Apoftles, be earneft and diligent in calling on the name of the Lord. Let us never faint, never flack, never give over; but let us daily and hourly, early and late, in feafon and out of feafon, be occupied in godly meditations and prayers. What if we obtain not our petitions at the first ? Yet let us not be difcouraged, yet let us continually cry and call upon God: he will furely hear us at length, if for no other caufe, yet for very importunity's fake. Remember the parable of the unrighteous judge and the poor widow, Luke xviii. how the by her importunate incans caufed him to do her juftice against her adverfary, although otherwife he feared neither God nor man. Shall not God much more avenge bis elect, faith our Saviour Chrift, which cry unto bim day and night? Thus he taught his difciples, and in them all other true Chriftian men, to pray always, and never to faint or fhrink. Remember alfo the example of the woman of Canaan, how flie was rejected of Chrift, and called Matth. xv. dog, as one most unworthy of any benefit at his hands : yet the gave not over, but followed him ftill, crying and calling upon him to be good and merciful unto her daughter. And at length, by very importunity, the obtained her requeft. O let us learn by thefe examples to be earnest and fervent in prayer, alluring ourfelves, that whatsoever we afk of God the Father, in the name of his John xvi. Son Chrift, and according to his will, he will undoubtedly grant it. He is truth itself; and as truly as he hath promifed it, fo truly will he perform it. God, for his great mercies fake, fo work in our hearts by his holy Spirit, that we may always make our humble prayers unto him, as we ought to do, and always obtain the thing which we afk, through Jefus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen. The Second Part of the Homily concerning Prayer. N the first part of the Sermon ye heard the great neceffity, and alfo the great force, of devout and earneft prayer declared and proved unto you, both by divers weighty teftimonies, and alfo by fundry good examples of holy Scripture. Now fhall you learn whom you ought to call upon, and to whom you ought always to direct your prayers. We are evidently taught in God's holy Teftament, that Almighty God is the only fountain and wellfpring of all goodneis; and that whatfoever we have in this world, James i. world, we receive it only at his hands: to this effect ferveth the place of St. James: Every good and perfect gift, faith he, cometh from above, and proceedeth from the Father of lights. To this effect alfo ferveth the teftimony of Paul, in divers places of his Epiftles, witneffing that the fpirit of wisdom, the fpirit of knowledge and revelation, yea, every good and heavenly gift, as faith, hope, charity, grace, and peace, cometh only and folely of God. In confideration whereof, he burfteth out into a fudden 1 Cor. iv. paffion, and faith, O man, what thing baft thou, which thou baft not received? Therefore, whenfoever we need or lack any thing, pertaining either to the body or to the foul, it behoveth us to run only unto God, who is the only giver of all good things. Our Saviour Chrift in the Gol pel, teaching his difciples how they fhould pray, fendeth them to the Father in his name, faying, Verily, verily, I fay unto you, whatsoever ye afk the Father in my name, be will give it unto you. And in another place, When ye pray, pray after this fort: Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. And doth not God himfelf, by the mouth of his Prophet David, will and command us to call upon him? The Apoftle witheth grace and peace to all them that call on the name of the Lord, and of his Son Jefus Chrift, as doth alfo the Prophet Joel, faying, And it shall come to pafs, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord fhall be faved. John xvi. Matth. vi. Luke xi. Pfal. 1. Joel ii. Thus then it is plain by the infallible word of truth and life, that in all our neceffities we must flee unto God, direct our prayers unto him, call upon his holy name, defire help at his hands, and at none other's; whereof if we will yet have a further reafon, mark that which followeth. There are certain conditions most requifite to be found in every fuch a one as must be called upon, which if they be not found in him unto whom we pray, then doth our prayer avail us nothing, but is altogether in vain. The firft is this, that he, to whom we make our prayers, be able to help us. The fecond is, that he will help us. The third is, that he be fuch a one as may hear our prayers. The fourth is, that he understand better than we ourfelves what we lack, and how far we have need of help. If thefe things be to be found in any other faving only God, then may we lawfully. call upon fome other befides God. But what man is fo grofs, but he well underftandeth that thefe things are only proper to him which is Omnipotent, and knoweth all all things, even the very fecrets of the heart? that is to fay, only and to God alone; whereof it followeth, that we muft call neither upon angel, nor yet upon faint, but only and folely upon God, as St. Paul doth write: How shall Rom. x. men call upon bim, in whom they have not believed? So that invocation or prayer may not be made without faith in him on whom they call; but that we must first believe in him, before we can make our prayer unto him, whereupon we must only and folely pray unto God. For to fay that we should believe either in angel or faint, or in any other living creature, were mere horrible blafphemy against God and his holy word; neither ought this fancy to enter into the heart of any Chriftian man, because we are expressly taught in the word of the Lord only to repofe our faith in the bleffed Trinity, in whofe only name we are alfo baptized, according to the exprefs commandment of our Saviour Jefus Chrift, in the last of St. Matthew. Matt. But that the truth hereof may the better appear, even xxviii. to them that be moft fimple and unlearned, let us confider De Spi. et what prayer is. St. Auguftine calleth it a lifting up of Lit. cap. 5o. the mind to God; that is to fay, an humble and lowly Bono, cap. pouring out of the heart to God. Ifidorus faith, that it 8. lib. iii. is an affection of the heart, and not a labour of the lips. So that, by these places, true prayer doth confift not fo much in the outward found and voice of words, as in the inward groaning and crying of the heart to God. De Summo Jer. xvii. Now then, is there any angel, any virgin, any patriarch or prophet among the dead, that can understand or know the meaning of the heart? The Scripture faith, It Pfal. vif. is God that fearcheth the heart and the reins, and that he Apoc. ii. only knoweth the hearts of the children of men. As for the faints, they have fo little knowledge of the fecrets of the heart, that many of the ancient Fathers greatly doubt whether they know any thing at all, that is commonly done on earth. And albeit fome think they do, yet St. Auguftine, Lib. de Cua doctor of great authority and alfo antiquity, hath this ra pro Mort. opinion of them; that they know no more what we do on 13. De vera earth, than we know what they do in heaven. For proof Rel. c. 22. whereof, he allegeth the words of Ifaiah the Prophet, where Ifaiah Ixiii. it is faid, Abrabam is ignorant of us, and Ifrael knoweth us not. Civit. Dei, His mind therefore is this, not that we fhould put any cap. 10. religion in worshipping of them, or praying unto them; but that we should honour them by following their virtuous and godly life. For, as he witneffeth in another place, the martyrs, and holy men in times paft, were wont after their death to be remembered and named of the agenda, c. Lib. xxii. de John Vi 1 John ii. prieft at divine fervice; but never to be invocated or called upon. And why fo? Because the priest, faith he, is God's prieft, and not theirs: whereby he is bound to call upon God, and not upon them. Thus you fee, that the authority both of the Scripture, and alfo of Auguftine, doth not permit, that we should pray unto them. O that all men would ftudiously read and fearch the Scriptures! then fhould they not be drowned in ignorance, but fhould cafily perceive the truth, as well of this point of doctrine, as of all the reft. For there doth the Holy Ghoft plainly teach us, that Chrift is our only Mediator and Interceffor with God, and that we must not feek and run to another. If any man finneth, faith St. John, we have an advocate with the Father, Jefus Chrift the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our fins. St. Paul alfo faith, There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, even the man Jefus Chrift. Whereunto agreeth the teftimony of our Saviour himself, witneffing that no man cometh to the Father, but only by him, who is the way, the truth, the life, yea, and the only door, whereby we must enter into the kingdom of heaven, because God is pleased in no other but in him. For which caufe alfo he crieth, and calleth unto us, that Matth. xi. we should come unto him, faying, Come unto me all ye 1 Tim. ii. John xiv. John x. that labour and be beavy laden, and I ball refresh you. Would Chrift have us fo neceffarily come unto him? and fhall we most unthankfully leave him, and run unto other? This is even that which God fo greatly complaineth of by his Prophet Jeremy, faying, My people have committed two great offences; they have forfaken me the fountain of the waters of life, and have digged to themselves broken pits, that can bold no water. Is not that man, think you, unwife, that will run for water to a little brook, when he may as well go to the head-fpring? Even fo may his wifdom be justly fufpected, that will fee unto faints in time of neceffity, when he may boldly and without fear declare his grief, and direct his prayer unto the Lord himself. If God were ftrange, or dangerous to be talked withal, then might we juftly draw back, and feek to fome other. Pfal. cxlv. But the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon bim in Judith ix. faith and truth. And the prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleafed him. What if we be finners, fhall we not therefore pray unto God? or fhall we defpair to obtain any thing at his hands? Why did Chrift then teach us to afk forgiveness of our fins, faying, And forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trespass against Rom. against us? Shall we think that the faints are more merciful in hearing finners, than God? David faith, that the Lord is full of compaffion and mercy, flow to anger, and Pfal. ciii. of great kindness. St. Paul faith, that he is rich in mercy Ephef. ii. toward all them that call upon him. And he himself by the mouth of his Prophet Ifaiah faith, For a little while Ifaiah li. bave I forfaken thee, but with great compaffion will I gather thee: for a moment in mine anger I have bid my face from thee, but with everlasting mercy I bave bad compallion upon thee. Therefore the fins of any man ought not to withhold him from praying unto the Lord his God. But if he be truly penitent and steadfaft in faith, let him affure himfelf that the Lord will be merciful unto him, and hear his prayers. O but I dare not (will fome man fay) trouble God at all times with my prayers: we fee that in kings' houfes, and courts of princes, men cannot be admitted, unlefs they first use the help and means of fome special nobleman, to come to the fpeech of the king, and to obtain the thing that they would have. To this reafon doth St. Ambrof. Ambrofe anfwer very well, writing upon the firft chapter fuper cap. i. to the Romans. Therefore, faith he, we ufe to go unto the king by officers and noblemen, because the king is a mortal man, and knoweth not to whom he may commit the government of the commonwealth. But to have God our friend, from whom nothing is hid, we need not any helper, that fhould further us with his good word, but only a devout and godly mind. And if it be fo, that we need one to entreat for us, why may we not content ourselves with that one Mediator, which is at the Heb. vii, right hand of God the Father, and there liveth for ever to make interceffion for us? As the blood of Chrift did redeem us on the crofs, and cleanfe us from our fins; even so it is now able to fave all them that come unto God by it. For Christ, fitting in heaven, hath an everlasting priesthood, and always prayeth to his Father for them that be penitent, obtaining by virtue of his wounds, which are evermore in the fight of God, not only perfect remiffion of our fins, but alfo all other neceffaries that we lack in this world; fo that this only Mediator is Matth. vi. fufficient in heaven, and needeth no others to help him. James v. Why then do we pray one for another in this life? fome Tim. ii. man perchance will here demand. Forfooth we are willed fo to do, by the exprefs commandment both of Chrift and his difciples, to declare therein, as well the faith that we have in Chrift towards God, as alfo the mutual charity that we bear one towards another, in that we pity T 2 Coloff. iv. |