and compendious way mingling with it faith in Christ to provide for your own peace and comfort when you do humbly and freely load your selves with the acknowledgment of the sins you are guilty of you may find them lie more light upon you Consciences when you bind them upon your selves you may find God loosing them and taking them off by the assurance of a gracious and full pardon Till David came to this poor man he was in a most dismal condition Psal. 32. 3. While he kept silence his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day he kept silence i. e. he did not confess sin and then he was fain to spend all his time in roaring because of the torment and anguish which he felt and so long as he did not carry toward God in a way of ingenuity God carried toward him in a way of severity Vers. 24. Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer He was sunk under the weight of that hand and broken almost to shivers and dried up like a potsherd But now see what a comfortable change was wrought and how God appeared to his joy when he brake off that sinful silence yea as soon as he took up a resolution of doing it Ver. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin So then this is the way to remove Judgements to pacifie the wrath and displeasure of God to quiet the Conscience to recover the sense of Divine Favour and to get for broken bones the joy of God's Salvation Fifthly When thou art in secret keep a strict watch over thy self Watch over both thy Body and Soul watch over thy body that it may not sleep as the Disciples did very unseasonably when they had the greatest reason to keep awake You know what our Saviour said That the body is weak where the spirit is willing It is a great sin and therefore a great shame for people yea such as profess godliness when they are about the Work and Service of God in these Assemblies hearing and praying to sleep away so much of that precious time as they do as if these things were none of their business and they were not at all concerned in it Sure I am this is not to sit here as God's People sitteth this is no sign of a serious Christâ—an coming to hear for Life and to pray for Life and working out Salvation with fear and trembling and yet they sleep in the midst of Observers when they have some on all sides to give them an awakening jog and I desire you to make conscience of doing it it is an act of Duty and of Love it is a friendly jog and the party to whom you give it is obliged to take it thankfully at your hands as a kindness He doth not know how much he may lose by a little Nap some precious Truth may then be spoken and passed in which he was greatly concerned and by which he might have been greatly benefited but it is gone and lost as to him he slept it away But when thou art all alone thou hast none by to do that friendly Office to bestow a jog upon thee then thou must do all the work thy self and look to thy self therefore thou shouldst be the more thine own Friend and take the more care and pains And also watch thy Soul thine heart keep it as thou art commanded with all diligence And as Deborah said to her self when she was in the midst of her work Iudges 5. 12. Awake awake Debroah awake awake utter a Song so do you call upon your selves in your Duties Awake awake O my Soul awake awake lift up a Prayer Thou hast now wrestling-work in hand do not be dull heavy and lazy at it watch thine heart for it needs it and two things in particular it is very subject to wandrings and coolings the heart of man is a wandering heart will not keep its way nor dwell upon its proper Object David could say My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed But could he say so always or canst thou No tho' it is fixed in its choice of God in its affection to him in its resolution for him yet it hath not that fixation of thoughts and meditations upon him nor that fixedness of fellowship and communion with him which should be Thou thinkest thou carriest thy heart with thee to thy duty but dost thou not often find it hath given thee the slip and is gone before thou hast done Therefore look to it keep thine eye upon it that it may keep its place and to its business But then again the heart of man hath its coolings as well as its wandrings As it should keep its way so it should carefully keep its heat Be much therefore and frequent in stirring up thy self when thou goest by thy self to take hold of God beware of all deadness and dulness when thou art going to serve a living God When fire-brands are together they will help one another and burn to the last but he that would keep a single one alive had need to tend it carefully and be often blowing it yea and adding some fewel too Watchfulness is as great and necessary a Duty as any the Christian hath to do he must watch unto Prayer that he may not go about it unseasonably that he may not lose a fit opportunity but set up his sail as soon as the wind blows and that he also might make use of all advantages for the tuning of his instrument and getting his heart into a right frame and he must watch likewise in prayer that when he is at the work he may not idle in it and so lose his duty by losing himself for want of looking to Alas what is Prayer without the heart unprofitable to man abominable to God it is like a Carcase when the Soul hath once forsaken it a stinking and offensive thing who would make a Present of it to a great King Sixthly When thou art upon thy knees engaged in secret Prayer unto God be sure that thou double thy diligence and put thy strength forth to the utmost When a great many are lifting at an heary weight every one may spare himself and put forth the less strength because there is such a number to assist but when there is no more than one single person tugging at it he had need strain and labour hard else he must leave it where and as he found it When we are joined together with others in Prayer when with a Church of Christ an Assembly of Saints there is a number of Supplicants a great many besieging the Throne of Grace wrestling with God and pulling down the Blessings which are desired and then we may speak in the same manner as David did Psal. 7. 6 7. Arise O Lord in thine anger lift up
since he is of a plasant Plant become no better than a Briar a Thorn dried Stubble fit for the burning how well might guilty Sinners call with them in the 6th of the Revelutions v. 16. to the Mountains and Rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne But the beloved and ever-blessed Son of God in a most gracious compliance with and pursuance of his Father's will hath restored unto man freedom of access to God Jesus Christ though He knew full well how great the attempt was and how much it would stand him in did put his life in his hand and engaged his heart to approach unto God and being our peace hath procured for us a liberty of approaching too and of drawing nigh going as near as we will even to his very Throne Heb. 10. 19 20. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh Christ entred into the holiest of all he entred in triumph as one that had conquered all his Enemies He entred with joy as one that had finished the work and sate down at the right hand of God to take there his everlasting rest and as you have it in the 9th of the Hebrews v. 12. He entred not by the blood of Calves and Goats but by his own blood He carried that along with him and now by that Blood we may enter too we may enter with safety there is no danger for a gracious person a believing Soul Though the Throne of God be a Throne of Glory yet is it a Throne of Grace a Mercy-seat that hath a Rain-bow round about it and because we enter with safety therefore we may enter with boldness both with a freedom of speech telling God all that is in our hearts and with the full assurance of Faith as those that shall find mercy and grace to accept and help in time of need Now if that any of you do not value this privilege at an high rate if you do not carefully improve it and make use of it now it hath been purchased by Christ for poor Sinners you deal very disingenuously do not well consider the inestimable price which it cost and you offer a most vile and wretched affront to the precious Blood of Iesus as if it were an unholy thing of no more excellency than that of a Beast a common and ordinary man or of a guilty and death-deserving Criminal 3. Thirdly All the sorts of holy Prayer are to be made use of Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all prayer in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Your Prayers must be in the Spirit that is with your Spirit Prayer must not only be a Lip-labour but the work of the heart the words in Prayer are but the carcase of the duty the fervour and heat of the Affections are the life and soul of it and also it must be with the Holy Spirit whose work it is to help his peoples Infirmities and to make intercession in them Prayer must be by the influence and assistance of the Divine Spirit and with the heat and earnestness of our own spirits so then we are to pray in the Spirit or as Iude saith in the Holy Ghost and happy they who have not fallible men to make their Prayers for them but the Spirit of God but there are two other Expressions in the forementioned Scripture we ought to take a little notice of Praying always Do not understand it as if you were to be day and night at it as if praying were the whole of your duty for you have a great deal of other work to do which must be carefully attended and therefore the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all opportunities in every fit and proper season for prayer in every condition into which Providence casts you and upon every occasion that calls for it The other Expression most pertinent to our present business is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all prayer and supplication i. e. with ordinary prayer and with extraordinary too that which hath fasting joined with it private prayer and publick too ejaculatory prayer when the Soul â—allies out on a sudden unto God gives him a visit and away knocks at his door puts in a short Petition and is gone like one that is engaged about some other business and cannot stay and also composed Prayer in which the Soul fixeth and abides some considerable time with God Family-prayer and Closet-prayer Prayer in conjunction with others and alone by our selves We may and must make use of all these kinds of Prayers as opportunity offers and occasions do require But to come more close to the matter in hand 4. Fourthly Secret Prayer is a duty incumbent upon Christians Now that we call secret Prayer when a person gets alone by himself and makes his requests known to God When being sequestred from all company whatsoever and withdrawn from his nearest and dearest Relations his most familiar and intimate Friends and by himself in a most close and private retirement he sends out his Soul upon the wings of holy and servent desires and labours with all his might to fetch down his God to him by his gracious presence and to obtain of him those favours and blessings of which he finds a sensible want either in whole or in part It is that by which he knocks at the gate of Heaven and goeth into the Holiest of all and gives his heavenly Father a visit in such a manner as that no body may know of it Noâ— that he is ashamed of what he doth for he is free to own God for his Sovereign Lord Christ for his dearly beloved Prayer as his duty and work before all the World though he be reproached scorned and maligned for it but because he would avoid the suspicion of a Pharisaical vain glorious Spirit and also that he might get as far as ever he can out of the reach of Impediments and Diversions He enters into his Chamber and there shuts his Door upon him that so he might shut out all that would interrupt and disturb that fellowship with his God which he hath so often found an incomparable sweetness in as that he counts it his Heaven upon Earth At other times he will make one of the great Congregation and go to the House of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that keep holy-day Psal. 42. 4. he loves the Gates of Sion and to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple Psal. 27. 4 and also he knows how to go out as Isaac did into the Fields to meditate and in the night season to be abroad and consider with David the Heavens which are the works of God's hand the Moon and the Stars which he hath created and so take
shalt make to thy self no graven Image Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day So here Thou when thou prayest Christ would have every one that nameth his Name that takes upon him the Profession of being one of his People to make a particular application of this to himself and to look upon this counsel as given and this charge as laid upon him Thou Thomas when thou prayest do this and thou Iohn when thou prayest do this and so thou Matthew and thou Andrew and so every one that was then alive or that shall live in any Age or place of the World It is spoken to you and to me and to all do thou enter into thy Chamber thou alone and shut the door upon thee not upon others with thee but upon thee and so pray unto thy Father get alone saith Christ and pray alone do it when there is no body by none to see thee none to overhear thee God and an holy Soul are very good company when it goes out with tears and he meets it with smiles when it draws up its Confessions and he seals its Pardons it breathes out holy desires and longings and he affords it gracious answers and in them satisfactions it states its case tells its Diseases open its Sores and he applies easing and healing remedies In a word When the Soul fires its Sacrifice and then in the holy flame thereof the blessed Angel of the Covenant doth wonderfully It is oftentimes good for the Saints to go one with another into the presence of their Father they have been called upon to strive together in prayer and that in Family duties or in publick Ordinances or in cases of common concernment but there is no Christian who hath not his own wants and his own pressures and his own bitternesses and upon these accounts it is best for him to go alone and thou canst not tell O holy Soul what special favour God may shew thee what token of love he may put into thy hand when there is no body by When disconsolate Hannah had been watering her plants weeping greatly alone pouring out her Soul in tears and prayers before the Lord she had such an impress upon her Spirit such a message of peace whisper'd to her as made her glad at heart and on a sudden dried up all her tears so that her countenance was no more sad Thou if thou engagest in this work in thine uprightness mayst believingly and comfortably expect the same in God's time However set this down with thy self and act accordingly That Secret Prayer is thy unquestionable duty by virtue of a Divine Command 4. Lastly There is a very gracious promise made to Secret Prayer and here I shall lay down this Assertion as worthy your taking notice of That the great God doth not make promises to any thing which he doth not require and which is not acceptable and pleasing to him and which accordingly is not duty in man Promises do follow Precepts and are designed for the strengthening of our hearts and hands the encouraging us to Acts of Obedience and the sweetning those Obediential Acts to us He is angry at those who offer to do those things in matters of his Worship for which they have not his Warrant Hence such enquiry as this Isa. 1. 12. Who hath required this at your hands viz. to come in such a manner And hence also that Complaint and Charge That they burn their Sons and Daughters in the fire made a Sacrifice of them which as he saith Ier. 7. 31. He commanded them not neither entred it into his heart David's Design was good and it pleased God that he had an heart so set for his honour yet it was a rebuke and check to him that God sent him this message by Nathan 2 Sam. 7. 7. In all the places wherein I have walked with the Children of Israel spake I a word with any of the Tribes of Israel whom I commanded to feed my poople Israel saying Why build ye not me an house of Cedar From whence saith Peter Martyr we learn that David failed in attempting such a thing when he had not a word for it from God from whom he ought to have expected and waited for a peculiar command as to the thing and time and place Those that run on such Errands as God never sent them on and presume to do such works as God never set them about or will venture to do his work in a way of their own cannot with any shadow of reason expect a reward from his hand let them get one where they can Why should God pay them for doing that which is none of his work or for doing it after their own fashion Nadab and Abihu did the work of God in offering Incense but they did it after their own fashion in making use of strange fire and it cost them their lives they found God not a bountiful Rewarder but a dreadful Revenger When Promises are made by God to any thing they do plainly speak that thing to which those Promises are made a duty Now we find here in the Text a great and gracious promise made by our Lord Iesus to secret Prayer Do this saith he when thou prayest enter into thy chamber and shut thy door about thee study all possible privacy and retirement let no body know of that which thou goest about if thou canst help it do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in secret there is Christ's Counsel and it must needs be good because given by him in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and whose name is Wonderful Counsellour now take with you the Promise annexed to this Counsel Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly God will not send one single Petitioner empty from his Throne of Grace though thou goest begging yet thou shalt return rejoycing Abraham the Father of the Faithful had bowels of compassion yearning over his wicked Neighbours he prayed in secret for â—ilthy Sodom There was no body to back him in that Suit nor to plead together with him that City was indeed so bad that he was both ashamed and afraid to appear as an Advocate for them and therefore he did more than once deprecate the Divine displeasure Oh let not the Lord be angry yet observe how mighty he was with God He lifted up prayer after prayer and God condescended to him again and again Single and solitary Abraham had such a great interest and success that the glorious and provoked God did not give over granting until Abraham had given over praying By what hath been said I hope the first thing promised is performed namely it is made plain and evident That Secret-prayer is the Christian's duty We now proceed to the Second which is to prove That if it be rightly managed it will be his advantage and to that end I shall only shew that it will afford him these two
hence when Sickness Arrests you and you find that the King of terrors is at your very door that will be a dismal time and it will cause many thoughts and tremblings of heart and then if ever you will stand in need of Cordials and happy the Man that hath his comfortable Reflections and Prospects to support his Spirits who can look back to his Life past with peace and look forward to Eternity with hope When a Child of God that hath maintain'd a close and intimate Communion with his God and given himself unto Prayer comes to lie upon his Death-bed he is so roughly handled by that last enemy that he cannot pray his heart is so faint within him and his pains are so strong upon him that he hath not any leisure for that work in which he hath found so much sweetness and for which he hath so dear a love Alas then his case his weakness his agonies his tumblings and tossings are such that he cannot pray as he was wont only sigh and groan and lift up an eye and give a look toward God's Holy Temple and dart up a short ejaculation Poor Soul that is the utmost length he can go and it is no small grief to him that he is so straitned and confined Holy Asaph put this among the Reasons of his bitter complaints Psal. 77. 4 That he was so troubled that he could not speak But at that very time he can relieve and comfort himself with his former praying and former walking and Communion with God his former seeking of God and conversing with him When there was a message of death by the Prophet brought to Hezekiah he could send this short Petition up again to Heaven Isa. 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He could do but very little then his strength was gone and his breath was short but he could with comfort remember and desire God himself to remember how he had walked and what he had done in his Halcion and healthful days So when a gracious person is disabled for his work he can think thus There is a stock of Prayers which I have laid up in Heaven against such a time of need as this is and the thought thereof will be a singular support and comfort to him But what do you think will become of you at such a time you that have been all your days strangers to this work When you come to dye you cannot pray your distempers and pains will not lâ—t you and you do not know how to go about it nor how to do one stroke at it and it will then be a sting and horrour to you to think that when you were in health and strength and all things well with you you would not pray You were called upon often by your godly Ministers and by your gracious Friends and Relations but you would not At a dying hour you will have no fitness for that work and all the time that you lived before you had no heart to it But possibly you will comfort your selves with this that when you are sick and full of fears and inward disquiets and you are not in a capacity of praying for your selves then you or some of your Friends for you will send for some godly Minister or other and desire him to pray for you Well suppose that is done and the Minister sent for comes if he knows what a wretch thou hast been and how much thou hast neglected God and thy Duty all thy days What straitnings of Soul must he of necessity be under as to thee With what holy confidence and hope may we go to God in Prayer on the behalf of a godly person when sick if we can say to God as they did to Christ on the behalf of Lazarus John 11. 3. Lord he whom thou lovest is sick But what a damp must it needs be to us when we think we are going to God for a sick and dying Man but such an one as neglected God and hated him and lived without him and in open rebellion against him I fear I fear there are too many among us that befool and deceive themselves with this That if they can get a Minister to Pray by them especially if it be such an one as will give them the Sacrament too oh then all is well and their Souls go immediately to Heaven without any stop by the way and the Gate of Glory is opened to them and entrance granted but it is probable that will not do and that these Men build their high hopes upon a Sandy-foundation that will fail them And I would fain know what great encouragement or what sufficient ground we have to believe that we shall carry them in the Arms of our Prayers safe to Heaven who would not themselves take one right step in the way that leads thither would never be humble Petitioners for the pardon of their Sins or for the Life and Salvation of their own Souls That I look upon as exceeding worthy of your observation and repeated thoughts which we meet with in the 1st of Samuel chap. 12. After that good Man had faithfully reproved the people for their great wickedness in asking a King and likewise put them into a great consternation by a Storm of Thunder and Rain in the time of Wheat-Harvest which was unusual in that Countrey they became humble Suitors to him saying in verse 19. Pray for by servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not That request he was most freely wilâ—ing to grant God forbid saith he that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you He had prayed for them and would continue to pray for them But now mark and remember that which followeth in vers 24. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart Which is as if he had said I will not be wanting to my Duty you are a people that I dearly love and heartily wish welfare and prosperity to I will speak for you and plead for you and wrestle with God for you but do not you lay too great stress upon my Prayers look to it that you be not found sinning against God whil'st I am praying to him for you left you do your selves more mischief than I can do you good My Prayers will not prevail on your behalf unless you will resolve to fear God your selves and to seek and serve him your selves and pray and honour and obey him your selves By warrant of that Scripture I do now say to you when you are sick and in distress and fear you shall dye you will call the Ministers to pray for you and we are ready to do it when you send for us we will come only I wish that we may be sent for sooner than we are by some of you viz. while you are able to give us an account of your selves and in
sin in him and with a load of guilt upon him He did indeed justify and applaud himself but God's Soul abhorr'd and loath'd him Whereas the poor humbled broken-hearted Publican stood a great way and prayed in the Spirit from an inward and deep sense of his own vileness and he was sent home to his House justified God gave him a Pardon and a Smile I shall not spend much time or pains about this sort of Men because I conclude their prejudice is so great that they will give very little heed to any thing that I shall say though delivered with all possible meekness and really designed for their good yet not knowing what it may please that God to do upon them who is the Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and hath the hearts of Men in his hand and can make what impressions upon them and changes in them seem good in his sight I shall not pass them by altogether in silence but offer to their consideration these two things which in my judgment carry something of weight in them First Places do not add any value to Actions of Religion so as to commend them to God I remember that which after the discourse of Cornelius Peter said unto him Acts 10. 34. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him And I may say as there is no respect of Persons with God so there is no respect of Places with God He hath no more esteem for the Chancel than for the body of the Church and that which is within the Rails is no more Sacred than that which is without them There is as near compendious and direct a way to the Throne of God from thy House O Believer as there is from the Church or the most magnificent Cathedral and those Supplications which are made and presented there with an holy heart by the assistance of the Divine Spirit and in the name of Christ shall find as free an access to God as ready an audience with him and as gracious an acceptance It is indeed by us and all granted That the Temple at Ierusalem was an holy place yea there was in it not only an Holy Place but the Holy of Holies God himself had sanctified it and appropriated it to his own most solemn service there he had been pleased to place his Name that was an excellent Type of the Lord Iesus our ever-blessed Mediator and where-ever the Iews were into what Countrey soever they were scattered or carried Captive they were to pray toward it Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time But that Temple being destroyed and not so much as one Stone left upon another that Church-state being at an end and that dispensation ceased I know no such thing as Holiness of Places here below The Synagogues among the Iews in the Land of Canaan were not Holy but only convenient places for them to meet together in for the performance of publick Worship and waiting upon God in the way of his Ordinances And our Churches at this day come not in the room of the Temple but of those Synagogues There was indeed a very great stir and hot contention in our Saviour's days and before about the place of Publick-worship between the Iews and the Samaritans The Iews were for the Temple built by Solomon at Ierusalem and they were in the right for that was the place which God had chosen and appointed On the contrary the Samaritans stood stifly for the Temple which had been built by their Ancestors upon Mount Gerizzim The Woman of Samaria having an opportunity put into her hands did in Iohn 4. 20. start the Question and propound it to our Saviour seeking as one saith to be by him satisfied about it as in a case of Conscience Now it is worth our while to observe his Answer thereunto which you have in Verse 21. Iesus said unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither at Ierusalem nor in this Mountain worship the Father Prayer Ordinances and the Worship of God shall not be restrained to this place nor to that it shall not be more pleasing powerful and prevalent in one place for the place's sake than it is in another Add hereunto that which the Holy Apostle Paul saith in 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Mark his manner of expression I will he speaks with Authority we may be sure he received this from the Lord. He would never have said I will had he not been sure that it was God's will it was God's will and therefore it was Paul's will But what was it That Men do not look to the place in which they pray but to the manner how they pray let them pray any where every where in what place they themselves judge fit and convenient so that their hands be washed in innocency and their hearts are but cleansed from their filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness Holy and pure Prayer shall be welcome to God and have a most gracious reception from what quarter or corner soever it comes We find that good Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God when he was in the Belly of the Fish which was so dark and dismal a place that he counted and called it the belly of Hell yet his Prayer made there did not lose its way nor fail of the end for which it was sent Ionah 2. 2. I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice Secondly I do advise and desire you to examine your selves and to be better studied in and acquainted with your own hearts than it may be as yet you are for I cannot but tell you though this be an excellent work and necessary for all that would manage Religion to everlasting advantage and approve themselves to God so it is in a particular manner necessary for them that lay so much stress upon places and other things of like nature to watch their hearts narrowly and to keep a very strict eye upon them lest by those superstitious observances they be found wanting to and of the very vitals of the Duty and hug and please themselves with a rotten and stinking Carcass where the Soul and Life are wanting and as our Lord said to the Pharisees Matt. 23. 23. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith They neglected the magnalia legis the great things of the Law while they were greatly solicitous about the minutula
Works and Heart-examining and seeking after God either acquainting themselves with him or making their requests known to him they are utter strangers to it and never troubled themselves about any thing of that nature Now let me ask you Is this kind Is there any thing of ingenuity in it Can the great God unto whom you are infinitely obliged take it well at your hands You would have God look after you in all places where you come You do not indeed delight in his Company but would be the Objects of his Care you would have his Mercy and Goodness follow you all the days of your life If Israel wanted any thing in the Wilderness if they had not Water here and Flesh there they took pet and fell a grumbling You expect that God should secure you and support you and supply you when you are alone as well as in Company and I would have you give me if you can one good reason why you will not seek and serve Him when alone as well as in Company And I desire you to study the frame of the Spouse's Spirit and take notice of the resolution she took up and consider whether there be nothing in it worthy of your learning and imitation Cantic 8. 1 2. O that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother when I should find thee without I would kiss thee yet I should not he despised I would lead thee and bring thee into my mothers house Bear with me while I present you with a few thoughts upon these words In them you have the Spouse's Option and Resolution Her Option or Wish Oh that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother That is As near in relation and conjunction to me as near can be I am for no distance that may issue in strangeness but the greatest nearness possible that will warrant familiarity and justifie a free converse Oh that thou wert as my Brother mine own Brother my Brother in all respects who did not ouly lie in the same Womb but was nourished and brought up with the same Milk and sucked the same Breasts Well suppose it had been so what then what advantage would she have had what encouragement would she have taken from thence That you may see in her Resolution which fixed upon two things When I should find thee without I would kiss thee the world should see that I have an heart and love for thee But what O thou enamour'd Spouse thou faithful Turtle what of that Others will do so too they will have their lipkindnesses who are meer strangers to an hearty and sincere affection How many men will abound in expressions of love when they are without extraordinary kind to their Wives in the streets and in their Neighbours houses huge loving and good-humour'd before folks when they are meer Dogs or rather Devils within doors Naphtalies abroad that give goodly words but Nabals at home where their Tongues are sharp Swords Let such men know and tremble while they know there is a God in Heaven and a Conscience in their own bosoms that curiously observe and record all And just so it is in the present Case A great many will seem to kiss Christ abroad in a Church and at a publick Ordinance who there so devout as they They will cringe and bow to his very Name Iesus a great stir they make but it is nothing else than a Complement when they turn back upon the Church they turn their back upon Christ too and going home they leave at the Church-door all the respect and kindness which they would be thought to have for him But the Spouse was acted by another Principle she carried the same dearness of affection to Christ along with her to all places where she came and therefore she resolved not only to kiss him when she found him without but likewise to lead him and bring him into her mothers house She would be as dear over him and respective to him at home as abroad she would indeed be glad to meet him abroad to meet him in the High-way of his Ordinances thither she goeth there she walks and waits for that very purpose she esteems Ordinances because they are divine appointments and have the stamp of God's Authority upon them but she rests not in the bare enjoyment of them but in and by them would have communion with Christ himself and let her Sanctuary-sighs and sense of his Power and Glory there be never so clear and sweet she would for all them long to have him at home home would not be home to her but a Wilderness an Hell if she could not have communion and an intercourse of kindness with Christ there And this which we find her in that place fixedly resolved to do was no more than what she had formerly done when she had been so happy as to meet with him She had found it was a thing seasible Christ was easie to be intreated if desired he would not refuse to come under her Roof and she had found how much good she got by his Company that in having Him with her she had All in him That she had done thus before you may see in Cant. 3. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth And glad she was that she had found him she did not repent of the great pains and many weary steps that she had taken in the search But what did she do now that she had found him She tells you I held him and would not let him go I am persuaded Christ did not intend to leave her he delights to stay where he is welcom and made much of nothing drives him away but unkindness Yet true love is jealous and afraid He hath withdrawn and I did not know then how to be without him when my Sun was gone it was dark night with me and therefore she would make as sure of him as ever she could He was too good to part with therefore now she had got him again she would keep him If you ask How long she tells you Till she had brought him into her mothers house and into the chamber of her that conceived her She was for secret Duty and Fellowship Chamber-enjoyment and Communion And I think this may be taken for granted that there is not any one truly gracious Soul who knoweth what it is to have the sweet gracious comfortable presence of Christ and what it is to lie and labour sigh and groan under his subductings and absence but will be of the same mind with the Spouse having recover'd his loss he will in a pang of love and rapture of joy cry out O thou whom my Soul loveth hast thou been gone so long and have I been mourning and lamenting after thee so long and seeking thee so diligently going and weeping as I went dropping tears faster than I took steps and have I found thee at last I will
not part with thee if thou wilt not take me up to thee thou shalt not deny to go along with me unless desires and longings are grown insignificant unless Prayers and Tears have lost their wonted power I will have thee to my House to my Family to my Chamber I am now set for the greatest privacy and for the sweetest intimacy there will I pour out my fervent Prayers and there I will humbly and patiently yet with inflamed longings attend thy pleasure and wait thy gracious Answers We find that holy Abraham did erect Altars to God abroad in the several places to which he came God had his Tables for Abraham and Abraham would have his Altars for God God was very gracious Abraham very ingenuous God was bountiful and Abraham grateful At Sichem the Lord appeared to him and there he built an Altar and another he made near unto Bethel and another in the Plain of Mamre and doubtless as he had his Altars so his Sacrifices as all places were witnesses of God's kindness to Abraham so he would have them witnesses of his mindfulness of God Yea and as he had his Altars abroad so as you have already heard he had his Grove at home an Oratory a place of Prayer where he called on the Name of the Lord the Everlasting God There are those in the world and among our selves who can find Altars abroad and if there be none they will make some they had as lieve be without Churches as without Altars And oh how do they admire them as the most holy places tho' there be no Sacrifice and how do they plead for them and stoop and bow to them and herein they place a main piece of their Religion tho' it be but a piece of foolish Superstition if not something worse from which God deliver England and other Reformed Churches which do yet need a further Reformation Well these people have these things abroad but suppose one should ask them what they have at home May they not say We have rich Tables full Cups stately Chambers Down-beds yea and Cards and Dice Healthing and Ranting Chambering and Wantonness Yes it is very probable But what is there of the Service of God of the Worship of God of any Honour done to God Nothing of all this no nothing at all And art thou one of this number then I earnestly desire thee to think with thy self and seriously consider what a profane place is thy Closet in which there is no Prayer how it stinks in God's nostrils Whatever other Sweets thou maist have where there is no holy Duty to perfume it what a wicked place what an Hell is thy Chamber out of which the Glorious Majesty of Heaven is so far as thou canst do it excluded If there be no Prayer there then for certain there is no God there I mean by his gracious presence and if there be no God there then there are a thousand Devils But my chief design is not to deal at present with the gross and openly flagitious I have no cause to wonder that they have no such thing as Prayer in their Chambers and Closets who do by their loose vicious and abominable Lives proclaim to all that know them that there is no fear of God before their Eyes I would indeed speak a thousand words to do their Souls good and think my time and labour well bestowed But now my business lieth among Professors those of them who live in the shameful neglect of Secret Prayer to whom I shall propound these four Questions and let them consider what Answer they can give First Art thou a Christian indeed or art thou not Secondly Dost thou make Religion thy business or dost thou not Thirdly What account dost thou make of God Fourthly Doth not thy Conscience charge thee with the omission of a Duty I desire to deal faithfully with you as one that must answer before my Judge and oh that you would deal faithfully with your own Souls for it is your great and everlasting Concern First Art thou a Christian or art thou not I mean not in Profession only but in reality not in shew only but in sincerity not in word and in tongue only but in deed and in truth thou wilt answer yes I am a Christian God forbid I should be otherwise Thou sayst well but the great business is to make it out How dost thou prove it Thou wilt perhaps answer Thou hast been baptized that is well too that thy Parents did their duty in bringing thee to that sacred and solemn Ordinance of initiation and thereby binding thee to the faith fear and service of thy great Creator and Lord Redeemer But my Friend Is that all thou hast to say for thy Christianity Is that all the Evidence thou art able to produce I cannot forbear telling thee That Baptism where there is that and no more doth make a company of pitiful Christians There was an Israelite in shew and an Israelite in deed Wilt thou observe and make due use of that which Paul saith Rom. 2. 28 29. He is not a Iew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outwordly in the flesh But he is a Iew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God And in the same sense I may say that is not Baptism which is only outward that is not enough to give the denomination upon that single account Christ will not own a person for a Sheep of his Fold a Member of his Body that lays indeed on all them that receive it an obligation unto holiness and it will greatly aggravate the sins which they afterward live in the wilful commission of but it will not entitle them to Salvation and everlasting happiness 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptism doth now save us by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ possibly now thou thinkest thou hast enough Baptism saveth and what do I need more but stay let the Apostle explain himself which he doth in the very same Verse Not the putting away the filth of the flesh by sprinkling water upon the face according to most or dipping in it according to others or plunging the whole body in it over head and ears according to some neither this nor that way will be sufficient and saving alone The unregenerate Children of Israel though circumcised were unto God as the Children of the Ethiopians Amos 9. 7. And as one saith A man may go to Hell with the water of Baptism upon his face But saith Peter the answer of a good Conscience toward God When Conscience is able to give this testimony of a man that he hath been baptized by the Holy Ghost renewed in the spirit of his mind that it is his desire to answer the Engagements in Baptism to attain the blessed Ends of Baptism and to approve himself to God â—y walking as becomes one of his Covenant-â—eople Now then let
he was careful of and busie at his home-trade Psal. 55. 17. Evening morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud And yet that was not enough for him at that rate of working he could neither live nor lay up as he would therefore you read in Psal. 119. 164. It was his constant practice to be at his praises of God seven times a day Thirdly I would ask thee this Question What dost thou think of God what figure doth he make I know notwithstanding his unmatchable Excellencies and infinite Perfections he is very low in the thoughts of many yea most but I am now speaking to thee who art a Professor and pretendest to a knowledge of him and a love to him But prithee What room dost thou give him where dost thou place him dost thou deal becomingly with him dost thou value and esteem him as a God ought to be valued dost thou believe that he alone is more than all the Angels in Heaven and all the Men on Earth put together dost thou think that to have his Eye upon thee is a far greater matter than to have the Eyes of the best and greatest Persons upon Earth upon thee It really is so for what is all the World to God what is Heaven and Earth to God what is their loving thee if he hate thee what is their liking thee if he loath thee what is their approving and justifying thee if he reject and condemn thee but I ask now what thy thoughts are and again I ask dost thou think that to have his presence with thee is more than to be in the most frequent and numerous Assembly the most thronged Congregation and certainly it is so the presence of God alone should be more awing and it is more delighting than that of any other Now if thou hast this high esteem for God if thou makest this account of his presence then remember that He seeth in secret So our Saviour tells us in the Text. His Eyes run to and fro in the Earth not only in the High-ways and broad Streets but they look into Nooks and Corners also He doth not only walk in the golden Candlesticks but steps into Chambers and Closets too as in Ezek. 9. 8. he order'd the Prophet to dig in the wall and commanded him to go in and see the Abominations that were done there And Verse 12. He speaks of what the Ancients of the house of Israel did in the dark every one in the chambers of his imagery Idolaters act their idolatry and ungodly Men their wickedness as close as they can they have darkness and walls to conceal it but to God the darkness is as the light and the night shineth as the day and in the wall there is an hole through which God's Eye looks and discovers all and he that can find an hole in the wall hath also a window in the Chamber Now if the Eyes of Men will make thee pray in thy Family if they have such a powerful influence on thee as to fetch thee out of thy House and draw thee to join with the Congregation iâ— the Acts of Publick Worship give me a reason if thou hast one worth the giving why the All-seeing Eye of the glorious and holy God should not make thee pray in thy Chamber by thy self since he doth most curiously observe thee there though no body else doth I think my self bound to tell thee whether thou wilt believe and consider it or not I must leave to thy self That if thou dost neglect Secret Prayer it is an evident sign that thou undervaluest God It is no less than a base slight put upon God and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed Fourthly Let me once more inquire of thee what agreement is there between thee and thy Conscience When you do not seek God do you find and enjoy peace within is Concience quiet doth it not quarrel with you and make you feel its anger I remember what the Apostle saith in Rom. 14. 22. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth that is satisfied about the thing which he doth whatever others say against him he is not self-condemned So I may say Happy is the man who condemneth not himself in the thing that he omitteth Thou never prayest in secret but art thou not in that wanting to thy duty art not thou injurious both to God and thine own Soul dost thou not withhold from him that which is his due doth not thy Conscience tell thee thou art wanting to thy duty doth it not vote for it doth it not upbraid thee with the neglect doth it not sometimes flee in thy face and charge it upon thee and put thee into a Little-ease I think I have said enough in the Doctrinal part for the proving it to be thy Duty And hath not thy Conscience gone along with those things and subscribed to them as the Truths of God And if so what account wilt thou be able to give unto thy supream Lord for thy not giving ear to his Vicegerent that he himself had appointed and set up in thy bosome How wilt thou answer him when he shall say Why didst thou not attend to the dictates of thy Conscience why didst thou not do that which thy Conscience told thee thou wast bound to do How dost thou think to come off what plea wilt thou use at the last and great day when thy heavenly Master shall say I have not found thy works perfect before me they have not been filled up here hath been an huge Chasâ—e a great vacancy I have been forgotten and neglected by thee when thou wast alone thou wouldest not do me service when thou hadst nothing else to do thou wouldest rather sit still nodding in thy Chair than take the pains to give me a visit We are commanded always to ahound in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. verse last How darest thou then to omit so considerable so sweet and so necessary a part thereof especially when thy Conscience persuaded and called thee to it Conscience will be heard sooner or later in one way or other if you will not hear its softer Counsels you shall its louder Thunders if you will not follow its Directions it will pursue you with its Terrors In a word if you will not attend to the Dictates of Conscience you shall feel the Fury of it and when you feel it you will find it intollâ—rable Having thus ordered out those Reproofs which I judged necessary upon occasion of this Text and begging they may take place and be accompanied with a blessing upon those who are guilty before God in one of these respects or other I come to speak unto you in a way of hearty and serious exhortation I do in the Bowels of Love and with great earnestness intreat and beseech you who are yet altogether or too great strangers to it to set forthwith upon this excellent Duâ—y of Secret Prayer and oh that by the
of thy heavenly Father I am confident if thou wilt begin it in good earnest thou wilt not easily give it over I do not indeed know what interruption the Devil may give thee who hates all the Work of God and good of Man but if by temptation thou shouldest for a time be taken off from it thou wilt not be well nor able to enjoy thy self till thou dost return to it again I dare say in an humble holy and beliâ—ving performance thou wilt experience such incompâ—rable sweetness and so much benefit and advantage accruing to thee that thou wilt go on and call upon God as long as thou livest and then expire thy Soul in the same manner as Stephen did whose last words were Prayer Acts 7. 59. Lord Iesus receive my spirit and Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep That which I have further to do will be in these two things 1. Lay down Motives to the work 2. Give Directions for managing it I shall begin with the Motives for the alluring and drawing you to this excellent work who have hitherto been altogether strangers to it or very backward and by consequence inconstant off and on and I shall most heartily rejoice if the Lord would graciously please to succeed these endeavours so that what I shall suggest to you may bring you upon your knees that there may be more of this Chamber-practice more of a Chamber-fellowship and Closet-communion with your God The Motives are these First Do you pray in secret because that God who is the proper Object of Prayer seeth in secret as trusting in him you do at no time and in no condition trust in a God that cannot save so directing your Prayers to him you do in no place pray unto a God that cannot hear When Hagar had in a fear fled from the face of her incensed Mistress God found her out in the Wilderness where she was absconded and appeared and spake unto her there whereupon it is said in Gen. 16. 13. That she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou God seest me for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me We may as some do reckon these words to be words of reprehension as relating to herself and words of admiration as referring to God Have I also looked after him Here I am but how stupid and foolish have I been I have been looking back to the Comforts which I had when in the Family and under the wing of my Master Abraham and I have been looking to the displeasure and severity of my Mistress Sarahâ—â— and I have been looking to the desolate place and distressed condition into which I am now brought but have I here minded God and looked after God I have been so afflicted with my loss and have pored so much upon my troubles that I have been unmindful of God did find neither heart nor leisure to think of Him or look after Him a Case it is too common among the children of men yet here he â—eeth me and minds me here he looks upon my person and upon my affliction and sorrow And maist not Thou my Friend say the very same when thou art alone and in thy Closet-recesses Thou God seest me When no soul living is by when no mortal eye seâ—th me then Thou God seest me Now let me desire thee after that serious consideration to propound this as a serious Question to thy self Have I also here looked after him that seeth me God's eyes have been here upon me but have mine eyes been again upon God and unto God It may be thou art able to say In the publick Congregation I have looked after that God who seeth me there I have had many frequent repeated and raised thoughts at him there I have waited for him more than they that watch for the morning yea more than they that watch for the morning But when thou art in thy Chamber canst thou make thy Appeal to God and say O Lord thou knowest and art my witness that even here I have looked after thee that seest me here mine eyes of Faith and Prayer have been toward the Lord that seeth me This is an Argument which our deâ—râ—st Lord Jesus maketh use of in the Text That your Father seeth in secret The Royal Prophet saith Psalm 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence The Question speaks it a thing impossible to be done His eye is fastned upon thee and follows thee whithersoever thou goest look to thy self and ponder all thy actions thou art under the pure and piercing and all-discerning eye of the infinitely Great and Glorious Majesty when thou art in the Congregation and in the Street and in the Shop and in the Kitchen yea and when thou art in the Closet too And since he doth see thee there what wouldst thou have him see thee doing wouldst thou have him see nothing but vanity in thy mind and corruption in thy heart wouldst thou have him see nothing done by thee but looking into thy Glass and into thy Chests and Bags or turning over thy Fineries and Fooleries and so feeding thy Wantonness and Pride or making provision for a perishing Carkass to deck and adorn it or gratifie a bruitish and sensual Appetite but never see thee upon thy knees seeking his face and favour or the good of thine own precious and never-dying Soul Oh that His Eye might affect your Hearts That Divine Eye which is upon all your ways and looks you thorow and thorow That Eye which is ten thousand times yea inconceivably more than the eyes of all the Angels in Heaven and of all the Men upon Earth The Eye of God should among others have these two effects upon us and upon all men that know and own him First It should awe us Seâ—ondly It should quicken and animate us It should awe us when we are in secret and be an effectual curb to those Lusts and Corruptions which would otherwise break loose and grow rampant When no body is by do not dare to sin because God is by This preserved young Ioseph from falling before a great temptation When he might have procured the savour of his Mistress and as some would have thought have done himself a kindness this thought brake the neck of the temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Again the Eye of God should animate and put life into you it should as a golden Spur quicken you to the careful and lively performance of Duty when you are in secret and no body at hand to take notice of it and make report Let it be enough for you enough alone that God seeth your love to him and the desires of your Souls to his Name and a remembrance of him and communion with him and He needs none to inform him of your unmindfulness and neglect of him no no He
thing of the Pharisee Thirdly When thou art alone in prayer make it thy great desire and care to be with God In all thy approaches to him and in all thine appearances before him make sure that thou be with him The Psalmist could say Psal. 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee this some understand of the constancy of God's kindness Though the most vigilant of the Saints sometimes fall into sleepiness and drowsiness of spirit that they perceive not God's presence with them nor care over them nor love to them yet when the Lord awakeneth up their Souls and reneweth their spiritual senses they are made to see and acknowledge that the Lord doth never leave them no not when they least perceive his presence But others do by this understand the gracious frame and workings of David's Spirit He was every morning with God as soon as ever he opened his eyes he directed them to God God was the excellent and endeared Object that he would first converse with and bestow his morning visit upon I am still with thee by meditation Oh that thou couldest say the same in truth as to this duty of Prayer Lord when I am at prayer I am still with thee I am often upon my knees and I am as often with my God I Iohn 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. Do you press after that a fellowship with God do you enquire for that as Elisha when he had got the Mantle which his Master had dropt he cried out Where is the Lord God of Elijah so do you here is the Prayer but where is the fellowship Truly that Person is both wickedly and miserably alone in his duty who is not with God in duty He sins greatly in it and he shall get nothing by it That is an accursed privacy out of which the great and ever-blessed God is excluded He is indeed with thee in all places in thy greatest retirements Psal. 139. 8. If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hell thou art there So if thou art in the Congregation God is there if in the Chamber God is there if in the Field God is there He fills all places and he takes notice of all persons and of all their Actions but that is not enough no gracious Soul that doth indeed love him will sit down satisfied with that While God is with thee by his Omnipresence observing thee and all thy ways what duties thou dost and how thou dost them it must be thy great care to be with God in a way of holy meditation and affection to have the thoughts dwelling with God the desires running out to God and the delights feasting upon God Have a care that when you pretend to be alone in your duty you do not lay the reins upon your necks and allow your minds in their loose and vain exâ—ursions Christian go to thy duty and go to thy God too So that good man wisely resolved Psal. 43. 3 4. O send out thy light and truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy hill and to thy tabernacles then will I go unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy He would not stop at the Altar but get up to the God who was worshipped there and when thou art with him keep with him as close as thou canst let no temptation draw thee away Fourthly Whensoever thou art in secret before God reveal all thy secrets to him deal plainly and openly with him anatomize thy Soul in his presence tell him all that is in thine heart and all that thou remembrest hath been in thy life and do not hide any thing from him whatsoever thine own Conscience preacheth to thee do thou go and repeat it all to God confess to him those evil Actions thou didst in a corner and under the covert of darkness though no mortal eye saw them nor can any body charge thee with them The keeping back of part of thy sins may be thy ruine as well as keeping back part of the price of the Land and covering the fraud with a lie was the death of Ananias and Sapphira Acknowledge to him those heart-corruptions which did never come into act the law in the members that warreth against the law in your mind the sin that dwelleth in you that cursed root of bitterness which lieth under ground the vicious fountain that is continually boiling and bubling up in filthy thoughts and vile affections though it never sent forth such muddy and abominable streams as run in an impetuous and rapid manner in the lives of others overflowing all the banks that Religion and Reason do set them In a word Do thou thy self acquaint God with the plague of thine heart which threatens the life of thy Soul though there be no spots to be seen by others upon thee though it doth not shew it self in botches and boils I have already told you that though you need not let men know not your dearest intimate and most faithful Friends know all that you are chargeable with yet you are bound to do so to God and it is indeed no other than a giving of him the glory of his Omniscience and if you do it as you ought in a believing way the glory of his Mercy and Goodness too as being a God ready to forgive and multiply pardons Besides as I have said it is in vain to hide any thing from him because he seeth all searcheth the hearts possesseth the reins and hath our most secret sins in the light of his countenance He that covers his sins shall not prosper not in that action when men go to eover God will come to discover Adam having sinned went like a guilty Malefactor to hide himself but God knew where he was and fetcht him out with a word Achan having stoln the wedge of Gold and two hundred pieces of Silver and a goodly Babylonish Garment went and hid them in the earth in the midst of his Tent but God made him fetch them out again When all is done plain-dealing is best specially when you have to deal with God And let me here add That freedom and openness of heart in a way of humble confession unto God is a very good argument of a gracious frame of heart and speaks a person acted by an ingenuous filial spirit that he is no friend to sin no admirer of himself but willing to load himself that so he might the more loath himself and work his heart into the greater admirings of that patience which notwithstanding so many affronts hath so long born with him and that grace which notwithstanding so great provocations doth yet open to him a door of hope And take one thing with you further this freedom and openness of heart in confessing your sins to God is a singular
thou asham'd to pray but hast thou not a great deal more cause to be ashamed of thy not praying Know for a certain that is a sinful modesty which doth unfit and indispose thee for any part of thy duty Do not say thou art not able to do it thou are not furnished with gifts for such a work But let me ask thee whose fault is that whom wilt thou blame for that God for not giving them or thy self for not getting them not to be able to pray is both thy 〈◊〉 and thy shame and therefore thy shame because thy sin Dost thou know how to beg thy bread and dost thou not know how to beg thy life dost thou know how to ask a kindness of Man and not how to ask mercy of God thou mayst blush to say so thou wouldest be counted a wise man but in this thou dost charge thy self with egregious folly But I desire thee to begin I fear thou hast nottried be persuaded to try now We have a Proverb amongst us pertinent to the case in hand Vse legs and have legs Praying is the ready way to get the gift of Prayer practising is the most effectual way of learning Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Hosea 6. 3. and then shall we seek if we follow on to seek the Lord then shall we pray if we follow on to pray thou didst not know how to go at first when thou wast an infant couldst not set one foot before another but by thy frequent trying thou couldst do it in time yea knowledge and strength comingâ—on thou couldst go and run and leap too by doing thy duty thou wilt attain to an ability and fitness to do it Eighthly Make a wise choice of the time when thou wilt set about this Secret Prayer Let it be done as in a right manner so in the proper season It is true whensoever the wind bloweth we should set up our Sails open when Christ knocks and answer when he calls and go about that which he sets thee to we should be very observant of the Spirit 's motions and comply with them just as it was with the living Creatures and the wheels Ezek. 1. 20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go the living creatures went thither was their spirit to go and the wheels were lifted up over against them for the spirit of the living creatures or of life was in the wheels The spirit of God is to be the Spring and all our Wheels should move as that Spring draws Therefore when he puts thee upon Prayer do not consult with this nor that but apply to it immediately but withal know the Spirit of God is a Spirit of wisdom and knows how to order motions regularly and seasonably Eccl. 3. 1. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the Heaven a time to plant and a time to pluck up a time to kill and a time to heal a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance c. but man knoweth not his time Eccles. 9. 12. Often he doth not therefore he doth often meet with troubles snares and losses Now the Spirit of God knows these times exactly and moves accordingly therefore if there be any unseasonable impulses and motions reject them as those that are not of God nor his Spirit Always take a fit time make it thy business to nick it God hath in his mercy given thee time enough for all thy work and in his infinite wisdom he hath given thee choice opportunities for every part of it Thou hast thy seasons for labour and for rest seasons for buying and for selling a season for praying and for hearing now look thou carefully to it that thou do every thing in its season that is the excellent property of him whom the Scripture pronounceth a blessed man He is and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season Psal. 1. 3. We cannot well do two things at once and that God who understandeth our frame hath ordered out accordingly concerning us There is but one thing thy duty at one time Now it is thy business to understand what that one thing is and so to do it In short Let not thy secret Prayer hinder thee from waiting upon Publick Ordinances and Publick Worship on God's Holy-day the Church being met together in Christ's name thou oughtest to meet with them if able because thou art a Member of that Body Thou sinnest if thou art praying at home when thou shouldest be hearing abroad So God hath given thee time for the duties of thy general Calling as a Christian and for the business of thy particular Calling too and he would have thee to mind both It is not his will that thou shouldest be cruel to the Body or unnatural to thy Family under a pretence of being tender over thy Soul He that provides not for his own House is so far from being a good Christian that the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Tim. 5. 8. He hath denied the faith i. e. practically and in his deeds and is worse than an Infidel who doth from a natural instinct take care of his own Thou who sittest under the light of the Gospel and hast the Law of God revealed and opened to thee art far worse than the Heathens because thou dost neglect that duty which they perform who have no other Light to direct them than that of Nature Know O man thou sinnest if thou art in thy Closet when it is thy duty to be in thy Shop or thou O woman when thou oughtest to be employed about the affairs of thy Family and thou O Servant when thou shouldest be doing thy Master's or thy Mistris's business thy time to be sure is none of thine own thou must not injure them to serve him He hates robbery for burnt offering Come Christians learn a piece of holy wisdom do righteousness at all times and in all things Keep all the Wheels going and all in their order The right timing of what you do is putting of a glory upon what you do if all men would keep their place and wisely time their actions we should have better men and a better World than now we have Eccles. 3. 11. God hath made every thing beautiful in his time How beautiful is frost in Winter and heat in Summer joys and comfort if need be yea and heaviness by reason of manisold temptations if need be all the Works of God are done with the greatest exactness as to every circumstance in a proper time and in a lovely order so let yours be done too to the best of your knowledge and the utmost of your power I astly When thou art in secret at thy Prayers unto God carry in thine head and heart the cases of others and be an humble Supplicant unto a God in their behalf tho thou shouldest pray alone yet not