A Guide to Prayer by Isaac Watts Review
Books on prayer are one of my favorite things to read in theology. As we read theology it can get into our heads, and we start to think, "I'm so smart, I'm so wise." A book on prayer can very easily humble you and remind you: I'm not that great, I don't know that much, and I'm not that skilled. So here's a short review of a short book, A Guide to Prayer by Isaac Watts.
The book and the author
It's 199 pages, clothbound and Smyth-sewn, printed in the USA by Versa Press. All Banner of Truth books are gorgeous, and even with a book this small they didn't back down from their normal high quality: the same cloth, gold lettering on the front, a nice black that's very pleasing to the eye, and a dust cover.
Isaac Watts was born on July 17, 1674, and died on November 25, 1748. I do love the good Puritan era; some of the best theological works were written then. Watts was an English Congregationalist minister and theologian, and one of the great hymn writers, writing some of the best hymns in the church in my opinion, like "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "Joy to the World," two of my favorites. He promoted hymn singing in the church, and the effect on the church as a whole was huge. We still sing his hymns today. He also deeply loved logic and wrote several books on argumentation, reasoning and the thing we all love, syllogisms. (I'm being sarcastic!)
In the preface, Watts says the book is primarily for young believers or young people. I fall into the latter category, not the former, praise the Lord.
What's in it
Five chapters:
- The Nature of Prayer: invocation, adoration, confession, petition, pleading, profession or self-dedication, thanksgiving, blessing, and the "amen," or conclusion. This helped my prayer life tremendously. Watts warns later that forms can be deadly if you just go through the same list over and over. But when I picked this up, I didn't really know how to pray. I could talk to God, but I didn't have a way of moving from invocation to adoration to confession to petition. It structures prayer so well and fixes your mind on the things of God and on what you should be praying for as the Spirit moves in you.
- The Gift of Prayer: what it is; forms of prayer; free or extempore prayer; the matter, method and expression of prayer; the voice and gesture in prayer; and general directions. So many things I'd never thought about. Growing up in church you hear prayer and pray a lot yourself, but you don't really know how to do it properly. Watts gets into the nitty-gritty. Spurgeon covers some of this in Lectures to My Students, but I found Watts easier to understand.
- The Grace of Prayer: how it differs from the gift; the general graces in prayer; graces belonging to particular parts of prayer; and directions to attain it.
- The Spirit of Prayer: proofs of the Spirit's assistance in prayer, how He assists us, cautions, and directions to obtain and keep the spirit of prayer. These things seem to float around in the church but are never discussed, and here they are, all in one place.
- Persuasive Arguments to Learn to Pray.
I felt extremely edified when I set it down.
Are there better books on this topic?
There are many, many books on prayer, some of which I plan to review. Whether this is the best is hard to say. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like it, with so much knowledge and wisdom packed into such a short book. It's certainly up there, and one of my favorites on prayer.
Would I buy it?
Absolutely. If you're a new believer or a young man or woman, it's an excellent read, and if you're older and struggling in your prayer life, it's an excellent book to pick up too. It doesn't take long to read, and it was an extreme blessing to my prayer life.
A few things I marked
Usually with Watts you'd have to quote whole paragraphs, but here are three:
- The gift of prayer is "an ability to suit our thoughts to all the various parts and designs of this duty, and a readiness to express those thoughts before God in the fittest manner," to profit our own souls and the souls of those who join with us.
- "Get above the shame of appearing religious," that you may be dead to the reproaches of a wicked world. You don't want to become a Pharisee. But you don't want to live in fear of people seeing you as godly, either. They should see us as light in the darkness.
- And: "He that prays most, prays best."
So brother, sister, get out there and pray. Pray to the God who hears.
Soli Deo Gloria!
