Of Prayer
John Calvin
INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
John Calvin
Translated by Henry Beveridge
1845
BOOK III.
CHAPTER XX.
OF PRAYER -- A PERPETUAL EXERCISE OF FAITH.
THE DAILY BENEFITS DERIVED FROM IT.
Scanned and edited by James Keiffer and Harry Plantinga.
This electronic text is in the public domain.
The principal divisions of this chapter are, --
I. Connection of the subject of prayer with the previous chapters. The nature
of prayer, and its necessity as a Christian exercise, sec. 1, 2.
II. To whom prayer is to be offered. Refutation of an objection which is too
apt to present itself to the mind, sec. 3.
III. Rules to be observed in prayer, sec. 4-16.
IV. Through whom prayer is to be made, sec. 17-19.
V. Refutation of an error as to the doctrine of our Mediator and Intercessor,
with answers to the leading arguments urged in support of the intercession of
saints, sec. 20-27.
VI. The nature of prayer, and some of its accidents, sec. 28-33.
VII. A perfect form of invocation, or an exposition of the Lord's Prayer, sec.
34-50.
VIII. Some rules to be observed with regard to prayer, as time, perseverance,
the feeling of the mind, and the assurance of faith, sec. 50-52.
1. A general summary of what is contained in the previous part of the work. A
transition to the doctrine of prayer. Its connection with the subject of
faith.
2. Prayer defined. Its necessity and use.
3. Objection, that prayer seems useless, because God already knows our wants.
Answer, from the institution and end of prayer. Confirmation by example. Its
necessity and propriety. Perpetually reminds us of our duty, and leads to
meditation on divine providence. Conclusion. Prayer a most useful exercise.
This proved by three passages of Scripture.
4. Rules to be observed in prayer. First, reverence to God. How the mind ought
to be composed.
5. All giddiness of mind must be excluded, and all our feelings seriously
engaged. This confirmed by the form of lifting the hand in prayer. We must ask
only in so far as God permits. To help our weakness, God gives the Spirit to be
our guide in prayer. What the office of the Spirit in this respect. We must
still pray both with the heart and the lips.
6. Second rule of prayer, a sense of our want. This rule violated, 1. By
perfunctory and formal prayer 2. By hypocrites who have no sense of their sins.
3. By giddiness in prayer. Remedies.
7. Objection, that we are not always under the same necessity of praying.
Answer, we must pray always. This answer confirmed by an examination of the
dangers by which both our life and our salvation are every moment threatened.
Confirmed farther by the command and permission of God, by the nature of true
repentance, and a consideration of impenitence. Conclusion.
8. Third rule, the suppression of all pride. Examples. Daniel, David, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Baruch.
9. Advantage of thus suppressing pride. It leads to earnest entreaty for
pardon, accompanied with humble confession and sure confidence in the Divine
mercy. This may not always be expressed in words. It is peculiar to pious
penitents. A general introduction to procure favour to our prayers never to be
omitted.
10. Objection to the third rule of prayer. Of the glorying of the saints.
Answer. Confirmation of the answer.
11. Fourth rule of prayer, -- a sure confidence of being heard animating us to
prayer. The kind of confidence required, viz., a serious conviction of our
misery, joined with sure hope. From these true prayer springs. How diffidence
impairs prayer. In general, faith is required.
12. This faith and sure hope regarded by our opponents as most absurd. Their
error described and refuted by various passages of Scripture, which show that
acceptable prayer is accompanied with these qualities. No repugnance between
this certainty and an acknowledgment of our destitution.
13. To our unworthiness we oppose, 1. The command of God. 2. The promise.
Rebels and hypocrites completely condemned. Passages of Scripture confirming
the command to pray.
14. Other passages respecting the promises which belong to the pious when they
invoke God. These realised though we are not possessed of the same holiness as
other distinguished servants of God, provided we indulge no vain confidence,
and sincerely betake ourselves to the mercy of God. Those who do not invoke God
under urgent necessity are no better than idolaters. This concurrence of fear
and confidence reconciles the different passages of Scripture, as to humbling
ourselves in prayer, and causing our prayers to ascend.
15. Objection founded on some examples, viz., that prayers have proved
effectual, though not according to the form prescribed. Answer. Such examples,
though not given for our imitation, are of the greatest use. Objection, the
prayers of the faithful sometimes not effectual. Answer confirmed by a noble
passage of Augustine. Rule for right prayer.
16. The above four rules of prayer not so rigidly exacted, as that every prayer
deficient in them in any respect is rejected by God. This shown by examples.
Conclusion, or summary of this section.
17. Through whom God is to be invoked, viz., Jesus Christ. This founded on a
consideration of the divine majesty, and the precept and promise of God
himself. God therefore to be invoked only in the name of Christ.
18. From the first all believers were heard through him only: yet this
specially restricted to the period subsequent to his ascension. The ground of
this restriction.
19. The wrath of God lies on those who reject Christ as a Mediator. This
excludes not the mutual intercession of saints on the earth.
20. Refutation of errors interfering with the intercession of Christ. 1. Christ
the Mediator of redemption; the saints mediators of intercession. Answer
confirmed by the clear testimony of Scripture, and by a passage from Augustine.
The nature of Christ's intercession.
21. Of the intercession of saints living with Christ in heaven. Fiction of the
Papists in regard to it. Refuted. 1. Its absurdity. 2. It is nowhere mentioned
by Scripture. 3. Appeal to the conscience of the superstitious. 4. Its
blasphemy. Exception. Answers.
22. Monstrous errors resulting from this fiction. Refutation. Exception by the
advocates of this fiction. Answer.
23. Arguments of the Papists for the intercession of saints. 1. From the duty
and office of angels. Answer. 2. From an expression of Jeremiah respecting
Moses and Samuel. Answer, retorting the argument. 3. The meaning of the prophet
confirmed by a similar passage in Ezekiel, and the testimony of an apostle.
24. 4. Fourth papistical argument from the nature of charity, which is more
perfect in the saints in glory. Answer.
25. Argument founded on a passage in Moses. Answer.
26. Argument from its being said that the prayers of saints are heard. Answer,
confirmed by Scripture, and illustrated by examples.
27. Conclusion, that the saints cannot be invoked without impiety. 1. It robs
God of his glory. 2. Destroys the intercession of Christ. 3. Is repugnant to
the word of God. 4. Is opposed to the due method of prayer. 5. Is without
approved example. 6. Springs from distrust. Last objection. Answer.
28. Kinds of prayer. Vows. Supplications. Petitions. Thanksgiving. Connection
of these, their constant use and necessity. Particular explanation confirmed by
reason, Scripture, and example. Rule as to supplication and thanksgiving.
29. The accidents of prayer, viz., private and public, constant, at stated
seasons, &c. Exception in time of necessity. Prayer without ceasing. Its
nature. Garrulity of Papists and hypocrites refuted. The scope and parts of
prayer. Secret prayer. Prayer at all places. Private and public prayer.
30. Of public places or churches in which common prayers are offered up. Right
use of churches. Abuse.
31. Of utterance and singing. These of no avail if not from the heart. The use
of the voice refers more to public than private prayer.
32. Singing of the greatest antiquity, but not universal. How to be
performed.
33. Public prayers should be in the vulgar, not in a foreign tongue. Reason, 1.
The nature of the Church. 2. Authority of an apostle. Sincere affection always
necessary. The tongue not always necessary. Bending of the knee, and uncovering
of the head.
34. The form of prayer delivered by Christ displays the boundless goodness of
our heavenly Father. The great comfort thereby afforded.
35. Lord's Prayer divided into six petitions. Subdivision into two principal
parts, the former referring to the glory of God, the latter to our salvation.
36. The use of the term Father implies, 1. That we pray to God in the name of
Christ alone. 2. That we lay aside all distrust. 3. That we expect everything
that is for our good.
37. Objection, that our sins exclude us from the presence of him whom we have
made a Judge, not a Father. Answer, from the nature of God, as described by an
apostle, the parable of the prodigal son, and from the expression, Our
Father. Christ the earnest, the Holy Spirit the witness, of our adoption.
38. Why God is called generally, Our Father.
39. We may pray specially for ourselves and certain others, provided we have in
our mind a general reference to all.
40. In what sense God is said to be in heaven. A threefold use of this
doctrine for our consolation. Three cautions. Summary of the preface to the
Lord's Prayer.
41. The necessity of the first petition a proof of our unrighteousness. What
meant by the name of God. How it is hallowed. Parts of this hallowing. A
deprecation of the sins by which the name of God is profaned.
42. Distinction between the first and second petitions. The kingdom of God,
what. How said to come. Special exposition of this petition. It reminds us of
three things. Advent of the kingdom of God in the world.
43. Distinction between the second and third petitions. The will here meant not
the secret will or good pleasure of God, but that manifested in the word.
Conclusion of the three first petitions.
44. A summary of the second part of the Lord's Prayer. Three petitions. What
contained in the first. Declares the exceeding kindness of God, and our
distrust. What meant by bread. Why the petition for bread precedes that
for the forgiveness of sins. Why it is called ours. Why to be sought this
day, or daily. The doctrine resulting from this petition,
illustrated by an example. Two classes of men sin in regard to this petition.
In what sense it is called, our bread. Why we ask God to give it to us.
45 Close connection between this and the subsequent petition. Why our sins are
called debts. This petition violated, 1. By those who think they can satisfy
God by their own merits, or those of others. 2. By those who dream of a
perfection which makes pardon unnecessary. Why the elect cannot attain
perfection in this life. Refutation of the libertine dreamers of perfection.
Objection refuted. In what sense we are said to forgive those who have sinned
against us. How the condition is to be understood.
46. The sixth petition reduced to three heads. 1. The various forms of
temptation. The depraved conceptions of our minds. The wiles of Satan, on the
right hand and on the left. 2. What it is to be led into temptation. We do not
ask not to be tempted of God. What meant by evil, or the evil one. Summary of
this petition. How necessary it is. Condemns the pride of the superstitious.
Includes many excellent properties. In what sense God may be said to lead us
into temptation.
47. The three last petitions show that the prayers of Christians ought to be
public. The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer. Why the word Amen is added.
48. The Lord's Prayer contains everything that we can or ought to ask of God.
Those who go beyond it sin in three ways.
49. We may, after the example of the saints, frame our prayers in different
words, provided there is no difference in meaning.
50. Some circumstances to be observed. Of appointing special hours of prayer.
What to be aimed at, what avoided. The will of God, the rule of our prayers.
51. Perseverance in prayer especially recommended, both by precept and example.
Condemnatory of those who assign to God a time and mode of hearing.
52. Of the dignity of faith, through which we always obtain, in answer to
prayer, whatever is most expedient for us. The knowledge of this most
necessary.
1.
FROM the previous part of the work we clearly see how completely destitute man
is of all good, how devoid of every means of procuring his own salvation.
Hence, if he would obtain succour in his necessity, he must go beyond himself,
and procure it in some other quarter. It has farther been shown that the Lord
kindly and spontaneously manifests himself in Christ, in whom he offers all
happiness for our misery, all abundance for our want, opening up the treasures
of heaven to us, so that we may turn with full faith to his beloved Son, depend
upon him with full expectation, rest in him, and cleave to him with full hope.
This, indeed, is that secret and hidden philosophy which cannot be learned by
syllogisms: a philosophy thoroughly understood by those whose eyes God has so
opened as to see light in his light (Ps. 36:9). But after we have learned by
faith to know that whatever is necessary for us or defective in us is supplied
in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom it hath pleased the Father that
all fulness should dwell, that we may thence draw as from an inexhaustible
fountain, it remains for us to seek and in prayer implore of him what we have
learned to be in him. To know God as the sovereign disposer of all good,
inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of him,
were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure
were to allow it to remain buried in the ground. Hence the Apostle, to show
that a faith unaccompanied with prayer to God cannot be genuine, states this to
be the order: As faith springs from the Gospel, so by faith our hearts are
framed to call upon the name of God (Rom. 10:14). And this is the very thing
which he had expressed some time before, viz., that the Spirit of
adoption, which seals the testimony of the Gospel on our hearts, gives us
courage to make our requests known unto God, calls forth groanings which cannot
be uttered, and enables us to cry, Abba, Father (Rom. 8:26). This last point,
as we have hitherto only touched upon it slightly in passing, must now be
treated more fully.
2.
To prayer, then, are we indebted for penetrating to those riches which
are treasured up for us with our heavenly Father. For there is a kind of
intercourse between God and men, by which, having entered the upper sanctuary,
they appear before Him and appeal to his promises, that when necessity requires
they may learn by experiences that what they believed merely on the authority
of his word was not in vain. Accordingly, we see that nothing is set before us
as an object of expectation from the Lord which we are not enjoined to ask of
Him in prayer, so true it is that prayer digs up those treasures which the
Gospel of our Lord discovers to the eye of faith. The necessity and utility of
this exercise of prayer no words can sufficiently express. Assuredly it is not
without cause our heavenly Father declares that our only safety is in calling
upon his name, since by it we invoke the presence of his providence to watch
over our interests, of his power to sustain us when weak and almost fainting,
of his goodness to receive us into favour, though miserably loaded with sin; in
fine, call upon him to manifest himself to us in all his perfections. Hence,
admirable peace and tranquillity are given to our consciences; for the straits
by which we were pressed being laid before the Lord, we rest fully satisfied
with the assurance that none of our evils are unknown to him, and that he is
both able and willing to make the best provision for us.
3.
But some one will say, Does he not know without a monitor both what our
difficulties are, and what is meet for our interest, so that it seems in some
measure superfluous to solicit him by our prayers, as if he were winking, or
even sleeping, until aroused by the sound of our voice?[1] Those who argue thus attend not to the end
for which the Lord taught us to pray. It was not so much for his sake as for
ours. He wills indeed, as is just, that due honour be paid him by acknowledging
that all which men desire or feel to be useful, and pray to obtain, is derived
from him. But even the benefit of the homage which we thus pay him redounds to
ourselves. Hence the holy patriarchs, the more confidently they proclaimed the
mercies of God to themselves and others felt the stronger incitement to prayer.
It will be sufficient to refer to the example of Elijah, who being assured of
the purpose of God had good ground for the promise of rain which he gives to
Ahab, and yet prays anxiously upon his knees, and sends his servant seven times
to inquire (1 Kings 18:42); not that he discredits the oracle, but because
he knows it to be his duty to lay his desires before God, lest his faith should
become drowsy or torpid. Wherefore, although it is true that while we are
listless or insensible to our wretchedness, he wakes and watches for use and
sometimes even assists us unasked; it is very much for our interest to be
constantly supplicating him; first, that our heart may always be inflamed with
a serious and ardent desire of seeking, loving and serving him, while we
accustom ourselves to have recourse to him as a sacred anchor in every
necessity; secondly, that no desires, no longing whatever, of which we are
ashamed to make him the witness, may enter our minds, while we learn to place
all our wishes in his sight, and thus pour out our heart before him; and,
lastly, that we may be prepared to receive all his benefits with true gratitude
and thanksgiving, while our prayers remind us that they proceed from his hand.
Moreover, having obtained what we asked, being persuaded that he has answered
our prayers, we are led to long more earnestly for his favour, and at the same
time have greater pleasure in welcoming the blessings which we perceive to have
been obtained by our prayers. Lastly, use and experience confirm the thought of
his providence in our minds in a manner adapted to our weakness, when we
understand that he not only promises that he will never fail us, and
spontaneously gives us access to approach him in every time of need, but has
his hand always stretched out to assist his people, not amusing them with
words, but proving himself to be a present aid. For these reasons, though our
most merciful Father never slumbers nor sleeps, he very often seems to do so,
that thus he may exercise us, when we might otherwise be listless and slothful,
in asking, entreating, and earnestly beseeching him to our great good. It is
very absurd, therefore, to dissuade men from prayer, by pretending that Divine
Providence, which is always watching over the government of the universes is in
vain importuned by our supplications, when, on the contrary, the Lord himself
declares, that he is "nigh unto all that call upon him, to all that call upon
him in truth (Ps. 145:18). No better is the frivolous allegation of others,
that it is superfluous to pray for things which the Lord is ready of his own
accord to bestow; since it is his pleasure that those very things which flow
from his spontaneous liberality should be acknowledged as conceded to our
prayers. This is testified by that memorable sentence in the psalms to which
many others corresponds: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his
ears are open unto their cry" (Ps. 34:15). This passage, while extolling the
care which Divine Providence spontaneously exercises over the safety of
believers, omits not the exercise of faith by which the mind is aroused from
sloth. The eyes of God are awake to assist the blind in their necessity, but he
is likewise pleased to listen to our groans, that he may give us the better
proof of his love. And thus both things are true, "He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:4); and yet whenever he sees us dumb and
torpid, he withdraws as if he had forgotten us.
4.
Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed
as becomes those who are entering into converse with God. This we shall
accomplish in regard to the mind, if, laying aside carnal thoughts and cares
which might interfere with the direct and pure contemplation of God, it not
only be wholly intent on prayer, but also, as far as possible, be borne and
raised above itself. I do not here insist on a mind so disengaged as to feel
none of the gnawings of anxiety; on the contrary, it is by much anxiety that
the fervour of prayer is inflamed. Thus we see that the holy servants of God
betray great anguish, not to say solicitude, when they cause the voice of
complaint to ascend to the Lord from the deep abyss and the jaws of death. What
I say is, that all foreign and extraneous cares must be dispelled by which the
mind might be driven to and fro in vague suspense, be drawn down from heaven,
and kept grovelling on the earth. When I say it must be raised above itself, I
mean that it must not bring into the presence of God any of those things which
our blind and stupid reason is wont to devise, nor keep itself confined within
the little measure of its own vanity, but rise to a purity worthy of God.
5.
Both things are specially worthy of notice. First, let every one in professing
to pray turn thither all his thoughts and feelings, and be not (as is usual)
distracted by wandering thoughts; because nothing is more contrary to the
reverence due to God than that levity which bespeaks a mind too much given to
license and devoid of fear. In this matter we ought to labour the more
earnestly the more difficult we experience it to be; for no man is so intent on
prayer as not to feel many thoughts creeping in, and either breaking off the
tenor of his prayer, or retarding it by some turning or digression. Here let us
consider how unbecoming it is when God admits us to familiar intercourse to
abuse his great condescension by mingling things sacred and profane, reverence
for him not keeping our minds under restraint; but just as if in prayer we were
conversing with one like ourselves forgetting him, and allowing our thoughts to
run to and fro. Let us know, then, that none duly prepare themselves for prayer
but those who are so impressed with the majesty of God that they engage in it
free from all earthly cares and affections. The ceremony of lifting up our
hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God,
unless our thoughts rise upward: as it is said in the psalm, "Unto thee, O
Lord, do I lift up my soul" (Psalm 25:1). And Scripture repeatedly uses the
expression to raise our prayers meaning that those who would be heard by
God must not grovel in the mire. The sum is, that the more liberally God deals
with us, condescendingly inviting us to disburden our cares into his bosom, the
less excusable we are if this admirable and incomparable blessing does not in
our estimation outweigh all other things, and win our affection, that prayer
may seriously engage our every thought and feeling. This cannot be unless our
mind, strenuously exerting itself against all impediments, rise upward.
Our second proposition was, that we are to ask only in so far as God permits.
For though he bids us pour out our hearts (Ps. 62:8), he does not
indiscriminately give loose reins to foolish and depraved affections; and when
he promises that he will grant believers their wish, his indulgence does not
proceed so far as to submit to their caprice. In both matters grievous
delinquencies are everywhere committed. For not only do many without modesty,
without reverence, presume to invoke God concerning their frivolities, but
impudently bring forward their dreams, whatever they may be, before the
tribunal of God. Such is the folly or stupidity under which they labour, that
they have the hardihood to obtrude upon God desires so vile, that they would
blush exceedingly to impart them to their fellow men. Profane writers have
derided and even expressed their detestation of this presumption, and yet the
vice has always prevailed. Hence, as the ambitious adopted Jupiter as their
patron; the avaricious, Mercury; the literary aspirants, Apollo and Minerva;
the warlike, Mars; the licentious, Venus: so in the present day, as I lately
observed, men in prayer give greater license to their unlawful desires than if
they were telling jocular tales among their equals. God does not suffer his
condescension to be thus mocked, but vindicating his own light, places our
wishes under the restraint of his authority. We must, therefore, attend to the
observation of John: "This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we
ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14).
But as our faculties are far from being able to attain to such high perfection,
we must seek for some means to assist them. As the eye of our mind should be
intent upon God, so the affection of our heart ought to follow in the same
course. But both fall far beneath this, or rather, they faint and fail, and are
carried in a contrary direction. To assist this weakness, God gives us the
guidance of the Spirit in our prayers to dictate what is right, and regulate
our affections. For seeing "we know not what we should pray for as we ought,"
"the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered" (Rom. 8:26) not that he actually prays or groans, but he excites in us
sighs, and wishes, and confidence, which our natural powers are not at all able
to conceive. Nor is it without cause Paul gives the name of groanings which
cannot be uttered to the prayers which believers send forth under the
guidance of the Spirit. For those who are truly exercised in prayer are not
unaware that blind anxieties so restrain and perplex them, that they can
scarcely find what it becomes them to utter; nay, in attempting to lisp they
halt and hesitate. Hence it appears that to pray aright is a special gift. We
do not speak thus in indulgence to our sloths as if we were to leave the office
of prayer to the Holy Spirit, and give way to that carelessness to which we are
too prone. Thus we sometimes hear the impious expression, that we are to wait
in suspense until he take possession of our minds while otherwise occupied. Our
meaning is, that, weary of our own heartlessness and sloth, we are to long for
the aid of the Spirit. Nor, indeed, does Paul, when he enjoins us to pray in
the Spirit (1 Cor. 14:15), cease to exhort us to vigilance, intimating,
that while the inspiration of the Spirit is effectual to the formation of
prayer, it by no means impedes or retards our own endeavours; since in this
matter God is pleased to try how efficiently faith influences our hearts.
6.
Another rule of prayer is, that in asking we must always truly feel our wants,
and seriously considering that we need all the things which we ask, accompany
the prayer with a sincere, nay, ardent desire of obtaining them. Many repeat
prayers in a perfunctory manner from a set form, as if they were performing a
task to God, and though they confess that this is a necessary remedy for the
evils of their condition, because it were fatal to be left without the divine
aid which they implore, it still appears that they perform the duty from
custom, because their minds are meanwhile cold, and they ponder not what they
ask. A general and confused feeling of their necessity leads them to pray, but
it does not make them solicitous as in a matter of present consequence, that
they may obtain the supply of their need. Moreover, can we suppose anything
more hateful or even more execrable to God than this fiction of asking the
pardon of sins, while he who asks at the very time either thinks that he is not
a sinner, or, at least, is not thinking that he is a sinner; in other words, a
fiction by which God is plainly held in derision? But mankind, as I have lately
said, are full of depravity, so that in the way of perfunctory service they
often ask many things of God which they think come to them without his
beneficence, or from some other quarter, or are already certainly in their
possession. There is another fault which seems less heinous, but is not to be
tolerated. Some murmur out prayers without meditation, their only principle
being that God is to be propitiated by prayer. Believers ought to be specially
on their guard never to appear in the presence of God with the intention of
presenting a request unless they are under some serious impression, and are, at
the same time, desirous to obtain it. Nay, although in these things which we
ask only for the glory of God, we seem not at first sight to consult for our
necessity, yet we ought not to ask with less fervour and vehemency of desire.
For instance, when we pray that his name be hallowed -- that hallowing must, so
to speak, be earnestly hungered and thirsted after.
7.
If it is objected, that the necessity which urges us to pray is not always
equal, I admit it, and this distinction is profitably taught us by James: "Is
any among you afficted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms" (James
5:13). Therefore, common sense itself dictates, that as we are too sluggish, we
must be stimulated by God to pray earnestly whenever the occasion requires.
This David calls a time when God "may be found" (a seasonable time); because,
as he declares in several other passages, that the more hardly grievances,
annoyances, fears, and other kinds of trial press us, the freer is our access
to God, as if he were inviting us to himself. Still not less true is the
injunction of Paul to pray "always" (Eph. 6:18); because, however prosperously
according to our view, things proceed, and however we may be surrounded on all
sides with grounds of joy, there is not an instant of time during which our
want does not exhort us to prayer. A man abounds in wheat and wine; but as he
cannot enjoy a morsel of bread, unless by the continual bounty of God, his
granaries or cellars will not prevent him from asking for daily bread. Then, if
we consider how many dangers impend every moment, fear itself will teach us
that no time ought to be without prayer. This, however, may be better known in
spiritual matters. For when will the many sins of which we are conscious allow
us to sit secure without suppliantly entreating freedom from guilt and
punishment? When will temptation give us a truce, making it unnecessary to
hasten for help? Moreover, zeal for the kingdom and glory of God ought not to
seize us by starts, but urge us without intermission, so that every time should
appear seasonable. It is not without cause, therefore, that assiduity in prayer
is so often enjoined. I am not now speaking of perseverance, which shall
afterwards be considered; but Scripture, by reminding us of the necessity of
constant prayer, charges us with sloth, because we feel not how much we stand
in need of this care and assiduity. By this rule hypocrisy and the device of
lying to God are restrained, nay, altogether banished from prayer. God promises
that he will be near to those who call upon him in truth, and declares that
those who seek him with their whole heart will find him: those, therefore, who
delight in their own pollution cannot surely aspire to him.
One of the requisites of legitimate prayer is repentance. Hence the common
declaration of Scripture, that God does not listen to the wicked; that their
prayers, as well as their sacrifices, are an abomination to him. For it is
right that those who seal up their hearts should find the ears of God closed
against them, that those who, by their hardheartedness, provoke his severity
should find him inflexible. In Isaiah he thus threatens: "When ye make many
prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15). In like
manner, in Jeremiah, "Though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto
them" (Jer. 11:7, 8, 11); because he regards it as the highest insult for the
wicked to boast of his covenant while profaning his sacred name by their whole
lives. Hence he complains in Isaiah: "This people draw near to me with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour me; but have removed their heart far from
men" (Isaiah 29:13). Indeed, he does not confine this to prayers alone, but
declares that he abominates pretense in every part of his service. Hence the
words of James, "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may
consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). It is true, indeed (as we shall again
see in a little), that the pious, in the prayers which they utter, trust not to
their own worth; still the admonition of John is not superfluous: "Whatsoever
we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments" (1 John 3:22); an
evil conscience shuts the door against us. Hence it follows, that none but the
sincere worshippers of God pray aright, or are listened to. Let every one,
therefore, who prepares to pray feel dissatisfied with what is wrong in his
condition, and assume, which he cannot do without repentance, the character and
feelings of a poor suppliant.
8.
The third rule to be added is: that he who comes into the presence of God to
pray must divest himself of all vainglorious thoughts, lay aside all idea of
worth; in short, discard all self-confidence, humbly giving God the whole
glory, lest by arrogating anything, however little, to himself, vain pride
cause him to turn away his face. Of this submission, which casts down all
haughtiness, we have numerous examples in the servants of God. The holier they
are, the more humbly they prostrate themselves when they come into the presence
of the Lord. Thus Daniel, on whom the Lord himself bestowed such high
commendation, says, "We do not present our supplications before thee for our
righteousness but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord,
hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy
people are called by thy name." This he does not indirectly in the usual
manner, as if he were one of the individuals in a crowd: he rather confesses
his guilt apart, and as a suppliant betaking himself to the asylum of pardon,
he distinctly declares that he was confessing his own sin, and the sin of his
people Israel (Dan. 9:18-20). David also sets us an example of this humility:
"Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living
be justified" (Psalm 143:2). In like manner, Isaiah prays, "Behold, thou
art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up
himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast
consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be
not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: Behold, see,
we beseech thee, we are all thy people." (Isa. 64:5-9). You see how they put
no confidence in anything but this: considering that they are the Lord's, they
despair not of being the objects of his care. In the same way, Jeremiah says,
"O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's
sake" (Jer. 14:7). For it was most truly and piously written by the uncertain
author (whoever he may have been) that wrote the book which is attributed to
the prophet Baruch,[2] "But the soul that
is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and
the hungry soul, will give thee praise and righteousness, O Lord. Therefore, we
do not make our humble supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the
righteousness of our fathers, and of our kings." "Hear, O Lord, and have mercy;
for thou art merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before
thee" (Baruch 2:18, 19; 3:2).
9.
In fine, supplication for pardon, with humble and ingenuous confession of
guilt, forms both the preparation and commencement of right prayer. For the
holiest of men cannot hope to obtain anything from God until he has been freely
reconciled to him. God cannot be propitious to any but those whom he pardons.
Hence it is not strange that this is the key by which believers open the door
of prayer, as we learn from several passages in The Psalms. David, when
presenting a request on a different subject, says, "Remember not the sins of my
youth, nor my transgressions; according to thy mercy remember me, for thy
goodness sake, O Lord" (Psalm 25:7). Again, "Look upon my affliction and my
pain, and forgive my sins" (Psalm 25:18). Here also we see that it is not
sufficient to call ourselves to account for the sins of each passing day; we
must also call to mind those which might seem to have been long before buried
in oblivion. For in another passage the same prophet, confessing one grievous
crime, takes occasion to go back to his very birth, "I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5); not to extenuate the fault
by the corruption of his nature, but as it were to accumulate the sins of his
whole life, that the stricter he was in condemning himself, the more placable
God might be. But although the saints do not always in express terms ask
forgiveness of sins, yet if we carefully ponder those prayers as given in
Scripture, the truth of what I say will readily appear; namely, that their
courage to pray was derived solely from the mercy of God, and that they always
began with appeasing him. For when a man interrogates his conscience, so far is
he from presuming to lay his cares familiarly before God, that if he did not
trust to mercy and pardon, he would tremble at the very thought of approaching
him. There is, indeed, another special confession. When believers long for
deliverance from punishment, they at the same time pray that their sins may be
pardoned;[3] for it were absurd to wish
that the effect should be taken away while the cause remains. For we must
beware of imitating foolish patients who, anxious only about curing accidental
symptoms, neglect the root of the disease.[4] Nay, our endeavour must be to have God
propitious even before he attests his favour by external signs, both because
this is the order which he himself chooses, and it were of little avail to
experience his kindness, did not conscience feel that he is appeased, and thus
enable us to regard him as altogether lovely. Of this we are even reminded by
our Saviour's reply. Having determined to cure the paralytic, he says, "Thy
sins are forgiven thee;" in other words, he raises our thoughts to the object
which is especially to be desired, viz. admission into the favour of God, and
then gives the fruit of reconciliation by bringing assistance to us. But
besides that special confession of present guilt which believers employ, in
supplicating for pardon of every fault and punishment, that general
introduction which procures favour for our prayers must never be omitted,
because prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy. To
this we may refer the words of John, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1
John 1:9). Hence, under the law it was necessary to consecrate prayers by the
expiation of blood, both that they might be accepted, and that the people might
be warned that they were unworthy of the high privilege until, being purged
from their defilements, they founded their confidence in prayer entirely on the
mercy of God.
10.
Sometimes, however, the saints in supplicating God, seem to appeal to their own
righteousness, as when David says, "Preserve my soul; for I am holy" (Ps.
86:2). Also Hezekiah, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee how I have walked
before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is
good in thy sight" (Is. 38:2). All they mean by such expressions is, that
regeneration declares them to be among the servants and children to whom God
engages that he will show favour. We have already seen how he declares by the
Psalmist that his eyes "are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto
their cry" (Ps. 34:16:) and again by the apostle, that "whatsoever we ask
of him we obtain, because we keep his commandments" (John 3:22). In these
passages he does not fix a value on prayer as a meritorious work, but designs
to establish the confidence of those who are conscious of an unfeigned
integrity and innocence, such as all believers should possess. For the saying
of the blind man who had received his sight is in perfect accordance with
divine truth, And God heareth not sinners (John 9:31); provided we take the
term sinners in the sense commonly used by Scripture to mean those who, without
any desire for righteousness, are sleeping secure in their sins; since no heart
will ever rise to genuine prayer that does not at the same time long for
holiness. Those supplications in which the saints allude to their purity and
integrity correspond to such promises, that they may thus have, in their own
experience, a manifestation of that which all the servants of God are made to
expect. Thus they almost always use this mode of prayer when before God they
compare themselves with their enemies, from whose injustice they long to be
delivered by his hand. When making such comparisons, there is no wonder that
they bring forward their integrity and simplicity of heart, that thus, by the
justice of their cause, the Lord may be the more disposed to give them succour.
We rob not the pious breast of the privilege of enjoying a consciousness of
purity before the Lord, and thus feeling assured of the promises with which he
comforts and supports his true worshippers, but we would have them to lay aside
all thought of their own merits and found their confidence of success in prayer
solely on the divine mercy.
11.
The fourth rule of prayer is, that notwithstanding of our being thus abased and
truly humbled, we should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding.
There is, indeed, an appearance of contradiction between the two things,
between a sense of the just vengeance of God and firm confidence in his favour,
and yet they are perfectly accordant, if it is the mere goodness of God that
raises up those who are overwhelmed by their own sins. For, as we have formerly
shown (chap. iii. sec. 1, 2) that repentance and faith go hand in hand, being
united by an indissoluble tie, the one causing terror, the other joy, so in
prayer they must both be present. This concurrence David expresses in a few
words: "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple" (Ps. 5:7). Under
the goodness of God he comprehends faith, at the same time not excluding fear;
for not only does his majesty compel our reverence, but our own unworthiness
also divests us of all pride and confidence, and keeps us in fear. The
confidence of which I speak is not one which frees the mind from all anxiety,
and soothes it with sweet and perfect rest; such rest is peculiar to those who,
while all their affairs are flowing to a wish are annoyed by no care, stung
with no regret, agitated by no fear. But the best stimulus which the saints
have to prayer is when, in consequence of their own necessities, they feel the
greatest disquietude, and are all but driven to despair, until faith seasonably
comes to their aid; because in such straits the goodness of God so shines upon
them, that while they groan, burdened by the weight of present calamities, and
tormented with the fear of greater, they yet trust to this goodness, and in
this way both lighten the difficulty of endurance, and take comfort in the hope
of final deliverance. It is necessary therefore, that the prayer of the
believer should be the result of both feelings, and exhibit the influence of
both; namely, that while he groans under present and anxiously dreads new
evils, he should, at the same times have recourse to God, not at all doubting
that God is ready to stretch out a helping hand to him. For it is not easy to
say how much God is irritated by our distrust, when we ask what we expect not
of his goodness. Hence, nothing is more accordant to the nature of prayer than
to lay it down as a fixed rule, that it is not to come forth at random, but is
to follow in the footsteps of faith. To this principle Christ directs all of us
in these words, "Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24).
The same thing he declares in another passage, "All things, whatsoever ye shall
ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matth. 21:22). In accordance
with this are the words of James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering" (James 1:5). He most
aptly expresses the power of faith by opposing it to wavering. No less worthy
of notice is his additional statement, that those who approach God with a
doubting, hesitating mind, without feeling assured whether they are to be heard
or not, gain nothing by their prayers. Such persons he compares to a wave of
the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Hence, in another passage he terms
genuine prayer "the prayer of faith" (James 5:15). Again, since God so often
declares that he will give to every man according to his faith he intimates
that we cannot obtain anything without faith. In short, it is faith which
obtains everything that is granted to prayer. This is the meaning of Paul in
the well known passage to which dull men give too little heed, "How then shall
they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe
in him of whom they have not heard?" "So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:14,17). Gradually deducing the origin of
prayer from faith, he distinctly maintains that God cannot be invoked sincerely
except by those to whom, by the preaching of the Gospel, his mercy and
willingness have been made known, nay, familiarly explained.
12.
This necessity our opponents do not at all consider. Therefore, when we say
that believers ought to feel firmly assured, they think we are saying the
absurdest thing in the world. But if they had any experience in true prayer,
they would assuredly understand that God cannot be duly invoked without this
firm sense of the Divine benevolence. But as no man can well perceive the power
of faith, without at the same time feeling it in his heart, what profit is
there in disputing with men of this character, who plainly show that they have
never had more than a vain imagination? The value and necessity of that
assurance for which we contend is learned chiefly from prayer. Every one who
does not see this gives proof of a very stupid conscience. Therefore, leaving
those who are thus blinded, let us fix our thoughts on the words of Paul, that
God can only be invoked by such as have obtained a knowledge of his mercy from
the Gospel, and feel firmly assured that that mercy is ready to be bestowed
upon them. What kind of prayer would this be? "O Lord, I am indeed doubtful
whether or not thou art inclined to hear me; but being oppressed with anxiety I
fly to thee that if I am worthy, thou mayest assist me." None of the saints
whose prayers are given in Scripture thus supplicated. Nor are we thus taught
by the Holy Spirit, who tells us to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16); and
elsewhere teaches us to "have boldness and access with confidence by the faith
of Christ" (Eph. 3:12). This confidence of obtaining what we ask, a confidence
which the Lord commands, and all the saints teach by their example, we must
therefore hold fast with both hands, if we would pray to any advantage. The
only prayer acceptable to God is that which springs (if I may so express it)
from this presumption of faith, and is founded on the full assurance of hope.
He might have been contented to use the simple name of faith, but he adds not
only confidence, but liberty or boldness, that by this mark he might
distinguish us from unbelievers, who indeed like us pray to God, but pray at
random. Hence, the whole Church thus prays "Let thy mercy O Lord, be upon us,
according as we hope in thee" (Ps. 33:22). The same condition is set down
by the Psalmist in another passage, "When I cry unto thee, then shall mine
enemies turn back: this I know, for God is for me" (Ps. 56:9). Again, "In the
morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up" (Ps. 5:3). From
these words we gather, that prayers are vainly poured out into the air unless
accompanied with faith, in which, as from a watchtower, we may quietly wait for
God. With this agrees the order of Paul's exhortation. For before urging
believers to pray in the Spirit always, with vigilance and assiduity, he
enjoins them to take "the shield of faith," "the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:16-18).
Let the reader here call to mind what I formerly observed, that faith by no
means fails though accompanied with a recognition of our wretchedness, poverty,
and pollution. How much soever believers may feel that they are oppressed by a
heavy load of iniquity, and are not only devoid of everything which can procure
the favour of God for them, but justly burdened with many sins which make him
an object of dread, yet they cease not to present themselves, this feeling not
deterring them from appearing in his presence, because there is no other access
to him. Genuine prayer is not that by which we arrogantly extol ourselves
before God, or set a great value on anything of our own, but that by which,
while confessing our guilt, we utter our sorrows before God, just as children
familiarly lay their complaints before their parents. Nay, the immense
accumulation of our sins should rather spur us on and incite us to prayer. Of
this the Psalmist gives us an example, "Heal my soul: for I have sinned against
thee" (Ps. 41:4). I confess, indeed, that these stings would prove mortal
darts, did not God give succour; but our heavenly Father has, in ineffable
kindness, added a remedy, by which, calming all perturbation, soothing our
cares, and dispelling our fears he condescendingly allures us to himself; nay,
removing all doubts, not to say obstacles, makes the way smooth before us.
13.
And first, indeed in enjoining us to pray, he by the very injunction convicts
us of impious contumacy if we obey not. He could not give a more precise
command than that which is contained in the psalms: "Call upon me in the day of
trouble" (Ps. 50:15). But as there is no office of piety more frequently
enjoined by Scripture, there is no occasion for here dwelling longer upon it.
"Ask," says our Divine Master, "and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matth. 7:7). Here, indeed, a
promise is added to the precept, and this is necessary. For though all confess
that we must obey the precept, yet the greater part would shun the invitation
of God, did he not promise that he would listen and be ready to answer. These
two positions being laid down, it is certain that all who cavillingly allege
that they are not to come to God directly, are not only rebellious and
disobedient but are also convicted of unbelief, inasmuch as they distrust the
promises. There is the more occasion to attend to this, because hypocrites,
under a pretense of humility and modesty, proudly contemn the precept, as well
as deny all credit to the gracious invitation of God; nay, rob him of a
principal part of his worship. For when he rejected sacrifices, in which all
holiness seemed then to consist, he declared that the chief thing, that which
above all others is precious in his sight, is to be invoked in the day of
necessity. Therefore, when he demands that which is his own, and urges us to
alacrity in obeying, no pretexts for doubt, how specious soever they may be,
can excuse us. Hence, all the passages throughout Scripture in which we are
commanded to pray, are set up before our eyes as so many banners, to inspire us
with confidence. It were presumption to go forward into the presence of God,
did he not anticipate us by his invitation. Accordingly, he opens up the way
for us by his own voice, "I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The
Lord is my God" (Zech. 13:9). We see how he anticipates his worshippers, and
desires them to follow, and therefore we cannot fear that the melody which he
himself dictates will prove unpleasing. Especially let us call to mind that
noble description of the divine character, by trusting to which we shall easily
overcome every obstacle: O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh
come" (Ps. 65:2). What can be more lovely or soothing than to see God
invested with a title which assures us that nothing is more proper to his
nature than to listen to the prayers of suppliants? Hence the Psalmist infers,
that free access is given not to a few individuals, but to all men, since God
addresses all in these terms, "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 50:15). David, accordingly,
appeals to the promise thus given in order to obtain what he asks: "Thou, O
Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will
build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this
prayer unto thee" (2 Sam. 7:27). Here we infer, that he would have been afraid
but for the promise which emboldened him. So in another passage he fortifies
himself with the general doctrine, "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear
him" (Ps. 145:19). Nay, we may observe in The Psalms how the continuity of
prayer is broken, and a transition is made at one time to the power of God, at
another to his goodness, at another to the faithfulness of his promises. It
might seem that David, by introducing these sentiments, unseasonably mutilates
his prayers; but believers well know by experience, that their ardour grows
languid unless new fuel be added, and, therefore, that meditation as well on
the nature as on the word of God during prayer, is by no means superfluous. Let
us not decline to imitate the example of David, and introduce thoughts which
may reanimate our languid minds with new vigour.
14.
It is strange that these delightful promises affect us coldly, or scarcely at
all, so that the generality of men prefer to wander up and down, forsaking the
fountain of living waters, and hewing out to themselves broken cisterns, rather
than embrace the divine liberality voluntarily offered to them (Jer. 2:13).
"The name of the Lord," says Solomon, "is a strong tower; the righteous runneth
into it, and is safe." (Pr. 18:10) Joel, after predicting the fearful
disaster which was at hand, subjoins the following memorable sentence: "And it
shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
delivered." (Joel 2:32) This we know properly refers to the course of the
Gospel. Scarcely one in a hundred is moved to come into the presence of God,
though he himself exclaims by Isaiah, "And it shall come to pass, that before
they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Is.
65:24) This honour he elsewhere bestows upon the whole Church in general, as
belonging to all the members of Christ: "He shall call upon me, and I will
answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him."
(Ps. 91:15) My intention, however, as I already observed, is not to enumerate
all, but only select some admirable passages as a specimen how kindly God
allures us to himself, and how extreme our ingratitude must be when with such
powerful motives our sluggishness still retards us. Wherefore, let these words
always resound in our ears: "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,
to all that call upon him in truth" (Ps. 145:18). Likewise those passages
which we have quoted from Isaiah and Joel, in which God declares that his ear
is open to our prayers, and that he is delighted as with a sacrifice of sweet
savour when we cast our cares upon him. The special benefit of these promises
we receive when we frame our prayer, not timorously or doubtingly, but when
trusting to his word whose majesty might otherwise deter us, we are bold to
call him Father, he himself deigning to suggest this most delightful name.
Fortified by such invitations it remains for us to know that we have therein
sufficient materials for prayer, since our prayers depend on no merit of our
own, but all their worth and hope of success are founded and depend on the
promises of God, so that they need no other support, and require not to look up
and down on this hand and on that. It must therefore be fixed in our minds,
that though we equal not the lauded sanctity of patriarchs, prophets, and
apostles, yet as the command to pray is common to us as well as them, and faith
is common, so if we lean on the word of God, we are in respect of this
privilege their associates. For God declaring, as has already been seen, that
he will listen and be favourable to all, encourages the most wretched to hope
that they shall obtain what they ask; and, accordingly, we should attend to the
general forms of expression, which, as it is commonly expressed, exclude none
from first to last; only let there be sincerity of heart, self-dissatisfaction,
humility, and faith, that we may not, by the hypocrisy of a deceitful prayer,
profane the name of God. Our most merciful Father will not reject those whom he
not only encourages to come, but urges in every possible way. Hence David's
method of prayer to which I lately referred: "And now, O Lord God, thou art
that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy
servant, that it may continue for ever before thee" (2 Sam. 7:28). So also, in
another passage, "Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,
according to thy word unto thy servant" (Psalm 119:76). And the whole body of
the Israelites, whenever they fortify themselves with the remembrance of the
covenant, plainly declare, that since God thus prescribes they are not to pray
timorously (Gen. 32:13). In this they imitated the example of the
patriarchs, particularly Jacob, who, after confessing that he was unworthy of
the many mercies which he had received of the Lord's hand, says, that he is
encouraged to make still larger requests, because God had promised that he
would grant them. But whatever be the pretexts which unbelievers employ, when
they do not flee to God as often as necessity urges, nor seek after him, nor
implore his aid, they defraud him of his due honour just as much as if they
were fabricating to themselves new gods and idols, since in this way they deny
that God is the author of all their blessings. On the contrary, nothing more
effectually frees pious minds from every doubt, than to be armed with the
thought that no obstacle should impede them while they are obeying the command
of God, who declares that nothing is more grateful to him than obedience.
Hence, again, what I have previously said becomes still more clear, namely,
that a bold spirit in prayer well accords with fear, reverence, and anxiety,
and that there is no inconsistency when God raises up those who had fallen
prostrate. In this way forms of expression apparently inconsistent admirably
haronize. Jeremiah and David speak of humbly laying their supplications[5] before God (Jer. 42:9; Dan. 9:18). In
another passage Jeremiah says "Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be
accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this
remnant" (Jer. 42:2). On the other hand, believers are often said to lift up
prayer. Thus Hezekiah speaks, when asking the prophet to undertake the
office of interceding (2 Kings 19:4). And David says, "Let my prayer be set
forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening
sacrifice" (Ps. 141:2). The explanation is, that though believers, persuaded of
the paternal love of God, cheerfully rely on his faithfulness, and have no
hesitation in imploring the aid which he voluntarily offers, they are not
elated with supine or presumptuous security; but climbing up by the ladder of
the promises, still remain humble and abased suppliants.
15.
Here, by way of objection, several questions are raised. Scripture relates that
God sometimes complied with certain prayers which had been dictated by minds
not duly calmed or regulated. It is true, that the cause for which Jotham
imprecated on the inhabitants of Shechem the disaster which afterwards befell
them was well founded; but still he was inflamed with anger and revenge (Judges
9:20); and hence God, by complying with the execration, seems to approve of
passionate impulses. Similar fervour also seized Samson, when he prayed,
"Strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once
avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28). For although there
was some mixture of good zeal, yet his ruling feeling was a fervid, and
therefore vicious longing for vengeance. God assents, and hence apparently it
might be inferred that prayers are effectual, though not framed in conformity
to the rule of the word. But I answer, first, that a perpetual law is
not abrogated by singular examples; and, secondly, that special
suggestions have sometimes been made to a few individuals, whose case thus
becomes different from that of the generality of men. For we should attend to
the answer which our Saviour gave to his disciples when they inconsiderately
wished to imitate the example of Elias, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye
are of" (Luke 9:55). We must, however, go farther and say, that the wishes to
which God assents are not always pleasing to him; but he assents, because it is
necessary, by way of example, to give clear evidence of the doctrine of
Scripture, viz., that he assists the miserable, and hears the groans of those
who unjustly afflicted implore his aid: and, accordingly, he executes his
judgments when the complaints of the needy, though in themselves unworthy of
attention, ascend to him. For how often, in inflicting punishment on the
ungodly for cruelty, rapine, violence, lust, and other crimes, in curbing
audacity and fury, and also in overthrowing tyrannical power, has he declared
that he gives assistance to those who are unworthily oppressed though they by
addressing an unknown deity only beat the air? There is one psalm which clearly
teaches that prayers are not without effect, though they do not penetrate to
heaven by faith (Ps. 107:6,13,19). For it enumerates the prayers which, by
natural instinct, necessity extorts from unbelievers not less than from
believers, and to which it shows by the event, that God is, notwithstanding,
propitious. Is it to testify by such readiness to hear that their prayers are
agreeable to him? Nay; it is, first, to magnify or display his mercy by the
circumstance, that even the wishes of unbelievers are not denied; and,
secondly, to stimulate his true worshippers to more urgent prayer, when they
see that sometimes even the wailings of the ungodly are not without avail.
This, however, is no reason why believers should deviate from the law divinely
imposed upon them, or envy unbelievers, as if they gained much in obtaining
what they wished. We have observed (chap. iii. sec. 25), that in this way God
yielded to the feigned repentance of Ahab, that he might show how ready he is
to listen to his elect when, with true contrition, they seek his favour.
Accordingly, he upbraids the Jews, that shortly after experiencing his
readiness to listen to their prayers, they returned to their own perverse
inclinations. It is also plain from the Book of Judges that, whenever they
wept, though their tears were deceitful, they were delivered from the hands of
their enemies. Therefore, as God sends his sun indiscriminately on the evil and
on the good, so he despises not the tears of those who have a good cause, and
whose sorrows are deserving of relief. Meanwhile, though he hears them, it has
no more to do with salvation than the supply of food which he gives to other
despisers of his goodness.
There seems to be a more difficult question concerning Abraham and Samuel, the
one of whom, without any instruction from the word of God, prayed in behalf of
the people of Sodom, and the other, contrary to an express prohibition, prayed
in behalf of Saul (Gen. 18:23; 1 Sam. 15:11). Similar is the case of Jeremiah,
who prayed that the city might not be destroyed (Jer. 32:16ff). It is true
their prayers were refused, but it seems harsh to affirm that they prayed
without faith. Modest readers will, I hope, be satisfied with this solution,
viz., that leaning to the general principle on which God enjoins us to be
merciful even to the unworthy, they were not altogether devoid of faith, though
in this particular instance their wish was disappointed. Augustine shrewdly
remarks, "How do the saints pray in faith when they ask from God contrary to
what he has decreed? Namely, because they pray according to his will, not his
hidden and immutable will, but that which he suggests to them, that he may hear
them in another manner; as he wisely distinguishes" (August. de Civit. Dei,
Lib. xxii. c. 2). This is truly said: for, in his incomprehensible counsel, he
so regulates events, that the prayers of the saints, though involving a mixture
of faith and error, are not in vain. And yet this no more sanctions imitation
than it excuses the saints themselves, who I deny not exceeded due bounds.
Wherefore, whenever no certain promise exists, our request to God must have a
condition annexed to it. Here we may refer to the prayer of David, "Awake for
me to the judgment that thou hast commanded" (Ps. 7:6); for he reminds us that
he had received special instruction to pray for a temporal blessing.[6]
16.
It is also of importance to observe, that the four laws of prayer of which I
have treated are not so rigorously enforced, as that God rejects the prayers in
which he does not find perfect faith or repentance, accompanied with fervent
zeal and wishes duly framed. We have said (sec. 4), that though prayer is the
familiar intercourse of believers with God, yet reverence and modesty must be
observed: we must not give loose reins to our wishes, nor long for anything
farther than God permits; and, moreover, lest the majesty of God should be
despised, our minds must be elevated to pure and chaste veneration. This no man
ever performed with due perfection. For, not to speak of the generality of men,
how often do David's complaints savour of intemperance? Not that he actually
means to expostulate with God, or murmur at his judgments, but failing, through
infirmity, he finds no better solace than to pour his griefs into the bosom of
his heavenly Father. Nay, even our stammering is tolerated by God, and pardon
is granted to our ignorance as often as anything rashly escapes us: indeed,
without this indulgence, we should have no freedom to pray. But although it was
David's intention to submit himself entirely to the will of God, and he prayed
with no less patience than fervour, yet irregular emotions appear, nay,
sometimes burst forth, -- emotions not a little at variance with the first law
which we laid down. In particular, we may see in a clause of the thirty-ninth
Psalm, how this saint was carried away by the vehemence of his grief, and
unable to keep within bounds. "O spare me,[7] that I may recover strength, before I go
hence, and be no more" (Ps. 39:13). You would call this the language of a
desperate man, who had no other desire than that God should withdraw and leave
him to relish in his distresses. Not that his devout mind rushes into such
intemperance, or that, as the reprobate are wont, he wishes to have done with
God; he only complains that the divine anger is more than he can bear. During
those trials, wishes often escape which are not in accordance with the rule of
the word, and in which the saints do not duly consider what is lawful and
expedient. Prayers contaminated by such faults, indeed, deserve to be rejected;
yet provided the saints lament, administer self-correction and return to
themselves, God pardons.
Similar faults are committed in regard to the second law (as to which, see sec.
6), for the saints have often to struggle with their own coldness, their want
and misery not urging them sufficiently to serious prayer. It often happens,
also, that their minds wander, and are almost lost; hence in this matter also
there is need of pardon, lest their prayers, from being languid or mutilated,
or interrupted and wandering, should meet with a refusal. One of the natural
feelings which God has imprinted on our mind is, that prayer is not genuine
unless the thoughts are turned upward. Hence the ceremony of raising the hands,
to which we have adverted, a ceremony known to all ages and nations, and still
in common use. But who, in lifting up his hands, is not conscious of
sluggishness, the heart cleaving to the earth? In regard to the petition for
remission of sins (sec. 8), though no believer omits it, yet all who are truly
exercised in prayer feel that they bring scarcely a tenth of the sacrifice of
which David speaks, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a
contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). Thus a twofold
pardon is always to be asked; first, because they are conscious of many faults
the sense of which, however, does not touch them so as to make them feel
dissatisfied with themselves as they ought; and, secondly, in so far as they
have been enabled to profit in repentance and the fear of God, they are humbled
with just sorrow for their offenses, and pray for the remission of punishment
by the judge. The thing which most of all vitiates prayer, did not God
indulgently interpose, is weakness or imperfection of faith; but it is not
wonderful that this defect is pardoned by God, who often exercises his people
with severe trials, as if he actually wished to extinguish their faith. The
hardest of such trials is when believers are forced to exclaim, "O Lord God of
hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?" (Ps.
80:4), as if their very prayers offended him. In like manner, when Jeremiah
says "Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayers (Lam. 3:8), there
cannot be a doubt that he was in the greatest perturbation. Innumerable
examples of the same kind occur in the Scriptures, from which it is manifest
that the faith of the saints was often mingled wth doubts and fears, so that
while believing and hoping, they, however, betrayed some degree of unbelief.
But because they do not come so far as were to be wished, that is only an
additional reason for their exerting themselves to correct their faults, that
they may daily approach nearer to the perfect law of prayer, and at the same
time feel into what an abyss of evils those are plunged, who, in the very cures
they use, bring new diseases upon themselves: since there is no prayer which
God would not deservedly disdain, did he not overlook the blemishes with which
all of them are polluted. I do not mention these things that believers may
securely pardon themselves in any faults which they commit, but that they may
call themselves to strict account, and thereby endeavour to surmount these
obstacles; and though Satan endeavours to block up all the paths in order to
prevent them from praying, they may, nevertheless, break through, being firmly
persuaded that though not disencumbered of all hinderances, their attempts are
pleasing to God, and their wishes are approved, provided they hasten on and
keep their aim, though without immediately reaching it.
17.
But since no man is worthy to come forward in his own name, and appear in the
presence of God, our heavenly Father, to relieve us at once from fear and
shame, with which all must feel oppressed,[8] has given us his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord, to be our Advocate and Mediator, that under his guidance we may approach
securely, confiding that with him for our Intercessor nothing which we ask in
his name will be denied to us, as there is nothing which the Father can deny to
him (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1; see sec. 36, 37). To this it is necessary to refer
all that we have previously taught concerning faith; because, as the promise
gives us Christ as our Mediator, so, unless our hope of obtaining what we ask
is founded on him, it deprives us of the privilege of prayer. For it is
impossible to think of the dread majesty of God without being filled with
alarm; and hence the sense of our own unworthiness must keep us far away, until
Christ interpose, and convert a throne of dreadful glory into a throne of
grace, as the Apostle teaches that thus we can "come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb.
4:16). And as a rule has been laid down as to prayer, as a promise has been
given that those who pray will be heard, so we are specially enjoined to pray
in the name of Christ, the promise being that we shall obtain what we ask in
his name. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name," says our Saviour, "that will I
do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son;" "Hitherto ye have asked
nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John
14:13; 16:24). Hence it is incontrovertibly clear that those who pray to God in
any other name than that of Christ contumaciously falsify his orders, and
regard his will as nothing, while they have no promise that they shall obtain.
For, as Paul says "All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen;" (2
Cor. 1:20), that is, are confirmed and fulfilled in him.
18.
And we must carefully attend to the circumstance of time. Christ enjoins his
disciples to have recourse to his intercession after he shall have ascended to
heaven: "At that day ye shall ask in my name" (John 16:26). It is certain,
indeed, that from the very first all who ever prayed were heard only for the
sake of the Mediator. For this reason God had commanded in the Law, that the
priest alone should enter the sanctuary, bearing the names of the twelve tribes
of Israel on his shoulders, and as many precious stones on his breast, while
the people were to stand at a distance in the outer court, and thereafter unite
their prayers with the priest. Nay, the sacrifice had even the effect of
ratifying and confirming their prayers. That shadowy ceremony of the Law
therefore taught, first, that we are all excluded from the face of God, and,
therefore, that there is need of a Mediator to appear in our name, and carry us
on his shoulders and keep us bound upon his breast, that we may be heard in his
person; And secondly, that our prayers, which, as has been said, would
otherwise never be free from impurity, are cleansed by the sprinkling of his
blood. And we see that the saints, when they desired to obtain anything,
founded their hopes on sacrifices, because they knew that by sacrifice all
prayers were ratified: "Remember all thy offerings," says David, "and accept
thy burnt sacrifice" (Ps. 20:3). Hence we infer, that in receiving the prayers
of his people, God was from the very first appeased by the intercession of
Christ. Why then does Christ speak of a new period ("at that day") when the
disciples were to begin to pray in his name, unless it be that this grace,
being now more brightly displayed, ought also to be in higher estimation with
us? In this sense he had said a little before, "Hitherto ye have asked nothing
in my name; ask." Not that they were altogether ignorant of the office of
Mediator (all the Jews were instructed in these first rudiments), but they did
not clearly understand that Christ by his ascent to heaven would be more the
advocate of the Church than before. Therefore, to solace their grief for his
absence by some more than ordinary result, he asserts his office of advocate,
and says, that hitherto they had been without the special benefit which it
would be their privilege to enjoy, when aided by his intercession they should
invoke God with greater freedom. In this sense the Apostle says that we have
"boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us" (Heb. 10:19, 20). Therefore, the more
inexcusable we are, if we do not with both hands (as it is said) embrace the
inestimable gift which is properly destined for us.
19.
Moreover since he himself is the only way and the only access by which we can
draw near to God, those who deviate from this way, and decline this access,
have no other remaining; his throne presents nothing but wrath, judgment, and
terror. In short, as the Father has consecrated him our guide and head, those
who abandon or turn aside from him in any way endeavour, as much as in them
lies, to sully and efface the stamp which God has impressed. Christ, therefore,
is the only Mediator by whose intercession the Father is rendered propitious
and exorable (1 Tim. 2:5). For though the saints are still permitted to use
intercessions, by which they mutually beseech God in behalf of each other's
salvation, and of which the Apostle makes mention (Eph. 6:18, 19; 1 Tim. 2:1);
yet these depend on that one intercession, so far are they from derogating from
it. For as the intercessions which, as members of one body we offer up for each
other, spring from the feeling of love, so they have reference to this one
head. Being thus also made in the name of Christ, what more do they than
declare that no man can derive the least benefit from any prayers without the
intercession of Christ? As there is nothing in the intercession of Christ to
prevent the different members of the Church from offering up prayers for each
other, so let it be held as a fixed principle, that all the intercessions thus
used in the Church must have reference to that one intercession. Nay, we must
be specially careful to show our gratitude on this very account, that God
pardoning our unworthiness, not only allows each individual to pray for
himself, but allows all to intercede mutually for each other. God having given
a place in his Church to intercessors who would deserve to be rejected when
praying privately on their own account, how presumptuous were it to abuse this
kindness by employing it to obscure the honour of Christ?
20.
Moreover, the Sophists are guilty of the merest trifling when they allege that
Christ is the Mediator of redemption, but that believers are mediators
of intercession; as if Christ had only performed a temporary mediation,
and left an eternal and imperishable mediation to his servants. Such, forsooth,
is the treatment which he receives from those who pretend only to take from him
a minute portion of honour. Very different is the language of Scripture, with
whose simplicity every pious man will be satisfied, without paying any regard
to those importers. For when John says, "If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1), does he mean merely
that we once had an advocate; does he not rather ascribe to him a perpetual
intercession? What does Paul mean when he declares that he "is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us"? (Rom. 8:32). But when
in another passage he declares that he is the only Mediator between God and man
(1 Tim. 2:5), is he not referring to the supplications which he had mentioned a
little before? Having previously said that prayers were to be offered up for
all men, he immediately adds, in confirmation of that statement, that there is
one God, and one Mediator between God and man. Nor does Augustine give a
different interpretation when he says, "Christian men mutually recommend each
other in their prayers. But he for whom none intercedes, while he himself
intercedes for all, is the only true Mediator. Though the Apostle Paul was
under the head a principal member, yet because he was a member of the body of
Christ, and knew that the most true and High Priest of the Church had entered
not by figure into the inner veil to the holy of holies, but by firm and
express truth into the inner sanctuary of heaven to holiness, holiness not
imaginary, but eternal (Heb 9:11, 24), he also commends himself to the prayers
of the faithful (Rom. 15:30; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3). He does not make himself a
mediator between God and the people, but asks that all the members of the body
of Christ should pray mutually for each other, since the members are mutually
sympathetic: if one member suffers, the others suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26).
And thus the mutual prayers of all the members still labouring on the earth
ascend to the Head, who has gone before into heaven, and in whom there is
propitiation for our sins. For if Paul were a mediator, so would also the other
apostles, and thus there would be many mediators, and Paul's statement could
not stand, 'There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus;' (1 Tim. 2:5) in whom we also are one (Rom. 12:5) if we keep the
unity of the faith in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3)," (August. Contra Parmenian,
Lib. ii. cap. 8). Likewise in another passage Augustine says, "If thou
requirest a priest, he is above the heavens, where he intercedes for those who
on earth died for thee" (August. in Ps. 94). We imagine not that he throws
himself before his Father's knees, and suppliantly intercedes for us; but we
understand with the Apostle, that he appears in the presence of God, and that
the power of his death has the effect of a perpetual intercession for us; that
having entered into the upper sanctuary, he alone continues to the end of the
world to present the prayers of his people, who are standing far off in the
outer court.
21.
In regard to the saints who having died in the body live in Christ, if we
attribute prayer to them, let us not imagine that they have any other way of
supplicating God than through Christ who alone is the way, or that their
prayers are accepted by God in any other name. Wherefore, since the Scripture
calls us away from all others to Christ alone, since our heavenly Father is
pleased to gather together all things in him, it were the extreme of stupidity,
not to say madness, to attempt to obtain access by means of others, so as to be
drawn away from him without whom access cannot be obtained. But who can deny
that this was the practice for several ages, and is still the practice,
wherever Popery prevails? To procure the favour of God, human merits are ever
and anon obtruded, and very frequently while Christ is passed by, God is
supplicated in their name. I ask if this is not to transfer to them that office
of sole intercession which we have above claimed for Christ? Then what angel or
devil ever announced one syllable to any human being concerning that fancied
intercession of theirs? There is not a word on the subject in Scripture. What
ground then was there for the fiction? Certainly, while the human mind thus
seeks help for itself in which it is not sanctioned by the word of God, it
plainly manifests its distrust (see s. 27). But if we appeal to the consciences
of all who take pleasure in the intercession of saints, we shall find that
their only reason for it is, that they are filled with anxiety, as if they
supposed that Christ were insufficient or too rigorous. By this anxiety they
dishonour Christ, and rob him of his title of sole Mediator, a title which
being given him by the Father as his special privilege, ought not to be
transferred to any other. By so doing they obscure the glory of his nativity
and make void his cross; in short, divest and defraud of due praise everything
which he did or suffered, since all which he did and suffered goes to show that
he is and ought to be deemed sole Mediator. At the same time, they reject the
kindness of God in manifesting himself to them as a Father, for he is not their
Father if they do not recognize Christ as their brother. This they plainly
refuse to do if they think not that he feels for them a brother's affection;
affection than which none can be more gentle or tender. Wherefore Scripture
offers him alone, sends us to him, and establishes us in him. "He," says
Ambrose, "is our mouth by which we speak to the Father; our eye by which we see
the Father; our right hand by which we offer ourselves to the Father. Save by
his intercession neither we nor any saints have any intercourse with God"
(Ambros. Lib. de Isaac et Anima). If they object that the public prayers which
are offered up in churches conclude with the words, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, it is a frivolous evasion; because no less insult is offered to the
intercession of Christ by confounding it with the prayers and merits of the
dead, than by omitting it altogether, and making mention only of the dead.
Then, in all their litanies, hymns, and proses where every kind of honour is
paid to dead saints, there is no mention of Christ.
22.
But here stupidity has proceeded to such a length as to give a manifestation of
the genius of superstition, which, when once it has shaken off the rein, is
wont to wanton without limit. After men began to look to the intercession of
saints, a peculiar administration was gradually assigned to each, so that,
according to diversity of business, now one, now another, intercessor was
invoked. Then individuals adopted particular saints, and put their faith in
them, just as if they had been tutelar deities. And thus not only were gods set
up according to the number of the cities (the charge which the prophet brought
against Israel of old, Jer. 2:28; 11:13), but according to the number of
individuals. But while the saints in all their desires refer to the will of God
alone, look to it, and acquiesce in it, yet to assign to them any other prayer
than that of longing for the arrival of the kingdom of God, is to think of them
stupidly, carnally, and even insultingly. Nothing can be farther from such a
view than to imagine that each, under the influence of private feeling, is
disposed to be most favourable to his own worshippers. At length vast numbers
have fallen into the horrid blasphemy of invoking them not merely as helping
but presiding over their salvation. See the depth to which miserable men fall
when they forsake their proper station, that is, the word of God. I say nothing
of the more monstrous specimens of impiety in which, though detestable to God,
angels, and men, they themselves feel no pain or shame. Prostrated at a statue
or picture of Barbara or Catherine, and the like, they mutter a Pater
Noster;[9] and so far are their
pastors[10] from curing or curbing this
frantic course, that, allured by the scent of gain, they approve and applaud
it. But while seeking to relieve themselves of the odium of this vile and
criminal procedure, with what pretext can they defend the practice of calling
upon Eloy (Eligius) or Medard to look upon their servants, and send them help
from heaven, or the Holy Virgin to order her Son to do what they ask?[11] The Council of Carthage forbade direct
prayer to be made at the altar to saints. It is probable that these holy men,
unable entirely to suppress the force of depraved custom, had recourse to this
check, that public prayers might not be vitiated with such forms of expression
as Sancte Petre, ora pro nobis -- St Peter, pray for us. But how much
farther has this devilish extravagance proceeded when men hesitate not to
transfer to the dead the peculiar attributes of Christ and God?
23.
In endeavouring to prove that such intercession derives some support from
Scripture they labour in vain. We frequently read (they say) of the prayers of
angels, and not only so, but the prayers of believers are said to be carried
into the presence of God by their hands. But if they would compare saints who
have departed this life with angels, it will be necessary to prove that saints
are ministering spirits, to whom has been delegated the office of
superintending our salvation, to whom has been assigned the province of guiding
us in all our ways, of encompassing, admonishing, and comforting us, of keeping
watch over us. All these are assigned to angels, but none of them to saints.
How preposterously they confound departed saints with angels is sufficiently
apparent from the many different offices by which Scripture distinguishes the
one from the other. No one unless admitted will presume to perform the office
of pleader before an earthly judge; whence then have worms such license as to
obtrude themselves on God as intercessors, while no such office has been
assigned them? God has been pleased to give angels the charge of our safety.
Hence they attend our sacred meetings, and the Church is to them a theatre in
which they behold the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10). Those who transfer to
others this office which is peculiar to them, certainly pervert and confound
the order which has been established by God and ought to be inviolable. With
similar dexterity they proceed to quote other passages. God said to Jeremiah,
"Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this
people" (Jer. 15:1). How (they ask) could he have spoken thus of the dead but
because he knew that they interceded for the living? My inference, on the
contrary, is this: since it thus appears that neither Moses nor Samuel
interceded for the people of Israel, there was then no intercession for the
dead. For who of the saints can be supposed to labour for the salvation of the
peoples while Moses who, when in life, far surpassed all others in this matter,
does nothing? Therefore, if they persist in the paltry quibble, that the dead
intercede for the living, because the Lord said, "If they stood before
me," (intercesserint), I will argue far more speciously in this way:
Moses, of whom it is said, "if he interceded," did not intercede for the
people in their extreme necessity: it is probable, therefore, that no other
saint intercedes, all being far behind Moses in humanity, goodness, and
paternal solicitude. Thus all they gain by their cavilling is to be wounded by
the very arms with which they deem themselves admirably protected. But it is
very ridiculous to wrest this simple sentence in this manner; for the Lord only
declares that he would not spare the iniquities of the people, though some
Moses or Samuel, to whose prayers he had shown himself so indulgent, should
intercede for them. This meaning is most clearly elicited from a similar
passage in Ezekiel: "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord
God" (Ezek. 14:14). Here there can be no doubt that we are to understand the
words as if it had been said, If two of the persons named were again to come
alive; for the third was still living, namely, Daniel, who it is well known had
then in the bloom of youth given an incomparable display of piety. Let us
therefore leave out those whom Scripture declares to have completed their
course. Accordingly, when Paul speaks of David, he says not that by his prayers
he assisted posterity, but only that he "served his own generation" (Acts
13:36).
24.
They again object, Are those, then, to be deprived of every pious wish, who,
during the whole course of their lives, breathed nothing but piety and mercy? I
have no wish curiously to pry into what they do or meditate; but the
probability is, that instead of being subject to the impulse of various and
particular desires, they, with one fixed and immoveable will, long for the
kingdom of God, which consists not less in the destruction of the ungodly than
in the salvation of believers. If this be so, there cannot be a doubt that
their charity is confined to the communion of Christ's body, and extends no
farther than is compatible with the nature of that communion. But though I
grant that in this way they pray for us, they do not, however, lose their
quiescence so as to be distracted with earthly cares: far less are they,
therefore, to be invoked by us. Nor does it follow that such invocation is to
be used because, while men are alive upon the earth, they can mutually commend
themselves to each other's prayers. It serves to keep alive a feeling of
charity when they, as it were, share each other's wants, and bear each other's
burdens. This they do by the command of the Lord, and not without a promise,
the two things of primary importance in prayer. But all such reasons are
inapplicable to the dead, with whom the Lord, in withdrawing them from our
society, has left us no means of intercourse (Eccles. 9:5, 6), and to whom, so
far as we can conjecture, he has left no means of intercourse with us. But if
any one allege that they certainly must retain the same charity for us, as they
are united with us in one faith, who has revealed to us that they have ears
capable of listening to the sounds of our voice, or eyes clear enough to
discern our necessities? Our opponents, indeed, talk in the shade of their
schools of some kind of light which beams upon departed saints from the divine
countenance, and in which, as in a mirror, they, from their lofty abode, behold
the affairs of men; but to affirm this with the confidence which these men
presume to use, is just to desire, by means of the extravagant dreams of our
own brain, and without any authority, to pry and penetrate into the hidden
judgments of God, and trample upon Scripture, which so often declares that the
wisdom of our flesh is at enmity with the wisdom of God, utterly condemns the
vanity of our mind, and humbling our reason, bids us look only to the will of
God.
25.
The other passages of Scripture which they employ to defend their error are
miserably wrested. Jacob (they say) asks for the sons of Joseph, "Let my name
be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac" (Gen. 48:16).
First, let us see what the nature of this invocation was among the Israelites.
They do not implore their fathers to bring succour to them, but they beseech
God to remember his servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their example,
therefore, gives no countenance to those who use addresses to the saints
themselves. But such being the dulness of these blocks, that they comprehend
not what it is to invoke the name of Jacob, nor why it is to be invoked, it is
not strange that they blunder thus childishly as to the mode of doing it. The
expression repeatedly occurs in Scripture. Isaiah speaks of women being called
by the name of men, when they have them for husbands and live under their
protection (Isa. 4:1). The calling of the name of Abraham over the Israelites
consists in referring the origin of their race to him, and holding him in
distinguished remembrance as their author and parent. Jacob does not do so from
any anxiety to extend the celebrity of his name, but because he knows that all
the happiness of his posterity consisted in the inheritance of the covenant
which God had made with them. Seeing that this would give them the sum of all
blessings, he prays that they may be regarded as of his race, this being
nothing else than to transmit the succession of the covenant to them. They
again, when they make mention of this subject in their prayers, do not betake
themselves to the intercession of the dead, but call to remembrance that
covenant in which their most merciful Father undertakes to be kind and
propitious to them for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How little, in
other respects, the saints trusted to the merits of their fathers, the public
voice of the Church declares in the prophets "Doubtless thou art our Father,
though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; thou, O Lord,
art our Father, our Redeemer" (Isa. 63:16). And while the Church thus speaks,
she at the same time adds, "Return for thy servants' sake," not thinking of
anything like intercession, but adverting only to the benefit of the covenant.
Now, indeed, when we have the Lord Jesus, in whose hand the eternal covenant of
mercy was not only made but confirmed, what better name can we bear before us
in our prayers? And since those good Doctors would make out by these words that
the Patriarchs are intercessors, I should like them to tell me why, in so great
a multitude,[12] no place whatever is
given to Abraham, the father of the Church? We know well from what a crew they
select their intercessors.[13] Let them
then tell me what consistency there is in neglecting and rejecting Abraham,
whom God preferred to all others, and raised to the highest degree of honour.
The only reason is, that as it was plain there was no such practice in the
ancient Church, they thought proper to conceal the novelty of the practice by
saying nothing of the Patriarchs: as if by a mere diversity of names they could
excuse a practice at once novel and impure. They sometimes, also, object that
God is entreated to have mercy on his people "for David's sake" (Ps. 132:10;
see Calv. Com.). This is so far from supporting their error, that it is the
strongest refutation of it. We must consider the character which David bore. He
is set apart from the whole body of the faithful to establish the covenant
which God made in his hand. Thus regard is had to the covenant rather than to
the individual. Under him as a type the sole intercession of Christ is
asserted. But what was peculiar to David as a type of Christ is certainly
inapplicable to others.
26.
But some seem to be moved by the fact, that the prayers of saints are often
said to have been heard. Why? Because they prayed. "They cried unto thee" (says
the Psalmist), "and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not
confounded" (Ps. 22:5). Let us also pray after their example, that like them we
too may be heard. Those men, on the contrary, absurdly argue that none will be
heard but those who have been heard already. How much better does James argue,
"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three
years and six months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the
earth brought forth her fruit" (James 5:17, 18). What? Does he infer that Elias
possessed some peculiar privilege, and that we must have recourse to him for
the use of it? By no means. He shows the perpetual efficacy of a pure and pious
prayer, that we may be induced in like manner to pray. For the kindness and
readiness of God to hear others is malignantly interpreted, if their example
does not inspire us with stronger confidence in his promise, since his
declaration is not that he will incline his ear to one or two, or a few
individuals, but to all who call upon his name. In this ignorance they are the
less excusable, because they seem as it were avowedly to contemn the many
admonitions of Scripture. David was repeatedly delivered by the power of God.
Was this to give that power to him that we might be delivered on his
application? Very different is his affirmation: "The righteous shall compass me
about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me" (Ps. 142:7). Again, "The
righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him" (Ps. 52:6). "This
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles"
(Ps. 34:6). In The Psalms are many similar prayers, in which David calls upon
God to give him what he asks, for this reason, viz., that the righteous may not
be put to shame, but by his example encouraged to hope. Here let one passage
suffice, "For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when
thou mayest be found" (Ps. 32:6, Calv. Com.). This passage I have quoted the
more readily, because those ravers who employ their hireling tongues in defense
of the Papacy, are not ashamed to adduce it in proof of the intercession of the
dead. As if David intended anything more than to show the benefit which he
shall obtain from the divine clemency and condescension when he shall have been
heard. In general, we must hold that the experience of the grace of God, as
well towards ourselves as towards others, tends in no slight degree to confirm
our faith in his promises. I do not quote the many passages in which David sets
forth the loving-kindness of God to him as a ground of confidence, as they will
readily occur to every reader of The Psalms. Jacob had previously taught the
same thing by his own example, "I am not worthy of the least of all thy
mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant: for with
my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands" (Gen.
32:10). He indeed alleges the promise, but not the promise only; for he at the
same time adds the effect, to animate him with greater confidence in the future
kindness of God. God is not like men who grow weary of their liberality, or
whose means of exercising it become exhausted; but he is to be estimated by his
own nature, as David properly does when he says, "Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth" (Ps. 31:5). After ascribing the praise of his salvation to God,
he adds that he is true: for were he not ever like himself, his past favour
would not be an infallible ground for confidence and prayer. But when we know
that as often as he assists us, he gives us a specimen and proof of his
goodness and faithfulness, there is no reason to fear that our hope will be
ashamed or frustrated.
27.
On the whole, since Scripture places the principal part of worship in the
invocation of God (this being the office of piety which he requires of us in
preference to all sacrifices), it is manifest sacrilege to offer prayer to
others. Hence it is said in the psalm: "If we have forgotten the name of our
God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this
out?" (Ps. 44:20, 21). Again, since it is only in faith that God desires to be
invoked, and he distinctly enjoins us to frame our prayers according to the
rule of his word: in fine, since faith is founded on the word, and is the
parent of right prayer, the moment we decline from the word, our prayers are
impure. But we have already shown, that if we consult the whole volume of
Scripture, we shall find that God claims this honour to himself alone. In
regard to the office of intercession, we have also seen that it is peculiar to
Christ, and that no prayer is agreeable to God which he as Mediator does not
sanctify. And though believers mutually offer up prayers to God in behalf of
their brethren, we have shown that this derogates in no respect from the sole
intercession of Christ, because all trust to that intercession in commending
themselves as well as others to God. Moreover, we have shown that this is
ignorantly transferred to the dead, of whom we nowhere read that they were
commanded to pray for us. The Scripture often exhorts us to offer up mutual
prayers; but says not one syllable concerning the dead; nay, James tacitly
excludes the dead when he combines the two things, to "confess our sins one to
another, and to pray one for another" (James 5:16). Hence it is sufficient to
condemn this error, that the beginning of right prayer springs from faith, and
that faith comes by the hearing of the word of God, in which there is no
mention of fictitious intercession, superstition having rashly adopted
intercessors who have not been divinely appointed. While the Scripture abounds
in various forms of prayer, we find no example of this intercession, without
which Papists think there is no prayer. Moreover, it is evident that this
superstition is the result of distrust, because they are either not contented
with Christ as an intercessor, or have altogether robbed him of this honour.
This last is easily proved by their effrontery in maintaining, as the strongest
of all their arguments for the intercession of the saints, that we are unworthy
of familiar access to God. This, indeed, we acknowledge to be most true, but we
thence infer that they leave nothing to Christ, because they consider his
intercession as nothing, unless it is supplemented by that of George and
Hypolyte, and similar phantoms.
28.
But though prayer is properly confined to vows and supplications, yet so strong
is the affinity between petition and thanksgiving, that both may be
conveniently comprehended under one name. For the forms which Paul enumerates
(1 Tim. 2:1) fall under the first member of this division. By prayer and
supplication we pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things
which tend to promote his glory and display his name, as the benefits which
contribute to our advantage. By thanksgiving we duly celebrate his kindnesses
toward us, ascribing to his liberality every blessing which enters into our
lot. David accordingly includes both in one sentence, "Call upon me in the day
of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 50:15).
Scripture, not without reason, commands us to use both continually. We have
already described the greatness of our want, while experience itself proclaims
the straits which press us on every side to be so numerous and so great, that
all have sufficient ground to send forth sighs and groans to God without
intermission, and suppliantly implore him. For even should they be exempt from
adversity, still the holiest ought to be stimulated first by their sins, and,
secondly, by the innumerable assaults of temptation, to long for a remedy. The
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving can never be interrupted without guilt,
since God never ceases to load us with favour upon favour, so as to force us to
gratitude, however slow and sluggish we may be. In short, so great and widely
diffused are the riches of his liberality towards us, so marvellous and
wondrous the miracles which we behold on every side, that we never can want a
subject and materials for praise and thanksgiving.
To make this somewhat clearer: since all our hopes and resources are placed in
God (this has already been fully proved), so that neither our persons nor our
interests can prosper without his blessing, we must constantly submit ourselves
and our all to him. Then whatever we deliberate, speak, or do, should be
deliberated, spoken, and done under his hand and will; in fine, under the hope
of his assistance. God has pronounced a curse upon all who, confiding in
themselves or others, form plans and resolutions, who, without regarding his
will, or invoking his aid, either plan or attempt to execute (James 4:14;
Isaiah 30:1; 31:1). And since, as has already been observed, he receives the
honour which is due when he is acknowledged to be the author of all good, it
follows that, in deriving all good from his hand, we ought continually to
express our thankfulness, and that we have no right to use the benefits which
proceed from his liberality, if we do not assiduously proclaim his praise, and
give him thanks, these being the ends for which they are given. When Paul
declares that every creature of God "is sanctified by the word of God and
prayers" (1 Tim. 4:5), he intimates that without the word and prayers none of
them are holy and pure, word being used metonymically for faith.
Hence David, on experiencing the loving-kindness of the Lord, elegantly
declares, "He hath put a new song in my mouth" (Ps. 40:3); intimating, that our
silence is malignant when we leave his blessings unpraised, seeing every
blessing he bestows is a new ground of thanksgiving. Thus Isaiah, proclaiming
the singular mercies of God, says, "Sing unto the Lord a new song" (Is. 42:10).
In the same sense David says in another passage, "O Lord, open thou my lips;
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise" (Ps. 41:15). In like manner,
Hezekiah and Jonah declare that they will regard it as the end of their
deliverance "to celebrate the goodness of God with songs in his temple" (Is.
38:20; Jonah 2:10). David lays down a general rule for all believers in these
words, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I
will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Ps.
116:12, 13). This rule the Church follows in another psalm, "Save us, O Lord
our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy
name, and to triumph in thy praise" (Ps. 106:47). Again, "He will regard the
prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written
for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise
the Lord." "To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in
Jerusalem" (Ps. 102:18, 21). Nay, whenever believers beseech the Lord to do
anything for his own name's sake, as they declare themselves unworthy of
obtaining it in their own name, so they oblige themselves to give thanks, and
promise to make the right use of his lovingkindness by being the heralds of it.
Thus Hosea, speaking of the future redemption of the Church, says, "Take away
all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our
lips" (Hos. 14:2). Not only do our tongues proclaim the kindness of God, but
they naturally inspire us with love to him. "I love the Lord, because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications" (Ps. 116:1). In another passage, speaking
of the help which he had experienced, he says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my
strength" (Ps. 18:1). No praise will ever please God that does not flow from
this feeling of love. Nay, we must attend to the declaration of Paul, that all
wishes are vicious and perverse which are not accompanied with thanksgiving.
His words are, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:6). Because many, under the
influence of moroseness, weariness, impatience, bitter grief and fear, use
murmuring in their prayers, he enjoins us so to regulate our feelings as
cheerfully to bless God even before obtaining what we ask. But if this
connection ought always to subsist in full vigour between things that are
almost contrary, the more sacred is the tie which binds us to celebrate the
praises of God whenever he grants our requests. And as we have already shown
that our prayers, which otherwise would be polluted, are sanctified by the
intercession of Christ, so the Apostle, by enjoining us "to offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually" by Christ (Heb. 13:15), reminds us, that
without the intervention of his priesthood our lips are not pure enough to
celebrate the name of God. Hence we infer that a monstrous delusion prevails
among Papists, the great majority of whom wonder when Christ is called an
intercessor. The reason why Paul enjoins, "Pray without ceasing; in everything
give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:17, 18), is, because he would have us with the utmost
assiduity, at all times, in every place, in all things, and under all
circumstances, direct our prayers to God, to expect all the things which we
desire from him, and when obtained ascribe them to him; thus furnishing
perpetual grounds for prayer and praise.
29.
This assiduity in prayer, though it specially refers to the peculiar private
prayers of individuals, extends also in some measure to the public prayers of
the Church. These, it may be said, cannot be continual, and ought not to be
made, except in the manner which, for the sake of order, has been established
by public consent. This I admit, and hence certain hours are fixed beforehand,
hours which, though indifferent in regard to God, are necessary for the use of
man, that the general convenience may be consulted, and all things be done in
the Church, as Paul enjoins, "decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:40). But there
is nothing in this to prevent each church from being now and then stirred up to
a more frequent use of prayer and being more zealously affected under the
impulse of some greater necessity. Of perseverance in prayer, which is much
akin to assiduity, we shall speak towards the close of the chapter (sec. 51,
52). This assiduity, moreover, is very different from the BATTOLOGIAN (Greek --
English "yammering"), vain speaking, which our Saviour has prohibited
(Matth. 6:7). For he does not there forbid us to pray long or frequently, or
with great fervour, but warns us against supposing that we can extort anything
from God by importuning him with garrulous loquacity, as if he were to be
persuaded after the manner of men. We know that hypocrites, because they
consider not that they have to do with God, offer up their prayers as pompously
as if it were part of a triumphal show. The Pharisee, who thanked God that he
was not as other men, no doubt proclaimed his praises before men, as if he had
wished to gain a reputation for sanctity by his prayers. Hence that vain
speaking, which for a similar reason prevails so much in the Papacy in the
present day, some vainly spinning out the time by a reiteration of the same
frivolous prayers, and others employing a long series of verbiage for vulgar
display.[14] This childish garrulity being
a mockery of God, it is not strange that it is prohibited in the Church, in
order that every feeling there expressed may be sincere, proceeding from the
inmost heart. Akin to this abuse is another which our Saviour also condemns,
namely, when hypocrites for the sake of ostentation court the presence of many
witnesses, and would sooner pray in the market-place than pray without
applause. The true object of prayer being, as we have already said (sec. 4, 5),
to carry our thoughts directly to God, whether to celebrate his praise or
implore his aid, we can easily see that its primary seat is in the mind and
heart, or rather that prayer itself is properly an effusion and manifestation
of internal feeling before Him who is the searcher of hearts. Hence (as has
been said), when our divine Master was pleased to lay down the best rule for
prayer, his injunction was, "Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly" (Matth. 6:6). Dissuading us from the example
of hypocrites, who sought the applause of men by an ambitious ostentation in
prayer, he adds the better course -- enter thy chamber, shut thy door, and
there pray. By these words (as I understand them) he taught us to seek a place
of retirement which might enable us to turn all our thoughts inwards and enter
deeply into our hearts, promising that God would hold converse with the
feelings of our mind, of which the body ought to be the temple. He meant not to
deny that it may be expedient to pray in other places also, but he shows that
prayer is somewhat of a secret nature, having its chief seat in the mind, and
requiring a tranquillity far removed from the turmoil of ordinary cares. And
hence it was not without cause that our Lord himself, when he would engage more
earnestly in prayer, withdrew into a retired spot beyond the bustle of the
world, thus reminding us by his example that we are not to neglect those helps
which enable the mind, in itself too much disposed to wander, to become
sincerely intent on prayer. Meanwhile, as he abstained not from prayer when the
occasion required it, though he were in the midst of a crowd, so must we,
whenever there is need, lift up "pure hands" (1 Tim. 2:8) at all places. And
hence we must hold that he who declines to pray in the public meeting of the
saints, knows not what it is to pray apart, in retirement, or at home. On the
other hand, he who neglects to pray alone and in private, however sedulously he
frequents public meetings, there gives his prayers to the wind, because he
defers more to the opinion of man than to the secret judgment of God. Still,
lest the public prayers of the Church should be held in contempt, the Lord
anciently bestowed upon them the most honourable appellation, especially when
he called the temple the "house of prayer" (Isa. 56:7). For by this
expression he both showed that the duty of prayer is a principal part of his
worship, and that to enable believers to engage in it with one consent his
temple is set up before them as a kind of banner. A noble promise was also
added, "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be
performed" (Ps. 65:1).[15] By these words
the Psalmist reminds us that the prayers of the Church are never in vain;
because God always furnishes his people with materials for a song of joy. But
although the shadows of the law have ceased, yet because God was pleased by
this ordinance to foster the unity of the faith among us also, there can be no
doubt that the same promise belongs to us -- a promise which Christ sanctioned
with his own lips, and which Paul declares to be perpetually in force.
30.
As God in his word enjoins common prayer, so public temples are the places
destined for the performance of them, and hence those who refuse to join with
the people of God in this observance have no ground for the pretext, that they
enter their chamber in order that they may obey the command of the Lord. For he
who promises to grant whatsoever two or three assembled in his name shall ask
(Matth. 18:20), declares, that he by no means despises the prayers which are
publicly offered up, provided there be no ostentation, or catching at human
applause, and provided there be a true and sincere affection in the secret
recesses of the heart.[16] If this is the
legitimate use of churches (and it certainly is), we must, on the other hand,
beware of imitating the practice which commenced some centuries ago, of
imagining that churches are the proper dwellings of God, where he is more ready
to listen to us, or of attaching to them some kind of secret sanctity, which
makes prayer there more holy. For seeing we are the true temples of God, we
must pray in ourselves if we would invoke God in his holy temple. Let us leave
such gross ideas to the Jews or the heathen, knowing that we have a command to
pray without distinction of place, "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). It is
true that by the order of God the temple was anciently dedicated for the
offering of prayers and sacrifices, but this was at a time when the truth
(which being now fully manifested, we are not permitted to confine to any
material temple) lay hid under the figure of shadows. Even the temple was not
represented to the Jews as confining the presence of God within its walls, but
was meant to train them to contemplate the image of the true temple.
Accordingly, a severe rebuke is administered both by Isaiah and Stephen, to
those who thought that God could in any way dwell in temples made with hands
(Isa. 66:2; Acts 7:48).
31.
Hence it is perfectly clear that neither words nor singing (if used in prayer)
are of the least consequence, or avail one iota with God, unless they proceed
from deep feeling in the heart. Nay, rather they provoke his anger against us,
if they come from the lips and throat only, since this is to abuse his sacred
name, and hold his majesty in derision. This we infer from the words of Isaiah,
which, though their meaning is of wider extent, go to rebuke this vice also:
"Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do
honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me
is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a
marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the
wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent
men shall be hid" (Isa. 29:13). Still we do not condemn words or singing, but
rather greatly commend them, provided the feeling of the mind goes along with
them. For in this way the thought of God is kept alive on our minds, which,
from their fickle and versatile nature, soon relax, and are distracted by
various objects, unless various means are used to support them. Besides, since
the glory of God ought in a manner to be displayed in each part of our body,
the special service to which the tongue should be devoted is that of singing
and speaking, inasmuch as it has been expressly created to declare and proclaim
the praise of God. This employment of the tongue is chiefly in the public
services which are performed in the meeting of the saints. In this way the God
whom we serve in one spirit and one faith, we glorify together as it were with
one voice and one mouth; and that openly, so that each may in turn receive the
confession of his brother's faith, and be invited and incited to imitate it.
32.
It is certain that the use of singing in churches (which I may mention in
passing) is not only very ancient, but was also used by the Apostles, as we may
gather from the words of Paul, "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing
with the understanding also" (1 Cor. 14:15). In like manner he says to the
Colossians, "Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16). In
the former passage, he enjoins us to sing with the voice and the heart; in the
latter, he commends spiritual Songs, by which the pious mutually edify each
other. That it was not an universal practice, however, is attested by Augustine
(Confess. Lib. ix. cap. 7), who states that the church of Milan first began to
use singing in the time of Ambrose, when the orthodox faith being persecuted by
Justina, the mother of Valentinian, the vigils of the people were more frequent
than usual;[17] and that the practice was
afterwards followed by the other Western churches. He had said a little before
that the custom came from the East.[18] He
also intimates (Retract. Lib. ii). that it was received in Africa in his own
time. His words are, "Hilarius, a man of tribunitial rank, assailed with the
bitterest invectives he could use the custom which then began to exist at
Carthage, of singing hymns from the book of Psalms at the altar, either before
the oblation, or when it was distributed to the people; I answered him, at the
request of my brethren."[19] And certainly
if singing is tempered to a gravity befitting the presence of God and angels,
it both gives dignity and grace to sacred actions, and has a very powerful
tendency to stir up the mind to true zeal and ardour in prayer. We must,
however, carefully beware, lest our ears be more intent on the music than our
minds on the spiritual meaning of the words. Augustine confesses (Confess. Lib.
x. cap. 33) that the fear of this danger sometimes made him wish for the
introduction of a practice observed by Athanasius, who ordered the reader to
use only a gentle inflection of the voice, more akin to recitation than
singing. But on again considering how many advantages were derived from
singing, he inclined to the other side.[20] If this moderation is used, there cannot
be a doubt that the practice is most sacred and salutary. On the other hand,
songs composed merely to tickle and delight the ear are unbecoming the majesty
of the Church, and cannot but be most displeasing to God.
33.
It is also plain that the public prayers are not to be couched in Greek among
the Latins, nor in Latin among the French or English (as hitherto has been
every where practised), but in the vulgar tongue, so that all present may
understand them, since they ought to be used for the edification of the whole
Church, which cannot be in the least degree benefited by a sound not
understood. Those who are not moved by any reason of humanity or charity, ought
at least to be somewhat moved by the authority of Paul, whose words are by no
means ambiguous: "When thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that
occupieth the room of the unlearned say, Amen, at thy giving of thanks, seeing
he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks, but the
other is not edified" (1 Cor. 14:16, 17). How then can one sufficiently admire
the unbridled license of the Papists, who, while the Apostle publicly protests
against it, hesitate not to bawl out the most verbose prayers in a foreign
tongue, prayers of which they themselves sometimes do not understand one
syllable, and which they have no wish that others should understand?[21] Different is the course which Paul
prescribes, "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with
the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the
understanding also:" meaning by the spirit the special gift of tongues,
which some who had received it abused when they dissevered it from the mind,
that is, the understanding. The principle we must always hold is, that in all
prayer, public and private, the tongue without the mind must be displeasing to
God. Moreover, the mind must be so incited, as in ardour of thought far to
surpass what the tongue is able to express. Lastly, the tongue is not even
necessary to private prayer, unless in so far as the internal feeling is
insufficient for incitement, or the vehemence of the incitement carries the
utterance of the tongue along with it. For although the best prayers are
sometimes without utterance, yet when the feeling of the mind is overpowering,
the tongue spontaneously breaks forth into utterance, and our other members
into gesture. Hence that dubious muttering of Hannah (1 Sam. 1:13), something
similar to which is experienced by all the saints when concise and abrupt
expressions escape from them. The bodily gestures usually observed in prayer,
such as kneeling and uncovering of the head (Calv. in Acts 20:36), are
exercises by which we attempt to rise to higher veneration of God.
34.
We must now attend not only to a surer method, but also form of prayer, that,
namely, which our heavenly Father has delivered to us by his beloved Son, and
in which we may recognize his boundless goodness and condescension (Matth. 6:9;
Luke 11:2). Besides admonishing and exhorting us to seek him in our every
necessity (as children are wont to betake themselves to the protection of their
parents when oppressed with any anxiety), seeing that we were not fully aware
how great our poverty was, or what was right or for our interest to ask, he has
provided for this ignorance; that wherein our capacity failed he has
sufficiently supplied. For he has given us a form in which is set before us as
in a picture everything which it is lawful to wish, everything which is
conducive to our interest, everything which it is necessary to demand. From his
goodness in this respect we derive the great comfort of knowing, that as we ask
almost in his words, we ask nothing that is absurd, or foreign, or
unseasonable; nothing, in short, that is not agreeable to him. Plato, seeing
the ignorance of men in presenting their desires to God, desires which if
granted would often be most injurious to them, declares the best form of prayer
to be that which an ancient poet has furnished: "O king Jupiter, give what is
best, whether we wish it or wish it not; but avert from us what is evil even
though we ask it" (Plato, Alcibiad. ii). This heathen shows his wisdom in
discerning how dangerous it is to ask of God what our own passion dictates;
while, at the same time, he reminds us of our unhappy condition in not being
able to open our lips before God without dangers unless his Spirit instruct us
how to pray aright (Rom. 8:26). The higher value, therefore, ought we to set on
the privilege, when the only begotten Son of God puts words into our lips, and
thus relieves our minds of all hesitation.
35.
This form or rule of prayer is composed of six petitions. For I am
prevented from agreeing with those who divide it into seven by the
adversative mode of diction used by the Evangelist, who appears to have
intended to unite the two members together; as if he had said, Do not allow us
to be overcome by temptation, but rather bring assistance to our frailty, and
deliver us that we may not fall. Ancient writers[22] also agree with us, that what is added
by Matthew as a seventh head is to be considered as explanatory of the sixth
petition.[23] But though in every part of
the prayer the first place is assigned to the glory of God, still this is more
especially the object of the three first petitions, in which we are to look to
the glory of God alone, without any reference to what is called our own
advantage. The three remaining petitions are devoted to our interest, and
properly relate to things which it is useful for us to ask. When we ask that
the name of God may be hallowed, as God wishes to prove whether we love and
serve him freely, or from the hope of reward, we are not to think at all of our
own interest; we must set his glory before our eyes, and keep them intent upon
it alone. In the other similar petitions, this is the only manner in which we
ought to be affected. It is true, that in this way our own interest is greatly
promoted, because, when the name of God is hallowed in the way we ask, our own
sanctification also is thereby promoted. But in regard to this advantage, we
must, as I have said, shut our eyes, and be in a manner blind, so as not even
to see it; and hence were all hope of our private advantage cut off, we still
should never cease to wish and pray for this hallowing, and everything else
which pertains to the glory of God. We have examples in Moses and Paul, who did
not count it grievous to turn away their eyes and minds from themselves, and
with intense and fervent zeal long for death, if by their loss the kingdom and
glory of God might be promoted (Exod. 32:32; Rom. 9:3). On the other hand, when
we ask for daily bread, although we desire what is advantageous for ourselves,
we ought also especially to seek the glory of God, so much so that we would not
ask at all unless it were to turn to his glory. Let us now proceed to an
exposition of the Prayer.
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.
36.
The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec.
17-19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of
Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our
Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could
any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to
himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons
in Christ? He being the true Son, has been given to us as a brother, so that
that which he possesses as his own by nature becomes ours by adoption, if we
embrace this great mercy with firm faith. As John says, "As many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
in his name" (John 1:12). Hence he both calls himself our Father, and is
pleased to be so called by us, by this delightful name relieving us of all
distrust, since nowhere can a stronger affection be found than in a father.
Hence, too, he could not have given us a stronger testimony of his boundless
love than in calling us his sons. But his love towards us is so much the
greater and more excellent than that of earthly parents, the farther he
surpasses all men in goodness and mercy (Isaiah 63:16). Earthly parents, laying
aside all paternal affection, might abandon their offspring; he will never
abandon us (Ps. 27:10), seeing he cannot deny himself. For we have his promise,
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that
ask him?" (Matth. 7:11). In like manner in the prophet, "Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea,
they may forget, yet will not I forget thee" (Isaiah 49:15). But if we are his
sons, then as a son cannot betake himself to the protection of a stranger and a
foreigner without at the same time complaining of his father's cruelty or
poverty, so we cannot ask assistance from any other quarter than from him,
unless we would upbraid him with poverty, or want of means, or cruelty and
excessive austerity.
37.
Nor let us allege that we are justly rendered timid by a consciousness of sin,
by which our Father, though mild and merciful, is daily offended. For if among
men a son cannot have a better advocate to plead his cause with his father, and
cannot employ a better intercessor to regain his lost favour, than if he come
himself suppliant and downcast, acknowledging his fault, to implore the mercy
of his father, whose paternal feelings cannot but be moved by such entreaties,
what will that "Father of all mercies, and God of all comfort," do? (2 Cor.
1:3). Will he not rather listen to the tears and groans of his children, when
supplicating for themselves (especially seeing he invites and exhorts us to do
so), than to any advocacy of others to whom the timid have recourse, not
without some semblance of despair, because they are distrustful of their
father's mildness and clemency? The exuberance of his paternal kindness he sets
before us in the parable (Luke 15:20; see Calv. Comm). when the father with
open arms receives the son who had gone away from him, wasted his substance in
riotous living, and in all ways grievously sinned against him. He waits not
till pardon is asked in words, but, anticipating the request, recognizes him
afar off, runs to meet him, consoles him, and restores him to favour. By
setting before us this admirable example of mildness in a man, he designed to
show in how much greater abundance we may expect it from him who is not only a
Father, but the best and most merciful of all fathers, however ungrateful,
rebellious, and wicked sons we may be, provided only we throw ourselves upon
his mercy. And the better to assure us that he is such a Father if we are
Christians, he has been pleased to be called not only a Father, but our Father,
as if we were pleading with him after this manner, O Father, who art possessed
of so much affection for thy children, and art so ready to forgive, we thy
children approach thee and present our requests, fully persuaded that thou hast
no other feelings towards us than those of a father, though we are unworthy of
such a parent.[24] But as our narrow
hearts are incapable of comprehending such boundless favour, Christ is not only
the earnest and pledge of our adoption, but also gives us the Spirit as a
witness of this adoption, that through him we may freely cry aloud, Abba,
Father. Whenever, therefore, we are restrained by any feeling of hesitation,
let us remember to ask of him that he may correct our timidity, and placing us
under the magnanimous guidance of the Spirit, enable us to pray boldly.
38.
The instruction given us, however, is not that every individual in particular
is to call him Father, but rather that we are all in common to call him Our
Father. By this we are reminded how strong the feeling of brotherly love
between us ought to be, since we are all alike, by the same mercy and free
kindness, the children of such a Father. For if He from whom we all obtain
whatever is good is our common Father (Matth. 23:9), everything which has been
distributed to us we should be prepared to communicate to each other, as far as
occasion demands. But if we are thus desirous as we ought, to stretch out our
hands and give assistance to each other, there is nothing by which we can more
benefit our brethren than by committing them to the care and protection of the
best of parents, since if He is propitious and favourable nothing more can be
desired. And, indeed, we owe this also to our Father. For as he who truly and
from the heart loves the father of a family, extends the same love and
good-will to all his household, so the zeal and affection which we feel for our
heavenly Parent it becomes us to extend towards his people, his family, and, in
fine, his heritage, which he has honoured so highly as to give them the
appellation of the "fulness" of his only begotten Son (Eph. 1:23). Let the
Christian, then, so regulate his prayers as to make them common, and embrace
all who are his brethren in Christ; not only those whom at present he sees and
knows to be such, but all men who are alive upon the earth. What God has
determined with regard to them is beyond our knowledge, but to wish and hope
the best concerning them is both pious and humane. Still it becomes us to
regard with special affection those who are of the household of faith, and whom
the Apostle has in express terms recommended to our care in everything (Gal.
6:10). In short, all our prayers ought to bear reference to that community
which our Lord has established in his kingdom and family.
39.
This, however, does not prevent us from praying specially for ourselves, and
certain others, provided our mind is not withdrawn from the view of this
community, does not deviate from it, but constantly refers to it. For prayers,
though couched in special terms, keeping that object still in view, cease not
to be common. All this may easily be understood by analogy. There is a general
command from God to relieve the necessities of all the poor, and yet this
command is obeyed by those who with that view give succour to all whom they see
or know to be in distress, although they pass by many whose wants are not less
urgent, either because they cannot know or are unable to give supply to all. In
this way there is nothing repugnant to the will of God in those who, giving
heed to this common society of the Church, yet offer up particular prayers, in
which, with a public mind, though in special terms, they commend to God
themselves or others, with whose necessity he has been pleased to make them
more familiarly acquainted.
It is true that prayer and the giving of our substance are not in all respects
alike. We can only bestow the kindness of our liberality on those of whose
wants we are aware, whereas in prayer we can assist the greatest strangers, how
wide soever the space which may separate them from us. This is done by that
general form of prayer which, including all the sons of God, includes them
also. To this we may refer the exhortation which Paul gave to the believers of
his age, to lift up "holy hands without wrath and doubting" (1 Tim. 2:8). By
reminding them that dissension is a bar to prayer, he shows it to be his wish
that they should with one accord present their prayers in common.
40.
The next words are, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. From this we are not to infer that he
is enclosed and confined within the circumference of heaven, as by a kind of
boundaries. Hence Solomon confesses, "The heaven of heavens cannot contain
thee" (1 Kings 8:27); and he himself says by the Prophet, "The heaven is my
throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isa. 56:1); thereby intimating, that
his presence, not confined to any region, is diffused over all space. But as
our gross minds are unable to conceive of his ineffable glory, it is designated
to us by heaven, nothing which our eyes can behold being so full of
splendour and majesty. While, then, we are accustomed to regard every object as
confined to the place where our senses discern it, no place can be assigned to
God; and hence, if we would seek him, we must rise higher than all corporeal or
mental discernment. Again, this form of expression reminds us that he is far
beyond the reach of change or corruption, that he holds the whole universe in
his grasp, and rules it by his power. The effect of the expressions therefore,
is the same as if it had been said, that he is of infinite majesty,
incomprehensible essence, boundless power, and eternal duration. When we thus
speak of God, our thoughts must be raised to their highest pitch; we must not
ascribe to him anything of a terrestrial or carnal nature, must not measure him
by our little standards, or suppose his will to be like ours. At the same time,
we must put our confidence in him, understanding that heaven and earth are
governed by his providence and power. In short, under the name of Father is set
before us that God, who hath appeared to us in his own image, that we may
invoke him with sure faith; the familiar name of Father being given not only to
inspire confidence, but also to curb our minds, and prevent them from going
astray after doubtful or fictitious gods. We thus ascend from the only begotten
Son to the supreme Father of angels and of the Church. Then when his throne is
fixed in heaven, we are reminded that he governs the world, and, therefore,
that it is not in vain to approach him whose present care we actually
experience. "He that cometh to God," says the Apostle, "must believe that he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6).
Here Christ makes both claims for his Father, first, that we place our
faith in him; and, secondly, that we feel assured that our salvation is
not neglected by him, inasmuch as he condescends to extend his providence to
us. By these elementary principles Paul prepares us to pray aright; for before
enjoining us to make our requests known unto God, he premises in this way, "The
Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing" (Phil. 4:5, 6). Whence it appears that
doubt and perplexity hang over the prayers of those in whose minds the belief
is not firmly seated, that "the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous" (Ps.
34:15).
41.
The first petition is, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. The necessity of presenting it
bespeaks our great disgrace. For what can be more unbecoming than that our
ingratitude and malice should impair, our audacity and petulance should as much
as in them lies destroy, the glory of God? But though all the ungodly should
burst with sacrilegious rage, the holiness of God's name still shines forth.
Justly does the Psalmist exclaim, "According to thy name, O God, so is thy
praise unto the ends of the earth" (Ps. 48:10). For wherever God hath made
himself known, his perfections must be displayed, his power, goodness, wisdom,
justice, mercy, and truth, which fill us with admiration, and incite us to show
forth his praise. Therefore, as the name of God is not duly hallowed on the
earth, and we are otherwise unable to assert it, it is at least our duty to
make it the subject of our prayers. The sum of the whole is, It must be our
desire that God may receive the honour which is his due: that men may never
think or speak of him without the greatest reverence. The opposite of this
reverence is profanity, which has always been too common in the world, and is
very prevalent in the present day. Hence the necessity of the petition, which,
if piety had any proper existence among us, would be superfluous. But if the
name of God is duly hallowed only when separated from all other names it alone
is glorified, we are in the petition enjoined to ask not only that God would
vindicate his sacred name from all contempt and insult, but also that he would
compel the whole human race to reverence it. Then since God manifests himself
to us partly by his word, and partly by his works, he is not sanctified unless
in regard to both of these we ascribe to him what is due, and thus embrace
whatever has proceeded from him, giving no less praise to his justice than to
his mercy. On the manifold diversity of his works he has inscribed the marks of
his glory, and these ought to call forth from every tongue an ascription of
praise. Thus Scripture will obtain its due authority with us, and no event will
hinder us from celebrating the praises of God, in regard to every part of his
government. On the other hand, the petition implies a wish that all impiety
which pollutes this sacred name may perish and be extinguished, that everything
which obscures or impairs his glory, all detraction and insult, may cease; that
all blasphemy being suppressed, the divine majesty may be more and more
signally displayed.
42.
The second petition is, THY KINGDOM COME. This contains nothing new, and yet
there is good reason for distinguishing it from the first. For if we consider
our lethargy in the greatest of all matters, we shall see how necessary it is
that what ought to be in itself perfectly known should be inculcated at greater
length. Therefore, after the injunction to pray that God would reduce to order,
and at length completely efface every stain which is thrown on his sacred name,
another petition, containing almost the same wish, is added, viz., Thy kingdom
come. Although a definition of this kingdom has already been given, I now
briefly repeat that God reigns when men, in denial of themselves and contempt
of the world and this earthly life, devote themselves to righteousness and
aspire to heaven (see Calvin, Harm. Matth. 6). Thus this kingdom consists of
two parts; the first is, when God by the agency of his Spirit corrects all the
depraved lusts of the flesh, which in bands war against Him; and the second,
when he brings all our thoughts into obedience to his authority. This petition,
therefore, is duly presented only by those who begin with themselves; in other
words, who pray that they may be purified from all the corruptions which
disturb the tranquillity and impair the purity of God's kingdom. Then as the
word of God is like his royal sceptre, we are here enjoined to pray that he
would subdue all minds and hearts to voluntary obedience. This is done when by
the secret inspiration of his Spirit he displays the efficacy of his word, and
raises it to the place of honour which it deserves. We must next descend to the
wicked, who perversely and with desperate madness resist his authority. God,
therefore, sets up his kingdom, by humbling the whole world, though in
different ways, taming the wantonness of some, and breaking the ungovernable
pride of others. We should desire this to be done every day, in order that God
may gather churches to himself from all quarters of the world, may extend and
increase their numbers, enrich them with his gifts, establish due order among
them; on the other hand, beat down all the enemies of pure doctrine and
religion, dissipate their counsels, defeat their attempts. Hence it appears
that there is good ground for the precept which enjoins daily progress, for
human affairs are never so prosperous as when the impurities of vice are purged
away, and integrity flourishes in full vigour. The completion, however, is
deferred to the final advent of Christ, when, as Paul declares, "God will be
all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). This prayer, therefore, ought to withdraw us from
the corruptions of the world which separate us from God, and prevent his
kingdom from flourishing within us; secondly, it ought to inflame us with an
ardent desire for the mortification of the flesh; and, lastly, it ought to
train us to the endurance of the cross; since this is the way in which God
would have his kingdom to be advanced. It ought not to grieve us that the
outward man decays provided the inner man is renewed. For such is the nature of
the kingdom of God, that while we submit to his righteousness he makes us
partakers of his glory. This is the case when continually adding to his light
and truth, by which the lies and the darkness of Satan and his kingdom are
dissipated, extinguished, and destroyed, he protects his people, guides them
aright by the agency of his Spirit, and confirms them in perseverance; while,
on the other hand, he frustrates the impious conspiracies of his enemies,
dissipates their wiles and frauds, prevents their malice and curbs their
petulance, until at length he consume Antichrist "with the spirit of his
mouth," and destroy all impiety "with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thess.
2:8, Calv. Comm.).
43.
The third petition is, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. Though
this depends on his kingdom, and cannot be disjoined from it, yet a separate
place is not improperly given to it on account of our ignorance, which does not
at once or easily apprehend what is meant by God reigning in the world. This,
therefore, may not improperly be taken as the explanation, that God will be
King in the world when all shall subject themselves to his will. We are not
here treating of that secret will by which he governs all things, and destines
them to their end (see chap. xxiv. s. 17). For although devils and men rise in
tumult against him, he is able by his incomprehensible counsel not only to turn
aside their violence, but make it subservient to the execution of his decrees.
What we here speak of is another will of God, namely, that of which voluntary
obedience is the counterpart; and, therefore, heaven is expressly contrasted
with earth, because, as is said in The Psalms, the angels "do his commandments,
hearkening unto the voice of his word" (Ps. 103:20). We are, therefore,
enjoined to pray that as everything done in heaven is at the command of God,
and the angels are calmly disposed to do all that is right, so the earth may be
brought under his authority, all rebellion and depravity having been
extinguished. In presenting this request we renounce the desires of the flesh,
because he who does not entirely resign his affections to God, does as much as
in him lies to oppose the divine will, since everything which proceeds from us
is vicious. Again, by this prayer we are taught to deny ourselves, that God may
rule us according to his pleasure; and not only so, but also having annihilated
our own may create new thoughts and new minds so that we shall have no desire
save that of entire agreement with his will; in short, wish nothing of
ourselves, but have our hearts governed by his Spirit, under whose inward
teaching we may learn to love those things which please and hate those things
which displease him. Hence also we must desire that he would nullify and
suppress all affections which are repugnant to his will.
Such are the three first heads of the prayer, in presenting which we should
have the glory of God only in view, taking no account of ourselves, and paying
no respect to our own advantage, which, though it is thereby greatly promoted,
is not here to be the subject of request. And though all the events prayed for
must happen in their own time, without being either thought of, wished, or
asked by us, it is still our duty to wish and ask for them. And it is of no
slight importance to do so, that we may testify and profess that we are the
servants and children of God, desirous by every means in our power to promote
the honour due to him as our Lord and Father, and truly and thoroughly devoted
to his service. Hence if men, in praying that the name of God may be hallowed,
that his kingdom may come, and his will be done, are not influenced by this
zeal for the promotion of his glory, they are not to be accounted among the
servants and children of God; and as all these things will take place against
their will, so they will turn out to their confusion and destruction.
44.
Now comes the second part of the prayer, in which we descend to our own
interests, not, indeed, that we are to lose sight of the glory of God (to
which, as Paul declares, we must have respect even in meat and drink, 1 Cor.
10:31), and ask only what is expedient for ourselves; but the distinction, as
we have already observed, is this: God claiming the three first petitions as
specially his own, carries us entirely to himself, that in this way he may
prove our piety. Next he permits us to look to our own advantage, but still on
the condition, that when we ask anything for ourselves it must be in order that
all the benefits which he confers may show forth his glory, there being nothing
more incumbent on us than to live and die to him.
By the first petition of the second part, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, we
pray in general that God would give us all things which the body requires in
this sublunary state, not only food and clothing, but everything which he knows
will assist us to eat our bread in peace. In this way we briefly cast our care
upon him, and commit ourselves to his providence, that he may feed, foster, and
preserve us. For our heavenly Father disdains not to take our body under his
charge and protection, that he may exercise our faith in those minute matters,
while we look to him for everything, even to a morsel of bread and a drop of
water. For since, owing to some strange inequality, we feel more concern for
the body than for the soul, many who can trust the latter to God still continue
anxious about the former, still hesitate as to what they are to eat, as to how
they are to be clothed, and are in trepidation whenever their hands are not
filled with corn, and wine, and oil (Ps. 4:8): so much more value do we set on
this shadowy, fleeting life, than on a blessed immortality. But those who,
trusting to God, have once cast away that anxiety about the flesh, immediately
look to him for greater gifts, even salvation and eternal life. It is no slight
exercise of faith, therefore, to hope in God for things which would otherwise
give us so much concern; nor have we made little progress when we get quit of
this unbelief, which cleaves, as it were, to our very bones.
The speculations of some concerning supersubstantial bread seem to be very
little accordant with our Saviour's meaning; for our prayer would be defective
were we not to ascribe to God the nourishment even of this fading life. The
reason which they give is heathenish, viz., that it is inconsistent with the
character of sons of God, who ought to be spiritual, not only to occupy their
mind with earthly cares, but to suppose God also occupied with them. As if his
blessing and paternal favour were not eminently displayed in giving us food, or
as if there were nothing in the declaration that godliness hath "the promise of
the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Tim. 4:8). But although
the forgiveness of sins is of far more importance than the nourishment of the
body, yet Christ has set down the inferior in the prior place, in order that he
might gradually raise us to the other two petitions, which properly belong to
the heavenly life, -- in this providing for our sluggishness. We are enjoined
to ask our bread, that we may be contented with the measure which our
heavenly Father is pleased to dispense, and not strive to make gain by illicit
arts. Meanwhile, we must hold that the title by which it is ours is donation,
because, as Moses says (Levit. 26:20, Deut. 8:17), neither our industry, nor
labour, nor hands, acquire anything for us, unless the blessing of God be
present; nay, not even would abundance of bread be of the least avail were it
not divinely converted into nourishment. And hence this liberality of God is
not less necessary to the rich than the poor, because, though their cellars and
barns were full, they would be parched and pine with want did they not enjoy
his favour along with their bread. The terms this day, or, as it is in
another Evangelist, daily, and also the epithet daily, lay a
restraint on our immoderate desire of fleeting good -- a desire which we are
extremely apt to indulge to excess, and from which other evils ensue: for when
our supply is in richer abundance we ambitiously squander it in pleasure,
luxury, ostentation, or other kinds of extravagance. Wherefore, we are only
enjoined to ask as much as our necessity requires, and as it were for each day,
confiding that our heavenly Father, who gives us the supply of to-day, will not
fail us on the morrow. How great soever our abundance may be, however well
filled our cellars and granaries, we must still always ask for daily bread, for
we must feel assured that all substance is nothing, unless in so far as the
Lord, by pouring out his blessing, make it fruitful during its whole progress;
for even that which is in our hand is not ours except in so far as he every
hour portions it out, and permits us to use it. As nothing is more difficult to
human pride than the admission of this truth, the Lord declares that he gave a
special proof for all ages, when he fed his people with manna in the desert
(Deut. 8:3), that he might remind us that "man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proeeedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matth. 4:4). It is
thus intimated, that by his power alone our life and strength are sustained,
though he ministers supply to us by bodily instruments. In like manner,
whenever it so pleases, he gives us a proof of an opposite description, by
breaking the strength, or, as he himself calls it, the staff of bread
(Levit. 26:26), and leaving us even while eating to pine with hunger, and while
drinking to be parched with thirst. Those who, not contented with daily bread,
indulge an unrestrained insatiable cupidity, or those who are full of their own
abundance, and trust in their own riches, only mock God by offering up this
prayer. For the former ask what they would be unwilling to obtain, nay, what
they most of all abominate, namely, daily bread only, and as much as in them
lies disguise their avarice from God, whereas true prayer should pour out the
whole soul and every inward feeling before him. The latter, again, ask what
they do not at all expect to obtain, namely, what they imagine that they in
themselves already possess. In its being called ours, God, as we have
already said, gives a striking display of his kindness, making that to be ours
to which we have no just claim. Nor must we reject the view to which I have
already adverted, viz., that this name is given to what is obtained by just and
honest labour, as contrasted with what is obtained by fraud and rapine, nothing
being our own which we obtain with injury to others. When we ask God to give
us, the meaning is, that the thing asked is simply and freely the gift of
God, whatever be the quarter from which it comes to us, even when it seems to
have been specially prepared by our own art and industry, and procured by our
hands, since it is to his blessing alone that all our labours owe their success.
45.
The next petition is, FORGIVE ITS OUR DEBTS. In this and the following petition
our Saviour has briefly comprehended whatever is conducive to the heavenly
life, as these two members contain the spiritual covenant which God made for
the salvation of his Church, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it on their hearts." "I will pardon all their iniquities" (Jer. 31:33;
33:8). Here our Saviour begins with the forgiveness of sins, and then adds the
subsequent blessing, viz., that God would protect us by the power, and support
us by the aid of his Spirit, so that we may stand invincible against all
temptations. To sins he gives the name of debts, because we owe the
punishment due to them, a debt which we could not possibly pay were we not
discharged by this remission, the result of his free mercy, when he freely
expunges the debt, accepting nothing in return; but of his own mercy receiving
satisfaction in Christ, who gave himself a ransom for us (Rom. 3:24). Hence,
those who expect to satisfy God by merits of their own or of others, or to
compensate and purchase forgiveness by means of satisfactions, have no share in
this free pardon, and while they address God in this petition, do nothing more
than subscribe their own accusation, and seal their condemnation by their own
testimony. For they confess that they are debtors, unless they are discharged
by means of forgiveness. This forgiveness, however, they do not receive, but
rather reject, when they obtrude their merits and satisfactions upon God, since
by so doing they do not implore his mercy, but appeal to his justice. Let
those, again, who dream of a perfection which makes it unnecessary to seek
pardon, find their disciples among those whose itching ears incline them to
imposture,[25] (see Calv. on Dan. 9:20);
only let them understand that those whom they thus acquire have been carried
away from Christ, since he, by instructing all to confess their guilt, receives
none but sinners, not that he may soothe, and so encourage them in their sins,
but because he knows that believers are never so divested of the sins of the
flesh as not to remain subject to the justice of God. It is, indeed, to be
wished, it ought even to be our strenuous endeavour, to perform all the parts
of our duty, so as truly to congratulate ourselves before God as being pure
from every stain; but as God is pleased to renew his image in us by degrees, so
that to some extent there is always a residue of corruption in our flesh, we
ought by no means to neglect the remedy. But if Christ, according to the
authority given him by his Father, enjoins us, during the whole course of our
lives, to implore pardon, who can tolerate those new teachers who, by the
phantom of perfect innocence, endeavour to dazzle the simple, and make them
believe that they can render themselves completely free from guilt? This, as
John declares, is nothing else than to make God a liar (1 John 1:10). In like
manner, those foolish men mutilate the covenant in which we have seen that our
salvation is contained by concealing one head of it, and so destroying it
entirely; being guilty not only of profanity in that they separate things which
ought to be indissolubly connected; but also of wickedness and cruelty in
overwhelming wretched souls with despair -- of treachery also to themselves and
their followers, in that they encourage themselves in a carelessness
diametrically opposed to the mercy of God. It is excessively childish to
object, that when they long for the advent of the kingdom of God, they at the
same time pray for the abolition of sin. In the former division of the prayer
absolute perfection is set before us; but in the latter our own weakness. Thus
the two fitly correspond to each other -- we strive for the goal, and at the
same time neglect not the remedies which our necessities require.
In the next part of the petition we pray to be forgiven, "as we forgive our
debtors;" that is, as we spare and pardon all by whom we are in any way
offended, either in deed by unjust, or in word by contumelious treatment. Not
that we can forgive the guilt of a fault or offence; this belongs to God only;
but we can forgive to this extent: we can voluntarily divest our minds of
wrath, hatred, and revenge, and efface the remembrance of injuries by a
voluntary oblivion. Wherefore, we are not to ask the forgiveness of our sins
from God, unless we forgive the offenses of all who are or have been injurious
to us. If we retain any hatred in our minds, if we meditate revenge, and devise
the means of hurting; nay, if we do not return to a good understanding with our
enemies, perform every kind of friendly office, and endeavour to effect a
reconciliation with them, we by this petition beseech God not to grant us
forgiveness. For we ask him to do to us as we do to others. This is the same as
asking him not to do unless we do also. What, then, do such persons obtain by
this petition but a heavier judgment? Lastly, it is to be observed that the
condition of being forgiven as we forgive our debtors, is not added because by
forgiving others we deserve forgiveness, as if the cause of forgiveness were
expressed; but by the use of this expression the Lord has been pleased partly
to solace the weakness of our faith, using it as a sign to assure us that our
sins are as certainly forgiven as we are certainly conscious of having forgiven
others, when our mind is completely purged from all envy, hatred, and malice;
and partly using as a badge by which he excludes from the number of his
children all who, prone to revenge and reluctant to forgive, obstinately keep
up their enmity, cherishing against others that indignation which they
deprecate from themselves; so that they should not venture to invoke him as a
Father. In the Gospel of Luke, we have this distinctly stated in the words of
Christ.
46.
The sixth petition corresponds (as we have observed) to the promise[26] of writing the law upon our
hearts; but because we do not obey God without a continual warfare, without
sharp and arduous contests, we here pray that he would furnish us with armour,
and defend us by his protection, that we may be able to obtain the victory. By
this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit
inwardly to soften our hearts, and turn and direct them to the obedience of
God, but also of his assistance, to render us invincible by all the wiles and
violent assaults of Satan. The forms of temptation are many and various. The
depraved conceptions of our minds provoking us to transgress the law --
conceptions which our concupiscence suggests or the devil excites, are
temptations; and things which in their own nature are not evil, become
temptations by the wiles of the devil, when they are presented to our eyes in
such a way that the view of them makes us withdraw or decline from God.[27] These temptations are both on the right
hand and on the left.[28] On the right,
when riches, power, and honours, which by their glare, and the semblance of
good which they present, generally dazzle the eyes of men, and so entice by
their blandishments, that, caught by their snares, and intoxicated by their
sweetness, they forget their God: on the left, when offended by the hardship
and bitterness of poverty, disgrace, contempt, afflictions, and other things of
that description, they despond, cast away their confidence and hope, and are at
length totally estranged from God. In regard to both kinds of temptation, which
either enkindled in us by concupiscence, or presented by the craft of Satan's
war against us, we pray God the Father not to allow us to be overcome, but
rather to raise and support us by his hand, that strengthened by his mighty
power we may stand firm against all the assaults of our malignant enemy,
whatever be the thoughts which he sends into our minds; next we pray that
whatever of either description is allotted us, we may turn to good, that is,
may neither be inflated with prosperity, nor cast down by adversity. Here,
however, we do not ask to be altogether exempted from temptation, which is very
necessary to excite, stimulate, and urge us on, that we may not become too
lethargic. It was not without reason that David wished to be tried,[29] nor is it without cause that the Lord
daily tries his elect, chastising them by disgrace, poverty, tribulation, and
other kinds of cross.[30] But the
temptations of God and Satan are very different: Satan tempts, that he may
destroy, condemn, confound, throw headlong; God, that by proving his people he
may make trial of their sincerity, and by exercising their strength confirm it;
may mortify, tame, and cauterize their flesh, which, if not curbed in this
manner, would wanton and exult above measure. Besides, Satan attacks those who
are unarmed and unprepared, that he may destroy them unawares; whereas whatever
God sends, he "will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear it."[31] Whether by the
term evil we understand the devil or sin, is not of the least consequence.
Satan is indeed the very enemy who lays snares for our life,[32] but it is by sin that he is armed for
our destruction.
Our petition, therefore, is, that we may not be overcome or overwhelmed with
temptation, but in the strength of the Lord may stand firm against all the
powers by which we are assailed; in other words, may not fall under temptation:
that being thus taken under his charge and protection, we may remain invincible
by sin, death, the gates of hell, and the whole power of the devil; in other
words, be delivered from evil. Here it is carefully to be observed, that we
have no strength to contend with such a combatant as the devil, or to sustain
the violence of his assault. Were it otherwise, it would be mockery of God to
ask of him what we already possess in ourselves. Assuredly those who in
self-confidence prepare for such a fight, do not understand how bold and
well-equipped the enemy is with whom they have to do. Now we ask to be
delivered from his power, as from the mouth of some furious raging lion, who
would instantly tear us with his teeth and claws, and swallow us up, did not
the Lord rescue us from the midst of death; at the same time knowing that if
the Lord is present and will fight for us while we stand by, through him "we
shall do valiantly" (Ps. 60:12). Let others if they will confide in the powers
and resources of their free will which they think they possess; enough for us
that we stand and are strong in the power of God alone. But the prayer
comprehends more than at first sight it seems to do. For if the Spirit of God
is our strength in waging the contest with Satan, we cannot gain the victory
unless we are filled with him, and thereby freed from all infirmity of the
flesh. Therefore, when we pray to be delivered from sin and Satan, we at the
same time desire to be enriched with new supplies of divine grace, until
completely replenished with them, we triumph over every evil. To some it seems
rude and harsh to ask God not to lead us into temptation, since, as James
declares (James 1:13), it is contrary to his nature to do so. This difficulty
has already been partly solved by the fact that our concupiscence is the cause,
and therefore properly bears the blame of all the temptations by which we are
overcome. All that James means is, that it is vain and unjust to ascribe to God
vices which our own consciousness compels us to impute to ourselves. But this
is no reason why God may not when he sees it meet bring us into bondage to
Satan, give us up to a reprobate mind and shameful lusts, and so by a just,
indeed, but often hidden judgment, lead us into temptation. Though the cause is
often concealed from men, it is well known to him. Hence we may see that the
expression is not improper, if we are persuaded that it is not without cause he
so often threatens to give sure signs of his vengeance, by blinding the
reprobate, and hardening their hearts.
47.
These three petitions, in which we specially commend ourselves and all that we
have to God, clearly show what we formerly observed (sec. 38, 39), that the
prayers of Christians should be public, and have respect to the public
edification of the Church and the advancement of believers in spiritual
communion. For no one requests that anything should be given to him as an
individual, but we all ask in common for daily bread and the forgiveness of
sins, not to be led into temptation, but delivered from evil. Moreover, there
is subjoined the reason for our great boldness in asking and confidence of
obtaining (sec. 11, 36). Although this does not exist in the Latin copies, yet
as it accords so well with the whole, we cannot think of omitting it.
The words are, THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER.
Here is the calm and firm assurance of our faith. For were our prayers to be
commended to God by our own worth, who would venture even to whisper before
him? Now, however wretched we may be, however unworthy, however devoid of
commendation, we shall never want a reason for prayer, nor a ground of
confidence, since the kingdom, power, and glory, can never be wrested from our
Father. The last word is AMEN, by which is expressed the eagerness of our
desire to obtain the things which we ask, while our hope is confirmed, that all
things have already been obtained and will assuredly be granted to us, seeing
they have been promised by God, who cannot deceive. This accords with the form
of expression to which we have already adverted: "Grant, O Lord, for thy name's
sake, not on account of us or of our righteousness." By this the saints not
only express the end of their prayers, but confess that they are unworthy of
obtaining did not God find the cause in himself and were not their confidence
founded entirely on his nature.
48.
All things that we ought, indeed all that we are able, to ask of God, are
contained in this formula, and as it were rule, of prayer delivered by Christ,
our divine Master, whom the Father has appointed to be our teacher, and to whom
alone he would have us to listen (Matth. 17:5). For he ever was the eternal
wisdom of the Father, and being made man, was manifested as the Wonderful, the
Counsellor (Isa. 11:2; 9:6). Accordingly, this prayer is complete in all its
parts, so complete, that whatever is extraneous and foreign to it, whatever
cannot be referred to it, is impious and unworthy of the approbation of God.
For he has here summarily prescribed what is worthy of him, what is acceptable
to him, and what is necessary for us; in short, whatever he is pleased to
grant. Those, therefore, who presume to go further and ask something more from
God, first seek to add of their own to the wisdom of God (this it is insane
blasphemy to do); secondly, refusing to confine themselves within the will of
God, and despising it, they wander as their cupidity directs; lastly, they will
never obtain anything, seeing they pray without faith. For there cannot be a
doubt that all such prayers are made without faith, because at variance with
the word of God, on which if faith do not always lean it cannot possibly stand.
Those who, disregarding the Master's rule, indulge their own wishes, not only
have not the word of God, but as much as in them lies oppose it. Hence
Tertullian (De Fuga in Persequutione) has not less truly than elegantly termed
it Lawful Prayer, tacitly intimating that all other prayers are lawless
and illicit.
49.
By this, however, we would not have it understood that we are so restricted to
this form of prayer as to make it unlawful to change a word or syllable of it.
For in Scripture we meet with many prayers differing greatly from it in word,
yet written by the same Spirit, and capable of being used by us with the
greatest advantage. Many prayers also are continually suggested to believers by
the same Spirit, though in expression they bear no great resemblance to it. All
we mean to say is, that no man should wish, expect, or ask anything which is
not summarily comprehended in this prayer. Though the words may be very
different, there must be no difference in the sense. In this way, all prayers,
both those which are contained in the Scripture, and those which come forth
from pious breasts, must be referred to it, certainly none can ever equal it,
far less surpass it in perfection. It omits nothing which we can conceive in
praise of God, nothing which we can imagine advantageous to man, and the whole
is so exact that all hope of improving it may well be renounced. In short, let
us remember that we have here the doctrine of heavenly wisdom. God has taught
what he willed; he willed what was necessary.
50.
But although it has been said above (sec. 7, 27, &c.), that we ought always
to raise our minds upwards towards God, and pray without ceasing, yet such is
our weakness, which requires to be supported, such our torpor, which requires
to be stimulated, that it is requisite for us to appoint special hours for this
exercise, hours which are not to pass away without prayer, and during which the
whole affections of our minds are to be completely occupied; namely, when we
rise in the morning, before we commence our daily work, when we sit down to
food, when by the blessing of God we have taken it, and when we retire to rest.
This, however, must not be a superstitious observance of hours, by which, as it
were, performing a task to God, we think we are discharged as to other hours;
it should rather be considered as a discipline by which our weakness is
exercised, and ever and anon stimulated. In particular, it must be our anxious
care, whenever we are ourselves pressed, or see others pressed by any strait,
instantly to have recourse to him not only with quickened pace, but with
quickened minds; and again, we must not in any prosperity of ourselves or
others omit to testify our recognition of his hand by praise and thanksgiving.
Lastly, we must in all our prayers carefully avoid wishing to confine God to
certain circumstances, or prescribe to him the time, place, or mode of action.
In like manner, we are taught by this prayer not to fix any law or impose any
condition upon him, but leave it entirely to him to adopt whatever course of
procedure seems to him best, in respect of method, time, and place. For before
we offer up any petition for ourselves, we ask that his will may be done, and
by so doing place our will in subordination to his, just as if we had laid a
curb upon it, that, instead of presuming to give law to God, it may regard him
as the ruler and disposer of all its wishes.
51.
If, with minds thus framed to obedience, we allow ourselves to be governed by
the laws of Divine Providence, we shall easily learn to persevere in prayer,
and suspending our own desires wait patiently for the Lord, certain, however
little the appearance of it may be, that he is always present with us, and will
in his own time show how very far he was from turning a deaf ear to prayers,
though to the eyes of men they may seem to be disregarded. This will be a very
present consolation, if at any time God does not grant an immediate answer to
our prayers, preventing us from fainting or giving way to despondency, as those
are wont to do who, in invoking God, are so borne away by their own fervour,
that unless he yield on their first importunity and give present help, they
immediately imagine that he is angry and offended with them and abandoning all
hope of success cease from prayer. On the contrary, deferring our hope with
well tempered equanimity, let us insist with that perseverance which is so
strongly recommended to us in Scripture. We may often see in The Psalms how
David and other believers, after they are almost weary of praying, and seem to
have been beating the air by addressing a God who would not hear, yet cease not
to pray because due authority is not given to the word of God, unless the faith
placed in it is superior to all events. Again, let us not tempt God, and by
wearying him with our importunity provoke his anger against us. Many have a
practice of formally bargaining with God on certain conditions, and, as if he
were the servant of their lust, binding him to certain stipulations; with which
if he do not immediately comply, they are indignant and fretful, murmur,
complain, and make a noise. Thus offended, he often in his anger grants to such
persons what in mercy he kindly denies to others. Of this we have a proof in
the children of Israel, for whom it had been better not to have been heard by
the Lord, than to swallow his indignation with their flesh (Num. 11:18, 33).
52.
But if our sense is not able till after long expectation to perceive what the
result of prayer is, or experience any benefit from it, still our faith will
assure us of that which cannot be perceived by sense, viz., that we have
obtained what was fit for us, the Lord having so often and so surely engaged to
take an interest in all our troubles from the moment they have been deposited
in his bosom. In this way we shall possess abundance in poverty, and comfort in
affliction. For though all things fail, God will never abandon us, and he
cannot frustrate the expectation and patience of his people. He alone will
suffice for all, since in himself he comprehends all good, and will at last
reveal it to us on the day of judgment, when his kingdom shall be plainly
manifested. We may add, that although God complies with our request, he does
not always give an answer in the very terms of our prayers but while apparently
holding us in suspense, yet in an unknown way, shows that our prayers have not
been in vain. This is the meaning of the words of John, "If we know that he
hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of him" (1 John 5:15). It might seem that there is here a great superfluity of
words, but the declaration is most useful, namely, that God, even when he does
not comply with our requests, yet listens and is favourable to our prayers, so
that our hope founded on his word is never disappointed. But believers have
always need of being supported by this patience, as they could not stand long
if they did not lean upon it. For the trials by which the Lord proves and
exercises us are severe, nay, he often drives us to extremes, and when driven
allows us long to stick fast in the mire before he gives us any taste of his
sweetness. As Hannah says, "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth
down to the grave, and bringeth up" (1 Sam. 2:6). What could they here do but
become dispirited and rush on despair, were they not, when afflicted, desolate,
and half dead, comforted with the thought that they are regarded by God, and
that there will be an end to their present evils. But however secure their
hopes may stand, they in the meantime cease not to pray, since prayer
unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.
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