was not only thus with a profane Esau who might well be thought to have forfeited the blessing by his selling his Birthright but even good Iacob himself when he would have a blessing from Heaven he was constrained to wrestle with the Angel for it and to put forth all his strength in the conflict and to keep his hold though the Angel seâ—med willing to shake him off yea and to tell him at last that he would not let him go until he had got it Thus it hath been formerly Blessings come down from Heaven upon the wings of Prayer And what O man dost thou think that the Blessings of God are fallen so much in their price and grown so cheap at this day as that they go a begging Or that men may have them without asking for God hath been wont to stand more upon his Honour than so and therefore hath declared his will that Prayer shall come in between the Promise and the Performance he would have his People sue out the Promise before they shall have the good which is contained in it as is evident from that well-known Scripture Ezek. 36. we find the heart of God greatly inlarged to his People and Promises flowed in abundance from him and He gives them the assurance of his fixed resolution in the thing I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Do not you doubt call not my truth in question I will be as good as my word Yet observe what follows in the 37th verse Thus saith the Lord God I will yet be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them All those great and good things had been in the heart and purpose of God from eternity and now he was graciously pleased for their comfort to put them into his Promise but if they had a desire to have them they must send Prayer to Heaven for them Holy David tells us Psal. 3. 8. God's blessing is upon his People and certainly every one will grant that there is a great deal of reason why it should be upon them exclusive to all the World beside upon them and upon none but upon them they only have been by the Lord Iesus redeemed from the curse of the Law and therefore they only can lay a rightful claim to the Blessings of the Gospel God may yea and he every day doth give bread to his Enemies but surely as long as they continue his Enemies he will not give them his blessing and indeed why should they expect it But now O prayerless Soul how wilt thou prove thy self one of his People Thou hast upon thee those Spots which are not the Spots of his People when at the same time thou dost want those Marks which are the Marks of his People thou who spendest thy days without prayer dost pay no homage unto God thou ownest no dependence upon him thou givest him no reverence thou dost him no service thou bringest him no honour and I pray tell me why should his blessing be upon thee God may deal bountifully with thee possibly he doth do so already and gives thee waters of a full cup it is his manner many srcaps and good bits fall under his Table He lets them fall on purpose for his Dogs to gather up his Sun shines and his Rain falls upon barren Wildernesses and noysome Dunghills as well as upon fruitful Fields and pleasant Gardens Outward mercies are therefore called Common Mercies because all have their share in them the just and the unjust too the evil as well as the good so that the Wise Man tells us No man can know either love or hatred by all that is before him Therefore let no man be proud of his temporal Enjoyments nor of an elated Spirit because he is of a raised condition and stands upon the World 's upper ground If thou hast no other arguments to use but those thou fetchest from the World's Topicks thou wilt never prove thy self Heaven-born nor make out thy Title to the happiness and glory which is above God indeed may fill thy Pocket and spread thy Table furnishing it with variety of Dainties He may cram thy Bags and make thy Cup run over He may throw into thy Possession Houses and Lands as he gave Quales to the Israelites in his wrath and if thou wilt take the pains to turn over all thou hast and make as diligent search as thou canst thou wilt not find one blessing in it many a Creature and in every one a curse thy Cloaths have a plague in them witness thy Pride thy Table is thy snare witness thy excess and Riches are laid up by thee to thy hurt whilst thou makest them thy God which should be no more than thy Servants Thus it is with thee at present and thy present condition is thy best condition unless thou growest better that will not all that thou canst do is to rejoyce in sense thou must leave it to others to rejoice in hope But however if it will do thee any good and the Lord grant that it may we will enquire what is like to be hereafter Therefore Lastly Let us look on to the consequence and consider what will follow this sinful bruitish negect of your unquestionable duty You know your own Consciences tell you that you do not pray you are not convinced of any need that you have of it other things there are which you think you cannot be without such are your Jovial Companions and your vain antick Dresses but you can be and do very well without Prayer you taste no sweetness in it ranting and roaring is musick Healths and Huzza's Balls and Masques are ravishingly delicious but to you Prayer is a very dull and insipid business But I pray what will be at the last I would stain have my best at last and so would you too if you be wise if you have not your best at your latter end you will be found fools at your latter end I find an excellent wish concerning Israel of old whether it was God's wish or Moses's or both I am sure it was very good and carried in it a great deal of love Deut. 32. 24. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end By latter end there according to the judgment of Expolitors we are not so much to understand their death as the end and issue of that course which they were then steering O that they would seriously think with themselves and wisely foresee whither that way would bring them in which they were then walking It was a very smooth and pleasant way it was paved with delights but the great business was whither did it lead them It is my hearty wish for you whoever you are that you would once in a day retire your selves and get alone and seriously think what your total neglect of Prayer will produce when you are on a Death-bed and after Death in Eternity First What fruit you will have from
the little things which did speak the unsoundness of their hearts so what shall we think of them who spend all or the greatest part of their care and heat about those things which come not under any express command of the Divine Law They that are most curious about their Bodies are as it is to be feared most careless about their Souls they spend so much time at their Glass that they have none for the Bible they are so careful that a Pin be not stuck amiss in their Cloaths that they leave every thing amiss in their Hearts by the Garbs and unreasonable Dresses in which some sillily proud persons come into the Assemblies it is easie for Spectators to determine how they spent and profan'd the Morning of the Sabbath at home and we may apprehend and fear the same in the present case that those persons who are so much set for such things as this are at least very apt and prone to bestow none of their care about that which deserves most they are so much for the place that they forget and neglect the heart they are so thoughtful where they pray that they do not mind how they pray they are so set for a form they do not mind nay possibly they hate the Power But by the way letâ—me whisper this in the ear of these persons That the Altar will not Sanctify a corrupt thing If you bring dead formal lifeless Prayers though you offer them up in your Consecrated Churches nay at your adored Altars they will not come up with a sweet smelling favour and acceptance before God I would not have any body think that I do God forbid that I should say A Form of Prayer and Formality of Heart are inseparable Companions I do not doubt but meer formal Professors are most for forms but I dare not affirm that all those who make use of Forms are meer formal Professors I do not doubt but some looking upon Forms as lawful and out of modesty and an humble sense of the lowness of their own parts do make use of Forms when they pray with others and are conscientious in the use of them and they do accompany the Petitions Confessions and Thanksgivings contained in them with sincere affections and do meet with a gracious acceptance with God and do enjoy a communion with his Holy Majesty But this I will also be bold to say and if any be offended at it upon them be it That constant stated forms of Prayer and Formality are borderers upon one another they live at no such great distance but that they frequently yea commonly meet together in the same Service and in the same Persons And really I am of the mind that it stands them in hand who make use of forms to be very cautious and look warily to themselves lest they do even before they are aware fall into formality that indifferency and lukewarmness of Spirit which God cannot endure When in the forequoted Scripture the Woman of Samaria fell into discourse with Christ about the place of Worship whether it ought to be at Ierusalem or in that Mountain viz. Gerizim our Saviour did wisely and graciously take her off from that as a matter not so momentous as to deserve either her Enquiry or his Resolution and fell to acquainting her with directing her to and putting herâ— upon the Spirituality of that Worship which is to be performed as that which she and every one ought principally to attend unto because it is that which the heart of God is most for and upon which his pure eyes are chiefly set 4 Iohn 23 24. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Spiritual Worship is most congruous and agreeable to God Childish Toys please Children who have no more wit outward Pomp and Ceremonies please vain men who have not so good hearts as they should but spiritual Worship is acceptable to that God who is himself a Spirit such Worshippers he seeks others he rejects when he finds them therefore you must be such if you would find favour or receive a Blessing And to shut up this particular I will only add That if men were once set as they should be for the spirituality of Worship they would not be so unreasonably eager as they are for nor so tetchy froward and contentious about Places Modes and Forms which can fetch their pedigree and original no higher than meer human Invention and Appointment Enough of that and it will be well if some persons do not think this a little too much VSE In the third and last branch of this Use of Reprehension my work will be to awaken rouze and startle to convince and bring those to judge and condemn themselves who live without secret Prayer I hear from some and I do more than partly believe it That there are many Professors and those too of some Name and Eminency who live under the dreadful guilt of this sinful omission and if there be some such how great may we suppose the total number to be of them who are this way chargeable tho' let them be never so many every one of them Man Woman and Child is known to that God who observes our down-lying and our up-rising and is acquainted with all our ways There are those that will come to publick Ordinances that they may not be counted Heathens nor suspected to be Papists which Party now blessed be God is under great infamy and reproach tho' not greater than they do deserve upon account of the very Principles of that cursed Religion which they have embraced and do profess Yea and they will attend upon those Ordinances which they think are most purely administred and also join themselves in Communion with those Churches which they look upon as being of the most Scriptural Constitution that so they may be reckoned among Christians of the highest Form and chiefest Rank yea and peradventure they will set up Family-duties they will call their Children and Servants together and all under their â—oof and Charge to seek the Lord lest upon a discontent or remove some-body within doors should tell tales by means whereof their reputation should be blasted and the truth of their Religion called in question by any of those to whom they are desirous yea ambitious of approving themselves But wretches as they are as for Prayer by themselves either in Chamber or in Closet or any where else they do lay it aside altogether God himself will be a swift Witness against them that He and they never so met together They find much other work and can do many other things when they are alone They can spend a great deal of time at the Glass viewing and dressing themselves they can tell their Money and read over their Bills and Bonds but as for Soul-searching
A DISCOURSE OF CLOSET or SECRET PRAYER FROM MATT. VI. 6. First Preached and now Published at the Request of those that heard it BY SAMUEL SLATER Mininister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Ionathan Robinson and Tho. Cockerill at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Leggs in the Poultry over against the Stocks-Market MDCXCI To that Flock of Christ over which the Holy-Ghost hath made me an Overseer Beloved in the Lord IF Sins and Troubles make times bad those have been so in which our lines have been cast as great and glorious light hath shin'd in our Horizon as in any since the Apostle's Age yet the works of darkness have abounded among us Superstition Persecution and Prophaneness Great numbers among us hate the light of Truth and gladly would have it extinguished And who can count those who walk as enemies to the Cross of Christ whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame We have had fierce disputes and hot contentions Veluti pro aris focâ—s for lifeless Forms and Ceremonies not worth a button which have been bones of Contention in the Church of God ever since the Reformation and will continue so to be till Men are grown wise enough to cast them out but at the same time the Vitals of Christianity and Power of Godliness have been forgotten and neglected nay by the generality such Christians there are in our days ridicul'd and hated so that many live direct contradictions to the Profession they make and throw dirt upon that Name in which they would be thought to Glory The grand design indeed driven on among us hath been to reduce these Nations to the See of Rome and to bring in Popery among us in order whereunto Men taught by the Devil and wise to do evil have by their Hellish and Cursed Examples introduc'd prophandenss for none so fit to make a Doctrinal Papist as one that is a Practical Atheist How far these persons have prevailed and this Nation hath been by them immoralized and debauched and all ranks of Men among us Clergy as well as Laity Nobility and Commons Gentlemen and Peasants vitiated both in Principles and Life is alas too obvious and visible to any one that hath an eye in bit head And if ever God hath a purpose to do this Nation good and to deliver us form implacable enemies and menacing dangers and after all ou fears and convulsions and shakings to settle â—uâ— upon sure and lasting foundations he will reform us I wish that every one would reform himself and save cur Rules a labour if they will not I wish that our Governours would imploy then power and as they are providing as necessity requires against a potent Adversary abroad they would by the vigorous execution of wholesoâ—â— Laws against overflowing sins within which most expose us to ruin because to Divine wrath and thereby if I may so speak save God a labour But if they will not do their work God will do his It is my hope that he will not for sake this pleasant Land in which he hath so great an interest but mend it that he might delight in it though in what way and by what means whether by some smarting Rod or stiâ—ging Scorpion teaching us by Briars and Thorns letting out the corrupt Blood by tremendous Iudgments or more gently by the Word it is not for me to determine that we must leave to him whose wisdom is unsearchable and his ways past finding out Though I cannot but hope well from his gracious opening such a wide and effectual door to hiâ— glorious Gospel and giving to it so free a passage as blessed be his name we see at this day and restoring a desired and welcome liberty of Preaching to many of his faithful and eminent Servants who had by severe Laws been driven and kept out of the Vineyard for which many of them who had an hand in making those Laws have answered at the highest and most dreadful Tribunal and the rest shall in due time too soon for them The good Lord grant that while the Gospel runs it may be glorified by attaining is most excellent and noble end in the hearts and lives of those who sit under the joyful sound thereof that so Religion may recover its pristine Lustre yea shine forth with a greater glory than it did in the days of our most famous Predecessors Altogether unexpectedly to me It pleased the great God whose right it is to dispose of us according to his good pleasure to call me to Minister to you in the Gospel of his Son after he had taken home to an everlasting Rest and fulness of Ioy in and with himself your former Learned and every-way accomplished Pastor whose death was as it deserved to be bitterly bewailed by you In the same Relation to you he hath continued me for almost these Fifteen years during which space of time variety of Providences have passed over our heads we have met with both Halcion and Tempestuous days but we must we are obliged togive an honourable report of him as having been to us a shadow from the heat and a shelter from the storm so that few of our Sabbaths have been in the fury of the times Fasting-days throughout and very fâ—w of our Meeting disturbed and violently broken up But as he was pleased to give me an heart to Preach so you had from him an heart to hear and however some that went off from us have tack'd about and defiled their Garments the most of you have weathered the point born the burnt kept your ground and found mercy to be faithful to the Cause you owned not sinfully complying with the Lusts of Men nor submitting to their impositions and unscriptural mixtures with and in things pertaining to Divine Worship upon which account among many others I can look upon you as those that have been and yet are and will I hope go on to be my Ioy and Crown I can call God to witness that I love you in truth and have both sincerely and earnestly desir'd your good endeavouring to the utmost of my ability to make known unto you the whole Counsel of God not putting you off with Rhetorical flourishes the enticing words of Man's wisdom new and empty notions Philosophical strains and inventions of Men but with that Bread that came down from Heaven nourishing you up to Eternal Life determining to know nothing among you but Iesus Christ and him Crucified who is the admiration of Angels and worthy to be the desire of all Nations but too little Preached in England in London at this day and too little valued and believed in He hath been the great subject of my Discourses among you while as you will bear me testimony I have not sought yours but you And as you did chuse your Cook so you have liked the Provision be drest and set upon your Board having been for the greatest part as constant in your attendance upon
me put the Question to â—hee again Art thou a Christian hast thou been baptized into Christ hast thou â—ut on Christ hath he got the possession â—f thine heart and the supreme power and â—ommand in it If thou art a Christian be â—niform let thy whole life be of a piece â—insey-woolsey Christians bear with the â—xpression are abominable both to God â—nd Men. What thou art that be in all â—laces having put Christ on keep him on â—nd walk up and down every-where as a â—an in Christ expressive of Christ making â—im visible in thy life and all the passages of it Do not thou carry like a Christian in the Congregation and like an Heathen in the Closet Since God is so very gracious as to admit thee into his House to tread in his Courts to sit down at his Table to feast it with his Children upon marrow and fatness dainties and spiced wine be not thou so disingenuous and ungrateful as to shut him out of thy Chamber when thou lettest in the World and Sin Holy Paul speaking of himself and others of the true Apostles he saith 2 Cor. 2. 14. That God made manifest the savour of his knowledge by them in every place that was a very great and excellent work they were not moral Preachers but Gospel-preachers They did not preach Plutarch but Iesus The Spouse had said Cant. 1. 3. That the name of her Beloved was as an ointment poured forth Now said Paul I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified and all the Apostles were acted by the same Spirit and inflamed with the same love to Christ they took his name as a box of most precious Ointment and whereever they came they opened it and made Christ known and whereas the Gentile World was exceeding unsavoury and all places did stink most wretchedly of their Idolatry the Apostles perfum'd and sweetned and brought into them the most delightful savour of the knowledge of the true God in Christ. Now accordingly I would have you act if you be professors make every place where you come to savour of Religion let all your Discourses have a savour of it carry that savour with you into your Friends Houses and publick Houses of entertainment and be sure that in your own Houses in your Chambers and Closets you do make manifest the savour of that knowledg which you have of God and of that true sincere love which you have for God If you be Christians be uniform practice Christianity always every-where Secondly I would seriously propound this Question to thee Dost thou make Religion thy business I have not lived above Threescore Years in the World without making some Observations and getting some knowledge of it and I must needs say I know a great deal more than is good I have read many Books and I have read Men too though indeed many of them are crabbed pieces not easie to be understood But this I have found and still do to my sorrow and to their shame that many Persons among us do make a profession of Religion who never indeed took it up nor buckel'd to it as their Trade they are not altogether strangers but will be doing something but here 's the mischief it is only as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 business by the bye their thoughts and cares and studies are carried another way their main work doth lie somewhere else namely in the World that is the thing they are devoted to and set their hearts upon and spend their time and strength in the pursuit of how they should get it how they shall increase it how they shall secure it and how they shall inebriate themselves with the comforts delights and pleasures of it Whereas the gracious Soul that is sound at the bottom and that in truth which he would go for in the account and esteem of men makes his Religion his great and principal work David said Psal. 109. 4. I give my self unto prayer others give themselves over to sin God gives them up to a reprobate mind and to vile affections and to their own hearts lusts and they give themselves up one to his drunkeâ—ness and another to his uncleaâ—ness Now David gave himself to prayer and what he saith of Prayer in particular is true as to Godliness in general a godly Man gives himself up to it he is addicted and devoted to it he is all for that and the truth is none but such an one will do good upon it Believe it O Professors for your own experiences will in the end make my words good none but such as do indeed make Religion their Trade will thrive upon it and grow rich toward God Now then if thou dost indeed make Religion thy business thou wilt heartily study and do all thou canst to promote it as you know the promoting of Trade is the matter of common discourse among men and they are greatly set for it they are glad to hear of any thing that will contribute thereunto Now there is nothing in the World that doth forward a Christian more in this his great business and that doth more promote the Trade of Godliness and Religion than Secret Prayer doth I am not willing to compare one Duty with another or one Ordinance with another â—â—ir they are all of God they are all stampt with his Authority they are all greaâ— advantages to them that walk uprightly God is more wise and gracious than to set his Servants about any unnecessary 〈…〉 You know that many Persons who are wâ—llâ— moneyed men have a stock going with others as in the African and East-India Company but not satisfied with that they will have their Secret Stock also and will trade by themselves So here the Saints and People of God should be trading and have a great deal going in the common Stock in publick Worship in the Assemblies and Congregations of the Saints Psal. 42. 4. Holy David did reckon it a brave time when he went with the multitude to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day Psal. 122. 1. He was glad when they said unto him Let us go into the house of the Lord. And it is prophesied and promised as a choce and singular blessing Isa. 2. 3. That many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths But it is not to be expected that they should thrive amain and grow very rich toward God unless they have a Secret Stock going too and will be trading by themselves in private and keeping up that communion correspondency and intercourse with God and Christ which others do not know of David was very much for Sanctuary sights and enjoyments when he was deprived of them he did seek and thirst and long for them Psal 63. 1 2. but still
not seek his face where you sin to his face Oh! look carefully to it that as there are secret Faults so there be secret Prayers and Tears as secret Sins so secret Services Fourthly There are special and momentous Causes and Reasons for secret Prayer Surely there is not that Man nor Woman to be found upon the face of the earth but hath something or other which he would by all means have a Mantle of privacy thrown over something or other which he may be free and willing to whisper in the ear of a prudent intimate Friend and lock up in his bosom but he would not have it divulg'd and come abroad to the knowledge of every body Now let me ask thee Hast thou nothing to speak to God in his ear something which thou wouldst not have any person in the world acquainted with something it may be that doth greatly oppress thee and whilst thou dost smother it altogether in silence thy heart is almost broken within thee There is an absolute necessity of giving vent and thereby some ease to thine over-burden'd mind and where canst thou do it with more freedom and greater hope of relief than when thou art alone before a gracious God whose mercies are everlasting and his compassions do not fail Will that which they call Common-Prayer râ—ach thy whole Case doth it contain in it all that is in thine heart dost thou find every one of thy wants mention'd there every one of thy groans form'd there every one of thy desires drawn up there is there nothing singular and peculiar in thy Case is it exactly stated by others in all the particularities of it I am sure the Wise Man tells us Prov. 14. 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger intermedleth not with his joy These things are so lock'd up in the heart of a man that no body else hath a key to let him into them I think it is most proper for a poor diseased Patient to tell his Physician how he feels himself indeed if he be so disturbed in his reason or so much enfeebled that he cannot do it then it is necessary for some other to do it that hath been about him and curious in his Observations but I am of the mind that the wise Physician will like that account best which comes from his Patient 's own mouth supposing him capable of giving one Do thou go and do so to thy great and ever-blessed Physician the holy God and to that end study both his Word and thy Heart that by studying his Word thou maist come to know how it should be with thee and by studying thine own heart thou maist know how it is with thee and then go and tell him Again will Publick-Prayer at all times become thee and in every one of thy concernments Hast thou so much of an unspotted innocency or such a large measure of confidence as that thou wilt not blush to tell the whole story of thine heart and life upon the House-top Hast thou been so undefiled in the way that thou needest not care who knows what thou hast been and what thou hast done Indeed when a proud and self-conceited Pharisee makes it his business to display his glory and to trumpet out his own commendations to tell God that he is a Phoenix a kind of none-such in the World one that is so free from common defilements so abundant in goodness and acts of goodness that his fellow is scarce to be met with it is no wonder to find him ambitious of having Auditors enough and to see him in the pride of his countenance and with his hand by his side strutting it to the Temple where he doth expect a great confluence of people who might go and inform others what great things they had heard concerning him from his own mouth and so raise to him Thousands of admirings among such as would be credulous and believe him upon his bare word But methinks when a poor Publican that groans under an heavy burthen of sin and guilt who knoweth himself unable to answer for one of a Thousand and who hath had often and often the sentence of death in himself pronounced by his own awakened and wounded Conscience when I say he is to draw up an Indictment against himself and to read it in the presence of his righteous Judge and then having so done to beg upon his knees and plead hard for his Life Lord be merciful to me a sinner He may stand a great way off and get alone by himself as a person ashamed and even confounded When thou goest to acquaint God with thy diseases foul loathsom diseases of Soul and to open thy Artery Sores and those wounds in thy Conscience which as poor David found and owned stink and are corrupt it speaks an humble modesty and doth highly become thee to do it between him and thee alone Now Christian give me leave to deal particularly with thee and to come as close as I can and to propound some few Questions to thee and to desire thee to propound them to thy self when I have done 1. Hast thou not some secret sins to confess to God Hast thou been all thy days so sober and righteous and godly so circumspect and exact that no action of thine troubles thee or will reflect dishhonour upon thee or in the least put thee out of countenance is there no blot in thy Escutchion no dead Fly in thy Box of Ointment Are there not some things done by thee which nobody doth know of and which thou wouldest not for more than I will say have any body know of Let this bring thee to Secret Prayer for they must be confest Indeed unless it be in some cases thou dost not need to do it unto Men there is no necessâ—â—y for thee to proclaim and publish thine own shame Auriculaâ—â—onfeâ—â—â—on which the Popish Priests do require is an abomination But a Confession there must be else the wound of Conscience will not be healed the oppressed Spirit will not be relieved the Sâ—ain will not be taken out the Sin will not be pardon'd The Promise is He that confesseth and forsakes his sin shall find mercy as much as he needs or can desire And the word of Truth gives us this assurance I Iohn 1. 9. That if we confess our sins God is just and faithful to forgive us â—u sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Blessed be God for those words from all Pardoning Mercy and Justifying Grace will make thorow work where-ever it comes it takes away iniquity transgression and sin all sorts and sizes sins of all kinds and degrees But where doth this take place Only in them that Confess Where there is no Confession you cannot with reason hope for a Remission Add this You may very well spread before God those sins which you have committed in secret because it is not in your power to hide them from him they are all in the light of his