they are upon the wing So Satan shoots his most fiery darts at men when they are most idle and sloathful And this the Sodomites found by woful experience when God rained Ezek. 16. 49. hell out of heaven upon them both for their idleness and for those other sins of theirs which their idleness did expose them to It was said of Rome that during the time of their wars with Carthage and other enemies in Africa they knew not what vice meant but no sooner had they got the conquest but through idleness they came to ruine Idleness is a sin not only against the Law of Grace but also against the light of nature You cannot look any way but every creature checks and upbraids your idleness and sloth if you look up to the heavens there you shall find all their glorious Lights constant in their motions The Sun rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race the Winds Psal 19. 5. Psal 104. 23. blow the Waters run the Earth brings forth her pleasant and delightful fruits all the Fish in the Sea Fowls in the Air and Beasts in the Fields and on the Mountains have their motions and operations all which call aloud upon man not to be idle but active Solomon sends the sluggard to the Prov. 6. 6. Ant to learn industry The Ant is a very little creature but exceeding laborious nature hath put an instinct into her to be very busie and active all the Summer she is early and late at it and will not lose an hour unless the weather hinder And the Prophet Jeremiah sends the Jews to school to learn to wait and observe of the Stork Jer. 8. 7. the Turtle the Crane and the swallow And our Saviour sends us to the Sparrows and Lillies to learn attendance Mat. 6. 26 28. upon providence And let me send you to the busie Bee to learn activity and industry though the Bee be little in bulk yet 't is great in service she flyes far examines the fields hedges trees orchards gardens and loads her self with honey and wax and then returns to her Hive Now how should the activity of these creatures put the idle person to a blush O Sirs Man is that most noble creature into whom God hath put principles of the greatest activity as capable of the greatest and highest enjoyments and therefore idleness is a forgetting mans dignity and a forsaking of that rank that God hath set him in and a debasing of himself below the least and meanest creatures who constantly in their order obedientially serve the Law of their creation Nay if you look up to the blessed Angels above you you shall still find them active and serviceable Are they not all ministring Spirits sent Heb. 1. 14. forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And if you look down to the Angels of darkness below you O how laborious and industrious are they to destroy and 1 Pet. 5. 8. damne your precious and immortal souls For a close remember that idleness is so great an evil that it hath been condemned and severely punished by the very worst of men Among the Egyptians Idleness was a capital crime Among the Lucans he that lent money to an idle person was to lose it By Solons Law idle persons were to suffer death And Seneca had rather be sick than idle The Lacedemonians called men to an account for their idle hours Among the Corinthians idle persons were delivered to the Carnifex Antonius Pius being Emperour caused the roofs coverings of all such houses to be taken away as were known to receive an idle people affirming that nothing was Capitolinus more uncomely or absurd to be suffered than such idle Caterpillars slow worms to have their food and nourishment from that Common-wealth in the maintenance of which there was no supply from their industry labour All which should steel us arm us against sloth and idleness I have the longer insisted on this because there is not agreater hinderance to Closet-prayer than sloth and idleness Slothful and idle persons commonly lye so long a bed and spend so much precious time between the comb and the glass and in eating drinking sporting trifling c. that they can find no time for private prayer Certainly such as had rather go sleeping to Hell than sweating to Heaven will never care much for Clos 〈◊〉 t prayer And therefore shun sl 〈◊〉 th and idleness as you would shun a Lyon in the way or poison in your meat or coales in your bosome or else you will never find time to wait upon God in your Closets Secondly Take heed of spending too much of your precious time about circumstantials about the little things of Religion as mint anise and cummin or in searching Mat. 23. 23. into the circumstances of worship or in standing stoutly for this or that ceremony and in the mean while neglect the studying of the covenant of grace or about enquiring what fruit that was that Adam eat in Paradise or in enquiring after the Authors of such and such books whose names God in his infinite wisdome hath concealed or in enquiring what God did before the world was made when one asked Austin that Question he answered that he was preparing Hell for such busie Questionists as he was It was a saying of Luther From a vain-glorious Doctor from a contentious Pastor and from unprofitable Questions the good Lord deliver his Church 'T is one of Satans great designs to hinder men in the great and weighty duties of Religion by busying them most about the lowest and least matters of Religion Satan is never better pleased than when he sees Christians puzzled and perplexed about Col. 2. 21. those things in Religion that are of no great moment or importance Such as negotiate and trade in Religion more for a good name than a good life for a good report than a good Conscience for to humor others than to honour God c. such will take no pleasure in loset-loset-duties Such as are more 2 Tim. 3. 5. busied about ceremonies than substances about the form of godliness than the power such will never make it their business to be Mat. 6. 1 2 3 4 5 6. much with God in their Closets as is evident in the Scribes and Pharisees Such as are more taken up with the outward dress and garb Luke 11. 34. 40. of Religion than they are with the spirit power and life of Religion such will never affect to drive a secret trade heaven-wards There can't be a surer nor a greater character of an hypocrite than to make a great deal of stir about little things in Religion and in the mean while neglect the great and main things in Religion Such as these have all along in the Scripture discovered a strangness and a perfect carelesness as to Closet-duties I never knew any man hot and zealous about circumstantials about the little things
him hereafter it will not strike till it be too late for the sinner to ward off the blow O cruel mercy to observe the sin and let alone the sinner till the gates of mercy be shut upon him and hell stands gaping to devour him Gen. 4. 7. Sin lyeth at the door The Hebrew word Robets signifies to lye down or couch like some wild beast at the mouth of his cave as if he were asleep but indeed watcheth and waketh and is ready Amama quotes Tarnovius who mentions a sort of men that brought in an opinion which he calls a new-Gospel that if a man perform the external duties of Religion viz. if he go to the Church hear the word pray c. it was sufficient to salvation to fly at all that come neer it O Sirs sin is rather couchant than dormant it sleeps dogs sleep that it may take the sinner at the greater advantage and fly the more furiously in his face But My Fourth Advice and counsel is this Take heed of resting upon Closet-duties take heed of trusting in Closet-duties Noahs Dove made use of her wings but she did not trust in her wings but in the Arke So you must make use of Closet-duties but you must not trust in your Closet-duties but in Jesus of whom the Ark was but a Type There are many that go a round of duties as mill-horses go their round in a mill and rest upon them when they have done using the means as mediators and so fall short of Christ and heaven at once Closet-duties rested in will as eternally undo a man as the greatest and foulest enormities open wickedness slayes her thousands but a secret resting upon duties slayes her ten thousands Multitudes bleed inwardly of this disease die for ever Open prophaneness is the broad dirty way that leads to hell but Closet-duties rested in is a sure way though a cleaner way to hell Prophane persons and formal professors shall meet at last in one hell Ah Christians do not make Closet-duties your money least you and your money perish together The Phenix gathers sweet odoriferous sticks in Arabia together and then blows them with her wings and burns her self with them so doe many shining professors burn themselves by resting in their duties and services You know in Noah's flood all that were not in the Ark though they climbed up the tallest Trees and the highest mountains and hills yet were really drowned so let men climb up to this duty and that yet if they don't get into Christ they will be really damned 'T is not thy Closet but thy Christ that must save thee If a man be not interested in Christ he may perish with Our Father in his mouth 'T is as natural to a man to rest in his duties as 't is for him to rest in his bed This was Bernards temptation who being a little assisted in duty could stroak his own head with bene fecisti Bernarde O Bernard this was gallantly done now cheer up thy self Ah how apt is man when he hath been a little assisted heated melted enlarged c. in a way of duty to goe away and stroak himself Isa 50 ult and blesse himself and hug himself and warm himself with the sparks with the fire of his own kindling Adam was to win life and wear Gen. 2. 2. it he was to be saved by his doings Doe this and live Hence it is that Acts 2. 37. Chap. 16. 30. all his posterity are so prone to seek for salvation by doing What shall we do to be saved and good Master Mark 10. 17 20. what shall I doe that I may inherit eternal life Like Father like Son But if our own duties or doings were sufficient to save us to what purpose did Christ leave his Fathers bosome and lay down his dearest life c. closet-Closet-duties rested in may pacifie Conscience for a time but this will not alwayes hold When Ephraim saw his sickness and Hos 5. 13. Judah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could they not heal him nor cure him of his wound If we rest on Closet-duties or on any thing else on this side Christ we shall find them as weak as the Assyrian or as Jareb we shall find to our cost that they can't help us nor heal us they can't comfort us nor cure us of our wounds As creatures so duties were never true to any that have trusted in them When the Israelites were in great Judg. 10. 14. distresse the Lord bids them go and cry unto the gods which they had chosen and let them deliver you saith God in the time of your tribulation O Sirs if when you are under distresse of Conscience or lying upon a dying Bed God should say to you go to your Closet-prayers and performances that you have made and rested in go to your Closet-tears that you have shed and rested in and let them save you and deliver you Oh what miserable saviours and comforters would they be unto you Look what the Ark of God was to the Phylistins that closet-Closet-duties 1 Sam. 5. are to Satan he trembles every time he sees a poor sinner go into his Closet and come out of his Closet resting and glorying in Jesus and not in his duties but when he sees a poor creature confide in his Closet-duties and rest upon his Closet-duties then he rejoyceth then he claps his hands and sings ahah so would I have it Orest not on any thing on this side Jesus Christ say to your graces say to your duties say to your holiness you are not my Saviour you are not my Mediator and therefore you are not to be trusted to you are not to be rested in 'T is my duty to perform Closet-duties but 't is my sin to rely upon them or to put confidence in them do them I must but glory in them I must not He that rests in his Closet-duties he makes a saviour of his Closet-duties Let all your Closet-duties lead you to Jesus and leave you more in communion Heb. 7. 25. with him and in dependance upon him and then thrice happy will you be Let all thy Closet-prayers and tears thy Closet-fastings and meltings be a Star to guide thee to Jesus a Jacobs I adder by which thou mayest ascend into the bosome of Eternal Loves and then thou art safe for ever Ah 't is sad to think how most men have forgotten their resting place as the Lord complains My Jer. 50. 6. people have been like lost sheep their Shepheards have caused them to go astray and have turned them away to the Mountains they have gone from mountain to hill and forgotten their resting place Ah how many poor souls are there that wander from mountain to hill from one duty to another and here they will rest and there they will rest and all on this side their resting place O Sirs 't is God himself that is your
of Religion that was ever famous for Closet-prayer But Thirdly Take heed of curiosity and of spending too much of your precious time in searching into those dark abstruce misterious and hidden truths things of God and Religion that lye most remote from the understanding of the best and wisest of men Curiosity is the spiritual adultery of the Soul Curiosity is a spiritual drunkenness for look as the drunkard is never satisfied unless he see the bottome of the cup be it never so deep so those that are troubled with the itch of curiosity will say they can never be satisfied till they come to the bottome of the most deep and profound things of God they love to pry into Gods secrets and to scan the mysteries of Religion by their weak shallow reason and to be wise above what is written Curious searchers into the deep mysterious things of God will make all Gods depths to be shallows rather than they will be thought not able to fathom them by the short line of their own reason O that men would once learn to be contentedly ignorant where God would not have them knowing O that men were once so humble as to account it no disparagement to them to acknowledge some depths in God and in the blessed Scripture which their shallow reason cannot fathom They are only a company of fools in Folio that affect to know more than God would have them Did not Adams Tree of knowledge make him and his posterity meer fools He that goes to school to his own reason hath a fool for his school-master The ready way to grow stark blind is to be still prying gazing upon the body of the Sun So the ready way to spiritual Deut. 29. ult blindness is to be still prying into the most secret and hidden things of God Are there not many who by prying long into the secrets Rom. 9. 20. of nature are become arch-enemies to the grace of God O that we were wise to admire those deep mysteries which we cannot understand and to adore those depths and counsels which we cannot reach O let us check our curiosity in the things of God and sit Rom. 11. 33 down satisfied and contented to resolve many of Gods actions into some hidden causes which lye secret in the Abyss of his eternal knowledge and infallible will Christ when he was on earth very frequently severely sharply condemned John 21. 22 Acts 1. 6 7. Luke 1â— 23 24. curious enquirers as is evident by the Scriptures in the margent and the great reason why our Saviour did so frequently check this humor of curiosity was because the great indulgers of it were too frequent neglecters of the more great necessary and important points of Religion Curiosity is one of Satans most dangerous engines by which he keeps many souls out of their Closets yea out of Heaven when many a poor soul begins in good earnest to look towards heaven and to apply himself to closet-Closet-duties then Satan begins to bestir himself and to labour with all his might so to busie the poor soul with vain enquiries and curious speculations and unprofitable curiosities that the soul hath no time for Closet-prayer Ah how well might it have been with many a man had he but spent one quarter of that time in closet-prayer that he hath spent in curious enquiries after things that have not been fundamental to his happiness The Heathenish Priests affected curiosity they had their Mythologies and strange canting expressions of their imaginary unaccessible Deities to amaze and amuse their blind superstitious followers and thereby to hold up their Popish and apish Idolatries in greater veneration O that there were none of this heathenish spirit among many in these dayes who have their faces toward heaven Ah how many are there that busie themselves more in searching after the reasons of the irrecoverableness of mans fall than they do to recover themselves out of their fallen estate Ah how many are there that busie themselves more about the apostasie of the Angels than they do about securing their interest in Christ And what a deal of precious time have some spent in discovering the natures distinctions properties and orders of Angels That high-foaring counterfeit Peter Martyr saith that to enquire of the Angels accurately and subtilly is Magis ad curiositatem nostram quam ad salutem And he wisheth that the school-men in their knotty thorny and unprofitable discourses had observed this Dyonisius describes the Hierarchy of Angels as exactly as if he had dwelt amongst them he saith there are nine orders of them which he grounds upon nine words which are found partly in the Old Testament and partly in the New as Seraphims Cherubims Thrones Powers Hoasts Dominions Principalities Arch-Angels and Angels and at large he describes their several natures distinctions and properties as that the first three orders are for immediate attendance on the Almighty and the next three orders for the general government of the creatures and the last three orders for the particular good of Gods Elect That the Arch-Angels surpass the beauty of Angels ten times Principalities surpass the Arch-Angels twenty times and that Powers surpass the Principalities fourty times c. How he came by this learning is not known and yet this Hierarchy in these nine several orders hath passed for currant through many Ages of the Church The Platonicks were the first that divided the Angels into three Orders as some above Heaven called Supercaelestes others in Heaven called Caelestes and others under Heaven called Subcaelestâ—â— and accordingly they assign them several Offices As First They above Heaven I mean this visible heaven continually stand before God as they say praising and lauding and magnifying of his name Secondly They in Heaven are there seated to move and rule and govern the Stars Thirdly They under Heaven are some to rule Kingdomes others Provinces others Cities others particular Men. Several Christian writers that have written of the Hierarchy of Angels follow these opinions Now if we should take these surmises for real truths then it will follow that the highest Angels do not minister to the Saints but only and immediately to God himself which is Jude 9. v. Luke 1. 19 26. Zech. 4. 10. Rev. 5. 6. Heb. 1. 14. expresly contrary to several Scriptures as you may see by them in the Margent among others When I was upon the Ministration of the blessed Angels I did then prove in several exercises as some of you may remember That all the Angels in Heaven were commanded and commissionated by God to be serviceable and useful to the heirs of Salvation Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation The Devil knows he is no loser and the curious soul but a very little gainer if he can but perswade him to spend most of his precious time in studying and poring upon the most dark mysterious and hidden
THE Privie Key OF HEAVEN OR Twenty Arguments for CLOSET-PRAYER IN A Select Discourse on that Subject With the resolution of several considerable Questions the main Objections also against Closet-Prayer are here answered Cautions propounded and the Point improved with several other things of no small importance in respect of the internal and eternal welfare of the Christian Reader Twenty special Lessons in the Epistle Dedicatory to some afflicted Friends that we are to learn by that severe rod the PESTILENCE that now rageth in the midst of us By THOMAS BROOKS Minister of the Gospel O my Dove 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 lovely Cant. 2. 14. LONDON Printed for and are to be sold by John Hancock at the first shop in Popes-head Alley next to Cornhil 1665. TO My Worthy and Esteemed FRIENDS Mrs. Elizabeth Drinkwater Mrs. Susan Bell. Mrs. Hannah Bourne Mrs. Mary Taylor Mrs. Anne White Mrs. Elizabeth Juxon Mrs. Rebecah Juxon Mrs. Mary Baxter Mrs. Deborah Shepherd Mrs. Anne Clemons Mrs. Mary Sionior Mrs. Anne Snell Mrs. Anne Ellis Mrs. Margaret Cutlèr Mrs. Patience Cartwrigh Mrs. Mary Shaw Mrs. Phillip Garret Mrs. Margaret Winfield Mrs. Hannah Pippet Mrs. Mary Chanlor Mrs. Mary Scot. Mrs. Katherine Vsher with their Husbands c. All Happiness both here and hereafter Honoured and Beloved in our Dear Lord Jesus I HAVE crowded your names together in one Epistle not from any want of respect unto you for I owe to each of you more than an Epistle nor because you are in one particular Fellowship for so you are not but partly because the Lord hath made you one with himself in the Son of his love and partly because the Lord at several times and in several wayes hath exercised you all in the Furnace of Affliction and partly because this Epistle may reach you all and speak to you all when I cannot or when I may not or which is more when I am not Dear Friends many and great have been the breaches that the Lord hath made upon your persons upon your neer and dear Relations and upon your sweetest comforts and contentments There is not one of you but may truly say with Job He breaketh me with breach upon breach Job 16. 14. God hath chastised you all round with various Rods and O that the Lord would help you all to hear the Rod and him who hath appointed it Now that you may give me leave a little to open and apply to your particulars that Mic. 6. 9. The Lords voyce cryeth unto the City and the man of wisdom shall hear thy Name Hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it The matter that I shall offer to your consideration from this Scripture will be not only of special concernment to your selves but also of high concernment to all sorts and ranks of men and women in this sad Day when the Sword devours on the one hand the Pestilence rageth on the other hand The Lords voice cryeth unto the City Tremelius turns it thus The voice of the Lord doth preach unto this City for what the matter is thy Name seeth Hear ye the Rod c. This City viz. Jerusalem and so consequently to all the Israelites for in this City all Offices and duties of godliness and humanity were more religiously performed or to be performed than in any other place because of the presence and majesty of God that was amongst them But thy Majesty seeth what wickedness is practised amongst them as is evident in the Verses following Cryeth The word is from Kara which signifies First To Cry aloud or to make a noise Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud there is Kara The word signifies to Cry so loud as that all may hear that have ears to hear Secondly The word signifies Openly to proclaim preach or publish a thing Exod. 33. 19. I will Proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee Here is the word Kara Thirdly The word signifies To Cry out Gen. 39. 15. I lifted up my voyce and cryed Here is Kara The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath nine other significations in Scripture but because they are not pertinent to what is in my eye I shall pass them by at this time And the man of Wisdom shall see thy name Vethushiia properly signifies Essence and therefore according to the Hebrew the words should be read thus And the man of Essence shall see thy Name c. that is he that is a man indeed he that is not a sot astock a stone Most men are men of folly and so not worthy of the name of men but as for such as are truly wise they shall see thy Name There is a great measure of spiritual Art of Holy and Heavenly Wisdome required both to enable a man to hear the voice of the Rod and to understand the language of the Rod This Wisdom is too high for a fool Prov. 24. 7. Shall see thy Name Now the Hebrew word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be better derived from Jare which signifies to feare than from Raah that signifies to see and so the words will run smoothly thus The man of wisdom or of essence shall fear thy Name considering that 't is majesty it self that cryeth and that he is immediately to deal with God himself and not with a poor weak mortal worm Hear ye the Rod. The word Hear is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shamang which signifies First To mark observe and attend to what is said Gen. 29. 33. The Lord hath heard that I was hated that is he hath marked it he hath observed it So here O mark the Rod O observe the Rod O attend to what is spoken by the Rod. Secondly The word signifies to understand what is spoken so Gen. 42. 23. They knew not that Joseph understood them In the Hebrew 'tis that Joseph heard them Now to hear the Rod is to understand what is spoken to us by the Rod. Thirdly The word signifies to believe a thing reported to be true so Exod. 6. 9. They hearkned not unto Moses that is they did not believe the report that Moses made Hear the Rod that is believe the report the Rod makes The Rod reports that of all evils Sin is the greatest evil and that of all bitters Sin is the greatest bitter O believe the report of the Rod. The Rod reports that God is angry that God is displeased Oh believe its report The Rod reports the creatures to be meer vanity and vexation of Spirit O believe its report The Rod reports our neerest and dearest comforts contentments and enjoyments to be mixt mutable and momentary O believe its report The Rod reports Sin to be vile and the world to be vain and Heaven to be glorious and Christ to be most precious O believe its report The Hebrew word hath three other significations but
the soundness of their sorrow but also to shew their sincerity by their secresie they must mourn apart that their sins may not be disclosed nor discovered one to another Here they are severed to shew that they wept not for company sake but for their own particular sins by which they had pierced and crucified the Lord of glory In secret a Christian may descend into such particulars as in publick or before others he wil not he may not he ought not to mention Ah how many Christians are there who would blush and be ashamed to walk in the streets and to converse with sinners or saints should but those infirmities enormities and wickednesses be written in their fore-heads or known to others which they freely and fully lay open to God in secret There are many sins which many men have fallen into before conversion and since conversion which should they be known to the world would make themselves to stink and Religion to stink and their profession to stink in the nostrils of all that know them Yea should those weaknesses and wickednesses be published upon the house tops which many are guilty of before grace received or since grace received how would weak Christians be staggered young comers on in the wayes of God discouraged and many mouthes of blasphemy opened and many sinners hearts hardened against the Lord his wayes reproofs and the things of their own peace yea how would Satans banner be displayed and his kingdom strengthned and himself infinitely pleased and delighted 'T is an infinite mercy and condescention in God to lay a Law of restraint upon Satan who else would be the greatest Blab in all the world It would be mirth and musick to him to be still a laying open the follies and weaknesses of the Saints Ambrose brings in the Devil boasting against Christ and challenging Judas as his own He is not thine Lord Jesus he is mine his thoughts beat for me he eats with thee but is fed by me he takes bread from thee but mony from me he drinks with thee and sells thy blood to me There is not a sin that a Saint commits but Satan would trumpet it out to all the world if God would but give him leave No man that is in his right wits will lay open to every one his bodily infirmities weaknesses diseases ailments griefs c. but to some near relation or bosom friend or able Physitian So no man that is in his right wits will lay open to every one his soul-infirmities weaknesses diseases ailments griefs c. but to the Lord or to some particular person that is wise faithful and able to contribute something to his souls relief Should a Christian but lay open or rip up all his follies and vanities to the world how sadly would some deride him and scorn him and how severely and bitterly would others censure him and judge him c. When David was alone in the Cave then he poured out his complaint to God and shewed before him his trouble Psal 142. 2. And when Job was all alone then his eyes pour'd out tears to God Job 20. 16. There is no hazzard no danger in ripping up of all before God in a corner but there may be a great deal of hazzard and danger Eccl. 12. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Rev. 22. 12. Heb. 10. 6. Psal 126. 5. Luk. 14. 14. Matth. 25. 34 37. in ripping up of all before men Fifthly Secret duties shall have open rewards Matth. 6. 6. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly So Vers 18. God will reward his people here in part hereafter in all perfection He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him in a corner They that sow in tears secretly shal reap in joy openly Private prayer shall be rewarded before men and Angels publickly How openly did God reward Daniel for his secret prayer Dan. 6. 10. 23 24 25 26 27 28. Mordecai privately discovered a plot of treason against the person of King Ahasuerus and he is rewarded openly Esther 2. 21 22 23. with Chap. 6. Darius before he came to the kingdom received privately a garment for a gift of one Syloson and when he came to be King he rewarded him openly with the command of his Country Samus God in the great Day will recompense his people before all the world for every secret prayer and secret tear and secret sigh and secret groan that hath come from his people God in the great day will declare to men and Angels how often his people have been in pouring out their souls before him in such and such holes corners and secret places and accordingly he will reward them Ah Christians did you really believe this and seriously dwell on this you would 1. Walk more thankfully 2. Work more chearfully 3. Suffer more patiently 4. Fight against the world the flesh and the devil more couragiously 5. Lay out your selves for God his interest and glory more freely 6. Live with what Providence hath cut out for your portion more quietly and contentedly And 7. You would be in private prayer more frequently more abundantly Sixthly Consider that God hath O Lord I never come to thee but by thee I never go from thee without thee Bern. usually let out himself most to his people when they have been in secret when they have been alone at the Throne of Grace Oh the sweet meltings the heavenly warmings the blessed cheerings the glorious manifestations and the choice communion with God that Christians have found when they have been alone with God in a corner in a closet behind the door When had Daniel that Vision comfortable Message that blessed News by the Angel that he was greatly beloved but when he was all alone at prayer Dan. 9. 20 21 22 23. And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy Mountain of my God yea while I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the Vision at the beginning being caused to flie swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation And he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding At the beginning of thy supplications the commandement came forth and I am come to shew thee for thou art greatly beloved Therefore understand the matter and consider the Vision Whilst Daniel was at private prayer God by the Angel Gabriel reveales to him the secret of his Counsel concerning the Restauration of Jerusalem and the duration thereof even to the Messiah and whilst Daniel was at private prayer the Lord appears to him and in an extraordinary way assures him that he was a man greatly beloved or as the Hebrew Chumudoth hath it a man of desires that is a man whom Gods desires are towards a man singularly beloved of God and highly
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
time and place and in order measure and concomitants This dangerous opinion of absolute perfection in this life shakes the very foundation of Religion and overthrows the Gospel of grace it renders the satisfaction of Christ and all his great transactions null and void it tells the world that there is no need of faith of repentance of ordinances of watchfulness They that say they have no sin say they have no need of the blood of Christ to cleanse them 1 John 1. 7 from sin Such as say they have no sin say they have no need of Faith to rest upon Christ for imputed Righteousness to justifie their persons Such as say they have no Mat. 1. 21. 1 Thes 1. ult sin say they have no need of Christ as King to subdue their lusts nor as Priest to expiate offences nor as Prophet to teach and instruct them nor as a Saviour to save them from their sins or from wrath to come They that have a perfect righteousnesse of their own need not be be holden to Christ for his pure perfect spotless matchlesse Righteousnesse Such as are without sin have no cause to repent of sin nor yet to watch against sin Such as are perfect can't say we are unprofitable servants But are they indeed just then they must live by faith Heb. 2. 4. Are they men and not Angels then they must repent Acts â—7 30. For now he commands all men every where to repent Surely the best of men are but men at the best O how bad must those men be who make God himself a lyar 1 John 1. 10 But if these men are absolutely perfect how comes it to passe that they are afflicted and diseased as other men how comes it to passe that they eate and drink and sleep and buy and sell and die as other men are these things consistent with an absolute perfection surely no. An absolute perfection is not a step short of heaven 't is heaven on this side heaven and they that would obtain it must step to heaven before they have it But Secondly I answer That this Objection lyes as strong against Family prayer and against all other kind of prayer as it doth against closet prayer He that shall upon any grounds make this Objection a great bug-bear to scare his soul from Closet Prayer he may upon the same ground make it a great bug-bear to scare his soul not only from all other kind of prayer but from all other duties of Religion also whether private or publick The Spirit of this Objection fights against all Religion at once and therefore you should say to it as Christ said to Peter Get thee behind me Sathan But Thirdly I answer 'T is not the infirmities and weaknesses of a Christian which are seen lamented bewailed and resisted that can A Spiritual infirmity is the sickness or indisposition of the Soul that arises from weakness of Grace obstruct or hinder the efficacy and successe of his prayers Let me clear up this in a few instances Jonah you know was a man full of sinful passions and other weaknesses c. and yet his prayer was very prevalent with God Jonah 2. 1 2 7 10. compared So Elias his prayers were exceeding prevalent with God he could open and shut heaven at his pleasure and yet Jam. 3. 17. subject to like passions as we are Elias was a man of extraordinary sanctity and holinesse a man that 1 King 19. 8. Rom. 11 2 3. lived in heaven whilest he dwelt on earth Enech-like he walked with God and yet subject to like passions as we are God did in an eminent way communicate to him his counsel and secrets he lay in the bosome of the father and yet was a man subject to like passions as we are He was a very powerful and prevalent Prophet his very name imports as much Eli-jah signifies my strong God In that 1 Kings 17. 1. it is Eli-jahu that is the Lord he is my strong God and yet subject to like passions as we are He was a man much in fasting and prayer he was an inferiour mediator between God and his people and yet subject to like passions as we are Now because some from hence might object and say no wonder if such a man as he was could by his prayers open and shut heaven at his pleasure but I am a poor weak low sinful and unworthy creature I am full of infirmities weaknesses and passions and shall my prayers ever find access to God and acceptance with God or gracious answers and returnes from God Now to obviate this objection and to remove this discouragement out of the thoughts and hearts of poor sinners the Holy-Ghost addeth this clause that he was not a God nor an Angel but a man and such a man as was not exempted from common infirmities for he had his passions frailties weaknesses as well as other Saints intimating to us that infirmities in the meanest Saints should no more prejudice the acceptance and success of their prayers with God than they did in Elias himself The word Pession sometimes signifies First a motion of the sensual appetite arising from the imagination of good or ill with some commotion of the body Secondly Sometimes Passions signisie sinful infirmities sinful perturbations of the mind And Thirdly Sometimes Passion is taken more strictly for the special affection of sinful anger and wrath which Chrysostome calls Brevis Daemon a short Divel It makes a man speak he knows not what as you may see in Jonah and to do he knows not what as you may see in Saul Now in these two last sences Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and yet a man so potent with God that by private prayer he could do even what he listed in the Court of Heaven In that 1 Sam. 21. chap. You may read of Davids round lyes and of his other failings infirmities and unseemly carriages before Achish King of Gath and for which he was turned out of the Kings presence under the notion of a Mad-man and yet at that very time he prayes and prevails with God for savour mercy and deliverance Psal 34. 4. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me out of all my fears But when was this read the Title of the Psalm and you shall find it A Psalm of David who changed his behaviour before Abimilech who drove him away and he departed In that Numb 20. 10 11 12. Moses his infirmities are pointed out First You have there his immoderate anger 2. His speaking to the people when he should have spoke to the Rock vers 8. 3. His smiting of it when he should only have spoken to it with the Rod in his hand and smiting it twice as in a pang of passion and impatiency 4. his distrusting of the Lords word vers 12. 5. His reviling of the people when he should have convinced them hear ye Rebels 6. He seemes to be so offended at
his own soul by perpetual poring upon his guilt When Guilt upon the Conscience works a man to water the earth with tears to make Heaven ring with his groans then it works kindly When the sence of Guilt drives a man to God to Duty to the Throne of Grace then it will not be long night with that man He that thinks to shift off Private Prayer under the pretence of Guilt doth but in that increase his own Guilt Neglect of Duty will never get Guilt off the Conscience But then there is an involuntary indisposition to private prayer as in a sick man who would work and walk but cannot being hindered by his disease or as it is with a man that hath a great chain on his leg he would very fain walk or get away but his chain hinders him Now if your indisposition to private prayer be an involuntary indisposition then God will in mercy in course both pardon it remove it Secondly There is a total indisposition to private prayer there is a partial indisposition to private prayer A total indisposition to private prayer is when a man hath no Jer. 4. 22. Chap. 44. 17 18 19. mind at all to private prayer nor no will at all to private prayer nor no love at all to private prayer nor no delight nor no heart at all to private prayer now where this frame of heart is there all is naught very naught stark naught A partial indisposition to private prayer is when a man hath some will to private prayer though not such a will as once he had and some mind to private prayer though not such a mind as once he had and some affections to private prayer though not such warm and burning affections as once he had Now if your indisposition to private prayer be total then you must wait upon the Lord in all his appointments for a changed nature and for union with Christ but if your indisposition to private prayer be only partial then the Lord will certainly pardon it and in the very use of holy means in time remove it But Thirdly and lastly there is a transient accidental occasional or fleeting indisposition to private prayer and there is a customary a constant or permanent indisposition to private prayer Now a transient accidental occasional or fleeting indisposition to that which is good may be found upon the best of Saints as you may see in Moses Exod. 4. 10 11 12 13 14. and in Jeremiah Jer. 1. 5 6 7 8 17 18. 19. and Chap. 20. 9. and in Jonah chap. 1 and in David Psal 39. 2 3. Now if this be the indisposition that thou art under then thou mayest be confident that it will certainly work off by degrees Isa 65. 2. Jer. 9. 3. as theirs did that I have last cited But then there is a customary a constant or permanent indisposition to private prayer and to all other holy Duties of Religion Now if this be the indisposition that thou art under then I may safely conclude that thou art in the very gall of bitternesse and in Acts 8. 21 22 23. the bond of iniquity and thy work lyes not in complaining of thy indisposition but in repenting and believing and in labouring for a change of thy heart and state for till thy heart thy state be changed thou wilt remain for ever indisposed both to Closet-Prayer and to all other Duties of Religion and godlinesse To see a sinner sailing Hell-ward with Wind and Tide on his side to alter his course and Tack about for Heaven to see the earthly man become heavenly the carnal man become spiritual the proud man become humble the vain man become serious to see a sinner move contrary to himself in the wayes of Christ and holiness is as strange as to see the earth fly upward or the Bowl run contrary to its own Byass and yet a divine power of God upon the Soul can effect it and this must be effected before the sinner will be graciously inclined and sincerely disposed to Closet-prayer And let thus much suffice by way of Answer to this Objection also Now for the better management of this great Duty viz. Closet-prayer I beseech you take my advice and counsel in these 11. following particulars First Be frequent in Closet-prayer and not now and then only He will never make any yearnings of Closet-prayer that is not frequent in Closet-prayer Now that this Counsel may stick Consider First Other eminent Servants of the Lord have been frequent in this blessed work Nehem. 1. 6. Let thine earnow be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the Prayer of thy Servant which I pray before thee day and night So Daniel he kneeled Dan. 6. 10 upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did before time So David My voyce shalt thou hear in the morning and in the evening will Psal 5. 3. I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up So Psal 88. 13. But unto thee have I cryed O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee So Psal 119. 147. I prevented the Psal 119. 164. dawning of the morning and cryed unto the Lord. So Psal 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud Yea he Exod. 29 38 39. Numb 28. 3. Mat. 6. 11. was Vir orationis for his frequency in it Psal 109. 4. For my love they are my adversaries But I give my self unto prayer Or as the Hebrew may be read But I am a man of prayer Of Carolus Magnus it was said Carolus plus cum Deo quam hominibus loquitur that he spake more with God than with men Secondly Consider the blessed Scripture doth not only enjoyn this Duty but it requires frequency in it also Luke 18. 1. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 4. 2. In the former part of this discourse I have given light into these Scriptures and therefore the bare citing of them must now suffice Thirdly Christ was frequent in Private Prayer as you may easily see by comparing of these Scriptures together Mark 1. 35. Mat. 14. 23. Luke 22. 39. John 18. 2. In my second Argument for Private Prayer you may see these Scriptures opened and amplified But Fourthly Consider that you have the examples of the very worst of men in this case Papists are frequent in their private Devotions And the Mahometans what occasion soever they have either by profit or pleasure to divert them will yet pray five times every day Yea the very Heathens sacrificed to Hercules morning and evening upon the great Altar at Rome Now shall blind nature do more than grace But Fifthly Consider you cannot have too frequent Communion with God you cannot have too frequent intercourse with Jesus you cannot have your hearts too frequently filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory and with that peace that passes understanding you cannot have heaven too frequently brought
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-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-soul-good by closet-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
like Communion with God in their Closets some enjoy much Communion with God in their Closets and others enjoy but little Communion with God in their Closets Moses had a more cleer glorious Exod. 33. 11. Deut. 5. 4. Num. 12. 7 8. and constant Communion with God in his dayes than any others had in those times wherein he lived God spake to none face to face as he did to Moses And Abraham in his time had a more close Gen. 18. friendly and intimate Communion with God than holy Lot or any others had in that day And though all the Disciples Judas excepted had sweet Communion with Christ in the days of his flesh Mat. 17. 1 2 3 4. yet Peter James and John had a more cleer choice and full Communion with him than the rest had Among all the Disciples John had John 13. 23 John 20. 2. and Chap. 21. 20. most bosome Communion with Christ he was the greatest favourite in Christ's Court he leaned on Christ's bosome he could say any thing to Christ and he could know any thing of Christ and he could have any thing of Christ now that all Christians do not enjoy Communion with God alike in their Closets may be thus made evident First All Christians do not prepare alike to enjoy Closet-Communion with God and therefore all Christians do not enjoy Communion with God alike in Eccl. 5. 1. Psal 10. 17. their Closets Commonly he that prepares and fits himself most for Closet-Communion with God he is the man that enjoyes most Closet-Communion 2 Chron. 30. 17 18 19 20. with God Secondly All Christians do not alike prize Communion with God in their Closets some prize Communion with God in their closets before all above all other things As that noble Man 〈◊〉 said Cursed Job 23. 12. Psal 119. 127. Mat. 13. 45 46. be he that prefers all the world to one hours Communion with God They look upon it as that pearl of price for the enjoyment of which they are ready to sell all and part with all others prize it at a lower rate and so enjoy less of it than those that set a higher price and value upon it Thirdly All Christians do not a-like press after Communion with God in their Closets some press after Communion with God in their Closets as a condemned man presses after a pardon or as a close prisoner presses after enlargment or as a poor beggar presses after an almes now you know Psal 73. 8. Isa 26. 8 9. these press on with the greatest earnestness the greatest fervency and the greatest importunity immaginable But others press after Communion with God in their Closets more coldly more carelesly more slightly more lazily I have put off my Coat how shall I put Cant. 5. 3. it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them 〈◊〉 â—ow they that press hardest after Communion with God in their Closets they are usually blest with the highest degrees of Closet-Communion with God Fourthly All Christians don 't a-like improve their Communion with God in their Closets and therefore all Christians don't enjoy Communion with God a-like in their Closets Some Christians do make a more wise a more humble a more holy a more faithful a more fruitful and a more constant improvement of their Closet-Communion with God than others do and therefore they are blest with higher degrees of Communion with God than others are Some Christians do more improve their Closet-Communion with God against the world the flesh and the Devil than others doe and therefore no wonder if they do enjoy more Communion with God in their Closets than others do Fifthly All Christians do not a-like need Communion with God in their Closets and therefore all Christians have not a-like Communion with God in their Closets All Christians have not alike place in the mystical body of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 14 ult some rule and others are ruled now every man stands in more or less need of Communion with God according to the place that he bears in the body of Christ Again all Christians have not a-like burdens to bear nor a-like difficulties to encounter with nor a like dangers to escape nor a-like temptations to wrestle with nor a-like passions and corruptions to mortifie nor a-like mercies and experiences to improve c. and therefore all Christians don't need alike Communion with God in their Closets Now commonly God lets himself out more or lesse in wayes of Communion according as the various necessities and conditions of his people doth require Sixthly and lastly All Christians do not a-like meet with outward interruptions nor inward interruptions and therefore all Christians have not a-like Communion with God in their Closets Some Christians meet with a world of outward and inward interruptions more than others doe some Christians outward Callings Relations Conditions and Stations c. do afford more plentiful matter and occasions to interrupt them in their Closet-Communion with God than other Christians Callings Relations Conditions and Stations doe c. Besides Satan is more busie with some Christians than he is with other Christians and corruptions work more strongly and violently in some Christians than they do in other Christians c. and let me add this to all the rest that the very natural tempers of some Christians are more averse to closet duties than the natural tempers of other Christians are and therefore all Christians have not a-like Communion with God in their Closets but some have more and some have less according as God in his infinite Wisdome sees best Now let no Christian say that he hath no Communion with God in Closet-prayer because he hath not such a full such a choice such a sweet such a sensible and such a constant Communion with God in Closet-prayer as such and such Saints have had or as such and such Saints now have for all Saints do not alike enjoy Communion with God in their Closets some have more some have less some have a higher degree others a lower some are wrapt up in the third heaven when others are but wrapt up in the clouds What man is there so childest and babish as to argue thus That he hath no wisdome because he hath not the wisdome of Solomon or that he hath no strength because he hath not the strength of Sampson or that he hath no life because he hath not the swiftness of Ahimaaz or that he hath no estate because he hath not the riches of Dives and yet so childish and babish many weak Christians are as to argue thus viz. that they have no Communion with God in their Closets because they have not such high such comfortable and such constant Communion with God in their Closets as such and such Saints have had or as such and such Saints now have whereas they should seriously consider that though some Saints have a great Communion with God yet other Saints have but a
out of Heaven for and therefore in all your private duties and services labour after that communion with God in them that may break the neck and heart of your most bosome sins When Darius fled before Alexander that he might run the faster out of danger he threw away his Massie Crowne from his head As ever you would be safe from eternal danger throw away your golden and your silver Idols throw away your bosome sins your darling lusts And thus I have done with the Answers to that noble and necessary Question that was last proposed My Ninth Advice and Counsel is this In all your Closet-Duties look that your ends be right look Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat Zanch. that the Glory of God be your ultimate end the mark the white that you have in your eye There is a great truth in that old saying Quod non actibus sed finibus pensantur officia That duties are esteemed not by their acts but by their ends Look as the shining Sun puts out the light of the fire so the glory of God must consume all other ends There may be malum opus in bona materia as in Johu's zeal Two things make a good Christian good actions and good aims And though a good aim doth not make a bad action good as in Vzzah yet a bad aim makes a good action bad as in Jehu whose Justice was approved but his Policy punished God writes a nothing upon all those services wherein mens ends are not right Jer. 32. 23. They obeyed not thy voyce neither walked in thy Law they have done nothing of all that thou hast commanded them to do So Dan. 9. 13. All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God The Jewes were very much in religious Duties and Services witness Isa 1. 11 12 13 14 15. Isa 58. 1 2 3. Zech. 7. 5 6. I might produce a hundred more witnesses to confirm it were it necessary but because they did not aim at the Glory of God in what they did therefore the Lord writes a nothing upon all their Duties and Services It was Ephraims folly that he brought forth fruit unto himself Hos 10. 1. And it was the Pharisees hypocrisie that in all their duties and Mat. 6. 1 2 3 4 5. services they lookt at the praise of men Verily saith Christ you have your reward a poor a pitiful reward indeed Such men shall be sure to fall short of divine acceptance and of a glorious recompence that are not able to look above the praises of men Woe to that man that with Augustus is ambitious to go off the Stage of Duty with a plaudite Peter was See more of this in my Treatise on Holiness page 157 to p. 168. not himself when he denyed his Lord and cursed himself to get credit amongst a cursed crew As ever you would ask have speak and speed seek and find look that the glory of the Lord be engraven upon all your closet-duties He shall be sure to speed best whose heart is set most upon glorifying of God in all his secret retirements When God Crowns us he doth but Crown his own gifts in us and when we give God the Glory of all we do we do but give him the glory that is due unto his Name for 't is he and he alone that works all our works in us and for us All Closet Duties are good or bad as the mark is at which the soul aims He that makes God the object of Closet Prayer but not the end of Closet Prayer doth but lose his Prayer and take pains to undoe himself God will be Alexander or Nemo he will be All in All or he will be nothing at all Such prayers never reach the Ear of God nor delight the heart of God nor shall ever be lodg'd in the bosome of God that are not directed to the glory of God The end must be as noble as the means or else a man may be undone after all his doings A mans most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins if he hath made himself and not the glory of God the end of those actions My Tenth Advice and Counsel is this Be sure that you offer all your Closet Prayers in Christs Name and in his alone John 14. 13 14. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it John 15. 16. That whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name he may give it you John 16. 23 24 26. Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name he will give it you Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say unto you that I will pray the father for you O Sirs this is your Priviledg as well as your comfort that you never deal with God but by a Mediator When you appear before God Jesus Christ appears with you and he appears for you when you do invocare then he doth advocare when you put up your petitions then he doth make intercession for you Christ gives you a commission to put his name upon all your requests and whatsoever prayer comes up with this name upon it he will procure it an answer In the state of innocency man might worship God without a Mediator but since sin hath made so wide a breach between God and Man God will accept of no worship from man but what is offered up by the hand of a Mediator Now this Mediator is Christ alone 1 Tim. 2. 5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God men the man Christ Jesus One Mediator not of Redemption only as the Papists grant but of Intercession also which they deny The Papists make Saints and Angels co mediators with Christ but in this as in other things they fight against cleer Scripture-light The Apostle plainly tells us that the Office of Intercession pertaineth unto Christ as part of his Mediation Heb. 7 25. And 't is certain that we need no other Master of requests in Heaven but the man Christ Jesus who being so neer to the Father and so dear to the Father and so much in with the Father can doubtlesse carry any thing with the Father that makes for his glory and our good This was typified in the Law The High Priest alone did enter into Ex. 28. 29. the Sanctuary and carry the names of the Children of Israel before the Lord whil'st the people stood all without this pointed out Christs Mediation In that Lev. 16. 13 14. you read of two things First of the cloud of Incense that covered the Mercy-Seat Secondly Of the blood of the Bullock that was
your constant trade Frequency begets familiarity and familiarity confidence we can go freely boldly into that friends house whom we often visit What we are habituted to we do with ease and delight A man that is habituted or accustomed to write to read to ride to run or to play on this or that musical Instrument c. he doth it all with delight and ease and so a man that doth habituate himself to Closet-prayer he will manage it with delight and ease But Thirdly Keep a Diary of all Deut. 7. 18 19. Psal 66. 12. your Closet-experiences O carefully record and book down all your Closet-mercies O be often in reading over your Closet-experiences and be often in meditating and in pondering upon your Closet-experiences There is no way like this to enflame your love to Closet-prayer and to engage your hearts in this secret trade of private prayer O remember that at such a time you went into your Closets with hard hearts and dry eyes but before you came out of your Closets Psal 6. 6. Psal 39. 12. Psal 56. 8. ah how sweetly how evangelically how powerfully were you melted and humbled before the Lord O remember how that at another time you went into your Closets clouded and benighted but came out of your Closets with as glorious a shine of God upon your souls as Moses had upon his face Exod. 34. 28 29. when he came down from the Mount from communing with God! O remember how often you have gone into your Closets Luke 24. 31 32. Isa 4. 4. with cold frozen spirits but before you come out of your Closets what a fire hath God kindled in your souls what a spirit of burning have you found in your hearts O remember how often you have gone into your Closets streightned and shut up but before you have come out how hath your souls been like the Charriots of Aminnadab O remember what Can. 6. 12. power God hath given you against corruptions in your Closets and what strenth God hath given you against temptations in your Closets O remember the sweet discoveries of divine love that you have had when in your Closets O remember the secret visits the secret kisses the secret embraces the secret whispers the secret love-tokens that Christ hath given you in your Closets O seriously ponder upon these things and then Closet-duties will be sweet unto you 'T was a sweet saying of Bernard O Saint knowest thou not that thy Husband Christ is bashful and will Can. 7. 11 12. not be familiar in company retire thy self by Meditation into thy Closet or into the fields and there thou shalt have Christ's embraces Meditatio nutrix orationis Meditation is the Nurse of Prayer O the more any man Gerson meditates upon his Closet-experiences the more he shall find his heart engaged to Closet-duties the more you ponder upon Closet-experiences the sweeter will Closet-experiences be to your souls and the sweeter Closet-experiences are to your souls the more your souls will delight to be with God in your Closets Pliny tells us of one Messala Corvinus lib. 7. c. 24. whose memory was so bad that he forgot his own name And I am afraid that many of your memories are so bad that you forget your Closet-mercies your Closet-experiences I have read of such a Pestilential disease once at Athens as took away the memories of those that were infected with it so that they forgat their own names O that I had not cause to fear that some Pestilential Disease or other hath so taken away the memories of many that they have quite forgot their Closet-experiences Well Friends remember this though stony hearts are bad yet Iron memories are good and O that you would all labour after Iron memories that so you may remember and ponder upon your Closet-experiences I have read of the Heathens how they made use of white and black stones for these two ends First They gave them to persons at their arraignment before the Judges if any were condemned to death they gave him a black Stone but if absolved and set free a white Stone To which custome the Holy-Ghost seemes to allude in that Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give a VVhite Stone A second use of those Stones was this that by them they might keep an account of all the good dayes or evil dayes they had met withal in their lives Hence Giacopo Senzaro having been long in love and much crossed about his match he filled a Pot full of black Stones putting only one white Stone among them and being asked the reason answered There will come one VVhite Day meaning his Marriage Day which will make amends for all my Black Dayes Ah Friends how often hath God given you the White Stone in your Closets Certainly you have had more White Stones than Black Stones your Closet-mercies and experiences have been more than your publick crosses and miseries O Sirs did you but reckon your good dayes according to the White Stones you have had in your Closets it would make you more in love with Closet-prayer than ever But Fourthly Be sure that you do not spend so much of your precious time in publick Duties and Ordinances as that you can spare none for private Duties for secret services Though Pharoah's Kine eat up one another yet our Gen. 41. 4. Duties must not eat up one another publick Duties must not eat up family duties nor family-duties must not eat up publick duties nor neither of them must not eat up Closet-duties The wisdom of a Christian doth most eminently sparkle shine in giving every duty its proper time and place I was going to say that either he was Eccl. 8. 5. no Christian or at least no excellent Christian that is all eye to read or all ear to hear or all tongue to speak or all knee to bow to kneel to pray Ah how many are there that spend so much time in hearing of this man and that and in running up and down from meeting to meeting that they have no time to meet with God in their Closets O Sirs your Duties are never so amiable and lovely they are never so orient and beautiful as when they are seasonably and orderly performed Oh how wise are the men of this world so to order all their civil affairs that no one business shall interferre with another they set apart for each business a convenient proportion of time they allot an hour for one business two for another three for another c. O that we were as wise for our souls as wise for eternity as they are for this world O that our hearts would so consult with our heads that we may never want a convenient time to seek God in a corner That Devil that loves to set one man against another and one Nation against another and one Christian against another that Devil loves to set one Ordinance against another and one Duty against
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-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
Oh what is it then to be kept in torments and everlasting darkness I am here in my own house upon a soft bed in the dark kept from sleep but one night but to lye in flames and endless misery how dreadful must that needs be These and such like meditations were the happy means of this young mans conversion I have read a notable Story of one Theodorus a Christian young man in Egypt who when there was a great deal of feasting mirth and musick in his Fathers house withdrew himself from all the company and being got alone he thus thought with with himself Here is content and delight enough for the flesh I may have what I desire but how long will this last this will not hold out long then falling down upon his knees before the Lord in secret he said O Lord my heart is open unto thee I indeed know not what to ask but only this Lord let me not dye eternally O Lord thou knowest I love thee O let me live eternally to praise thee If there be any way or means on earth to bring us upon our knees before God in secret it is the serious and solemn thoughts of Eternity O that the fear of Eternity might fall upon all your souls O that you would all seriously consider that after a short time is expired you must all enter upon an eternal estate O consider that Eternity is an infinite endless bottomless gulph which no line can fathom no time can reach no age can extend to no tongue can expresse it is a duration alwayes present a being alwayes in being its Vnum perpetuum hodie one perpetual day which shall never see light O Sirs this is and must be for a lamentation viz. that Eternity is a thing that most men never think of or else very slenderly a snatch and away as Dogs are said to lap and away at the River Nâ—lus But as ever you would have your hearts chained to your closets and to closet-duties as the men of Tyrus chained their God Apollo to a post that they might be sure of him then seriously and frequently ponder upon Eternity and with those fourty valiant Martyrs be still a crying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Basil 40. Martyr Eternity Eternity Mr. VVood after some holy discourse fell a musing and cryed out before all present for neer half a quarter of an hour together for ever for ever for ever Austins Prayer was Hack me hew me burn me here but spare me heareafter spare me hereafter Certainly if Christians would but spend one quarter of an hour every day in the solemn thoughts of Eternity it would make them more in love with Closet-prayer than ever yea it would make them more fearful of omitting Closet-prayer than ever and more careful and Conscientious in the discharg of all Closet-Duties than ever And thus according to my weak measure I have given out all that at present the Lord hath graciously given in to my poor soul concerning this most necessary most glorious and most useful point of points viz. Closet-prayer I shall by assisting grace follow this poor piece with my prayers that it may be so blest from on high as that it may work mightily to the internal and eternal welfare both of Reader Hearer and Writer FINIS ERRATA In the Epistle Dedicatory neer the middle for for are r. are for corrosives for appropiating r. appropriating In the 3. Lesson for Mow r. Now. In the 7. Lesson for hang up r. hang upon p. 21. l. 28. read thus p. â—0 l. 28. read Paul p. 98. l. 26. dele as well p. 99. r. in the marg Deus p. 149. l. 2. dele must p. 126. l. 7. r. lyes p. 168. l. 16. r. decree for degree p. 170 l. 4. r. evade p. 175 l. 20. r. Solomon p. 189. l. ult r. adressing p. 190. l. 14. r. or for for p. 209. l. utl r. and. p. 224 l. 18. r. drink l. 22. r. affliction p. 254. l 7. r. he for the. p. 298. l. 22. r. cum p. 357. l. 8. r. Marquess for Martyr p. 371. l. 28. r. a very for every A TABLE Containing The Chief Heads of this BOOK Of Afflictions  THat Afflictions refemble a Rod in Seven Particulars you may see in the Epistle Dedicatory  Of Allegories  Of Allegories p. 1. to 19. Of the Blood of Christ  That the least drop of Christs Blood was not sâ—fficient for the redemption of our Souls is made good by five Arguments p. 303 304 305. C  Doct. That Closet-Prayer or private prayer is an indispensable duty that Christ himself hath laid upon all that are not willing to lye under the woful brand of being Hypocrites p. 6. Five Arguments to prove Closet-Prayer to be a Duty p. 6. to p. 8. The most eminent Saint in all Ages have applied themselves to Closet-Prayer p. 8 to p. 19. We may more freely fully and safely unbosome our souls to God in our Closets than we can in the presence of many or a few p. 30 to p. 34. Christians enjoy most of God in their Closets p. 36 to p. 46. The time of this life is our only time for Closet-Prayer p. 46 47. The prevalency of Closet-Prayer p. 47. to p. 67. See Secret  Rules to be observed in Closet-Prayer  First Be frequent in Closet-Prayer and that upon eight grounds p. 297 to p. 30â— Secondly Take fit seasons and oppâ—rtuâ—ities for Closet Prayer Three unfit seasons for Closet Prayer are hinted at p. 305. to 311. Thirdly Look that you do not perform Closet-Duties meerly to still your Consciences p. 312 to p. 315. Fourthly Take heed of resting upon Closet-Duties p. 315 to p. 322. Fifthly Labour to bring your hearts into all your Closet-Prayers p. 322 to p. 328. Sixthly Be servent be warm be importunate with God in all your Closet-performances p. 328. to p. 339. Seventhly Be constant in Closet-Prayer hold on and hold out in Closet-prayer p. 339 to p. 347. Eighthly In all your Closet Prayers thirst and long after Communion with God p. 347 to p. 384. Ninthly In all your Closet-Duties look that your ends be right p. 384 to p. 387. Tenthly Be sure that you offer all your Closet-Prayers in Christ's name and his alone p. 387 to p. 393. Eleventhly When you come out of your Closets narrowly watch what becomes of your Closet-Prayers p. 393 to p. 399. Of Christ  Christ was much in Secret Prayer p. 19 to 24. Six Arguments why Christ was so much in Secret Prayer p. 24 to p. 27. Christ was very much affected and delighted in the Secret Prayers of his people p. 73 to p. 75. What a friend Christ is shewed in Ten particulars p. 76 77 78. Of Combates  The Combate between the Allmigh and Jacob opened in Six particulars p. 49 to p. 58. Of Communion with God  Quest How shall a man know when he hath real Communion with God in his Closet or no Answered