John Ryland, letter to the London Evening Post, 30 November 1781.

For the London Evening Post

Mr Miller,

  By inserting the following Queries (written a few Months ago) in your Paper, you wou’d oblige some of your constant readers, and especially

                                                   Your’s &c.

                                                                     Pacificus.

Queries to Praying Professors of Every Denomination.

               Is it not the will of God, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks, be made for all men?  1 Tim. ii.1.  And that men pray every where?  I Tim. ii. 8.  Is not prayer, then, the duty of all men, in every age, & in every place, even men of every nation, be they Englishmen, Scotchmen, Frenchmen, Spanishmen, or American men, or what men soever, dwelling wheresoever?  If different men, in different places, are all equally bound to pray to one God, must there not be some one rule for them to pray by?  Or how can our God be the hearer & answerer of pray’r to so many different men, if they present different and opposite petitions? Is it lawful for any man to seek his own interest, or the interest of his own country, or his own party, any farther than is consistent wth the general good, and the divine glory?  Is not the general good, and the divine glory, one & the same everywhere?  Shou’d not the petitions of all praying men be regulated by a regard to the general good, and the divine glory?  May we not hope that there are many praying men in England; and are we sure that there is not one man who has the spirit of pray’r in America, on the side of the Congress?  Are we sure there is not one praying Man in Holland?  Nor one praying man among the French Protestants?  Nor one man who worships God acceptably, even among the Papists in France or Spain? Of have our present disputes unchristan’d all the Protestants in America? Or has our War wth France unchristian’d all the French Protestants?  Or, if the Dutch should break with us, will that unchristian every Man in Holland?  Is it the Will of God that every man who prays in Holland, France, or Spain, or America, shou’d pray that the English may destroy the Dutch, the French, the Spaniards, & Americans?  Can no Frenchman or Dutchman &c. as earnestly & as lawfully desire that France or Holland, &c. may be aggrandized at the expence of England, as an Englishman that England may be aggrandized at the expence of France or Holland, & all the world beside?  Is not there as much sense & religion in a Frenchman or a Dutchman, &c. supposing that their Governors must certainly be right, as in an English man’s supposing our Governors must always be in the right, because they are ours?  If some good French Protestants are praying for France to prevail, some good men here praying we may prevail, some good men in America praying they may prevail, what way can be divised for all these men to be answered?

               Wherever men pray, ought they not to lift up holy hands?  I Tim. ii. 8.  If I pray for the gratification of any man’s ambition or revenge, can I be said to lift up holy hands; or if I pray for the gratifying of the ambition or revenge of any set of men, or of a whole nation, will that mend the cave?  May not every man love himself?  But is not every man likewise bound to love his neighbor as himself?  Should not my prayers then be regulated by the same Rule as my Love?  What ought the interest of self to be to me, in comparison of the interest of my country?  What ought my country to be to me, in comparison of the universe, in comparison of the church of God at large, in comparison of justice, in comparison of the glory of God?  If I answer as a Christian, must I not reply, NOTHING?  Can Dr Witherspoon and Dr Whitaker in America, or Mr Romaine & Mr Wesley in England, prevail with God to favour an unrighteous cause?  Can he be blinded by party tales, or be persuaded by any importunity to violate the rules of impartial justice?

               Is it not the will of God that men pray without wrath and doubting?  I Tim. ii. 8.  Can I pray without doubting for the success of all the measures of any set of men whatever?  or do I suppose that when the Pope lost his infallibility, it was found by the British Ministry?  If it is unlawful for me to doubt the equity of any of the measures of our Governors, is it not as unlawful for Frenchmen or Dutchmen to doubt the measures of their Governors?  Can I pray without wrath that God wou’d destroy my fellow Protestants in America; or how can I justify myself in wishing fire & sword to overrun that Continent, or even justify my unconcernedness at their calamities?  Can it justify some Protestants in wishing the destruction of these Americans, that they are mostly Dissenters, and blind to the divine right of episcopacy?  Can it justify others in wishing their destruction, or being unconcerned at whatever befalls them, that some of them have been too much of a persecuting spirit tow’rd their own brethren who differ’d from them in matters of religion?  Can it justify this wrathful disposition that they are mistaken with regard to politics, or that they are not us, that they want to be independent of us, or are now set against us?  If I had lived in the days of Rehoboam, whom God forbad to go to war with the revolted tribes, I Kings xii. 24. would their rebellion and disorder in church & state, have justified my rejoicing in the calamities of that people, among whom there were sev’n thousand men left that had not bowed the knee to Baal, even after they refused to bow the knee to the house of David? 

               Can any Christian man contradict Bishop Hall’s assertion, “That war can never be lawfully undertaken but with a view to an honorable peace?” Can any thing but pride & sin, make it natural for two nations to be enemies, merely because they are situated near each other?  Are the French & Spaniards any the fitter to die & sink as lead in the mighty waters, because they are poor blinded Papists?  Can I pray for that without wrath?  If I say the Lords Prayer, after such a pray’r, must I not ask for myself to follow them that have trespassed against us, to the bottom of the Sea?  If I am not bound to use the words of the Lord’s Pray’r, yet may I dare to pray contrary to the spirit of it?  Is not God as able to save as to destroy?  Ought not I as a sinner who need mercy myself, & not judgment, rather to wish God wou’d turn our enemies to himself, and to us, wherein they are in the wrong, than to wish they may be cut to pieces by thousands?  Wou’d not God be as likely to answer this pray’r, as one more full of wrath and doubting?

               If I pray for my King & country, that God wou’d bless the persons of our Ministers, & all their measures which are just and equitable, that he wou’d send peace & prosperity, preserve our liberties and religion, forgive our sins, & defend us from all dangers, convince us & our enemies of all that is wrong, & turn us from it to himself, can any man in America, Holland, France, or in all the world, that expects to be forgiven as he forgives, that lifts up pure hands without wrath & doubting, pray against me?

               Or suppose I shou’d go on a mistaken principle, and that offensive war is (contrary to my apprehension) as justifiable as defensive, & that it is as right for me to pray God to destroy others, as to pray him to preserve us, yet can any man imagine my mistake to be so heinous in the sight of God, that while I daily pray to him to defend me and my country, he will let the French come & kill me, because I scrupled praying him to kill them?  Is it so dangerous a mistake to extend the prohibition too far, “Bless and curse not.”

               Rather, is there not room to hope, that if all praying men in these contending nations, were to unite in supplication upon one general plan, according to which men may pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, that God wou’d turn our hearts against sin, especially our own sins, and turn our hearts to himself and to one another; that he wou’d then hear our cries for Jesus sake, and quickly restore the invaluable blessing of

                                                                                                                           PEACE?             

Text:  MS., Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. In two instances above, Ryland spelled "set" as "sett." The manuscript is titled by Ryland on the front page as "Queries to Professors of Every Denomination respecting Political Pray'r."