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
Praise O let our Life on Earth be a Life of Prayer There our Souls will have an Eternal Repose in him Here let our Souls fâ—llow hard after him But this Epistle sâ—vells too big 't is high time to draw to a Close My hearts desire and Prayer for you all is That you may be saved and that you may work out your Salvation with fear and trembling If you and I get to Heaven at last it matters not what storms we meet with here It is but a little while and all our hard work and sharp conflicts and sour afflictions will have an end and then we shall see God and manage Everlasting Triumphs sinning and sighing wanting and weeping no more Watch while you live in the midst of Enemies walk while you have the light and mind your work while you have any to do Husband your time improve your seasons trade with your Talents fill your Relations with Duty and in all things adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour It is your professed desire to enjoy pure Ordinances and an holy Communion Oh that there may be none among you that profane those Ordinances and pollute that Communion First look to your hearts then to your ways and make and keep both as clean as you can Be much in minding your selves not in censuring others their infirmities do you pity and labour to get your own healed Your stay and mine here is not like to be long and we mine here is not like to be long and we need not care how short it is so the great work for which we were sent be finished before we go When we are once in Heaven we shall not need the World and the Church will not need us for God hath the residue of the Spirit and can set others in our places who shall fill them better than we have done While I am continued among you I shall by Grace assisting make it my business to help your Faith and Ioy do you work together with me and God with us all Be friends to your selves and one another why are you brought into an holy Communion but in order to mutual edification And our life is not to be measured so much by the multitude of days or plenty of enjoyments as by usefulness He that doth most service shall have the greatest commendation and weightiest Crown Now commending you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them which are satisfied I rest Your Servant for Jesus sake SAMUEL SLATER From my Study Novemb. 24. 1690 MATTHEW VI. 6. But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret THese words are a little part of our dear Saviour's first Sermon and the longest that ever he Preached full of excellent matter most worthy of the Preacher most proper and profitable for the Hearers it abounds with wholesom and excellent Counsels and affords most precious and cordial Comforts They that would taste his Comforts must follow his Counsels and as they desire that Christ would admit them into Heaven when they dye they must be very careful while they live to observe and practice what he taught while he was here upon Earth Learn of him as a Prophet if you would be advanced by him as King In the beginning of this Chapter he commands his Disciples and Followers to take heed Caution becomes Christians their Case calls loudly for it the life which they live in the flesh requires a great deal of caution for the leading of it that it might not be a vain and empty life a low and unworthy life and the duties of Religion to the doing of which they are engaged requires as much that they may not be spoiled by them nor rejected by God nor thrown as dung into their faces Take heed O Professors how you live and walk and carry in the World weigh all your actions and ponder the path of your feet Take heed what you hear and how you hear take heed how you pray for what and in what manner take heed how you converse and with whom take heed how you eat and drink and buy and sell how you think and speak Take heed that you avoid all sinful things and that you do not sin in any lawful things There is a great deal of unseen danger there is a multitude of snares subtilly and privily laid and we are very prone to miscarry to fall into those dangers and be caught in those snares We have need to be circumspect and wary Take heed therefore remembering and considering He gives the charge who loves you dearly and knows better than you what need there is of it Our Lord in particular gives this direction and caution concerning the ordinary works of Alms-giving and Prayer and that extraordinary duty of Fasting all which are so good and excellent in themselves that he would not have them spoil'd by any of his Servants whatever they are by others who will needs pretend to him while they have no more of him than the name and that which as to these things he doth in general caution them about is That they be not as the Hypocrites Hypocrisy is a thing exceeding odious unto God An Ape is most like a Man but is not one and of all creatures he is most deformed An Hypocrite is of all others most like a Saint but is not and of all Sinners he is most hateful He shall not stand before God but be banished furthest from him The worst darkest hottest place in Hell is his apartment God doth so much loath Hypocrites that he doth not allow his Children to resemble them He would not have them to be Hypocrites nay he would not have them to be as Hypocrites When thou giâ—est Alms do not sound a Trumpet as the Hypocrites do Instead of letting the world do not let thy left hand know what thy â—ight hand doth When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues They do not love to do good without having many Witnesses of the good they do As if that Duty were lost from which they do not reap the praise of Men. When thou fastest be not as the Hypocrites of a sad countenance They love to put on a sour face but never look after nor care for a broken and contrite heart Thus our Lord and Master would not have his followers to conform to them Do not fashion your selves like them get not into their mode and dress though it seem great and handsome Be ye followers of God as dear Children in all things Keep as close to him as ever you can Put on the Lord Jesus be ye cloathed all over with Christ That as near as may be nothing but Christ and his Spirit and Vertues may be seen in you but be not like the Hypocrites in any thing An Hypocrite
loseth all he doth and will be himself rejected In the words which we have under our consideration you find the direction which our Saviour gives concerning Prayer afterward an excellent pattern to frame it by here 's an excellent Rule In the former Verse He had taken notice of the guise or manner of the Hypocrites in those days They loved to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets in open and frequented places where they were sure not to fail of Spectators and Observers of their Devotion who would as they hoped tell what they had seen and cry them up as persons eminent for their Piety though that was a thing of which they had no more than the shew Thus they had meerly an external Religion unto the practice whereof they were carried out only by external considerations It was not a Spring within but Weights without that set their Wheels a going The end that they in all aimâ—d at was to be seen of men that among them they might raise a name obtain credit and applause and be accounted some-bodies for Religion though they knew themselves to be no other than Cheats Christ tells us the issue hereof they do not miss the mark but catch what they fish for Verily they have their reward there is none to come none laid up for them in Heaven they have it now in this present time all that is good of it Glory but a vain glory a Name but nothing else they get an esteem with ignorant men who are as empty as themselves they are reckoned great Men Who but they for their Sanctity And let them have it and bless themselves in it But thou who lovest thy Soul and desirest to be indeed a gainer by thy Religion enter thou into thy Closet when thou prayest run not into a corner of a Street but some nook or corner of the House and when thou hast not opened thy Casement but shut thy door pray to thy Father We may rationally look upon Christ as supposing that all who call themselves and would be by others accounted Christians do pray that every one who counts it his honour to take up that Name will also reckon himself obliged to take up that work And indeed it is a contradiction for any Man to say that he is a Christian and yet live a Prayerless Life no Man can have a Spirit of Holiness given him who doth not pour out his Soul unto God in Prayer It is as possible to find an Holy Devil in Hell as a prayerless Saint upon Earth Paul was no sooner thrown to the ground but we have him upon his Knees no sooner a Convert but a Supplicant Grace cannot possibly be in that Man's heart who lives without Prayer in the World Christ takes it then for granted that Disciples will pray when they can do nothing else they will do that If they be in the furthermost parts of the Earth they will from thence send up a cry to Heaven Ionah thought the Belly of the Fish in which he was to be the Belly of Hell yet there he did pray and resolve to look toward God's Holy Temple So then I say our Saviour takes it for granted that those who are his Disciples do pray and therefore here he only gives them counsel and advice for the right management of it that they might not through some fatal mistake lose their labour spend their breath to no purpose offend the God whom they seek and instead of obtaining a blessing from him pull down wrath and a curse upon their own heads Do not you in your Prayer fly so low a pitch as to make esteem with Men your end either the whole or any part of your end Do not aim at vain glory suppose by that means you may get a Name that gain will not make you rich a Name you may have but such an one as will rot and perish A great noise you may make in the World but it will be an empty sound And what will you be the better for that A little popular breath may swell and puff you up but it will not raise you any thing nearer to God and Heaven nor blow you on any faster to the Port of Glory It is no matter how much there is of privacy in your Prayer so that there be sincerity and purity too nor how secretly it goeth up to God so that it doth not go out of feigned Lips When others are altogether for the Synagogues and Streets Do thou O Christian enter into thy Closet or Chamber and shut thy door about thee do thou take pleasure in thy retirements When no body sees thy God doth yea and he loves to see and when no body hears thy God doth and what he hears he likes thy Prayers thy Sighs thy Groans are his Musick Only I desire that this may be remembred That while Christ doth here command and enjoyn secret duty it is not any part of his purpose to exclude or take us from publick only he would shut out and separate Vanity and Pride from both That point of Doctrine which from hence I shall raise and discourse upon is this Doct. Closet on Secret Prayer is an excellent and advantageous duty which all the People of God ought to be very much in the performance of when you are alone and have no body with you then be you with God At a night when you are in Bed commune with your hearts and be still turn your eyes inward before sleep closeth them and before you go to Bed spend some time in seeking of and communing with your God Take your leave of your Friends and Relations or if you please steal away from them that you and your God may be together When upon an express command given him by God himself Abraham went to offer up his only and dearly beloved Son Isaac Genesis 22. 5. He said unto his young men Abide here with the Ass and I and the Lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you He feared that if they went with him they would be an hinderance to him and therefore would not admit of their Company So let worldly business be laid aside and acquaintance set at a distance while you go by your selves to perform acts of Worship and to pour out your requests into the bosome of your Heavenly Father Think not that I speak against Publick Prayer for God loveth the Gates of Zion and Christ walks in the Golden Candlesticks when his people are met together in his name he will be in the midst of them Nor am I for your casting off Family Prayer there is a Prayer upon record in Scripture against prayerless Families calling for wrath to be poured out by God upon them Both these kinds of Prayers ought to be presented let them not be neglected Secret Prayer is a choice part of your work too be not any of you wantings to it In the handling of this point I shall first lay
down these four propositions 1. First Prayer in general is the Christians duty a burthen laid upon us by God himself It is very much commanded in the Word and the Precept of it frequently repeated Matt. 26. 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where without wrath or doubting And in Matt. 18. 1. Our Saviour spake a parable to them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to saint You should be continually in a praying frame having your Graces and Affections ready and you should be frequent in the Work This is a piece of natural worship the very Law of our Creation doth oblige us to it and the light of Nature though it be now since the Fall exceeding dim and like a Candle burnt down into the Socket hath directed the Heathens themselves to the performance of it They when in a menacing Storm and Ionah fast a-sleep in the Ship could go and awaken him and bid him to call upon his God Prayer is what we owe to God not only as we are Christians but likewise as we are creatures not only as Saints but also as Men and Women It is a part of that homage which we ought to pay to him as we had our Being from his Power and as we have that Being continued and sweetned to us by his Goodness In a word It is a practical acknowledgment of that necessary and constant dependence we have upon him So that the Man or Woman who doth not pray is no better than an Atheist both in Heart and Life He doth first cast off God who casts off Prayer Psal. 14. 1. The fool first saith in his heart there is no God and then you find in vers 3 4. That he doth not seek God nor call upon him Let Men and Women make never so great and fair a profession attribute to themselves what they will and lay their claim to as many glorious Names and Titles as they please their Profession is no better than a Lye those Names and Titles do not at all belong to them and the Religion unto which they pretend is no other than a lifeless Image which God when he awakes will most certainly despise in case they live without this excellent duty You may call and count them Atheists without doing them any injury Those that live without Prayer in the World are the Men and Women that live without God in the World and if they live without God in this World you may easily know with whom they shall live in that World which is to come Some may be apt to think it a thing impossible for any Atheists to be found in London where there is so much Knowledg such plenty of Means such a great and glorious Light shining but I fear if there were an enquiry made it would plainly appear there are more of them than we do imagine yea I am not in the least afraid to affirm that in this famous City there are the greatest and vilest Atheists in the World The Lord himself saith Isa. 42 14. Who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger that I sent Who is blind as He that is perfect or blind as the Lord's servant As if he should have said There is no reason to wonder at the ignorance and blindness which is among the Heathen who live in the dark places of the Earth when there is such blindness among my Servants both Prophets and People who have their habitations in a Land of Light a Valley of Vision There are none so blind as those who are blinded by the Sun and have their Eyes put out by that very light by which they should see None so blind as those that will not see none so ignorant as those that will not learn and know First Men do wickedly shut their own eyes and then God doth in just judgment put them out Isa. 6. 9. Go and tell this People Hear ye indeed but understand not see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this People fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed But know that in the first place remember and consider it Prayer is absolutely your duty charge it upon your selves and make conscience of minding and doing it you are obliged to it both as you are Christians and Creatures it is a part of your reasonable service and your neglect of it will never discharge and deliver you from your engagement to it If you do not pay it the Debt goes on the Sin increases and how great a sum will it at last amount to every day that you pass without your Morning and Evening Sacrifice you do feloniously rob God of that glory which is due to his Name and wickedly transgress the Law of your Creation 2. Secondly As Prayer it self is your duty so a liberty to pray is your choice priviâ—ege It is God's mercy and your happiâ—ess that he gives you leave to knock at his Door and lie begging there Sit down â—ere and pause a little and seriously think with your selves how great a matter it is for a poor contemptible Worm to have the Ear of the Infinite and Glorious God open to its cry for you who are no better as Abraham freely acknowledged than dust and ashes to have the door of Grace opened to you and leave to approach and make your application to the Majesty of Heaven and to state your case to him and to spread all your desires before him and to pour out your requests and groans into his Bosome at any time and as often as you please so that you come in a right manner and behave your selves with a becoming reverence and godly fear Converse and Communion with God was the happiness of innocent Man So long as our first Parents persisted in that pure and perfect state in which they were created they could think of God with rejoycing contemplate his Glory with delight and walk with him as Friends But all this was forfeited and lost by the Fall Sin at its first entry broke that harmony it cloathed God with terror and Man with shame his confidence was gone and horror took its place so that instead of fellowship with God man fled from him and would have hid had he known how and where Sin presently erected a middle-wall of partition between them It would have been fatal to man and as much as his life was worth to have adventur'd in his lapsed state into the presence of God whom he had highly provoked had there not been help laid upon one that is mighty and the gracious interposition of a powerful and prevailing Mediator God is in himself a devouring fire and everlasting burnings How then is it safe for man to approach to him or to dwell with him
some turns in an holy fellowship and as Enoch did walk with God before he be removed from hence and taken up to the habitation of his Holiness and Glory the Chamber of his presence and in these Walks he finds his heart warmed and an holy fire kindled and then returns with that burning within him then he speaks with his Tongue and sends up a pure flame of earnest supplications Confident I am The excellency of this course will not be in the least question'd by any who believe there is a God and own that absolute and necessary dependence which both as Creatures and Christians we have upon him and who have any sense of Religion upon their Souls yea I believe it will be acknowledged a duty by many very many of those who yet do not themselves live in the performance of it there hath such a clear light broken in upon them as hath convinced their Judgments though that conviction hath not had power enough upon their wills as to bring them to the practice of it And for my own part I do not know so much as the shadow of a reason why it should be question'd and made a point of controversie This I do with a fulness of persuasion assert That if there be any such thing in the World as a duty which we owe to God secret Prayer is so And I do add this wishing those into whose hands this little Piece shall come seriously to think of it those persons that do not make conscience hereof let them make never so great a noise do indeed make conscience of nothing He is not a true Christian that is not a through Christian nor he a real Disciple that hath not a cordial respect to all that Christ commands him and I shall not at all wonder to see or hear that man is remiss and careless and negligent in other things for which at present he pretends a zeal and at the long run to throw up all Yea and I will venture to add this one thing further He that doth not seek God when he is alone hath no reason to promise himself God's gracious meeting with him when he is in Company but if you will exclude and shut God out of your Chamber and Closets you will not to your comfort though indeed you may to your terrour find him in the Congregation The only thing which I shall do more in the doctrinal part will be to prove the Point and in order thereunto I shall endeavour with all convenient breviâ—y to shew That secret Prayer is I. A Duty II. An Advantage I begin with the former of these Private or secret Prayer is a great duty which all that call themselves Christians ought to be much in the performance of For the evidencing of this to you I shall lay down these four things 1. First Secret Prayer was the practice of our blessed Lord Jesus as he came into the World to redeem us so to direct us as his Death was an expiatory Sacrifice so his Life was a leading Example He is that excellent Copy without blot after which we are to write and that most exact and perfect Pattern without blemish or defect the imitation whereof we are obliged to study and endeavour and that to our utmost we must lead his Life as near as ever we can and tread in his steps for that is to foot it right and we must shew forth his virtues there must be an impress of them upon our dispositions and conversations The same mind ought to be in us that was in him Phil. 2. 5. Then is a Christian in his beauty and glory when he is cloathed with Christ and shines with the beams of Christ. Now Christ was very much in the work of secret Prayer and exceedingly frequent at it How did his perfectly pure and precious soul delight to be on the wing and mounting up to his and our Father in his recesses He did not only teach his Disciples to pray giving them in this Chapter a most excellent pattern for them to draw theirs by nor did he only pray with them as Master of the Family but he likewise did many and many a time pray by himself alone a great deal oftner than we do or any in the world ever did know of but something to this purpose hath been by the Divine Spirit who guided the Holy Penmen put upon Record in the Sacred Scripture Thus in Matt. 14. 23. after he had wrought that great and amazing Miracle of feeding five thousand Men beside Women and Children when he had no more provision than five Loaves and two Fishes He sent the Multitude away and not being satisfied with their absence alone he would have his very Disciples go by Ship to the other side it is said he constrained them to go poor hearts they loved him dearly and nowhere enjoyed themselves so well as they did when they were in his company and therefore they were loath to leave him but he would have it so he order'd and commanded them to be gone but what was the matter what did our Lord do when they were all gone That Text tells you He went up into a mountain a-part to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone He had his Father with him and doubtless a multitude of the heavenly Hoast the glorious Angels attending and waiting but nobody else none of the multitude not so much as one single Disciple Now let me desire you to think seriously of this that it was far otherwise with Christ than it is with the best of us He had another manner of command over his mind and heart his thoughts and Affections than the most gracious Man or Woman upon Earth hath He could with the greatest ease imaginable keep his Soul close to and intent upon the business which was before him without the smallest diversion and extravagancy and yet he chose to be a-part from all and alone by himself when he prayed unto his Father and shall not we go and do likewise Sure that which Christ did was very well done You have another Scripture which holds out the same and refers to another time when he had healed Simon 's Wife's Mother who lay sick of a Fever and many others that were diseased and had cast out many Devils Mark 1. 35. In the morning rising up a great while before day â—e went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed Hypocrites as you have heard chuse the corners of the Streets places of concourse go into the Abbeys and Cathedrals and there you will see them by a Pillar at their devotion but Christ chose solitariness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desert lonely place where there was no body there he loved to meet his Father Take but one Text more which you have in Luke 22. 39 40. He came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives and his Disciples followed him and when he was come to the place he
of the Child In Psalm 18. we find that good Man in his distress called upon the Lord and cried unto his God and God heard him Divine Love is quick of hearing He heard my voice out of his holy temple and my cry came before him even into his ears And now observe what haste God made to his Servant Vers. 9 10. He bowed the Heavens and came dewn He rode upon a Cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind When Holy David wanted his God God would be with him presently I dare assure thee O Saint if thou wilt but get thy Soul upon the Wing and by the hand of servent believing Prayer knock at Heavens door thou shalt to thy comfort find that thy beloved will not be long from thee no no he will be sure graciously to return thy Visit he will come and drop some sweet smelling Myrrh upon the handles of thy lock Secret Prayer is the nearest and readiest way to secret and intimate Communion with God as it is an opening of the heart to God so it makes way for God's opening of his heart to the Saint and when that is opened what blessed discoveries are made what treasures appear and riches of Grace what counsels of Wisdom and thoughts of good and great designs the very sight of which is ravishing and may well put the Soul into a transport When guilty but convinced Ephraim got alone and made his reflections and thereupon bemoan'd himself for his former folly stubbornness and obstinacy and begged hard for converting turning Grace God presently turned toward him and with yearning Bowels spake his love this resolution was immediately taken up I will surely have mercy upon him In a word God doth sometimes in displeasure withdraw from his sinning Children but it is with a resolution to be found of them when they seek him and to return to them when he is sent for Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledg their offence and seek my face I will stay away I will not come near them I will have nothing to do with them till they do this but let them do it as soon as they will and they shall meet with acceptance I will rise out of my place and visit them with Salvation He will be sure to come at Prayers call if some crying sin or other do not drown the voice of it and his Presence and Beams will effectually scatter the thickest and blackest Clouds the light of his countenance when once lifted up will make it a day of gladness to the most benighted Soul Whenever he comes he will be sure to bring a blessing along with him and so appear unto its joy These particulars to which I have largely spoken are I hope sufficient to prove that Secret Prayer is both your Duty and your Interest and so I have done with the Doctrinal part and shall now proceed to the improvement of it by Application which will be twofold 1. For Reprehension 2. For Exhortation The use of Reprehension or Reproof shall be directed to three sorts of persons who do indeed deserve to fall under it and oh that it may come with such power as to make them fall before it and issue in their amendment of those things which by the light of Truth breaking in upon them they shall see to be amiss First They are sharply to be reproved for they are deeply guilty before God who instead of making Conscience and living in the performance of Secret Prayer are altogether strangers to and live in the total neglect of all Prayer They do not know what it is to approach unto the Throne of God and to pour out their Souls before him they go to their Beds at night like Swine to their Sty not begging Divine protection and rise out of them in a morning and go about their business without paying any acknowledgments to their great Benefactor under the Wing of whose careful Providence they were secured yea sit down to their Tables without asking God's Blessing as if they had no dependence upon him and when they have eaten and are full rise up to work or play without giving God Thanks as if they were not at all beholden to him And thus they live Prayerless lives in the World They have passed many days and escaped many dangers and received many mercies and committed many sins but never set themselves at least in good earnest to put up one Prayer Oh how do they tumble out by wholesale an innumerable company of execrable Oaths and tremendous Curses which speaks their Tongues the Devils Instruments set on fire with the fire of Hell but no body ever saw them upon their knees before God nor heard a word of Prayer drop from their Lips They have had many Dangers prevented but never sought refuge nor took shelter in God They have every day received multitudes of Mercies but did never solemnly beg one God did in the time of the Old Testament order that the Fire of the Altar should never go out and appointed the morning and evening sacrifice but poor creatures these have no fire their hearts are as cold as Ice they know not what true love to God means and having no fire in themselves God shall have no sacrifice from them his Altars shall be empty they have nothing to lay on from the beginning of the year to the end of it How many are there that never made an attempt this way never tried to Pray never went about the work They in the pride of their countenances will not seek after God He is not in all their thoughts Ps. 10. 4. In all of them He is but in few of them and when he is in any when he forcibly breaks in upon them and makes his own way for they never invite him nor study to think of him he is not welcome nor grateful to them I fear if a man should come and ask some of you such a question as this Friend Neighbour what intercourses are there between God and you what converse and fellowship have you with God do you pray a-days do you pray by your selves in your Chambers or with your Families are you some of that blessed wrestling Generation who seek the face of the God of Jacob if you would speak the truth and not cover your sin and shame with a lie you must answer No not I God knows I cannot pray I do not know how to pray I never went about it I see no need of it I have no heart to it may we not say of these what Agur said of himself Prov. 30. 2. Surely they are more bruitish than any man they have not the understanding of a man they have not learned wisdom nor have they any knowledg of the Holy Let them be reckoned for Beasts in human shape Some have written as if they did not look upon Reason but Religion as the thing which makes the specifical difference
he comes armed with Authority from the Chief Priests to bind all that call on thy Name Well Ananias do what thou art bidden for though it is true that he hath been a vile Wretch a cruel and malicious Enemy fear him not the Wolf is turned into a Lamb It is no matter what formerly he was he is now quite another thing and is acted by a far better Spirit He is a new man and thou mayst take this for a certain and undoubted evidence of it He is a Praying-man He that before spake nothing but blasphemies and outrages against Christ and breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord did now that he was converted and sanctified speak supplications It is the fashion of a great many when the Lord's day comes they will go out to hear and they are for variety this man and that and twenty more possibly three Sermons upon a day peradventure four and I do not blame any for being swift to hear it is an excellent thing to see Christians hungry and of good appetites so that they do but allow themselves necessary time for concoction and be not wanting to personal and Family duties but Conscience do thou speak and that loud enough to make guilty Persons hear and feel too be there not some of these who at home are never upon their knees before God If a man could look into their Houses and into their Chambers he would find that Prayer is quite shut out from thence And for my part I cannot but tell you That let these Persons hold their heads never so high and have obtained never so great a name I can look upon them as being no better than a company of walking Ghosts such as do really want an inward vital principle and are carried up and down from one Congregation to another by some external consideration Prayer is a breathing in Heaven's Air it is the breathing of the Soul in the bosome of God it draws in spirit and life from him and then again it pours out and empties it self into him and it is full out as possible for a man to live a natural life without natural breathing as it is for him to live a spiritual life without spiritual breathing I mean without Prayer You know when God promiseth his Spirit Zechar. 12. 10. he doth it in these Expressions I will pour out upon the House of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications Wheresoever the Spirit of God comes and dwells in the Soul as a Spirit of Grace there he doth certainly act as a Spirit of Supplications and the Apostle Paul saith Rom. 8. 15. That the Sons of God receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father Which imports a filial boldness and confidence in dealing with him by fervent Prayer I remember what you may meet in 1 Cor. 13. 1 c. Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels though I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge though I have all faith so as to remove mountains though I bestow all my goods on the poor and give my body to be burned yet if I have not Charity it profits me nothing I am nothing but as a meer sounding brass and â—inkling cymbal What he there speaks of Charity or Love which doth indeed make Actions lovely in the sight of God and men and puts a lustre and beauty upon them the very same may be affirmed concerning Prayer Let a man be never so well accomplished never so raised in his attainments never so fluent and warm in his discourses never so eminent for his profession never so frequent and attentive in his hearing never so abundant in acts of Charity yet if he be a prayerless Person he is nothing nothing in Religion nothing to purpose all his parts and performances though many and specious will amount to nothing in Heaven's Arithmetick they will be of no more significancy than so many Cyphers without a Figure to put a value into them That which I have said amounts to thus much To live without Prayer is utterly inconsistent with a gracious and holy frame and all that such an one doth will never turn him to a good account You may as soon live a spiritual life without Faith as live by Faith without Prayer for as was before observed they that believe will speak When God hath kindled a spark of Grace in the Soul it will be working in a way of Prayer that spark will fly upward and carry the Soul along with it Thus we find it in Psal. 39. 3. My heart was hot within me while I mused the fire burned then spake I with my tongue What did he speak Prayers Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my days Therefore my advice is that you would either take up Prayer and follow it as a principal part of a Christians work or else lay down your Profession boast not of a filial Relation to God while thou art not possessed with a filial spirit and disposition Never talk of your being acquainted with God and some of his Friends when in all your lives you never spake one serious hearty word to him If you are resolved to live without Prayer be so just and reasonable as to put off the honourable name Christian which doth by no means belong to you and call your selves Heathens Beasts nay which is worse though not too bad for you down-right practical Atheists Secondly Your Condition at the present is very miserable though you know it not so long as you live without Prayer you live without a blessing whatsoever may light upon you the blessing of God is the portion of a praying People If you will look into the Book of God which I believe you seldom do for those that will not beg his mercy will not labour to know his will you may see how much it cost Esau to get a blessing from his Father Isaac he shed many tears and lifted up loud cries Gen. 27. 33 34. Isaac told him that one had brought him Venison which he had eaten of and he blessed him and he should be blessed It is said When Esau heard the words of his Father he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry and said unto his Father Bless me even me also O my Father and when Isaac answered vers 37. Behold I have made him thy Lord and all his Brethren have I given to him for Servants and with corn and wine have I sustained him and what shall I do now unto thee my Son Vers. 38. Esau said unto his Father Hast thou but one blessing my Father Bless me even me also O my Father and Esau lifted up his voice and wept What art thou so poor O my Father as that in giving one blessing thou hast given away all Hast thou not reserved one And all this he was fain to do before he could obtain Yea and it
was not only thus with a profane Esau who might well be thought to have forfeited the blessing by his selling his Birthright but even good Iacob himself when he would have a blessing from Heaven he was constrained to wrestle with the Angel for it and to put forth all his strength in the conflict and to keep his hold though the Angel seâ—med willing to shake him off yea and to tell him at last that he would not let him go until he had got it Thus it hath been formerly Blessings come down from Heaven upon the wings of Prayer And what O man dost thou think that the Blessings of God are fallen so much in their price and grown so cheap at this day as that they go a begging Or that men may have them without asking for God hath been wont to stand more upon his Honour than so and therefore hath declared his will that Prayer shall come in between the Promise and the Performance he would have his People sue out the Promise before they shall have the good which is contained in it as is evident from that well-known Scripture Ezek. 36. we find the heart of God greatly inlarged to his People and Promises flowed in abundance from him and He gives them the assurance of his fixed resolution in the thing I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Do not you doubt call not my truth in question I will be as good as my word Yet observe what follows in the 37th verse Thus saith the Lord God I will yet be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them All those great and good things had been in the heart and purpose of God from eternity and now he was graciously pleased for their comfort to put them into his Promise but if they had a desire to have them they must send Prayer to Heaven for them Holy David tells us Psal. 3. 8. God's blessing is upon his People and certainly every one will grant that there is a great deal of reason why it should be upon them exclusive to all the World beside upon them and upon none but upon them they only have been by the Lord Iesus redeemed from the curse of the Law and therefore they only can lay a rightful claim to the Blessings of the Gospel God may yea and he every day doth give bread to his Enemies but surely as long as they continue his Enemies he will not give them his blessing and indeed why should they expect it But now O prayerless Soul how wilt thou prove thy self one of his People Thou hast upon thee those Spots which are not the Spots of his People when at the same time thou dost want those Marks which are the Marks of his People thou who spendest thy days without prayer dost pay no homage unto God thou ownest no dependence upon him thou givest him no reverence thou dost him no service thou bringest him no honour and I pray tell me why should his blessing be upon thee God may deal bountifully with thee possibly he doth do so already and gives thee waters of a full cup it is his manner many srcaps and good bits fall under his Table He lets them fall on purpose for his Dogs to gather up his Sun shines and his Rain falls upon barren Wildernesses and noysome Dunghills as well as upon fruitful Fields and pleasant Gardens Outward mercies are therefore called Common Mercies because all have their share in them the just and the unjust too the evil as well as the good so that the Wise Man tells us No man can know either love or hatred by all that is before him Therefore let no man be proud of his temporal Enjoyments nor of an elated Spirit because he is of a raised condition and stands upon the World 's upper ground If thou hast no other arguments to use but those thou fetchest from the World's Topicks thou wilt never prove thy self Heaven-born nor make out thy Title to the happiness and glory which is above God indeed may fill thy Pocket and spread thy Table furnishing it with variety of Dainties He may cram thy Bags and make thy Cup run over He may throw into thy Possession Houses and Lands as he gave Quales to the Israelites in his wrath and if thou wilt take the pains to turn over all thou hast and make as diligent search as thou canst thou wilt not find one blessing in it many a Creature and in every one a curse thy Cloaths have a plague in them witness thy Pride thy Table is thy snare witness thy excess and Riches are laid up by thee to thy hurt whilst thou makest them thy God which should be no more than thy Servants Thus it is with thee at present and thy present condition is thy best condition unless thou growest better that will not all that thou canst do is to rejoyce in sense thou must leave it to others to rejoice in hope But however if it will do thee any good and the Lord grant that it may we will enquire what is like to be hereafter Therefore Lastly Let us look on to the consequence and consider what will follow this sinful bruitish negect of your unquestionable duty You know your own Consciences tell you that you do not pray you are not convinced of any need that you have of it other things there are which you think you cannot be without such are your Jovial Companions and your vain antick Dresses but you can be and do very well without Prayer you taste no sweetness in it ranting and roaring is musick Healths and Huzza's Balls and Masques are ravishingly delicious but to you Prayer is a very dull and insipid business But I pray what will be at the last I would stain have my best at last and so would you too if you be wise if you have not your best at your latter end you will be found fools at your latter end I find an excellent wish concerning Israel of old whether it was God's wish or Moses's or both I am sure it was very good and carried in it a great deal of love Deut. 32. 24. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end By latter end there according to the judgment of Expolitors we are not so much to understand their death as the end and issue of that course which they were then steering O that they would seriously think with themselves and wisely foresee whither that way would bring them in which they were then walking It was a very smooth and pleasant way it was paved with delights but the great business was whither did it lead them It is my hearty wish for you whoever you are that you would once in a day retire your selves and get alone and seriously think what your total neglect of Prayer will produce when you are on a Death-bed and after Death in Eternity First What fruit you will have from
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
the little things which did speak the unsoundness of their hearts so what shall we think of them who spend all or the greatest part of their care and heat about those things which come not under any express command of the Divine Law They that are most curious about their Bodies are as it is to be feared most careless about their Souls they spend so much time at their Glass that they have none for the Bible they are so careful that a Pin be not stuck amiss in their Cloaths that they leave every thing amiss in their Hearts by the Garbs and unreasonable Dresses in which some sillily proud persons come into the Assemblies it is easie for Spectators to determine how they spent and profan'd the Morning of the Sabbath at home and we may apprehend and fear the same in the present case that those persons who are so much set for such things as this are at least very apt and prone to bestow none of their care about that which deserves most they are so much for the place that they forget and neglect the heart they are so thoughtful where they pray that they do not mind how they pray they are so set for a form they do not mind nay possibly they hate the Power But by the way letâ—me whisper this in the ear of these persons That the Altar will not Sanctify a corrupt thing If you bring dead formal lifeless Prayers though you offer them up in your Consecrated Churches nay at your adored Altars they will not come up with a sweet smelling favour and acceptance before God I would not have any body think that I do God forbid that I should say A Form of Prayer and Formality of Heart are inseparable Companions I do not doubt but meer formal Professors are most for forms but I dare not affirm that all those who make use of Forms are meer formal Professors I do not doubt but some looking upon Forms as lawful and out of modesty and an humble sense of the lowness of their own parts do make use of Forms when they pray with others and are conscientious in the use of them and they do accompany the Petitions Confessions and Thanksgivings contained in them with sincere affections and do meet with a gracious acceptance with God and do enjoy a communion with his Holy Majesty But this I will also be bold to say and if any be offended at it upon them be it That constant stated forms of Prayer and Formality are borderers upon one another they live at no such great distance but that they frequently yea commonly meet together in the same Service and in the same Persons And really I am of the mind that it stands them in hand who make use of forms to be very cautious and look warily to themselves lest they do even before they are aware fall into formality that indifferency and lukewarmness of Spirit which God cannot endure When in the forequoted Scripture the Woman of Samaria fell into discourse with Christ about the place of Worship whether it ought to be at Ierusalem or in that Mountain viz. Gerizim our Saviour did wisely and graciously take her off from that as a matter not so momentous as to deserve either her Enquiry or his Resolution and fell to acquainting her with directing her to and putting herâ— upon the Spirituality of that Worship which is to be performed as that which she and every one ought principally to attend unto because it is that which the heart of God is most for and upon which his pure eyes are chiefly set 4 Iohn 23 24. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Spiritual Worship is most congruous and agreeable to God Childish Toys please Children who have no more wit outward Pomp and Ceremonies please vain men who have not so good hearts as they should but spiritual Worship is acceptable to that God who is himself a Spirit such Worshippers he seeks others he rejects when he finds them therefore you must be such if you would find favour or receive a Blessing And to shut up this particular I will only add That if men were once set as they should be for the spirituality of Worship they would not be so unreasonably eager as they are for nor so tetchy froward and contentious about Places Modes and Forms which can fetch their pedigree and original no higher than meer human Invention and Appointment Enough of that and it will be well if some persons do not think this a little too much VSE In the third and last branch of this Use of Reprehension my work will be to awaken rouze and startle to convince and bring those to judge and condemn themselves who live without secret Prayer I hear from some and I do more than partly believe it That there are many Professors and those too of some Name and Eminency who live under the dreadful guilt of this sinful omission and if there be some such how great may we suppose the total number to be of them who are this way chargeable tho' let them be never so many every one of them Man Woman and Child is known to that God who observes our down-lying and our up-rising and is acquainted with all our ways There are those that will come to publick Ordinances that they may not be counted Heathens nor suspected to be Papists which Party now blessed be God is under great infamy and reproach tho' not greater than they do deserve upon account of the very Principles of that cursed Religion which they have embraced and do profess Yea and they will attend upon those Ordinances which they think are most purely administred and also join themselves in Communion with those Churches which they look upon as being of the most Scriptural Constitution that so they may be reckoned among Christians of the highest Form and chiefest Rank yea and peradventure they will set up Family-duties they will call their Children and Servants together and all under their â—oof and Charge to seek the Lord lest upon a discontent or remove some-body within doors should tell tales by means whereof their reputation should be blasted and the truth of their Religion called in question by any of those to whom they are desirous yea ambitious of approving themselves But wretches as they are as for Prayer by themselves either in Chamber or in Closet or any where else they do lay it aside altogether God himself will be a swift Witness against them that He and they never so met together They find much other work and can do many other things when they are alone They can spend a great deal of time at the Glass viewing and dressing themselves they can tell their Money and read over their Bills and Bonds but as for Soul-searching
me put the Question to â—hee again Art thou a Christian hast thou been baptized into Christ hast thou â—ut on Christ hath he got the possession â—f thine heart and the supreme power and â—ommand in it If thou art a Christian be â—niform let thy whole life be of a piece â—insey-woolsey Christians bear with the â—xpression are abominable both to God â—nd Men. What thou art that be in all â—laces having put Christ on keep him on â—nd walk up and down every-where as a â—an in Christ expressive of Christ making â—im visible in thy life and all the passages of it Do not thou carry like a Christian in the Congregation and like an Heathen in the Closet Since God is so very gracious as to admit thee into his House to tread in his Courts to sit down at his Table to feast it with his Children upon marrow and fatness dainties and spiced wine be not thou so disingenuous and ungrateful as to shut him out of thy Chamber when thou lettest in the World and Sin Holy Paul speaking of himself and others of the true Apostles he saith 2 Cor. 2. 14. That God made manifest the savour of his knowledge by them in every place that was a very great and excellent work they were not moral Preachers but Gospel-preachers They did not preach Plutarch but Iesus The Spouse had said Cant. 1. 3. That the name of her Beloved was as an ointment poured forth Now said Paul I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified and all the Apostles were acted by the same Spirit and inflamed with the same love to Christ they took his name as a box of most precious Ointment and whereever they came they opened it and made Christ known and whereas the Gentile World was exceeding unsavoury and all places did stink most wretchedly of their Idolatry the Apostles perfum'd and sweetned and brought into them the most delightful savour of the knowledge of the true God in Christ. Now accordingly I would have you act if you be professors make every place where you come to savour of Religion let all your Discourses have a savour of it carry that savour with you into your Friends Houses and publick Houses of entertainment and be sure that in your own Houses in your Chambers and Closets you do make manifest the savour of that knowledg which you have of God and of that true sincere love which you have for God If you be Christians be uniform practice Christianity always every-where Secondly I would seriously propound this Question to thee Dost thou make Religion thy business I have not lived above Threescore Years in the World without making some Observations and getting some knowledge of it and I must needs say I know a great deal more than is good I have read many Books and I have read Men too though indeed many of them are crabbed pieces not easie to be understood But this I have found and still do to my sorrow and to their shame that many Persons among us do make a profession of Religion who never indeed took it up nor buckel'd to it as their Trade they are not altogether strangers but will be doing something but here 's the mischief it is only as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 business by the bye their thoughts and cares and studies are carried another way their main work doth lie somewhere else namely in the World that is the thing they are devoted to and set their hearts upon and spend their time and strength in the pursuit of how they should get it how they shall increase it how they shall secure it and how they shall inebriate themselves with the comforts delights and pleasures of it Whereas the gracious Soul that is sound at the bottom and that in truth which he would go for in the account and esteem of men makes his Religion his great and principal work David said Psal. 109. 4. I give my self unto prayer others give themselves over to sin God gives them up to a reprobate mind and to vile affections and to their own hearts lusts and they give themselves up one to his drunkeâ—ness and another to his uncleaâ—ness Now David gave himself to prayer and what he saith of Prayer in particular is true as to Godliness in general a godly Man gives himself up to it he is addicted and devoted to it he is all for that and the truth is none but such an one will do good upon it Believe it O Professors for your own experiences will in the end make my words good none but such as do indeed make Religion their Trade will thrive upon it and grow rich toward God Now then if thou dost indeed make Religion thy business thou wilt heartily study and do all thou canst to promote it as you know the promoting of Trade is the matter of common discourse among men and they are greatly set for it they are glad to hear of any thing that will contribute thereunto Now there is nothing in the World that doth forward a Christian more in this his great business and that doth more promote the Trade of Godliness and Religion than Secret Prayer doth I am not willing to compare one Duty with another or one Ordinance with another â—â—ir they are all of God they are all stampt with his Authority they are all greaâ— advantages to them that walk uprightly God is more wise and gracious than to set his Servants about any unnecessary 〈…〉 You know that many Persons who are wâ—llâ— moneyed men have a stock going with others as in the African and East-India Company but not satisfied with that they will have their Secret Stock also and will trade by themselves So here the Saints and People of God should be trading and have a great deal going in the common Stock in publick Worship in the Assemblies and Congregations of the Saints Psal. 42. 4. Holy David did reckon it a brave time when he went with the multitude to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day Psal. 122. 1. He was glad when they said unto him Let us go into the house of the Lord. And it is prophesied and promised as a choce and singular blessing Isa. 2. 3. That many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths But it is not to be expected that they should thrive amain and grow very rich toward God unless they have a Secret Stock going too and will be trading by themselves in private and keeping up that communion correspondency and intercourse with God and Christ which others do not know of David was very much for Sanctuary sights and enjoyments when he was deprived of them he did seek and thirst and long for them Psal 63. 1 2. but still
seeth it himself He seeth where your thoughts are He understands them afar off and He seeth where your hearts are so it appears by the charge he gave out against Israel of old This people draweth near unto me with their lips but their hearts are far from me And I would â—ain know of you how it is possible but that he should take it very unkindly at your hands and be highly offended if that he should be slighted by you who is so excellent and glorious in himself and so absolutely necessary for you and unto whom you are so everlastingly beholden and obliged How can he otherwise chuse but be angry with you if in your leisure-time and at your spare hours you will not give him a visit if you cannot find in your hearts to bestow some of that time upon him which you have to spare from your earthly Friends and worldly Business When he seeth this how canst thou think but that his fury will come up into his face Secondly Praying in secret is a very good â—nd comfortable sign of sincerity I do not say that it is a certain and infallible sign and that every one that sets upon this work hath indeed the Spirit of Adoption and may from thence arrive to an assurance of Sonship and draw an undeniable conclusion That he is born again for I do very well know there is no external act of Religion which an hypocrite may not set his hand to As Reputation and Credit among men may bring them out to publick Ordinances so that they shall come as the people cometh and sit before their Minister as the people sitteth and hear his words Ezek 33. 31. so an enlightned awakened uneasie and importunate Conscience may bring them upon their knees in private An hypocrite's heart is really in no piece of the work of God while he draws nearest to him with his lips that is far from him how indeed can he raise that up to God which he hath set upon his iniquity Yet he may have a finger in every thing that is of the out-side A Iehu knows how to be zealous against Idolatry and for the Lord when so to be paves his way to a Throne tho' when he has once got it and is warm in it he himself would be as bad as any 2 Kings 10. 31. Iehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Ieroboam which made Israel to sin A Soul would sacrifice yea was too hasty at it and a Pharisee would pray in the Temple and Synagogue and those hearts run after their Covetousness and would not be obedient to the Word of God would yet go out to hear it And I do not know but persons of the like Spirits and Principles as rotten at heart as any of them may set upon Religious Actions when they are alone they may when by themselves take up a Bible or good Book and read in it and they may when there is need fall upon their knees and offer up their requests unto God An hypocrite may be at duty in his Closet tho' his heart never be with God in duty neither in his Closet nor any where else But now observe this is not so acceptable to him it is not that which he takes pleasure and delight in he is put upon it he is under a force Conscience offers violence and drag him into it as Ioab when he saw Justice would take hold on him at the last tho' it is probable he never had any great love for the Altar yet then he would â—â—ee and catch hold of the Horns of it and would even die there But I say this is not the matter of their delight they do if not so much out of choice as cut of constraint it is not That which they take pleasure in and because it is not their pleasure therefore it is noâ— their practice They may do such a thing now and then in a straight when they are put to a pinch but they do not make it their Trade Our Saviour tells us where we are most like to meet with them if we have a mind to find them at their Devotions that is in the Synagogues and the corners of the streets If you would find them in their wickednesses for hypocrites are Villains they make use of Religion for no other end but as a Cloak to cover their Knavery and there is a great deal of that which some of them are guilty of God is pleased now and then to pluck off their Masques and oh what Deformities do then visibly appear in their lives and conversations When their Paint is once off there are no persons so ugly But as I was saying if you would find them in their wickednesses then look for them in the dark and in holes it is not for their Interest it is inconsistent with their design to be so impudent and brazen-fac'd as the profane Crâ—w who glory in their shame no no these are sneaking wretches who would steal their sins and no body know of them But if you would find them at their Devotions do but listen and you may possibly hear their Trumpet found or if not the best way is to look for them in some noted and frequented places the Synagogues and corners of streets Publick places are the hypocrites haunts for they are most convenient and proper for the carrying on of their design which is not to be approved of God but seen of men And this I say Though secret Prayer and the performance of other duties of Godliness in secret be not a certain and infallible Argument of an heart renewed by Grace and upright with God yet it is a very good Argument Tho' it be not such an Evidence of Grace as alone will put it out of all doubt and question yet it is a good Evidence and will do much in a cumulative way and in conjunction with other things And tho' he may be a wicked man who doth several things that every good man cannot but do yet he cannot be a good man who doth not do those things A wicked man may be found in a good way but he is not a good man who always turns his back upon a good way and doth never walk in the Law of the Lord. So here tho' he may be an Hypocrite who doth pray in secret yet he cannot be a Saint who never prays in secret He who doth not desire and maintain secret Communion with God hath not whatever his pretences may be an heart indeed set for God The hearts of men are curiously searched into now and they shall all be openly discover'd at the last and when the day of manifestation shall câ—me he that now is not for being with God when he is alone will then be found and condemned as one that hath not been for God at all And this I do positively lay down as an undeniable Truth That
not seek his face where you sin to his face Oh! look carefully to it that as there are secret Faults so there be secret Prayers and Tears as secret Sins so secret Services Fourthly There are special and momentous Causes and Reasons for secret Prayer Surely there is not that Man nor Woman to be found upon the face of the earth but hath something or other which he would by all means have a Mantle of privacy thrown over something or other which he may be free and willing to whisper in the ear of a prudent intimate Friend and lock up in his bosom but he would not have it divulg'd and come abroad to the knowledge of every body Now let me ask thee Hast thou nothing to speak to God in his ear something which thou wouldst not have any person in the world acquainted with something it may be that doth greatly oppress thee and whilst thou dost smother it altogether in silence thy heart is almost broken within thee There is an absolute necessity of giving vent and thereby some ease to thine over-burden'd mind and where canst thou do it with more freedom and greater hope of relief than when thou art alone before a gracious God whose mercies are everlasting and his compassions do not fail Will that which they call common-Common-Prayer râ—ach thy whole Case doth it contain in it all that is in thine heart dost thou find every one of thy wants mention'd there every one of thy groans form'd there every one of thy desires drawn up there is there nothing singular and peculiar in thy Case is it exactly stated by others in all the particularities of it I am sure the Wise Man tells us Prov. 14. 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger intermedleth not with his joy These things are so lock'd up in the heart of a man that no body else hath a key to let him into them I think it is most proper for a poor diseased Patient to tell his Physician how he feels himself indeed if he be so disturbed in his reason or so much enfeebled that he cannot do it then it is necessary for some other to do it that hath been about him and curious in his Observations but I am of the mind that the wise Physician will like that account best which comes from his Patient 's own mouth supposing him capable of giving one Do thou go and do so to thy great and ever-blessed Physician the holy God and to that end study both his Word and thy Heart that by studying his Word thou maist come to know how it should be with thee and by studying thine own heart thou maist know how it is with thee and then go and tell him Again will publick-Publick-Prayer at all times become thee and in every one of thy concernments Hast thou so much of an unspotted innocency or such a large measure of confidence as that thou wilt not blush to tell the whole story of thine heart and life upon the House-top Hast thou been so undefiled in the way that thou needest not care who knows what thou hast been and what thou hast done Indeed when a proud and self-conceited Pharisee makes it his business to display his glory and to trumpet out his own commendations to tell God that he is a Phoenix a kind of none-such in the World one that is so free from common defilements so abundant in goodness and acts of goodness that his fellow is scarce to be met with it is no wonder to find him ambitious of having Auditors enough and to see him in the pride of his countenance and with his hand by his side strutting it to the Temple where he doth expect a great confluence of people who might go and inform others what great things they had heard concerning him from his own mouth and so raise to him Thousands of admirings among such as would be credulous and believe him upon his bare word But methinks when a poor Publican that groans under an heavy burthen of sin and guilt who knoweth himself unable to answer for one of a Thousand and who hath had often and often the sentence of death in himself pronounced by his own awakened and wounded Conscience when I say he is to draw up an Indictment against himself and to read it in the presence of his righteous Judge and then having so done to beg upon his knees and plead hard for his Life Lord be merciful to me a sinner He may stand a great way off and get alone by himself as a person ashamed and even confounded When thou goest to acquaint God with thy diseases foul loathsom diseases of Soul and to open thy Artery Sores and those wounds in thy Conscience which as poor David found and owned stink and are corrupt it speaks an humble modesty and doth highly become thee to do it between him and thee alone Now Christian give me leave to deal particularly with thee and to come as close as I can and to propound some few Questions to thee and to desire thee to propound them to thy self when I have done 1. Hast thou not some secret sins to confess to God Hast thou been all thy days so sober and righteous and godly so circumspect and exact that no action of thine troubles thee or will reflect dishhonour upon thee or in the least put thee out of countenance is there no blot in thy Escutchion no dead Fly in thy Box of Ointment Are there not some things done by thee which nobody doth know of and which thou wouldest not for more than I will say have any body know of Let this bring thee to Secret Prayer for they must be confest Indeed unless it be in some cases thou dost not need to do it unto Men there is no necessâ—â—y for thee to proclaim and publish thine own shame Auriculaâ—â—onfeâ—â—â—on which the Popish Priests do require is an abomination But a Confession there must be else the wound of Conscience will not be healed the oppressed Spirit will not be relieved the Sâ—ain will not be taken out the Sin will not be pardon'd The Promise is He that confesseth and forsakes his sin shall find mercy as much as he needs or can desire And the word of Truth gives us this assurance I Iohn 1. 9. That if we confess our sins God is just and faithful to forgive us â—u sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Blessed be God for those words from all Pardoning Mercy and Justifying Grace will make thorow work where-ever it comes it takes away iniquity transgression and sin all sorts and sizes sins of all kinds and degrees But where doth this take place Only in them that Confess Where there is no Confession you cannot with reason hope for a Remission Add this You may very well spread before God those sins which you have committed in secret because it is not in your power to hide them from him they are all in the light of his
the love and kindness of such an one as thou art nearly related to or hast great dependence upon These things and possibly twenty more which may be reckoned up are very much the matter of thy desire and all of them are within the reach of the Divine Power that God who performed all things for David is able to perform all these things for thee and if thou wouldest not willingly have others acquainted with these things if thou art loath that thy Family should be privy to the stirrings and workings of thy heart in these respects then let them bring thee upon thy knees in thy secret Retirements there thou mayst be bold and as free as thou pleasest there thou mayst fully open thy case and unbosome thy self and tell God all that is in thine heart and keep back nothing after the manner of holy David who could say in Psal. 38. 9. All my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Fifthly The pleasantness of the work is enough to attract and draw an holy Soul to the performance of it Secret Prayer brings the Christian into secret Communion with God and secret Communion is a sweet Communion as that person tastes and experiences who loves God indeed Two Lovers have abundantly more delight and satisfaction in each other's company when they are got in a corner and no body to interrupt or observe them than when they are in a croud and throng of People or in a room where many eyes are upon them for there they cannot be so familiar and free as their mutual affection doth require We have free leave given us yea we are under a Divine Command to come to the throne of grace with holdness Heb. 4. 16. with a freedom of speech to fetch up the bottom of our hearts and tell our whole minds to God but when the Saints go in company many times he that is called out to be at that time the mouth of the rest to God finds himself confin'd and bound up by a natural and over-powering modesty and his Christian Child-like boldness is abated nay wholly to seek and he is at such a great loss and so exceedingly troubled that he cannot speak that I may use the words of that holy man Asaph Psal. 73. His freedom is turned into oppression and he is so full of matter that his heart is almost ready to break within him because at that time he knoweth not how to give himself vent in such a case there is an awe upon him and that doth issue in a painful restraint Oh Christians if you could hear some gracious Souls in their private Addresses to God it would put you into an amazement you could not forbear standing and wondering how bold they are with God though not saucy how familiarly they will speak to God yet know and consider their distance how plain they will be how earnest and importunate how they will plead with him and produce their Arguments and strong Reasons and with vehemency urge them wrestling with him as those that must have their Petitions granted and will too before they have done and yet they do herein that which they have learned from above and use those words which the Holy Ghost teacheth who speaks in them they do not herein forget themselves or take too much upon them nor are they more bold than welcome when they have raised and enlarged their desires and wound up their importunity to the highest pitch they do no more than what they have their kind and gracious Father's allowance for and then are their Prayers his Musick And when they have done thus who but themselves and such as have taken the same course are able to tell or conceive the fruit and advantage which thereby cometh into them when their Souls have had so large a vent what â—ase do they find in themselves what peace but such as passeth understanding how do their Faces shine even as that of Moses did when he came down from the Mount what delights have they had what joys of Faith what a satisfaction do they find within This is no more than what holy David did with highest confidence promise unto himself and I do not in the least question but he was encouraged to promise so much to himself for the future by the experiences he had had in former times Psal. 63. 5 6. My soul saith he shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness He looked not only for a little taste a drop of mercy or some crumbs of comfort so much only as would set him a longing or keep life and soul together but a full meal He promised himself the best not brown-bread and water ordinary course fare but marrow and fatness yea and enough too a fulness so that he should not rise up complaining but admiring and triumphing my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when he had his sweet refreshing his fill then he would bless his Benefactor But I desire you to take notice of the time when and the place where he did promise himself these rich and comfortable Enjoyments it was in his retirements in his secret converses with God When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate upon thee in the night-watches Upon which words Mr. Dickson hath this Observation very apposite to the business in hand The way to find refreshment spiritual is beside publick Ordinances to give our selves to spiritual Exercises in secret at such times as our civil and natural necessities may best spare and then and there to recall to mind what we have heard seen or felt of God's Word or Working and to keep our thoughts upon this holy Subject by Prayer Soliloquy and Meditation This this brings in spiritual refreshment indeed this warms the heart this feasts it this delights it this raiseth it this furnishes it with new Songs Sixthly Secret Prayer shall not be vain Our Lord Jesus doth not only walk in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks in the great Congregations in the full Assemblies of his Saints thou indeed the Prophet tell us Psal. 87. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion i. e. saith Ainsworth the publick Assemblies more than all the dwellings of Iacob but he will graciously condescend so far as to afford his presence and give a meeting to two or three of his friends when met together in his Name there he will be in the midst of them You have Christ's own word for your assurance in the Case Matth. 18. 20. as to assist so to accept and bless and do for them the good things which they desire yea his Grace is so infinite and his Love so great that his condescention shall be lower yet for he will come into a corner when he has a Child of his alone praying and crying Cantic 2. 14. O my Dove that art in the clefts of the rocks and in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice
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
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