the sea, partakes of the heavens more than the earth. 'The God of peace' can only see us at peace. If ever we be wise to agree, we must borrow our wisdom from above; this alone is 'pure and peaceable.'
THIRD PROPOSITION.
[In praying for saints, we must comprehend 'ALL.']
In praying for saints, we must be careful to comprehend and encircle all saints. I do not mean, as the Papists, for quick and dead. Prayer is a means to wait upon them in their way; at death, then they are at their journey's end. Prayers are bootless for the dead sinner, and needless for the deceased saint. The wicked in that state are beneath, the saint above, our prayers. We cannot help the wicked. The tree is fallen, and so it must lie. We read of a change the body shall have after death. Vile bodies may, but filthy souls cannot, after death be made glorious. If they go off the body filthy, so they shall meet it at the resurrection. The time to pray for them is now while they live among you, or never; for death and hell come together to the sinner. No sooner Dives' wretched soul is forced out of his body, but you hear it shriek in hell, 'The rich man also died, and was
buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment,' Luke 16:22, 23. But Abraham tells him 'there is a gulf fixed,' that forbids all intercourse betwixt heaven and him. No what is that but an irrevocable decree with which the wicked are sealed under everlasting wrath? If God receive no prayers from them, then not from others for them. And as the wicked are beyond our help, so the saints above all need of our help; for they are in their port and haven. Prayer implies want, but saints departed are perfect, called therefore 'the spirits of just men made perfect.' We need not beg a pardon for them, for the Lord acquits them—they are 'just;' not for a supply of any good they want, they are 'made perfect;' not to remove any pain they feel, for 'the Spirit saith, Blessed are they that die in the Lord, they rest from their labours.' But they who invented this device intended, it is like, gain to their own purse, rather than benefit to others' souls. It is a pick-purse doctrine, contrived to bring grist to the pope's mill. But, to leave this, they are the living saints, your companions here in tribulation, that are the subject of your prayers, and of these we are to encircle the whole community within our remembrance. The Papists speak much of a treasury the church hath. This indeed is the true treasury of the church—the common stock of prayers with which they all trade to heaven for one another. Paul tells us what a large heart he had, even for those whose 'face he never saw in the flesh,' Col. 1:2. Take a few REASONS for the point.
[WHY in praying on behalf of saints we are to
comprehend'ALL.']
REASON FIRST. We are to love all saints, therefore to pray for all. Love in a saint is the picture of God's love to us; and God';s love looks not asquint to one saint more than another. That image is not of God's drawing which is not like himself. Nature may err in its
productions, but not God in the grace he begets in his saint's bosom. The new creature never wants its true nature. If God loves all his children, then wilt thou all thy brethren, or not one of them. When Paul commends Christians for this grace of love, he doth it from this note of universality, Eph. 1:15; 'After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints;' so Col. 1:4; Phm. 5. Now, if we love all, we cannot but pray for all. To say we love one, and not pray for him, is a solecism. Can a courtier love his friend and not speak to his prince for him, when he may do him a favour by it? Love prompts a man to do that wherein he may express the greatest kindness to his friend. Mary pours the most precious ointment she hath upon Christ. Prayer, if of the right composition, is the most precious ointment thou canst bestow on the saints. Save it not for some few of them that are of thy private society or particular acquaintance; but let the sweet odour of it fill the whole house of the church; pray for all.
REASON SECOND. We are to pray for all saints, because Christ prays for all. He carries all their names in his breastplate. 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.' He leaves not one of the number out of his remembrance. The elder brother was priest to the whole family; so is Christ, our elder brother, to the whole household of believers. Now Christ's intercession is a pattern for our prayers. We cannot indeed pray for all as he doth. He prays for them not only in the lump, but for every individual saint by name: 'I have prayed,' Peter, 'for thee,' Luke 22:32; yea, not only for every person by name, but for their particular wants and occasions. 'I have prayed that thy faith fail not.' Christ takes notice of that very grace which was in most imminent danger, and secures it by his intercession. O what unspeakable comfort is this to a saint, that he in particular should be spoken of in heaven, and every want or temptation he laboureth with
be taken notice of, and provided for, by Christ's mediation! Thus indeed we cannot pray for all, because we know but few of their persons, and little of the state and condition of those we know. Neither is there need we should. Our general suffrage and vote is as kindly taken as if we could descend to particular instances. God knows the mind of the Spirit, in our prayers on earth, to be for the same things which Christ insisteth on in his intercession in heaven.
REASON THIRD. We must pray for all saints, or else we can pray for none.
1. We cannot pray really for any, if not for all. He that prays for one saint and desires not good to another, prays not for that one as a saint, but under some other consideration, as wife, friend, child, or the like—a saint clothed with such and such circumstances; for à quatenus ad omne valet consequentia —he that loves a man, because a man, loves all, because the same human nature is found in all; and all saints have the same nature.
2. We cannot pray acceptably for one, except for all; and so we wrong those for whom we do pray, by leaving them out for whom we also should. Joseph would not hear the patriarchs for Simeon's release till they brought Benjamin over to him also. If thou wouldst be welcome to God in praying for any, carry all thy brethren to him in thy devotions; leave none behind. 'Are here all thy children?' said Samuel to Jesse. He would not sit down till the stripling David was fetched to complete the company. May be thou art earnest in prayer for thy hear neighbour Christians, but dost thou not forget others that are further off? Thou rememberest the church of God at home, but dost thou lay the miseries of the churches abroad to heart? What if God should ask thee now, Are here all thy brethren? Are there none but these that live under thy eye to be remembered? Have not I
children, and you brethren, elsewhere in the world to be thought upon? The Jews in Babylon were not to forget Jerusalem because of the great distance. 'Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind,' Jer. 51:50.
[Use or Application.]
Use First. O what a rich merchant is the saint, who hath a stock going in so many hands! In heaven Christ is hard at prayer for him, on earth his brethren. What can this man want? Christ hath such an interest in his Father's heart, that he can deny him nothing; the saints such interest in Christ, that he will not deny them. So the Christian's trade goes smoothly on in both worlds. Think of this, Christian, for thy comfort—wherever a child of God is living upon earth, there hast thou a factor to traffic with heaven for thy good. Let this help thy faith in putting up thy own private prayers, knowing that thou prayest in a communion and fellowship with others. Even when thou art alone in thy closet, expect an answer to more than thy own prayer. It is an uncharitableness not to pray for others, and pride not to expect a benefit from the prayers of others.
Use Second. It teacheth us how inquisitive we should be of the affairs of our brethren and state of the church, that so we may pray with a more bowelly sense of their wants for them. Nehemiah, when he heard of some that were come out of Judea, inquires how it fared with his brethren there? and from the sad report he heard of their afflictions and reproaches is put into a bitter passion, which he emptied, with prayers and tears for them, into the bosom of God, Neh. 1:4. How could he have done this so feelingly, had he not first been acquainted with their distressed condition? We are many of us asking oft, 'What news?' and reading books of intelligence, foreign and national; but is it as Athenians, or as Christians? to fill our
heads, or to affect our hearts? to furnish us with matter of chat and talk by the fireside with our neighbours, or of prayer to our God?
Use Third. Labour to get a wide heart in prayer for all the saints. God, it is said, gave Solomon a large heart of knowledge and wisdom, as the sand of the sea, I Kings 4;29. Behold a mercy greater than that to Solomon is here. A large heart is better than a large head—to do good, than to know it. Nothing is more unworthy than a selfish spirit; no selfishness worse than that which is vented in prayer. A heathen could blame that Athenian who in a drought prayed for his own city, saying, 'O Jupiter, rain upon the fields of the Athenians,' but forgot that his neighbours wanted as well as himself. Many heathens were great admirers of this virtue of charity. Take one instance for all. It was a law among the Romans that none should come near the emperor's tent in the night upon pain of death. Now, there was one night a certain soldier apprehended, standing near the emperor's tent with a petition to deliver unto him, who was therefore presently to be executed; but the emperor, hearing the noise from within his pavilion, called out, saying, 'If it be for himself, let him die; if for another, spare his life.' Being examined, it was found his petition was for two of his fellow-soldiers that were taken asleep on the watch. So both he escaped death and they punishment. Was this office of charity so pleasing to an earthly prince as to dispense with a law for its sake? O how acceptable then to our merciful God is it to intercede for our fellow-saints! But the more to provoke you to the exercise of this duty in its full breadth and latitude—viz. for all saints —consider,
1. This praying for all saints will prove thy love to saints sincere. A man, in praying for himself or his relations, stands not at that advantage to see the actings of pure grace, as when he prays for such as have not these carnal dependencies on him. When thou
prayest for thyself in want or sickness, how knowest thou that it is any more than the natural cry of the creature? Is it for thy family thou prayest? Still thy flesh hath an interest in the work, and may help to quicken thee—if it be not the chief spring to set thee agoing. But when thy heart beats strongly with a sense of any other's misery, that hath nothing to move thee, but his Christianity to be his remembrancer, and thou canst in secret plead with God for him as feelingly as if thou didst go on thy own errand, truly thou breathest a gracious spirit.
2. As it will speak for the truth of thy grace, so for the height and vigour of it. It is corruption that contracts our hearts. They were none of the best Christians of whom Paul gives this character, 'They sought their own,' Php. 2:21. As the heart advanceth in grace, so it widens and grows more public-spirited. The higher a man ascends a hill the larger his prospect. One that stands upon the ground cannot look over the next hedge; his eye is confined within the compass of his own wall. Thus the carnal spirit thinks of none but his own estate or stake, feels not the water till it comes into his own cabin; whereas grace cleaves the soul, and the more grace a man hath, the more it will enable to look from himself over into the condition of his brethren. Such a one partakes of the nature of the heavenly bodies, which shed their influences down upon the whole world. Especially this would speak grace high in its actings, if these circumstances concur with it:
(1.) When a person is himself swimming in abundance of all enjoyments, and can then lay aside his own joy to weep and mourn for and with any afflicted saints, though at never so great a distance from them. Thus did Nehemiah for his brethren at Jerusalem, when himself was in a warm nest and had all the enjoyments that so great a prince's court could afford. It is not usual for any but those of great
grace to feel the cords of the church's afflictions through a bed of down on which themselves lie. It must be a David that can prefer Jerusalem above his chief joy.
(2.) On the other hand, when in the depth of our own personal troubles and miseries, we can yet reserve a large room in our prayers for any other saints, this speaks a great measure of grace. It showed the Romans' strength and courage to be great, that they could spare several legions to send into Spain for the help of their friends there, while Hannibal was near their own walls with a puissant army. To be able to lend auxiliary prayers to other afflicted saints, or abroad to the church of God, when thou thyself art engaged deeply with private sorrows, does signify a very gracious spirit.
(3.) When, in our own distresses, we can entertain the tidings of any other saint's mercies with joy and thankfulness. This requires great grace indeed, to act two so contrary parts well at the same time. The prosperity of others too oft breeds envy and discontent in them that want it. If therefore thou canst praise God for others' mercies, while the tears stand in thy eyes for thy own miseries, it is a rare temper; flesh and blood never learned thee it thou mayest be sure.
To shut up this with a caution—though we are to pray for all saints, yet some call for a more special remembrance at our hands.
(a) Those that are near to us by other relations. First, by bond of nature as well as of grace: 'A brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?' Phm. 16. It is true the bond of the Spirit is more sacred than that of the flesh—sanctior est copula cordis quàm corporis; yet, when that of the flesh is twisted with the other, it adds, as force to the affection, so argument to the duty; therefore saith Paul, 'much more unto thee.'
Charity may begin, though it must not end, at home. Again, by domestic relation, society and communion, whether civil or religious —these give an enforcement to the duty; master for servant, and servants for masters; minister for people, and people for minister. He that starves his family is not like to feast his neighbours. He that is a churl to his neighbours, is not like to be overkind to strangers. So he that prays not for those who by these relations stand so near to him, is very unlike to abound in this duty for others.
(b) Those that are in distress. Whoever you forget, remember these. If one be sick in our family, we will send him his portion before we carve for any that are at the table. This is a fit season for love. A friend for adversity is as proper as fire is for a winter's day. Job's friends chose the right time to visit him in, but took not the right course of improving their visit. Had they spent the time in prayer for him which they did in hot disputes with him, they had profited and pleased God more. Again, this is the season that the tempter is busy. This lion walks abroad in the night of affliction, hoping then to make the Christian his prey. And if he wakes to make a prey of him, shall not we watch to pray for him? Again, this is the season of God's most speedy answering prayers. 'In the day when I cried thou answeredst me,' Ps. 138:3; that is, in the day of affliction. Indeed now is the time when the Spirit of Christ will be stirring us up to pray. And when should we send our letters but when the post calls? He that stirs thee up to pray for them, will be as careful to deliver up thy prayers and see an answer returned.
(c) Such of the saints as are of a public place and use. You pray for many here while you pray for one.
(d) Such as have expressly desired and engaged you to remember them at the throne of grace. Among debts, specialties are paid in the
first place. Thou art a debtor to all thy brethren, and owest them a remembrance in thy prayers; but more especially them to whom thou hast particularly promised it. This is, as it were, a bond under thy hand, given for further security of paying this debt to thy friend. Whoever thou forgettest, remember him. Did the butler's conscience accuse him for not remembering his promise to Joseph, who had engaged him—when he was restored to court—to intercede with Pharaoh for him? 'I do,' saith he, 'remember my faults this day,' Gen. 41:9. Much more hast thou cause to confess thy faults, who forgettest to make mention of them to the Lord that have solemnly desired it at thy hands. To have promised the payment of a sum of money, and to have failed, were not greater dishonesty. Thou mayest prejudice his soul more by disappointing him of thy prayer, than his estate could suffer for want of thy money. How knowest thou but the mercy he wants is stopped while [until] thy prayers come to heaven for it? That other saints obtain by their prayers for us what sometimes we do not by our own is clear from Job 42:8.
DIRECTION TWELFTH.
THE DUTY OF EVERY CHRISTIAN IN COMPLETE ARMOUR TO AID BY PRAYER
THE PUBLIC MINISTERS OF CHRIST.
'And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly,
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds'
(Eph. 6:19, 20).
The apostle having laid out this duty of prayer in its full compass, taking all saints within its circumference, he comes now to apply the general rule, and claims a share in it himself—'and for me.' When he bids them pray 'for all saints,' he surely cannot be shut out of their prayers who is not the least in the number. In the words there are four branches. FIRST. Here is an exhortation, or Paul's request for himself, and in him for all ministers of the gospel—'and for me.' SECOND. The matter of his request—'that utterance may be given unto me.' Not that he would confine and determine them in their prayers to this request alone; but he propounds it as a principal head to be insisted on by them on his behalf. THIRD. The end why he desires this—'that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.' FOURTH. A double argument to back and enforce this request—'for which I am an ambassador in bonds'— FIRST. Taken from his office. SECOND. From his present afflicted state.
BRANCH FIRST.
[THE REQUEST OF PAUL as a minister of Christ,
for the prayers of believers.]
'And for me.'
Here is an exhortation, or Paul's request for himself, and in him for all ministers of the gospel—'and for me.' FIRST. We may note here that people are to be taught the duty they owe to their minister as well as to others. SECOND. It is not only our duty to pray for others, but also to desire the prayers of others for ourselves. THIRD. We may note that the ministers of the gospel are, in an especial manner, to be remembered in the saints' prayers.
FIRST. We may note here that people are to be taught the duty they owe to their minister as well as to others; though indeed no duty is harder for the minister to press or for the people to hear—for him to preach with humility and wisdom, or for them to receive without prejudice.
[It is our duty as wellTO DESIRE THE PRAYERS
OF OTHERS,as to pray for them.]
SECOND. It is not only our duty to pray for others, but also to desire the prayers of others for ourselves. If a Paul turns beggar, and desires the remembrance of others for him, who then needs it not? This hath been the constant practice of the saints. Sometimes they call in the help of their brethren upon special occasions to pray with them. Thus Daniel, ch. 2:18, when required to interpret the king's
dream, makes use of 'Hananiah, Mishael,' and 'Azariah, his companions.' 'Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to these that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret.' Daniel would not give an answer to the king till he had got an answer from God. To prayer therefore he goes. No doubt he forgot not his errand in his closet when at his solitary devotions; but withal he calls in help to join in social prayer with him. He sends for them to his house; where, it is probable, they prayed together, for the mutual quickening of their affections and strengthening of their petition by this their united force. Wherefore, he acknowledgeth the mercy as an answer to their concurrent prayers: 'I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee,' ver. 23. This justifies the saints' practice when, in any great strait of temptation or affliction, they get some other of the faithful to give a lift with them at this duty. Sometimes we have them desiring their brethren's prayers for them when they cannot conveniently have it with them. Thus Esther sets the Jews in Shushan to prayer for her, Est. 4:16; so our apostle in many of his epistles desires the saints to carry his name with them to the throne of grace, Rom. 15:30; II Cor. 1;10, 11; Col. 4:3; Php. 1:19. And not without great reason, for,
First. God hath made it a debt which one saint owes to another to carry their names to a throne of grace. Now, not to desire this debt to be paid, which God hath charged our brethren with, is to undervalue the mercy and goodness of our God. Should a legacy be left us by a friend, were it not a despising of his kindness not to call upon the heir who is to pay it? Surely God accounts he doth us a kindness herein, and therefore may take it ill not to ask for it. It is not our usage to lose a debt for want of a demand, and this is none of the least we have owing to us.
Second. Many are the gracious promises that are made to such prayers of the faithful one for another. 'If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them,' I John 5:16. But you will say, How can the prayer of one obtain the forgiveness for another? I answer, None is forgiven for the faith of another; this must be personal; but the believing fervent prayer of one is an excellent means to obtain the grace of repentance and faith for another, whereby he may come to be forgiven. So, 'Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed,' James 5:16. Now, in not desiring our brethren's help in this kind, we make no use of these promises— the proper end of which is to encourage us to call in the auxiliary aid of others—as if such passages of Scripture might have been well spared for any need we have of them. Should you see a piece of ground never sown nor fed, you might well say the ground is barren or the owner a bad husband; either the promise is empty and useless, or we that do not improve it are worse husbands for our souls. But we cannot say so of the promise, if we consider the great fruit and advantage which the saints in all ages have reaped from it. Did not Daniel get the knowledge of a great secret as a return of his companions' prayers with him? Did not Job's friends escape a great judgment that hung over their heads at his intercession? What a miraculous deliverance had Peter at the prayers of a few saints gathered together on his behalf! Bring not therefore an evil report upon this promise, seeing such sweet clusters as these are to be shown that have been gathered from it.
Third. If we desire not others to carry our name to a throne of grace, we are guilty of quenching the Spirit of prayer; which may be done in ourselves and others also.
1. By this we may quench it in ourselves. Partly, because we neglect a duty. We are bid to 'confess our sins one to another,' and for what end but to have the benefit of mutual prayers? The same Spirit which stirs thee up to pray for thyself will excite thee in many cases to set others at prayer for thee; which, if thou dost not, thou overlayest his motions, and so committest a sin. Again, thou quenchest the Spirit of prayer in thyself by depriving thyself of that assistance which thou mightest receive in thy own prayers through theirs; for the Spirit conveys his quickening grace to us in the use of instruments and means. He that doth not hear the word preached quenches his Spirit, because God useth this as bellows to blow up and enkindle the saint's grace. So, he that desires not the prayers of others quencheth the Spirit of prayer in himself, because the exercise of their grace in prayer for thee may fetch down more grace to be poured in unto thee.