A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief…

Thirdly, There belongeth thereunto, that Boldness which we have in our Access into the Holy Place, or unto the Throne of Grace. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith, Heb. 10. 19, 22. Where there is on men a Spirit of Fear unto Bondage, they can never have any Delight in their Approaches unto God. And this is removed by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication, Rom. 8. 15. For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again unto fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. These things are opposed, and the one is only removed and taken away by the other. And where the Spirit of Bondage unto fear abides, there we cannot cry Abba Father, or pray in a due manner. But where the Spirit of God is, there is Liberty, 2 Cor. 3. 18. And this, as we render the Word, consists in two things, (1.) in orandi libertate, (2.) in exauditionis fiducia. (1.) There is ⟨p. 103⟩in it an Enlarged Liberty and freedom of speech in Prayer unto God. So the word signifies. [Greek or Hebrew] is as much as [Greek or Hebrew], a Freedom to speak all that is to be spoken, a Confidence that countenanceth men in the freedom of speech according to the Exigency of their state, condition and cause. So the word is commonly used, Eph. 6. 19. Where there is servile fear and dread, the Heart is straitened, bound up, knows not what it may, what it may not utter, and is pained about the Issue of all it thinks or speaks; or it cannot pray at all beyond what is prescribed unto it, to say, as it were, whether it will or no: But where this Spirit of Liberty and Boldness is, the Heart is enlarged with a true genuine Openness and Readiness to express all its concerns unto God as a Child unto its Father. I do not say that those who have this Aid of the Spirit have always this Liberty in Exercise, or equally so. The exercise of it may be variously impeded by Temptations, spiritual Indispositions, Desertions, and by our own negligence in stirring up the Grace of God. But Believers have it always in the Root and Principle, even all that have received the Spirit of Adoption, and are ordinarily assisted in the use of it.