Father While the child is in the womb it cannot cry but as soon as it is born it cries Whilst Paul did lie in the womb of his natural estate he could not pray but no sooner was he born of the spirit but the next news is Behold he prayeth Acts. 9. 11. Prayer is nothing but the turning of a mans inside outward before the Lord. The very soul of prayer lyes in the pouring out of a mans soul into the bosome of God Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord that was first breath'd into us by the spirit of the Lord Prayer is nothing but a choice a free a sweet and familiar intercourse of the soul with God Certainly it is a great work of the Spirit to help the Saints to pray Gal. 4. 6. Because you are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father God hath no still-born children The Gemination Abba Father notes fiduciall filial and vehement affection The first is an Pareus Hebrew or Syriack word the Second a Greek whereby is signified the union of the Hebrews and Grecians or the Jews and Gentiles in one Church Abba Father What is Abba say others in Hebrew Father and it is added because in Christ the corner stone both peoples are joyned alike becoming sons whence soever they come circumcision from one place whereupon Abba uncircumcision from another whereupon father is named The concord of the walls being the glory of the corner stone The word Abba say others signifies Father in the Syriack Tongue which the Apostle here retaineth because it is a word full of affection which young children retain almost in all Languages when they begin to speak And he adds the word Father not only to expound the same but also the better to express the eager movings and the earnest and vehement desires and singular affection of beleevers in their crying unto God even as Christ himself redoubled the Mark 14. 36. word Father to the same purpose when he was in his greatest distress This little word Father saith Luther lisped forth in prayer by a Child of God exceeds the eloquence of Demosthenes Cicero and all other so famed Orators in the World 'T is certain that the Spirit of God helps the Saints in all their communions with God viz. in their meditations of God in their reading and hearing of the Word of God in their communions one with another and in all their solemn addresses to God And as to this the Apostle gives us a most special instance in that Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered When we are to pray there is in us sometimes an infirmity of ignorance so that we know not what to pray for either in regard of the matter or the manner And there is in us at other times an infirmity of pride and conceitedness so that we cannot pray with that humility and lowliness of spirit as we should spiritual pride having fly-blown our prayers Sometimes there is in us an infirmity of deadness dullness drowsiness c. so that we cannot pray with that warmth heat life spirit and fervency as we should or as we would and at other times there is in us an infirmity of unbelief and slavish fears so that we cannot pray with that faith and holy boldness as becomes Children that draw near to a Throne of Grace to a Throne of Mercy c. But now the Spirit helps these infirmities by way of instruction prompting and teaching us what to pray for and how we should spell our lesson and by telling us as it were within what we should say and how we should sigh and groan and by rousing and quickening and stirring of us up to prayer and by his singular influence and choice assistance opening and enlarging our hearts in prayer and by his tuning the Strings of our affections he prepares us and fits us for the work of Supplication And therefore every one that derides the Spirit of prayer in the Saints saying these are the men and the women that pray by the Spirit blaspheme against the holy Spirit it being a main work of the Spirit to teach the Saints to pray and to help them in prayer Now all the Saints having the Spirit and the Spirit being a Spirit of prayer and supplication there is no reason in the world why a Saint should say I would pray in secret but I can't pray I can't pour out my soul nor my complaint before the Lord in a corner Sixthly and lastly Thou sayest thou canst not pray thou hast not the gifts and parts which others have But thou canst mannage thy callings thy worldly businesse as well as others and why then canst thou not pray as well as others Ah friends did you but love private prayer as well as you love the world and delight in private prayer as much as you delight in the world and were your hearts as much set upon closet prayer as they are set upon the world you would never say you could not pray yea you would quickly pray as well as others 't is not so much from want of ability to pray in secret that you don't pray in secret as 't is from want of a will a heart to pray in secret that you don't pray in secret Jacobs love to Rachel and Sechems love to Dina carried Gen. 29. ch 34. them through the greatest difficulties Were mens affections but strongly set upon private prayer they would quickly find abilities to pray He that sets his affections upon a Virgin though he be not learned nor eloquent will find words enough to let her know how his heart is taken with her The application is easie He in Seneca complained of a Thorn in his foot when his Lungs was rotten So many complain of want of ability to pray in their closets when their hearts are rotten Sirs do but get better hearts and then you will never say you can't pray 'T is one of the saddest sights in all the world to see men strongly parted and gifted for all worldly businesses to cry out that they can't pray that they have no ability to pour out their souls before the Lord in secret You have sufficient parts and gifts to tell men of your sins your wants your dangers your difficulties your mercies your deliverances your duties your crosses your losses your enjoyments your friends your foes and why then are you not ashamed to complain of your want of parts and gifts to tell those very things to God in a corner which you can tell to men even upon the house-top c. But Fourthly Some may further object and say God is very well acquainted with all our wants necessities straits tryals and there is no moving of him to bestow any favours upon us which he
tribulation Rom. 5. 3 4. And not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope Grace alwayes thrives most when Saints are under the Rod. When Christians are under the Rod then their graces do not only bud but blossome and bring forth fruit as Aarons Rod did The Mum. 17. 8 snuffing of the Candle makes it burn the brighter God beats and bruises his links to make them burn the brighter he bruises his spices to make them send forth the greater Aromatical savour Bernard compares Afflictictions to the Tezel which though it be starp and scratching it is to make the Cloath more pure and fine The Jews were alwayes best when they were in an afflicted condition Well-waters arising from deep springs are hotter in the winter than they are in the summer Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights Vines grow the better for bleeding and Gold looks the brighter for scowring Juniper smels sweetest when in the fire Cammomile the more you tread it the more you spread it O Sirs this is a real and a rare truth but seldome thought on viz. that God will sometimes more carry on the growth and improvement of grace by a cross by an affliction than by an ordinance James 1. 3 4. James 4. 8 9. Afflictions ripen the Saints graces 2 Cor. 1. 5. First or last God will make every Rod yea every twig in every Rod to be an Ordinance to every afflicted Saint By Afflictions God many times revives quickens and recovers the decayed graces of his People By Afflictions God many times enflames that love that is cold and he strengthens that faith that is failing and he puts life into those hopes that are languishing and new spirits into those joyes and comforts that are withering and dying Musk say some when it hath lost its sweetness if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers its sweetnâ—â—â— again So doth smart afflictions recover and revive our decayed graces I have read a story of a Sexton that went into the Church at night to rob a woman who had been buried the day before with a Gold ring upon her finger according to her desire now when he had opened the Grave and Coffin and loosed the sheet he fell a rubbing and chafing her finger to get off the Gold Ring and with rubbing and chafing of it her spirits returned she having been but in a swoon before and she revived and lived many years after Smart Afflictions are but the rubbing and chafing of our graces The smarting Rod abaseth the loveliness of the world that might entice us it abates the Iustiness of the flesh within that might incite us to vanity and folly and it abets the spirit in his quarrel to the two former All which tend much to the recovering and reviving of decayed graces But The Sixth end to which the Rod serves that is to try the child to make a discovery of the spirit of the child Some Parents never see so much of the badness of the spirits of their Children as they do when they bring them under the Rod and other Parents never see so much of the goodnesse of the spirits of their Children as they do when they chastise them with the Rod 'T is so here when God afflicts some O the pride the stoutness the crosness the hardness the peevishness and stubborness of spirit that they Exod. 5. 2. Jer. 44. 15 16 17 18 19. discover Isa 1. 5. Jer. 5. 3. When he afflicts others O the murmuring the roaring the complaining the howling the fretting the vexing and the Amos 4. 6 13. quarrelling spirit that they discover Num. 14. 27 29 36. Deut. 1. 27. Isa 58. 3 4. Isa 59. 11. Hos 7. 14 15. Jon. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 8 9. Sometimes when God afflicts his dearest People O what a spirit of Faith what a spirit of Prayer what a spirit of Love what a spirit of Patience what a spirit of meekness what a spirit of humbleness what a spirit of submissiveness do they discover Job 13. 15. 2 Chron. 1. 2 3 4 5 6 12. Isa 26. 16 17. Hos 5. 14 15. Job 1. 20 21 22. Lev. 10. 1 2 3. 1 Sam. 3. 18. 2 Kings 20. 16 17 18 19. And at other times when God afflicts his poor People O what a spirit of unbelief what a spirit of slavish fear what a spirit of impaciency what a spirit of displeasedness c. do they discover Gen. 15. 2 3. Gen. 12. 13 19. Gen. 20. 2 5. Gen. 26. 7 8 9 10 11. Psal 31. 22. Psal 116 11. 1 Sam. 21. 10 11 12 13 14 15. Job 3. 3 13. Jer. 20. 14 15 16 17 18. By smart Afflictions God tryes the graces of his People and discovers what is in the spirits of his People Deut. 8. 2. Psal 66. 10 11. Rev. 3. 18. 1 Pet 1. 6 7. The fire tryes the Gold as well as the Touch-stone Diseases try the Art of the Physitian and Tempests try the skill of the Pilot. Every smarting Rod is a Touch-stone both to try our graces and to discover our spirits Prudent Fathers will sometimes cross their Children to try to discover the dispositions of their Children Heb. 12. 5 21. And so doth the Father of Spirits deal sometimes with his Children The manner of the Psylli which are a kind of People Plin. lib. 28 of that temper and constitution that no Venom will hurt them is this if they suspect any Child to be none of their own they set an Adder upon it to sting it and if it cry and the flesh swell they cast it away as a spurious issue but if it do not quatch nor cry nor is never the worse for it then they account it for thei own and make very much of it The Application is easie But The seventh and last end of the Rod Is to prepare fit the Isa 48. 10. chastised for greater services favours and mercies Many a Child and many a servant had never been so fit for eminent services as they are had they not been under a smarting Rod. 'T is very usual with God to cast men into very great Afflictions and to lay them under grievous smarting Rods that so he may prepare and fit them for some high and eminent services in this world Joseph had never been so fit to be Governour Gen. 41. 40 41 42 43 44. of Egypt and to preserve the visible Church of God alive in the World if he had not been sold into Egypt if his feet had not been hurt in the Gen. 45. 7 8. stocks and if the Irons had not entred into his soul Nor Moses had never been so fit to be a Leader and a Deliverer of Israel as he was if he had Gen. 50. 20. not been banished Fourty Yeares in the Wilderness before Nor Davids Crown had never sat so well nor so close nor so long on his head as
Nabals nature and practise answer to his name 1 Sam. 25. 25. Let not my Lord I pray thee regard this man of Belial even Nabal for as his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him Nabal signifies a fool a sot a Churle it notes one that is void of wisdome and goodness it signifieth one whose Mind Reason Judgment Understanding is withered and decayed Now if you look into the story you shall find that as face answers to face so Nabals nature and practise did Eccho and answer to his name And why then should not our natures and practises answer to our names also We are called the Lords secret ones his hidden ones and how highly therefore doth it concern us to be much with God in secret Why should their be any jarring or discord between our names and our practises It is observable that the practise and carriage of other Saints have been answerable to their names Isaac signifies laughter Gen. 18. and Isaac was a gracious son a dutiful son a son that kept clear of those abominations with which many of the Patriarchs had defiled themselves a son that proved matter of laughter to his Father and Mother all their dayes So Josiah signifies the fire of the Lord and his practise did answerto his name witness the pulling down of Jeroboams 1 King 13. 2. Altar and his burning of the Vessels that were made for Baal and his pulling down the Idolatrous Priests whom the Kings of 2 King 23. 4 21. Judah had set up and his burning the Grove at the brook Kidron and his stamping it to powder and his breaking down the houses of the Sodomites and his defiling of the high places where the Priests had burnt incense and his breaking in pieces the Images and cutting down the Groves and filling their places with the bones of men c. So Joshua signifies a Saviour and his practise was answerable to his name Though he could not save his people from their sins yet he often saved them from their sufferings Great and many were the deliverances the salvations that were instrumentally brought about by Joshua as all know that have read the book of Joshua So John signifies gracious and his practise was answerable to his name he was so gracious in his teachings and in his walkings that he gained favour in the very eyes of his enemies By all these Instances and by many more that might be given you see that other Saints practises have answered to their names And therefore let every one of us look that our practises do also answer to our names that as we are called the Lords secret ones so we may be much with God in secret that so there may be a blessed harmony between our names and our practises we may never repent another day that we have been called Gods secret ones his hidden ones but yet never made conscience of maintaining secret communion with God in our closets And thus you see that there are no less than Twenty arguments to perswade you to closet prayer and to maintain private communion with God in a Corner The use and Application of all follows Is it so that Closet Prayer or Private Prayer is such an indispensible duty that Christ himself hath laid upon all that are not willing to lye under the the woful brand of being hypocrites then this truth looks very sourely and sadly upon these five sorts of persons First It looks sourly and sadly upon all those that put off secret prayer private prayer till they are moved to it by the Spirit for by this sad delusion many have been kept from secret prayer many weeks many moneths O that I might not say many years Though it be a very fit season to Isa 62. 1. Psal 123. 1 2 Gal. 4. 6. pray when the Spirit moves us to pray yet 't is not the only season to pray He that makes Religion his business will pray as daily for daily grace as he doth pray daily for daily bread Luke 18. 1. And he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint 1 Thes 5. 17. Pray without ceasing Ephes 6. 18. Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Rom. 12. 12. Continuing instant in prayer The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every season as occasion and opportunity offers it self we must pray a Metaphor taken from hunting Dogs that never give over the game till they have got their prey A Christian must not only pray but hold on in prayer till he hath got the heavenly prize We are wanting alwayes and therefore we had need be praying alwayes The world is alwayes alluring and therefore we had need be alwayes a praying Satan is alwayes a tempting and therefore we had need be alwayes a praying and we are alwayes a sinning and therefore we had need be alwayes a praying and we are in dangers alwayes and therefore we had need be praying alwayes and we are dying alwayes and therefore 1 Cor. 15. 31 we had need be praying alwayes Mans whole life is but a lingring death man no sooner begins to live but he begins to die When one was ask't why he prayed six times a day he only gave this answer I must die I must die I must die Dying Christians had need be praying Christians and they that are alwayes a dying had need be alwayes a praying Certainly prayerless families are graceless families and prayerless persons are graceless persons It were better Jer. 10. 25. ten thousand times that we had never been born into the world than that we should go still-born out of the world But Secondly This truth looks sourly and sadly upon those that pray not at all neither in their Families nor in their closets Among all Gods Children there is not one possest with a dumb devil Prayerlesse persons are forsaken of God blinded by Satan hardned in sin every breath they draw liable to all temporal spiritual and eternal Judgements Prayer is that part of natural worship due to God which none will deny but stark Atheists Psal 14. 1. It is observable that amongst the That wicked men ought to pray and the grand objection against their prayers answered at large in my Treatise called The Crown and glory of Christianity from Page 326. to pag. 337. worst of men Turks and the worst of Turks the Moors it is a just exception against any witness by their Law that he hath not prayed six times in every natural day it being usual with them to pray six times a day 1. Before the day-break they pray for day 2. When it is day they give thanks for day 3. At noon they thank God for half the day past 4. After that they pray for a good Sun-set 5. And after that they thank God for the day past And
what temptations a day may bring forth no man knows what liberty a day may bring forth no man knows what bonds a day may bring forth no man knows what good success a day may bring forth no man knows what bad success a day may bring forth and therefore a man had need be every day in his closet with God that he may be prepared and fitted to entertain and improve all the occurrences successes and emergencies that may attend him in the course of his life And let thus much suffice for answer to this first Objection But Object 2. Secondly others may Obiect and say Sir we grant that Private Prayer is an indispensible duty that lies upon the people of God but we are servants and we have no time that we can call our own and our masters business is such as will not allow us any time for private prayer and therefore we hope we may be excused Sol. 1. First the Text is indefinite and not limited to any sort or rank of Private prayer is a duty that lieth upon Saints as Saints persons whether high or low rich or poor bond or free servant or master But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut the door pray to thy Father which is in secret Here are three thou's thou thou thou which are to be understood indefinitely thou servant as well as thou master thou bond-man as well as thou free-man thou poor man as well as thou rich man thou maid as well as thou mistress thou child as well as thou father thou wife as well as thou husband Private prayer is an indispensible duty that lies upon all sorts and ranks of persons A man may as well say that that Pronoun Tu thou that runs through the ten Commandments Thou shalt have no other Exod. 20. 3 18. gods before me Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Six dayes shalt thou labour Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man servant nor his maid servant nor his oxe nor his ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours c. relates to the rich and not to the poor to masters and not to servants to the free and not to them that are in bonds c. as he may say that the three thou's in the Text relates to the rich and not to the poor to masters and not to servants to those that are free but not to those that are bound but certainly there is no man in his wits that will say so that will affirm such a thing Doubtless this Pronoune Thou reacheth every man of what rank or quality soever he be in this world But Secondly I answer That the first the third the fourth the fifth the sixth the seventh and the eighth Answers that are given to the first Objection are here very applicable and O that all masters and servants were so wise so serious and so ingenious as to lay all those answers warm on their own hearts It might be a means to prevent much sin and to bespeak masters and mistresses to give their pious servants a little more time to lift up their hearts to Christ in a corner But Thirdly I answer If thou art a servant that hast liberty to choose a new Master thou wert better remove Psal 84. 10 Psal 120. 5. thy station than live under such a masters roof who is such an enemy to God to Christ to Religion to himself and to the eternal welfare of thy poor soul as that he will not give thee half an hours time in a day to spend in thy chamber thy closet though the glory of God the good of his own family and the everlasting happiness of thine own soul is concerned in it 'T is better for thee to shift thy master than to neglect thy duty 1 Cor. 7. 21. Art thou called being a servant care not for it but if thou mayest be made free use it rather Justinus the second Fmperours Motto was Libertas res inestimabilis Liberty is unvaluable We lost our liberty by sin and we affect nothing more than liberty by nature The Rabins say of Liberty That if the Heavens were Parchment the Sea Inke and every pile of Grass a Pen the praises of it could not be comprized nor expressed Labans house was full of Idols great houses are often so Jacobs tent was little but the true worship of God was in it 'T is infinitely better to live in Jacobs tent than in Labans house 'T is best being with such Masters where we may have least of sin and most of God where we may have the most helps the best examples and the choisest encouragements to be holy and happy The religious servant should be as careful in the choice of his master as the religious master is careful in the choice of his servant Gracious servants are great blessings to the families where they live and that master may well be called the unhappy master who will rather part with a gracious servant than spare him a little time in a day to pour out his soul before the Lord in a corner But Fourthly I answer If thou art a gracious servant then thou art spirited and principled by God to that very purpose that thou mayest cry Abba Father when thou art Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 6. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 14. alone when thou art in a corner and no eye seeth thee but his who seeth in secret If thou are a gracious servant then thou hast received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now he that hath this tree of life he hath also the fruit that grows upon this tree Gal. 5. 22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance c. Now grace is called not the works of the Spirit but the fruits of the Spirit 1. Because all grace is derived from the Spirit as the fruit is derived from the root And 2. To note the pleasantness and delightfulness of grace for what is more pleasant and delightful than Cant. 4. 16. Chap. 6. 2. sweet and wholesome fruits 3. To note the profit and advantage that doth redown to them that have the Spirit for as many grow rich by the fruits of their gardens and orchards so many grow rich in grace in holiness in comfort in spiritual experiences by the fruits of the Spirit Now why hath God given thee his Spirit and why hath he laid into thy soul a stock of supernatural graces but that thou mayest be every way qualified disposed and fitted for private prayer and to
do defer Dan. 9. 19. not for thine own sake Look as there be two kinds of Antidotes against Poyson viz. hot and cold so there are two kinds of Antidotes against all the troubles of this life viz. fervent prayers and holy patience the one hot the other cold the one quickening and the other quenching and holy Daniel made use of them both Fervency to prayer is as the fire was to the spices in the Censor or as wings to the Bird or as oyl to the wheels and this Daniel found by experience God looks not for any James with horny knees through assiduity of prayer nor for any Bartholomew with a Century of prayers for the morning and as many for the evening but for fervency of spirit in prayer which alone carryes all with God Feeble prayers like weak pangs go over and never brings a mercy to the birth Cold prayers are still-born Children in whom the Father of spirits can take no pleasure Look as a painted man is no man and as painted fire is no fire so a cold prayer is no prayer Such prayers never win upon the heart of God that do not first warm our own hearts As a body without a soul much wood without fire a Bullet in a Gun without powder so are all prayers without fervency of Spirit Luther termes Prayer Bombarda Christianorum the Gun or Canon of Christians or the Christians Gun-shot The hottest springs send forth their waters by ebullitions Cold prayers make a smoak a smother Isa 1. 15. Ch. 65 5. in the eyes of God Lazy prayers never procure noble answers Lazy beggars may starve for all their begging Such as have a male in their flock and offer to the Lord a female Such as offer to the Lord the torn and the lame and the sick such as turn off God with their cold lazy sleepy and formal Mal. 1. 13 14. devotions are condemned cast and cursed by God David compares his prayers to incense and no incense was offered without Psal 141. 2. fire it was that that made the smoke of it to ascend 'T is only fervent prayer that hits the mark and that pierces the walls of heaven though like those of Gaza Isa 45. 2. made of Brass and Iron While the Child only whimpers and whines in the Cradle the Mother lets it alone but when once it sets up its note and cryes out right then she runs and takes it up So 't is with a Christian Psal 34. 6. This poor man cryed there is his fervency he cryed but it was silently and secretly in the presence of King Achish as Moses did at the Red-Sea and as Nehemiah did in the presence of the King of Persia and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles here is his prevalency So Latimer plyed the Throne of grace with great fervency crying out Once again Lord once again restore the Gospel to England and God heard him Hudson the Martyr deserted at the Stake went from under his Chain and having prayed fervently he was comforted immediately and suffered valiantly I have read of one Giles of Bruxels a Dutch Martyr who was so fervent in his prayer kneeling by himself in some secret place of the Prison where he was that he seemed to forget himself and being called to his meat he neither heard nor saw who stood by him till he was lifted up by the armes and then he would speak gently to them as one awaked out of a Trance So Gregory Nazianzen speaking Paulin. Epist lib. 1. Epist 4. of his sister Gorgonia saith that in the vehemency of her prayer she came to a Religious impudency with God so as to threaten heaven and tell God that she would never depart from his Altar till she had her petition granted Let us make it our businesse to follow these noble examples as ever we would so Prince it in prayer as to prevail with God An importunate soul in prayer is like the poor beggar that prayes and knocks that prayes and waits that prayes and works that knocks and knits that begs and patches and will not stir from the door till he hath an alms Well Friends remember this God respects no more luke-warm prayers than he doth luke-warm persons and they are such that he hath threatned to spue out of his mouth Those prayers that are but lip-labour are lost-labour And therefore in all your Closet-prayers look to the fervency of your spirits My Seventh Advice and counsel is this Be constant as well as servent in closet-Closet-prayer look that you hold on and hold out and that you persevere to the end in private prayer 1 Thes 5. 17. Pray without ceasing A man must alwayes pray habitually though not actually he must have his heart in a praying disposition in all estates and conditions Though Closet-prayer may have an intermission yet it must never have a cessation Luke 18. 1. And he spake a Parable unto them to this end that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint or as the Greek hath it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shrink back as sluggards in work or cowards in war Closet-prayer is a fire like that on the Altar that was never to go out day nor Lev. 12. 6. night 1 Thes 3. 10. Night and day praying exceedingly Paul speaks like a man made up all of prayer like a man that minded nothing so much as prayer So Ephes 6. 18. Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Calvin makes this difference between praying alwayes in the beginning of this Verse and praying with perseverance in the end of this Verse By praying alwayes saith he he exhorts us to pray in prosperity as well as in adversity and not to quit the duty of prayer in a prosperous estate because we are not driven to it by outward pressing necessities and miseries and by praying with perseverance he admonisheth us that we be not weary of the work but continue instant and constance in its performance though we have not presently what we pray for So that praying alwayes is opposed to a neglect of the Duty in its proper times and seasons and praying with perseverance is opposed to a fainting in our spirits in respect of this or that particular suit or request that we put up to God When God turns a deaf ear to our prayers we must not fret nor faint we must not be dismayed nor discouraged but we must hold up and hold on in the Duty of prayer with invincible patience courage and constancy as the Church did Lament 3. 8 44 55 56 57. compared Col. 4. 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving We must be constant and instant in Closet-prayer we must wait upon it and lay all aside for it He that is only in his Closet by fits and starts will neither glorifie God nor advantage his own soul If we do not make a
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications vers 12 13 14. And the Land shall mourn every family apart the family of the House of David apart and their Wives apart the family of the House of Nathan apart and their Wives apart The family of the House of Levi apart and their Wives apart the family of the House of Shimei apart and their VVives apart All the families that remain every family apart and their VVives apart Mark in the Joel 2. 28 29. Isa 44 3. last of the last dayes when men shall be generally under a greater effusion of the Holy Spirit than ever then they shall be more given up to secret prayer than ever There will never be such praying apart and such mourning apart as there will be when the Lord shall pour out most richly gloriously abundantly of his Spirit upon his poor people now every one shall pour out his tears and his soul before God in a corner to shew the soundness of their sorrow and to shew their sincerity by their secrecy for Ille dolet vere qui sine teste dolet He grieves with a witness that grieves without a witness Certainly the more any man is now under the blessed pouring out of the Spirit of Christ the more that man gives himself up to secret Communion with Christ Every man is more or less with Christ in his Closet as he is more or less under the anointings of the Spirit of Christ The more any man hath of the Spirit of Christ the more he loves Christ and the more any man loves Christ the more he delights to be with Christ alone Lovers love to be alone The more any man hath of the Spirit of Christ the more his heart will be set to please Christ Now nothing pleaseth Christ more than the secret prayers of his people Cant. 2. 14. O my Dâ—ve that art in the clefts of the Rock in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voyce and thy countenance is comely And therefore such a one will be much in secret prayer The more any man hath of the Spirit of Christ the more his heart will be set upon glorifying and exalting Christ Now nothing glorifies Christ more nor exalts him more than secret prayer and therefore the more any man hath of the Spirit of Christ the more that man will be found in secret prayer There are many persons who say they would be more in their Closets than they are but that they meet with many hinderances many occasions many diversions many temptations many oppositions many difficulties many discouragements which prevent them Ah Friends had you a greater measure of the Holy Spirit upon you none of these things should ever be able to hinder your secret trade Heaven-ward Had you a more rich anointing of the Spirit upon you you would never plead there is a Lyon in the way a Lyon in the Streets but were there a thousand Pro. 26. 13. Lyons between you and your Closets you would either step over them or make your way through them that so you might enjoy Communion with Christ in your Closets But Eighthly and Lastly As ever you would keep close to private prayer Be frequent in the serious Consideration of Eternity O see Eternity standing at the end of every Closet-Prayer and this will make you pray to purpose in your Closets O Sirs every work you doe is a step to a blessed or to a cursed Eternity Every motion every action in this life is a step toward Eternity As every step that a Traveller takes brings him forward to his journeys end So every step that a man takes in the secret wayes of Righteousness and Holiness such as Closet-Duties are they bring him neerer to his journeys end they bring him neerer to a blessed Eternity Look as every step the sinner takes in a way of wickedness brings him neerer to Hell so every step that a Saint takes in a way of Holiness brings him neerer to Heaven Look as every step that a wicked man takes in the wayes of unrighteousness brings him nearer to a cursed Eternity so every step that a godly man takes in a way of Righteousness brings him neerer to a blessed Eternity Zeuxis the famous Painter was so exceeding careful and curious in drawing all his Lines that he would let no Piece of his go abroad into the World to be seen of men till he had turn'd it over and over and viewed it on this side and that side again and again to see if he could spie any fault in it and being asked the reason why he was so curious and so long in drawing his Lines answered Aeternitati pingo I paint for Eternity O Sirs we all pray for Eternity we fast for Eternity we read for Eternity we hear for Eternity we wait for Eternity we weep for Eternity and therefore O how curiously how exactly how wisely how faithfully how carefully how diligently how unweariedly should we be in all our Closet-Duties and services seeing that all we do is in order to Eternity Friends you must all e're long be eternally blest or eternally curst eternally happy or eternally miserable eternally saved or eternally damned eternally accepted or eternally rejected And therefore what infinite cause have you frequently to shut to your Closet Doors and to plead mightily with God in in a corner for the lives of your poor precious and immortal souls that they may be eternally saved in the great day of our Lord Jesus O Sirs when any hinderances to Closet-prayer present themselves to you seriously remember Eternity and that will remove them It is related of one Pachomius that whensoever he felt any unlawful Drex de Eternit consid 8. desires to arise in his mind he was wont to drive them away with the remembrance of Eternity The same Author relates a story out of Benedictus Rhrexanus of an ungodly fellow who on a certain Ibid. con 5. night could not sleep who up on the serious Consideration of Death and Eternity and the damned lying in Hell could not be at rest but Eternity did still run in his mind faâ—n would he have shaken off the thoughts thereof as gnawing worms therefore he followed sports and pastimes and merry meetings and sought out Companions like himself and sat oftentimes so long at his Cups that he laid his Conscience asleep and so seemed to take some rest but when he was awakened his Conscience flew in his face and would still be a suggesting sad thoughts of Eternity to him of all things in the world he could not bear it to be kept awake in the night but so it happened that being sick he was kept awake one night and could not sleep at all whereupon these thoughts rise in him VVhat is it so tedious then to be kept from sleep one night and to lye a few hours in the dark
eight wayes p. 352 to p. 384. Six Arguments to prove that all Christians do not enjoy a like Communion with God in their Closets p. 356 to p. 363. Of Curiosity  Curiosity is a very great hinderance to Closet-prayer p. 410 to p. 418. E  Of Examples  We are bound to follow the best Examples p. 16 to p. 19. Christ's Example is for our imitation p. 22 23. Of Eternity  As ever you would keep close to Closet-Prayer be frequent in the consideration of Eternity p. 470 to the end Of Experiences  He that would keep close to Closet-Duties must keep a diary of his Closet-Experiences p. 453 to p. 457. F  Of a Friend or Friends  VVhat a Friend Christ is shewed in Ten particulars p. 76 77 78. H  Of Hypocrites  No Hypocrites make secret Prayer their ordinary trade or work p. 27. to p. 30. I  Of Idleness  Idleness is a very great hinderance to Closet-Prayer and therefore take heed of it p. 400 to p. 408. L  Of Love  He that would be much with God in his Closet must labour to Love Christ with a more enflamed Love p. 460 461 462. M  Eight special Meanes to help on that great Duty of Closet-Prayer from p. 451 to the end of the Book N  Of Neglecting Prayer  He that willingly Neglects private Prayer shall certainly be neglected in his Publick prayer p. 100 to p. 103. O  Objections  Object 1. We have much business upon our hands and we cannot spare time for Closet-Prayer c. Eight Answers are given to this Objection that it might never more have a resurrection p. 134 to p. 162. Object 2. Sir We grant that Closet-Prayer is an indispensable Duty that lyes upon the People of God but we are servants and have no time that we can call our own and our Masters businesse is such as will not allow us any time for private Prayer and therefore we hope we may be excused  Ten Answers are given to this Objection from p. 162. to p. 202. Object 3. O but we cannot pray alone we want those gifts and endowments which others have we are shut up and know not how to pour out our souls before God in a corner  Six Answers are given to this Objection from p. 202 to p. 251. Object 4. God is very well acquainted with all our wants necessities straits and tryals and there is no moving of him to bestow any favours upon us which he doth not intend to bestow upon us whether we pray in our Closets or no.  Four Answers are given to this Objection p. 251 to p. 257. Object 5. I would drive a private trade wtth God I would exercise my self in secret Prayer but I want a convenient place to retire into I want a private corner to unbosome my Soul to my Father in  Three Answers are given to this Objection p. 257 to p. 261. Object 6. VVe would be often in private with God we would give our selves up to Closet-Prayer but that we can no sooner shut our Closet-doores buâ— a multitude of infirmities weaknesses and vanities doe face us and rise up against us besiâ—es both our bodies and souls are under great indispositions and how then can we seek the face of God in a corner  Six Answers are given to this Objection from p. 261 to p. 297. Of Gods Omnipresence  God is Omnipresent p. 96 to p. 100. Oâ— Prayer  First Such are reproved that put off Private Prayer till they are moved to it by the Spirit p. 123 124 125. Secondly Such that pray not at all neither in their families nor in their Closets p. 125 126 127 Thirdly Such as are all for publick Prayer for going up to the Temple but never care to go into their Closets p. 127 128. Fourthly Such who in their Closets pray with a loud and clamorous voice p. 128 129. Five Arguments to redresse this evil p. 130 131 132 Fifthly Such are reproved that do all they can to hinder and discourage others from Private Prayer p. 232 133. Of the Promises  Eight considerable hints about the Promises p. 207 208 209. R  Of the Rod.  In seven particulars Afflictions resemble a Rod in the Epistle Dedicary  Twenty special Lessons we are to learn by the Rod in the Epistle Dedicatory  Of Rewards  Secret Duties shall have open Rewards p. 34 35. Of Resolutions  He that would be much in his Closet he must be a man of high through and fitted Resolutions p. 462 463 464 465. S  Of the Spirit  Seven Arguments to prove that all the Children of God have the Spirit of God p. 216 to p. 228. He that would keep close to Closet-Duties had need labour for a greater effusion of the Spirit p. 466 to p. 470. Of the Spirits Sealing  Ten special Sealing times of the Spirit p. 228 to p. 249. Of Secret Prayer  Secret Prayer is most enriching p. 67 to p. 70. Secret Prayer is a Christians meat and drink it is his chief City of refuge in times of Affliction and Persecution p. 91 to p. 96. Our neer and dear relations to God calls aloud for Secret Prayer p. 107 to p. 111. God hath set a special mark of favour and honour upon those that have Prayed in Secret p. 111 to p. 113. Satan is a great enemy to Secret Prayer p. 113 to p. 116. Five things we may infer from thence p. 116 117. See Closet-Prayer  Of Secret Sins  All Christians have their Secret Sins p. 70 to p. 73. Four Arguments to take heed of Secret Sins p. 421 to p. 451. Of Secrets  God reveales his Secrets only to his People p. 75 to p. 78. There are three sorts of divine Secrets that God reveals to his People p. 78 to p. 91. Of Gods Secret ones  The Saints are only the Lords Secret ones p. 117 to p. 123. T  The Text opened p. 1 to p. 6. Of the Times and of Time  The times wherein we live calls aloud for Secret Prayer p. 103 to p. 107. We must take heed of spending too much of our precious Time about the little things of Religion p. 408 409 410. About Redeeming of Time  Five Reasons why Servants should Redeem Time for Private Prayer from their sleep recreations or set meals c. p. 185 to p. 193. W  Of the World  A man that would exercise himself in Closet-Prayer must take heed of engaging himself in a crowd of Worldly businesses p. 418 to p. 421. FINIS
in favour with God a man that art very pleasing and delightful to God God loves to lade the wings of private prayer with the sweetest choicest and chiefest blessings Ah how often hath God kissed a poor christian at the beginning of private prayer and spoke peace to him in the midst of private prayer and fill'd him with light and joy and assurance upon the close of private prayer And so Cornelius is highly commended and graciously rewarded upon the account of his private prayer Acts. 10. 1 2 3 4. There was a certain man in Cesarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the Band called the Italian Band a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much Alms to the people and prayed to God alwayes He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth houre of the day an Angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him Cornelius And when he looked on him he was afraid and said what is it Lord and he said unto him thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God Vers 30. 31. And Cornelius said four dayes agoe I was fasting until this hour that is until about three a clock in the after-noon vers 3. and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright cloathing and said Cornelius thy prayer is heard and thine Alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God Mark as he was praying in his house namely by himself alone a man in bright clothing that was an Angel in mans shape vers 3. appeared to him and said Cornelius thy prayer is heard he doth not mean only that prayer which he made when he fasted and humbled himself before the Lord vers 30. 31. but as vers 2 3 4. shews His prayers his prayers which he made alone for it seemes none else were with him then for he only saw that man in bright cloathing and to him alone the Angel addressed his present speech saying Cornelius thy prayers are heard vers 4 31. Here you see that Cornelius his private prayers are not only heard but kindly remembred and graciously accepted and gloriously rewarded Praying Cornelius is not only remembred by God but he is also visited sensibly and evidently by an Angel and assured that his private prayers and good deeds are an odour a sweet smel a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God And so when had Peter his Vision but when he was praying alone on the house-top Acts 10. 9 10 11 12 13. On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the City Peter went up unto the house-top to pray about the sxith hour And he became very hungry and would have eaten but while they made ready he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and a certain Vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air And there came a voice to him Rise Peter kill and eat When Peter was upon the house-top at prayer alone then he fell into a trance and then he saw Heaven opened and then he had his spirit raised his Mind clevated and all the Faculties of his soul filled with a Divine Revelation And so when Paâ—l was at prayer alone he saw in Acts 11 18. a Vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight Paul had not been long at private prayer before it was revealed to him that he was a chosen vessel before he was filled with the gifts Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost And when John was alone in the Isle of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ whither he was banished by Domitian a most cruel Emperor then he had a glorious Euseb l. 3. c. 18. Rev. 1. 9 ult Rev. 5. 1 to 9. sight of the Son of man and then the Lord discovered to him most deep and profound Mysteries both concerning the present and future state of the Church to the end of the world And when John was weeping in private prayer doubtless then the sealed book was opened to him So when Daniel was at private prayer God dispatches a heavenly messenger to him and his Errand was to open more clearly and fully the blessed Scripture to him Some comfortable encourraging knowledge this holy man Doctor Ames got his learning by privat prayer and so did Solomon his wisdom of God had attain'd unto before by his frequent and constant study in the word and this egges him on to private prayer and private prayer posts an Angel from heaven to give him a clearer and fuller light Private prayer is a Golden-key to unlock the mysteries of the word unto us The knowledge of many choice and blessed Truths are but the returns of private prayer The Word dwells most richly in their hearts who are most in pouring out of their hearts before God in their Closets When Bonaventure that seraphical Doctor as some call him was asked by Aquinas from what books and helps he derived such holy and divine expressions and contemplations He pointed to a Crucifix and said Iste est liber c. Prostrate in prayer at the feet of this Image my soul receiveth greater light from heaven than from all study and disputation Though this be a Monkish tradition superstitious Fiction yet some improvement may be made of it Certainly that Christian or that Minister that in private prayer lyes most at the feet of Jesus Christ he shall understand most of the mind of Christ in the Gospel and he shall have most of heaven and the things of his owne peace brought down into his heart There is no Service wherein christians have such a near familiar and friendly entercourse with God as in this of private prayer neither is there any Service wherein God doth more delight to make known his truth and faithfulness his grace and goodness his mercy and bounty his beauty and glory Bene orasse est bene studuisse Luther to poor Souls than this of private prayer Luther professeth That he profited more in the knowledge of the Scripture by private prayer in a short space than he did by study in a longer space As John by weeping in a corner got the sealed book opened Private prayer crownes God with the Honor and Glory that is due to his Name and God crowns private prayer with a discovery of those blessed weighty Truths to his servants that are a sealed book to others Certainly the soul usually enjoyes most communion with God Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus Never less alone than when alone said the Heathen And may not a Saint say so much more that hath communion with God Jer. 13. 1 2. in secret When a christian is
6 7 8. So Luther perceiving the Cause of God and the work of Reformation to be greatly straitned and in danger he went into his Closet and never left wrestling with God till he had received a gracious answer from Heaven upon which he comes out of his closet to his friends leaping and triumphing with Vicimus vicimus we have overcome we have overcome in his mouth At which time it is observed that there came out a Proclamation from Charls the Fifth that none should be further molested for the Profession of the gospel At another time Luther being in private prayer for a sick friend of his who was very comfortable and useful to him had a particular answer for his recovery whereupon he was so confident that he sent word to his friend that he should certainly recover and so it fell out accordingly And so Latimer prayed with great zeale for three things 1. That Queen Elizabeth might come to the Crown 2. That he might seale the truth with his heart blood And 3. That the Gospel might be restored once again once again which he expressed with great vehemency of spirit All which three God heard him in Constantine commanded that his Effigies should be engraven not as other Emperours in their Armour leaning but as in a posture of prayer kneeling to manifest to the world that he won more by secret prayer than by open Battles Mr. Dod reports that when many good people had often sought the Lord in the behalf of a woman that was possessed with the Devil and yet could not prevaile at last they appointed a day for fasting and prayer at which time there came a poor woman to the chamber door where the exercise was begun and craved entrance but she being poor they would not admit her in upon that the poor woman kneeled down behind the door and sought God by prayer But she had not prayed long before the evil spirit raged roared and cried out in the possessed woman take away the old woman behind the doore for I must be gone take away the old woman behind the door for I must be gone And so by the old womans prayers behind the doore he was cast out Oh the prevalency of prayer behind the door And thus you see by all these great instances the great prevalency of private prayer Private prayer like Sauls sword and Jonathans Bow when duely qualified as to the person and act never returns empty it hits the marke it carries the day with God it pierceth the walls of Heaven though like those of Gaza made of brass and Iron Isa 45. 2. O who can express the powerfull oratory of private prayer c. Ninthly consider that secret duties are the most soul-enriching duties Look as secret meales make fat bodies so secret duties make fat souls and as secret Trades brings in great earthly riches so secret prayers makes many rich in spiritual blessings and in heavenly riches Private prayer is that privy key of heaven that unlocks all the Treasures of glory to the soule The best riches and the sweetest mercies God usually gives to his people when they are in their closets upon their knees Look as the warmth the Chickens find by close sitting under the Hens wings cherisheth them so are the graces of the Saints enlivened and cherished and strengthned by the sweet secret influences which their souls fall under when they are in their closet-communion with God Private prayer conscienciously performed is the privie key of heaven that hath unlocked such treasures and such secrets as hath past the skill of the cunningest Devil to find out Private prayer Midwifes the choicest mercies and the chiefest riches in upon us Certainly there are none so rich in gracious experiences as those that are most exercised in closet duties Ps 34. 6. This poor man cried saith David and the Lord saved him out of all his troubles David pointing to himself tells us that he cried that is silently and secretly as Moses did at the red sea and as Exod. 14. 15. Neh. 1. 11. 2. 4. Nehemiah did in the presence of the King of Persia and the Lord saved him out of all his troubles And O what additions were these deliverances to his experiences O my friends look as the tender dew that falls in the silent night makes the grass and herbs and flowers to flourish and grow more abundantly than great showrs of raine that fall in the day so secret prayer will more abundantly cause the sweet herbs of grace and holiness to grow and flourish in the soul than all those more open Publick and visible duties of Religion which too too often are mingled and mixt with the sun and wind of pride and hypocrisie Beloved you know that many times a Favourite at Court gets more by one secret motion by one private request to his Prince than a Trades-man or a Merchant gets in twenty years labour and paines c. So a Christian many times gets more by one secret motion by one private request to the King of Kings than many others doe by Trading long in the more publick Duties of Religion O Sirs remember that in private prayer we have a far greater advantage as to the exercise of our own gifts and graces and parts than we have in Publick for in Publick we only hear others exercise their parts and gifts c. in Publick duties we are more passive but in private duties we are more active Now the more our gifts and parts and graces are exercised the more they are strengthned and increased All acts strengthen habits The more sin is acted the more 't is strengthned And so 't is with our gifts and graces the more they are acted the more they are strengthned But Tenthly Take many things together All Christians have their secret Sins Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults Secret not only to other men but himself even such secret sins as grew from errours which he understood not 'T is incident to every man to erre and then to be ignorant of his errours Many sins I see in my self saith he and more there are which I cannot espy which I cannot find out nay I think saith he that every mans sins do arise beyond his accounts There is not the best the wisest nor the holiest man in the world that can give a full and entire list of his sins Who can understand his errors This interrogation hath the force of an affirmation Who can No man no not the most perfect and innocent man in the world O friends who can reckon up the secret sinfull imaginations the secret sinful inclinations or the secret pride the secret blasphemies the secret hypocrisies the secret Atheistical risings the secret murmurings the secret repinings the secret discontents the secret insolencies the secret filthynesses the secret unbelievings c. that God might every day charge upon his soul Should the best and holiest man on earth have
is a very great enemy to secret prayer Secret prayer is a scourge a hell to Satan every secret prayer adds to the Devils torment and every secret sigh adds to his torment and every secret groan adds to his torment every secret tear adds to his torment When a child of God is on his knees in his secret addresses There is no one thing that many hundred Christians have more sadly lamented and bewailed as many saithful Ministers can witness than the sad interruptions that they have met with from Satan when they have been with God alone in a room in a corner O! how often have they been scared affrighted and amazed by noyses strange apparitions at least to their fancies when they have been alone with God in a corner to God O the strange thoughts the earthly thoughts the wandring thoughts the distracted thoughts the hideous thoughts the blasphemous thoughts that Satan often injects into his soul and all to wean him from secret prayer and to weary him of secret prayer Sometimes he tells the soul that 't is in vain to seek God in secret and at other times he tells the soul 't is too late to seek God in secret for the door of mercy is shut and there is no hope no help for the soul Sometimes he tells the soul that 't is enough to seek God in Publick and at other times he tells the soul that 't is but a precise trick to seek the Lord in private Sometimes he tells the soul that 't is not elected and therefore all his secret prayers shall be rejected and at other times he tells the soul that 't is sealed up unto the day of wrath and therefore secret prayer can never reverse that seal and all this to dishearten and discourage a poor Christian in his secret retirements Sometimes Satan will object to a poor Christian the greatness of his sins at other times he will object against a Christian the greatness of his unworthyness Sometimes he will object against a Christian his want of grace and at other times he will object against a Christian his want of gifts to manage such a duty as it should be managed Sometimes he will object against a Christian his former streightnedness in secret prayer and at other times he will object against a Christian the smal yearnings that he makes of secret prayer and all to work the soule out of love with secret prayer yea to work the soul to loath secret prayer so deadly an enemy is Satan to secret prayer O the strange fears fancies and conceits that Satan often raises in the spirits of Christian when they are alone with God in a corner and all to work them to cast off private prayer 'T is none of Satans least designes to interrupt a Christian in his private trade with God Satan watches all a Christians motions so that he cannot turn into his closet nor creep into any hole to converse privately with his God but he followes him hard at heels will be stil injecting one thing or another into the soul or else objecting one thing or another against the soul A Christian is as well able to tell the stars of Heaven and to number the sands of the sea as he is able to number up the several devices and slights that Satan uses to obstruct the souls private addresses to God Now from that great opposition that Satan makes against private prayer a Christian may safely conclude these five things First The excellency of private prayer Certainly If it were not an excellent thing for a man to be in secret with God Satan would never make such head against it Secondly The necessity of this duty The more necessary any duty is to the internal and eternal welfare of a Christian the more Satan will bestir himself to blunt a Christians Spirit in that duty Thirdly The utility or profit that attends a conscientious discharge of this duty Where we are like to gain most there Satan loves to oppose most Fourthly The prevalency of private prayer If there were not a kind of an omnipotency in it if it were not able to doe wonders in heaven and wonders on earth and wonders in the hearts and lives and wayes of men Satan would never have such an akeing tooth against it as he hath Fifthly That God is highly honoured by this duty or else Satan would never be so greatly enraged against it This is certaine The more Glory God hath from any service we do the more Satan will strive by all his wiles and slights to take us either off from that service or so to interrupt us in that service that God may have no honour nor we no good nor himself no hurt by our private retirements But in the Twentieth and last place consider that you are only the Lords secret ones his hidden ones and therefore if you do not apply your selves to private prayer and to your secret retirements that you may enjoy God in a corner none will 'T is only Gods hidden ones his secret ones that are spirited principled and prepared to waite on God in secret Exod. 19. 5. Then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people The Hebrew word Segullah signifieth Gods special Jewels Gods proper ones or Gods secret ones that he keeps in store for himself and for his own special service and use Princes lock up with their own hands in secret their most precious and costly Jewels and so doth God his Psal 135. 4. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure or for his secret Gem. Psal 83. 3. They have taken craftie counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones or thy secret ones so called partly because God hides them in the secret of his Tabernacle partly because God sets Psal 31. 20. as high a value upon them as men do upon their hidden treasure their secret treasure yea he makes more reckoning of them than he doth of all the world besides And so the world shall know when God shall arise to revenge the wrongs and injuries that hath been done to his secret ones Neither are there any on earth that knowes so much of the secrets of his love of the secrets of his counsels of the secrets of his purposes of the secrets of his heart as his secret ones do Neither are there any in all the world that are under those secret influences those secret assistances those secret incomes those secret anointings of the Spirit as his secret ones are under And therefore no wonder if God calls them again and gain and again his secret ones Now what can be more comely or more desireable than to see their natures and their practices to answer to their names They are the Lords secret ones his hidden ones and therefore how highly doth it concern them to be much with God in secret and to hide themselves with God in a corner Shall
But many will be ready to object and say We have much business upon our hands and we cannot spare time for private prayer we have so much to doe in our shops and in our ware-houses and abroad with others that we cannot spare time to waite upon the Lord in our Closets Now to this Objection I shall give these Eight Answers that this Objection may never have a resurrection more in any of your hearts First What are all those businesses that are upon your hands to those great businesses weighty affaires that did lye upon the hands of Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses David Daniel Elias Nehemiah See the first Consideration Peter Cornelius and yet you find all these worthies exercising themselves in Private prayers And the King is commanded every day to read some part of Gods word notwithstanding all his great and weighty imployments Deut. 17. 18 19 20. Now certainly Sirs your great businesses are little more than ciphers compared with theirs And if there were any on earth that might have pleaded an exemption from private prayer upon the account of business of much business of great business these might have done it but they were more honest and more noble than to neglect so choice a duty upon the account of much business these brave hearts made all their publick imployments stoop to private prayer they would never suffer their publick imployments to tread private prayer under foot But Secondly I answer no mens outward affaires did ever more prosper than theirs did who devoted themselves to private prayer notwithstanding their many and great worldly employments Witness the prosperity outward flourishing estates of Moses Abraham Isaac Jacob Nehemiah David Daniel and Cornelius these were much with God in their Closets and God blest their blessings to them how Gen. 22. 17 did their cups over flow what signall favours did God heape upon them and theirs No families have been so prospered protected and graced as theirs who have maintained secret communion with God in a Corner Private prayer 1 Chron. 11. 9. doth best expedite our temporal affairs he that prayes well in his Closet shall be sure to speed well in his Shop or at his Plough or 1 Tim. 4. 8. what-ever else he turns his hand unto 'T is true Abimelech was rich as well as Abraham and so was Laban rich as well as Jacob and Saul was a King as well as David and Julian was an Emperour as well as Constantine But 't was only Abraham Jacob David and Constantine who had their blessings blest unto them all the rest had their blessings curst unto them they had many Prov. 3. 33. Mal. 2. 2. good things but they had not the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush with what they had and therefore all their mercies were but bitter-sweets unto them Though all the sons of Jacob returned laden from Gen. 43. Aegypt with corn and money in their sacks yet Benjamin only had the silver cup in the mouth of his sack So though the men of the world have their Corn and their Money c. yet 't is only God's Benjamin's that have the silver Cup the Grace-Cup the Cup of blessing as the Apostle calls 1 Cor. 10. 16 it for their portion O sirs as ever you would prosper and flourish in the world as ever you would have your water turn'd into wine your temporal mercies into spiritual benefits be much with God in your closets But Thirdly I answer 'T is ten to one but that the objecter every day fools away or trifles away or idles away or sins away one hour in a day and why then should he object the want of time There are none that toyle and moyle and busie themselves most in their worldly imployments but doe Myrmecides a famous Artist spent more time in making a Bee than an unskilful workman would do to build a house Plutarch spend an houre or more in a day to little or no purpose either in gazing about or in dallying or toying or dourting or in telling of stories or in busying themselves in other mens matters or in idle visits or in smoaking the Pipe c. And why then should not these men redeem an hours time in a day for private prayer out of that time which they usually spend so vainly and idly can you notwithstanding all your great worldly imployments find an hour in the day to catch flyes in as Domitian the Emperour did and to play the fool in and cannot you find an hour in the day to wait on God in your closets There were three special faults whereof Cato professed himself to have seriously repented one was passing by water when he might have gone by land another was trusting a secret in a womans bosome but the main was spending an hour unprofirably This heathen will one day rise up in Judgment against them who notwithstanding their great imployments spend many hours in a week unprofitably and yet cry out with the Duke of Alva that they have so much to do on earth that they have no time to look up to heaven 'T was a base and sordid spirit in that King Sardanapalus who spent much of his time amongst women in spinning and carding which should have been spent in Ruling and governing his Kingdome So 't is a base sordid spirit in any to spend any of their time in toying and trifling and then to cry out that they have so much business to do in the World that they have no time for closet-closet-prayer they have no time to serve God nor to save their own precious and immortal souls But Fourthly I answer No man dares plead this objection before the Lord Jesus in the great day of account And why then should any man be so childish foolish so â—ccl 11. 9. Rom 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. ignorant impudent to plead that before men which is not pleadable before the Judgment seat of Christ O sirs as you love your souls and as you would be happy for ever never put off your own consciences nor others with any plea's arguments or objections now that you dare not own and stand by when you shall lye upon a dying bed and when you shall appear before the whole court of heaven c. In the great day of account when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest and God shall call men to a reckoning before Angels Men and Devils for the neglect of private prayer all giulty persons will be found speechless there will not be a man or woman found that shall dare to stand up and say Lord I would have waited upon thee in my closet but that I had so much business to do in the world that I had no time to enjoy secret communion with thee in a Corner 'T is the greatest wisdom in the world to plead nothing by way of excusein this our day that we dare not plead in the great day But.
God and out of a due regard to the internal and eternal welfare of their own souls shall every day redeem an hours time from their sleep or sports or feedings to spend with God in secret they shall find by experience that the Lord will make a few hours sleep sweeter and better than many hours sleep to them and their outward sports shall be made up with inward delights and for their common bread God will feed them with that bread that came down from heaven Sirs was not Christ The Evangelist applies these words to Christ Mat. 12. 15 16 17 18. his Fathers servant Isa 4â— 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect or choice one in whom my soul delighteth or is well pleased I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles Christ is called Gods servant in regard of his humane nature and in regard of his office of Mediatorship and did not he redeem time from his natural rest rather than he would omit private prayer Mark 1. 35. And in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed Christ spent the day in preaching in healing the sick in working of miracles and rather than these noble works should shut out private prayer he rises a great while before day that he might have some time to wrestle with his Father in secret So Luke 6. 12. And it came to pass in those dayes that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God O sirs did Christ spend whole nights in private prayer for the salvation of your souls and will you think it much to redeem an hours time from your natural rest to seek and to serve him in a corner and to make sure the things of your everlasting peace The redeeming of time for private prayer is the redeeming of a precious treasure which if once lost can never fully be recovered again If riches should make themselves wings and fly away they may return again as they did to Job or if credit and honour and worldly greatness and renown should fly away they may return again as they did to Nebuchadnezzar If success and famous victories and conquests should make themselves wings and fly away they may return again as they did to many of the Roman Conquerors and others But if Sophocles Phocilides c. time whom the Poets paint with wings to shew the volubility and swiftness of it fly from us it will never more return unto us A great Lady of this Land on Queen Elizabeth her dying bed cried out Call time again call time again a world of wealth for an inch of time but time past was never nor could never be recall'd The Aegyptians drew the picture of Time with three heads The First was of a greedy Wolf gaping for time past because it hath ravenously devoured even the memory of so many things past recalling The Second Of a crowned Lyon roaring for time present because it hath the principality of all action for which it calls aloud And the Third was of a deceitful Dog fawning for time to come because it feedes fond men with many flattering hopes to their eternal undoing O that all this might prevail with servants to redeem time for private prayer And if my counsel might take place I should rather advise servants to redeem some time for private prayer from their sleep or lawful recreations or set meales c. than to spend in private prayer that time which their masters call their time especially if their Masters be unconverted and in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and that for these five Reasons First Because this may be a means to prevent much Sin on the Masters side Masters that are in their unregenerate estate are very apt to storm and take on and let fly against God and Christ and Religion profession c. When they see their servants spend that time in private prayer or in any oother religious excercise which according to their understanding is their time and ought to be wholly spent in following their businesses Now gracious servants should have that honourable respect and that tender affection and that Christian compassion to their Masters souls as to do to the utmost all that lyes in them to prevent their Masters from contracting guilt upon their souls or from Jude 22 23. making work for repentance for hell or for the Physitian of souls The Persians the Turks and many Indians are so compassionate that they erect Hospitals not only for lame and diseased Men but also for Birds Beasts Dogs that are either aged starved or hurt O then what tender compassions should gracious servants exercise towards their Masters souls which are Jewels more worth then heaven and earth But Secondly Because this may be a means to convince the Judgments and Consciences of their Masters that there is some worth some excellency some sweetness c. to be found in private prayer and in other closet duties for when Masters shall observe their servants to redeem time for closet duties from their very sleep recreations dinner suppers they will be ready to conclude that certainly there is more worth more goodness more sweetness more excellency more glory more gain in closet duties than ever they have understood felt or experienced c. and that there very poor servants are better and more righteous than themselves Sotomen reports that the devout life of a poore Captive Christian woman made a King all his Family imbrace the Faith of Jesus Christ Good works convince more than Miracles themselves I have read of one Pachomius a souldier under Constantine the Emperor how that his Army being almost starved for want of necessary provision he came to a city of Christians and they of their own charity relieved them speedily and freely he wondering at their free and noble charity enquired what kind of people they were whom he saw so bountiful it was answered that they were Christians whose profession it is to hurt no man and do good to every man hereupon Pachomius convinced of the excellency of this Religion threw away his Arms and became a Christian a Saint Look as Husbands sometimes 1 Pet. 3. 1 2. are won by the conversation of their wives without the word so Masters may sometimes be won by the gracious carriage and conversation of their servants without the word The servants redeeming of time for private duties upon the hardest and severest tearms may be so blest to the Master that it may issue in his conviction conversion and salvation There is a may-be for it and a very may-be should be a sufficient encouragement for every gracious servant to do all he can to save the soul of his Master from going down into the infernal Pit But Thirdly Because the servants redeeming of time from his sleep recreations meals for
his own heart Look as the holy Spirit is not always a teaching Spirit nor always a leading Spirit nor always a comforting Spirit nor alwayes a sealing Spirit nor alwayes a witnessing Spirit nor alwayes an assuring Spirit to any of the Saints so he is not alwayes a supplicating Spirit in any of the Saints When he is grieved vexed quenched provoked he may suspend his gracious influences and deny the soul his assistance and what can a Christian then say or do But Secondly I answer Thou canst not pray but canst thou not sigh nor groan neither there may be the spirit of Adoption in sighs and groans as well as in vocal prayer Rom. 8. 26. The force the vertue the efficacie the excellency of prayer doth not consist in the number and flourish of words but in the supernatural motions of the spirit in sighs and groans and pangs and strong affections of heart that are unspeakable and unutterable Certainly the very soul of prayer lyes in the pouring out of a mans soul before the Lord though it be but in sighs groans and tears 1 Sam. 1. 13 19. One sigh and groan from a broken heart is better pleasing to God than all humane eloquence But Thirdly I answer Beg of God to teach thee to pray O beg the holy spirit that is a spirit of prayer God hath promised his holy spirit to them that ask it Luk. 11. 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will takeaway the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and doe them Ezek. 11. 19. And I will give them one heart I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh Zech. 12. 10. I will pour upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication Now Gracious promises are Gods bonds and he loves to see his people put them in suit God expects Isa 62. 6 7. Isa 42. 25 26. that we should be his Remembrancers and that we should pray over his promises When he had promised great things to his people concerning Justification Sanctification Preservation he subjoynes Yet I will for this be enquired of by Ezek. 36. 37. the house of Israel to doe it God looks that we should spread his gracious promises before him as Hezekiah Isa 37. 14. did Seanacheribs letter God is never better pleased than when his people importune him in his own words and urge him with arguments taken from his owne promises Though God be a very affectionate father and a very liberal father yet he is not a prodigal father for he will never throw away his mercies on such as will not stoutly and humbly plead out his promises with him God loves to take state upon him and will be sought unto both for his giving in of mercies and for his making good of precious promises Thou sayest thou can'st not pray why can'st thou not goe into a corner and spread the Promises last cited before the Lord and tell him how much it concernes his honour glory as well as thy own internal eternal good to make good those gracious promises that he hath made concerning his giving of his Spirit to them that ask him and his putting his Spirit within them and his pouring out a Spirit of grace and supplication upon them We read of Tamar that when Gen. 38. 18 25. Judah her father-in-law lay with her she took as a pledge his signet bracelets and staffe and afterwards when she was in great distress and ready to be burnt as an Harlot she then brought out her staff and signet and Bracelets and said by the man whose these are am I with child and thereby she saved her life The promises are as so many rich Mines they are as so many choice flowers of paradise they are the food life and strength of the soul They are as a staffe to support the soul and they are as a signet and Bracelets to adorne the soul and to enrich the soul and therefore poor sinners should bring them forth and lay them before the Lord and urge God with them there being no way on earth to save a mans soule and to prevent a burning in Hell like this Concerning precious promises let me give you these eight hints First that they are truly propounded stated by God Mark 10. 30. Secondly That they shall certainly be performed 2 Cor. 1. 20. they being all made in and thorow Christ they are made first to Christ and then to all that have union and communion with him Sirtorius saith Plutarch paid what he promised with fair words but so doth not God Men many times say and unsay they often eate their words as soon as they have spoken them but God will never eat the words that are gone out of his mouth Isa 46. 10 11. My counsel shall stand and I will doe all my pleasure yea I have spoken it I will also bring it to pass I have purposed it I will also doe it Thirdly That they all issue from free grace from special love Hos 14. 4. from divine goodness Fourthly That they are all as Jer. 31. 3. unchangable as he is that made them Fifthly That they are all bottomed and Mal. 3. 6. founded upon the truth faithfulness and all sufficiency of God Sixthly That they are pledges and pawnes of great things that Heb. 13. 5. God will doe for his people in time Seventhly That they are most Heb. 6. 12. sure and certain evidences of divine favour and a declaration of the Num. 23. 19. heart and good will of God to his poor people Eighthly That they are the price of Christs blood Now how should all these things encourage poor souls to be still a pressing of God with his promises But Fourthly You say you cannot pray c. O that you would leave off objecting and fall upon praying If you cannot pray as you would nor as you should pray as well as you can Josephs brethren stood so long dallying delaying and trifling out the time that having a Journey to goe to buy corn they might have bought and returned twice before they went and bought once When Eliah called Elizeus he goes about the bush 1 Kings 19. 20. and he must needs goe bid his father and mother farewel before he could follow the Prophet O friends take heed of dallying delaying trifling going about the bush when you should be a faling upon the work of prayer What though
with Hannah thou can'st but weep out a prayer or with Moses stammer out a prayer or with Hezekiah chatter out a prayer yet do as well as thou can'st and thou shalt find acceptance with God 2 Cor. 8. 12. For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not The Publicans prayer had not much Rhetorick or eloquence in it God be merciful to me a sinner and yet God accepted it He Luke 18. 13. prayed much though he spake little and God did not turn a deafe ear upon him That God that once accepted a handfull of meale Lev. 2. 1 2. Chap. 6. 15. Luke 21 3. for a sacrifice and a gripe of Goats hair for an oblation and the poor widows two mites as if they had been two millions will certainly accept of what thou art able to do though thou dost fall short yea much short of what thou oughtest to doe Lord saith Luther thou commandest me to pray I cannot pray as I would yet I will obey for though my prayer be not acceptable yet thine own commandement is acceptable to thee If weak Christians would but put forth in prayer that little strength they have God would quickly renew their spiritual strength he would certainly carry them on from strength to strength he would Isa 49. 29 30 31. Psal 84. 7. still by secret assistances and secret influences help them on in their heavenly trade As a loving indulgent Father will take his little Child in his armes and carry him on in his way home ward when his strength begins to fail him and he can walk no further and the way proves dirty slippery or uneven So doth God by his Hos 11. 3. I taught Ephram also to go as a nurse doth the infant taking them by their arm When Gods poor Children come to a fowl way or a rough place he takes them up in his own arms and helps them over the quagmire of Crosses and the difficulties of duties and over all that straitness and narrowness and weakness oâ— spirit that doth attend them in their closet performances 'T is observable that when the King of Israel was to shoot the Arrow 2 Kings 13. 16. he did put his hand upon the Bow and Elisha did put his hand upon the Kings hand So when we go into our Closets we are to put up our hand and then the Spirit of God likewise will put his hand upon our hand he will put his strength to our strengâ—h or rather to our weakness Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities lifts with us or helpeth together The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie such a help as when another man of strength and ability steppeth in to sustain the burden that lieth upon our shoulders be it a logg or a piece of timber setting his shoulders under it to lift up and bear part of it with us or to help us as the nurse helpeth her little child upholding it by the sleeve When a poor Christian sets himself to closet prayer or to mourn or to believe or to obey c. then the Spirit comes in with new help and new influences and new assistances and so carryes him on in all these noble services That child that doth but stammer at first in time will speak plainly and fluently O how many Christians are there that now can pray with much freedom liberty and fluency who at first could only sigh out a prayer or stammer out a prayer or weep out a prayer Thou saiest thou canst not pray but didst thou but stir up thy self to obey that command Matth. 6. 6. as well as thou canst thou dost not know but that a power may go forth with the command that may enable thee to act suitable to the command In Matth 9. 1 9. Christ bid the Palsie man rise and walk Take up thy bed and go unto thine house The Palsie man might have objected Alas I am carried by four I am not able to stir a limb much less to rise but least of all to take up my bed and walk c. Oh but he rouseth up himself as well as he could and a power went forth with the command that enabled him to do what was commanded So Matth. 12. 10 14 There was a poor man that had a withered hand and Christ commands him to stretch forth his hand he might have replied My hand is withered and if I might have as many worlds as there be men in the world to stretch it forth I could not stretch it forth yea if my very life if my very salvation did lie upon stretching forth my withered arm I could not stretch it forth Oh but he throws by all such plea's and complies with Christ's command as well as he could and a power went forth and healed his hand O sirs if you would but pray in your closets as well as you can you do not know but that such power and virtue might flow from Christ into your hearts as might carry you on in your closet duties beyond expectation even to admiration others have found it so and why not you why not you Well remember that God is no curious nor critical observer of the incongruous expressions that falls from his poor children when they are in their closet duties he is such a father as is very well pleased with the broken expressions and divine stammerings of his people when they are in a corner 'T is not a flood of words nor studied notions nor seraphical expressions nor elegant phrases in prayer that takes the ear or that delights the heart of God or that opens the gates of glory or that brings down the best of blessings upon the soul but uprightness holiness heavenlyness spiritualness and brokenness of heart these are the things that make a conquest upon God and that turns most to the souls account But Fifthly Thou sayst thou canst not pray but if thou art a child of God thou hast the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God is a Spirit of prayer and supplication That all the Children of God have the Spirit of God is most evident in the blessed Scriptures Take these for a taste Zach. 12. 10. I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication Psal 51. 11. Take not thy holy Spirit from me Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the Spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Thes 4. 8. Who hath given unto us his holy spirit 1 John 3. 2â— Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Chap. 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath
the Saints all things that is First He teacheth them all things needful for the salvation of their souls all things necessary to bring John 17. 3. them to heaven Secondly All things needful to life and godlyness 2 Pet. 1. 3. Thirdly all things needful to their places callings sexes ages and conditions Fourthly All things needful for you to know to preserve you in the truth and to preserve you from being deluded and seduced by those false teachers of whom he speaks vers 18 19 22 23 26. And certainly this is the main thing that John hints at in that expression The all things spoken of in Vers 27. according to the ordinary Scripture style must necessarily be interpreted only of all those things which are there spoken of But Sixthly They are all comforted by the Spirit Acts. 9. 31. They John 14. 16 26. and Chap. 15. 26. and Chap. 16. 7. walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and driâ—k but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy-Ghost 1 Thes 1. 6. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy of the holy-Ghost Not that all Christians have alwayes actual comfort or actual joy O no For as the Air is sometimes clear sometimes cloudy and as the Sea is sometimes ebbing sometimes flowing so the comforts and joyes of the people of God are sometimes ebbing and sometimes flowing sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy Hudson the Martyr being deserted at the stake went from under his chain and having prayed earnestly was comforted immediatly and suffered valiantly So Mr. Glover the Martyr was deserted in Prison but as he was going to the stake he lookt back and cried out to his friend He is come he is come meaning the Comforter and so he laid down his life with joy Rachel wept and would not be comforted she gave so much way to weeping that she would not give the least way to comfort and so 't is many times with the choicest Saints My soul refused to be comforted Psal 77. 2. 'T is not my purpose at present to insist on the several wayes whereby the people of God refuse comfort and fall short of those strong consolations which God is willing that they should receive The Sun may operate where it doth not shine and a man may be in a state of salvation and yet want consolation a man may fear the Isa 50. 10. 2. Lord and obey the voice of his servant and yet walk in darkness and see no light There is no Christian but may sometime have trouble in his conscience and grief in his heart and tears in his eyes and fears and questionings in his soul whether God be his Father and whether Christ be his Redeemer whether Mercy belongs to him yea whether any Promise in the Book of God belongs to him c. Joy and comfort are those dainties Psal 30. 6 7. those sweet-meets of heaven that God doth not every day feast his people with every day is not a wedding day nor every day is not a harvest day nor every day is not a summers day The fatted Calf is Luke 15. 22 23. Eccl. 3. 4. Rom. 12. 15. not kil'd every day nor the Robe the Ring is not every day put on every day is not a festival day nor a dancing day As there is a time to sing so there is a time to sigh as there is a time to laugh so there is a time to weep and as there is a time to dance so thereis a time to mourn All tears will never be clear wip'd from our eyes till all sinbe quite taken out of our hearts But notwithstanding all this yet gracious â—ouls have alwayes sure and choice grounds of consolation they have the promises they have the first fruits of the Spirit they have union with Christ and they have right to eternal life though they have not alwayes sensible comforts The Job 13. 15. Psal 42. 5. children of God have alwayes cause to exercise faith and hope on God in their darkest condition though they have not alwayes actual joy and consolation The comforter alwayes abides with the Saints though he doth not alway actually comfort the Saints John 14. 16. The Spirit many times carryes on his sanctifying work in the soul when he doth not carry on his comforting work in the soul the Spirit many times acts in a way of humiliation when he doth not act in a way of consolation the Spirit many times fills the soul with Godly sorrow when he doth not fill the soul with holy joy The actings of the Spirit as to his comforting work are all of his own soveraign will and pleasure and therefore he may abide in the soul when he doth not actually comfort the soul But Seventhly The people of God These words saith Zanchy are a inetaphor taken from Merchants who having bâ—ught goods seal them as their own and so transport them to other places Eph. 4. 24. first or last are sealed by the Spirit Ephes 1. 13. In whom after ye believed ye were sealed by the holy Spirit of promise The nature of sealing consists in the imparting of the image or Character of the Seal to the thing sealed To seal a thing is to stamp the character of the Seal on it Now the Spirit of God doth really and effectually communicate the image of God to us which image consists in righteousness and true holiness Then are we truly sealed by the Spirit of God when the holy Ghost stamps the image of grace and holiness so obviously so evidently upon the soul as that the soul sees it feels it and can run and read it then the soul is sealed by the holy Spirit So Ephes 4. 30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption The Person of the Holy-Ghost is here set forth in the Greek with a very great energy such as our Tongue is not able fully to express Here are three words that have three Articles every word his several Article by it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit not a Spirit and not holy but the holy nor of God but of that God 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts In these Scriptures you see that the Spirit is a seal Now a seal among men is First For secresie Secondly For distinction Thirdly For authority Fourthly For certainty A writing sealed is authentick and for ensureing In the three Texâ—s last cited if you compare them together you may observe these Six things First The Person sealing and that is the Father Secondly In whom in Christ Thirdly With what seal the Spirit of Promise Where are all the Persons in the Trinity making us sure of our inheritance Fourthly When after ye believed Fifthly
The End which is twofold 1. Subordinate and that is the certainty of our salvation 2. Ultimate and that is the praise of his glory Sixthly The Time how long this seal and earnest shall thus assure us and that is till we have the compleat possession of what it is an earnest To prevent mistakes and disputes about the Sealings of the Spirit on the one hand and to support comfort and encourage the poor people of God on the other hand let me briefly hint at the Spirits â—pecial sealing times As First Conversion times are often the Spirits sealing times Luke 15. 22 23. Upon the Prodigals return the fatted Calf is killed and the best Robe is put upon his back and the Ring is put upon his hand and shooes on his feet Some by the Robe understand the Royalty of Adam others the Righteousness of Christ And by the Ring some understand the pledges of Gods love Rings being given as pledges of love and by the Ring others understand the seal of Gods holy Spirit men useing to seal with their Rings Among the Romans the Ring was an ensigne of vertue honour and nobility whereby they that wore them were distinguished from the common people I think the main thing intended by the Robe and the Ring is to shew us that God sometimes upon the sinners conversion and returning to him is graciously pleased to give him some choice manifestations of his gracious pleasure and good-will and to seal up to him his everlasting love and favour And hence it comes to pass that some that are but babes in Christ are 1 Pet. 2. 2 3. 1. John 2. 12 13 14. Acts 9. 3 4 5 6. so diligent and active in religious duties and so consciencious and dexterous in the exercise of their Graces At first conversion God helps some of his people to read their own names written in legible letters in the Book of Life No sooner are some converted but the Spirit stamps his seale upon them Secondly Beleeving times are sealing times Ephes 1. 13. When they were in the very exercise of their faith when they were acting Rom. 15. 1 Pet. 1. 8. of their faith for so much the Original imports the Spirit came and sealed them up to the day of redemption He that honours Christ by frequent actings of faith on him him will Christ honour by setting his seal and mark upon him Thirdly Humbling times mourning times are sealing times When a holy man was askt which were the joyfullest dayes the comfortablest dayes that ever he enjoyed he answered his mourning dayes His mourning dayes were his joyfullest dayes and therefore he cried out O give me my mourning dayes give me my mourning dayes for they were my joyfullest dayes Those were dayes wherein God sealed up his everlasting love to his soul Job 22. 29. Isa 29. 19. When the Prodigal had greatly humbled himself before his father then the best Robe and the Ring were put upon him Luke 15. 17 24. There are none that long for the sealings of the Spirit like humble souls nor none set so high a price upon the sealings of the Spirit as humble souls nor none make so choice an improvement of the sealings of the Spirit as humble souls And therefore when mens hearts are humble and low the Spirit comes and sets the privy seal of heaven upon them Fourthly Sin-killing sin-mortifying sin-subduing times are the Spirits sealing times Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written that no man knowes saving he that receiveth it God will give to the victorious Christian a secret love-token whereby his soul may rest assured of the unspeakable love of God and of its freedom from condemnation White stones were of very great use among the Romans and among the Athenians and served to acquit the accused in Courts of Justice When Malefactors were accused arraigned and condemned in their Courts they gave them a Black stone in token of condemnation but when they were acquitted they gave them White stones in token of absolution And to this practise the holy Ghost seems to allude He that is victorious over Isa 56. 5. his lusts shall have a new Name that is better than the names of sons and daughters and he shall have the pardon of his sins writ in fair letters upon the white stone so that he may run and read his absolution The victorious Christian shall 1 John 1. 7. have assurance of the full discharge of all his sins he shall have a clear evidence of his Justification and a blessed assurance of his eternal Election all which are hidden and mysterious things to all but those that have experienced and tasted what these sweet meats of Heaven mean Among the Romans there were solemn feasts held in honour of those that were victorious in their sacred Games Now those that were to be admitted to those Feasts were wont to have their names written on white shels and white stones and by these Tickets they were admitted Now some think the holy Ghost alludes to this practise and so would hint to us a privy mark whereby victorious Christians may be known and admitted as bidden guests to the heavenly banquet of the hidden Manna according to Rev. 19. 9. O sirs when predominate lusts are brought under when bosom sins lye slain in the soul then the Spirit comes and seals up love and life and glory to the soul Fifthly Suffering times are sealing times Act. 7. 55 56 59 60. Rev. 1. 9 10. 2 Cor. 4. 15 16 17. The primitive Christians found Acts 5. 40 41 42. Psal 71. 20 21. Psal 94. 19. Rev. 1. 9 10. them so and the suffering Saints in theÌ„ Marian dayes found them so When the Furnace is seven times hotter than ordinary the Spirit of the Lord comes and seals up a mans pardon in his bosom and his peace with God and his title to heaven When the world frowns most then God smiles most when the world puts their iron chains upon the Saints legs then God puts his golden chains about the Saints necks when the world puts a bitter cup into one hand then the Lord puts a cup of consolation into the other hand when the world cries out Crucifiè them crucifie them then commonly they hear that sweet voice from heaven These are my beloved ones in whom I am well pleased Blessed Bradford looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was in the right way to heaven And saith Ignatius It is better for me to be a Martyr than to be a Monarch Sixthly Self-denying times are the Spirits sealing times Matth. 19. 27 28 29. First There is sinful self which takes in a mans lusts Secondly There is natural self which takes in a mans arts parts gifts with Reason Thirdly There is religious self which takes in all a mans religious duties and services whether ordinary or
extraordinary Fourthly There is moral self which includes a freedome from gross hainous enormous wickednesses and a fair sweet harmless behaviour towards men Fifthly There is relative self which takes in our nearest and dearest relations in the flesh as Psal 45. 7 8 9 10 11. Wife Children Father Mother Brothers Sisters c. Now when a man comes thus universally to deny himself for Christ's sake and the Gospels sake and Religion sake then the Spirit of the Lord comes and seals him up unto the day of redemption This is a truth confirmed by the experiences of many Martyrs now in Heaven and by the testimony of many Christians still alive Seventhly Sacrament times are sealing times In that feast of fat things God by his Spirit seals up his love to his people and his covenant to his people and pardon of sin to his people and heaven and happiness to his people There are many precious souls that have found Christ in this Ordinance when they could not find him in other Ordinances though they have sought him sorrowingly In this Ordinance many a distressed soul hath been strengthned comforted and sealed I might give you many instances take one for all There was a gracious woman who after God had filled her soul with comfort and sealed up his everlasting love to her fell under former fears and trouble of Spirit and being at the Lords Supper a little before the bread was administred to her Satan seemed to appear to her and told her that she should not presume to eat but at that very nick of time the Lord was pleased to bring into her mind that passage in the Canticles Eat O my friends Cant. 5. 1. But notwithstanding this Satan still continued terrifying of her and when she had eaten he told her that she should not drink but then the Lord brought that second clause of the Verse to her remembrance Drink yea drink abundantly or be drunk as the Hebrew hath it my beloved or my loves as the Hebrew hath it All faithful souls are Christs Loves and so she drank also and presently was filled with such unspeakable joyes that she hardly knew how she got home Which soul-ravishing joyes continued for a fortnight after and filled her mouth with songs of praise so that she could neither sleep nor eat more than she forced her self to do out of conscience of duty At the fortnights end when God was pleased to abate her measure of joy she came to a setled peace of conscience and assurance of the love of God so that for twenty years after she had not so much as a cloud upon her spirit or the least questioning of her interest in Christ But Eighthly When God calls his people to some great and noble work when he puts them upon some high services some difficult duties some holy and eminent imployments then his Spirit comes and sets his seal upon them Jer. 1. 5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctifyed thee and I ordained thee to be a prophet unto the Nations The Lord sending the Prophet Jeremiah to denounce most dreadful judgements against a rebellious people an impudent brazen-faced Nation he assures him of his eternal election and of his choice presence and singular assistance in that work that he set him about vers 8 17 18 19. Thus the Lord dealt with Peter James and John Matth. 17. 1 to the 6th and thus he dealt with Paul Acts 9 to 23. Ninthly When they are taken up into more than ordinary communion with God then is the Spirits sealing time When was it that the Spouse cried out My beloved is mine and I am his but when Christ brought her to his banquetting house and his banner over her was love Cant. 2. 16. 3 4 5 6. compared c. Tenthly and lastly When Christians give themselves up to private prayer when Christians are more than ordinarily exercised in secret prayer in Closet duties then the Spirit comes and seals up the Covenant and the Love of the Father to them When Daniel Dan. 9. 20 21 22 23. had been wrestling and weeping and weeping and wrestling all day long with God in his Closet then the Angel tells him that he was a man greatly beloved of God or a man of great desires as the Original hath it There was a gracious Woman who after much frequenting of Sermons and walking in the ways of the Lord fell into great desertions but being in secret prayer God came in with abundance of light and comfort sealing up to her soul that part of his Covenant viz. I will take the stony heart out of Ezek. 11. 19 20. their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God And thus I have given you a brief account of the Spirits special sealing times Now mark This seal God sets upon all his wares upon all his adopted children for sooner or later there are none of his but are sealed with this seal God sets his John 3. 3. 2 Thess 2. 13. Heb. 12. 14. seal of Regeneration he stamps his Image of Holiness upon all his people to difference and distinguish them from all prophane moral and hypocritical persons in the World Doubtless the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost imprinting the draughts and lineaments of Gods Image of Righteousness and Holiness upon Man as a seal or signet doth leave an impression and stamp of its likeness upon the thing sealed is the seal of the Spirit spoken of in Scripture 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity But to prevent mistakes you must remember that though the Spirit of the Lord first or last will set his seal upon every real Saint yet the impression of that seal is not alike visible in all for some bear this impression as Babes others as men grown up to some maturity All Gods adopted children bear this impression truly but none of them bear it perfectly in this life Sometimes this seal of Regeneration this seal of Holiness is so plain and obvious that a man may run read it in himself and others and at other times 't is so obscure and dark that he can hardly discern it either in himself or others This seal is so lively stampt on some of Gods people that it discovers it self very visibly eminently gloriously but on others it is not alike visible And thus I have made it evident by these seven particulars that all the children of God have the Spirit of God Now mark The Spirit of God that is in all the Saints is a Spirit of prayer and supplication Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba
can easily find out private places for their dogs to lye in and their swine to sleep in and their horses to stand in and their oxen to feed in c. who can't find out a private place to seek the face of God in But did these men but love their God or their souls or private prayer or eternity as well or better than their beasts they would not be such bruiâ—es but that they would quickly find out a hole a corner to wait upon the Lord in But Secondly I Answer If a Christian be on the top of the house with Peter he may pray there or if he be walking in the field with Isaac he may pray there or if he be on the mountain with Christ he may pray there or if he be behind the door with Paul he may pray there or if he be waiting at table with Nehemiah he may secretly pray there or if he be in a wood he may pray there as the primitive Christians in times of persecution did or if he be behind a tree he may pray there or if he be by the Sea side he may pray there as the Apostles did 'T was a choice saying of Austin Every Saint is Gods Temple saith he and he that carryes his temple about him may go to prayer when he pleaseth Some Saints have never had so much of heaven brought down into their hearts as when they have been with God in a corner O the secret manifestations of divine love the secret kisses the secret embraces the secret influences the secret communion with God that many a precious Christian hath had in the most solitary places it may be behind the door or behind the wall or behind the hedge or behind the arbour or behind the tree or behind the rock or behind the bush c. But Thirdly and lastly didst thou never in thy unregenerate estate make use of all thy wits and parts and utmost endeavours to find out convenient seasons and secret corners and solitary places to sin in and to dishonour thy God in and to undoe thine owne and others souls in yes I remember with shame and blushing that 't was so with me when I was dead in Eph. 2. 1 2 3. trespasses and sins and walked according to the course of this world O how much then doth it concern thee in thy renewed sanctified and raised estate to make use of all thy wits and parts and utmost endeavours to find out the fittest seasons and the most secret corners and solitary places thou canst to honour thy God in and to seek the welfare of thine owne and others souls in O that men were but as serious studious and industrious to find out convenient seasons secret places to please and serve and glorifie the Lord in as they have been serious studious and industrious to find out convenient seasons and secret places to displease and grieve the Spirit of the Lord in But Sixthly and lastly others may further object and say we would be often in private with God we would give our selves up to closet prayer but that we can no sooner shut our closet doors but a multitude of infirmities weaknesses and vanities doe face us and rise up against us our hearts being full of distempers and follies and our bodies say some are under great indispositions and our souls say others are under present indispositions and how then can we seek the face of God in a corner how can we wrestle with God in our closets c. Now to this Objâ—ction I shall give these six Answers 1. Iâ— these kinds of reasonings or arguings were sufficient to shut private prayer out of doores where lives that man or woman that husband or wife that father or child that master or servant that Psa 40. 12. Psal 51. 5. Rom. 7. 15 24. Psal 130. 3. 1 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Chr. 6. 36. Phil. 3. 12. would ever bè found in the practise of that duty Where is there a person under heaven whose heart is not full of infirmities weaknesses follies and vanities and whose body and soul is not too often indisposed to closet duties 1 Kings 8. 46. If they sin against thee for there is no man that sinneth not c. Eccl. Grace in this life is like Gold in the ore full of mixture 7. 20. For there is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Job 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Job 9. 30 31. If I wash my self with Snow-water and make my hands never so clean Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine owne cloaths shall abhor me Job 9. 20. If I justifie my self my owne mouth shall condemne me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Psal 143. 2. And enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified James 3. 2. For in many things we offend all 1 John 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Such that affirme that men may be fully perfect in this life or without sin in this life they do affirme that which is expresly contrary to the Scriptures last cited and to the universal experience of all Saints who daily feel and lament over that body of sin and death that they bare about with them yea they do affirme that which is quite contrary to the very state or constitution of all the Saints in this life In every Saint the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that they cannot do the things Gal. 5. 17. that they would In every good Eph. 4. 22 23 24. man there are two men the old man and the new the one must be daily put on and the other daily put off All Saints have a law in their members rebelling against the law of their minds so that the Rom. 7. 23. 15. comp good that they would doe they do not and the evil that they would not do that they do They have two contrary principles in them from whence proceeds two manner of actions motions and inclinations continually opposite one to another hence it is that there is a continual combat in them like the strugling of the Twins in Rebecah's womb An absolute perfection is peculiar to the triumphant state of Gods Elect in Heaven Heaven is the onely priviledged place where no unclean thing can Rev. 23. 21 enter in that 's the only place where neither sin nor Satan shall ever get footing Such as dream of an absolute perfection in this life do confound and jumble heaven Heb. 12. 22 23. and earth together the state of the Church militant with the state of the Church Triumphant which are certainly distinct both in
beast in Sacrifice to the gods but when the beast was opened it was without a heart which the South-sayers looked upon as an ill omen 'T is a sad omen that thou wilt rather provoke the Lord than prevail with him who art habitually heartlesse in thy Closet-duties Of the heart God seemeth to say to us as Joseph did to his Brethren concerning Benjamin Ye shall not see my face without it It was the speech of blessed Bradford that he would never leave a Duty till he had brought his heart into the frame of the duty he would not leave confession of sin till his heart was broken for sin he would not leave petitioning for grace till his heart was quickened and enlivened in a hopeful expectation of more grace he would not leave gratulation till his heart was enlarged with the sence of the mercies he enjoyed and quickened in the return of praise My sixth advice and counsel is this Be fervent be warm be importunate with God in all your Closet-duties and performances James 5. 17. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much or as the Greek hath it the working prayer that is such working 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayer as sets the wholeman on work as sets all the faculties of the soul and all the graces in the Psal 55. 1. Psal 61. 1. Psal 64. 1. Psal 88. 1 13. Psal 119. 164. Jon. 2. 1 2. Joel 2. 13. Psal 119. 145 147. Psal 119. 20. soul at work the word signifies such a working as notes the liveliest activity that can be Certainly all those usual phrases of crying wrestling and striving with God which are scattered up and down in Scripture do strongly argue that holy importunity and sacred violence that the Saints of old have expressed in their addresses to God Fervency feathers the wings of prayer and makes them fly the swifter to Heaven An Arrow if it be drawn up but a little way flyes not far but if it be drawn up to the head it will fly far and pierce deeply So fervent Qui timide rogat docet negare saith the Philosopher prayer flyes as high as Heaven and will certainly bring down blessings from thence Cold prayers bespeak a denyal but fervent prayers offer a sacred violence both to heaven and earth Look as in a painted fire there is no heat so in a cold prayer there is no heat no warmth no omnipotency no devotion no blessing Cold prayers are like Arrows without heads as swords without edges as Birds without wings they pierce not they cut not they fly not up to heaven Such prayers as have no heavenly fire in them do alwayes freez before they reach as high as heaven But fervent prayer is very prevalent with God Acts 12. 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies instant prayer earnest prayer stretched-out prayer prayer stretched-out upon the tenters as it were These gracious souls did in prayer strain and stretch themselves as men do that are running in a race they prayed with all the strength of their souls and with all the fervency of their spirits and accordingly they carryed the day with God as you may see in the following verses So Acts 26. 7. Vnto which promise our Twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night or rather as the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a stretched-out manner serving God day and night These Twelve Tribes or the godly Jews of the Twelve Tribes of Israel stretched out their hearts their affections their graces to the utmost in prayer In all your private retirements do as the Twelve Tribes did Rom. 12. 11. Fervent in spirit serving the Lord. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies seething hot God loves to see his people zealous and warm in his service Without fervency of spirit no service finds acceptance in heaven God is a pure act and he loves that his people should be lively and active in his service vers 12. Continuing instant in prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continuing with all your might in prayer 'T is a Metaphor from hunting dogs that will never give over the game till they have got it Rom. 15. 30. That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strive mightily strive as Championsstrive even to an Agony as the word imports 'T is a military word and notes such fervent wrestling or striving as is for life and death Col. 4. 12. Alwayes labouring fervently for you in prayer The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is here used signifies to strive or wrestle as those do that strive for mastery it notes the vehemency and fervour of Epaphras his prayers for the Colossians Look as the wrestlers do bend and writhe and stretch and strain every joynt of their bodies that they may be victorious so Epaphras did bend writh and stretch strain every joynt of his soul if I may so speak that he might be victorious with God upon the Colossians account So when Jacob was with God alone ah how earnest Gen. 32. 24 27. Hos 12. 4 5. and fervent was he in his wrestlings with God! he wrestles and weeps and weeps and wrestles he tugs hard with God he holds his hold and he will not let God go till as a Prince he had prevailed with him Fervent prayer is the Souls contention the Souls strugling with God it is a sweating work it is the sweat and blood of the soul it s a laying out to the uttermost all the strength and powers of the Soul He that would gain victory over God in private prayer must strain every string of his heart he must in beseeching God besiedge him and so get the better of him he must be like importunate beggars that will not be put off with frowns or silence or sad answers Those that would be masters of their requests must like the importunate Widdow press God so far as to put him to an holy blush as I may say with reverence They must with an holy impudence as Basil speaks make God ashamed to look them in the face if he should deny the importunity of theirs souls Had Abraham had a little more Dor. Don. Fol. p. 522. Gen. 18. 22 23. of this impudence saith one when he made suit for Sodom it might have done well Abraham brought down the price to ten righteous and there his modesty staid him had he gone lower God only knows what might have been done for God went not away saith the Text till he had left communing with Abraham that is till Abraham had no more to say to God Abraham left over asking before God left over granting he left over praying before God left over bating and so Sodom was lost O the heavenly fire the holy fervency that was in Daniels Closet-prayer O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and
trade of Closet-prayer we shall never make any yearnings of Closet-prayer Look as they that get money by their Iron Mills do keep a continual fire in their Iron Mills so they that will get any soul-good by Closet-duties they must keep close and constant to Closet-duties The hypocrite is only constant in inconstancy he is only in his Closet by fits and starts now and then when he is in a good mood you shall find him step into his Closet but he never holds it Job 27. 10. Will he alwayes call upon God or as the Hebrew hath it VVill he in every time call upon God When they are under the smarting rod or when they are upon the tormenting rack or when they are under Isa 26. 16. Psal 78. 34. Zech. 7. 5. grievous wants or when they are struck with panick feares c. then you shall have them run to their Closets as Joab run to the horns of the Altar when he was in danger of death but they never persevere they never hold out to the end and therefore in the end they lose both their Closet-prayers and their Souls together It was a most prophane and Heil Mic. P. 376. blasphemous speech of that atheistical wretch that told God that he was no common beggar and that he never troubled him before with prayer and if he would but hear him that time he would never trouble him again Closet-prayer is a hard work and a man must tug hard at it and stick close to it as Jacob did if ever Ge◠32. he intends to make any internal or eternal advantages by it Daniel chose rather to run the hazzard Dan. 6. of his life than to give over praying in his Chamber 'T is not he that begins in the spirit and ends in the flesh 't is not he that Gal. 3. 3. Luke 9. 62. Mat. 24. 13. Rev. 2. 17. puts his hand to the plow and looks back but he that perseveres to the end in prayer that shall be saved and crowned 'T is he that perseveres in well doing that shall eat of the hidden Manna and that shall have the White Stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knows saving him that receiveth it Those precious praying mourning souls in that Ezek. 9. 4 6. that were marked to be preserved in Jerusalem were distinguished say some of the learned by the Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tau which is the J. Menoch Com. in Ezek. Cap. 9. 4. last of all the Hebrew letters to teach them that they must hold out and hold on to the end in well doing 'T is constancy in Closet-duty that crowns the Christian and commends the duty But would God have his people to cast off their callings and to cast off all care of their Relations and shut themselves up in their Closets and there spend their whole time in secret prayer O no Every Duty must have its time and place Eccl. 3. 1. and as one friend must not shut out another so one Duty must not shut out another The Duties of my particular calling as I am a man must not shut out the Duties of my generall calling as I am a Christian nor the Duties of my general calling as I am a Christian must not shut out the Duties of my particular calling as I am a man But that you may be fully satisfied in this case you must remember that a man may be said to pray alwayes First When his heart is alwayes in a praying frame Look as a man may be truly said to give alwayes whose heart is alwayes in a giving frame and to suffer alwayes whose heart is alwayes in a suffering frame For thy sake are Psal 44. 22. 2 Pet. 2. 14. Jer. 9. 3. we killed all the day long And to sin alwayes whose heart is alwayes in a sinning frame So a man may be as truly said to pray alwayes whose heart is alwayes in a praying frame Secondly A man prayes alwayes when he takes hold on every fit season and opportunity for the pouring out of his soul before the Lord in his Closet To pray alwayes is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray in every opportunity but of this before It is observed by some of Proteus that he was wont to give certain oracles but it was hard to make him speak and deliver them but he would turn himself into several shapes and forms yet if they would hold out press him hard without fear into whatsoever form or shape he appeared they were sure to have satisfactory Oracles So if we continue constant in our Closet-wrestlings with God if we hold on in private prayer though God should appear to us in the form or shape of a Judge an enemy a stranger we shall certainly speed at last O woman great is thy faith be it unto Mat. 5. 28. thee even as thou wilt and her Daughter was made whole from that very hour The Philosopher being asked in his old age why he did not give over Non progredi est regredi his practise take his ease answered when a man is to run a race of fourty furlongs would you have him sit down at the nine and thirtieth and so lose the prize the Crown for which he ran O Sirs if you hold not out to the end in Closet-prayer you will certainly lose the heavenly prize the Crown of Life the Crown of Righteousnesse the Crown of Glory To continue in giving glory to God in this way of duty is as necessary and requisite as to begin to give glory to God in this way of duty for though the beginning be more than half yet the end is more than all The God of all perfections looks that our Vltimum vitae should Finis coronot opus be his Optimum Gloriae that our last works should be our best works and that we should persevere in Closet-prayer to the end Rev. 2. 10. My eighth Advice and Counsel is this In all your Closet-prayers thirst and long after communion Cant. 3. 1 2 3. Psal 73. ult with God in all your private retirements take up in nothing below fellowship with God in nothing below a sweet and spiritual enjoyment of God Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple The Temple of the Lord without communion with the Lord of the Temple will not satisfie David's Soul Psal 42. 1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appeare before God! The Hart as Aristotle and others observe is of all creatures most hot and dry of it self but especially when it is chased and hunted then it is extream thirsty The female is here meant
as the Greek article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Elaphos doth manifest now in the females the passions of thirst are more strong as the naturalists observe By this David discovers what a vehement and inflamed thirst there was in his Soul after communion with God And as nothing could satisfie the hunted Hart but the water brooks so nothing could satisfie his soul but the enjoyments of God Psal 43. 4. Then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy The altar of God is here put for the worship of God now it was not barely the Worship of God but communion with God in his Worship that was David'e exceeding joy Psal 63. 1 2 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Davids soul did not thirst after a Crown a Kingdom or any worldly greatnesse or glory but after a choise and sweet enjoyment of God in his wildernesse estate Never did any Woman with Child long more after this or that than Davids Soul did long to enjoy sensible communion with God in the midst of all his sorrows and sufferings Psal 84. 2. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God By the Courts of the Lord we are to understand the ordinances now these without communion with God would never satisfie Davids Soul I commend that speech of Bernard Nanquam abs te absque te recedo I never come to thee but by thee Bern. epist 116. I never come from thee without thee When ever you go into your Closets press hard after real and sensible Communion with God that so you may come out of your Closets with some shines of God upon your spirits as Moses came down from the Mount with his Exod. 34. 29 35. face shining O do not take up in your closet-Closet-prayers or tears or joyes or enlargements but labour and long to enjoy that inward and close Fellowship with God in your Closets as may leave such a choice and sweet favour of God both upon your hearts and lives as others may be forced to say surely Acts 4. 13. these have been with Jesus 'T is sad when Christians return from their Closets to their shops their trades their families their commerce c. without the least visible rayes of divine glory upon them O Sirs Closet-prayer will be found to be but a dry saplesse live-lesse heartlesse comfortlesse thing if you do not enjoy Communion with God in it Communion with God is the very Life Soul and Crown of all your Closet-duties and therefore press after it as for Life When you go into your Closets let every thing go that may hinder your fruition of Christ and let every thing be embraced that makes way for your enjoyment of Christ O let Closet-prayer be a golden bridge a wherry a Chariot to convey your Souls over to God and to bring you into a more intimate Communion with God Let no Closet-duty satisfie you or content you wherein you have not conversed with God as a Child converseth with his Father or as a wife converseth with her Husband or as a Friend converseth with his Friend even face to face Nothing speaks out more unsoundness falsness and baseness of heart than this when men make Duty the end of Duty Prayer the end of Prayer than when men can begin a Duty and go on in a Duty and close up a Duty and bless and stroake themselves after a Duty and yet never enjoy the least Communion with God in the Duty But how shall a man know when he Quest hath a real Communion with God in a Duty or no This is a very noble and necessary Question and accordingly it calls for a cleer and satisfactory Answer and therefore thus First A man may have Communion Sol. with God in sorrow and tears when he hath not Communion with God in joy delight a Psal 51. 17. man may have Communion with God in a heart-humbling a heart-melting and a heart-abasing way when he hath not Communion with God in a heart reviving a heart-cheering and a heart-comforting way 'T is a very great mistake among many tender spirited Christians to think that they have no Communion with God in their Closets except they meet with God embracing and kissing Cant. 2. 4 5 6. cheering and comforting up of their souls when they find God raising the springs of joy and comfort in their souls when they find God a speaking peace unto them when they find the singular sensible Psal 85. 8. presence of God cheering refreshing and enlarging of them in their Closets O then they are willing to grant that they have had sweet Communion with God in their Closets But if God meets with them in their Closets and only breaks their hearts for sin and from sin if he meets with them and only makes his power and his presence manifest in debasing and casting down of their souls upon the sight and sence of their strong corruptions and many imperfections how unwilling are are they to believe that they have had any Communion with God Well Friends remember this once for all viz. That a Christian may have as real Communion with God in a heart-humbling way as he can have in a heart-comforting way a Christian may have as choice Communion with God John 20. 11 19. when his eyes are full of tears as he can have when his heart is full of joy Sometimes God meets with a poor Christian in his Closet and exceedingly breaks him and humbles him and at other times he meets with the same Christian in his Closet and mightily cheers him and comforts him sometimes God meets with a poor Soul in his Closet and there he sweetly quiets him and stills him and at other times he meets with the same Soul in his Closet and then he greatly revives him and quickens him God doth not alwayes come upon the Soul one way he doth not alwayes come in at one and the same door We John 3. 8. sometimes look for a Friend to come in at the fore-door and then he comes in at the back-door and at other times when we look for him at the back door then he comes in at the fore-door and just so 't is with Gods coming into his peoples souls Sometimes they go into their Closets and look that God will come in at the fore-door of joy and comfort and then God comes in at the back-door of sorrow and grief and at other times when they look that God should come in at the back-door of humiliation breaking and melting their hearts then God comes in at the fore-door of joy and consolation cheering and rejoycing their souls But. Secondly I answer That all Christians do not enjoy a