The following post is a sampling of Puritan prayers and how they regarded them. I’ve taken the liberty in sourcing these gems from the book, Ore from the Puritans’ Mine, published by Reformation Heritage Books.
Simeon Ashe
Prayer is a matter more of the heart than the head. In prayer, it is not so much fluency prevails as fervency (James 5:16), nor is God so much taken with elegancy of speech as the efficacy of the Spirit. Humility is better than arrogance. Here the mourner is the orator; sighs and groans are the best rhetoric. ~ Primitive Divinity, 83
William Bridge
What is prayer and the nature of it? Prayer is the pouring out of the soul to God; not the pouring out of words, nor the pouring out of expressions, but the poring out of the soul to God. ~ Lifting Up, 115
The word father is a sweet word, for it sweetens all our duties. Take the word father out of prayer, and how sour it is! ~ Lifting Up, 130
Thomas Brooks
Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord. ~ Smooth Stones, 228
John Bunyan
Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, though Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised or, according to His word, for the good of the church with submission in faith to the will of God. ~ Prayer, 13
Thomas Manton
Prayer is not God’s information but the creature’s submission; we pray that we may have His leave. ~ Practical Exposition on the Epistle of James, 150
Prayer is the key by which those mighty ones of God could lock heaven and open it at their pleasure. ~ Practical Exposition on the Epistle of James, 210
Richard Sibbes
God can pick sense out of a confused prayer. These desires cry louder in His ears than thy sins. ~ Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, 89
By prayer we learn to pray. ~ Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, 90
George Swinnock
Prayer is one of the great ordinances that batters down the strongholds of the devil; hence he sets his wits at work to divert men from it. It is the soul’s armor and Satan’s terror. ~ The Christian Man’s Calling, in Works, 2:494
Thomas Watson
Prayer is a seed sown in God’s ears; other seed sown in the ground may be picked up by the birds, but this seed, especially if watered with tears, is too precious to be lost. ~ Godly man’s Picture, 83
Maranatha!
Developing a Healthy Prayer Life
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