CHAPTER VIII: Seven Observations More
By this a man may clearly see that it was the prayer which God did hear and regarded. Thus, likewise, when a man sees hills and dales in a business, fair hopes often, and then all dashed again, and the thing in the end brought to pass, let him look back upon his prayers. Didst not thou in like manner just thus deal with God? When thou hadst prayed earnestly, and thought thou hadst even carried it, then dash all again by interposing some sin, and thus again and again? Herein
God would have you observe a proportion; and it may help you to discern how and when they are answered and obtained by prayer, because God deals thus with you therein in such a proportion to your prayers.
CHAPTER VIII:
Seven Observations More Seven observations more, from the effects which the accomplishment of the mercy hath upon the heart, &c.
Direct, 4.—FOURTHLY, Thou mayest discern whether they be in answer to thy prayers by the effects upon thy heart. As—
(1.) If the thing that is granted upon thy prayers draw thy heart more near unto God, it is then certain that it was granted as an answer to thy prayers. Things granted out of ordinary providence only do increase our lusts, and are snares to us, as Saul gave David his daughter Michal to be a snare to him; so their full tables are made snares, Ps. 69:22; so God gave the Israelites their will, the things they desired, but withal gave them up to their lusts, Ps. 106:15: he gave them their requests, but sent leanness into their souls. The quails might fat some of their bodies that survived, yet their souls grew lean; there was a curse upon their spirits; this new delicate food made their bodies more lustful, they did eat and drink, and rose up to play, Exod. 32:6. But things obtained by prayer are sanctified to us, for every thing is sanctified by prayer, 1 Tim. 4:5, so as it shall not ensnare nor entangle our hearts. A thing obtained by prayer, as it came from God, so a man will return it to God, and use it for his glory: so Hannah having obtained Samuel by prayer, she returns him unto God, 1 Sam. 1:27, 28, 'For this child I prayed; and God gave me my petition: and therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth.' If therefore thou findest this his dealing with thee in answering thee to be a kindly motive to cause thee to mourn for sin, and to be as a restraint against sin, it is a sign it was the fruit of prayer. Thus it wrought with David, Ps. 6:8, 'Away from me, ye that work iniquity; God hath heard the voice of my weeping?
Also, if thou rejoicest in God more than in the thing obtained;—so Hannah begins her song when she blesseth God for her child, 'My heart rejoiceth in the Lord,' &c., 1 Sam. 2:1; she rejoiceth not so much
in the gift as in the giver and his favour; more in this, that her prayer was answered, than in the thing obtained;—this is a sign of having obtained the mercy through prayers, when it is thus sanctified unto a man's spirit.
(2.) Prayers answered will enlarge thy heart with thankfulness, and thus usually they do. Self-love makes us more forward to pray than to give thanks, for nature is all of the craving and taking hand: but where grace is, there will be no eminent mercy gotten with much struggling but there will be a continued particular thankful remembrance of it a long while after, with much enlargement; and as prayers abounded, so will thanksgiving abound also. Hannah she makes a song, 1 Sam. 2:1. Great blessings that are won with prayer are worn with thankfulness: such a man will not ask new, but he will withal give thanks for old. Thankfulness, of all duties, proceeds from pure grace; therefore, if the Spirit stirs thee unto it, it is a sign he made the prayer. 'What thanks shall I render to God for the joy I have in you?' saith St Paul, 1 Thess. 3:9, 10. So in all his other epistles, all those he writes to, as he prays for them, so he tells them he gives thanks for them, and for their graces which he had prayed for. And if answering prayers for others makes St Paul so thankful, what when for himself? Prayer and thanks are like the double motion of the lungs; the air that is sucked in by prayer is breathed forth again by thanks. Is thy heart afresh enlarged, as to mourn for past sins long since committed, so in like manner for past mercies won with long prayers, and this for a long while after? it is a sign that they were obtained by prayer.
(3.) If the mercy obtained doth encourage thee to go to God another time, to pray again the more confidently and fervently, it is a sign thou hast got the former that way; for the Holy Ghost having once shewed thee this way of procuring mercy, hence it is thou art thus ready to take the same course another time. Ps. 116:2, 'The Lord hath heard me, and I will call on him as long as I live.' I know, says he, now what course to take, if I be in any want, even to call upon him; and he calls upon others to do so too.
(4.) When, God having heard thy prayers upon solemn vows made by thee, thy heart is made careful to pay those vows which thou didst make in the time of thy suing to God for that mercy; this may be an argument to thee, the thing being granted, that thy prayer was heard.
For— First, It argueth that thy heart itself doth secretly make such an account, that upon them God did grant the thing, and thou doest therefore make conscience to return all again to God in service, as the condition of thy indentures made with him, and as a homage due, and an acknowledgment for ever that such a mercy was won by prayer; and by this preservest the memory of the receipt of that mercy, vows being of the nature of homage. And—
Secondly, In this also it is an evidence that the thing was obtained by prayer: in that God calls for those vows from thee, by his Spirit in thy heart, and stirs thee up to perform them, it argues that, in relation to thy prayers answered, he takes them as dues from thee; that having
despatched thy suit, he now calls for what was agreed to be given him when it should be performed. And— Thirdly, In that also he doth accept the payment of these thy vows of thee, he acknowledgeth that those vows and prayers were heard; for as Manoah* said in another case, Judges 13:23, 'If he meant to have destroyed us, he would not have accepted a sacrifice,' so in this case it may be said, if God had not heard thy prayers, he would not have accepted thy vows after thy praying. Thus David, Psalm 66:13, 14, 'I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in my trouble.' The reason follows, ver. 17,
19, because that 'verily God hath heard me when I cried to him.' And so Eliphaz in Job doth connect and hang these two together, chap.
22:27, 'Thou shalt make thy prayer to him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.' This which he speaks of paying his vows was not only as it was to be his duty, but also as a consequent that would follow the other,—that when his prayers should be heard, he thereupon would perform his vows; for his scope is to move Job to turn to God, shewing what benefit would accrue to him by it, and amongst ethers this, the hearing his prayers and performing his vows.
(5.) When thou art enabled by faith to see clearly God's hand shewed forth in the effecting of that mercy over and above the power of second causes, and to acknowledge it to his glory; for the truth is, one main caviling reason in our blind hearts, whereby we are usually hindered and put by from apprehending our prayers to be answered
when yet the thing is done, we shall find to be, that our eyes are terminated and bounded in second causes, and not raised to see
God's hand in the thing: therefore, on the contrary, when God enableth thee to see that he hath done thee this kindness, so as thy mind is clear in it, this is a fruit of his hearing thy prayers; and this you will usually find to be true, that so much faith and dependence as you had upon God in prayer for the obtaining of a mercy, so much faith and acknowledgment you will have in the accomplishment of it.
Parallel with this rule is that other, which in another case is usually given: that in performance of duties, so much as the soul did go out of itself to God for strength to perform them, so much, when they are performed, will the heart acknowledge God's assistance and be humbled. And this is a sign of prayer being heard upon this ground, because God's end of hearing prayers is that we 'might glorify him.'
So, Ps. 50:15, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' Therefore, when the heart hath prayed much for a mercy, with dependence before the obtaining of it, and then is enabled to exalt God when it is obtained, it is a sign that God did it in relation to those prayers. For there is that connexion made between these as between the cause and the effect: 'I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' David, when he was delivered out of all his troubles, as when he made that 18th Psalm he was, as appears by the title of it, then at the 6th verse he relates how he had prayed, and how he was heard: and see thereupon how his heart was enlarged to acknowledge God alone to have done all, in the rest of that psalm, so from, the 27th and also from the 31st verses. When we see angels from God, beyond the power of second causes, descending, it is a
sign that prayers, as angels, first ascended, and obtained that mercy.
Thus also the church, Isa. 26, having obtained those deliverances by prayer, ver. 17, (for which there she makes that song by way of thankfulness,) she ascribes all unto God: ver. 12, 'Thou hast wrought all our works for us;' and, ver. 18, 'Verily we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth.'
(6.) When with the mercy there cometh the assurance of God's love, and an evidence of his favour; when God sends not a bare token only, but a letter also with it, to bear witness of his love, in which the token is wrapt. I need not make that a sign, for when this comes with a mercy, it carries its own evidence; you will then know well enough that it is the fruit of prayer.
(7.) Lastly, it will be evident by the event. Things obtained by prayer have few thorns in them, the curse is taken out; but what comes but by ordinary providence comes as it were up of itself alone, and, like the earth untilled, is full of thorns and briars, and many vexations.
The reason is, for what comes in by prayer comes as a blessing, and so no sorrow is added to it; and also because prayer killeth those inordinate lusts which are the cause of that vanity and vexation which are in the things enjoyed. But when 'the blessing of God maketh rich, he addeth no sorrow with it,' Prov. 10:22. Things long deferred, at last obtained by prayer, prove most comfortable, and in a settled manner such; they prove standing and stable blessings: and what trouble the heart was put to in the deferring, it is recompensed by the more settled, constant, unmixed sweetness in the enjoying;