Chapter VII
Observations to be made after prayer, upon the issue of what was prayed for ;
and, first, if accomplished, whether as the fruit of prayers, or out of com mon providence. Helps herein.
WHEN a man hath thus waited, and kept his way, then let him observe the issue and conclusion of what he sought for, how things are cast by God. Now of necessity, one of these two must fall out, that either the thing desired
is accomplished, or not accomplished ; and in either of these he may come to
^ spy out answers to his prayers, for prayer may be answered though the thing be not done.
I mean to insist severally on these :
I. If the thing thou prayest for doth come to pass, then what needest thou doubt of an answer, and whether God heard thee or no ? for thou beholdest it with thine eyes. And so often it faUs out, that God doth grant according to the desires of a man s heart and not only so, but also fulfils his counsel therein, as it is Ps. xx. 4 that is, fulfils not only his desire and aim of his prayer, but in that very way, by that very means, which his judg ment and counsel pitch upon in his own thoughts. The desire of the heart may be satisfied when God gives some other thing, but the counsel of the heart is then fulfilled when a man is answered in that particular which his own judgment pitched upon as best for him. For counsel is an act of the
understanding, deliberating about means to an end, and directing to choose a particular means tending to an end : so that, as Eliphaz says to Job, chap. xxii. 27, 28,
* Thou shalt make thy prayer to God, and he shall hear thee : and decree a thing, and it shall be established to thee ; that is, a man is guided to decree and pitch upon such mercies in his prayers as God makes good in particular
: he says what he would have, and God performs it ; and this privilege thou shalt have, says Eliphaz there, if thou wilt turn to him, and be acquainted with him, and receive the law from his mouth. Thou shalt not err in praying ; but what thou settest upon to pray for, shall be
accordingly granted to thee. Such a man shall have the privilege fingere sibi fortunam in a right sense, to be his own chooser, and carver of his own mercies ; and as Christ said, Be it according to thy faith/ so God says some
times, Be it according to thy prayers. And Eliphaz speaks of it as of a
special favour, that whereas other prayers are answered obliquely, thine, says he, shall be answered directly, which is more comfortable, as direct beams
are, and have more heat in them than collateral and oblique. Thus if a man will hear God and obey him, God will hear him : for if a man be subject to Christ s kingly office, his prophetical office shall guide him, and cause him not to err in his petitions ; but by an unerring providence and preinstinct infused by his Spirit, God will so guide him as to ask even that very thing which God intends to give ; whereas of himself he knows not what nor how to ask.
384 THE KETUKN OF PKAYERS. [CHAP. VII.
So David asked long life, and God gave it him, Ps. xxi. 2-4. God not
only gave him his heart s desire, but the request of his lips, ver. 2. Hannah asked a son, and God answered her in the very thing she desired, and there fore she called him Samuel, 1 Sam. i. 20, Because, says she, I asked him of the Lord; and ver. 27, For this child I prayed, and the Lord did not
* hath given me my petition I asked of him. So, 1 Chron. iv. 10, Jabez called on God, it is said,
give another thing instead of it, but
< and God granted him the thing he requested. And thus God often deals with his children. And to this end hath God given us his Spirit ; and made Christ wisdom unto us, who knows what is good for us, though we do not ; and hath, there
fore, also commanded us to spy out mercies for ourselves, and then come to him for them : and to this end hath made such particular promises of
particular mercies, which he would have us have an eye unto in our prayers ; all which is because often he means to bestow the very things we ask.
And yet because although we have the very things we did ask and desire, such is the jealousy and infidelity of our hearts, that we often discern not nor acknowledge that it was our prayers that obtained them from God ; but we are apt, when once we have them, either to look but to things below and the second causes of them, though before we did earnestly seek them of God, or else still distrustfully to question whether or no it was at our prayers that he granted them, or out of common providence. Thus Job, in his distemper, chap. ix. 16, As though I had called, and God had answered me ; yet, says he, I would not believe that he had hearkened to my voice, that is, not that he did it in respect to my prayer and request, because he now deals so
severely with me, for he breaketh me with a tempest, ver. 17. And thus do our distrustful hearts, which are apt to be unsatisfied with all the clearest
pledges of God s favour, and still to misconstrue and pervert them ; although God doth answer us upon our calling upon him, yet we will not believe that he hearkened to our prayer in it. Therefore that you may be further en abled to discern how and when things you have prayed for come in by prayer, I give you these further directions :
Direct. 1. When God doth a thing in answer to prayers, he often doth it in such a manner that his hand may be in a more than ordinary manner seen in it. There are few prayers, wherein a man hath sought God much, but in the answers of them God discovers himself much, and turns many great wheels in the accomplishment of them, and manifests, as David desires, Ps. xvii. 7, his marvellous loving-kindness; and indeed when God hears
prayers that have been a long while a-making, he shews usually half a miracle one way or other.
Now God discovers his immediate hand in the answers of prayers many ways
(1.) When he carries a thing through many difficulties; when there were a
great many cross wards in a business prayed for, the least whereof would have kept the key from turning, when God shall make, as it were, a key on
purpose to unlock it ; when God plots and contrives all the passages in a
business thou didst pray for, and so accomplisheth it ; this is a sign it is a
fruit of prayer, and that prayer had been a-making that key all that while.
So in bringing David to the kingdom ; Joseph out of prison ; Mordecai to honour ; and likewise St Peter out of prison, which was done at the prayers of the church, Acts xii. He was sleeping between two soldiers, if they had waked he had been discovered ; and he was in chains, but they fall off, ver.
6, 7 ; and the keepers stood before the door, but they mind him not, ver. 6 ; and when one watch is passed, he passeth quietly through another, ver. 10;
CHAP. VII] THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. 385
and when both these were passed, an iron gate flies open of its own accord, ver. 1 0. Now such difficulties are there in many businesses, which yet in the end are accomplished by prayer ; iron chains fall off, iron gates, enemies hearts fly open of their own accord; and though not in that miraculous manner, by the means of an angel, yet no less wonderfully.
(2.) Or, secondly, when God facilitates all means to accomplish the thing which was prayed for, so as all means do in view conspire and combine in it ;
that thou hast wind and tide, and a fair day, and all the way paved, or, as David says, hast thy way made plain before thee; and there falls out a
great conjunction and meeting of many circumstances together to effect it, which had influence into it, whereof if any one had been wanting, haply the
thing had not been done : when the thing prayed for is thus granted, prayer then hath done it. Thus, when he delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt, which was the accomplishment of their long desires and prayers, 1 their cry came up, the text says, how were all things facilitated ! They that detained them do themselves come and entreat them to go out ; yea, are urgent, says the text, and that at midnight ; nay, hire them to go out with their ear-rings, Exod. xii. 31, 33, 35; and Pharaoh himself then parts lovingly and fairly with them, and desires their prayers, Bless me also, ver. 32. Yea, to shew there was no resistance, the text says, a dog did not move his tongue
: the brute creatures did not disturb them, though at mid
night, when those creatures use to be most obstreperous through noises.
(3.) When he doth it suddenly, and accomplished the thing thou hast
long prayed for, ere thou art aware of it ; as the return of the captivity of
Babylon, which was the conclusion of many prayers, was done in a trice, they were as men in a dream, Ps. cxxvi. 1, they could scarce believe it was so when it was done : it was because they had sown many prayers, which came up on the sudden, ver. 5, 6. So Peter, he was fast asleep, and did not so much as dream of deliverance. So Joseph s delivery out of prison, and advancement to be the greatest man in the kingdom, the suddenness of it shewed it was God s remembering of him, and hearing his prayers.
(4.) When God grants the thing with an overplus above what we did ask, and casteth many other mercies in, together with that which we long prayed for ; this also may be a sign God did hear our prayers in it ; for when he doth hear indeed, he useth to do above what we did ask or think, thereby the more to overcome the heart. So David asked long life, and he gave him more than he asked, Ps. xxi. 2-5. So Solomon, he asked but wisdom, and he gave him more than he asked ; peace, riches, honour, and all, with
it, 1 Kings iii. 12, 13. Hannah, she asked but one male child/ 1 Sam.
i. 11, but God gave her three sons more, and two daughters, chap. ii. 21. When prayers are answered, usually mercies come thick, they come tumbling in ; the thing we prayed for comes not alone : as when sins are punished, then miseries also they come like armies in troops upon us. As temptations likewise come together, and we fall into many of them at once, as St James
speaks, chap. i. 2, thus do mercies also.
(5.) When the thing is granted by prayers, there is often some particular circumstance of providence concurrent with it, which is a token for good, and sealeth to us that it is from God ; such often as a man himself takes
notice of, and which others take notice of also. Shew me a token for good,
says David, Ps. Ixxxvi. 17, that others may see it and be ashamed. And such tokens doth God often make small circumstances to be. Things small in
themselves may be magna indicia, great signs and tokens. For example, Moses and Aaron and the Israelites had long cried to God for the deliverance
VOL. III. 2 B
386 THE HETUEN OF PRAYERS. [CHAP. VII.
of his people, and laid up many prayers ; their cry came up/ as was said ; and when God doth deliver them, what tokens were there of good, and of God s hand in it, and of his answer to their prayers? The text notes, as was observed before, that a dog did not bark at their going out, Exod. xi.
7, which was a small circumstance, but it was magnum indicium, and so intended by God ; for the text adds, that ye may know that God puts a
difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. This was a token of God s hand, to overrule the tongues of rude brute creatures, that use to stir at such unusual noises and at travellers, especially in the night. So when Isaac and Abraham, and his servant also, had prayed for a wife for Isaac, see by what a token God shewed he had heard their prayers
: Rebekah was the first that came out to the servant sent to bring a wife for him ; and if she be the woman appointed for Isaac, says the servant, Gen. xxiv. 13, 14, let her offer me drink, and my camels also. This was a small thing in
appearance, but a great indicium of God s hand in it; and therefore the ser vant bowed at it, and worshipped. And the sign in itself was such as argued a good nature in her, and a kind, courteous disposition, which therefore, it may be, he singled out as a token of a meet wife, as a thing especially to be looked at in the marriage choice.
Direct. 2. Again, the consideration of the time wherein the things we have asked are granted, may much help us to discern whether it be in answer to our prayers ; for God, who doth all things in weight and measure, shews his wisdom and love as much in the season as in giving the thing itsel God considereth all times of thy life, and still chooseth the best and fittest to answer thy prayers in : In an acceptable time have I heard thee, so Isa.
xlix. 8. As David likewise says he prayed in an acceptable time, Ps. Ixix.
13. So accordingly God answers in the best and most acceptable time to
us; for he waits to be gracious, for he is a God of judgment/ Isa. xxx. 18; that is, he is a wise God, that knows the fittest times and seasons wherein
to shew kindnesses, arid to deal forth his favours in.
As, first, it may be that at that very time when thou hast been most in
stant and earnest, yea, even whilst thou art a-praying, or presently after, the
thing is done and accomplished. To this purpose is that of Isa. Ixv. 24, that as sometimes he hears before they call/ which argues much love to
give mercies unsought, so also whilst they are speaking I will hear/ and
grant the thing, which argues no less love; and he culls out that time on
purpose that they might rest assured that it was in. answer to their prayer. Thus to assure Hezekiah his prayer was heard, God sent the prophet in unto him whilst he was a-praying and weeping, with his head turned towards the
wall. So Isaac, going out to pray in the field, meets his Rebekah then
a-coming, that blessing of a good wife being surely the great request temporal he was then in treaty with God for : this Rebekah was the fruit of many
prayers. So when St Peter was in prison, the church being gathered together to pray for him, St Peter comes and knocks at the same hour, Acts xii. 12-17. So as it often falls out herein, as to the ruler in the gospel, John
iv. 52, who inquiring diligently, found that the same hour that Christ had
said to him, Thy son liveth, his son recovered; and so he believed, and his whole household : so also here, that sometimes the thing is done, or the news of it comes the same hour, or soon after, wherein a man was praying about it, and haply then when the heart was most stirred about it, more than
at any time else. This is a sign it was an answer of prayers, and may help to confirm a man s faith in it, as that also did his.
Or, secondly, when it is the most acceptable and every way the fittest time
CHAP. VII] THE RETURN OP PRAYERS. 387
to have the thing granted
: at that time when thou hadst most need, and when thy heart was most fit for it: For in answering prayers, God aims especially at two things
: to shew his mercy, that a man might magnify and exalt
that_; and to have the heart satisfied and filled with joy and content ment in his answer, and the thing made sweet, and a mercy indeed to him : in brief, that his goodness might be delighted in, and his mercy exalted." And for these two purposes he culls out such times when we have most need, and also when our hearts are most subdued and our lusts mortified. For then we are fittest to relish his goodness alone, and not to be drawn away with the carnal sweetness that is in the thing. The one you have ex pressed, Isa. xxx. 18, He waits to be gracious, to have his mercy exalted. The second intimated, James iv., Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume upon your lusts. Such prayers, whilst the heart is in this temper, the Lord denies, or defers in mercy till the heart be weaned.
For the first of these : As, suppose thou didst pray long for assurance of salvation, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and when thou hadst most need of it, either when thy spirit would have failed without it, as Isa. Ivii. 16, or against some great affliction approaching, or some great encounter with the world for the name of Christ, then God filled thy heart with it, &c., that was the fittest time : now hath God heard thy prayer. As St Peter, he was in prison, and had been so for many days ; as appears by the 4th and 5th verses, Acts xii. God could have delivered him all that while the church prayed for him, ver. 5. But God kept him in on purpose till that very night, when in the next morning Herod meant to bring him forth to execution, and then God delivered him at the prayers of the church ; then was the most fit time : as the Psalmist says, the full time to have mercy on him was come, Ps. cii. 13. And then to receive an answer is a sign God did it out of special love, which love he would have exalted by thee, as Isa. xxx. 18.
If, secondly, when thy heart was most fit for the mercy, it was granted, then art thou also heard in an acceptable time : for God doth not withhold mercies from those that are his out of want of love ; neither so much for what is past, as for the present evil disposition of their hearts, whereby they are unfit to receive them : and in this sense likewise may that be understood, that God prepareth the heart and heareth the prayer, Ps. x. 17. As when thy heart is most weaned from that temporal mercy, supposing it such, granted thee upon seeking of it. So David, when had he the king dom in possession given him ] Then when he was as a weaned child, and had Ms high thoughts, which haply at the first news of it had risen in his mind, purged out, Ps. cxxxi. 2,
1 1 have no high thoughts, &c., says he then. Thus when thy heart had let all carnal ends go, and had betaken itself alone to God, for thy portion to be had alone out of liim, then the thing prayed for comes to pass ; this was the fittest season.
Qbj. But you will be ready to say, To have a thing when my heart is taken off from it, and even contented not to have it, makes it to be as no mercy ; for where there is no desire there is no rejoicing. Ans. If thy desire be taken off the thing, then thou wilt rejoice the more in God now ; and though the thing of itself should now give thee less satis
faction, yet God by the thing will give thee more, and he will make it up
: for thou wilt relish his love and sweetness in it now, which is better than
life, and therefore much better than that thing enjoyed; and indeed the violence of the desire before would have made it less sweet, for the thingalone would not have filled and contented that desire when it was an inor dinate lust, and so thou wouldest have been vexed with it, rather than satis-
388 THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. [CHAP. VII.
fied, and found a greater vanity in it : but now when it is become a subor dinate desire unto God, that the desire is down, and the heart quieted and contented with God in the thing, the heart says, as she said, I have enough. So likewise thou niayest have an affliction thou prayedst long against taken
off then when thy heart was most willing to accept thy punishment, Lev. xxvi. 41, as Moses s phrase is, and to submit to God in it.
Direct. 3. A third thing you are to observe concerning the accomplish ment of the thing prayed for, whereby you may discern whether granted in answer to prayers, is, when thou seest God in his dealings with thee, and
answering of thee, to deal in a kind of proportion with thy manner of pray ing and seeking of him, and of walking with him whilst thou wert dependent on him, for such or such a mercy. And as you may see a proportion be tween sins and punishments, which are the rewards of them, that you can
say, Such a sin brought forth this affliction, it is so like the father ; so you might see the like proportion between your prayers and your walking with God, and God s answers to you, and his dealings with you. So did David, Ps. xviii. 24, According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me, &c. His speech notes some similitude or likeness j as, for example, the more by-ends or carnal desires you had in praying, and the more you mingled of these with your holy desires, and the more want of zeal, fervency, &c., were found in your prayers, the more you shall, it may be, find of bitterness
mingled with the mercy, when it is granted, and so much imperfection and want of comfort in it. So says David in the same psalm, ver. 25, 26, With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure. Pure prayers have pure blessings ;
et e contra, With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. And again, as you in praying sometimes slackened and grew cold, so you might see the business in like manner to cool, and cast backward : as when Moses s hands were down, Amalek prevailed ; but when they were lifted up, Israel had the better, Exod. xvii. 12. God let him see a proportion, which argued his
prayer was the means of prevailing. A man finds in praying that his suit sometimes sticks, and goes not on as he expected ; this is because he gives not so good a fee as he was wont, and doth not ply God and solicit him ; but, on the contrary, when he was stirred up to pray, then still he found
things to go well. 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 inter
posing some sin, and thus again and again 1 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.
CHAP. VIII] THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. 389