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
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
â—or thy self alone tho thou dost shut others out of thy Closet and Chamber yet give them a room in thy remembrances affections and Pâ—titions Take them in the arms of thy love and carry their Cases along with â—â—ee to the Throne of Grace and therâ— speak many a good word for them in the ears of God who gives thee free leave to beg for others as well as thy self and delights to see his Children come into his presence cloathed with bowels He was so pleased with Abraham's importunity for the sparing of Sâ—dom tho' the people thereof was exceeding wicked before him that he did not stick at granting all that Abraham desired nor would he go away till Abraham had done When Christ was pleased to Tabernacle among men how was he flock'd to how did they throng about him bringing with them their Children and Friends their Sick Blind Lame and Possessed that he might cure them and they had that of him which they came for Hast thou none of thy Relations that are so spiritually Is not thy Yoke-fellow Brother Sister Child Servant blinded with ignorance of the things of God deaf to Reproof Counsel Instruction and Intreaty so lame that they cannot take one right step in the way of God and Duty possessed with a lying Devil or a swearing Devil or a drunken Devil or an unclean Devil Carry them in thy Prayers to God and beg of him that he would stretch out his Almighty hand aâ—d cure them But tâ—at I may draw to a Câ—sâ— When thou art most in private do not 〈◊〉 the Publick in thy Cabbin bestow some thoughts upon and spend some suits and â—ighs about the Ship for in that thou are embarqued and in the peace thereof it is that thou must have peace Let the Nation be remembred by thee it is the Land of thy Nativity the place where thou wast born and bred and in which thou hast enjoyed and abounded with Mercies temporal and spiritual thou owest it Prayers It is indeed a sinful Nation a People loaden with Iniquity that hates to be reformed and is settled upon its Lees but upon that score it needs Prayer the more There are Thousands pulling down Judgments by their Superstition and loud-crying Profaneness and making a Breach for an whole Sea to break in upon us But Thou O Saint and such as thou art have the more need to stand in the gap Let Sion the Church of God have a very large share David was resolved that he would seek her good and the poor Captives that sate by the Rivers of Babylon when they remembred desolate Sion did not only drop a tear or two but wept Rivers and had rather their right-hands should forget their cunning and their tongues cleave to the roof of their mouths than that they should forget Ierusalem or not prefer Her before their chiefest joy O let the same mind be in you now that her condition is very low and we cannot tell what may be the products of the ensuing year And that the Sacrifice of Prayer may be fired and send up before the Throne of God a vehement and pure flame often think and seriously meditate upon that which Iehovah hath spoken to you Isa. 66. 10. Rejoice ye with Ierusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her Rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory There are some that need your Prayers do you supply them there are some that have desir'd your Prayers do you satisfie them there are some to whom you have promised your Prayers be you as good your word to them they expect much good will come to them by means of them do not you disappoint their expectations In this way help thy Relations do good to thy Friends and Neighbours heap coals of fire upon the heads of thine Enemies help to bear up the Pillars of a shaking Nation give a lift towards the raising of Iacob now he is small and a blow to Babylon And thus tho' our Prayers should oftentimes be private yet our Spirits ought to be publick It is no small comfort to the Saints and People of God That they have a Stock of Prayer going for them all the world over Now if thou wouldst have any benefit and advantage by that Stock see carefully to it that thou be every day putting something in FINIS
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
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
a capacity of receiving counsel and advice and when we come it shall be with bowels of pity and compassion and we will pray for you heartily and with all our might but do not you trust to that and pass the time of your health and strength in a supine carelesness and neglect but now make Prayer your business go to the Throne of Grace upon your own errand and seek God your selves Secondly Consider what will be the fruâ—t of this total neglect of Prayer after Death hath put a period to your sinful careless Life Enoch while in the way walked with God and then in the end God took him The Communion was begun here that shewed the Holiness of Enoch in Heaven it was perfected and that made his happiness compleat A Praying Saint doth at death go up to the Quire of Angels and glorified spirits of just Men to joyn with them in their loud and never-ending Allelujahs they lived a Life of Prayer upon Earth and they shall live a life of Praise in Heaven But what will become of you that are altogether strangers to the work what kind of Eternity is that which you shall launch into How unspeakably doleful will your condition be in the other World You are not fit for the work of Praises for your instruments are not in tune for it there never was any thing done here for the putting your hearts in frame from you there would proceed nothing but jarring in the midst of that most pleasant and melodious Consort You cannot pray to God which is the work of poor indigent Beggars How then can you exalt and praise him which to do is the work of holy and ever-blessed Angels And then if you are not fit for Heaven you will be fit for Hell if no company for Angels then for Devils if you will not pray here you shall in the torment and bitterness of Soul roar and howl there you will not honour God he will punish you you cared not for the knowledg of his ways and you shall not know his rest you will not seek his face and you shall not see his face No no down you shall be thrust into that lake where there shall be fire to torment but no light to refresh where there shall not be the voice of joy and triumphs but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth In this Life you send up no Prayers to God but live as if you did not know him as if you did not need him as if you had no love for him and the truth is you have not Well remember this He lets you alone at present and carrieth as if he took no notice but he will deal with you accordingly when he hath you in the next World the place of giving out rewards and punishments rendering unto every one according as his work hath been there you shall have tribulation and anguish but God will not be affected with your miseries nor will he pity your groans nor have any respect to your tears Lay these things to your hearts and be convinced of this that Prayer is your interest set upon the work if you did but get acquaintance with it you would love it if you were but once used to it you would never leave it Psal. 116. 1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live And that was long enough longer he should not pray so long he would there is no Praying-work in Heaven Well said David I will ply it here and follow it hard now He had found the good and tasted the sweetness of it VSE In the second part of this Use of Reprâ—hension I shall direct my Discourse to those who are altogether for Publick Praying getting into Churches and such as they call Consecrated places there to shew I think that is a word very proper to the design their Devotion though I do not see but that when their hours of Prayer are come and their Service is doing their Churches are exceeding empty which is indeed a shame to them for if they are persuaded in their Consciences That is the way of God why do they not frequent it If they are convinced That is the work of the Lord why do they not abound in it There is a great cry among them for that form and Mode of Worship and I heartily wish it may do them much good that love it but since their cry for it is so loud why is their devotion so little Why do small matters keep them at home upon week-days why do they chuse Taverns and Ale-houses rather than their places of Prayer Let them look to it that their seeming zeal do not come from a bad Principle and be not directed to a bad end I shall not speak a word against the Liturgy That is not my business who desire to follow those things that make for Peace Let those that like it and chuse it use it if they please let them that find it heart-raising heart-warming heart-inlarging go on in their attendance upon it I envy none that which they like and may do them good especially when I have that which pleaseth me better Blessed be our Gracious God and thanks to those in Authority over us we have liberty to serve God according to our Judgments and Consciences yea and that Liberty established by a Law We know there are many Adversaries that are enraged at it but through Divine Goodness there is a wide and effectual door opened the Lord grant none may be able to shut it That which I blame many for is their Idolizing of Publick Places as if they did put an Holiness and Virtue into work done in them and as if Publick Prayer were enough and would serve for all How have we some superstitious persons as they pass through an Abbey Cathedral c. not only bare their heads but drop upon their knees in a Pew or at a Pillar And others that I have known when the Bells chime in up they get and to the Church they go and there they sit till the Service be finished and that they think sufficient and with that they do at present put off their Consciences that is all the Prayer they make then to Eating and Drinking and Visiting and Gaming there is no Praying in their Families none in their Chambers and Closets I appeal to your Consciences in the Case and accuse no body living unless their Consciences accuse them Now my Friends what do you think of this Is it well will this do is this the way to please God Is this to fill up your days and places with Duty Is this to deal bountifully with that God who doth deal so bountifully with you Is this to fit your selves for the giving up your account unto God The proud Pharisee went to the Temple to pray but when he had done he came away with a world of
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